Well, I just had to...

[PZ]

Because I needed to go fill my wife's truck with Diesel, I took the opportunity to pick up a box of coffee pods at the grocery store, which coincidentally happens to be near my local Gamestop.  Just to be sure my wires weren't crossed, I decided to drop in to see if today really is the release date.  To my shock and surprise, it really was!

Well, to be safe, I decided to immediately purchase a copy of the PC version because I had put $5 deposit on it some days ago, and I knew my wife would not want that deposit to be wasted.

Now I'm waiting with some excitement to show the game box to her in about 30 minutes. 

[Art Blade]

quick! NURSE! Prepare the team for an emergency surgery!

[Binnatics]

 

Looking forward to your first impressions PZ! Many ppl are very excited about the game. I even saw Deadman fire up the game in steam ^-^

Make sure to drop some screenies while you're at it :-X

[Dweller_Benthos]

I'll look in Best Buy this weekend, but since they seem to have switched from selling physical media to selling cards for downloads or something, I may swing by Game Stop.

Or I may just forego physical media completely and just get it on Steam, as I know full well I'm going to have to download a couple gigs at least to even install the game, and I'll need to do that at w@&k.

I'd be curious to know how much download you have to do with the physical media, PZ.

[PZ]

 :-()

I managed to start the install last night and this is how it went:

• There was only one DVD in the package
• When I clicked the setup file, a standard installer dialog started and asked where to install - it defaulted to the Steam game directory. Clicking through the dialog, the install started - over 25 gb! (I know DVD technology is good, but not 25 gb good)
• This was going to be a long time so I went out to get something to eat - came back and miraculously the installer had finished!  I started Steam and sure enough there was FO4 in the games list which was updating (at 23%), but the Play button was active.  4 hours later it was only at 51% and I went to bed.
• This morning all was done, but I have not hit "Play" yet - later today after w@&k

Clearly the DVD contains only enough data to start the game, which appears to download the rest of the game in the background while you play the intro sequence(s)

In any case, this appears to be how games install these days - 25 gb is lots of data so PC gamers will need a really good Internet connection to at least get the game installed.

Of course, it goes without saying that I'll be posting pics and video as I go along - after all, that is part of the fun gaming on PC  :-()

[PZ]

You posted just before I did, D_B  :-()

You might as well just go to Steam due to the huge download.  Instead of waiting until the weekend, start now and maybe by the weekend you'll be ready to play.  :-()

This game is as big as GTA5 so this game must also be rich with experiences (and graphics detail)

Can't wait to start.

[Dweller_Benthos]

I figured as much, that seems to be the way games are going now, physical media just contains a small installer program that essentially runs Steam to download the actual game. Good thing I have a fast connection at w@&k and a way to transfer the backup files to my home machine. I guess it's too bad for people who don't have all that, and the game companies apparently don't care. The convenience of not having to get the game code final months before a release date so that there's time to have discs made. Heck, with a download model, they could have been working on the code last week.

[PZ]

Indeed; I'm going to use the backup method when JC3 comes out

[fragger]

25GB? Ow.

[mandru]

Well heck.  :'(

Yet another point of personal resistance I'll need to overcome in my hesitation towards getting this game.  I read this thread earlier today and for some reason I'd gotten it in my head that it was a mere 10GB download.  After watching the first 50 minutes of the play through video PZ posted sold me and I was over the brink and inclined to grab FO4 if it were available today.

It was my annual dentist appoint today.  Afterwards we stopped at a mall food court for lunch before dropping me off at home and Mrs. mandru's returning to w@&k.  Arriving at the mall Mrs. mandru needed a restroom so I suggested one that was nearby and only slightly out of the way.  That restroom happened to be 30 steps across the concourse from a GameStop.  But she had her sights set on the restroom at the food court firmly targeted in her mind like a LRASM cruise missile there was no turning her aside.  The time restraints of her getting back to the office took a stop at Gamestop off the table.

