Modders Unite To Fix The PC Version Of Dead Island

42 responses to “Modders Unite To Fix The PC Version Of Dead Island”

1. 

   DNR

   September 13, 2011 at 11:18 am

   See and this sort of thing is why game developers need to stop hampering PC gamers by not allowing fan run dedicated servers.

   and why they need to start allowing the use of mod tools from the get go like back in the old days.

   60% of PC gamers usually have a better idea than the developers, or at the very least have more time to fix the issues plaguing PC games these days.

   Reply
   1. 

      matt30822

      September 13, 2011 at 11:37 am

      This – although according to the devs the trade off is security where hacks are more easily made because they access to the dedicated server files. Its a win/loss – win/loss for the community. Either lose the ability to host your own dedicated server but have a relatively stable game with few hackers or host your own server that you can do whatever you want with but with the possibility that hackers might dominate pubs.

      Reply
      1. 

         DNR

         September 13, 2011 at 11:59 am

         See even if you have hackers, you need to remember that games like Quake and counter strike had hackers, but the game community was so against it that they ended up banned from most servers fairly quickly.

         Another added bonus for dedicated servers was dedicated admins, hackers got banned, and the community was tight nit and usually more fun to play with.

         these days you can jump into a randoms game with host systems, treat them like crap, abuse them, ninja loot from in there games and there are no penalties for it.

         Reply
      2. 

         mambodog

         September 13, 2011 at 1:02 pm

         Security through obscurity is not security.

         Reply
      3. 

         mambodog

         September 13, 2011 at 1:02 pm

         Security through obscurity is not security.

         Reply
         1. 

            Weresmurf

            September 13, 2011 at 1:37 pm

            Mate don’t kid yourself about Counterstrike, hackers were so rampant on CS it was unbelieveable. I’ve been playing since its first days and can tell you now, hackers were, and still are, a major issue with it.

            Reply
            1. 

               DNR

               September 13, 2011 at 1:58 pm

               Playing CS since the beta back in 94-95, can tell you straight up no hackers ever lasted more than a few mins on my server, or any server i’ve played on since then.

            2. 

               Chazz

               September 13, 2011 at 3:59 pm

               They had a beta for a Half Life mod 3-4 years before Half Life was released? 😛

            3. 

               Nuclear Pi

               September 13, 2011 at 7:44 pm

               I think CS may have started as a Quake mod (not sure though)

            4. 

               Cooper

               September 13, 2011 at 7:43 pm

               I play CS a lot and its not often I find hackers in games and if I do they are usually dealt with pretty quick. I imagine you just think they are hacking because they are good. I do see that a lot and it means people come out of the game and complain about hackers but its just that those people are bad.

            5. 

               andy

               September 13, 2011 at 3:23 pm

               hackers dont last if your on a good server with admins that are actually active and not just weekend warriors

   2. 

      Johnny Sweetbread

      September 13, 2011 at 5:18 pm

      “60% of PC gamers usually have a better idea than the developers”

      Errr, what? I’d guess that PC gamers have zero idea about software engineering. Hacking inefficient lines of code without any prior knowledge of the code base, purely through trial and error is not my idea of having a better idea.

      Having more time? Maybe, if the average PC gamer is hanging out all day playing games and alt-tabbing between steam and their favourite porn site. However, it’s not a matter of time, it’s a matter of making a code change and having it propogate up through the SDLC – unit, system, integration testing and eventually into a release. Just because fixes take a while to come doesn’t mean the developers are sitting there thumbing themselves.

      Reply
      1. 

         Cheshire

         September 16, 2011 at 12:29 pm

         Thank you Johnny – It’s a relief someone out there said what you did.

         As a developer, who was also a games journalist for 10 years prior to that, I can assure you that there is SO much more to consider with game development than the general public doesn’t even know about, that 0% know more than developers, who, by the way, are also gamers.

         All gamers can do with total confidence is give feedback about how they see the experience – You can NEVER be wrong about your experience, it’s useful info! However, any time a gamer believes their opinion is an important fact that everyone else needs to agree with or be wrong, they’ve just proven that they’re not capable of seeing things beyond their own perspective and personal preferences – These are actually the LEAST useful kind of people to get feedback from.

