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The Vanishing of Ethan Carter |OT| A first person murder mystery (PC)

I have a NON-overclocked 2GB GTX 770, i5 3570k overclocked to 4.2 GHz, 8GB RAM. My system should be similar to yours, but worse.

I'm using Windows 7 64-bit for reference, and probably haven't updated the drivers recently. I think I was using 4xMSAA with either x4 or x16 AF. I got 60 fps overlooking landscape, maybe even in the woods as well, since I think I generally saw 50-60 everywhere. Try dropping your AF to x4 just in case (unlikely to cause much of a hit), and then try bringing the 770 back to stock speeds if that doesn't help.

Hmm. I have my 770 at a safe overclock using asus gpu tweak. Deffo not getting 60fps in the woods at all. Not it safely stays in the 35-45fps mark.

Will try AF now even though a poster above said it probably won't affect much. I'm using win7 64bit too. I'm slighttllly worried now aha
 

Stallion Free

Cock Encumbered
Don't bother with AF leave it at the highest. Any MSAA will cut your framerate anywhere from 30-50%. It's the single largest performance hit.
 

Corpsepyre

Banned
ATTN:

haven't read through the thread so this might be old, but I found the micro stutter fix!!!

sweet mother of buttery 60fps.

http://steamcommunity.com/app/258520/discussions/0/616189106494701813/

user IronBlu on steam forums:

Go to : C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\The Vanishing of Ethan Carter\Engine\Config

Or wherever you keep your steam games.

Open : BaseEngine.ini

Search for : "bSmoothFrameRate=FALSE"

And Change to : "bSmoothFrameRate=TRUE"

Thanks for this. Helped out a lot. There still is a bit of a stutter, but its not as bad as before. Getting 60 fps with V sync turned on, with few drops here and there, but nothing major at all. Have everything turned to max except for MSAA, which I have set to 2x

Windows 8.1 64 bit
Gigabyte R9 270x,
Core i3 4130 ghz Haswell processor
4 gb Corsair Vengeance ram
 

Blizzard

Banned
AF shouldn't, but you might as well be thorough if you're testing. :D

Regarding the cave entrances and exits, can anyone confirm:
Can you go back in through the tiny exit? I think I was able to go back in that way once, but then the next time I found it outside it only had an "Exit" cursor, and I could not crawl back into the cave after finishing everything.

I fell down the elevator, so I'm guessing the "correct" path is to go over a hill, entre the cave through that crawl hole, and exit at the very bottom broken gate.
 

UnrealEck

Member
1080p bud. Ah ok. I could drop it to 2MSAA as I' don't mind the frame rate being lower than 60 I guess. It's not like this is an fps aha. I'm just wondering if my 770 is perfoming ok. As it's been a while since I put it to the test!

If I uncap the framerate I'm getting anywhere from over 70 upto about 100 at 1440p with no AA when it's not choking trying to load textures as I move through the map.
 
Non OC 2GB 770, i7 4770k, 16GB ram, and im running it at 2560x1600, 2xmsaa, and its 60FPS solid for me. Amazing performance.

Game is so utterly gorgeous too. Just jaw dropping vistas every area.

Did an absolute WTF moment near the beginning when i found the
astronaut
and the
space ship
, and went into
outer space
:lol:
 

Blizzard

Banned
Non OC 2GB 770, i7 4770k, 16GB ram, and im running it at 2560x1600, 2xmsaa, and its 60FPS solid for me. Amazing performance.

Game is so utterly gorgeous too. Just jaw dropping vistas every area.

Did an absolute WTF moment near the beginning when i found the
astronaut
and the
space ship
, and went into
outer space
:lol:
That spoilered section was the first one I finished, since I missed things in the two earlier segments. As you can imagine I was VERY confused for a bit.
 
Non OC 2GB 770, i7 4770k, 16GB ram, and im running it at 2560x1600, 2xmsaa, and its 60FPS solid for me. Amazing performance.

Game is so utterly gorgeous too. Just jaw dropping vistas every area.

Did an absolute WTF moment near the beginning when i found the
astronaut
and the
space ship
, and went into
outer space
:lol:

What the hell 0.0

Howwwww. Something is deffo up with my card then :(
 

Corpsepyre

Banned
Non OC 2GB 770, i7 4770k, 16GB ram, and im running it at 2560x1600, 2xmsaa, and its 60FPS solid for me. Amazing performance.

Game is so utterly gorgeous too. Just jaw dropping vistas every area.

