Horrible optimization and How this game almost burned my PC

[U1frick B1ack]

So... What can i say, the game's optimization is so horrible, it simply doesn't exist. While having a morrowind-tier graphics, it runs at 30 fps with 2k resolution on a PC build that is twice as powerful as recommended on the steam page. Models are low-poly, textures are flat, the visuals, while stylish, in terms of fidelity are pretty much equivalent of a two decades old game that for some reason require a NASA computer to play it. This is honestly while may seem funny, is actually extremely disappointing and disheartening.

Now for the juicy part... The devs have such little idea at what they are doing, their game is able to damage your PC permanently. During my 30 minutes play when i got to the scripted scene of the Hag casting a spell to animate a Hut, the power consumption and temperature of my PC got so high the PC got shut down by itself and was so hot it was painful to touch it. I live in a cold country and my PC cooling system has 5 fans to handle the most extreme cases yet it couldn't handle Reka's devs attempt at optimizing their game, if that attempt was even made.

[juliejayne]

I was getting a solid 60 fps @ 1080, so maybe drop your res down a bit. Runs well.

[0ldePSN00b]

Legion Go owner... on default settings game shut down my device shortly after first launch. Definitely needs much work.

[moonrunetune]

agreed I hope they fix it, it's a pretty big issue

[Cake for Mumm-Ra]

Bud this game has only been in EA for a month and a half.

Optimization typically comes later in the development cycle. The developer is aware of performance issues, and has responded often to other (kinder) feedback.

[U1frick B1ack]

Originally posted by Cake for Mumm-Ra:

Bud this game has only been in EA for a month and a half.

Optimization typically comes later in the development cycle. The developer is aware of performance issues, and has responded often to other (kinder) feedback.

This is very poor excuse. No project should be released in EA in such unplayable and dangerous state for number of reasons. Not only it leads to poor first impression for a product a dev is aming to successfully sell to the public, it literally goes against the purpose of EA testing as there is no way for me to test out the game and give any feedback since the current build is unplayable as it is frying my PC up, that is, mind you, much more powerful than recommended specs listed on steam page (so, false info, basically false advertisement). I am sure that there are more people having same or similar issues and this is simply unacceptable and inexcusable, as there is literally a potential for a multiple lawsuits. At this state the game could be qualified as a malware (misleading description, could potentially permanently damage the hardware).

I have supported several EA projects, none had such poor performance. Because in fact, optimization should not "come later in the development cycle" despite it for some reason becoming a norm nowadays, and most competent developers will tell you that.

Also did you really try to condem me for giving an "unkind" (how?) feedback for a falsely advertised poor-quality product that nearly burned my PC?

[Cake for Mumm-Ra]

Its not unplayable for most people, despite the seemingly unnecessary load on modern GPUs. Suggesting that the developers are responsible for your computer crashing is very funny, and it sounds like you're actually not at risk of damaging your components because your computer has a fail safe to shut down when temperatures exceed safe thresholds.

No sane person here is gonna debate with you about whether or not the devs should or shouldn't release their game in any state. The EA disclaimer is right there on the store page.

I'm not condemning you lol. just get a refund and come back when development is further along. Or don't!

[Cake]

Just to validate your concerns, it ran poorly on my computer and steam deck as well and I couldn't play it. I was sad to refund, but I look forward to checking back in further into development.

[★arlecchino☆]

97% usage maxed out my 3060ti on 1080p medium settings, used vsync to cap framerate... dropped to 87% on low/low settings, 82% on low/low @ 1600:900 w/ volumetric fog all the way to the left, cpu still pushing over 80C. Like bottom of the barrel and it's still running hotter than remnant 2 on max settings. I think it's cuz each tuft of grass is like an individual asset or something? idk. it was a noticeable difference of like 15C and 25% gpu being out in the fields and being indoors.

I don't mind playing on low since the cel shaded look fits w/ lack of textures, but it's still chugging on low, and yeah the egg hatching cinematic was glitching out.

[Cake for Mumm-Ra]

Originally posted by ★arlecchino☆:

97% usage maxed out my 3060ti on 1080p medium settings, used vsync to cap framerate... dropped to 87% on low/low settings, 82% on low/low @ 1600:900 w/ volumetric fog all the way to the left, cpu still pushing over 80C. Like bottom of the barrel and it's still running hotter than remnant 2 on max settings. I think it's cuz each tuft of grass is like an individual asset or something? idk. it was a noticeable difference of like 15C and 25% gpu being out in the fields and being indoors.

I don't mind playing on low since the cel shaded look fits w/ lack of textures, but it's still chugging on low, and yeah the egg hatching cinematic was glitching out.

I only had a brief stutter when the egg hatched, but the in-game settings seem to have no effect on my GPU usage. I just run the game on max settings because it looks nicer and lowering the settings doesn't seem to improve performance.

I did notice that different hair styles effected FPS significantly. Specifically, long curly hair dropped FPS, while straight hair ran smoother.

[St0rmwielder]

Unity Engine. *giggles* :P Terrible engine to use.

