Dead Island

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sun Jul 15, 2012 4:11 am

Got this for $10 on the STeam sale today and feel like I've wasted my money and not even played it yet.

It started with a black screen when I tried to run it. After 10 min and forums searches I found a file editing fix for that one. After a bit of black screen it now starts up.

Next up is a VERY loud static. It sounds as if an old speaker plug is going bad or a volume control is full of dust. It is all during the setup and character choosing. no fix found yet. it is so loud I cant stand it.

The final straw....well the last i found before giving up...is tryin to rebind keys. you can't. Well I can't at least. feels like a console game. I click and it removes the keybind but no matter what key i hit to set it does nothing. no key is bound and the only thing i get is left mouse button. It is as if my keyboard is not hooked up at all.

I wanted this game since release and for $10 i figured it would be worth it. Seeing as I cant even play it I must conclude I was ripped off. Im considering asking Steam for a refund.

DOS=HIGH · Post by **DOS=HIGH** » Sun Jul 15, 2012 4:17 am

Courtesy of IceBear from the bargain bin thread:

"BTW, all you people getting Dead Island, make sure you get the Dead Island Helper tool to fix a lot of the graphical issues you might run into due to the console-itis.

http://www.theplaywrite.com/tools-and-u ... dit-files/"

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sun Jul 15, 2012 5:26 am

Thanks for trying to help. I dont think it worked. I no longer have the static but it said it could not find the folder it needs to edit and I have no idea how to find it manually. Also I can get in game and my mouse is working but the keyboard does nothing at all. Cant walk, jump, or anything. its like the game thinks i dont have one connected.

Gonna recheck that app and see whats up.

EDIT: Ok it says it cannot find my settings folder and tells me where to look. I have no such folder...which may be why i cant bind my keyboard and it resets my gamma each time. One place it says to look in my game dir is not even there in mine. guess Im borked. I will try to delete and reinstall

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sun Jul 15, 2012 5:36 am

Seems a common problem... http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/s ... ?t=2101409" target="_blank .....I do run Avast so Ill see what i can do. The screen stays black till the push any button part comes up. Then i can see the game. I may be missing something before then.

EDIT: Static is back big time. Still no keyboard. Cant figure out how to stop Avast from running it in sandbox mode.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sun Jul 15, 2012 5:55 am

Ok turned of Avast sandbox mode and the same seems better and sees I have a keyboard. Also got the helper working.

Now the worst problem I have is sound. Even after tweaking the settings in game....helper has no sound help.....I cant understand anyone and everything is extremely loud and muffled. Music is loud....wind and zombie moans are loud and muffled...and npc speech is BAD..Its muffled like the Charlie Brown teacher voice..cant understand a thing. So still unplayable right now. Working on it.

EDIT: Sound problem threads. i may still be screwed. Does Steam refund clunkers if they dont work right?

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/s ... ?t=2132094" target="_blank

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/s ... ?t=2110244" target="_blank

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/a ... 58306.html" target="_blank

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sun Jul 15, 2012 6:12 am

Ok restarted again and the popping is back and broguth some screen flickering with it. It also 'lost' all the keyboard settings I put into it and reverted to WASD. Im going to ask for a refund and they best give me one. Selling broken software and refusing refunds will not go over well with me.

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Sun Jul 15, 2012 6:48 am

Sorry about your sound issues... Don't really have any idea there. As for losing your key bindings there is an option in the helper tool to make the files read only as going into the in game settings menu would cause the settings to be overwritten... That was usually video related though

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Sun Jul 15, 2012 8:21 am

I bought it on sale at Greenman gaming a couple of months ago, played for an hour, and uninstalled. I hated all the console conventions, the inconsistent interface (why are some weapons in my inventory not showing up on the quick equip wheel? I don't know. How come walking over a med pack puts it into inventory for later use, but walking over an "energy drink" uses it immediately, whether or not I need it? I don't know that either.), the fact that restoring a game reset everything in the level except inventory, the dumb dialogue and the headache-inducing "music". Quest tracking is hit-and-miss, and NPC's are dumber than the cast of The Walking Dead.

