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Sony sucks at porting games to PC

winjer

Gold Member
It was with great enthusiasm that PC gamers received the news that more PlayStation games were getting ported to PC. But several of these PC ports have been abismal, with lots of problems.
Here are a few examples.

Spider-man for some reason, requires a CPU that is much more powerful than anything on a PS4 or PS5, just to run well enough.
It has Ray-tracing implemented, but the BVH traversal is done on the CPU, even of GPUs that have dedicated hardware for this. So performance is lower than what it should be.

Sackboy, has so many issues with stuttering it broke Alex Battaglia. During his review of the game, he couldn't even muster the strength to be angry, it was just lifeless disappointment.

Uncharted 4 had issues with mouse controls since launch and the first patch just made it worse. And it only got fixed a couple of days ago.
Steam forums are filled with people with issues with crashes, performance and graphic errors.

Horizon Zero Dawn had performance problems, and it took almost a full year for performance to be improved to a good level.

These are good games, but the PC ports are lacking in quality. This is bound to hurt Sony's reputation as a quality publisher, at least on the PC space.
Sony has to demand better from it's Studios, has to give more time for these games to be ported to PC, with the quality they deserve.
Sony, you have to be better than this.
 

lh032

I cry about Xbox and hate PlayStation.
bTACAUM.gif
 

Kuranghi

Member
The Spiderman RT CPU thing is specific and balls and I'm not excusing their poor efforts but I've been having issues like the rest with PC ports and releases for years now.

Almost all the indie games I waited a good while for in the last few years are ruined by stuttering, sometimes shader based but often just some mad quirk of their coding/the engine and I speak directly to the developer and they don't notice it when they play or consider it a problem :messenger_dizzy:

It's like HDR, it's become so much more widespread but so many have just been winging it for years still.

I think it's a pipeline issue for both stuttering and HDR, you've done something one way for 10 years/your whole career and now you're suddenly told to alter things for these new methods but don't have the tools to support it.

Like Auto HDR on Xbox and the HDR container thing on PS5, the former is clearly doing something better but both are shite and generally not preferable to just the SDR presentation if you have your telly set up remotely accurately.
 

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
That sounds more like pc gaming than sony exclusive issue.
Ever since I was buying games on steam, day1 releases had issues.
It is unfortunate but it is what it is.

Sony ports are not too bad. There is a reason why spider man requires so much cpu as it is exactly to avoid stutter and not have long shader compilation. Something the should do in sackboy.

but all in all. I think the ports are OK considering pc standards...
 
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killatopak

Gold Member
I dunno it feels like I give them more leeway compared to most publisher. Simple reason being that they're porting console optimized games to PC unlike most games that are developed with PC in mind at its inception.

Seems like a pretty obvious one especially considering how new they are with it. Consider the fact that a lot of Japanese publishers who are console centric that have begun to have PC ports had their own share of growing pains as well.
 

winjer

Gold Member
That sounds more like pc gaming than sony exclusive issue.
Ever since I was buying games on steam, day1 releases had issues.
It is unfortunate but it is what it is.

Sony ports are not too bad. There is a reason why spider man requires so much cpu as it is exactly to avoid stutter and not have long shader compilation. Something the should do in sackboy.

but all in all. I think the ports are OK considering pc standards...

Spider-man CPU performance has nothing to do with shader compilation. If it was that, at one point, performance would have a big jump, after all shaders had been compiled.
It probably has to do with asset decompression and bad memory management.
 
I always have issues determining if a game will run well on my hardware. At least with consoles it's easy to look at a Digital Foundry, NXGamer or VGTech video and find out how it's going to run on my console.
 

HL3.exe

Member
These games are not intrinsically build around PC hardware. Originally build around specific hardware sets and API instructions and on proprietary engines originally only designed for Sony platforms.

So the fact that these port are on PC at all should be appreciated, even though they have their small quirks. It could've been way worse.

The time of the horrendous GTA IV and RE4 PC ports are long gone.
 
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winjer

Gold Member
Pc gaming will always get bad ports due to the platform's very diverse nature. Devs aren't going to make the effort to optimise or make things run well. Its one of the biggest drawbacks with pc gaming.

