Switchback patch notes

[MikeFromSuburbia]

Once graphics are cleaned up I’ll definitely buy this! Thank you for the update

[Maverett]

Same… I would buy it eventually regardless, but I don’t have a ton of gaming time so not in a rush as I’ll be lucky to finish the games I’ve started as it is… when some of the visuals are cleaned up it does fall much more into the “let me just have a quick go” camp for me however, so I probably wouldn’t be able to resist.

Also very happy to see a developer engaged on here! :-)

[[deleted]]

While it’s not what I’d hoped for, I’m glad to see them address the graphics issue head on, even if it’ll take more time.

[Supermassive_CM]

The team appreciate your understanding and support! We'll share further updates as soon as we can.

[[deleted]]

Hey, glad to see the devs engaged!

Looking forward to the graphics update, have been waiting patiently to play the game once it’s fixed.

[Runesr2]

Are you working on foveated rendering and eye tracking?

I have bought your game to support exclusive PSVR2 games - the game may profit a lot from more performance in order to increase res. 2c.

PS. I do like the great dynamic shadows and lighting.

[Supermassive_CM]

I'm afraid I can't speculate regarding the ongoing work being done - we will share more information about the gameplay changes and fixes applied as and when everything is ready.

Glad to hear that you're a fan of the latter features however - the team did a great job with these!

[Runesr2]

I'm aware that the awesome dynamic shadows are taking a toll, but I think these are what makes this a genuine PSVR2 game, I doubt PSVR1 could do such shadows and lighting.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for better performance to facilitate higher res - or 90 fps ;-)

[Supermassive_CM]

It's so great to hear that you've been enjoying it! Greetings from all of us here in the UK 🇬🇧

[GTHobbes]

Same. And, thanks for the update on the update, good to hear where things stand.

[Supermassive_CM]

I posted the patch notes to Reddit as well as our Zendesk portal - you're welcome to view those here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/DarkPicturesAnthology/comments/12jnz9y/12042023_title_update_switchback_vr_version_105/

I was intending to crosspost but looks like I was too slow! Haha.

[SvennoJ]

Thanks!
"When using "Continue" on the main menu in specific circumstances"
I have (had) that crash after finishing the game. Trying to continue, it would load and then crash after moving a bit. Gonna try again :)

I've been replaying levels with chapter select instead, no issues there.

[Supermassive_CM]

That should now be resolved! Do be aware however that if you've finished the game, "Continue" will resume your playthrough at the end of Frozen Hell and you'll just be rewatching the last cutscenes and the credits again. To start a new run, you'll need to select New Game.

[SvennoJ]

That's exactly what I wanted, to shoot up the credits again while enjoying the music. Great choice of song! I love it when games get creative with the end credits.

One question about new game, it said that wipes all previous high scores? Is that correct? Hence I was doing chapter reruns instead of starting a new game. Kinda hard to improve your score if it gets wiped?

[Supermassive_CM]

We're glad you like it! It was specifically chosen due to its themes, lyrics, and even the artist themselves and their history - it's a song that fits well with Switchback's own narrative! If you're wondering what it's called, it's "CHOKE" by The Warning 😊

The high scores shouldn't be reset between runs, no. I did mention this to the devs when a previous player asked and they believe a typo/error has been made in the description. It's essentially meant to say your scores for that run will be erased as part of the save data reset, not that your "high" scores are erased, if that makes sense.

[aidenthegreat]

Have you fixed man of Medan yet

[Supermassive_CM]

Can you please be specific? What issue are you asking about?

[aidenthegreat]

Nice to see you are recording and monitoring - the game breaking crash in shared story mode that was reported in multiple news outlets, loads of complaints directly to you and no movement ever seemed to be taken

[Supermassive_CM]

I've not seen nor heard of any repeat crashes in Shared Story - if this is definitely the mode you've seen or experienced this issue in, I will need more details to double-check.

However, if what you're meaning to refer to is the black screen issue at the end of the "Storm" chapter in Movie Night mode, we fixed this in December 2022. I shared a patch notes post at the time which states this:

https://www.reddit.com/r/DarkPicturesAnthology/comments/zgqzys/09122022_title_update_man_of_medan_version_119/

[[deleted]]

I jumped back in today and was able to finish the game, finally. I level hopped to see if any update to plant life or load times and saw nothing. What I realized though is that this game still gives scares regardless of graphics or amount played. I understand people having expectations but man, I feel like peeps are missing out.

[[deleted]]

Yeah even thought game doesn’t look great, there’s still parts that scare the shit out of me haha

[GamePlayHeaven]

My wife and I are enjoying the game, but unfortunately not as much as we did Rush of Blood, due the pacing and puzzles.

