What's everyone's impression of the AC+R Steam port?

[balFrog]

I just played about 30 minutes, coming from <5 hours experience with AC+R and <50 hours experience with Xrd. Started with offline; input lag was very low, I couldn't feel any noticeable delay.

 

Online felt really laggy, played a Pot. Maybe it was my (wired) or his connection, but gameplay was terrible. Maybe 10f lag? Felt worse than the average PS3 Xrd connection.

 

Only settings changed before jumping in was changing "windowed" to "fullscreen" and resolution to 1080p. After changing the fullscreen resolution, the program stopped outputting graphics so I had to kill the game. Also, couldn't find any menu option to close the game. Had to alt-F4 to close.

 

So, a rough port with the gameplay intact as far as I can tell. Anyone else have any impressions?

[Shadowfury333]

Some slight issues with my stick (Qanba Q4), but it works fine if I set Mode, so it treats the stick as a virtual analog stick rather than a dpad. I also have to remember to treat A <=> B and X <=> Y, and that if I have a stick and pad connected, it treats the stick as p2, so I have to set the buttons with the pad to match the stick for online play. It might also work okay if I put it in 360 mode rather than PS3/PC mode, but running it through DirectInput rather than XInput has been working fine so far.

 

Other than that, online seems to work, and at least for 3 bar it seems playable. There is a bit of input delay (3-4f, I think), so I really wish that ArcSys would just license GGPO already, but it didn't feel laggy, just a bit harder to block and movement was very slightly delayed.

[ColonCleanse]

The game feels less responsive in fullscreen, for some reason.  I didn't notice a difference between antialiasing on or off, but I haven't tried restarting the game with the option saved. 

 

The online was really bad, coming from what I'm used to.  Delay was very apparent and made playing a chore.  A friend that I usually get around 30ms ping to was around a third of a second of delay yesterday and around a fifth today. 

 

The game itself plays fine from what I can tell.  No noticible glitches or whatever.  The margin portaits are nice.

 

Some slight issues with my stick (Qanba Q4), but it works fine if I set Mode, so it treats the stick as a virtual analog stick rather than a dpad. I also have to remember to treat A <=> B and X <=> Y, and that if I have a stick and pad connected, it treats the stick as p2, so I have to set the buttons with the pad to match the stick for online play. It might also work okay if I put it in 360 mode rather than PS3/PC mode, but running it through DirectInput rather than XInput has been working fine so far.

 

Other than that, online seems to work, and at least for 3 bar it seems playable. There is a bit of input delay (3-4f, I think), so I really wish that ArcSys would just license GGPO already, but it didn't feel laggy, just a bit harder to block and movement was very slightly delayed.

 

I've a q4, it works without anything changed if you have it set to 360 mode.  You might need to tell your computer that it should use a 360 driver for the device if you haven't already.

[Flotilla]

The online is every bit as bad as PS3 +R, sadly.

 

At least ArcSys seems to be compiling bugs/issues for future patches, maybe fixing online'll be one of them...

[TS-]

Was mostly only able to find 2-bar matches, and lag was real bad.  Game ran smoothly, but input delay was a little bit like playing underwater. Only found one or two 3-bar matches, and they were noticeably better.  I hear it's pretty playable at 4 bars, but I haven't run into that yet.

 

(also, as a scrub, I'm just enjoying getting to play other scrubs, lag or not)

[Oniros]

Just like on consoles. Basically I got it to show support.

[Poultrygeist]

Online is as bad as console if not worse, unless you find a good connection in which case it becomes very playable.  

[N8 DMN]

crashes right when i click on the game every time :|

edit nvm, installed directx 9.0c and it works but runs fast, prob cuz im on a laptop.

[shimazaki]

Got it for supporting Arc System Works too, but for and old game that is compatible with windows 10, in a machine thaht has a radeon HD 4200 graphic chip..............runs very smooth..........online is a mess though...............and a very little input delay, but i love this game on PC, hoping for great news form arc.

[TheRealBobMan]

I keep reading about the net delay, but what about the minimum input delay?  Has that been thoroughly tested and reported on by anyone?  IIRC PS3's minimum for any game was 3f.  If PC can manage a 2f delay that'd match the arcade board right?  Or is the arcade version 1f?

[Shadowfury333]

I've a q4, it works without anything changed if you have it set to 360 mode.  You might need to tell your computer that it should use a 360 driver for the device if you haven't already.

 

Yeah, I figured this was probably the case. However, since it works fine for every other fighting game I play, I'm not in a hurry to change modes, given that I have it working in AC+R.

[4r5]

Speed feels good in this port.

[Pichy]

Shadowfury, they patched that issue about 20 hours after launch. You can use whatever input device you prefer now.

[Orrax]

I'm not a fan of the lack of controller assign.

[CWheezy]

I wonder if it will be possible to mod it?

[Ballermachine]

My main gripe with this iteration of the game is the low bitrate of the sound effects and VO. (Extracted some sound effects and saw they had 52kbps bitrate, eww.) The crackling and distortion really hurts to listen to at times and if I recall correctly it was bad on the XBL release as well, but that was understandable since they need to optimize wherever they can to even release it on XBL. You don't really need to optimize for space for PC nowadays, so I don't see why they couldn't just up the bitrate. The Wii port (AC+, not AC+R) had a lot higher quality sound effects, so it definitely should be possible. I'm currently assembling a video to showcase the difference in audio quality between the PC and Wii versions, but that'll take a while.

