@insane_shadowblade85 said:

How high should my FPS be during the game? I have VSync enabled on my card and during the opening 3rd party stuff I'm getting over 2k fps. In the menu and title screen I'm getting around 200 - 400 fps and during gameplay I get around 100+ fps. However, whenever Death opens a door I get 60 fps. Not sure how that works O_o.

This is...this is normal, right? Nothing to worry about, right?

EDIT: Yeah, I disabled VSync on my card using Catalyst Control Center and my FPS is the same as when I turned it on. Still getting the exact same fps in all of the areas I typed down.

By default, V-Sync is already off in CCC unless a 3D application requests it. You have to move the "Wait for Vertical Refresh" slider all the way to the right to turn it on. Might want to try this before launching the game.

If it still won't work, I'd recommend downloading Rivatuner and using D3DOverrider that comes bundled with it. It's a great tool that forces V-Sync and enables Triple Buffering for DirectX games. Used to use it all the time, and it worked wonders especially when V-Syncing caused input lag and such.

@mosdl Yeah, it's weird. I have it enabled on Catalyst Control Center as well as in the game and I'm still getting high FPS. I went on the official forums and someone said to run it in windowed mode since since VSync doesn't work in fullscreen. I tried it out and still got the same FPS. Not sure if I want to risk damaging my card playing this game until Vigil releases a patch that fixes it.

@mosdl said:

@insane_shadowblade85 said:

How high should my FPS be during the game? I have VSync enabled on my card and during the opening 3rd party stuff I'm getting over 2k fps. In the menu and title screen I'm getting around 200 - 400 fps and during gameplay I get around 100+ fps. However, whenever Death opens a door I get 60 fps. Not sure how that works O_o.

This is...this is normal, right? Nothing to worry about, right?

EDIT: Yeah, I disabled VSync on my card using Catalyst Control Center and my FPS is the same as when I turned it on. Still getting the exact same fps in all of the areas I typed down.

Vsync should limit it to 60. The nvidia control panel override works, not sure about amd/ati cards.

No. Vsync matches the refresh rate of your monitor.... But from what he has written I would say that he didn't properly enable it on his stupid radeon video card. I enabled vsync on my awesome nvidia card and the fps never went above 60 even on menues.

Edit:

P.S. - Why do people still fall for that trap and buy radeon videos cards? Cheaper isn't better, guys. 9 out of 10 people who complain about crashes and whatever problems with the game turn out to have radeon video cards.

I don't know how people are playing this with mouse and keyboard, all these key mapping issues and lack of the insta-equip option is solved by just using a 360 controller. I wouldn't call myself a true pc gamer but I can't imagine being one without a 360 controller. Yeah some games are best with m&k such as most fps, puzzle games, and the majority of rpgs but most pc ports nowadays are so much better with a controller.

@phrosnite said:

@mosdl said:

@insane_shadowblade85 said:

How high should my FPS be during the game? I have VSync enabled on my card and during the opening 3rd party stuff I'm getting over 2k fps. In the menu and title screen I'm getting around 200 - 400 fps and during gameplay I get around 100+ fps. However, whenever Death opens a door I get 60 fps. Not sure how that works O_o.

This is...this is normal, right? Nothing to worry about, right?

EDIT: Yeah, I disabled VSync on my card using Catalyst Control Center and my FPS is the same as when I turned it on. Still getting the exact same fps in all of the areas I typed down.

Vsync should limit it to 60. The nvidia control panel override works, not sure about amd/ati cards.

No. Vsync matches the refresh rate of your monitor.... But from what he has written I would say that he didn't properly enable it on his stupid radeon video card. I enabled vsync on my awesome nvidia card and the fps never went above 60 even on menues.

Edit:

P.S. - Why do people still fall for that trap and buy radeon videos cards? Cheaper isn't better, guys. 9 out of 10 people who complain about crashes and whatever problems with the game turn out to have radeon video cards.

It came with the PC I got lol

If I was building one on my own I'd go for an Nvidia.

@insane_shadowblade85 said:

@phrosnite said:

@mosdl said:

@insane_shadowblade85 said:

How high should my FPS be during the game? I have VSync enabled on my card and during the opening 3rd party stuff I'm getting over 2k fps. In the menu and title screen I'm getting around 200 - 400 fps and during gameplay I get around 100+ fps. However, whenever Death opens a door I get 60 fps. Not sure how that works O_o.

This is...this is normal, right? Nothing to worry about, right?

EDIT: Yeah, I disabled VSync on my card using Catalyst Control Center and my FPS is the same as when I turned it on. Still getting the exact same fps in all of the areas I typed down.

