Too much spare time + a little bit modded Cyberpunk 2077 =

[Beginner Macro Device]

Keeps crashing EVERY time I get into this location on a couple my saves. Doesn't crash on other ones. Both crashing saves are with 160+ hrs and both saves that don't crash are <100 hrs.

I'm getting a watchdog timeout error. Extremely frustrating because there is no solution to this other than abandon the save and play a different one. Doesn't matter if I use mods or not. Anyone saying this game works perfectly is delusional to say the least.

I keep bombing CDPR support but they still didn't fix anything that I reported to them. I don't usually give up if I do something but it seems they don't really wanna make their game playable. What a shame.

So, for when we claim the power:

• Abolish jogging by default
• Fix FSR (so it doesn't make objects moving faster than 5 mph "clone" themselves)
• Fix vehicles (make them at least 1.5 times faster)
• Fix the speedometer
• Bring tiredness of running back
• Fix vsync (leads to crashes in some scenarios)
• Fix resource usage on RDNA2 GPUs (they are underperforming, leaving at least 5 percent computing power on idle)
• Fix footstep sounds (it's absolutely atrocious to hear bag on the sand whilst wearing heels on the tarmac)
• Fix obscenely annoying crashes to the north of Pacifica
• Make Fast Travel an expensive feature as well as make it possible to ride monorails for a lesser fee
• Make it possible to order a taxi
• Fix crashes upon multiple grenade explosions
• Get it to make at least 1 more percent of sense to have money in the game
• Make NPCs actually try to avoid road accidents
• Stop NPCs from panic leaving their vehicles when these vehicles aren't about to be destroyed
• Allow letterboxed fullscreen
• Make booze and other drugs droppable and make booze specifically actually providing any buffs so it's not the most annoying junk you could possibly have in your inventory
• Make a radio implant so I don't need to drive or stand in front of radio sets to actually listen to music
• Make it possible to revisit quest locations without mods
• Fix the Oodle library (causes memory leaks and unstable CPU load)
• Stop it from playing any sounds whatsoever when you're in the menu
• TBD

 

[Beginner Macro Device]

Patches are meant to improve the game.

Yet every time I update the game becomes less and less stable. Never had this error before if we don't count incorrectly working mods which are not the case as of now since I'm playing total vanilla.

 

[Beginner Macro Device]

Abused my sick leave once again.

Test system:

• Once exploded and fixed FSP Epsilon 700 W
• Some Gigabyte H110 motherboard
• i3-6100 @ stock
• 8+8 GB DDR4-2133 @ JEDEC timings
• Reference RX 480 @ stock RX 580 clocks
• Borderline dead Kingston system SSD
• Properly working Micron SSD with Cyberpunk 2077 (GOG, 2.1 + PL) on it
• No-name 27" 4K 60 Hz monitor

Game settings:
• Resolution: 2560x1440
• Textures: medium
• FSR: Performance
• Ray Tracing: I'm not a magician. Disabled of course.
• Mix of high (for the least demanding) and minimum (for the most demanding) settings elsewhere.

The game itself was unable to start with watchdog_timeout error until I completely disabled Windows Update.
With Windows Update completely disabled and everything I could turn off without PC actually stopping working turned off I made it to the game's main menu.

It took ages to load the start of the initial Streetkid quest (I have cross platform saves disabled so had to start a new game).
Framerate was so unstable you could consider it an alternating current generator. Swam all the way up to low 60s when I didn't move V and drowned all the way down to single digit numbers when I started moving V and/or camera. Many textures failed to render. That bartender, Pepe, looked so darn godawful I was thinking this is how Mexican Saburo Arasaka would look like.

The game, however, didn't crash but didn't become playable. Dips to ~8 FPS endlessly terrorised me.

You don't wanna play Cyberpunk 2077 on an 8 years old i3, that's for sure.

 

[Frag_Maniac]

They ought to call themselves CD Project Dead after all the miserable attempts to unsuccessfully improve this monstrosity of a game.

Yet it is somehow still considered a great title to add to benching suites, if nothing else to show off it's RT.

The bug that made me shelve it and wait for proper patching was the one where V would suddenly be standing up half naked in a spawn-like T pose while riding Jackie's bike through the streets of downtown. After all this time I'm STILL wondering if it's too soon to give it another try.

 

[Beginner Macro Device]

They ought to call themselves CD Project Dead after all the miserable attempts to unsuccessfully improve this monstrosity of a game.

If we don't take extremely bad technical condition of the game into account it's actually very good. The story, characters, locations etc deserve applauds. It's just technically the game was one of the worst and became even worse over time.

still considered a great title to add to benching suites

Because it's very consistent and supports all the latest things.

I'm STILL wondering if it's too soon to give it another try.

It will always be too soon. The game becomes worse bug-wise every patch.

 

[Frag_Maniac]

If we don't take extremely bad technical condition of the game into account it's actually very good. The story, characters, locations etc deserve applauds. It's just technically the game was one of the worst and became even worse over time.


Because it's very consistent and supports all the latest things.

