Hot mess on xbone

[hippoposthumous]

I've been waiting for FOREVER for this game to hit Xbox. I was amped to pay for and get going on this today... but man. This is the absolute worst port I've ever played, of any game, to any device, ever.

A PC GUI doesn't translate to the console wholesale (obviously). A substantial amount of work needs to go into optimizing the control scheme, placement, etc... and it has not been done. Windows, when made big enough to read on a TV that isn't huge blocks everything. By default, every tutorial text window is in the absolute worst place possible, blocking whatever the most important thing is (whatever the subject of the tutorial is, is invariably blocked). Again, this is not a PC, so "dragging windows" is COMPLETELY unintuitive, but that was ported wholesale. Fine. So we have huge windows, rather than readable large fonts and clever placement. So you drag the stupid window... and the next screen of dialogue reverts BACK TO THE ORIGINAL PLACE, BLOCKING EVERYTHING. EVERY TIME. So you have the disadvantage of movable windows, which console games don't use, instead of correctly placing large dialogue boxes in a console friendly GUI, and THEN force-reverting back to the original, awful location, every screen.

Awesome.

Then the mouse pointer acceleration. Oh man. There is no option to set this. So you zoom past everything, and selecting anything is a complete chore, instead of using console conventions, like snapping to functions one-at-a-time, or at least having adjustable acceleration, or snapping when near a selectable control, etc... It's as though the porter has never used a console, or console controller, ever. 

The tutorials... oh man. Screens zip by before you have a chance to read them in many of them. The pause screen blocks the aforementioned terribly placed dialogue window, so you can't even pause and read for a minute. The tutorial dialogue was just cut and pasted, and aren't even correct a lot of the time. It's so badly done, there will be dialogue like "PRESS THE [Press the X Button] Key" ... it's so shoddy and slapdash.

Then, a lot of stuff is just not anti-aliased or properly gone over for TV. Like the flags you choose at the beginning look like atari 2600 graphics on TVs, with the words, completely unreadable on a TV under around 40 inches.

I could go on, but it's a terrible, awful, miserable port of a fantastic game that I'm dying to play. Maybe when I can afford a gaming PC I'll finally get my money's worth. For now, this is a candidate for worst PC -> Console port of the year; maybe ever. 0/10

[EvitableInventions]

Yes, this is a direct port MORE than a console version (for the most part) but I can deal with all of that, its the look inversion that gets me. I can move windows all day, but I can't rewire my brain!

The controls are a big learning curve but I don't think that is because the porters are dumb. There is just a bunch load of controls, obviously more things to click then there are buttons on the controller... thus, modifiers.

On the GUI, I agree that a simple port isn't quite conducive to the consoles versions. BUT WOULD BE FINE is they simply lowered the scale. In the PC version I had the GUI as small as possible. Also, on the anti-aliasing I agree. It's been a minute since I've played a game without out it, pretty edgy for sure. But as far as not being able to read the flags, I have a six-year-old 24" and I have no problems reading anything.

As I really want look inversion but perhaps time would be better spent hounding phil spencer to finalize the Mouse & Keyboard support for the One! Kerbal would be a great game to beta for this I think.

Edited July 16, 2016 by EvitableInventions

[erikinthebakery]

9 hours ago, hippoposthumous said:

 

A PC GUI doesn't translate to the console wholesale (obviously). A substantial amount of work needs to go into optimizing the control scheme, placement, etc... and it has not been done. Windows, when made big enough to read on a TV that isn't huge blocks everything. By default, every tutorial text window is in the absolute worst place possible, blocking whatever the most important thing is (whatever the subject of the tutorial is, is invariably blocked). Again, this is not a PC, so "dragging windows" is COMPLETELY unintuitive, but that was ported wholesale. Fine. So we have huge windows, rather than readable large fonts and clever placement. So you drag the stupid window... and the next screen of dialogue reverts BACK TO THE ORIGINAL PLACE, BLOCKING EVERYTHING. EVERY TIME. So you have the disadvantage of movable windows, which console games don't use, instead of correctly placing large dialogue boxes in a console friendly GUI, and THEN force-reverting back to the original, awful location, every screen.