Did an absolute WTF moment near the beginning when i found the
astronaut
and the
space ship
, and went into
outer space
:lol:

What? Where does that come? :/
 

Dr Dogg

Member
Right just want to compare performance with other users with similar setup. Feel like I should be getting better fps even though the game does look stunning.

Running an overclocked GTX 770
i7 3770K OC'd to 4.4ghz
16GB RAM

Got everything on max with 4x MSAA...

Yeah that will be the reason. 2xMSAA for me on a 780 at 2560x1440 is a 20% hit straight and 4xMSAA is surprise, surprise 40%. I'd imagine it to be in and around the same on a 770 at 1920x1080, maybe a bit more. If you want extra frames turn AA down but I've not found 2xMSAA to be not too much of an issue unless there's some heavy alpha effects going on.
 
Yeah that will be the reason. 2xMSAA for me on a 780 at 2560x1440 is a 20% hit straight and 4xMSAA is surprise, surprise 40%. I'd imagine it to be in and around the same on a 770 at 1920x1080, maybe a bit more. If you want extra frames turn AA down but I've not found 2xMSAA to be too much of an issue unless there's some heavy alpha effects going on.

Ok I'll try 2MSAA and see what frame rates I get. How is that guy running 2560x1600 on a 770 at max though?!!

EDIT: Just tested on 2MSAA and getting 55-60fps everywhere. Much better. Still surprised at other peoples 770 performance though. I thought my Direct CUII OC card was pretty decent aha
 

Blizzard

Banned
I should point out I'm running at 1680x1050, and other people might be doing 1920x1080.

Also, that one person had a 4770k, which is presumably a step above a 3770k, just in case CPU is a factor.
 
I should point out I'm running at 1680x1050, and other people might be doing 1920x1080.

Also, that one person had a 4770k, which is presumably a step above a 3770k, just in case CPU is a factor.

I wouldn't think CPU would be a factor in him running at such a high res on the same card would it?

Also anyone else getting weird black artifacts in certain areas?! Walking up to the train there is this weird flickering black shape eminating off it. I have noticed it in some other areas too. Very minor and just looks like a graphical bug.

Game is so freaking stunning though. Wow
 

bj00rn_

Banned
This turned out to be the surprise of the day. I didn't know this was coming out before I saw someone post screenshots in the 970/980 thread. Bought it immediately after. Hmm.. can't be a coincidence that I get a certain Dear Esther vibe from this one.. Loving the experience so far.
 

Dr Dogg

Member
Ok I'll try 2MSAA and see what frame rates I get. How is that guy running 2560x1600 on a 770 at max though?!!

EDIT: Just tested on 2MSAA and getting 55-60fps everywhere. Much better. Still surprised at other peoples 770 performance though. I thought my Direct CUII OC card was pretty decent aha

No idea. I sit at around 60-80% GPU usage most of the time in the bit's I've played at 2560x1440 with everything turned up with 2xMSAA. When the scenes within a scene like
inspecting the crank
crop up I get pulled down to 45~fps and in the first ordered investigation it was in and around 50fps but I'm not a diehard 'give me 60fps or give me death' activist and more than happy with how the game looks not to sacrifice image quality.

I should point out I'm running at 1680x1050, and other people might be doing 1920x1080.

Also, that one person had a 4770k, which is presumably a step above a 3770k, just in case CPU is a factor.

Not really for me. It's hammering one core 95-100% and then about 40 odd on another with the rest just dealing with the rest of systems resources. Same story with most UE3 games and two fast cores will do the trick.
 

Blizzard

Banned
I wouldn't think CPU would be a factor in him running at such a high res on the same card would it?

Also anyone else getting weird black artifacts in certain areas?! Walking up to the train there is this weird flickering black shape eminating off it. I have noticed it in some other areas too. Very minor and just looks like a graphical bug.

Game is so freaking stunning though. Wow
Very few if any artifacts. Try taking off your GPU overclock since it's sounding more like you're seeing occasional issues.
 
Very few if any artifacts. Try taking off your GPU overclock since it's sounding more like you're seeing occasional issues.

Yeah it was overclocking that was doing it. Put it down to stock and getting 55-60fps anyway with no artifacts and with 2MSAA so I'll just leave it at that for now. Cba to mess about bringing my OC down I just want to enjoy the game haha.
 

AHA-Lambda

Member
Answers:

I think you should have seen two stories by then, and one or two investigations depending on your path. You can go back and get them later, and you'll get an ingame map reference at the end if you miss stuff.

