A call for action.
2022 was a rough year for PC ports.
No sign-ins to other online platforms to launch a game on Steam would be another.
TheDays Gonesettings menu is astonishingly good, for example.
But for our first point, we’ll kick off with the big one.
Eliminate shader compilation stutter
You may have been aware of my #StutterStruggle over the last year.
The frequency of these stutters is usually unacceptable in affected titles.
This can be eliminated, and how it is achieved is not too important, honestly.
Shaders can also be compiled asynchronously in the background on the CPU, as seen inStar CitizenandHorizon Zero Dawn.
A game can also use a combination of pre-compilation and asynchronous compilation like Spider-Man Remastered.
What do the options actually do?
What is ambient occlusion exactly?
How much performance do I save by changing options?
The way forward is to include a graphics menu that delivers responsive visual feedback.
For example, ESC or backspace should always back you out of a menu page.
The arrow keys and even WASD should be usable to navigate a menu without using a mouse.
Alt+ F4 should always quit the game to the desktop.
If possible, also avoid scrolling on options menu screens.
Scrolling can be a bit slow and it hides options at times.
A good example of a non-scrolling menu is seen inArma 3.
Not every PC player will be using a 16:9 monitor locked to 60Hz or 120Hz.
This is an obvious example of an option that should be in the graphics menu.
Control is another example where console optimisations - checkerboard RT reflections - never make their way across to PC.
A feature that works for consoles invariably has utility on PC, too.
The basic rule is - if you are doing a feature on console, do it on PC.
My optimised controls guides often end up generating near identical controls that the console versions run at.
A game’s graphical options should expose console options in a transparent way.
