Once again PC gaming has failed me :(

[Azaraxzealot]

I just bought a wired xbox 360 controller yesterday for my PC and I was surprised that it worked right away with no configuration necessary. Worked on Batman: AC, GTA 4, Just Cause 2, Saints Row: The Third (which actually gets me great FPS on my desktop on the highest settings, I guess it wasn't such a bad port after all), and Section 8: Prejudice.

Then I saw Sleeping Dogs was on sale. And I thought to myself "Hey! I played the demo of this on my laptop (which ran very well by the way just on medium settings) which is a HELL of a lot weaker than the desktop I just built! With my new controller I can not see why I shouldn't buy it now!"

So I did, and after 17 hours of downloading (can't afford better internet) I eagerly press the play button and am greeted by....

a black screen.

I checked my task manager to see if the game was working, and lo and behold it wasn't. It was not responding. So I end the process and try again after 5 minutes just to make sure my system just wasn't being slow (sometimes it does on the first time I run a game). I got the same result.

So I made sure my drivers were up to date, verified integrity of the game cache, and then tried again. Nope, still same result.

So I tried running it as administrator.

Nope.

Running it without Desktop Composition (I saw on a forum that that worked).

Nope.

Trying to put it in windowed mode so I could change the refresh rate (which is also apparently a problem).

Nope. Doesn't respond once that screen hits or even before.

So I went to the steam forums and Sleeping Dogs forums and saw only 2 other people having this problem. And NO ONE had a solution. I even went to an official wiki for Sleeping Dogs bugfixes and it says that the black screen on boot was an unresolved problem (unless you had an Nvidia GTX 570, which I don't have).

So once again. PC gaming has shown just how it makes people want to punch a baby seal. And as you can see from above, it can't be me at fault because I gave it hours of chances to find a solution. But the thing is I shouldn't HAVE to find a solution. The product I paid for should just WORK as intended.

And I know I can run it because I have:
Intel Pentium G860 3.0 ghz (dual core I know but exceeds minimum requirements).
Radeon HD 7750 1 gb GDDR5
8 gb Gskill 1066mhz Ram
Windows 7 64-bit

 

[BloatedGuppy]

So once again. PC gaming has shown just how inferior it is to playing on a console.

The sad thing is, this might have been an honest request for help and/or sympathy getting a persnickity game to run on your PC. And now it's just another stupid console/PC jihad post. You couldn't resist putting that in there? Seriously?

 

[voltair27]

Haha, looks like your computer sucks. I'll just be playing Sleeping Dogs over on my computer while running Crysis 1 and 2 in the background.

 

[mParadox]

Well the honest to goodness fact is that Sleeping Dogs is not a good port. Not as good as people would like it to be. So yeah, it's likely that it will cause problems on some peoples PCs. Pity it had to be yours.

And that flame bait line? Nawt kewl.

 

[Azaraxzealot]

So once again. PC gaming has shown just how inferior it is to playing on a console.

The sad thing is, this might have been an honest request for help and/or sympathy getting a persnickity game to run on your PC. And now it's just another stupid console/PC jihad post. You couldn't resist putting that in there? Seriously?

I'm sure it LOOKS like I'm trying to start a flame war but that's not the point. The point is pretty much the same as this article [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_265/7935-Punching-the-Baby-Seal-of-PC-Gaming]. And if HE isn't trying to start a flame war then I say I'm not either.

After all is said and done and I find a fix or it's updated then I'll be up on the PC gaming train again. But right now I am just pissed at this bullshit of a game I paid for not working.

Other than this I've had pretty good experiences with PC gaming. Like Just Cause 2's mods and GTA 4 becomes a transcendental exercise in fun with the trainer and the ability to remove all other cars from the road (making trips THAT much faster). But this kind of stuff always throws me off the PC gaming train.

 

[Azaraxzealot]

Well the honest to goodness fact is that Sleeping Dogs is not a good port. Not as good as people would like it to be. So yeah, it's likely that it will cause problems on some peoples PCs. Pity it had to be yours.

And that flame bait line? Nawt kewl.

Look, I know it was optimized extremely well because it worked on a significantly weaker laptop, and now I really want to do justice to the game by buying it (only had the demo before) but I can't say anything good about a game that just doesn't work.

 

[Fractral]

I'd guess that because everyone has a different PC the developers have more trouble finding and fixing bugs. If only two other people have had and reported the bug, then chances are the developers either cannot reproduce it, and therefore cannot fix it, or are focusing on the bugs which affect more people, because that's the sensible thing to do. Consoles, on the other hand, are all the same so if one player gets a bug, chances are a lot of the players will get the bug, and the devs will be able to find and fix it.
It's one of the reasons why the console vs PC debate isn't just a simple 'which is outright better' question. One is not definitively better than the other- they each have pros and cons, and it is up to you to decide which one is better for you. If you don't want to put up with bugs like that, then fine, consoles are probably better for you. If you want the ease of steam or being able to run games prettier, then that's also fine, the PC is probably better for you.

 

[Hazy992]

You had a bad experience with one PC game so obviously all PC gaming is terrible. Gotcha.

And I should point out I'm mainly a console gamer lest I be accused of bias.

 

[Cronq]

Then stick with consoles. PC gaming isn't for impatient people who can't bother with trouble shooting and pretend like they've already tried everything after 30 seconds.

Hurry, Sleeping Dogs is on sale for $30 right now for Xbox 360.

 

[ohnoitsabear]

Is playing it on your laptop out of the question? I know you probably don't want to waste your time downloading it again, and I know you would rather play it on your desktop, but surely playing it on your laptop is better than not playing it at all?

If that isn't an option, you can always try getting a refund from Steam. They usually allow one refund per account, so you might as well use it on a game that doesn't work. I do want to add, though, steam's refund policy is easily the worst thing about the service, and is something that Valve needs to change.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

You had a bad experience with one PC game so obviously all PC gaming is terrible. Gotcha.

And I should point out I'm mainly a console gamer lest I be accused of bias.

yeah this. One game should not sour the pot on all the fun you can have.

since it's not in front of me, i can't be arsed to do it, but problems like these are actually fun now to solve when they happen on my rig (hello planescape torment, i didn't realize you wanted to fuck my hard drive in the ass and not run at all, WELL TOO BAD.)

just keep at it, i'm sure there is a work around for it, hell sometimes giving my system a hard reboot does the trick (happened on mass effect 1, was so pissed when i figured out that's all it needed.)

 

[Another]

According to PC gaming wiki, it might be the video files in game. The movies files that have the opening logos are probably screwing you. The wiki suggests reinstalling the game.

http://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Sleeping_Dogs

Seriously, If anyone has issues with a game a lot of fixes can be found on this site. Not all certainly, but quite a few.

 

[Tom_green_day]

In my opinion, console and PC gaming are two different things that are good for different things. For example, I find PC gaming is better for things like strategy and creation games where you need precision and speed. Hell, if I hadn't played Battle for Middle Earth, I wouldn't play games now.
On the other hand, I prefer consoles for games when I control a character in third or first person. I've tried ME3 and Battlefield on PC and just couldn't find it fun, because using the mouse as a pointer is so hard.

 

[3asytarg3t]

If we're going to troll here, I'll jump in and suggest that while the demise of PC Gaming has been greatly exaggerated, that of consoles, not so much.

 

[Domogo]

Im not sure how you can say that PC gamming is at fault when you specifically say that it ran well on your laptop? if you were looking for help that I hope your problem gets fixed if your whole point was to rage about one product one product not working (after you said so many others worked) you wont be greeted with a smile, this is not walmart.