Case in point - Once the tutorial is over you find yourself in a shack with a bunch of survivors (most of whom you can't interact with and are basically wallpaper), and a lifeguard with a Mori tattoo on his face. There's a lot of talk about how the shack will never survive another attack and how they've got to get everyone out of there, yada yada. The quest is to make it to the lifeguards quarters and retrieve some sort of pass card that will get everyone into a more secure area.

I nearly crapped my pants when I returned after getting the card to see the other survivors NEVER SHUT THE FUCKING DOOR BEHIND ME! They're standing there with the door wide open talking about how vulnerable the shack is if another attack comes.

Sheesh.

I hate, hate, hate this game and wish I had my $11 back.

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Sun Jul 15, 2012 8:35 am

It's not about realism, it's about smashing zombies in the head with a satisfying THUNK with some buddies after a stressful day

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Sun Jul 15, 2012 8:58 am

One of my favorite games of last year. It's not a zombie simulation exercise....it's a zombie game.

JonathanStrange · Post by **JonathanStrange** » Sun Jul 15, 2012 9:07 am

A satisfyingly flawed game - good enough that I wished we could combine a fun action game with strategy and planning. It seems always one or the other but rarely both.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Sun Jul 15, 2012 9:10 am

The sound issue is strange, though from reading the threads it would appear as though it's related to 5.1 and 7.1 sound...changing it to stereo fixed it for most of the people. If things are muffled and volume is weird, that might explain it (to me).

The Dead Island Helper tool mentioned above is essential to game play. The fact that I had to get it 3rd party is my only complaint about the game. I am surprised about the hate, but I guess it's not for everyone. I'm with hepcat -- it was absolutely one of my favorite PC games of last year.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sun Jul 15, 2012 9:12 am

I wouldn't mind the game itself...its all the technical trouble it has..some unfix-able. So Ive asked for a refund. They should be ashamed selling a known broken game like that. I should be able to ge ta refund due to it being unplayable upon receipt of it.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Sun Jul 15, 2012 9:14 am

IIRC the game was borked when they released it, or maybe it was ok for a day or two then they patched it and it was somehow screwed up even more. But at this point I'm very surprised to hear there are technical issues with the game.

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Sun Jul 15, 2012 9:15 am

And yet this known broken game was a favorite last year of many people

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Sun Jul 15, 2012 9:52 am

IceBear wrote:And yet this known broken game was a favorite last year of many people

+1.

Also, you would think 5 seconds of research about the game could have given you enough info to decide whether you would be willing to take on any technical challenges it might toss your way.

As for tgb's rage...shrug. He's old.

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Sun Jul 15, 2012 9:54 am

You never know if could be something you did to your computer. I was playing Medieval Total War 2 the other day and the sound was skipping like crazy. I tried EVERYTHING and couldn't get it working. As a last ditch effort I removed the overclock on my CPU and it was fine.

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Sun Jul 15, 2012 9:59 am

Smoove_B wrote:IIRC the game was borked when they released it, or maybe it was ok for a day or two then they patched it and it was somehow screwed up even more. But at this point I'm very surprised to hear there are technical issues with the game.

Yeah, if I remember correctly, I think the original release was actually the wrong version (think that happened a couple of times last year with the pre-gold version being released to Steam) but within a couple of days it was ok. My only real problem was the consolitis and the gamma was never right on my PC - everything had this washed out look about it. Luckily, like Borderlands, someone released a config tool which helped tweak the game for the PC and that fixed my video issues. As was mentioned above, it was a flawed game but I still managed to enjoy it despite the warts.

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Sun Jul 15, 2012 10:00 am

Oh one thing i would try is to disable avast entirely. Just right click on it in the system tray and do disable until computer is restarted. I'm *this* close from removing it entirely as the program gets more invasive with each version.

