PC Gaming Shakeup: Ashes of the Singularity, DX12 and the Microsoft Store

As much as I dislike PCPer, I must admit they wrote a really good piece on why you should be afraid of DX12, very, very afraid indeed.

Some choice snippets:

http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Genera...up-Ashes-Singularity-DX12-and-Microsoft-Store

tl;dr Macro$haft wants total control of how you game. It's no longer how YOU want it, but how THEY want it. If everything Ryan alluded to in this article eventually turns out true, PC gaming is truly done for.

 

I only "liked" your post because it is good info, I surely don't "like" the path this is heading. So dumb, Microsoft, so dumb. I don't care that Microsoft wants to enable their own overlays, etc, but just give us the option to turn it off and use what we want. For some reason, choice seems to be something that Microsoft is taking away from everyone. With Windows 10 and now this gaming initiative it appears the execs at Microsoft have their collective heads up each other's asses. Sorry, but it's the truth. Now I wish more than ever that games will be developed primarily for SteamOS. There really is nothing good about Windows now. Only thing decent is Microsoft Office. Hopefully a competing product overtakes Microsoft there as well.

 

Yeah, good read. More reasons to stay away from Windows 10, until MS realises their mistakes and give us some choices/controls back.

 

Thats a stupid move MS, specially with Vulcan getting some attention recently.

 

You know how we all used to make fun of Linux gamers?

Well, joke might be on us in the not-so-distant future.

 

I prefer Windows 10, or dislike it less than 7 and 8 I should say really. However this I will not partake in, ever. Luckily I have enough DRM free games that could last me to the end of my days if it came down to that.

I will not play online only games (other than quickly going through story one time). I will not buy from the Windows store or use Windows apps (calc is the only one I use out of laziness). I try to avoid Steam whenever possible (and Origin, Uplay, Battlenet etc) but occasionally buy games I really want that are only available there.

Heck I'm starting to feel like a doomsday prepper, for when all gaming is controlled by some huge company online and I play "off the grid" lol.

 

So Steam's plan with SteamOS is finally coming to fruition

 

though unifying the two ecosystems and the applications does mean you've have effectively solved the backwards compatibility issue from XB1 or later hardware releases and it also means that XB1 games will appear on PC and vice versa.

 

"Even though Ashes of the Singularity is not a Windows Store application, the behavior we are seeing is part of the push that Microsoft is making to sell games through that store with a unified platform."

In other equally recent and groundbreaking news: Pasteur says germs are real, and not, as popularly believed, evil spirits carried off from the dead and diseased. Sickness may also not consistently be divine punishment. The Earth is round, or at least oval - baffled Greeks marvel at how useless this information is for the time being. Evolution happens, whether the church likes it or not. Augustin turns from playboy into a pious monk, but no one takes him seriously for the time being. And rumour says new and amazing technology that can stamp written text on multiple instances of paper in rapid succession - several pages an hour - is being manufactured.

 

I'm about done with PC gaming as a hobby. Can't take it anymore. As each day passes, things only become worse.

May just join the rest and buy a Macbook Pro.

 

gonna join the borg?

 

Wait let me get this straight, no SLI support and no G-Sync support? They dug their own grave.

 

from what i've heard there is SLI support just hasn't been added into the ROTTR win 10 store version.

 

This is GFWL 2.0 - we know how that went. I believe the PC community is too strong to succumb to this. No one that has a 60Hz +, SLI / CF and/or Gsync/Freesync is going to tolerate it.
MS store still needs gamers more than gamers need it. Sure they'll sell a few x1 games, but I don't see Steam users changing their stars and stripes.

If MS start mandating WDDM 2.0, then I can see big problems though.

 

you talk as if they'll NEVER fix it and that's a bit disappointing. people want change but are not willing to adapt is sad.

 

I don't think this is the 'change' people were asking for do you?
Most people wanted closer to the hardware efficiency that DX12 promised. Not the trojan horse we feared we'd get.
I've no need for DX12 if it artificially limits my performance to less than DX11. What's the point. Sure things might change. But until they do...

I guess we'll see.

 

you're allowed to be cynical but i ain't saying you need to be a complete chump either eating up all they say. they just need a bit more time to work the kinks out and i do believe they will address the vsync issue. they can't fix if there's no feedback....so yes you'll need to use it if to improve it. Even steam was crap when it first started.

the idea that xb1 games running on PC is brillz and will solve the back compat issue for a good while.