Tried it on my LeGo as well. Bad experience. To be fair though, it is not Steam Deck verified so complaining about bad performance on a handheld is of no relevance. Could run well on a better engine but I've had other games using Unity that also just kept overheating the system (The Long Dark, Wildmender etc) Idk why devs are using this engine .. Sadly refunding this one. Looks like a nice game but i'm holding off until the developers changed the engine or, at least provide a 60fps experience.

You're indie devs. You got no budget for big AAA games.
We're indie gamers/lovers. We got no budget for a Nasa PC.

[m662]

Custom settings: 1920 x 1080
The clouds and shadows are on high.
Volumetric maxed
35 FPS average
GPU 28% utilization RTX 2070 Max Q
Temperature average 71 °C

CPU: 58% utilization i7-10750H CPU @ 2.60GHz
Temperature average 85 °C

Memory usage: 5GB average
System temperature: 81 °C

Cooling setup: twin 6480 RPM metal fan blades.

This is not a high-end gaming laptop, and I torture this thing far worse with machine-learning projects in the 100 °C. Is the game's performance great? Absolutely not. That is why it is EA, meaning public testing, especially in lower-scale projects where you do not have the actual hardware to test on a lot of different setups. And hardware simulation software (not regular virtualization) for this purpose is very expensive, like in the 100K + range. hiring a company to do so for you is not cheap either. So you rely on the users to report findings. It is cost saving plain and simple.

If your system runs so hot that it has to shut down, the most likely scenarios are that you either overclocked it, have terrible airflow in your casing causing pockets of hot air, or have an issue with your specific drivers as the main culprits. Outside of very obscure titles and very badly designed DRM implementations (no, not Denuvo), I have never in 20 + years experienced seen any game causing the system to crash because of temperature problems without outside influence from the user. Crashes sure but not because of the temperature.

Even if it did, the safety crash is way below the maximum thermal junction temperature, and before that, the thermal throttling is already initiated to smooth the curve towards the limit. There is almost a 0 percent risk of any damage due to thermal influence, unless you overwrite the safety settings. Now the crash itself might cause data corruption but these days even that is highly unlikely due to advancement in memory and cache use.

Anything below 95 °C is considered normal operation temperature for majority of hardware in consumer grade systems. That is what manufacturers aim for the actual max temp is around 105 °C to 110 °C depending on quality of the semiconductors used. And I guarantee that will burn your skin indeed, but that does not mean it is not meant to do so

Computers are capable of running much higher temperatures then most people think as long as the temperature does not fluctuate constantly it is not going to massively degrade your hardware. Servers are a different story but that is due to the compact makeup and much more sensitive components extra in them. Most here do not have to ever worry about that.

Which is also why the saying you need a NASA computer is absolutely stupid. Aside from supercomputers for calculation purposes, all those systems have lower specifications than most of the stuff you have as a consumer. Why should they need high specifications? They are used to streaming data from a server park, not processing it at the display system. So no, you do not need or ever want a NASA computer if you are looking for performance.

Graphics do not dictate how hardware-intensive software is; it is the actual code used, and higher-spec hardware does not mean that you will have a better experience on all fronts the chances are you have a worse experience due to less years of firmware development.
The good news a developer that just launched there project and does not have a established market has every incentive to make the run more smoothly increasing the possible market of users in the process.

I do not doubt that your system crashed. I do not doubt the game ran like crap outside your own fault, but I do doubt your technical understanding of the actual hardware if you use terms like dangerous for your system.

If you are under two hours best to refund and take a look back in a year if your not willing to give them a chance to fix it.

[U1frick B1ack]

Originally posted by m662:

Custom settings: 1920 x 1080
The clouds and shadows are on high.
Volumetric maxed
35 FPS average
GPU 28% utilization RTX 2070 Max Q
Temperature average 71 °C

CPU: 58% utilization i7-10750H CPU @ 2.60GHz
Temperature average 85 °C

Memory usage: 5GB average
System temperature: 81 °C

Cooling setup: twin 6480 RPM metal fan blades.

This is not a high-end gaming laptop, and I torture this thing far worse with machine-learning projects in the 100 °C. Is the game's performance great? Absolutely not. That is why it is EA, meaning public testing, especially in lower-scale projects where you do not have the actual hardware to test on a lot of different setups. And hardware simulation software (not regular virtualization) for this purpose is very expensive, like in the 100K + range. hiring a company to do so for you is not cheap either. So you rely on the users to report findings. It is cost saving plain and simple.

If your system runs so hot that it has to shut down, the most likely scenarios are that you either overclocked it, have terrible airflow in your casing causing pockets of hot air, or have an issue with your specific drivers as the main culprits. Outside of very obscure titles and very badly designed DRM implementations (no, not Denuvo), I have never in 20 + years experienced seen any game causing the system to crash because of temperature problems without outside influence from the user. Crashes sure but not because of the temperature.