         Don’t get me wrong, there are some monumental screw-ups with this release, and I’m not saying gamers should just accept things like that. I’m simply saying that spouting offhand rubbish like “We know more than you” when you’ve never done anything to prove it does not encourage anyone to listen to you, in any walk of life.

         Reply
2. 

   ndroste

   September 13, 2011 at 11:22 am

   What a shambles.

   Reply
3. 

   ndroste

   September 13, 2011 at 11:23 am

   Buying a PC game is like buying something in ‘kit’ form.

   Reply
   1. 

      Lone Wolf

      September 13, 2011 at 11:29 am

      As opposed to buying a model car with a cutaway feature you don’t really like?

      Reply
      1. 

         ndroste

         September 13, 2011 at 11:38 am

         Yeah thats what I mean, I think buying something in kit form (PC) as opposed to pre-built (console version) is a good analogy.

         Some people get immense satisfaction from assembling the base parts into the final product, pulling it all together. Everyones final experience will be a little different depending on which mods/patches/drivers/hotfixes/forums and witchcraft they employ in the preparation of the final product, then when it’s up and running they can enjoy it knowing they contributed to it’s being complete. Assembling a model, like a train set, you can use different tools, paints, glues finishes etc. etc I think it’s similar.

         I’ve tried this approach to games and I reap no satisfaction from it anymore.

         Reply
         1. 

            Aaron

            September 13, 2011 at 12:01 pm

            That is a model kit that doesn’t have all the pieces in the box and no instructions and the model kit manufacturer refuses to confirm what pieces you actually need and you have to get in contact with people who also bought it and see if they know what pieces are missing.

            My god, it sounds like the most masochistic hobby imaginable.

            Reply
         2. 

            Lone Wolf

            September 13, 2011 at 12:05 pm

            The point I was trying to make is with console games, it’s mostly a case of you get what you get, end of story, whereas AAA pc games tend to develop a community of modders and developers, or even extended company support, TF2 and Elder Scrolls 3 and 4 come to mind.

            But you’re right, PC gaming is struggling because it is less of a plug-and-play device than consoles.

            Personally I find PC gaming a more enjoyable and individual hobby than console, but I find myself doing it less as my free time and resources become scarce.

            Both sides have their strengths and people should be able to choose accordingly.

            Reply
            1. 

               Thom

               September 13, 2011 at 1:01 pm

               Except, its not struggling. Look at Steam Sales – for AAA games, the sales aren’t as large as for consoles, but describing a million plus copies for most releases as struggling is a stretch.

            2. 

               Chazz

               September 13, 2011 at 1:22 pm

               Look where? Valve don’t release sales figures.

            3. 

               Lone Wolf

               September 13, 2011 at 1:31 pm

               But there are fewer A PC-exclusive titles or purpose-built games for PC. Multiplatform ports seem to be the standard at the moment.

               StarCraft II and MMO aside, there are more exclusive IPs coming to consoles then adapted to PC rather than the other way around.

         3. 

            McGarnical

            September 13, 2011 at 2:16 pm

            Amen brother. I go the PC route for pretty much 2 reasons only these days, and in all other cases choose my console:

            1. Where it’s a game that absolutely must have a mouse (eg the Civilization series).

            2. I can get it cheap (eg $40 for a new release, $5 to $20 for something a year+ old).

            An example of number 2 was Dead Space 1 which I bought for $5 and then swiftly HDMI’d onto my home theatre and plugged in my xbox controller.

            Reply
4. 

   Chazz

   September 13, 2011 at 11:27 am

   Techland should be splitting the money with these guys since they’re doing Techland’s job for free.

   Reply
5. 

   Lobo

   September 13, 2011 at 11:38 am

   I’m honestly not sure what all the rage is about. I’ve put ~50 hours into the game and I love it. Sure there are some minor inconveniences, but nothing that has ruined my experience.

   Reply
   1. 

      Chazz

      September 13, 2011 at 11:48 am

      You’re one of the lucky ones. Quite a few people are experiencing all kinds of issues ranging from minor to major. Not being able to get the game to load at all, not being able to save, save file corruption, graphical tearing, random objects killing them (i.e. kicking a beachball), respawn glitches (both zombie and environmental) that affect game progression etc and then there are the graphical issues that come with Chrome; poor draw distance, excessive bloom and blur, shadow glitches (whether its the fuzzy crap or shadows being patches of solid black).

