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[PoweredBySoy]

He didn't say it was all ATI cards. obviously.

He said "ATI card". I don't know, was I supposed to infer which model numbers he was talking about?

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

Based on your review text, how did the game warrant a 3.5 out of 5 stars?

I don't get it.

Brink is one of the few multiplayer-focused shooters I have enjoyed in years (I don't even like TF2), that sort of thing counts for a lot with me.

The 360 version has been improving at least but given the choice I'd go with the PC version.

If you enjoyed the 360 version enough to give it 3.5 out of 5 stars, why tell people on GAF to skip it?

Because I never seem to get enough sleep to consider every single post I make in messageboards.

 

[Shurs]

Brink is one of the few multiplayer-focused shooters I have enjoyed in years, that sort of thing counts for a lot with me.

If you enjoyed the 360 version enough to give it 3.5 out of 5 stars, why tell people on GAF to skip it?

 

[Shurs]

Because I never seem to get enough sleep to consider every single post I make in messageboards.

Okay.

You can see here someone could look at the review text (specifically the parts I have quoted) and wonder why you gave the game a 3.5, right?

And don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to imply that you've done anything wrong or that you are in the proverbial pocket of Splash Damage or Bethesda, because it's obvious you're not.

What I'm more interested in is if you scored your own review or if there was editorial input into the score. Looking at the first two pages of the review section, it looks like The Next Level primarily scores games between 3 and 5 stars. Of the 50 games listed on the first two pages there are, I think, 4 games that are rated sub-3 stars. So maybe you're just working with the scale of the website.

 

[FLEABttn]

I tried competitive mode on PS3 last night, see if I could actually get games with more than 4 people and no bots. And I did. Twice. The first time, the host left and the end of the match and migration didn't work right so everyone was dropped. The second time, my team got crushed because of a lack of teamwork and everyone else on my side left. Two on the other team left after my team left and one other person on their team left when the new map started.

Really think I'll trade in this weekend. The online portion is just so broken it makes the entire game pointless. Which is too bad because if that worked, it'd be great.

 

[DeanoCalver]

So can we get some clarification from a developer or someone involved with Splash Damage/Brink - because the game has some major issues at the moment and I haven't heard so much as a whisper with regards to an ETA/fix-list for a 360 patch.

We are working on things, what/when is above my pay grade to announce I'm sorry to say.

I intended to keep the game while my three friends who purchased the game on my recommendation are returning it today - now another friend who was going to pick it up on the weekend has decided to avoid the game. So that leaves me, with a copy of a game I can return sometime in the next 36 hours or so for a full refund/return. I love Brink, if there is an imminent patch that is going to fix all of this shit, I'll keep the game and persist with it... but some communication or explanations would be nice.

I can't say any more than the team have and are working hard at sorting stuff. And on the PC so have AMD and NV on there side of the fence.

 

[Detox]

Deano this is probably something you can't comment on, but what is going on with Brink not being on the UK Steam store and is anything being done about it?

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

What I'm more interested in is if you scored your own review or if there was editorial input into the score. Looking at the first two pages of the review section, it looks like The Next Level primarily scores games between 3 and 5 stars. Of the 50 games listed on the first two pages there are, I think, 4 games that are rated sub-3 stars. So maybe you're just working with the scale of the website.

There wasn't any editorial input. I do hate working with a five star scale though because that only leaves me 10 points and I'm more of a 20 or hell even a 100 point person. What's even worse is that the stars make me feel like I can only use half of those 10.

I also tend to suck when it comes to scores, probably because for the first few years I've been writing I didn't use them at all (since it seems like 95% of readers are only looking for scores when they read reviews).

 

[XeroSauce]

He said "ATI card". I don't know, was I supposed to infer which model numbers he was talking about?

Fairly common knowledge by now that a lot of ATI cards, regardless of make or model, are bugged.

 

[sinky72]

Deano, certainly not aimed at you, more at Splash Damage in general.

I just wanted to say how so disappointed I am in this game is as it stands (talking console here). Brink was in my top 3 most anticipated games of 2011 and really wanted something a bit different from the other fps on offer. maybe that was me just getting dragged into the hype but still, was really looking forward to it.
As things stands, I cancelled my pre order and still don't have the game. Yes, sometimes things don't go right straight away, i totally understand that but for me, playing lag fest games just doesn't appeal to me (along with a few other quibbles like no lobby etc).