Honestly, even though I like RPGish games with deep stories and interesting characters, I am not hugely enamored with this one in that regard. So I guess maybe I'm not the typical audience reaction on that. I was speaking mainly on the horrible technical condition of the game though, which most seem to agree, especially after the time they've had to properly fix it, is disgraceful.

The bottom line though is if it's more useful as a bench tool than a properly working title to play, what does that say? It says to me they want people to fall for the fluff, and ignore the dust. From the comments I've read it seems clear that CDPR has fallen somewhat regarding trust from their fanbase. So I would not be surprised if there are FAR less preorders on their next title.

 

[Beginner Macro Device]

So I guess maybe I'm not the typical audience reaction on that.

Neither am I. I am playing it for shits'n'giggles because it's one hell of a tragicomedy. If you don't perceive it the way of "it's so bad it's actually hilarious" you're probably about to puke and get your fair refund.

CDPR did a very poor job in optimising this title. Counting what works correctly doesn't even need a fully functional palm.

 

[Frag_Maniac]

Neither am I. I am playing it for shits'n'giggles because it's one hell of a tragicomedy. If you don't perceive it the way of "it's so bad it's actually hilarious" you're probably about to puke and get your fair refund.

Well there you go, I've never been a huge fan of games that are so ridiculous you have to go off rails and horse around to feel like you're having any fun. Many play GTA that way, and Saints Row is clearly that way out of the box, but I prefer something I can make at least some narrative, story, and tactical sense out of gameplay wise. Otherwise I have to stop and remind myself I'm not having fun going off script, due to the game's inability to pull me in.

THE ONLY reason I hung on to it is it's the type of game where you have to spend FAR more than the 2 hr refund window to see what it has in order to judge it fairly, and I've not gotten far enough into the game to see all the characters, missions, or weapons. Mission wise, there was certainly a few of them that kept me interested, even if the theme of the game is off putting to me.

Honestly, well before this game even got into production, I knew from a video I saw of Michael Pondsmith describing the game that the guy was very eccentric and seemed a bit strange to me, so I had a strong feeling there was going to be a disconnect with the theme of the game for me. At least he doesn't have you going around whacking people with big purple sex toys like in Saints Row though.

 

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going around whacking people with big purple sex toys

That is an option though. I won't tell you how to achieve it, yet that's possible in the CP2077.

Well there you go, I've never been a huge fan of games that are so ridiculous you have to go off rails and horse around to feel like you're having any fun. Many play GTA that way, and Saints Row is clearly that way out of the box, but I prefer something I can make at least some narrative, story, and tactical sense out of gameplay wise. Otherwise I have to stop and remind myself I'm not having fun going off script, due to the game's inability to pull me in.

Fair enough. This is exactly what I meant by your fair puke.

Patches are meant to improve the game.

Yet every time I update the game becomes less and less stable. Never had this error before if we don't count incorrectly working mods which are not the case as of now since I'm playing total vanilla.
View attachment 324968

 

[Frag_Maniac]

That is an option though. I won't tell you how to achieve it, yet that's possible in the CP2077.

I have to assume that's more of an easter egg to pay homage to Saints Row devs than part of CP's internal design theme though.

 

[Beginner Macro Device]

Just a short example as to how in-game benchmarks don't tell you the whole story.

I have a basically dead GPU by today's standards, an RX 480 (flashed to behave like an RX 580, yet it still is far from a modern gaming GPU). BUT it still can kick a little ass in games like Cyberpunk 2077 if settings are loose enough. This GPU was supposed to be a limiting factor for my two test rigs, one of them being my main PC from the system specs (NB: I ran Windows from an HDD in both tests), and another one resounding:

Everything ran at full-on stock, unless stated otherwise.

• i3-6100 (2 cores, 4 threads, 3 MB L3 cache, 3700 MHz, Skylake architecture if you forgot what a beast it is)
• Gigabyte H110M-H (mostly irrelevant, listed just for lulz)
• 2 RAM sticks from my main PC @ 2133 MHz 13-14-14-34 CR1 (I considered it median speed for retro-almost-necro systems like that)
• HDD (Western Digital WD1002FAEX) with Windows 10 Enterprise 22H2 installed and not activated yet (maybe some time later... xD)
• Typical cooling solutions and an overkill PSU (Corsair CX650M)

The GPU was clocked to 1340 MHz core, 2000 MHz VRAM default timings with 1105 mV vcore and regardless of how hot it is it never drops clocks nor does it lose any performance (as if it's something to lose here, huehue).

The RAM in my main rig ran at dual channel 3200 MHz with 16-20-20-38 CR2 timings. I'd run it faster but it's the best it can actually do. [shrug]

Spoiler: Here goes the control shot

As you can see, this GPU delivers acceptable performance at 1440p with an aggressive, yet fairly reasonable FSR mode. Don't know how it feels on real 1440p monitors, but I didn't feel my eyes insulted too hard despite stretching 1440p on my 4K display. At $50, it's great. Real gaming performance didn't differ too much with some specific areas, mostly in D-town and in City Centre being sub-30 FPS dippers.