 

The music is perfectly fine on the other hand, since it uses an entirely different encoding method apparently. 

 

Online vs. players in my own country and neighbouring countries was fine. No issues there. You shouldn't have problems with any sort of netcode if both connections are basically just fast enough. No doubt it's a lot worse for countries where average internet speed is more of an issue. (ex. USA) Online will always be a problem until internet gets a lot better or someone develops a networking library that's not sub-optimal.

 

I wonder if it will be possible to mod it?

 

I'm 100% sure they used XNA Game Studio for these ports (PC/XBL), so it *should* be really easy to at least sound mod it. Gameplay modding is the biggest question mark here, because I'm not sure how the file format they use, for saving everything other than the sound data, is supposed to be read.

 

Edit:

 

Youtube audio quality comparison video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZW5e0tPj3Q

[Shadowfury333]

Ballermachine: That is interesting information. Good thing the music wasn't ruined, at least. 

 

Online will always be a problem until internet gets a lot better or someone develops a networking library that's not sub-optimal.

 

That's why people are frustrated, said library (GGPO) was developed years ago, but due to a combination of cultural reasons, superb network infrastructure, and a relatively small distances across the country, Japanese developers don't seem to even look at it.

[Zida]

After using Radeonpro to force Vsync off and lock FPS to 60, the game plays mostly fine in fullscreen.  There have been a few small "freezes" here and there that could be detrimental to tournament play, however.  Based on my FRC timings, there might be one frame more input delay than PS3, but it isn't so bad it's unplayable.

 

Online is a completely different story, even with the one 4 bar connection I had.  This type of netplay would be sufficient for a slower fighter or a fighter that doesn't require tight execution, but it is not acceptable for a game like GGAC or +R.  I can't even land Baiken's j.S links much less FRCs or Suzuran>Zakuro enders.  Any character that requires tight execution will be hamstrung badly.  I really feel bad for all of the I-No players.  A regular delay-based netcode will never be adequate for this game in my mind.

 

Also, this is a serious proposition:  Is there anyone out there with experience cracking/editing netcode?  I am a decent programmer with no experience in modding/editing games, but I would love to help integrate GGPO or another rollback-based netcode into +R.  That would honestly be a dream come true for me, and I think it would really extend the life of +R.

[Flotilla]

Also, this is a serious proposition:  Is there anyone out there with experience cracking/editing netcode?  I am a decent programmer with no experience in modding/editing games, but I would love to help integrate GGPO or another rollback-based netcode into +R.  That would honestly be a dream come true for me, and I think it would really extend the life of +R.

 

Keeponrockin is fiddling around with +R's internals and gathering info on rollback netcode implementation from other caster creators, maybe you should talk to him.

[ColonCleanse]

My main gripe with this iteration of the game is the low bitrate of the sound effects and VO. (Extracted some sound effects and saw they had 52kbps bitrate, eww.) The crackling and distortion really hurts to listen to at times and if I recall correctly it was bad on the XBL release as well, but that was understandable since they need to optimize wherever they can to even release it on XBL. You don't really need to optimize for space for PC nowadays, so I don't see why they couldn't just up the bitrate. The Wii port (AC+, not AC+R) had a lot higher quality sound effects, so it definitely should be possible. I'm currently assembling a video to showcase the difference in audio quality between the PC and Wii versions, but that'll take a while.

 

The music is perfectly fine on the other hand, since it uses an entirely different encoding method apparently. 

 

Online vs. players in my own country and neighbouring countries was fine. No issues there. You shouldn't have problems with any sort of netcode if both connections are basically just fast enough. No doubt it's a lot worse for countries where average internet speed is more of an issue. (ex. USA) Online will always be a problem until internet gets a lot better or someone develops a networking library that's not sub-optimal.

 

 

I'm 100% sure they used XNA Game Studio for these ports (PC/XBL), so it *should* be really easy to at least sound mod it. Gameplay modding is the biggest question mark here, because I'm not sure how the file format they use, for saving everything other than the sound data, is supposed to be read.

 

Edit:

 

Youtube audio quality comparison video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZW5e0tPj3Q

 

It wasn't just my ears playing tricks on me, then.  Thanks for this.

 

I'm not sure why they don't pay better attention to audio quality in GG.  Even in XRD tracks you can hear the compression, especially with the cymbals.

[MechaBaphomet]

It wasn't just my ears playing tricks on me, then. Thanks for this.

I'm not sure why they don't pay better attention to audio quality in GG. Even in XRD tracks you can hear the compression, especially with the cymbals.

　Uncompressed audio files are pretty big. It really adds up when you have a lot of tracks.

 

 

Edit: Also It doesn't sound like a real drummer playing on some of the Xrd music (like the tracks that came with the LE). It really sounds like a drum machine. That's probably why it the drums sound weird. I'm not sure if Fumiya Played on Xrd's OST.

[Abominable K]

Ishiwatari hasn't used a drummer in the studio since Overture. The only drummer since then has been on the tracks Yuhki rearranged for Chrono Phantasma-- Ishiwatari's tracks still use a drum machine.

[Tokkan]

Recent patch added the ability to turn V-Sync off. Also added 4:3 support and "tweaked online experience."

 

According to SteamSpy, the game appears to have sold approximately 8.8k (2.5k margin of error).

 

... Well, it's decent for an old title.

[Unadulterated_Jam]

1280x960 is nice but forcing 640x480 on a CRT is still much much better looking. The vsync off and network improvements are excellent.

[Dude Butts]

best home version of ggac imho