Locked at 30 fps

[lowscore]

Ofcourse it's perfectly playable at thirty frames per second. Why wouldn't it be?

It may play smooth, but it doesn't look smooth. It never will at 30fps. No game at 30fps ever does. Hooked up to a display at 60Hz, 30 frames need to be repeated. Since every repeat equals a stutter (during movement ofcourse), a 30fps game will stutter thirty times per second. Let me repeat that, 30 stutters a second!

I am constantly amazed that this bothers so few people. It stutters. Because it stutters, it suffers from double-vision. It's like looking at your game cross-eyed. One pole in the game becomes two as soon as the screen starts scrolling. Edges, textures, everything is seen twice. And because of this double-vision effect, it looks blurry in motion. Compared to a constant 60fps which does look smooth and provides clarity in motion, you get stutter, double-vision and blur when looking at any framerate that is not equal to the refresh rate of the display while in motion. Yet 99% of the population don't even notice. To me, that's really, really weird. But there you have it.

Nonetheless, I notice. And it bothers me.

[Bard09]

I still REALLY want to play Stacking in 60 FPS, but I'm willing to be wait until it's done right.

An update from DFNathan would be awesome, though

[DFNathan]

Hey! It's me, DF Nathan. The only update I have is that we have no firm timetable on this yet. We prioritized the general usability concerns players have addressed (FOV, flickering, etc) over this issue. Of course we also have a bunch of work on announced and unannounced games to do. I'm still hopeful we'll get to removing the fps cap this summer, but that's still very much TBD.

[needaxeo]

Originally Posted by DFNathan

Hey! It's me, DF Nathan. The only update I have is that we have no firm timetable on this yet. We prioritized the general usability concerns players have addressed (FOV, flickering, etc) over this issue. Of course we also have a bunch of work on announced and unannounced games to do. I'm still hopeful we'll get to removing the fps cap this summer, but that's still very much TBD.

Well as I said in #32 the programmer(s) that hardcoded this, and made assumptions about the framerate so you can't fix it 2 months after having a meeting to discuss how to fix it, are albatrosses around your neck.

Probably ruining your latest projects too with bad decisions that'll hurt you later.

My advice, take the hit, fix it before it's too late for those new projects too and you'll be saying the same thing about that new project that you are about this one.

The more pain and late nights that programmer goes through fixing it (assuming you don't simply give him a subway map and say 'find your way home") the more likely they will not repeat the mistake. instead you're rewarding them by letting them work on a new shiny project.

The fact they screwed the FOV too is just telling us what we already knew, but they are really the same problem. Fixing one without the other doesn't make the game a more attractive purchase.

I wouldn't trust them at getting priorities right though...

[xyzaz]

Hi, I bought Stacking and run on my Core i7 2600K + GeForce GTX 680 computer and I saw 30 fps... wtf?

Please fix it, because 30 fps is not playable for me

[ekze]

DFNathan, thanks for the update! I'm still waiting for you to release the patch so I can buy the game and play it. I am sure there are a lot of people who would appreciate it if you make it someday.

[timeformime]

Stacking and LA Noire, both third person adventure games, have a frame lock on PC, and if I didn't even notice the frame lock on LA Noire until I read about it, I probably won't notice on Stacking either. It's not really worth it for Double Fine to upend their engine just for the few who would notice the frame lock.

I just snapped up Stacking on sale of course, and I'm sure I'll have a blast when I get around to it.

Edit: err yeah, scratch that, it's pretty noticeable. I'll just have to get used to it, I guess, because the game's great so far in every other way.

[NaN]

The cap at 30fps is a big step behind. I don't like it and make me feel uncomfortable when playing the game. I also jumped from consoles to PC, due to those limitations, low resolution, low FOV, etc... and now I face similar issues in PC, even if there is no such limitations in PC, is terrible.

[DFNathan]

Originally Posted by NaN

The cap at 30fps is a big step behind. I don't like it and make me feel uncomfortable when playing the game. I also jumped from consoles to PC, due to those limitations, low resolution, low FOV, etc... and now I face similar issues in PC, even if there is no such limitations in PC, is terrible.

We agree w/ you re: 30 fps and still plan to address this at some point. It's just too big of a task for us to work in the cracks, so we're trying to find the best way to schedule the work.

We have addressed your other items, though, w/ user controllable FOV, much higher max res, optional SSAA, and some additional user requested post controls for things like flickering.

[NaN]

Originally Posted by DFNathan

We agree w/ you re: 30 fps and still plan to address this at some point. It's just too big of a task for us to work in the cracks, so we're trying to find the best way to schedule the work.

We have addressed your other items, though, w/ user controllable FOV, much higher max res, optional SSAA, and some additional user requested post controls for things like flickering.

Well, Thank you for at least listening the feedback. For what is worth, I find the game pretty fun to play and I recommended to my friends.

[Bard09]

Just checking in. Any updates, DFNathan?

[ekze]

Originally Posted by Bard09

Just checking in. Any updates, DFNathan?

Same question.

[Bard09]

Hey DFNathan,

Has Doublefine abandoned the idea of raising the FPS on Stacking to 60 or higher? We haven't heard back from you guys for months now, and I want to be sure.

Would be nice to hear the official word on this.

Thanks!

[DFJustin]

Originally Posted by Bard09

Hey DFNathan,

Has Doublefine abandoned the idea of raising the FPS on Stacking to 60 or higher? We haven't heard back from you guys for months now, and I want to be sure.

Would be nice to hear the official word on this.

Thanks!

We haven't abandoned it, most of our bandwidth has just been taken up with finalizing The Cave, getting Middle Manager of Justice ready to launch, Amnesia Fortnight, and probably other things I'm forgetting/don't know about.

It's on the list of things we're planning to make the games better, there's just been things that have been far more pressing that had to be finished first.

[DFNathan]

Originally Posted by DFJustin

We haven't abandoned it, most of our bandwidth has just been taken up with finalizing The Cave, getting Middle Manager of Justice ready to launch, Amnesia Fortnight, and probably other things I'm forgetting/don't know about.

It's on the list of things we're planning to make the games better, there's just been things that have been far more pressing that had to be finished first.

Yep, that is correct. We definitely understand how much PC gamers dislike capped framerates in their games. The tough thing for us is that we have to prioritize new games and other revenue opportunities over improvements like this one. I'm continuing to work with studio management to make time to include this improvement to our engine, and we'll do that as soon as I can get that time carved out. I can't honestly give anyone here a firm ETA, but I promise that when the tech is ready, we'll apply it to all Buddha engine games currently available.