Vsync should limit it to 60. The nvidia control panel override works, not sure about amd/ati cards.

No. Vsync matches the refresh rate of your monitor.... But from what he has written I would say that he didn't properly enable it on his stupid radeon video card. I enabled vsync on my awesome nvidia card and the fps never went above 60 even on menues.

Edit:

P.S. - Why do people still fall for that trap and buy radeon videos cards? Cheaper isn't better, guys. 9 out of 10 people who complain about crashes and whatever problems with the game turn out to have radeon video cards.

It came with the PC I got lol

If I was building one on my own I'd go for an Nvidia.

Nothing wrong with AMD cards, game runs great for me on a 6970 as dose every other game i throw at it. Dont blame hardware manufactures for bad ports and poor support. Amd dose have its issues at times with drivers, especially if your running crossfire but honestly they get blamed for everything.

@phrosnite said:

No. Vsync matches the refresh rate of your monitor.... But from what he has written I would say that he didn't properly enable it on his stupid radeon video card. I enabled vsync on my awesome nvidia card and the fps never went above 60 even on menues.

Edit:

P.S. - Why do people still fall for that trap and buy radeon videos cards? Cheaper isn't better, guys. 9 out of 10 people who complain about crashes and whatever problems with the game turn out to have radeon video cards.

9 out of 10 people who throw around numbers to try and prove a point on the internet turn out to be pulling said numbers out of their behinds.

Does anyone know if there is a quick way to open the map or at least zoom out on the minimap? That's the worst thing in the whole game for me, it takes like 5 seconds to figure out where I am sometimes.

@emem:

Either go into the map throught the menu, or hold the menu button down and you will go straight to the map (on the gamepad that's the back button).

When you have the map open press the left stick in (again if on the gamepad) to zoom in and out.

@phrosnite said:

@mosdl said:

@insane_shadowblade85 said:

How high should my FPS be during the game? I have VSync enabled on my card and during the opening 3rd party stuff I'm getting over 2k fps. In the menu and title screen I'm getting around 200 - 400 fps and during gameplay I get around 100+ fps. However, whenever Death opens a door I get 60 fps. Not sure how that works O_o.

This is...this is normal, right? Nothing to worry about, right?

EDIT: Yeah, I disabled VSync on my card using Catalyst Control Center and my FPS is the same as when I turned it on. Still getting the exact same fps in all of the areas I typed down.

Vsync should limit it to 60. The nvidia control panel override works, not sure about amd/ati cards.

No. Vsync matches the refresh rate of your monitor.... But from what he has written I would say that he didn't properly enable it on his stupid radeon video card. I enabled vsync on my awesome nvidia card and the fps never went above 60 even on menues.

Edit:

P.S. - Why do people still fall for that trap and buy radeon videos cards? Cheaper isn't better, guys. 9 out of 10 people who complain about crashes and whatever problems with the game turn out to have radeon video cards.

The most logged error from Windows is Nvidia, go figure.

:)

@emem:

Either go into the map throught the menu, or hold the menu button down and you will go straight to the map (on the gamepad that's the back button).

When you have the map open press the left stick in (again if on the gamepad) to zoom in and out.

This did trick for me regarding vsync issues.

***This only applies to AMD/ATi cards.

RadeonPro only works with AMD/Ati cards.

If using an AMD/ATi card, download RadeonPro http://www.radeonpro.info/en-US

1. Enable Vsync in game (checkmark it) - exit game

2. Go to your CCC (catalyst control center) settings. Click the "Gaming" tab. Click "3D Application Settings". Scroll down to where it says "Wait for Vertical Refresh" and make sure the slider is set to "Always off". Click Apply if you've changed anything.

3. Open RadeonPro. Click the plus sign with a piece of paper on it to "Add new Profile". Navigate to your Darksiders2.exe ( C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Darksiders 2\Darksiders2.exe ), click it and click open. Your Tweaks Tab should like this - http://i.imgur.com/UzDsD.jpg Also, under the Launcher tab, you should have selected Steam/Impulse.

4. Run the game.

While stupid work has kept me from playing much last week, the soundtrack for this game is amazing.

8 hours in with forced vsync and triple buffering... the game runs smooth as butter. Not crashes, bugs or progression blockers. Load times while running from one area to another are super fast-- like 0.5 sec loading. Playing on apocalyptic and it feels the same as the first time I played Darksiders1 on apocalyptic... which means on my second playthrough I'll be destroying everything in my path.

Don't like the automated wallrunning much... Curse you Ubisoft and your retarded post Sands of Time trilogy PoP games and Assassin's Creed.