At moment i'm still out but once things are hopefully ironed out, i'll probably get it and start looking forward to getting my backside well and truly kicked

 

[Shurs]

There wasn't any editorial input. I do hate working with a five star scale though because that only leaves me 10 points and I'm more of a 20 or hell even a 100 point person. What's even worse is that the stars make me feel like I can only use half of those 10.

I also tend to suck when it comes to scores, probably because for the first few years I've been writing I didn't use them at all (since it seems like 95% of readers are only looking for scores when they read reviews).

Thanks, PvJ. I hope I didn't offend you, as that wasn't my intention. I've actually read reviews on your blog and enjoyed them.

You are definitely spot on when it comes to the sentiment that readers want a score.

 

[Shoogoo]

Woaw I can't wait for the patch. As it is, this game is an unplayable piece of junk that I'm in love with.

Get your shit together SD.

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

Thanks, PvJ. I hope I didn't offend you, as that wasn't my intention. I've actually read reviews on your blog and enjoyed them.

You are definitely spot on when it comes to the sentiment that readers want a score.

No worries. This is one of those things I've been trying to work on.

 

[Offerizer]

Three great games in a row on a low ping server, no soundbug and for the most part great teamwork. So goood.

My performance is a bit better since I changed some stuff with brinkconfig 1,5 and updating to the latest drivers. It's definately not good yet but it's playable except some parts of the very open maps.

 

[equil]

This game is awesome when it works.

 

[Raide]

This game is awesome when it works.

Agreed. Now I actually wish they pushed the date back a few weeks, instead of forward. Maybe it would have launched in a much better position. I am enjoying the game and I hope SD sort things soon.

 

[Ourobolus]

I'm noticing that the sound bug only happens to me on the terminal level and the hangar level. It's easily my biggest complaint right now.

But damn, when the game works, it is fantastic. I've had some great games with some randoms who just clicked. I mostly roll an engineer (and I've gotten pretty good at it too, if I do say so myself , and the synergy with teammates who know what they are doing makes some matches fucking magical.

Such a pity that the launch pretty much erased the chance of a console userbase (I'm on PC), though.

 

[Spirit of Jazz]

God damnit why didn't I realize tats would carry both versions of my character. Now my 80s cop is covered in the crosses of his cannibal counterpart and I can't do anything about it. Now he's stuck as a generic ninja.

 

[Raide]

God damnit why didn't I realize tats would carry both versions of my character. Now my 80s cop is covered in the crosses of his cannibal counterpart and I can't do anything about it. Now he's stuck as a generic ninja.

I know it warns you about being permanent but I am also surprised it copied to both characters.

 

[soultron]

I know it warns you about being permanent but I am also surprised it copied to both characters.

It should only be bound to one character (but obviously you dress that character for both factions).

If you start a new character (separate from your first) you should be a clean slate. Pardon the pun.

 

[chixdiggit]

I am still having a good time with this game on the PC. Really hope we see new content soon.

 

[jakonovski]

I want some new maps with larger vistas (I wanna use those ARs and LRs to full effect, it's SMG land now) as well as vertical gameplay.

I wanna storm that big central tower.

 

[Shoogoo]

I want some new maps with larger vistas (I wanna use those ARs and LRs to full effect, it's SMG land now) as well as vertical gameplay.

I wanna storm that big central tower.

I can't find any use for the shotguns though.

 

[MonkeyKnuckle]

I have a quick question.

If I was to hold a competition on my website for some Brink goodies.

Would I be able to post a link on here so people can take part? Or would that be frowned upon ie. Ban worthy?

This is what I have to give away:

 

[Visualante]

This whole game frustrates me, I have updated my drivers and it still has performance issues, with everything turned off. I have no idea what is going on in the game, I can't get into servers that are lag free, and when I do I have no idea what is going on, nobody communicates, nobody works together..

The menus offer huge volumes of customisation, I don't have any real feeling of the benefit or anything because the game has performance issues still. I just don't get it. At least it's better without the stupid camera bob.

How do I limit ping and player numbers on servers, maybe that will help me find better servers quicker? Is there anything I can do to put FPS on screen. The characters, controls just feel sluggish.. I hope the slim guy will be better for me. Additionally is there some console command that cuts out all the fucking intros and cut scenes, I am so sick of this shit every time a map loads.

 

[Teknoman]

I am still having a good time with this game on the PC. Really hope we see new content soon.

We will. Free DLC coming soon.

 

[Teknoman]

This whole game frustrates me, I have updated my drivers and it still has performance issues, with everything turned off. I have no idea what is going on in the game, I can't get into servers that are lag free, and when I do I have no idea what is going on, nobody communicates, nobody works together..