 

I stopped doing the tutorials after the first couple due to not even thinking about the fact that I could move the windows (honestly, the whole "click to switch to mouse pointer" mechanic wasn't explained well enough for me to make the connection - which is bad because it is probably the most important mechanic in the game). Due to the tutorial window placement being so frustrating, we made a lot of mistakes we really shouldn't have made in the early game. Starting over from scratch this morning.

[hippoposthumous]

3 hours ago, EvitableInventions said:

The controls are a big learning curve but I don't think that is because the porters are dumb. There is just a bunch load of controls, obviously more things to click then there are buttons on the controller... thus, modifiers.
 

Disagree. There is a right way and a wrong way to accomplish this. Good ports implement things like nested radial menus, and snap-to-controls on screen. Terrible ports just haphazardly map contorted bindings to every button. It's like playing a fighting game - you have to know all kinds of combinations that are completely unintuitive.

I mean, take the B button on the xbox. This is UNIVERSALLY used to back out of menus, in every game. And this is a menu-driven game. But what does B do? Brings up MORE information. Stuff like that - no basic porting or console conventions are used. This is well-trod territory. There is a way to do this. ZERO work was put into this.

[klesh]

18 minutes ago, hippoposthumous said:

 ZERO work was put into this.

 

I don't think thats fair; clearly alot of work was needed to port this to consoles, which is why they hired some console savvy devs to do it.   If it took zero work, they wouldve saved their money and done it themselves.  It might not be up to yours, or universal console conventions and standards, but you can't say zero work was put into it without sounding disingenuous. 

[hippoposthumous]

6 hours ago, klesh said:

 

I don't think thats fair; clearly alot of work was needed to port this to consoles, which is why they hired some console savvy devs to do it.   If it took zero work, they wouldve saved their money and done it themselves.  It might not be up to yours, or universal console conventions and standards, but you can't say zero work was put into it without sounding disingenuous. 

I'm not using hyperbole. I literally mean zero work. It feels as though it was shot through an automated porting script, and sent out without any testing. In 38 years, this is the second game I'd return (the first being the Kinect version of Steel Battalion... which was still better than this). Watching video of the PC version confirms this. It's not really a port, it's an Alpha attempt at button mapping, and nothing else. 0/10. If I hadn't paid 40 bucks, I'd have no leg to stand on, but I did, and I do.

Edited July 17, 2016 by hippoposthumous

[Majorjim!]

17 hours ago, klesh said:

console savvy devs

LOL!

[klesh]

Did the "automated porting script" they used somehow generate the console-only radial menu?

[danowat]

" Then the mouse pointer acceleration. Oh man. There is no option to set this. "

I assume you're aware you can alter mouse speed in the options?, you can also hold down LB for precision mouse control.

[purpleivan]

From experience, developing a game for PC and for console are two very different things. From the sounds of it the team at Squad may have been doing their best when making the conversion to PS4/Xbone but lacked that all important experience of console dev.

One of the last things that you do is to break any accepted standards related to controls, especially when you're have the additional problem of trying to match the controls of a PC game (compounding complexity with confusion) and it seems that has happened here.

[hippoposthumous]

13 hours ago, danowat said:

" Then the mouse pointer acceleration. Oh man. There is no option to set this. "

I assume you're aware you can alter mouse speed in the options?, you can also hold down LB for precision mouse control.

I assume you're aware that acceleration ==/== speed. The problem is a combination of deadzone (lack of, or control over), no snapping (a glaring, obvious one), and no logarithmic acceleration.