Dat auto-camera correction though... hope they fix it in future patches.

@phrosnite said:

8 hours in with forced vsync and triple buffering... the game runs smooth as butter.

Lucky you :( I tried the game yesterday for the first time (I wanted to S-Rank Sleeping Dogs before moving on), but I haven't been to solve the stuttering issues so far.

If I use the NVIDIA Control Panel and force VSync, the game's FPS are capped at 60 but I get horrible stuttering. If I use D3DOverrider in fullscreen, the stuttering is reduced, but still there. And I can't use an FXAA Injector, which is not really vital, but oh well, it's a nice bonus that works almost flawlessly in every other title I've tried it in... If I use D3DOverrider with Borderless Windowed, the stuttering is mostly gone, but I get a fugly tear on the upper half of the screen whenever I move the camera.

I truly don't care about higher resolution textures or SSAO or tessellation... I just want to play the game without stuttering and with VSync on. I really can't get over the massive screen tearing the game gets when VSync is off... I guess I'll have to wait for that Heaven-sent patch, because I really want to experience this game as best as I can.

PS: Didn't the first Darksiders have a similar problem with VSync, screen tearing and stuttering that got fixed in a patch...?

@Tennmuerti said:

@mosdl: Oh i'm not saying they are useless, they are quite good (i used them a lot during the first half of the game), but as a min maxer myself it's far more efficient to just use them as a stat stick to boost your basic Scythes, i was rolling in possessed gear during the game, must have had 30+ pieces so always had possesed scythes to do massive dmg and health leach and secondary for stats mainly. Especially after you get the spinning air move like War had in the first game, it just destroys big enemies much faster then secondary weapons ever could. (i'm playng a crit heavy Harbinger)

@Farbelowaverage: Nah, I used heavy weapons for a long time they are great, hate the fast secondary weapons see no point to them when you can just use scythes.

I agree with your statements in general though I think you are over-stating the value of your stat stick boosting your scythe effectiveness. To my knowledge the only two stats you can put on a secondary weapon that help the primary weapon's dps is strength and arcane (when in reaper form, and reaper attacks in combos). Crit chance, crit damage, and elemental damage types on a weapon only applies to attacks made by that weapon. The secondary weapon can still be a pure stat stick but the other stats (defense, resist, health, etc) boost survival, not damage. Come to think of it, execution % isn't listed under each weapon, I wonder if that means execution chance on the secondary works when using the main.

As for the fast secondary weapons I agree with you there. Scythes are plenty fast, a second fast weapon is redundant in most cases but they can thrive in certain circumstances. I suppose some people like them because of how mobile Death's combo attacks with them are, or for how quickly combos can be build, or how much easier it is to dodge incoming attacks while using them, or perhaps even the shield ability on the bucklers.

@Teran:

You can look on this thread to see what I have on my stat stick :P Yea I use it not only for STR but also for Defence Resist and Wrath Regen for instant refil. Strenght starts to stack quite high when you have a lot of base dps and a lot of strenght, it's like a snowball effect, even a dozen strenght can increase the dps by a few hundred by the end, and you can put almost 80 on a weapon. We are looking at around a K in dps at that point if not more.

Don't see a point in quicker melee combos (also the scythe/fist cross combo moves are a bit icky imo, scythes have much better pure moves), when again scythes are fast enough and destroy everything. Didn't have any issues dodging with scythes either. Never tried the shield hinestly, don't want to wait around for enemy attacks rather just one two shot everything with scythes.

I had the heavier weapon for the only function that other weapons and scythes cant provide, breaking through shielding enemies. That was pretty much the one reason i ever pulled out a secondary. 90% of the time it was scythes. So might as well use the secondary for stats that benefit me overall rather then just the weapon i almost never use anyway.

I@Drakoji said:

@Maginnovision: I stayed respectful in my dialogue, don't know who seems the most douchey here.

How would you make a game like DS2 work really well on M&K? The game is based on precise button inputs and analogue movements, it's clear that WASD won't render that control scheme as well as a Joystick.

It's like playing a FPS on a controller and whine about the fact that a Joystick is less precise and slower than a mouse.

It really isn't like that at all. A mouse and keyboard can work perfectly for a game like Darksiders but not in the way they designed the controls. There's a lot of unnecessary switching to use things like items and magic. Analogue control isn't as important as you think it is. For a platformer all you need is to press W and control the camera with the mouse.