The menus offer huge volumes of customisation, I don't have any real feeling of the benefit or anything because the game has performance issues still. I just don't get it. At least it's better without the stupid camera bob.

How do I limit ping and player numbers on servers, maybe that will help me find better servers quicker? Is there anything I can do to put FPS on screen. The characters, controls just feel sluggish.. I hope the slim guy will be better for me. Additionally is there some console command that cuts out all the fucking intros and cut scenes, I am so sick of this shit every time a map loads.

GAF server, download the hotfix "a" version posted earlier if you've got a Radeon (single card, not SLI), turn off ambient occlusion and vsync. Play challenges and use the objective wheel to get a grasp on whats going on. Just press a key at the load screen to skip the intro.

The game is pretty straightforward as far as objectives go.

 

[Death Dealer]

All of the maps were awesome...outside of Radar.

I liked radar. Good atmosphere with the weather, it played like a blitzkrieg if the defense wasn't dug in. I thought it was balanced, if both teams were equally matched. But in some games I saw allies run away with it, and others where the Nazis always managed to waste anyone who tried to run off with the two objectives. Defense took a lot of teamwork on that map. i.e. not allowing the allies to capture the cp on the far western side of the map.

Railgun seemed like the least popular map on the servers I frequented. It was rarely an even match. One team usually dominated the other. But it can be fun if the train advances gradually, with lots of back and forth, to either a triumphant victory or defeat.

Battery is a neat map although being stuck on the beach the whole game can be frustrating. Fuel Dump, Gold Rush and Siwa Oasis are pure awesome. All things considered, I liked the Africa campaign slightly better than Europe.

 

[DEO3]

This whole game frustrates me, I have updated my drivers and it still has performance issues, with everything turned off. I have no idea what is going on in the game, I can't get into servers that are lag free, and when I do I have no idea what is going on, nobody communicates, nobody works together..

The menus offer huge volumes of customisation, I don't have any real feeling of the benefit or anything because the game has performance issues still. I just don't get it. At least it's better without the stupid camera bob.

How do I limit ping and player numbers on servers, maybe that will help me find better servers quicker? Is there anything I can do to put FPS on screen. The characters, controls just feel sluggish.. I hope the slim guy will be better for me. Additionally is there some console command that cuts out all the fucking intros and cut scenes, I am so sick of this shit every time a map loads.

I recommend getting the Brink Configurator: http://www.rush-zone.com/downloads/gaming/brink.html

It will create an autoexec file that will load the settings that you've enabled when you start the game. You can, and should, disable shadows if you're experiencing low fps, make sure HBAO is disabled, and set Show Intro to 0 to skip those stupid intro splash screens every game makes you sit through now a days.

 

[carbonbased]

the Brink config program over at the Steam forums helped my performance quite a bit. it allows for advanced graphical tweaking and customization of other settings not available from the in-game menus. the "threaded renderer" option for multicore processors was what helped to smooth out my framerate. i haven't seen much talk of it around here so i thought it was worth bringing up.

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1882626

edit: son of a

 

[Visualante]

Thanks both of you, I'll try it now.

 

[carbonbased]

initial setup for the config program is a little confusing so here is a copy + paste of the instructions.

How to Use:
1. Download and run
2. Click Set path to steam user data local folder found here -> steam/userdata/*number*/22350/local/base
3. Enable the settings you want to use and set the values!
4. Once you have selected your settings click Save and Apply Config
5. Once you have saved and applied the config click launch game!

 

[Danne-Danger]

How do I limit ping and player numbers on servers, maybe that will help me find better servers quicker?

The little notepad next to the list name.

Is there anything I can do to put FPS on screen.

com_showFPS 1

Additionally net_graph 2 is a good one as well (try 1-3).

r_usethreadedrenderer 1 gives me a pretty huge performance hit (triple-core), that may be a legacy thing from QW (it worked fine there), not sure if it works as intended in Brink.

 

[Visualante]

I tried putting random numbers in the filter for ping, player count. Didn't seem to work for me but I'll try again. As for FPS, with shadows turned off, HBAO off, everything off I'm getting a lovely 30-40 fps. Will tweak some more and see what happens.

edit. Give up for tonight, seem to be getting 20-40 FPS, in more open area maps. Just not fluid enough for this type of game. Maybe in a few more days I can try to get it up to 60.

 

[DEO3]

Brink TV's 5v5 Tournament begins tonight at 9PM EDT!
Live stream: http://www.justin.tv/brinktv
Bracket: http://thebrink.tv/tournament.php
More info: http://thebrink.tv/

Getting under way now.