My points of resistance?  Simple stuff like:

1. It's Steam related  \:/

2. 25 GB download.  (What? The disc I pick up at GameStop is just freaking proof of purchase and the access code?  :D )

3. The developers trying to see how nasty they can make a game before people stop buying it.  I mean really, drinking out of a filthy toilet to restore health? (How often is that necessary?  And why is this the least offensive of the three?  ??? )



With 25 GB of download what's the point of buying the hard copy of the game instead of just buying and downloading the whole bloody thing through Steam?  Drop the price and cut out the middle man I say.

[OWGKID]

I think it is stupid to have a portion of the game in a physical copy and you need to download the rest... Luckily, I don't have Internet caps (thanks Altibox :-()), but developers could have everything on the disk except for the main executable.

[mandru]

Since there's not a Tips thread on FO4 yet I'll drop this here.  I saw a post elsewhere that showed that when you are browsing your weapons there is a Rename Button among the options.

If you rename all of your weapons first by listing the type of ammo they use  (ie. Caliber, laser, plasma, A-Bomb etc...) and secondly its actual name the weapons list will automatically arrange them by classification grouped together next to each other in your inventory.

This makes comparing the stats of each weapon (by type) much easier.  It's also useful when choosing from among your collected weapons within a specified group when making upgrade decisions.


At least (having not been able to try this myself) I think this should be helpful.  :-\\

[Dweller_Benthos]

Yeah, when I do buy the game, most likely I will just go the direct Steam route and forgo any physical media, since it's now pointless to buy a disc.

[PZ]

There are only two advantages in purchasing the physical media (I can think of) - 1) it reduces the download by a few gb, and 2) it seems like whatever is on the disc allows you to start plying right away as Steam downloads in the background.  I say this because the Play button in the Steam client appeared to be active while the download was in progress.  It looked like there was enough on the disc to account for about 20% of the game data because once the game installer finished and I started Steam - it indicated that the download was at 23%

[Dweller_Benthos]

PZ, did you get a DVD and not a Blu-Ray? A friend of mine bought the game and he said he got a Blu-Ray with pretty much the entire game on it, only a small (relatively) update to download, a hundred MB or so, he said. Since a Blu-Ray can hold 25GB, that's a plausible scenario, but I can sure see you having to download a ton if you only got a DVD, as they top out at 4GB and even with compression, you're not going to get that much crammed onto one disc.

[PZ]

hmmm... I don't know - will check it out, but my download took so long I went to bed to let it finish (started at 6-ish and went to bed around midnight)

[PZ]

... it seems like whatever is on the disc allows you to start plying right away as Steam downloads in the background...

I think I was wrong about that statement.  I tried downloading the game onto another PC and the "Play" button was active while downloading.  However, a dialog popped up indicating that the game will start just as soon as the download was done  :D

I've not checked my disc yet for DVD vs Blu-Ray, D_B - we lost power last night due to high winds, and I lost the time I was going to spend with the game.

I just tried backing up the game through the Steam client and it will take 40 minutes to complete.  When JC3 comes out, I'm definitely going to do the backup using high speed Internet, and then restore at home.  I suspect JC3 will also be a huge game

UPDATE: it only took about 12 minutes to do the backup  :-X

[Dweller_Benthos]

What are you backing up to? When I back up GTA V, it takes about an hour to copy the backup files my external SSD. Of course, that is on a USB 2 connection, so that probably doesn't help.

[PZ]

External USB 3 drive is what I plan.  I do the backup on the local drive, then copy to the external - might try doing the backup directly to the external and see how long it takes.  I do not know how long it will take, but my main concern in this process was the 25 gb download overtaxing my home Internet service

[Binnatics]

There's a huge difference between USB 2 and 3 in speed. Best would be if you have a sata connector for your external drive.

[PZ]

Indeed!  I'm not too concerned about storage though - I've plenty of time, and anything is better than an overnight download.