For combat you don't need more then 8 directions. I found myself not using lock on in Darksiders because I didn't need it but also because holding lock on and using dodge was awkward. The aiming function was also stupid. Why was it a separate mode? Why doesn't the camera just move like in the third person mode in Skyrim? Instead we have this slow moving reticle which is even harder to use with an analogue stick. It should have just automatically put a reticle on the screen and anything being thrown would be thrown toward that point. The boomerang should have painted targets automatically instead of holding the ctrl button while moving. Doing it this way allows the player to aim and throw while using the dodge function with ease at the same time.

Swimming was weird as well. The mouse should have been used to control your direction and altitude in water and then you would just hold W to go forward.

Magic, items and weapons should have all been mappable to left click, right click and the middle button. Then You could have short cuts with numbers 1-9 and pressing those would change the middle button but you could aslo use the scroll wheel to switch between them. Instead we have to hold caps locks to switch between our weapons and magic while dodging in a frantic battle and trying to press 1234 to use them as well.

This is one of those games that was truly designed with only the gamepad in mind.

EDIT: I haven't played darksiders 2 so all these control suggestions are based around the first game.

@JoeyRavn: as a suggestion, have you tried setting the max frames to render ahead to 0 in nVidia's control panel? It's under 3D Settings > Manage 3d Settings, listed as "Maximum pre-rendered frames".

It could be that the game is trying to force render ahead to give better FPS, which is conflicting with the vsync, which is why you're getting stutter. In the control panel, this setting is by default set to let the application control it. If you're already getting 60fps, the max render ahead set to 0 shouldn't affect your performance, and may fix your stuttering.

Sorry for the late reply, @Eujin. I completely forgot about this thread, but came to post something just now. The option to lower the frames to render ahead to 0 was removed in a recent driver update. The minimum you can set it to now is 1. It didn't improve the stuttering, though.

What may help with the issue are the new 306.02 beta drivers that NVIDIA has just released. They claim they fix several games suffering from the same problem, as well as adding SSAO to Darksiders II. @DJJoeJoe was looking into using SSAO with the game, so this may be of interest to him.

I haven't tried the new drivers yet, but I will report back when I've seen whether they remove the stuttering or not.

Edit: Well, it seems a lot better now. There is a slight stutter every now and then, but the game feels a shitload more fluid than before. And the SSAO works now.

@JoeyRavn said:

Sorry for the late reply, @Eujin. I completely forgot about this thread, but came to post something just now. The option to lower the frames to render ahead to 0 was removed in a recent driver update. The minimum you can set it to now is 1. It didn't improve the stuttering, though.

What may help with the issue are the new 306.02 beta drivers that NVIDIA has just released. They claim they fix several games suffering from the same problem, as well as adding SSAO to Darksiders II. @DJJoeJoe was looking into using SSAO with the game, so this may be of interest to him.

I haven't tried the new drivers yet, but I will report back when I've seen whether they remove the stuttering or not.

Edit: Well, it seems a lot better now. There is a slight stutter every now and then, but the game feels a shitload more fluid than before. And the SSAO works now.

Can you post some SSAO screenshots?

Will do, give me a sec. On a related now, the first PC patch is going live shortly!

As most of you are aware, Vigil has been working hard to research and address each bug report in the forums – thank you for all the input! I am happy to report we are prepping the 2nd PC patch that will go that will go live shortly. We’re committed to supporting our community and this second update should resolve many of the issues you are experiencing.
PC Patch #2 Details:
• In this patch your key mappings will revert to defaults.
• Added Key Bindings option to the Pause Menu. (Previous location on the Moves List still there)
• The V-sync graphics option is now functional.
• Reaper Form now triggers correctly when using a Keyboard.
• Video Settings save to the Steam Cloud correctly.
• You can now sacrifice items below the 3rd row in the Possessed Weapon menu.
• Target Reticules align properly at all screen resolutions.
• Addressed crashes in Blackstone, including at the 2nd lever and during the Lilith cut-scene.
• Various gameplay progressions fixes.
As always, thank you for your patience! Our team is working hard to address reports quickly & will keep you updated on the progress.
Please continue to post any bugs or issues you are experiencing within our Technical Help & Bug Reporting section of the forums.
Darksiders II Community Manager
-THQSledgehammer

Crap. Those SSAO screenshots will have to wait. I'm literally at the beginning of the game and everything is, well, blue. The effect of the SSAO is barely visible at this point.

Patch is now live on Steam!

Patch looks good, hopefully they come through and patch the shadows next. Nice to see PC getting the patch asap without being blocked by console verification.

tried SSAO myself, not seeing much of a difference, but I am in a dungeon

OK, I finally managed to get rid of the stuttering problem for good. I downloaded GameCompanion, a small program that forces borderless windowed fullscreen onto any game. Now the stuttering is completely gone and the game is as smooth as silk, constant 60 FPS.