 

There are no kinks to work out, Macro$haft wants to push all DX12 games through the WDDM 2.0 compositing engine and have total control over the PC gaming experience that's the bottom line.

On the bright side, if M$ actually goes full retard throttle on this, then DX12 will flop hard, and that just might be the push that Vulkan needs to thrive.

 

time will tell good sir!

 

Just like the people who say the GTX 970 is fine and there's no need to avoid it for any reason whatsoever, you're going to find a FAR larger mass of people supporting the Windows Store because it's "a bit cheaper" or "because I don't mind it" or "who cares about vsync being off" or "who even uses SLI anyway?" and many more reasons. Mark my words: this will not "flop" in its launch. If they go full throttle on this, it's going to be eaten up by the public for at least a couple years until streamers figure out the reason they can't stream is because Windows Store, and gamers figure out they're getting bad performance (it'll take a while, you know... they can't use any overlays to tell their FPS) compared to people on Steam or Origin or GoG, etc, and normal people figure out that their GPUs are overheating in DirectX 12 mode (running almost full bore; their fans locked to a paltry 39% half the time, no temp overlays to notice) or that DirectX12 is a POTENTIAL and not a PROMISE of better gaming, and without Macro$haft and devs actually taking the time to optimize titles, high CPU and GPU usage will be extremely common; moreso than with DirectX 11, especially for game devs who don't care to put a lot of people on their PC versions. Like Activision or Ubicrap.

 

No disabling of vsync in win 10 store games? hmmm.....





EDIT: I even made a profile in the nvidia control panel and set the vsync to adaptive half refresh rate and it indeed does cap the fps to 30 using the game's in-game benchmark.

if this was in borderless fullscreen the fps would be the same and the only way to cap it would be through nvidia inspector.

 

What game is that? Gears of War (2006)? Did you select a .exe or globally affect half refresh? And just because you can select vsync on or off doesn't mean it works. What's FPS before and after?

 

There is no dedicated exe but once you run the game the nvidia control panel can detect the pseudo exe or link and you can apply tweaks like normal. I tested this with halo spartan assault from the win 10 store and it was the same thing. So you don't really need the actual exe in this case.

The game has a built in benchmark and with adaptive vsync on it does between 40-60fps and 30fps with adaptive vsync half refresh rate on. So yes, it does work. I'll record a video when I can.

Sent from my SM-T560NU using Tapatalk

 

But what about vsync off?

 

Moreover, it appears that Gears of War: Ultimate Edition does not support SLI and Crossfire, does not support exclusive fullscreen mode, is not compatible with NVIDIA’s GSync, and its framerate does not exceed a monitor’s refresh rate (even when you select the “Unlocked” mode).

http://www.dsogaming.com/news/gears...is-a-performance-mess-on-amds-graphics-cards/

 

No exclusive fullscreen support doesn't explain how i can use adaptive vsync to cap the fps to 30. last i checked non exclusive fullscreen aka borderless fullscreen doesn't sync with the panel and therefore adaptive vsync won't work...but yet it does.

so really i shouldn't be able to use adaptive vsync at all....but i can and the game does.

 

Adaptive v-sync works in full screen windowed mode. The real test is if you disable v-sync altogether and if the FPS exceeds the monitor's refresh rate.

 

that's the first bit of the vid.

please share the link where it says adaptive vsync works in fullscreen window mode cos i can't find it.

 

Wups, didn't see the vid there. Thanks. It still didn't ever exceed 60FPS though.

 

that's explained in the DSOG link... but i can't find anything that says adaptive vsync works on fullscreen windowed mode.

even if i can do this, i'm sure you can use nvidia inspector to force a new fps or something.

 

Nvidia Inspector can only limit FPS, it can't force a higher one.

I can't find anything online conclusive about adaptive v-sync and windowed mode either, but I know I've gotten it to work before. It may be limited game to game.

 

plus even though the vsync is off and it's still limited doesn't mean the vsync is still on but probably just capped. and if it's capped to whatever the panel's refresh rate then how is that bad? why generate more frames if your panel can't see them?

i'm pretty much capped at 60 even though my panel is 120 but the nvidia drivers of late have broken my ability to boot into windows if i set the panel to 120hz but not 60hz....that's a problem.

