I'm going to need assurances from the devs that this game will be optimized before final release.
Silk_Sk
United States Join Date: 2015-01-03 Member: 200602Members
United States Join Date: 2015-01-03 Member: 200602Members
(reddit x-post)
Let's be real. This game is mind blowing, but it runs like a one-legged hippo pushing a loaded shopping cart through a mirror maze. It's slow, confusing, inconsistent, and everything is breaking or being lost entirely.
I've been playing this game for two years because it is incredible. But it's starting to feel like this is just the way it is. Half the map will always have an average of 1-15 fps with terrain and creatures constantly popping into existence a few feet in front of your face. If this were any other game, I wouldn't play it for one hour before asking for a refund.
But it isn't any other game. This is Subnautica, and I fell in love with it forever years before early access even started, when the music and concept art were released.
The game feels nearly finished. It will more than likely be this year. But with version 1.0 so tantalizingly close, the fact that the game is still in such rough condition breaks my heart.
Sometimes I imagine what it would be like to play this game with a steady framerate and no terrain pop-in and I get goosebumps. I want to play that game so badly it is physically painful. But while the end of early access feels closer and closer, that dream feels more and more distant.
So please, devs. I need a guarantee from you that the game will not launch like this. I don't care when it releases. Whether it is this year, next year, or two years from now, no matter how much it work it takes to fix, no matter how many months go by without a content update, whatever the cost, the game cannot be released in anything resembling this horrid condition. Because if you do, it will not take the world by storm the way I know it deserves to. Its legacy will be tainted and the rest of the gaming world will drop this game before they can see the a truly magical experience it has the potential to be. Please promise me this won't happen.
Let's be real. This game is mind blowing, but it runs like a one-legged hippo pushing a loaded shopping cart through a mirror maze. It's slow, confusing, inconsistent, and everything is breaking or being lost entirely.
I've been playing this game for two years because it is incredible. But it's starting to feel like this is just the way it is. Half the map will always have an average of 1-15 fps with terrain and creatures constantly popping into existence a few feet in front of your face. If this were any other game, I wouldn't play it for one hour before asking for a refund.
But it isn't any other game. This is Subnautica, and I fell in love with it forever years before early access even started, when the music and concept art were released.
The game feels nearly finished. It will more than likely be this year. But with version 1.0 so tantalizingly close, the fact that the game is still in such rough condition breaks my heart.
Sometimes I imagine what it would be like to play this game with a steady framerate and no terrain pop-in and I get goosebumps. I want to play that game so badly it is physically painful. But while the end of early access feels closer and closer, that dream feels more and more distant.
So please, devs. I need a guarantee from you that the game will not launch like this. I don't care when it releases. Whether it is this year, next year, or two years from now, no matter how much it work it takes to fix, no matter how many months go by without a content update, whatever the cost, the game cannot be released in anything resembling this horrid condition. Because if you do, it will not take the world by storm the way I know it deserves to. Its legacy will be tainted and the rest of the gaming world will drop this game before they can see the a truly magical experience it has the potential to be. Please promise me this won't happen.
Comments
You're asking the impossible. No way are ANY developers/publishers going to admit to anything putting their game into a negative light. Of course they're gonna say it'll run great (even if it won't). There are deadlines and bottom lines to be met, and they override any goodwill towards us gamers. It's sad, but true. I used to be a bit more idealistic when I was a younger lad, but time has changed that. The gaming industry has made me jaded. It's no different in the music, or movie industry.
505 Studios lied and lied to us on the forums, concerning fixing and not abandoning Pixel Piracy...
If it were 100% up to the devs, I'm sure they would want nothing more than to give us the best version of their vision. Sadly, that's not how it works. I'm hoping for the best, but setting my expectations somewhere in the middle.
This is coming from the perspective of a software developer (although I'm not a game dev).
There is reason to worry since bugs are not fixed overnight, especially in a game that has been in development for over 2 years. All programmers know that bug fixing needs to happen incrementally because whenever you fix a bug, new ones crop up, causing complexity and development time to snowball. Having to use the early access excuse for a game 2 years in development and that is 2 months away from full release is alarming.
Sure, optimization does happen at the end of development but Subnautica has a massive amount of bug fixing required before even starting with optimization.
I've seen other software devs express similar sentiments across the forums. By the looks of it the game might be released considerably flawed, which would be so disappointing for such an incredible game.
That said, the devs do seem motivated and very competent. I also don't care how much time it takes them. I'd rather see a near bug-free game.
And the game is launching in May.
Unless there is a delay, I doubt there will be any significant fixes unless they complete the game within the month and focus all efforts on bugs. Furthermore there are still things making this game far too easy I believe they should fix.
So yeah they have work.
I love the game, but I'd be vary surprised if it is released in May.
1. Reset your cache.
2. Get a better graphics card / processor
I feel like AT TIMES (not saying now) people try to blame the devs for their own computer issues. If a game lags, It's not necessary the devs' fault.
You running Subnautica from an SSD? If not, move it to one if you've got one. My signature has instructions if you need (but note you'll also need a Steam Library on the SSD before Steam will show you the option to move it).
Please release the game when YOU FEEL, it is ready.
Signed,
A Devoted but PATIENT, Subnautica Fan.
(if that means continuing to work on it throughout the rest of this year, then by all means, please do so. I'm not going anywhere and I already paid for the game)
But if you never get lag, then you don't need to clear your cache... or are you saying do you get lag?
This is true, and I will admit I currently run Subnautica on a sub-optimal set up. However I would like to point out, when I first started playing in July 2016, the game ran phenomenally well in the early days, but over the course of a few stable updates the game progressively got worse after several hours of a save file progress. Whether it was due to cache files not unloading properly, memory leaks crashing the game, or the game tracking terrain changes causing the save file to billow out over 3GB in size, it was largely due to the game itself. My system hasn't changed over the time of playing Subnautica, yet something was dragging down performance.
The game has since improved dramatically for me since the December update, what with the removal of active terrain deformation and many under-the-hood system changes. It runs as well now as it did when I first started playing, and I appreciate all of the hard work the developers have done and will continue to do for this wonderful game.
Yes, I have an SSD.
Oh - sorry for the confusion. I clear my cache when my game takes about 3 minutes to load. I don't even bother seeing if it lags. I know it will.
This is why i love the Subnautica devs. You actually read what the community says and keeps us informed.
As for performance, the xbox one version has helped create a baseline requirement for performance. The standard should be to be able to run well on a system with similar specs to the xbox one. The xbox one has a small amount of ram and doesn't utilize an SSD.
Currently, the precursor update dramatically improved framerates but entity and terrain loading is terrible. Specifically the render distance of terrain is too short. I explore the lost river and i don't have the walls load even though i can see them far away.