IceBear · Post by **IceBear** » Sun Jul 15, 2012 10:07 am

From reading the links he posted above, it does seem like some systems are having issues with 5.1/7.1 sound and many reported switching to stero fixed it. I know I have mine set to 5.1 sound and it's ok, but when I had a SB x-FI card, I had a lot of problems with static and crackling sound (which eventually lead to the sound disappearing entirely) with some games (Dawn of War II most commonly). If I rebooted the machine it was fine, but a few days later and it would be back. I never did solve it, though I suspected there was some resource conflict with my ethernet card as if I was heavily downloading something it seemed the chances of running into the issue increased - though no conflict was ever reported in Windows.

Octavious · Post by **Octavious** » Sun Jul 15, 2012 11:04 am

FYI the help tool did help a lot. I'm still getting a little sick from the game though even with the FOV changed. Never have a problem in any other games. Fun game though.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Sun Jul 15, 2012 11:20 am

Fired it up but the language was too much (ok, insanely too much) with the little ones running around in the house. Will have to wait until tonight to check it out. Mouse sensitivity seems a little slow, even when maxed.

MonkeyFinger · Post by **MonkeyFinger** » Sun Jul 15, 2012 12:19 pm

I seem to recall having sound issues until I set my system to Stereo or Headphones... and took advantage of the DI Helper to tweak the visuals & FOV as well. Didn't have any key assignment issues as I used my 360 Controller.

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Sun Jul 15, 2012 12:29 pm

Bought yesterday, played from midnight to about 5am! I am nuts.

Also could not get that mentioned app to work because it couldn't find the settings folder, and the "out" folder that it needs was not where Google told me it should be.

Hell I was having so much fun I didn't even stop to figure out how to change weapons with my mouse (mid mouse button click did nothing but bring up menu for weapons, I couldnt select). So I clicked "I" every time and did it manually!

gbasden · Post by **gbasden** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 12:31 pm

GreenGoo wrote:
IceBear wrote:And yet this known broken game was a favorite last year of many people
+1.

Also, you would think 5 seconds of research about the game could have given you enough info to decide whether you would be willing to take on any technical challenges it might toss your way.

As for tgb's rage...shrug. He's old.

I just got done playing through the whole game co-op with two friends and we had a blast. It's definitely a console port, but once you get through the weird interface conventions it's a really fun game. It's all kinds of fun to be taking out a zombie with an electrified fire axe.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 12:52 pm

I always enjoyed letting them pile up under a wall or car and throwing a molotov into the group of them and then whipping out a stick with a marshmallow on the end while they roasted.

And yeah - the game requires some file tweaking for use on the PC. I'd recommend the Dead Island Helper. I used it to modify the FOV easily when the game gave me gut-wrenching headaches. It works with the Steam version just fine.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 1:12 pm

Paingod wrote:And yeah - the game requires some file tweaking for use on the PC.

It doesn't "require" anything. It may see some benefit from it, but it's not required as I played through to the ~80% point without any tweaking.

Buatha · Post by **Buatha** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 1:18 pm

Yeah, it's a flawed game, but my group's fun is more along the lines of stating witty one-liners as we drive over zombies or perform an especially brutal attack.."I guess he won't be going to that hat convention!" Like Borderlands, it's okay solo, but it really shines as a multi-player game.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 1:24 pm

coopasonic wrote:
Paingod wrote:And yeah - the game requires some file tweaking for use on the PC.
It doesn't "require" anything. It may see some benefit from it, but it's not required as I played through to the ~80% point without any tweaking.

See my previous.

Unless being in pain is a requirement for the game, I had to change some file settings. I believe I also had to alter mouse behaviors by hand so it felt more PC-ish as opposed to Console-ish. I expect crisp controls that have no latency or sluggishness. I want to hit where I aim without the computer to help me.

It's been a long time but I'm pretty sure I had to make more settings adjustments than what was available in the game menu in order to make the game playable for me. Others have differing needs.

