Firewatch's PS4 performance is terrible

G

Get_craycray

Banned
I've decided to pick it up despite the warning about all those issues and, even if it's not unplayable, it kind of overlap on the pleasure the game could give. After playing the hell out of The Witness, it feels really weird to get all those frame drops (and there's a lot of them).

Someone said the game run at an unlocked 60fps but it's not, it's more like 30fps with frame drops.
 
A

AyaisMUsikWhore

Member
Oh no :( Hoping for a patch so I can eventually play it. I'm still going to buy it of course but I guess I won't play it until it's completely fixed. I got time
 
L

lasrmountedmoai

Member
Yeah, I am joking around, but the Witness was built on its own engine no? The Witness team and the firewatch folks seem to come from two very different perspectives and backgrounds. The games themselves seem to have almost nothing in common besides being first person and not having guns (that I'm aware of).

It does suck that the game isn't performing well, I just thought comparing it to COD (as OP quoted) seemed a bit over the top.
 
R

RoboPlato

I'd be in the dick
Is it similar to Vanishing of Ethan Carter? That fluctuated a lot but I actually found it much more tolerable than most games like that due to the slow nature of it.
 
A

Auctopus

Member
I'm not one of those types that cares a whole lot about performance 60vs30 etc. but for a game like Firewatch, it's really noticeable.

The stuttering is constant and the frame drops happen randomly and all the time. It's such a massive shame because the game is really engaging until a whole fucking tree pops in from nowhere.
 
H

HerroRygar

Member
I've been burned enough times buying immediately at launch that I think I'll wait. This game looks fun as hell, and I've been looking forward to playing it with my wife...but I'm going to wait until it's a bit more polished. I hope that happens relatively quickly, otherwise this will just drop off my radar and I'll forget about it. =/
 
R3TRO

R3TRO

Member
Eesh and I just talked a friend into buying it on PS4 without knowing this. Welp I'm glad I grabbed it on pc.
 
N

nOoblet16

Member
Doctor_Thomas said:
So, is the performance better or worse than Everybody's Gone to the Rapture? I had no issues with that game and I just want a ballpark
Click to expand...
It's more inconsistent that Raputre since the framerate is unlocked so it ranges from anywhere near 50-60 to 30-40 or even in 20s. It also stutters at times.

It also has visual glitchs and lot of pop ins. They really did make a bad decision with the engine I think. Unreal Engine could have been a better choice.

WickedLaharl said:
Unplayable? No.

But they were/still are shit. It's cool that you have low standards though.
Click to expand...
Witcher 3 isn't shit though, it runs very good now.

Fallout 4 though, you do have to have low standards to consider Fallout 4 oerfectly playable with it routinely running at around 20 Fps mark in several areas. Although it runs a bit better now.
 
P

p0rl

Member
Ugh. I wish media outlets rated game performance as well as the game content itself. Developers and publishers get away with this because there is very little pressure to put the extra work in.
 
D

Diprosalic

Banned
hey_it's_that_dog said:
If "low standards" means I can enjoy more games and not be an intolerable bore on message boards, then I am grateful for my low standards.
Click to expand...

cool beans but if you already know you don't care about performance you probably shouldn't come here and post about how you don't care about them. multiple people already have said that they can usually enjoy some games that don't perform that well but they can't with Firewatch.
 
X

xxracerxx

Don't worry, I'll vouch for them.
dead monkey uk

dead monkey uk

Member
nOoblet16 said:
One of the dev posted in the OT yesterday and said that they are looking into it and want to fix it.

Basically the gist of the situation was that they need to get Unity Tech and Sony to both work together (which seems to be hard) with them in order to fix issues with Unity engine.
Click to expand...

This does not sound very positive, not going to be a quick patch. I bought this only an hour ago, still looking forward to my playthrough.

A single player, story driven game like Firewatch really needs to perform well day 1, I would imagine this is an experience it once experience.
 
semiconscious

semiconscious

Member
WickedLaharl said:
Unplayable? No.

But they were/still are shit. It's cool that you have low standards though.
Click to expand...

how about just 'lower', & leave it at that? i've been playing video/computer games since the '80's, & i've always been willing to cut developers some slack if, despite the technical flaws, i can still manage to have a good time. the fact of the matter is, some of us are just nowhere near as sensitive when it comes to this stuff as others :) ...
 
G

GinoFelino

Member
Diprosalic said:
very well said. i'm a 60fps fan but i can enjoy a 30fps destiny or a more janky Bloodborne just fine. But this is something else.
Click to expand...

It really is vastly different. In Firewatch, you don't feel like you're in control of what's happening on screen.

This is made worse by the fact that your turning speeds up gradually (but way too fast!) if you hold the right stick in a certain direction.

I was ready to put this on GAF hyperbole and tech snobs again.