Not really, plenty of studios are making good versions of PC games. For example, MS ports are much better.
Gears 5 runs extremely well on PC. Forza Horizon 5 is also very good. Gears tactics. Age of Empires. Both Ori games.

And even other publishers, are not making a much worse version on PC, than on consoles.
Most of the times, if it's a bad game on PC, it's also a bad game on consoles.
I the case of Sony, it's grood games on console, with bad versions on PC.
 

Midn1ght

Member
It's honestly not that bad. Sackboy stutter issue is a huge let down for sure but something that can be fix with an update and precompiling shaders. Tho I'm not hopeful since many other games with the same issue didn't bother to fix it (looking at you Stray).

Can't speak for Spiderman but Days Gone and Uncharted were perfect for me with no issues whatsoever (playing with DualSense so I don't know about the keyboard thing) and Horizon had the shimmering issue when I started but got fixed with the DLSS update.

It's not perfect but I wouldn't go as far as saying they suck at it. Regarding people complaining on Steam forums, it happens to every games with people trying to run games on old hardware, broken PC and laptops. At least they're putting DLSS in every titles beside Days Gone and even RT in lots of them. Pretty cool if you ask me.
 
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Black_Stride

do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
Sitting with a 12400 x RTX3080 having gone through, Days Gone, SpiderMan, Uncharted and God of War, wondering why people are outraged.
Are steam user reviews just lying, cuz I havent had any glaring issues with any of the titles.
I understand HZD launched in a poor state, but I had already gone through that and didnt feel like replaying that game.


<---Hasnt tried Sackboy, has no intention to.
 

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
Spider-man CPU performance has nothing to do with shader compilation. If it was that, at one point, performance would have a big jump, after all shaders had been compiled.
It probably has to do with asset decompression and bad memory management.
Watch some videos.
It has everything to do with shader compilation.
It is happening in real time decoding by the cpu. DF explains this. It is a different method to combat the shader stutter
 

winjer

Gold Member
Watch some videos.
It has everything to do with shader compilation.
It is happening in real time decoding by the cpu. DF explains this. It is a different method to combat the shader stutter

Show me the video where it proves that.
 
Not really, plenty of studios are making good versions of PC games. For example, MS ports are much better.
Gears 5 runs extremely well on PC. Forza Horizon 5 is also very good. Gears tactics. Age of Empires. Both Ori games.

And even other publishers, are not making a much worse version on PC, than on consoles.
Most of the times, if it's a bad game on PC, it's also a bad game on consoles.
I the case of Sony, it's grood games on console, with bad versions on PC.

Surely this has to do with MS/Xbox games using DirectX, it makes the ports much smoother and easier. I believe some of the developers cited this reason as well.

Playstation has been using their own custom API's for years, PSSL (Playstation Shader Language)
 

winjer

Gold Member
Surely this has to do with MS/Xbox games using DirectX, it makes the ports much smoother and easier. I believe some of the developers cited this reason as well.

Playstation has been using their own custom API's for years, PSSL (Playstation Shader Language)

Could be. But that only means they have to learn DX12.
And mind you that DX12 on the Xbox consoles is not exactly the same as in the PC.
 

The_Mike

I cry about SonyGaf from my chair in Redmond, WA
Pc gaming will always get bad ports due to the platform's very diverse nature. Devs aren't going to make the effort to optimise or make things run well. Its one of the biggest drawbacks with pc gaming.
I think you have a wrong definition of always.

Name other games who recently were bad ports besides sonys games.
 
Could be. But that only means they have to learn DX12.
And mind you that DX12 on the Xbox consoles is not exactly the same as in the PC.
Developer skill, resources and time. Their particle system for example took advantage of PS4's GPGPU compute capability, and as mentioned in the interview below it was a pain porting the particle system over to DirectX for that same reason.

EDIT : This is likely what lead to some of the CPU overhead on GOW, that along with the fact the game's entire asset streaming pipeline was designed around the unified memory architecture and porting that to the PC with the split memory configuration was also a headache for developers. This was likely the case with Spiderman as well. I think DirectStorage should mitigate a lot of these issues in the future.