Vorret · Post by **Vorret** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 1:44 pm

I also bought it on sale at Christmas I think.
Played about 2-3hrs and gave up, imo, the game blows, control are so bad it's not even funny.

When you need to to apply a crapload of fix to be able to even play a game it's simply ridiculous.

The intro was great though.

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 1:50 pm

Vorret wrote:I also bought it on sale at Christmas I think.
Played about 2-3hrs and gave up, imo, the game blows, control are so bad it's not even funny.

When you need to to apply a crapload of fix to be able to even play a game it's simply ridiculous.

The intro sucked, too.

Fixed.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 1:53 pm

Now you darn kids get off the lawn before tgb calls the cops!

Carpet_pissr · Post by **Carpet_pissr** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 2:17 pm

FWIW I played it for hours sans crapload of fixes that the helper file changes, and really liked it.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

tgb · Post by **tgb** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 3:38 pm

hepcat wrote:Now you darn kids get off the lawn before tgb calls the cops!

I don't need no stinkin' cops.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 3:39 pm

I'll clarify my position. It is a crap game. It is absolutely crap in so many ways. It's also one of the best zombie games we've ever been offered, perhaps the best open world, 1st/3rd person, zombie action game with RPG elements ever made! Did I qualify that enough?

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Mon Jul 16, 2012 3:59 pm

coopasonic wrote:I'll clarify my position. It is a crap game. It is absolutely crap in so many ways. It's also one of the best zombie games we've ever been offered, perhaps the best open world, 1st/3rd person, zombie action game with RPG elements ever made! Did I qualify that enough?

It's horrible good fun.

It *is* the best zombie FPS/RPG-lite game ever made (the only one?). It's also a console port, which is generally a swift kick in the jimmies for a PC gamer. Even after you get the game running and modify the settings so you have a tolerable control scheme and the FOV doesn't give you migraines, you still get to continually contend with a spotty inventory system and problematic aiming.

It's so bad that I played for 47 wonderful hours and didn't even finish it. I simply hit a point where the game started being more about running around than zombies and I kind of wandered away. I wasn't miffed, they just lost my attention in the jungle.

tjg_marantz · Post by **tjg_marantz** » Sat Dec 29, 2012 10:56 pm

Question.

I struggle to finish games so I am trying to give myself the best chance and shorten length of play. Do I need to do all the side quests to finish this game or can I concentrate on the main quest objectives? Obviously, the more side stuff I do, the more skills exp and money and etc I get but can I complete it with just concentrating most of my efforts on the main quest and only doing some side stuff?

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sun Dec 30, 2012 4:36 am

I may get it back sometime if I can grab it for $3 or so.

Enigma · Post by **Enigma** » Sun Dec 30, 2012 12:36 pm

I was lucky and didn't have any (zero) glitches, problems with this game. It ran great for me and I loved the game! I think about replaying it all the time, which is really saying something considering that I usually don't even finish my games the first time. I played as the gun slinger girl and now am itching to play as the melee specialist.

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Sun Dec 30, 2012 3:10 pm

tjg_marantz wrote:Question.

I struggle to finish games so I am trying to give myself the best chance and shorten length of play. Do I need to do all the side quests to finish this game or can I concentrate on the main quest objectives? Obviously, the more side stuff I do, the more skills exp and money and etc I get but can I complete it with just concentrating most of my efforts on the main quest and only doing some side stuff?

You don't need to do side quests. In fact, doing all of them may add to burn-out. The zombies tend to respawn. Often very quickly. So by the 15th time you've gone through an area it can get pretty old.

However, I also eventually realized that you don't have to kill everything either. You can often just run past them.

And another possible way to increase your likelihood of finishing is to play it co-op. Set aside one night to play. It'll take longer, but you'll probably finish.

I had a lot of fun. Went melee. I'd like to play it through again, but other games have gotten in the way. Too many games, so little time.