PC Ubisoft Screwed Over PC Gamers with Watch_Dogs. Here's Why.

Abstract Debauchery

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Remember during E3 2012 when Ubisoft showed Watch_Dogs for the first time? Those graphics were amazing, right! Then as time went on, they showed Watch_Dogs again and it looked... really bad. In terms of graphics, it was a huge downgrade. So much in fact, there was a rather huge controversy over it. Well, as it turns out, this shit was intentional.

Found in the files of the game on PC, players and modders were able to find settings that enabled the game to do glorious things. Posted on the NeoGAF forums, the following screenshots reek of corruption. However, given the nature of Ubisoft, this shit surprises no one.

yGCQWdT.jpg

"Who cares" indeed, Ubisoft.

On Cyberpunked in a PC performance thread:

The Worse, creator of the mod on Guru3d: http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=390114

Has made massive discoveries/improvements. He has discovered that almost all of the shaders and improvements seen in 2012 and 2013 are still in the game files, such as the e3 2012 explosions. For now he has managed to implement dynamic shadows from headlights, the increased rain density, increased NPC density, as well as 2012 e3 bloom and lens flare.
When he manages to unpack certain files, he will be able to activate everything, such as POMs, etc.

This whole things stinks of console garbage. In an attempt to hide how behind the "next generation" consoles really are, the PC players had to suffer by having our edition of the game dumbed down to meet a console's low standards and expectations.

With the mod, here's what our game should look like: http://imgur.com/a/QqpGf#0

And the following video is even better:


Look at the textures on that coat. Look at those shades. ARE THOSE MOTHERFUCKING DYNAMIC SHADOWS?! Yes, yes they are. The mod in question here actually doesn't add anything to the game. All it does is activate things in the game that were already there but turned off by Ubisoft so they could make consoles look better. To make matters even worse, this mod INCREASES PERFORMANCE OF THE GAME. Good fucking game, Ubisoft. I'll never not pirate one of your games again.

1402943413586ngopq.jpg


Put "1"s where those zeros are and you get this:

hacks_by_intheflorsh-d7mmzs6.png


Bask in the glory of the Glorious PC Gaming Master Race, peasants.

Features of the mod are as follows:

-Changes to the default fog values
-Enabled bokeh DOF for the main cameras
-Stuttering Improvements
-E3 2012 Bloom
-Performance Improvements
-Enabled Headlight Shadows
-LoD Changes
-Reflection changes
-Added 3 new cameras to the game(closer, normal, further)
-Rain changes(High quality rain drops, properly reacting to light, etc)
-LensFlares(WIP)
-Lighting changes(TESTING AND WIP)
-Civilians density changes

And many more things.. SOON.

You can download the mod to unlock your PC copy of Watch_Dogs here: http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=390114

Enjoy.
 
I actually remember this controversy. Spent time talking to some of my friends over it.....good thread.

And of course, ty for the links ;)
 
It's a good week for them, isn't it?

First the initial outcry over Watch Dogs being downgraded, then they come up with the bullshit excuse that animating women is too hard (and too expensive!) [we don't want icky girls as playable characters in our games. Eww, because it means not as many people will buy our new Ass Creed game. even though we have no proof of that], except when they're perfectly able to animate a desperate woman as a hostage in one of their other games, and now this.

Oh well, this doesn't really concern me. Not that I've any desire to pick up Watch Dogs anyway. I'm stepping away from Ubisoft open-world games, because they're similar enough to leave me fatigued.
 
Yer I saw this the other day actually, it is disgusting to see that it was just sitting there within the final code and just not enabled. I would have been more happier if it was an issue in that they were disabled for the console versions and they mucked up the pc version and just patched it like within a week of release but to avoid this entirely and leaving that 'who cares' in the code is just disgusting. The game was pretty good in areas and will in the future get a sequel it has potential but they need to stop this bullshot business it just isn't right.
 
Are these brand new consoles really so piss poor that they need this? :hmmm: Makes me re-think even considering buying one in the first place.

That screenshot showing how it SHOULD look though.. awesome.
 
It seems like it. Last I checked, the game runs at 900p on PS4 and 792p on Xbox One at the rate of 30fps for both, and they were the priority machines. It would seem that back in 2012, they had yet to get the console devkits, and were thus still chiefly developing on PC. Devkits came in, it became apparent that the full vision couldn't be replicated on the so-called "next-gen" hardware.

