My experience with Force Unleashed Ultimate Sith Edition (PC)

[Rerednaw]

Well I figure for people who are considering picking this game up I'd share my experience. I bought it ($18) because I heard that the second one was due out soon and I wanted to play the predecessor.

First of all it's 26GB install.
Pretty hefty for a game.
And it has major bugs/issues on a variety of systems. As in fatal won't run/keeps crashing bugs.

I downloaded the latest patch and installed it...and the game ran worse. Crashed more often and ran slower!!
I contacted customer support.
On the plus side they did respond.
On the minus side their response was not very helpful.

Apparently the reasons why this game does not run (crash at title, no menu on startup, crash on startup, crash during gameplay, white screen of death on launch...) are:

1) I don't overclock my Core 2 Duo 2.2 Ghz CPU.

2) My ATi HD4650 with 1 Gig running Dx11 (mobility) is radically inferior and different when compared to a HD2600/256 Meg/Dx9c.

I'm not sure why they would say that mobility chipsets are unsupported. Are they that different?

Funny thing, I played around with it and got it running in 1920x1080 with High detail.

I found out some reasons why this game is PC unfriendly:
1) Extensive (continually runs at intervals) copy protection. (Not that it stopped rampant piracy, just try a google search with +torrent)
2) Heavy software emulation.
3) You (user) need to set full access to the game directory. The game installer doesn't do this.
4) The game crashes with many virus-checkers. Aspyr's customer support actually recommends you disable both your FIREWALL and your virus checker to play this game.

I do agree with the gist of the other thread though. Game is a terrible port. I mean the first thing that threw me was that my mouse wouldn't navigate the menus. Gave me a sinking feeling.

I'm hoping that FU2 is more native to the PC.

> Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2010 14:20:33 +0000
> Subject: Re: Force Unleashed USE for PC bugs please help.
> From: support@aspyr.com
> To:
>
> Thank you for providing us with the requested information. According to your dxdiag, your processor does not meet the minimum system requirements for this game and it is also not supported on mobile chipsets.
>
> PC System Requirements
>
> PC MINIMUM
> Operating System: Windows XP SP3, Windows Vista SP2. Windows 7
> CPU Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz or AMD Athlon X2 5200+
> Memory: 2 GB RAM
> Hard Disk Space: 23.8 GB + 1 GB Swap File
> Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card
> Video Card: 3D Hardware Accelerator Card Required ? 100% DirectX 9.0c compatible 256 MB Video Memory with Shader 3.0 support
> Video Card (ATI): Radeon HD 2600
> Video Card (Nvidia): Geforce 8600
> Media Required: 8X DVD-ROM drive
> Windows XP/Vista compatible mouse and keyboard or Microsoft Xbox 360 Wired Controller
> This product does not support Windows 95/98/ME/2000/NT.
>
> PC RECOMMENDED
> Intel Core 2 Duo 2.8 GHz or AMD Athlon X2 Dual-Core 6000+
> 512 MB 3D Hardware Accelerator Card
> Video Card: Geforce 9800 GT
> NOTICE: Some 3D accelerator cards with the chipset listed here may not be compatible with the 3D acceleration features utilized by Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Please refer to your hardware manufacturer for 100% DirectX compatibility.
>
> SUPPORTED PC DESKTOP CHIPSETS
> ATI RADEON HD 2600, 2900, 3650, 3690, 3850, 3870, 4550, 4650, 4850, 4870, 4890
> NVIDIA GEFORCE 8600, 8800, 9400, 9500, 9600, 9800, 250, 260, 275, 280, 285, 295
> Notice: This game contains technology intended to prevent copying that may conflict with some disk and virtual disk drives.
>
> We recommend turning down your in game AND desktop resolution to 1024x768 or lower and un-checking the High Detail box in the initial configuration screen.

 

[Molondo]

I bought of steam, installed it and tried it. I could not get used to the controls ugh.

what a waste of 30 gig bandwith.

 

[Schadenfroh]

First of all it's 26GB install.

A console port that is 26GB? Damn... I assume the console's version has to be 4gb or so compressed (unless it spans multiple DvDs), unless it is dual layer.

 

[mmntech]

A console port that is 26GB? Damn... I assume the console's version has to be 4gb or so compressed (unless it spans multiple DvDs), unless it is dual layer.

According to Amazon, it's a two disc set for the 360. It only adds three additional levels over the original game, which wasn't too long to begin with.
Even big RPGs like Fallout 3 and Mass Effect 2 are barely half that size. CPU specs are also vary high for a 2008 game.

It's games like this that made me leave PC gaming for a while. Extremely poor quality control. The console version is significantly better though, but not free of flaws. Long load times, bad camera, and visual glitches plague the 360 and PS3.

 

[fatpat268]

It's 26gb because they have the cinematics in a whole bunch of different languages as well, afaik.

But yes, TFU is a computer hog, and it will not run well on pretty much any laptop.

 

[Mide]

I purchased it off of Steam when it was around 5 or 7 bucks. I had to lower the res and unclick high detail for the game to work. Controls were odd but not as bad as some other console ports. It was a fun game but I'm glad I didn't spend too much on it.