Even if it did, the safety crash is way below the maximum thermal junction temperature, and before that, the thermal throttling is already initiated to smooth the curve towards the limit. There is almost a 0 percent risk of any damage due to thermal influence, unless you overwrite the safety settings. Now the crash itself might cause data corruption but these days even that is highly unlikely due to advancement in memory and cache use.

Anything below 95 °C is considered normal operation temperature for majority of hardware in consumer grade systems. That is what manufacturers aim for the actual max temp is around 105 °C to 110 °C depending on quality of the semiconductors used. And I guarantee that will burn your skin indeed, but that does not mean it is not meant to do so

Computers are capable of running much higher temperatures then most people think as long as the temperature does not fluctuate constantly it is not going to massively degrade your hardware. Servers are a different story but that is due to the compact makeup and much more sensitive components extra in them. Most here do not have to ever worry about that.

Which is also why the saying you need a NASA computer is absolutely stupid. Aside from supercomputers for calculation purposes, all those systems have lower specifications than most of the stuff you have as a consumer. Why should they need high specifications? They are used to streaming data from a server park, not processing it at the display system. So no, you do not need or ever want a NASA computer if you are looking for performance.

Graphics do not dictate how hardware-intensive software is; it is the actual code used, and higher-spec hardware does not mean that you will have a better experience on all fronts the chances are you have a worse experience due to less years of firmware development.
The good news a developer that just launched there project and does not have a established market has every incentive to make the run more smoothly increasing the possible market of users in the process.

I do not doubt that your system crashed. I do not doubt the game ran like crap outside your own fault, but I do doubt your technical understanding of the actual hardware if you use terms like dangerous for your system.

If you are under two hours best to refund and take a look back in a year if your not willing to give them a chance to fix it.

I thank you on the confirmation that the system i use should be fine after such encounter, it is comforting to know, as while i would not say i am a complete newbie, i still can admit that i really am not competent with hardware machinery. Tho i am pretty sure my cooling system and airflow are fine and no overclocking was ever done.
Yeah, i do know that graphics is not the only defining factor for the intensity for hardware, i was only making a point about performance there, as it's a general consensus that games with less impressive graphics SHOULD be expected to run better than ones with more impressive graphical fidelity, thus i was only referencing this consensus.
Refuned the first day, of cource. Might check out in a year later, tho totally will check reviews and discussions on the matter of performance before buying it again hah.

Btw "nasa computer" is a common comical figure of speach, a hyperbole if you will, meant to stand for "extremely powerful pc", and not meant to imply the actual system NASA uses. Your paragraph about me using such figure of speach was a bit silly and unnecessary ;)

Thanks again for your time and response!

[U1frick B1ack]

For me, further discussion is unnecessary. Unsubscribing from it, bye guys! Thanks everyone for their time to read and participate!
And if any devs gave it a read, good luck with the game, it looks promissing, i just hope it will actually work to deliver on that promise.

[m662]

Originally posted by U1frick B1ack:

I thank you on the confirmation that the system i use should be fine after such encounter, it is comforting to know, as while i would not say i am a complete newbie, i still can admit that i really am not competent with hardware machinery. Tho i am pretty sure my cooling system and airflow are fine and no overclocking was ever done.
Yeah, i do know that graphics is not the only defining factor for the intensity for hardware, i was only making a point about performance there, as it's a general consensus that games with less impressive graphics SHOULD be expected to run better than ones with more impressive graphical fidelity, thus i was only referencing this consensus.
Refuned the first day, of cource. Might check out in a year later, tho totally will check reviews and discussions on the matter of performance before buying it again hah.

Btw "nasa computer" is a common comical figure of speach, a hyperbole if you will, meant to stand for "extremely powerful pc", and not meant to imply the actual system NASA uses. Your paragraph about me using such figure of speach was a bit silly and unnecessary ;)

Thanks again for your time and response!

Even if you do not read it I always consider it courtesy to respond.

More than welcome and yes your system regarding the incident is indeed fine no worries. With regards to your point of less graphic fidelity I can give a very simple example it is possible to have Crysis running better on max settings on modern systems then the old Minecraft version build on Java if played long enough. Nothing do to with the graphics just really really bad memory management in the original version that got ironed out with you guessed it patches.

Glad you got your refund nothing worse then buying a game and not able to refund it for what ever reason.

The NASA thing is a comical figure of speech yes I am aware of it but in the context of a serious post with the claim your PC almost got damaged and knowing there are far less technical able people buying games it can be very of putting as they might think they actually need top of the line hardware (which again NASA does not use in general) This just needs some development time. I hope in a year or so the game runs smooth as butter on your end as well if you are still interested in it by than.

If your PC keeps running *to* hot on other games though as well then highly recommend buying a cheap temperature sensor to see problem spots in the case and see if there is maybe dust build up.

Best of luck and have a nice time with any other game in the mean time.

[Turbo-Laser Ninjadragon]

My PC is burly, watercooled and many other things. I bought the thing to do scientific simulations and it was ROARING. "Reka" is not a peptide folding simulation...what...is going on here?