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I'm trying to find a way to lock/limit the frame rate to 30 FPS.

I'd rather 30 FPS constant than jumps between 30 and 60.

I found the game settings config here to lock the fps.

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  • Like 2

This 'game' is garbage.

Each car has only the same 4 races which give you upgrades for the car you complete the races with, you cant move upgrades from one car to the next you have to do the same races over and over and over and over again for each car you find, then as you get higher points you can race against the "most wanted".

The games industry wonders why people pirate games, look at this pile of crap, 4 races....... 10 chases, all for $60?????

There are four race TYPES outside of the Most Wanted set, but every car does not get the same races.

And honestly, if you're playing a racing game and sticking to one car the entire time, what fun is that?

Plus you're skipping the chases and open world content.

What you described would last maybe an hour. Most people will play long past that.

(Also, it's five races per car.)

The Run, had the same issue until a "tool" was released to disable

v-sync on Radeon cards, then later on provided the option for nvidia

... i hope they release a patch with option this soon :(

I almost bought it, until i realized it doesn't have the map (open world)

and only 10 tracks .... :glare:

No map? Didn't look hard enough - it *does* have a minimap (ala Burnout Paradise) - races are highlighted (green for easy, yellow for medium, red for hard).

Paint shops and garages, like gas stations, are added to the map as you find them (again, ala BP).

Some events (such as most evasion events) are triggered by things you do in the open world/EasyDrive - my first evasion event was triggered by my hitting an FCPD cop car on I-92.

Yes - it basically IS Burnout Paradise; however, that is a bad thing why?

The FCPD cop cars - apparently the FCPD is on a Ford kick, as they are primarily Ford Escapes - pretty darn sensible, believe it or not.

Several differences we should beware of (compared to Paradise City - the setting in Burnout Paradise) - while apparently there are a lot of similarities between Paradise City and the equally-fake Fairhaven County, this is a COUNTY police department we are facing off against; they can, and in some cases certainly will, chase us from pillar to post all over the map (and all over Fairhaven County).

FCPD Escapes - If anything, the real-world Escape is what the Hunter Civilian wanted to be when it grew up. The Escape is basically a roadgoing Bradley - a lot tougher (and certainly a lot heavier) than what we'll be driving in most cases. Don't try to NASCAR them - more often than not, you'll lose.

Has anyone found a decent controller for the PC version of this game? I'm currently using the keyboard (I utterly refuse to surrender to *consolitis* - even though I am quite aware this is a port, thank you), and I HAVE found that as you speed up, the controls - even the keyboard - becomes less of a twitchfest.

I don't know why people spend launch price on NFS games. They usually tank after a couple of months (well most games). I got NFS Run a few weeks ago for $7 on Newegg. Sure, you might get "launch pack cars" but meh. Take it from someone who's bought some NFS games at launch only to be disappointed. They need to continue the Shift series!

Will you listen to yourselves here?

The SHIFT series is basically a racing sim series - that is utterly untrue of any other NFS series (not of Most Wanted (even the original) and NEVER of Hot Pursuit)!

If you want racing sims, stick to the SHIFT series - that is, after all, its reason for being.

I utterly loathe SHIFT entirely BECAUSE it's a racing sim - I despise racing sims (I have equal loathing for GRiD and the F1 series, so it's not unique to SHIFT) in general - not merely SHIFT or SHIFT2 in particular.

No map? Didn't look hard enough - it *does* have a minimap (ala Burnout Paradise) - races are highlighted (green for easy, yellow for medium, red for hard).

Paint shops and garages, like gas stations, are added to the map as you find them (again, ala BP).

Some events (such as most evasion events) are triggered by things you do in the open world/EasyDrive - my first evasion event was triggered by my hitting an FCPD cop car on I-92.

Yes - it basically IS Burnout Paradise; however, that is a bad thing why?

The FCPD cop cars - apparently the FCPD is on a Ford kick, as they are primarily Ford Escapes - pretty darn sensible, believe it or not.

Several differences we should beware of (compared to Paradise City - the setting in Burnout Paradise) - while apparently there are a lot of similarities between Paradise City and the equally-fake Fairhaven County, this is a COUNTY police department we are facing off against; they can, and in some cases certainly will, chase us from pillar to post all over the map (and all over Fairhaven County).