I know it sucks but it is what is, especially when you start comparing the lacklustre jobs many developers have done on recent titles across on all platforms. As with all things, there is a learning curve involved and hopefully the ports improve overtime.

OpMBdHY.jpg
 
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Azurro

Banned
Spider-man CPU performance has nothing to do with shader compilation. If it was that, at one point, performance would have a big jump, after all shaders had been compiled.
It probably has to do with asset decompression and bad memory management.

But that's PC gaming right? You are getting an authentic PC experience from Sony. :p
 

Black_Stride

do not tempt fate do not contrain Wonder Woman's thighs do not do not
Surely this has to do with MS/Xbox games using DirectX, it makes the ports much smoother and easier. I believe some of the developers cited this reason as well.

Playstation has been using their own custom API's for years, PSSL (Playstation Shader Language)
The shader language itself wouldnt be vastly different from existing languages, and shouldnt really, like really matter for alot of cases.
The translations should be borderline automatic so artist dont actually have to worry about how their shaders are gonna look/work on PC/PS4/PS5, alot of studios have streamlined the tech that artists need to muck around with so they can focus on making art.
You can read about PSSL here:


The API which for PS5 is AGC for low level, AGCX highlevel, likely different but not so much so that competent devs couldnt get around translating to DX12 or Vulkan.
If GNM(PS4 api) was similar to Vulkan, id think devs would be porting to PC using Vulkan as their api.
Still wonder why they choose to go with DX12.
I hope id stays with Vulkan.
 
Any game that had issues at launch has been fixed to the point where they are now they best versions of said game.

Horizon Zero Dawn is best on PC
Detroit Become Human is best on PC
Days Gone is best on PC
Death Stranding is best on PC
God of War 2018 is best on PC
Spider-Man Remastered is best on PC
Uncharted The Legacy of Thieves is best on PC
Sackboy: A Big Adventure is best forgotten
Spider-Man Miles Morales will be best on PC
TLOU P1 will be best on PC too

Sony's ports are mostly great.. with a few having issues in the beginning. They're not going to stop either. Their studios are learning from these releases.
 
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winjer

Gold Member
Developer skill, resources and time. Their particle system for example took advantage of PS4's GPGPU compute capability, and as mentioned in the interview below it was a pain porting the particle system over to DirectX for that same reason.

I know it sucks but it is what is, especially when you start comparing the lacklustre jobs many developers have done on recent titles across on all platforms. As with all things, there is a learning curve involved and hopefully the ports improve overtime.

OpMBdHY.jpg

Of course there is a learning curve.
But compare Days Gone port with Sackboy. Both use UE4.
Days Gone runs pretty well, and with no stutter. Sackboy is one of the worst UE4 games on PC, regarding to stutters.
Days Gone does use DX11 and Sackboy runs with DX12. But still, the difference in quality is huge.
They spent a lot of time implementing RT shadows, reflections and global illumination. These are nice extras, but not essential to a good gaming experience.
But they coudn't be bothered to gather PSOs and make it compile during the game's startup, like other games do.
 
Sackboy, has so many issues with stuttering it broke Alex Battaglia. During his review of the game, he couldn't even muster the strength to be angry, it was just lifeless disappointment.

oh no, poor Alex. wait, isn't that the guy who was on Xbox fanboys forum where they planned to spread misinformation about PS5 before it came out.
PS5 has heating issues, production problems,, it will be so weak that Xbox will have options for 4K and PS5 wont.....
which playstation game he didn't criticize ?

some ports HAD issues and they solved them in a patch. that's normal. just as day one patch.
"ABISMAL" ? yeah, sure. which publisher made a pc version with no problems ? Red Dead, Cyberpunk, Battlefield, COD, Forza ???
 

hussar16

Member
They just sent unfiltered games they make for the PC crowd.if it has ray tracing its gon tank ur system if anything I think sony is doing it to show off to PC crowd how hard it is to run games actually and how good they are at it.
 

ACESHIGH

Banned
Yep ports are bad but I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and wait 6 .months until issues are ironed out. This is what happens with most PC games.