I can't understand why they would deliberately stunt the PC version like this. Everyone is well aware that your titan of a PC running it at max is going to look probably 10x better than if you were playing it on a £350 console, so who were they trying to kid? The only possible thing could be if they simply decided to downgrade it uniformly for the sake of efficiency in development/business reason to maximise margins without necessary extra effort or some shit.

How is Watch Dogs on PC anyway? There have been people saying it's poorly optimised, which was already enough to tell you how little Ubisoft cares about PC.
 
It seems like it. Last I checked, the game runs at 900p on PS4 and 792p on Xbox One at the rate of 30fps for both, and they were the priority machines. It would seem that back in 2012, they had yet to get the console devkits, and were thus still chiefly developing on PC. Devkits came in, it became apparent that the full vision couldn't be replicated on the so-called "next-gen" hardware.

I can't understand why they would deliberately stunt the PC version like this. Everyone is well aware that your titan of a PC running it at max is going to look probably 10x better than if you were playing it on a £350 console, so who were they trying to kid? The only possible thing could be if they simply decided to downgrade it uniformly for the sake of efficiency in development/business reason to maximise margins without necessary extra effort or some shit.

How is Watch Dogs on PC anyway? There have been people saying it's poorly optimised, which was already enough to tell you how little Ubisoft cares about PC.
In regards to your question about the pc version it is extremely bad in terms of optimization. The game detests SLI configured graphics cards and on a single card even the beefy cards struggle to run the game max out. It was a similar case with Assassin's Creed 4, I feel people were prepared for the worst. The bit that gets me though is that the mod actually improves performance, why wasn't that feature already in there.
 
If graphics mattered in consoles, gaming would never have made it past the pre-NES era. The only thing to consider buying a new console for is the new library that can't be bought on older consoles. Unfortunately, there ain't much of a unique library yet, but there will be at some point.

I find it funny that they made the PC game graphically worse. I'm assuming there must be a proper reason for it though, rather than just that line of code. It'd be bad business practice to worsen their own game for such a stupid reason :wacky:.
 
I have to agree with greeny... I mean sure gaming companies aren't that reliable with giving out reasons why they do what they do.... But something tells me there is more reasons than they are telling....

Also on the side note, what happen to the "graphics don't make the game" stuff :wacky:
 
what happen to the "graphics don't make the game" stuff :wacky:

I completely agree with you, graphics don't make the game they are visual fluff that add to the overall experience. But I think in this case it was the initial reveal in which we were promised this is what it would look like and then the finishing product being not on par at all. I think in this case people are complaining about the graphics because of the betrayal. I personally am playing games I wouldn't consider pretty by any stretch of the imagination but they are fun. Games need to be fun and that is what is needed.
 
I find it funny that they made the PC game graphically worse. I'm assuming there must be a proper reason for it though, rather than just that line of code. It'd be bad business practice to worsen their own game for such a stupid reason :wacky:.

Console parity.
 
To make console look better by comparison. It would reflect poorly on consoles to see how terrible their brand-spanking-new system looks in comparison to a PC worth its salt.

Also, I have no sources to back it up, but I remember TotalBiscuit saying that the Watch Dogs film (in the making) is being produced by Sony Pictures. So, yeah. If that's true, they may have been paid off to level the playing field.
 
To make console look better by comparison. It would reflect poorly on consoles to see how terrible their brand-spanking-new system looks in comparison to a PC worth its salt.

I can't see a company making their product seem worse for this reason. I mean, I don't really know how stupid Ubisoft are as a whole, but lowering your PC market share just to make one version look the same as another is crazy :wacky:.

Also, I have no sources to back it up, but I remember TotalBiscuit saying that the Watch Dogs film (in the making) is being produced by Sony Pictures. So, yeah. If that's true, they may have been paid off to level the playing field.

TotalBiscuit: ever the pessimist lmao. I don't think he sees any positive in anything, does he? He loves his conspiracy theories too lol. Still, if Ubisoft are willing to be bribed by Sony and actually see lowering the quality of their product as a good thing in any way...

The movie could be released by a million other producers (or whatever they're called) I'm sure. It's a huge game that'll make a tonne in the movie industry too. Ubisoft must realise this.

Type type type.
 
TotalBiscuit said that Watch Dogs was a great game and he had a lot of fun playing it, despite the controversy. Who makes the claim is irrelevant, as long as they have the information to back it up. Also, source.

This is not the first time console parity has happened and is a very real, and very discussed topic. It is far from the outlandish idea you seem to make it out to be. Many developers gimp the PC version so as that consoles can stand a little better against it. Honestly, just give it a Google and I'm sure you'll find plenty.
 
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