 

[InternHertz]

Oh come on Brink, you make me endure Be More Objective *** countless times, the bots rape me and don't want to let me do the objectives, I always run out of time and RAGE. And now, I decide to try one more time...and everything went smoothly, the bots didn't take much and weren't ganging up on me all the time

Well it really helps me as I don't really want to do that again anyway, but I'm wondering what happened for the bots to change their behavior like that...
Now if only they would do the same in Campaign Solo Hard, I'd love that, seeing as we can't play Campaign Online Versus on PC for some damn reason...

Other than that reason, I reeeeally love this game. It's really fun, but I'm waiting for the new maps in June, and possibly an increased level cap down the road.

 

[carbonbased]

ran into a fun hacker just a minute ago. this guy Edward Elric was completely invisible. he appeared on the spectator part of the scoreboard despite having the highest score in every game (i watched as his score went up while he was a "spectator"), and his kills never showed up on the kill tracker. he was able to capture command posts for the security just fine though. i was the only one defending the small room with the last objective on container city and the damn thing just disappeared before my eyes. i ran out and looked everywhere but of course nothing. we lost a few moments later.

after calling him out in global chat a bunch right as my last game ended, i crashed to desktop during post-game results. it was my first crash in almost 20 hours of play.

 

[Teknopathetic]

Tournament is probably worth a separate thread, DEO3. Dunno how much involvement you have with it, but someone else (me, if necessary) can make it if you're a part of staff/admin/whatever.

 

[Grayman]

for ping you can always use the Steam server browser and filter there. The problem with it is that it does not have an easy way to filter mode.

Do the different netgraph's actually work? I couldn't find one that showed a ping.

threaded renderer lowers performance on a dual core as well. 3.3ghz.

 

[Grayman]

Brink TV's 5v5 Tournament begins tonight at 9PM EDT!
Live stream: http://www.justin.tv/brinktv
Bracket: http://thebrink.tv/tournament.php
More info: http://thebrink.tv/

Getting under way now.

32 teams nice.

for BO1 does it mean both teams take a run in stopwatch?

 

[Teknopathetic]

"for BO1 does it mean both teams take a run in stopwatch?"

Well, it wouldn't really be stopwatch if they didn't.

 

[charsace]

We are working on things, what/when is above my pay grade to announce I'm sorry to say.


I can't say any more than the team have and are working hard at sorting stuff. And on the PC so have AMD and NV on there side of the fence.

Man when there is no lag the game is so damn good, but it seems to be a rare thing on 360. Please man tell your team to get on it and fix it quick!

 

[Sanic]

Something odd is going on with the server. It's getting hijacked, even though I have hijacking disabled. I've added a support ticket for that, as well as the issue of the server reporting as full at 14 players.

 

[fuzzyreactor]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0q14FZmfIo

this video is pretty cool, shows how useful the light can be

 

[Teknoman]

Something odd is going on with the server. It's getting hijacked, even though I have hijacking disabled. I've added a support ticket for that, as well as the issue of the server reporting as full at 14 players.

Hijacked?

 

[PedroLumpy]

Sooooo these maps don't seem very balanced...

And anyone know what's up with the duct taped magazine? sometimes I reload quick, sometimes slow. Doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. I thought it might be one quick, one slow, one quick etc. but it doesn't even seem to follow that.

And anyone else get a lot of timeouts on the server browser?

 

[Grayman]

Sooooo these maps don't seem very balanced...

And anyone know what's up with the duct taped magazine? sometimes I reload quick, sometimes slow. Doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. I thought it might be one quick, one slow, one quick etc. but it doesn't even seem to follow that.

And anyone else get a lot of timeouts on the server browser?

I read that every second reload is fast, like it follows the logic of actually duct taping 2 together.

The maps can have issues in 8v8 for sure
stuck in container city
the last hack on resort can be near impossible

 

[Captain Fish]

Unless they fixed it, it reloads fast on reload 2,4,6 etc rather than 1,3,5 like you'd expect.

 

[Teknoman]

I read that every second reload is fast, like it follows the logic of actually duct taping 2 together.

The maps can have issues in 8v8 for sure
stuck in container city
the last hack on resort can be near impossible

If you can get your team to have a few go on the left and right (security) before setting up a detonation charge on the gate, you wont have too much trouble.

 

[Chanser]

Here's another Brink configuration tool: http://www.reddit.com/r/brink/comments/hdv8p/official_config_tool_of_rbrink_release_brinkkit/