Regarding the mine tunel, I'm not sure you can go in this path (I had an "Exit" cursor), but look for the big arch-like stone wall with a decorative pattern, then roam that hillside looking at the ground. There should be a tiny hole nearby.

There's also another cave entrance, but I think to get to that one you have to fall down an elevator which is a glitch and being patched out.

Thanks :)
 
Finished after 6 hours. Which is definitely an above average time since I went as slow as possible, savoring the view to an incredible degree. I think its the best way to enjoy the game...in fact, in some ways I think I enjoyed the moments in between the story and puzzles more than the actual interactions. The music is amazing, and the -potential- for mystery is much greater than the result. Which is not to say I didn't enjoy what they had to offer. But for me, the joy of this game is not about the destination, its the journey, and the slower the better, always wondering whats around the next hill.
 

Dr Dogg

Member
Can you disable the launcher? It messes up when using in-home streaming. Screen goes all black.

The executable is in the ..\The Vanishing of Ethan Carter\Binaries\Win64\ directory as AstronautsGame-Win64Shipping.exe . Firing that up skips the launcher entirely but there might a target command to disable it.
 

Vlodril

Member
the game is so pretty. i am afraid i am spamming my friend list with my pictures :)

Still so far i really like it. Story is wonderfully weird and kinda dark at times.

Random early area spoiler
that spaceship trip..
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
AF shouldn't, but you might as well be thorough if you're testing. :D

Regarding the cave entrances and exits, can anyone confirm:
Can you go back in through the tiny exit? I think I was able to go back in that way once, but then the next time I found it outside it only had an "Exit" cursor, and I could not crawl back into the cave after finishing everything.

I fell down the elevator, so I'm guessing the "correct" path is to go over a hill, entre the cave through that crawl hole, and exit at the very bottom broken gate.

How do you get out
anywhere except where you went in (near the lake by crunching under a beam)? The only other exit I can find is a chained up gate
but I can't open it.

I also don't understand the
elevator falling glitch being patched out. How else are you supposed to get down to the lake area?
 
ATTN:

haven't read through the thread so this might be old, but I found the micro stutter fix!!!

sweet mother of buttery 60fps.

http://steamcommunity.com/app/258520/discussions/0/616189106494701813/

user IronBlu on steam forums:

Go to : C:program Files (x86)SteamSteamAppscommonThe Vanishing of Ethan CarterEngineConfig

Or wherever you keep your steam games.

Open : BaseEngine.ini

Search for : "bSmoothFrameRate=FALSE"

And Change to : "bSmoothFrameRate=TRUE"
Caps the frames at 62. That's my problem.
 

dex3108

Member
Ok that ending was powerful. Really nice experience and i can't express my feelings because it would be a spoiler for others.

Visually game is beautiful and in combination with soundtrack creates amazing atmosphere. Gameplay is basic but it is enough for this game. Story is something special and people who are saying it is bad didn't saw (end game spoiler!)
true ending
i think.

For me game is simply beautiful and true indie gem like Brothers: Tale of Two Sons is.
 

Faith

Member
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Too bad that there is no 21:9 fix yet. I'm not sure, but I think no game impressed me that much. Graphics are mindblowing.
 

Blizzard

Banned
How do you get out
anywhere except where you went in (near the lake by crunching under a beam)? The only other exit I can find is a chained up gate
but I can't open it.

I also don't understand the
elevator falling glitch being patched out. How else are you supposed to get down to the lake area?
For the first:
There's a tiny crawl tunnel off to one side somewhere. It leads out near the locked gate, on a hillside

For the second:
If you go over the hill instead, you will eventually loop around I believe. I'd have to look at a map to double check.
 

Earl_Grey

Murdered By StarCreator
The game is gorgeous and the premise is interesting, but it doesn't build on the investigation/puzzle solving gameplay in any meaningful way. Once you've finished the first investigation, you've essentially seen all the game has to offer. The writing was decent, but there wasn't really enough of it, and the voice acting wasn't strong enough to really sell the characters in the limited time we had with them. If we're going to compare walk-em-ups, Gone Home has much better environmental storytelling, Dear Esther has much better writing and the Stanley Parable is far more ambitious.

On the bright side, it's got one of the best dynamic soundtracks I've ever heard.
 

Earl_Grey

Murdered By StarCreator
This just happened to me, and I was pretty shocked the game let it happen. I take it this was a bug?

Yes it's a bug, and the developer has encouraged people not to use it as it can break some puzzles.