FCPD Escapes - If anything, the real-world Escape is what the Hunter Civilian wanted to be when it grew up. The Escape is basically a roadgoing Bradley - a lot tougher (and certainly a lot heavier) than what we'll be driving in most cases. Don't try to NASCAR them - more often than not, you'll lose.

Has anyone found a decent controller for the PC version of this game? I'm currently using the keyboard (I utterly refuse to surrender to *consolitis* - even though I am quite aware this is a port, thank you), and I HAVE found that as you speed up, the controls - even the keyboard - becomes less of a twitchfest.

i meant is not as open world as the console/PC counterparts

the map is there, but not the map events and what not ... :)

While i do own a PS3 (meeeh) im NO fan of consoles at all

but the keyboard just doesnt cut it ...

been using this one since the original most wanted came out

http://www.logitech.com/en-us/support/game-gear/264

the new revised model doesnt feel quite the same (precision, button response)

but may just be me :laugh:

Has anyone found a decent controller for the PC version of this game? I'm currently using the keyboard (I utterly refuse to surrender to *consolitis* - even though I am quite aware this is a port, thank you), and I HAVE found that as you speed up, the controls - even the keyboard - becomes less of a twitchfest.

I've used a 360 controller for every racing game I've played for years on PC.

Will you listen to yourselves here?

The SHIFT series is basically a racing sim series - that is utterly untrue of any other NFS series (not of Most Wanted (even the original) and NEVER of Hot Pursuit)!

If you want racing sims, stick to the SHIFT series - that is, after all, its reason for being.

I utterly loathe SHIFT entirely BECAUSE it's a racing sim - I despise racing sims (I have equal loathing for GRiD and the F1 series, so it's not unique to SHIFT) in general - not merely SHIFT or SHIFT2 in particular.

Where did I say I hate the MW series? I like both types of games, simply because Shift is the racing sim, and this series is the more arcade/fun racing game. I just like racing games in general, and like to try them out. I just can't justify spending $40+ on an NFS series title, when I know it will tank in price later. Also, we haven't had a Shift series in a while, so I'm hoping one day we'll see a Shift 3.

Back to gauging this game's performance on different hardware, I tried this game on my laptop. (Yay for cloud saves - finally.)

Settings were mostly medium and low, and it knocked the resolution down to 1024x768, but the game still looked great and the game was playable. Laptop's the Alienware m11x r2 with a i7 640UM, Geforce GT 335M, and 8 GB of RAM. Had to force off VSync in the control panel as for some reason, games in this Optimus config completely tank if VSync is enabled.

Also, completely random but after the first jump in Hunted, I went into cooldown mode even though I was in air and landing right in front of two police SUVs... wat.

After playing it extensively for 4 days, I have come to a conclusion that this game thoroughly sucks ass. I did reach Most wanted Lvl 3 but just uninstalled it completely.

Basically, there was nothing happening. I used to get engaged in petty police chases while trying to reach a certain destination for a race. It got annoying and monotonous. The FPS bouncing around was an icing on the cake.

What a wasted opportunity !!!!

I did hate the name Criterion being plastered around at any given opportunity. Now that name has cemented in my mind, I know what to avoid.

I don't know why people spend launch price on NFS games. They usually tank after a couple of months (well most games). I got NFS Run a few weeks ago for $7 on Newegg. Sure, you might get "launch pack cars" but meh. Take it from someone who's bought some NFS games at launch only to be disappointed. They need to continue the Shift series!

I never will again...Learned my lesson.

Its pretty difficult to keep track of all the cars. You are driving to your event in your Bentley, and you see the Lamborghini. You can't resist and get into it. And then Bentley is forgotten. Pretty quickly

That's why I'm trying to do them alphabetically, and I like to run every race for the car I'm driving once I get it. I like to get the "feel" of one car at a time, if that's possible with a xbox 360 controller. :)

Anybody played this yet? It's impossibly difficult, you have little options for outrunning police and whenever you enter cooldown, random roadblocks magically crop up just in front of you and surrounding units seem to get drawn to you at speeds quicker than light. Paint and car changes do nothing to throw them off and driving through bill boards doesn't lose them.

While driving to an event, if you go too fast while passing a police car they'll chase you and it quickly becomes an hour long pursuit with no hopes but to get busted. :/

There's nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, welcome to Need For Speed: Hell on Earth. Definite disappointment.

