13 Ways To End Lousy PC Ports in 2023—Digital Foundry

[Brian Boru]

Alex Battaglia of DF just put out what looks to me like a good manifesto for ports from console to PC.
"2022 was a dire year for the quality of PC ports"

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr7RGkFuPdQ


Time stamps if you want to jump around:

0:00 - Intro
1:00 - No shader compilation stutter
2:57 - Include visually responsive graphical options
4:52 - Include convention driven menu navigation
5:44 - Do not overly nest graphical menus
6:58 - Include refresh rate and resolution as separate options
8:10 - Include a field of view option
8:42 - Include a variable aspect ratio and variable framerate
9:43 - Include 1/2, 1/3 and 1/4 VSync options
10:47 - Include multiple quality levels for heavy effects like ray tracing
12:26 - Include dynamic resolution if it is also used on console
13:15 - Include HDR and surround sound if consoles have it
13:38 - Include console settings
14:30 - Include all vendor variants of image reconstruction (DLSS, FSR, XESS)
15:15 - Outro

 

[UNSKILLED TRASH]

It would be fantastic; I had to skim through the video and will listen at length later, but as long as they make bank for minimum efforts... I don't see anything changing in the foreseeable future. I welcome the new(ish) opportunity of playing some platform exclusives on PC, though.

 

[DXCHASE]

I would add to that list a modding system including a way for mods to be uploaded after the pc port lands.

 

[ZedClampet]

Alex Battaglia of DF just put out what looks to me like a good manifesto for ports from console to PC.
"2022 was a dire year for the quality of PC ports"

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kr7RGkFuPdQ


Time stamps if you want to jump around:

0:00 - Intro
1:00 - No shader compilation stutter
2:57 - Include visually responsive graphical options
4:52 - Include convention driven menu navigation
5:44 - Do not overly nest graphical menus
6:58 - Include refresh rate and resolution as separate options
8:10 - Include a field of view option
8:42 - Include a variable aspect ratio and variable framerate
9:43 - Include 1/2, 1/3 and 1/4 VSync options
10:47 - Include multiple quality levels for heavy effects like ray tracing
12:26 - Include dynamic resolution if it is also used on console
13:15 - Include HDR and surround sound if consoles have it
13:38 - Include console settings
14:30 - Include all vendor variants of image reconstruction (DLSS, FSR, XESS)
15:15 - Outro

Would be nice if some of my PC exclusives would watch this video.

How about Japanese developers recognizing mouse and keyboard as a valid control option? That's a heck of a lot more important than any of those items.

 

[Zloth]

Well, I was going to write up something about it being similar to translations: you've got to have somebody that can actually do the translation, then you've got to weigh the costs of doing it vs. how much you'll make from the translation. That's how it SHOULD be, but it isn't how it is. Some studios will do the work, some won't, and heaven only knows why.

The modern Tomb Raider games, for instance, do a great job with graphics options. Final Fantasy 7 Remake did the bare minimum. It was obvious both would make millions on PC, and both are published by Square/Enix. So why is it one got the full Nixxies treatment while players are left to unlock the Unreal Engine and change their own settings in FF7R!?

P.S. Uhhh, not many of my native PC games support all the options that guy wants.