 

I'm certain it's game to game myself. Some games I have simply won't use vsync of any kind in borderless (like Left 4 Dead 1 and 2) and other games will vsync at any time (like Black Ops 2). Skyrim doesn't register adaptive vsync or its built-in vsync in windowed mode, but Elite Dangerous will do it, etc etc.

I wonder if it's a DirectX 9/11 thing?

 

The game changes, with the Macbook it's no longer about performance, it's all about the show, not the go, time to...

"Strike a Pose"

Spoiler

Use Windows 10 on your Mac with Boot Camp

Spoiler

You can use Boot Camp to install Windows 10 on supported Mac models that have OS X Yosemite or later installed.
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204990

 

this is a DX12 game.

 

I was talking about the brokenness of vsync in windowed and borderless windowed game modes basing past experiences on games noticing DX9/DX11 differences, for why people say "adaptive sync doesn't work with windowed/borderless game modes".

If it's per-game then it's the devs' fault each time, rather than the OS or the feature. If it's DX9/DX11, and not the devs' faults, then it's natural DX12 would use it.

 

the general belief is that adaptive vsync only works on true fullscreen mode and nothing else because it has to sync with the display....unless that's never been the case.

i've tested 2 MS games for win 10 and both have adaptive vsync work to cap the fps to 30, which i find strange but good.

the infrastructure is definitely capping the fps even if you turn off vsync.

 

Everyday the Orwellian crap just oozes out of these corps, DX12 means WinX store haha what a joke M$, Go and die with your WinX no one's gonna buy that crap..Quantumbreak gameplay looks trash & Gears of war with the supreme bug ridden trash and with all that DX12 and extreme requirements, winx store exlc, no exe, FPS cap ? ROFL..everything over DX11 is a downgrade until now, the gimmick's gonna die, just waiting to see that happen.

Even if most of the gamers are dumb but I'd bet they are not this dumb to embrace that pile of trash "Winstore DX12 Excl" from Micro$haft. Thanks to Micro$lop for starting a revolution they are so stupid that they started which will be the demise of that DX, a thing of past and that borked WinX.

Valve will destroy this bullcrap from M$ for sure, and the Ubitroll, Activison, EA & Bethesda, CD Projekt Red they won't push to this steep level of stupidity !!

'Rise of a new hope' - Vulkan.

 

Steam had similar issues when it started so revisionist history much?

 

But I guess taking choice away is too much, that reflects on every M$ software or technology that's very bad, the Windows phone mobile was a miserable and utter failure that continuum was of no use, they destroyed it themselves - Chevron (The first Windows phone framework unlocker the M$ bought it and killed it off , the user choice and flexibility was dead) now they dropped off that Android emulation engine 'Astoria'....look at the alternative counterparts vs the WinPhone10. Android offers granular permissions to users at every point and the PC was the inspiration to that but now it's going back ??

So I'm guessing the same would happen they cannot just shove down everything while taking away control, breaking point exists..

 

worry about the 980M first!

 

LoL Yes It's a pain, thanks to Dell & Micro$lop.
The stench of rotten M$ follows to each and every peripheral infested with Automatic bloatware...To my luck I've found how to de-bloat my Win8.1, I forgot to remove that crap-o-rama defender

 

I have zero confidence in Microsoft these days. They need to stick with what they're good at. A solid desktop OS with options for enthusiasts, XBox hardware, and even PC perhipherals. They used to make some decent gaming joysticks and wheels, but stopped making those. Their force feedback joystick and wheel were very good for the money ages ago. They are trying too hard to follow other business models instead of establishing what should work for them, not trying to be like someone else.

Windows Mobile is a joke, GFWL was a total disaster, Vista and Win 8 were both piles of poo, and Windows Store in Windows 8 is all but dead and I can't believe they feel it is their future. But they still haven't learned.

 

Microsoft is pretty shameful aside from the Surface Pro.

 

Me and Steam go a long way back, and not in the good way either. Used to run NoSteam for the longest time until Valve finally cracked down and VAC banned everybody who used NoSteam (they considered it a hack/crack ), even though every single game on my Steam account back then (and now) were 100% legitimately owned. All I did was use the NoSteam client because I didn't want Steam forced down my throat.

Now with that being said, the difference here is I really don't remember Steam forcing VSync, borderless window, or hard capping 60 FPS or any shenanigans like that.

 

im currently downloading Gears of War ultimate for science, hopefully my 880m doesn't explode. I figure since it's a UE4 engine game the no SLI thing is slightly more acceptable.