Hopefully the next batch of PC ports gave PC in mind from the get go like death stranding.
 

hussar16

Member
Of course there is a learning curve.
But compare Days Gone port with Sackboy. Both use UE4.
Days Gone runs pretty well, and with no stutter. Sackboy is one of the worst UE4 games on PC, regarding to stutters.
Days Gone does use DX11 and Sackboy runs with DX12. But still, the difference in quality is huge.
They spent a lot of time implementing RT shadows, reflections and global illumination. These are nice extras, but not essential to a good gaming experience.
But they coudn't be bothered to gather PSOs and make it compile during the game's startup, like other games do.
I think the PC crowd just has to wake up and know tht it's hard to run games .they can't always expect the games to look better and better each year with more features without tanking performance and to expect the devs to make some magic .this is why consoles were made so there is always a baseline for what they make.u want a game thr always runs good go get a console .PC crowd needs to stop crying because that's what they asked for unfiltered games.
 

MidGenRefresh

*Refreshes biennially
From the games that I've played on both platforms (PC / PS5), all 3 offered a better experience on PC. Days Gone, Horizon and Spider-Man.

I can't say I'm not happy with their ports.
 
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winjer

Gold Member
I think the PC crowd just has to wake up and know tht it's hard to run games .they can't always expect the games to look better and better each year with more features without tanking performance and to expect the devs to make some magic .this is why consoles were made so there is always a baseline for what they make.u want a game thr always runs good go get a console .PC crowd needs to stop crying because that's what they asked for unfiltered games.

Non-sense.
 

Fredrik

Member
The problem is that they come too late.

I’ve already played them on console and even if they’re usually running much better on PC I still don’t have the interest to play them again.

And there is no save sync either, so in the rare occasion when I haven’t finished them yet on console and would be interested to jump in again for better visuals and performance, the interest always fades away when I realize I would need to start over.

Maybe the real problem is lacking replayability combined with late releases.
 

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
Show me the video where it proves that.
lol are you attacking me? DF asked nixies about it. There are other analysis too.
The game does not have initial shader compilation. it's all done in real time by the cpu. it loads the assets preemptively.



In fact, it is FINALLY a good effort use CPUs for something in these ports.
High cpu cost is not a drawback of the port. It is it's strength.

Listen. I have the worst/most confusing pc relationship and I am very annoyed by it. That's why I game on console too a lot. I agree that we should hole this platform to a higher standard... But also, You can't expect Sony of all devs to suddenly fix long lasting PC PLATFORM problems. It's up to microsoft, nvidia, amd and so on.
They at least create new valiatnt efforts with each game. high cpu usage in Spider man. Pre caching in Horizon... anything i better than nothing with Elden Ring. From just dumped their stuttery shit out there. But Sony at least tries
But your blanket statements make it seem worse than it is.... aside from the fact that it could always be better. That's true. And sackboy is hard to excuse... I agree

edit: I AM DEFENDING PC GAMING FOR ONCE !!!!
rodrigolfp rodrigolfp MidGenRefresh MidGenRefresh 01011001 01011001 come here you fuckers. Remember this rare moment :p
 
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MarkyG

Member
Harder to port to PC from console. Console is one eco system, one hardware config. PC is a myriad of systems/configurations. Days Gone, Horizon Zero Dawn, Spiderman and God of War are phenomenal on PC, in my experience. I have no doubt Sackboy will be fixed but it shouldn't have shipped in such a state.
As a PC gamer, it's amazing to see these amazing games come to my platform of choice and I can't wait for more.
 

Skifi28

Member
It's not exactly a Sony issue though, many new high budget games have tons of issues on PC at launch. Yeah, great ports do exists, but they're far from being the majority. Having a look at the threads that pop up here with every new major release or reading through posts in the steam forums, I'm really surprised people still buy day one on PC. Just give it a few months.
 

Vick

Gold Member
True, for the most part.
Uncharted for instance should fucking shine on PC with RT shadows and reflections and yet at the moment looks worse than the PS5 version which already looked worse than the PS4 in some aspects.

On the other hand though God of War additional Ultra shadows and upgrades were great, same for Days Gone which was mostly a solid port.
 
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