Anybody played this yet? It's impossibly difficult, you have little options for outrunning police and whenever you enter cooldown, random roadblocks magically crop up just in front of you and surrounding units seem to get drawn to you at speeds quicker than light. Paint and car changes do nothing to throw them off and driving through bill boards doesn't lose them.

While driving to an event, if you go too fast while passing a police car they'll chase you and it quickly becomes an hour long pursuit with no hopes but to get busted. :/

There's nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, welcome to Need For Speed: Hell on Earth. Definite disappointment.

I think there's one person in here that agrees with you. The rest of us not so much.

  • Like 2

Also, completely random but after the first jump in Hunted, I went into cooldown mode even though I was in air and landing right in front of two police SUVs... wat.

^^ Also this, I've had similar stuff happen, I'm being chased and suddenly enter cooldown mode even though I'm surrounded by police. Think this games just got a lot of bugs.

In past games bugs like that were caused by streaming engines glitching. I'd ask if you're running 32 bit OSes, if you ever defrag your hard drive, what kind of vidcard you're running, and stuff like that. It is pushing a lot of data so if you lower your settings you might also be fine.

So the game was finally shipped to me, but since I am now without power for the 6th day now because of Hurricane Sandy, I have not been able to check it out.

With that said, I was able to download the Vita version once I left my home for my in-laws since they do have power, and I have been really enjoying it. From what I have read online, the Vita version really is the same as the console version, just some concessions had to be made to run it.

So I do have some questions, and apologies if they have been discussed, but being without power means I have not been able to follow this thread. So with the Vita version, in some places, the text is really, really hard to read. It is incredibly tiny, and presented in the same way it would be on the consoles. So my main question... How exactly should one approach playing this game? I have just been sticking with 1 car, the Marussia B2, and I just defeated Most Wanted 7 I believe it was. I have this car pretty damn maxed out, but it appears I have done most of all of the main races for it. So if I switch over to other cars, will I get new races, or do all cars just have the same races?

I tried changing to a few differrent cars, and it seemed the races were the same ones I have already done. So is the car irrelevant, and you only get the same races regardless? If so, that seems pretty damn weak for sure, and there does not seem to be any real incentive to switch cars. If not, are certain cars better than others to pick?

But I have to say, even reading that the Vita version and the console version are very identical in many ways, I am really looking forward to playing it on the console. One of the hardest things about playing the Vita version is the size of everything. At times, it is really hard to avoid crashing just because of the sheer scale of things on the screen, so really think it is going to be a much more visceral experience on the PS3. But even with that said, the Vita version is a whole lot of fun. Definitely.

So,... I beat the Alfa Romeo guy and took him down too.

I am nearing 8th and still can't find a decent car to race against the 9th. I think I'll maximiz that Nissan

You can race the top 10 with ANY car,.... i took down the shelby with the lancia, all due to "rubber band" AI :)

What's truly annoying (as mentioned in this thread) is that if you've set the route, but switch cars on the way there

the "Easy drive" will be reset :/

How exactly should one approach playing this game?

You find a car in a JackSpot around the city, hop in and you have series of different races, which will earn you upgrades, which you should be aware of by now.

So if I switch over to other cars, will I get new races, or do all cars just have the same races?

Every car has its own upgrades. No car passes its own to another one. Nd no, the cars are relevant.

Some cars, I found till now, are indeed more well rounded than others, atleast for me they were. e.g. Nissan' car, whose model I forgot, is looking pretty good to me and I am sticking with it for some time because it has a more well rounded performance sheet

The type is the same. However, the places and difficulty level, are obviously different