The standard thing to do if you MUST have an arrow cursor on a console UI (you don't... there are much better ways)... is to ramp of acceleration. So as you start moving, it's slow and precise. This allows you to easily select buttons near eachother without overshooting them. Then it gets faster as you hold down the stick. Alternatively... this is an analogue stick, acceleration can be tied to position, which is problematic (holding the stick at just the right speed is easier in a video game than in a menu). Having no deadzone and fast speed is the worst possible default.

6 hours ago, purpleivan said:

From experience, developing a game for PC and for console are two very different things. From the sounds of it the team at Squad may have been doing their best when making the conversion to PS4/Xbone but lacked that all important experience of console dev.

One of the last things that you do is to break any accepted standards related to controls, especially when you're have the additional problem of trying to match the controls of a PC game (compounding complexity with confusion) and it seems that has happened here.

Bingo. It feels as if NO console conventions are followed; even ones established a decade or longer ago. It literally feels like this was ported by someone who has NEVER used a console before, with even the most basic conventions wholly absent.

[Tweedskin]

On 7/17/2016 at 5:17 PM, klesh said:

Did the "automated porting script" they used somehow generate the console-only radial menu?

What?! The one radial menu in the whole game?

To be fair, someone probably spent at leat 5 minutes making that.... 

[Tweedskin]

I have to say that I am hugely disappointed. 

I loved KSP on PC, but alas am no longer a PC player so I couldn't wait for this to come out on Xbox One. I was expecting the same game, but adapted to console with a new navigation system, build system etc, basically so yo could play using a controller (with, as many people have stated, established controller behaviour). I handed over my money straight away as soon as it was released. What a fool i was. And I feel like I've been taken for a fool.

I am really disappointed by the game. It's a mess. Literally no thought seems to have been put into how this would work on console. Building is a nightmare. In fact, everything is horrible and incredibly difficult to do in the game. 

I really want my money back. 

[Monkey-CH]

I disagree with near all and everything of the OP. I don't want a radial menu to do things or only as an alternation to the existing buttons. This is a much to complicated for a fast work flow. Ok it needs some time to learn all the button combos, but if we have learned it, the work flow is much faster than with a radial menu system. There are some small things they should change, as the use of A/B in popup dialogs to say OK or Cancel, instead to move with the cursor on this buttons.

After I have now learned the most of the button combos, I'm very happy with the controller mapping as it is, with some small exceptions.

What makes me most disappointed is the fact, we got an outdated verison of the game, which contains some show stopper bugs, like not working Navball mission navigation points, Warp X issue or the inability to set maneuver points in teh map view at some time. I believe all of them are fixed in the actual PC version.

Edited July 19, 2016 by Monkey-CH

[danowat]

4 hours ago, Tweedskin said:

I have to say that I am hugely disappointed. 

I loved KSP on PC, but alas am no longer a PC player so I couldn't wait for this to come out on Xbox One. I was expecting the same game, but adapted to console with a new navigation system, build system etc, basically so yo could play using a controller (with, as many people have stated, established controller behaviour). I handed over my money straight away as soon as it was released. What a fool i was. And I feel like I've been taken for a fool.

I am really disappointed by the game. It's a mess. Literally no thought seems to have been put into how this would work on console. Building is a nightmare. In fact, everything is horrible and incredibly difficult to do in the game. 

I really want my money back. 

What lead you to believe it would be anything other than a direct port?, you were a fool for buying it sight unseen without reading any feedback reports.

If you want your money back, contact XBOX support for a refund, it's not difficult.

[Tweedskin]

40 minutes ago, danowat said:

What lead you to believe it would be anything other than a direct port?, you were a fool for buying it sight unseen without reading any feedback reports.

If you want your money back, contact XBOX support for a refund, it's not difficult.

Because I've played the game on PC, I bought in early through Early Access. I had faith that the developers would do a good job of porting to console and actually take into account the fact that it would be played on a console. Silly me. 

[danowat]

And there-in lays the rub, Squad didn't do the port, Flying Tiger Entertainment did.