Guitar Hero for PC

brencat

Platinum Member
Feb 26, 2007
2,170
3
76
What is currently the best, most cost effective setup or package for a PC user who wants to play Guitar Hero (or similar) assuming they need to buy the game and 1 or 2 guitars?

My local Gamestop had what looked like a wired guitar (looked like the xbox 360 USB one) + GH3 +GHAerosmith for ~ $80. However, I've read that GH3 suffers from performance problems on some PCs and tbh, I prefer the song lists from GH2 or RockBand 2 much better.

Also read somewhere about Frets on Fire Alarian mod but not sure what's involved there.

Any suggestions here would be appreciated.
 

Oyeve

Lifer
Oct 18, 1999
21,899
819
126
Dont get it. The PC GH3 is horrible on any system. The patch they release basically keeps the camera on you and lowers the res to the lowest common denominator and removes any non essential graphics. And it still plays like crap. Dont know if they patched it again because I gave up long ago.
 

Aikouka

Lifer
Nov 27, 2001
30,383
912
126
Oh wow... thanks for mentioning the Alarian mod for FoF... I had never heard of that before as I've used the original Frets on Fire before. FoF is actually really bad right now in its current state. On every Windows machine I own, the performance (framerate) during a song literally tanks and it will crash the entire PC unless you close it ASAP. Dropping back down to version 1.2 fixed this on my media server PC, but it still doesn't work on my laptop.

I think the issues with GH for the PC revolve around people with less than stellar PCs attempting to play it as in the game has rather high requirements graphically (for what you'd expect). I haven't personally tried it on any of my machines as I have all of my music games for the 360.

Oh and GH2 blows because all of the songs are horrible sounding covers. I cringe whenever I hear Rage Against the Machine's Killing in the Name of on Guitar Hero 2.

Also, to go back to FoF. The game isn't bad and I think I may try it more with this Alarian mod. You can get a ton of songs for it in "the usual places", but the negative aspects I found are:

1) Songs don't have all levels of difficulty
2) Songs don't follow the same difficult rules as Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Meaning that Medium can and usually will use Orange notes.
3) Songs typically do not have true guitar tracks with them, so if you miss a note, the entire song cuts out instead of just the guitar.
 

ZxSlippy

Junior Member
Nov 6, 2008
8
0
0
I run it just fine on my computer with an 8800 GTX, and a 2.93 ghz duo core, at 1440 x 900, getting 70-100 FPS... Make sure V-Sync is OFF or else the game will lag
 

ultimahwhat

Member
Aug 13, 2008
166
0
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Also runs fine on my computer with an hd4850, athlon x2 @ 3.12, and running at 1680 x 1050.

Regarding that gamestop bundle, you probably don't need to spend that much. I got the same bundle (gh3, aerosmith, +wired guitar) at Best Buy a few weeks ago for $60. Also, circuit city had the standalone controller for $10, but now that they're going out of business, you'd have to check your local store for availability.

Oh, and I started playing through Aerosmith with my roommate, and so far we have been underwhelmed. If you were to get the aerosmith bundle, get it for GH3, and you might end up liking the Aerosmith game too. Maybe there are better songs unlocked later on.
 

brencat

Platinum Member
Feb 26, 2007
2,170
3
76
Originally posted by: ultimahwhat
Also runs fine on my computer with an hd4850, athlon x2 @ 3.12, and running at 1680 x 1050.

Regarding that gamestop bundle, you probably don't need to spend that much. I got the same bundle (gh3, aerosmith, +wired guitar) at Best Buy a few weeks ago for $60. Also, circuit city had the standalone controller for $10, but now that they're going out of business, you'd have to check your local store for availability.

Alright, so that's at least somewhat encouraging that you and Slippy are running the game just fine with similar PC specs to me. And I appreciate the Best Buy tip. Frankly, I really don't want to spend more than $50 - $60 all in, considering like I said, that I prefer the Rock Band 2 song list the best. Hopefully, one day they'll release a PC version of this for all the HTPC owners out there (whose numbers are but a tiny % of the console market, I know).

If anyone else has any suggestions for me, please keep em coming! Thx
 

bearxor

Diamond Member
Jul 8, 2001
6,609
2
81
I didn't have a problem running GH3 PC on my MacBook Pro when it came out. 128MB GF8600m, 2.2ghz C2D
 

ArchAngel777

Diamond Member
Dec 24, 2000
5,223
61
91
Originally posted by: Gonad the Barbarian
You want this: http://www.fretsonfire.net/for...topic.php?f=11&t=25040
All the Rock Band 1&2 and Guitar Hero 1-3 songs are "available." Works with drums too.

