Dirt 3

[Wordsworth]

So who is playing it? I broke down and bought the digital download from GFWL, although I'm still looking for a DVD copy.

I've had some of the problems discussed at the Dirt 3 forums. To begin with the graphics weren't quite right with the strange looking sun and text, both fixed with the latest ATI drivers (as opposed to the Asus I had been running). Also can't get the offline profile to work. Making do with the online profile for now. I also now can't get the fast forward to work off the keyboard in the replay although it had earlier worked. Had the problem with the wheel settings not sticking too; the latter is fixed by using first the wheel start button before pressing keyboard buttons to navigate the menus. Anyone experience these problems and in particular resolved the offline profile problem?

I wasn't at first impressed with the graphics, but the updated ATI driver appears to have brought out the best in them; before everything appeared bland and now there are greater contrasts in color and things look more realistic. Subtle, but it's there.

I'm not far into the game but some have complained of the races being short. I'd agree that some of the early races seem short, but then I thought some in Dirt 2 were long enough to become tedious. You just can't please everyone all the time. I'll suspend judgment on gameplay until I've completed more of the game.

Thoughts?

 

[pparks1]

I'm playing Dirt 3 and I think it's really good. But I'm playing mine on my PS3.

 

[Fumz]

Going to pick it up tomorrow.

 

[jr26]

Being a big fan of Dirt 2 I was looking forward to Dirt 3. Its not bad at all. Runs very well on high/max settings here DX11 1920x1080. Controls are good and seem improved over Dirt 2. I do have 2 gripes with the game so far however(both graphical). First, I was hoping for a little higher quality cockpits this time around but again the textures appear low quality. Maybe i'm spoiled with NFS Shift 1/2 and their very high quality detailed cockpits but I dunno... expected a little better. Also in cockpit view the vibration of the camera is a little hard on the eyes after a bit. Overall though its a good game and worth a purchase if not now at least when it hits the budget bin.

 

[MrNeeds]

I'm getting a bit annoyed with the millions of issues that people are having with the game, I am having a few really bad issues myself, firstly is the constant stuttering, of which i've took the liberty of recording on my iPad and uploaded to youtube:



and secondly is the appcrash of ntdll.dll, this also freezes my system on Vista and has done it once on 7, 7 is a fresh install as well. Getting really annoyed with these problems...

 

[taylorig]

Just noticed MrNeeds that you are running the same kind of system specs as myself. Same Q6600 @ 3GHz and a GTX 260 card. I'm not getting any stuttering at all within game so i was wondering are you overclocking that GTX 260? And if so have you tried it back on default values to see if that helps?

 

[MrNeeds]

it's only my processor that's overclocked, all the other hardware is stock clocking.

 

[pparks1]

Wow, that stuttering is awful. I've had a few lower frame rate issues in a few places on the PS3 version...but nothing like that when you are all by yourself.

 

[MrNeeds]

It seems to be rather random spots as well, I did a 6 lap race and it only happened them 2 times, but in different spots, I think it might be the rapture software with my headset and realtek drivers loaded at the same time...

 

[Wordsworth]

That is bad stuttering you have there. It may be something particular to your software/hardware config though. I believe that's LA you're in and I'm not that far yet (not alot of time to play as I'd like). So far Dirt 3 runs very smooth but I'll have to see when I get to the same race you've posted in the video to make any comparison. I had some stuttering in the same races others complained about in Dirt 2 (LA also) but it was only in those races and nowhere else; there I believe it was just in the game code.

I like this game the more I play it. Looking forward to taking most of a day soon to do just that.

 

[MrNeeds]

That is bad stuttering you have there. It may be something particular to your software/hardware config though. I believe that's LA you're in and I'm not that far yet (not alot of time to play as I'd like). So far Dirt 3 runs very smooth but I'll have to see when I get to the same race you've posted in the video to make any comparison. I had some stuttering in the same races others complained about in Dirt 2 (LA also) but it was only in those races and nowhere else; there I believe it was just in the game code.

I like this game the more I play it. Looking forward to taking most of a day soon to do just that.

It's not just in LA though, it's in every single race, including gymkhana, it's also in the loading screens and the main menu, especially online, it's completely random, not like graphics lag, but more like hard drive lag, but I've done a full defrag with auslogics disk defragmenter, and it's a brand new install of 7 as well.

 

[Wordsworth]

Sorry to hear that; it really mucks up the experience of the game. If you haven't already, you might check out the Dirt 3 forums for help. There are some there who've experienced lag even while navigating in the menus (PC Input Lag).

Oddly enough, GFWL insisted upon installing the game on the C: drive (an SSD) even with the install settings set to D:. I didn't want the game on the SSD for space reasons, but perhaps I'm not experiencing some of these lag problems because it's on that drive rather than the D: which is a platter.

 

[pparks1]

It's stuff like this that actually make me more or less leave PC gaming for console games. They are simpler, they are easy to play in the living room with the family and if there is a problem, it effects everybody exactly the same. Granted, graphically speaking they aren't as nice, and there aren't mods available and such...but it's so nice not even having to consider the system requirements. If it says it's for PS3, it will work in my PS3 and if it says Xbox360 it will work in my 360. I really do like that.

 

[Wordsworth]

I'm thinking of getting a PlayStation down the road a bit for the reasons you cite. Gaming should be simple fun, not troubleshooting issues.

 

[MrNeeds]

It's solved now guys, it was due to windows live ID sign in assistant, it's designed to reconnect after 2 minutes, and that's what happened with my game, it stuttered every 2 minutes.

 

[Wordsworth]

Glad you got it resolved and hope the game is enjoyable now.

 

[kellymac35]

Runs great here playing on Steam the only thing I have an issue with is during quick cut sceens and violent crashes I get some strange color paterns and pixelating it very brief but annoying. I am currently running beta drivers so I'm hopeing a driver change will correct the prob.

 

[Wordsworth]

I get the very brief color patterns/pixelation I believe you're speaking of only when the camera changes scenes in the replays; only once in a while though, not enough to detract from enjoying the replays (running very latest ATI drivers).

So far this game runs very smooth on my system. The only complaint I really have is again that I can't get an offline profile to work.

 

[MrNeeds]

I get the very brief color patterns/pixelation I believe you're speaking of only when the camera changes scenes in the replays; only once in a while though, not enough to detract from enjoying the replays (running very latest ATI drivers).

So far this game runs very smooth on my system. The only complaint I really have is again that I can't get an offline profile to work.

I think that's how the replays are designed, it's simulating something hitting the camera eg/ cars next to the shot and driving into it.

 

[Wordsworth]

You may be right as I've had the same thought since this is similar to Dirt 2 where the camera makes a noise and then changes scenes; I don't recall the pixelation occurring in Dirt 2 though but this would be more realistic to simulate a camera getting hit.