But between all the framerate drops and the odd turning speed, it really is nearly unplayable. At the very least, you're doing both yourself and the game a great disservice by playing it in this state; the art is gorgeous, and I loved the opening and the first bits of dialogue.

As much as I was looking forward to playing this, I'm going to have to wait a while longer.

Sorry if you're reading this, mr. Moss. :( It must really suck to have this happen.
 
C

Cth

Member
xxracerxx said:
Well that looks completely playable to me, I can totally understand people having issues with it.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've played worse in my time.. I can see how it'd bother some though.

I just learned about the game today, was going to get it, but I might wait a few days to see if they can patch it. I'll get the theme in the meantime.

Any reports of motion sickness by chance?
 
F

Family Fry

Member
A dev posted this on other thread.

cabel said:
FWIW, we're currently talking to both Sony and Unity and we're all working hard to to optimize performance of Firewatch on PS4.

It's tricky, because it really requires all three partners working together to improve — it's not something we can tackle on our own, unlike a game bug — but we'll definitely continue to patch all platforms with every content and performance fix we can over time!

To summarize: we're on it. :)

(I've played through the game multiple times on a PlayStation 4 and enjoyed it thoroughly! But I'm not a PC gamer so…)
Click to expand...
 
L

lasrmountedmoai

Member
GinoFelino said:
It really is vastly different. In Firewatch, you don't feel like you're in control of what's happening on screen.

This is made worse by the fact that your turning speeds up gradually (but way too fast!) if you hold the right stick in a certain direction.

I was ready to put this on GAF hyperbole and tech snobs again.

But between all the framerate drops and the odd turning speed, it really is nearly unplayable. At the very least, you're doing both yourself and the game a great disservice by playing it in this state; the art is gorgeous, and I loved the opening and the first bits of dialogue.

As much as I was looking forward to playing this, I'm going to have to wait a while longer.

Sorry if you're reading this, mr. Moss. :( It must really suck to have this happen.
Click to expand...

now this is legitimate, concerning commentary. bummer.
 
N

nOoblet16

Member
Cth said:
Video if it helps any..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dv6O4fYmcoU
Click to expand...
xxracerxx said:
Alex at Giant Bomb mentions the issue.



Well that looks completely playable to me, I can totally understand people having issues with it.
Click to expand...

stufte said:
That doesn't look that terrible to me. The hitching is mildly annoying, sure, but this looks completely playable to me. I was expecting MUCH worse.
Click to expand...


You might not be able to see the full extent of the performance issue in that video since the video is capped at 30FPS. Apparently one of the performance issues with the game is its highly unstable framerate ranging from 20s to 50s..which coupled with the mildly annoying stuttering will become a larger issue.
 
mckmas8808

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Get_craycray said:
I've decided to pick it up despite the warning about all those issues and, even if it's not unplayable, it kind of overlap on the pleasure the game could give. After playing the hell out of The Witness, it feels really weird to get all those frame drops (and there's a lot of them).

Someone said the game run at an unlocked 60fps but it's not, it's more like 30fps with frame drops.
Click to expand...

Is it worse than Until Dawn?
 
K

killroy87

Member
Haha I've been sitting at work sooooo toked to play it, after buying and downloading to my PS4 this morning.

This thread is making me sooooo disappointed. The shitty performance will stuck out infinitely more to me now.
 
D

Diprosalic

Banned
DrKelpo said:
uhm... i mean...i see the issues, but i expected far worse based on what i've read in this thread.

hopefully the release a patch soon.
Click to expand...

it's worse when you actually play it. i think that youtube video is also not showing the fps issues quite correctly (since it's only 30fps)
coupled with the weird controls and when you want to turn only a little it turns really fast. it has some weird performance issues that you can only feel if you control it yourself. read what GinoFelino is writing.

+ crashes, quite a few of them.
 
G

GinoFelino

Member
mckmas8808 said:
Is it worse than Until Dawn?
Click to expand...

Waaaaaay worse.

I honestly think videos like the one above don't do the current state justice; the lack of control over what's happening onscreen is something that has to be felt while playing. Keep this in mind.

It's really hard to overstate how much the feel of the game is impacted by its performance, in this case.
 
D

DrKelpo

Banned
Diprosalic said:
it's worse when you actually play it. i think that youtube video is also not showing the fps issues quite correctly.
coupled with the weird controls and when you want to turn only a little it turns really fast thanks. it has some weird performance issues that you can only feel if you control it yourself. read what GinoFelino is writing.

+ crashes, quite a few of them.
Click to expand...

yeah, saw some explanatory posts after i posted myself. thanks.
 
S

Sai-kun

Banned
Yikes, sorry to hear about this. I was looking forward to picking this up but I guess I'll hold off for awhile.
 
Fbh

Fbh

Gold Member
I was a bit dissapointed that I had to wait until next month for this as I've been looking forward to it.

But damn, some of this sounds terrible. I can accept it not being locked at 60fps. But frequent dips under 30? Come on!
 
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