Sorry, but that program sucks the big one. My opinion only, but there is no way that program can compare to GH or RB series. I tried it with my guitar and it was a very crappy interface, it was very difficult to tell when you were playing a chord or if it was an individual note. Some people love it, but I think it is crap. But it is free...
 

ArchAngel777

Diamond Member
Dec 24, 2000
5,223
61
91
Originally posted by: Gonad the Barbarian
You want this: http://www.fretsonfire.net/for...topic.php?f=11&t=25040
All the Rock Band 1&2 and Guitar Hero 1-3 songs are "available." Works with drums too.

Sorry, but that program sucks the big one. My opinion only, but there is no way that program can compare to GH or RB series. I tried it with my guitar and it was a very crappy interface, it was very difficult to tell when you were playing a chord or if it was an individual note. Some people love it, but I think it is crap. But it is free...

It is like comparing MS Office to Open Office, there simply is no comparison.
 

Oyeve

Lifer
Oct 18, 1999
21,899
819
126
Originally posted by: ultimahwhat
Also runs fine on my computer with an hd4850, athlon x2 @ 3.12, and running at 1680 x 1050.

Hmm, I may have to give this another try. Been about 8 months since I last played. Maybe the graphic drivers back then were and issue. I'll check it out again.
 

ShawnD1

Lifer
May 24, 2003
15,987
2
81
Originally posted by: ArchAngel777
Originally posted by: Gonad the Barbarian
You want this: http://www.fretsonfire.net/for...topic.php?f=11&t=25040
All the Rock Band 1&2 and Guitar Hero 1-3 songs are "available." Works with drums too.

Sorry, but that program sucks the big one. My opinion only, but there is no way that program can compare to GH or RB series. I tried it with my guitar and it was a very crappy interface, it was very difficult to tell when you were playing a chord or if it was an individual note. Some people love it, but I think it is crap. But it is free...

It is like comparing MS Office to Open Office, there simply is no comparison.

I don't like FoF either. In Guitar Hero it seems like the notes I'm hitting have some effect on what I hear through the speakers. Frets just shows that I'm hitting the notes but the sound does not change. I might as well be playing my plastic guitar while watching MTV; it would feel about the same.
 
Oct 16, 1999
10,490
4
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Originally posted by: ShawnD1
Originally posted by: ArchAngel777
Originally posted by: Gonad the Barbarian
You want this: http://www.fretsonfire.net/for...topic.php?f=11&t=25040
All the Rock Band 1&2 and Guitar Hero 1-3 songs are "available." Works with drums too.

Sorry, but that program sucks the big one. My opinion only, but there is no way that program can compare to GH or RB series. I tried it with my guitar and it was a very crappy interface, it was very difficult to tell when you were playing a chord or if it was an individual note. Some people love it, but I think it is crap. But it is free...

It is like comparing MS Office to Open Office, there simply is no comparison.

I don't like FoF either. In Guitar Hero it seems like the notes I'm hitting have some effect on what I hear through the speakers. Frets just shows that I'm hitting the notes but the sound does not change. I might as well be playing my plastic guitar while watching MTV; it would feel about the same.

You aren't using RB/GH or multitrack songs then. FoF mutes the track on missed notes just as RB & GH. I also don't get the interface complaints, the themes for RB & GH are darn near carbon copies. If you guys are basing your opinions on earlier versions it is much much more solid now than it has been in the past. There is a higher time investment from acquiring the songs and tweaking the program, but it's the only option for the PC besides the crappy GH3 port, plus it's free, plus it works with RB songs, so plus it can use the drums.
 

PhatoseAlpha

Platinum Member
Apr 10, 2005
2,131
21
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They're clearly talking about vanilla FoF, not the Alarian mod / Fof-X mods.

And yes, ArchAngel clearly has badly tracked songs - probably amateur produced, done poorly. Plenty of those about.
 

ArchAngel777

Diamond Member
Dec 24, 2000
5,223
61
91
Because there have been three people here stating that it is better, I'll give it another shot. I have only used Vanilla and part of that was due to the fact that it takes a long, very long time to search the forums and read about everything about the program. I didn't know other mods existed for it. That might enhance the program and make it more playable. Also the tracks, yes, another problem. How do you find a 'good' track other than a list of millions of songs? I'd rather not sit there and download one by one with Rapidshare hoping to get a decent song. I dunno, but I will be sure to give it another shot and hold my comments towards the product until I have a chance to retest - though I still may come to the same conclusion, who knows.
 

brencat

Platinum Member
Feb 26, 2007
2,170
3
76
Thanks for all the feedback gang.

@Gonad -- That one file you referenced...is that all I need or is there something else I need to download before or afterward (besides the songs)?
 
Oct 16, 1999
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