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    • Creative Sound Blaster AE-X PCIe review: your headphones will love it by Steven Parker If you have been reading Neowin for any length of time, you may remember that I reviewed the Sound Blaster Audigy FX Pro back in April. I found it to be an excellent budget sound card, even though it lacked support for formats such as DTS over the included SPDIF port. Anyway, Creative reached out to me again asking if I was interested in reviewing the Sound Blaster AE-X. It is a card mainly targeted at headphone wearers, which I'll get into a bit later. Before we get underway, here is a disclaimer: Creative Labs provided a free sample without any review pre-approval. Here are the full specs of it: Creative Sound Blaster AE-X Dimensions: 179 x 126 x 18 mm Weight: 263g / 9.28 oz Platform: PCI-e DAC: ESS ES9039Q2M Connectivity Options Side: Rear: 1 x HD Audio Front Panel Connector, 1 x ⅛“ Headphone port, 1 x RCA Line-out (Left) port, 1 x RCA Line-out (Right) port, 1 x Coaxial SPDIF-out port, 1 x ⅛“ Mic in/Line-in port, 1 x TOSLINK SPDIF-in port Surround: No DNR / SNR: THD+N: 0.0001% Dynamic Range 130 dB Recording Resolution: PCM up to 32-bit / 192kHz (Stereo) Direct Mode: Line Out (Stereo): PCM up to 32-bit  384 kHz Coaxial SPDIF Out: PCM up to 24-bit 192.0 kHz Headphone Amp: PCM up to 32-bit / 384kHz (Stereo) Native DSD: DSD64, DSD128, DSD256 Output Impedance: 1Ω, Supported Headphone Impedance: 8–600Ω, IEM: 0.5Vrms, Low: 1.5Vrms, Mid: 3Vrms, High: 6Vrms, Maximum output power: 350mW @ 32Ω (High), Maximum output voltage: 6Vrms (High) Front Panel Headphone Amp: PCM up to 32-bit / 192kHz (Stereo) Native DSD: DSD64, DSD128 Output Impedance: 10Ω, Supported Headphone Impedance: 32–300Ω, Maximum output power: 40mW @ 32Ω, Maximum output voltage: 1.9Vrms ASIO: ASIO 2.3 Total Harmonic Distortion: THD+N: 0.0006% Dynamic Range: 114 dB Scout Mode: Yes EMI shielding: No (but it passed all the FCC emission tests) Operating temperature: 0–45°C Input Power: 12V⎓0.5A Warranty: 1 Year (MSRP) Price: $179.99 / £169.99 The Sound Blaster AE-X was announced at the end of May, and it becomes clear that it is mainly for headphone wearers. I should also note that the card does not support DDL/DTS encoding technology, but it is said to support decoding through the coaxial SPDIF port. I was able to test this working with the classic Windows Sound properties, but I could not get a DTS (decode) signal through my Logitech Z906, it defaulted to 3D sound whenever I played DTS content through Plex or Emby. In addition, this card only supports two channels (stereo) over the speakers. The surround support is limited to the Headphone Amp, so before I get underway, what we have here is a card mostly intended for headphone use, especially with its SPDIF In (Toslink) port where you could connect another device like a console. So what about the highlights of this card? The AE-X is powered by the ESS SABRE DAC (ES9039Q2M), which is capable of a 130 dB dynamic range. In addition, it supports 32-bit/384 kHz playback for deeper detail and clarity. The headphone amplifier delivers up to 350 mW @ 32Ω, which admittedly far surpasses standard onboard audio, offering support for studio-grade headphones. DSD256 and ASIO 2.3 are also supported. What doesn't it have? No support for What-U-Hear, Super X-Fi, or the SmartComms Kit No EMI shielding, but it passed all the FCC emission tests (from the FAQ) I also want to make it clear that I am no audiophile. For me, it's purely subjective and it should just "work" out of the box. First impressions As I said in the introduction, I was a bit sad to see that the AE-X only supports stereo output, meaning it would not be on par with my ALC1220 over my speakers, as I mentioned it seems like this card is marketed toward headphone users. Since I am not an avid gamer that would rule me out as a potential customer, but I can still test its capabilities! The card arrived in a nice-looking box, as shown above. It's quite a bit larger than the Audify FX Pro that I reviewed back in April, and at first I thought the covering meant that it was EMI shielded, but it isn't as mentioned above in the highlights section. What's in the box: 1 x Sound Blaster AE-X PCIe card 1 x 3.5 mm CTIA TRRS to Dual TRS Headset Splitter Cable 1 x Quick Start Guide Aside from the Quick Start Guide, which someone at my age (I guess) needs a magnifying glass to read thanks to the tiny fonts, Creative Labs also has the manual online, which first requires you to prove that you're human in order to access it (so I can't direct link it). Anyway, the box is mostly made up of cardboard, and the only plastic in it is the anti-static bag for the card itself. Design Top Bottom The card itself looks pretty cool and actually wouldn't look out of place in an all-white build. There's only one connector, and for some reason it is awkwardly placed on the side (front-facing) that is for the front panel audio connector, which will let you use the headphones through the front PC audio jack. Since the front panel Headphone Amp has fewer capabilities than the rear headphone port, I decided not to use