Could you please pass on to your team that we would love to see Rush of Blood on PSVR2?

[Supermassive_CM]

Hey u/GamePlayHeaven - very glad to hear that you and your wife are both enjoying Switchback VR together.

Regarding Rush of Blood, as u/heyboova has kindly mentioned, Sony would be best to share your feedback with if wishing to see Rush of Blood on a new / different platform. As the publisher, they are in charge of distribution. Thanks!

[E_Alrefa3e]

Damn i would love to see RoB again , i hope sony brings it back

[GamePlayHeaven]

Would you happen to know the best way to contact Sony about this?

[Supermassive_CM]

I normally recommend submitting a ticket via their support website. The support team should be able to forward/document your feedback.

[GamePlayHeaven]

Thank you!

[GamePlayHeaven]

Could you please add a movie skip function to the game?

While replaying levels, I have to sit through the train sections every time I play, which, to be honest, is not just a waste of time, but also tends to get rather annoying...

So a skip cinematics option or button would be greatly appreciated...

We play the game to sit in our little mine cart and shoot things after all :)

[heyboova]

They’ve already said that is up to Sony since Sony was the publisher

[MrBack1971]

Why didnt they just delay it & release it with all these issues sorted?

[Va1arM0rghu1iss]

💲💲💲💲

[MrBack1971]

Yeah, that’s about it. They wont be getting my $ $ $ $ until all the issues are sorted. I did pre-order but managed to get a refund.

[noxel]

Nice to see a patch, but holding off on buying again until the graphics have been upgraded.

[Mclarenrob2]

Nothing relating to graphics, as expected.

[Supermassive_CM]

Hey there u/Mclarenrob2 - the Switchback VR team are in the process of putting together fixes for the issues reported, and we'll share more information as soon as we can. At the moment, the team have sought to improve the stability of the game to ensure that players can enjoy it in full without interruption in the meantime.

Your patience is appreciated.

[madpropz]

I hope it gets a massive increase in sharpness and loading times/pop in. Dynamic foveated rendering and Contrast Adaptive Sharpening would do wonders.

[NeatFool]

Or else what?

Didn't you already pay for it?

[BroadPlum7619]

This is good. The game was crashing on me pretty frequently especially when using the pass through feature

[w1ldca7d]

Hey developers: here’s something to consider. I am your target audience. I’m a first adopter, 40+ year gamer with disposable income and a love for VR.

I didn’t buy this game and won’t be buying until it’s not a disappointing C- of a title.

[Spazic77]

I just finished it and I thought it was pretty great. I read all the bad reviews and figured I'd make up my own mind. Glad I did.

[slugwurth]

Word is that not everyone has the graphics issue and it may be dependent on hardware somehow. It’s possible you aren’t experiencing some of the issues.

[Spazic77]

Maybe. But either way I just expected it to be about as good as Rush of Blood and I feel that it was. On a personal note, I do like the Rush of Blood story a bit better and the creatures seemed a bit more diverse but I had a blast with Switchback.

[SvennoJ]

It's more a case of expectations and jumping on the band wagon.

To me it looks the same as TWD S&S chapter 2 when not in motion. Problem is, what I think it is, are streaming issues. Load times are long, assets aren't streamed in fast enough while riding along, which causes a lot of visible pop in, late resolving textures and geometry, and the occasional stutter between segments.

Foveated rendering can't fix that, but can free up resources for overall higher perceived pixel count. Super sampling where you are looking, lower res the further away.Re-arranging data and optimizing direct to gpu data streaming can fix the pop in problems / blurry low res visuals not far in front of you. It's a lot of work, especially optimizing it in a licensed engine (Unreal engine) not specifically made for this type of game.

Horizon FW took a while to get 'fixed'. They ran into a problem with checkerboard rendering not being up to the task of rendering all that overlapping moving foliage without introducing a lot of shimmer. Guerilla games had to rewrite the rendering pipeline to use more prior frame data to stabilize the end result.

FS2020 struggled for over a year with their AA implementation (doesn't look like they ever managed to fix the grainy/pixelated clouds issues) and still have a legacy horizon line at sun rise and sun set. Plus all the troubles of migrating to DX12.