Spoiler: This is what happened when I paired this GPU with i3-6100

One might think even i3-6100 is enough for this game. It is totally not. Once I move my camera, the framerate dips to low 30s. Once I go outside, FPS might plummet to low 10s. Caught a "watchdog timeout" error whilst roaming around in City Centre once only because i3-6100 failed to render the scene in 2 minutes [most likely caused by Windows Update stealing just enough juice].

Don't trust in-game benchmarks. Trust actual gameplay video comparisons (and don't you dare laze on that, watch at least a half dozen of different authors!) and your own experience with given equipment.

 

[Frag_Maniac]

Just a short example as to how in-game benchmarks don't tell you the whole story.

I have a basically dead GPU by today's standards, an RX 480 (flashed to behave like an RX 580, yet it still is far from a modern gaming GPU). BUT it still can kick a little ass in games like Cyberpunk 2077 if settings are loose enough. This GPU was supposed to be a limiting factor for my two test rigs, one of them being my main PC from the system specs (NB: I ran Windows from an HDD in both tests), and another one resounding:

Everything ran at full-on stock, unless stated otherwise.

• i3-6100 (2 cores, 4 threads, 3 MB L3 cache, 3700 MHz, Skylake architecture if you forgot what a beast it is)
• Gigabyte H110M-H (mostly irrelevant, listed just for lulz)
• 2 RAM sticks from my main PC @ 2133 MHz 13-14-14-34 CR1 (I considered it median speed for retro-almost-necro systems like that)
• HDD (Western Digital WD1002FAEX) with Windows 10 Enterprise 22H2 installed and not activated yet (maybe some time later... xD)
• Typical cooling solutions and an overkill PSU (Corsair CX650M)

The GPU was clocked to 1340 MHz core, 2000 MHz VRAM default timings with 1105 mV vcore and regardless of how hot it is it never drops clocks nor does it lose any performance (as if it's something to lose here, huehue).

The RAM in my main rig ran at dual channel 3200 MHz with 16-20-20-38 CR2 timings. I'd run it faster but it's the best it can actually do. [shrug]

Spoiler: Here goes the control shot

View attachment 326435

As you can see, this GPU delivers acceptable performance at 1440p with an aggressive, yet fairly reasonable FSR mode. Don't know how it feels on real 1440p monitors, but I didn't feel my eyes insulted too hard despite stretching 1440p on my 4K display. At $50, it's great. Real gaming performance didn't differ too much with some specific areas, mostly in D-town and in City Centre being sub-30 FPS dippers.

Spoiler: This is what happened when I paired this GPU with i3-6100

View attachment 326436

One might think even i3-6100 is enough for this game. It is totally not. Once I move my camera, the framerate dips to low 30s. Once I go outside, FPS might plummet to low 10s. Caught a "watchdog timeout" error whilst roaming around in City Centre once only because i3-6100 failed to render the scene in 2 minutes [most likely caused by Windows Update stealing just enough juice].

Don't trust in-game benchmarks. Trust actual gameplay video comparisons (and don't you dare laze on that, watch at least a half dozen of different authors!) and your own experience with given equipment.

Don't go near the extremely poor part of town, they will kidnap you and hold you hostage for your resourcefulness!

Well played, I thought I was doing well when I spent about an hour poring over the Crysis 1 Cvars, to perfect a way to play it on my P4 rig with decent settings. The caveat though was I had to play mostly with stealth to avoid dips below 25 FPS when big fights broke out.

Here's a clip of me having fun with the physics in the demo, which also examples what a potato PC I had at the time. It was before I came up with the tweaks though as the console commands had not been released yet.

You'll need to leave this at the embedded viewer size and take it off auto.

Crysis 1 - Raining Cars

 

[Beginner Macro Device]

Don't go near the extremely poor part of town, they will kidnap you and hold you hostage for your resourcefulness!

P4 rig

potato PC

I think you insulted potatoes. Jokes aside, good work.

 

[Beginner Macro Device]

Another one "what in the world is this"

 

[Beginner Macro Device]

Was modding Ray Tracing and it became cursed at some point.

This is how it "should" look like (and I already fixed it). "Should" is in quotes only because those light sources make no sense and they appear in vanilla as well.

 

[Nekajo]

That said, Cyberpunk 2077 on release to v2.1 with DLC feels like a different game. Probably one of the biggest turnarounds I have ever seen in gaming.

I spent 8-10 hours on vanilla, and now I am at 150 hours in v2.1 (started this save when v2.0 came out)

 

[Beginner Macro Device]

That said, Cyberpunk 2077 on release to v2.1 with DLC feels like a different game. Probably one of the biggest turnarounds I have ever seen in gaming.

I spent 8-10 hours on vanilla, and now I am at 150 hours in v2.1 (started this save when v2.0 came out)

I never had the game before late 2022 so I got no idea how it was on release. But even compared to 1.52, the latest version feels like a completely different title. Only if they didn't produce more bugs than they fix...