      Reply
   2. 

      Alinos

      September 13, 2011 at 11:50 am

      I can say the same aside from the odd issues with creatin a coop game after the first patch

      But one of them was the dead island server crashing which has nothing to do with the game itself

      Reply
6. 

   ajr

   September 13, 2011 at 11:39 am

   It’s great that modders are fixing alot of these bugs in the form of a mod but the fixes should ultimately be pushed out as a patch. I agree that the modders should get something for it if the dev’s use their fixes in an official patch. Maybe a donation or something.

   Reply
7. 

   Aaron

   September 13, 2011 at 11:59 am

   Not to troll but they could save a lot of time and effort through buying the console version. It seems to be one of those titles where you could save yourself a lot of pain by returning your PC copy and grabbing the Xbox/PS3 one.

   Reply
   1. 

      Chazz

      September 13, 2011 at 12:04 pm

      Well of course but why should they have to? If Techland had bothered to actually finish the game before releasing it the vast majority of these issues would be non-existent.

      Reply
   2. 

      DNR

      September 13, 2011 at 12:09 pm

      i bought both PC and 360 version, they both have the same issues (PC more so due to hardware config) but 360 still has its issues, tearing, stuttering.

      Reply
   3. 

      Lone Wolf

      September 13, 2011 at 12:10 pm

      Console versions are far from flawless.
      I’ve already found toppling a walker into a rail will freeze it and the tearing during the opening movie was seriously distracting when I first played.

      At least PC versions may end up complete.

      Reply
      1. 

         Chazz

         September 13, 2011 at 12:12 pm

         Ouch, that’s not cool for the tearing and that to exist in the console version. Has there been any word of Techland at least patching the console version?

         Reply
         1. 

            Baron

            September 13, 2011 at 12:58 pm

            They rolled out a 31mb patch a day after release, not sure exactly what it patched but there is some support coming out. Hopefully most bugs will be ironed out in the coming weeks with multiplayer. I’m having a blast playing though

            Reply
         2. 

            Baron

            September 13, 2011 at 12:59 pm

            They rolled out a 31mb patch a day after release, not sure exactly what it patched but there is some support coming out. Hopefully most bugs will be ironed out in the coming weeks. I’m having a blast playing though

            Reply
   4. 

      Slek

      September 13, 2011 at 2:23 pm

      You’re making the severly flawed assumption that everyone owns a PS3 or 360. The console versions are riddled with problems of their own, like save data being lost and massive instability.

      The fact that modders are so hard at work on the PC version already, fixing the problems caused by developer laziness, makes it likely that the best experience of this game will be on PC.

      Reply
8. 

   Reoh

   September 13, 2011 at 12:57 pm

   Modding communities, fixing and making the games you play better. 🙂

   <3

   Reply
9. 

   KRiSX

   September 13, 2011 at 1:44 pm

   and this is why i favor console gaming…

   Reply
   1. 

      andy

      September 13, 2011 at 3:25 pm

      so that you can enjoy corrupt save files?

      Reply
   2. 

      JumpJumpDie

      September 14, 2011 at 9:04 am

      But the same problems exist on console? So how is it any different in this case?

      Reply
10. 

    JumpJumpDie

    September 14, 2011 at 9:04 am

    I recorded some gameplay on my youtube channel the day it came out on PC. it was live and you can hear me confused about why there is so much screen tearing. I was astounded there was no VSYNC anywhere to be found when this is usually a standard feature.

    I had a mate tell me that after installing his version of the game it corrupted his windows install. Seems to be really rare but wow…come on.

    Come on Techland.

    Reply
11. 

    Sten

    September 14, 2011 at 11:13 pm

    I don’t really get what everyone’s bitching about. I’ve been playing Dead Island on Steam from day one of its release in Australia, and so far I haven’t seen any significant bugs. This game is a total blast and unless I have been insanely lucky with my lack of problems, I don’t think it deserves the bad press it’s getting. IMO it is the best zombie game ever made, and I hope it is commercially successful.

    Reply