But now, whenever I enter the menu or inventory screens, the game stops recognizing my gamepad. I can't move, can't pick items... I just can save and quit. Anyone experiencing this issue?

@JoeyRavn said:

OK, I finally managed to get rid of the stuttering problem for good. I downloaded GameCompanion, a small program that forces borderless windowed fullscreen onto any game. Now the stuttering is completely gone and the game is as smooth as silk, constant 60 FPS.

But now, whenever I enter the menu or inventory screens, the game stops recognizing my gamepad. I can't move, can't pick items... I just can save and quit. Anyone experiencing this issue?

The game has a built in Full screen option, that might do what game companion does.

My 360 gamepad works fine in the inventory screens.

@mosdl: Yeah, but not (borderless) windowed fullscreen, which is what GameCompanion does. Going from fullscreen to windowed (either "true" windowed or fullscreen windowed) got rid of the stuttering completely.

I've seen that others have the same problem with the gamepad as I do. Not a widespread issue, but still there nonetheless. Weird.

btw, the new patch fixed the low res Death and icons in the menus!

@mosdl: I wish they could have upgraded the shadows a bit.

But at least the game is more stable now, and I don't have to use RadeonPro.

@Tennmuerti said:

@Teran:

Didn't have any issues dodging with scythes either. Never tried the shield hinestly, don't want to wait around for enemy attacks rather just one two shot everything with scythes.

I had the heavier weapon for the only function that other weapons and scythes cant provide, breaking through shielding enemies. That was pretty much the one reason i ever pulled out a secondary. 90% of the time it was scythes. So might as well use the secondary for stats that benefit me overall rather then just the weapon i almost never use anyway.

I should have been a little clearer. My comment about it being easier to dodge with the fist weapons was meant in the context of it being compared to the heavier secondary weapon choice only, not the scythes. To rephrase, people might like the fist weapons more than the slower weapons because it is easier to dodge while using them where a heavy weapon might lock you into a longer attack animation. Early in the game I used scythes exclusively but warmed up to the heavier weapon after getting used to the timing.

Like you, I also use it to compensate for the few situations when scythes aren't the optimal choice. Primarily this means killing armored/shielded enemies, but my most common use was against the small aoe target type enemies. The scythe to heavy weapon combo gave two 360 degree rotations clearing the area of weaker enemies... the scythe combo that emulates that effect requires better timing and more time to set up and because my primary target were enemies that would be one hit killed so the better damage from the scythe combo was wasted on overkilling enemy lifebars anyways.

My second most common use for my secondary weapon was killing skeletons, especially groups. It's hard to beat a home-run style swing that shatters a bunch of skeletons and sends their bones flying in all directions.

So have they improved the PC version yet? I know a patch came out, but that didn't seem to add the main issue most pc gamers had with the game, customizable video settings.

Do the shadows still look like shit?

Is the draw extremely noticeable still?

I couldn't get past this when I started playing it at launch, have yet to touch it since. Been playing sleeping dogs instead and other pc games waiting. Hope I get to this before borderlands 2 comes out.

@MrOldboy: Mostly, no. The game is more or less the same. The fixed some things (like in-game VSync), but most game-breaking bugs are still there. Vigil upped the resolution of shadows and Death in the inventory screen, but not much. They both look passable now. A lot of people are reporting worse performance after this patch, even on high-end machines.

I'm holding out for another patch, personally. I want to play Darksiders II as the game was meant to be from the start and enjoy it as much as I enjoyed the first one.

@JoeyRavn: The patch kind of broke Vulgrim for me as well, i went back to do some clean-up for achievement and some of his things sold have internal code text showing up instead of actual names. but the bad part is actually that now when i hand in a book of the dead he does not give me the key yet the quest finishes, so i can't unlock the last tomb :/

Controls are fine for me with MKB, though I'm probably just better than most and not a pussy ( joking :) )

I do take issue with the camera though. It doesn't pull out far enough for group combat and behaves kinda weirdly up against walls. I think the best example of camera for a game with group combat are the batman arkham games.

I don't particularly care about the lack of graphics options, though it would be nice, Vigil!

Finally finished the game and of course new patch is out. Shadows, AA and SSAO now have in-game sliders.

@mosdl said:

Finally finished the game and of course new patch is out. Shadows, AA and SSAO now have in-game sliders.

The shadows look a lot better but for some reason when I turn them up they obliterate my framerate (which doesn't make sense because i have gtx 460 sli)