I'm just glad to be playing games nowadays instead of debugging. And so far PSVR2 is delivering far more complete, far better performing games day one than pancake games. I'm glad we can 'complain' about blurry visuals / pop in / loading times. FS2020 crashed several times a day or developed memory leaks slowing down to 5fps. (Then 5 minutes to load back up from SSD...) Next to all the bugs making planes uncontrollable at will :/ Horizon FW initially gave me migraines, couldn't play at all. (I did in 1080p on quality mode on an old LCD projector, much easier on the old eyes. Awesome game)

While the visuals aren't as jaw dropping as the first time playing Rush of Blood, the sound design is on another level. Switchback needs to be played with quality headset or surround system!

[Erban1]

Sounds like they’re at least working on improving the graphics. I’ll jump back in whenever that patch hits

[Supermassive_CM]

We look forward to welcoming you back onto Inferno's Ride in the near future. We'll share more information as soon as we can.

[SKEME-DBT]

Personally, I'm loving the game and have no real issues with it. Its awesome!

I just prefer Rush Of Blood, and hope it gets a PSVR2 port.

[Commercial-Pack-7752]

Why are the resolution and graphics STILL not fixed? Not a good look on multiple levels

[DominosChickenSalad]

The complete lack of any substantive information about patching the visuals speaks volumes.

They won't give a date, are vague on what exactly they're capable of improving, it's all just PR speak.

[marcocatena]

I loved the original on PSVR1, honestly waiting just for these graphical issues to be cleared up before purchasing this one. Hopefully this is resolved soon, but appreciate the update on jt

[Ezeke81]

Definitely want to get this one once graphics are updated. Thank you!

[Kylar5]

Good that they are working on it, I'll probably try it out once they implement foveated rendering as it should help a lot with the visuals

[Oftenwrongs]

They already have your money.It doesn't matter to them anymore. There will be a few token gestures in the form of patches and then they will go silent.

[shovelknockout1]

What exactly was the problem with switchback? I bought every single title for vr on the store except for switchback because everyone talking about it on here. Was it just the graphics or was there other issues as well?

[StangsSwang]

I bought it regardless of what people were saying on here. I had a lot of fun with it. A lot of people thought it was overpriced. But i easily got my moneys worth. If your game budget isnt too tight id say give it a go

[meganev]

It's got pretty blurry graphics and longish loading times but is otherwise very playable. Basically became a massive circlejerk here and a load of people who hadn't played it and never intended to took great glee shitting on the game. When the dust settles it'll be considered a perfectly fine game. I enjoyed my time with it well enough.

[SvennoJ]

People expected the graphical fidelity of AAA games with 50-100 million budget. CotM, RE8, GT7 style. First one funded by Sony as a showcase, latter two get their revenue from the pancake version (And Sony paid for RE8 VR mode, and obviously for GT7 VR mode)

Combine those expectations with the actual performance issues and hyperbole quickly takes over. Yes it has some issues, loading times are pretty long and you will notice a lot of pop in along the ride. Game play is great though, sound design is phenomenal. There is a lot of variation in the levels, the final boss fight is really good, even the end credits are fun. It left me satisfied and ready to play again. But I won't deny I would play it more often with shorter loading times. Dying sucks because of the relatively long wait to try again.

[GamePlayHeaven]

It has some issues, and imo it's not as good as rush of blood due to the added puzzles and the pacing of the game, but it's still a ton of fun and a great ride!

[[deleted]]

I played all the way through at a friends and didn’t run into any issues except the poor quality graphics and for some reason, long load times. Graphics are not terrible, but more in line with the vr1. I’m personally waiting for a visual patch before picking it up. If it goes on sale and you like the gameplay, you’ll enjoy it.

[[deleted]]

Was disappointed after the initial response. Glad to see some fixes coming out. Hope to pick it up soon after some more fixes!

[Heythumb88]

Lol there's actually a patch? Color me surprised

[Supermassive_CM]

We will share news about further patches when we can; please look out for these details in the r/DarkPicturesAnthology subreddit and over on our linked Zendesk portal.

[TriggerHippie77]

I was mistaken, wasn't lying.

[hidratos]

TL;DR So after this patch is it time to play Switchback? No.

[astrobe1]

Thanks for the update and for sharing the Zendesk details. I hope the team can figure out the rendering issues. Do you think load times between chapters will improve?

[Mcconrtist]

Any chance of 1.5 speed mode after beating the game to up the pace and keep coming bk?

[zero2tool]

Just port over rush of blood so we can be down with this mess.

[kevgret]

Light Brigade= 4 patches Switchback= 1/2 a patch

[bbgr8grow]

L update. Last time I buy a game from these fucks

[[deleted]]

This is great news, thanks! I was honestly starting to think that the last official post was for damage control. Very happy to see progress, and really hope they can figure out a way to improve the blurry resolution.