it. Rear of card PCI-e interface The rear of the card is completely open and is normally where you would find the front panel connector. The PCIe interface side is completely covered, which initially made me think it was EMI shielded. I/O panel Side (front-facing) with Front panel connector On the outer rear bracket side we have the TOSLINK SPDIF in, Coaxial SPDIF out, RCA line out (Right), RCA line out (Left), Headphone out, and Mic/Line in ports. On the front facing portion of the card itself is the F-panel connector. Usage Test System Our test system consists of the following: AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D Gigabyte X870E AORUS MASTER (BIOS F12) Corsair RM1000x (2024) Thermal Grizzly Kyronaut (33x33x0,2mm) 2x 32GB Kingston Fury Beast RGB DDR5 6000MT/s CL36-38-38-80 T-Force Z540 2TB (PCIe Gen5) NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Founders Edition (NVIDIA) Creative Sound Blaster AE-X Windows 11 25H2 Pro I installed the card into the Gigabyte X870E AORUS MASTER which includes the RealTek ALC1220 onboard audio. For our subjective listening tests, I used the Coaxial SPDIF port to my Logitech Z906 speakers. For headphone tests I used the OneOdio Studio Max 2 Wireless DJ Headphones that I reviewed last month. After installing the audio driver, I installed Creative Nexus, which is a relatively new app designed for the latest Sound Blaster cards. Then I discovered the AE-X needed both a driver update from 1.00.15.0001 to 1.01.09.000 and a firmware update from 1.00.06.0000 to 1.00.06.0002, then I was set to go. It should be noted that the card did not work without the driver (not Plug and Play). As you can see above, you can manage the firmware, driver, and inputs via Advanced Settings on the Device tab. By default Nexus enabled "Direct Mode". Upon clicking on Acoustic Engine, the Equalizer can be enabled and set to four different presets, which are: Gaming Music Movies Footsteps Enhancer There's also a dedicated Scout Mode for gamers. I mainly used Tidal and Spotify in the past week to listen to some of my Liked Songs (which now total over 700) in Shuffle mode; there were no pops or interference that I could hear. I also found a 5.1 Surround Music playlist on Tidal that sounded really great over Studio Max 2 headphones. When I reviewed the Audigy FX Pro, I went out and purchased a Logitech Z906 set second-hand for €100 specifically to use with the card, but in this instance all I could get on the AE-X was the 3D output of surround sound through Coaxial SPDIF and although it still sounded great, it isn't quite as good as DTS Interactive via my onboard Realtek ALC1220. Conclusion So what have I learned? The AE-X lacks multi-channel support for 5.1/7.1 setups and drops support for modern surround technologies like Dolby or DTS, functioning strictly as a stereo output device. So to really benefit, you will need Studio-grade headphones to "hear" the benefits of this card. With that being said, I can imagine it will appeal to gamers who are switching between console and PC. By utilizing the SPDIF in port, you could just plug your headphones into the AE-X (front or rear port) and then switch between PC and Console without having to move the headphones to a different port. As I said in the Sound Blaster Audigy review, the EQ in the Creative Nexus app offers safe presets, which allows a user to further tweak the lows, mids, and highs for a personal listening experience. Of course it all depends on the headphones you hook up to it. Speaking of headphones, I kind of wish I had higher-quality Studio-grade headphones to really test this card with; I'm not usually wearing headphones in my day to day duties. The only time I will wear them is if I want to listen to music very late at night and I don't want to disturb my neighbors, so my rating (verdict) is based on this fact. Someone with a PC/Console setup and wears headphone religiously to game, and consume media will benefit much more than I from the high-quality Headphone Amps that are included in the AE-X. Once again, I do feel like Creative could have gone the extra mile to support the S/PDIF port a bit more. Why include it if you're not supporting the main popular digital formats? It seems like the decision was more of a legacy-based one, offering uncompressed 2-channel PCM audio, for users with high-fidelity audio systems and external DACs. Maybe I will be lucky enough to review a card that truly includes all these features in the future. I am sure readers with far more knowledge on audio systems than me will correct me in the comments below. I'll just say I am happy to learn what I don't know! Where to buy The Sound Blaster AE-X is available to purchase now in preorder for $179.99 on the U.S. Creative website, or for £169.99 on the Creative UK website and will start shipping to customers from June 25.
    • $80 or 90%, anything else would be financial suicide one way or another.
    • Or... just use Bitwarden. Free, and has on-prem option as well. Works both on desktop and mobile, wherever you are. The age of local password files is over.
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