As for getting to the lake (no story spoilers)
there's a hidden tunnel near the locked gate to the mine.
 

lordkosc

Member
1GB patch is live, very nice. Don't have patch notes tho.

invert Y now works properly on both mouse and gamepad
- can configure arrows keys now as well
- odd line under the black bars removed in modes other than pure 16:9
- players can no longer fall into the elevator shaft
- XXXX no longer attacks during the gate sequence
- story page after the XXXX no longer appears post-section
- checkpoint loads improvements
- checkpoint now auto-saves every time we read a story page or see the murder
- players can no longer inspect items in the total darkness
- various small streaming and lighting improvements
- sniper rifle no scope damage tweaked from 3 to over 9000
- other minor fixes

http://steamcommunity.com/games/258520#announcements/detail/255901136507271644
 

Fuu

Formerly Alaluef (not Aladuf)
I also don't understand the
elevator falling glitch being patched out. How else are you supposed to get down to the lake area?
This just happened to me, and I was pretty shocked the game let it happen. I take it this was a bug?

Yes it's a bug, and the developer has encouraged people not to use it as it can break some puzzles.

As for getting to the lake (no story spoilers)
there's a hidden tunnel near the locked gate to the mine.
Well fuck me, I came here to read about the patch and this one happened to me after I solved a few different sections. I thought it was very silly but didn't realize it was a bug.

I already did a whole section down there but if it's going to break puzzles I'm assuming I should restart the game? In any case, I think I'll just replay from the start to be on the safe side, not like it will take long was since I already know what to do until that point. God bless the run button.

edit:
- sniper rifle no scope damage tweaked from 3 to over 9000
:lol
 

CheesecakeRecipe

Stormy Grey
Are there supposed to be
6 corpses you have to find in the mines to open the gate? I can only find 5.

The
letter next to the body in the room with the gate has the first and last letters of the god's name, so you only need to know the middle letters between those two.
 

kd-z

Member
I believe I'm stuck :(

I've
seen the deaths of everyone. Father's was last, then Ethan and his brother had a short conversation in the building with water pumps or something. I can turn one of them off by turning a valve. But I have no idea what to do now :(

Any help? It kind of sucks to get stuck in a "walking simulator" :/
 

CheesecakeRecipe

Stormy Grey
I believe I'm stuck :(

I've
seen the deaths of everyone. Father's was last, then Ethan and his brother had a short conversation in the building with water pumps or something. I can turn one of them off by turning a valve. But I have no idea what to do now :(

Any help? It kind of sucks to get stuck in a "walking simulator" :/

That's because it isn't just a walking simulator!

You can cross the river at a specific point, look for some stairs that lead into the river. One of them will allow you to cross to the other side
 

mbpm1

Member
Actually Online is okay for me like 75% of the time and then you run into players that turn the game into a stop motion film.

I'm kinda used to lag tho
 

peakish

Member
Just finished it, it was pretty good. Definitely felt more like a short story than a novel, which is not a negative. Kind of wish it built on some story themes though, I didn't get any of that (
more than the very simple connection between a kid living in an isolated area retreating to his imagination
). I like it when there's some resonance between the story and game.

The creepiness was perfectly enjoyable, at least for me who scares relatively easily. It had me on edge most of the game, with one part having my skin absolutely crawling for several minutes after it. This is where the game shines and the art is perfectly matched with the mood in open areas, woods, indoors and dark areas. Together with Brothers it's probably the best environmental art I've seen in a game. Nothing else has captured the beauty of walking around in an autumn season.

I will say that I wish they had come up with some additional interesting puzzle mechanics. There's one which is really great and a few more like that would have been great, but it's mostly rehashing another mechanic a bit too much. Still, I really enjoyed the game. If tightened up a bit with the puzzles and story it would likely leave a lasting impact on me, but even without those it's a creepy, interesting and absolutely gorgeous game that flows well, has interesting scenes and a very natural, non-intrusive interaction system. Definitely worth my money and I'll keep a look out for what The Astronauts will create moving on.

The entire game I had learned that thankfully, nothing is going to attack me or jump in my face. Okay, scary shadows, oh, it's a zombie. That's kind of gross but at least it won't jump on me FUUUUUUUUUUCK.
I was more than a bit on edge at that point and just went nope, and turned around. Then had to return later to finish it, lol. Great moment.
 

Blizzard

Banned
Best texture work I've seen in my life. Mindblowing.
Wait, are you MaLDo, as in, the Crysis texture modder? I think I literally saw someone in a thread comment that Ethan Carter is the first commercial game they've seen with textures on the level of the MaLDo texture mods.

So I'd say that compliment coming from you is pretty high praise. :D
 
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