You would think that a 2D low-res game like Braid would run on  current Netbooks or desktops that are a couple of years old. But no.
Who could have guessed that the game runs like crap on an EEE PC with 1.6 ghz, 2GB ram and 128 megs of video memory? A netbook that, to put things into perspective, runs World of Goo with constant max FPS, and even runs HL2 at aceptable speeds?

Yes, that's right. Half-Life 2 runs smoother than Braid on low-spec machines.

And there I was, counting on the quality of a 2D XBLA game port, hoping to be able to play it. Too bad.

This is just sad.

Do you have a XB360? =/

I'm sure there's all sorts of weird things with the time bending stuff that requires lots of power.

"Do you have a XB360? =/"

"BiggerBomb said:

"Do you have a XB360? =/"

Yes. But I wanted to have it on the netbook. You know, portable. For the university.The game runs at about 50% speed with 5-10 fps."

Well, I just tried the game on a desktop PC with better specs. It runs very fluidly..


... but the entire game is one big graphical glitchy mess and you can't see anything.


Great job on that port.

Low res? As I recall, all Braid assets are made at 1080p resolution. Factor in everything it does regarding physics and their effect on time travel, and the tons and tons of animation every sprite in the game has. A lot of work went in to developing Braid's art style and it goes beyond simple 2D graphics and simple 2D gameplay. I'm not saying the PC port is spectacular or anything but maybe you aren't giving it enough credit. There's a lot of layers and a lot of shaders and effects going on in the background to make Braid look the way it looks.

Low res? As I recall, all Braid assets are made at 1080p resolution

Every time I start it up it crashes and I can't understand why. If my computer can run Left 4 Dead on normal settings then surely this should run very smoothly. I don't if the crashing is related to the system requirements but the game seems to be running badly on other peoples PCs too.

Played through the entire game last night and only had issues with the screen, which I fixed via the settings. I believe that the requirements are not low because the entire level is happening at once -- from the weather effects, enemies, time effects, puzzles, cannons, Tim -- I'm sure if the code could be seen, it would be flipping out all of the time. I'm not solely blaming this for a bad set of requirements, but I'm sure it's part of it. Braid is a pretty heavy set of graphics for a 2D game, as well!

Also, I didn't experience any in-game graphical glitches, and I even was alt-tabbing throughout the game. Little weird, but I know this varies from PC to PC.

Do you have more trouble on certain levels than others? For instance, the first Hunt level compared to something bigger?

I had the same issue, it's really confusing. However, I managed to get the game to run somewhat decent after reading the readme.txt that comes with the game.

I purchased the game through steam, so I changed the launch options and added the following: -no_vsync -no_post

I think you can do the same by right clicking on the desktop icon and changing the "Target" field.

Give it a try...

Yeah, I don't have the game, but I figure it is a lot more complex than it really is. Otherwise, I'm sure Braid would've came out on something like the PS2 and/or Wii. However, it DOES seem like the port is all kinds of fucked up from these anecdotes.

"BiggerBomb said:

"Do you have a XB360? =/"

The game runs at about 50% speed with 5-10 fps."

Well, that is a surprise.

Braid is only fully unleashed with the power of the Xbox 360.

PC...LOL.

Hmm, I know I'll get hate but....

This is why PC gaming is becoming increasingly niche.

**Runs**

PC gaming is becoming increasingly niche because someone made a shitty port? Mind. Blown. Also, Braid is a niche game. And there are far more (and more worthy) indie games on PC if that's what you're into. Just saying. You can't run from your ignorance.

Anyway, my PC can most certainly run this, but I won't support that attitude. Nothing justifies a shoddy port like this.

Braid scans your Steam list to see how many indie games you own.  If you have none, the game runs at very slow speeds because it assumes you couldn't handle its subtle, mature, and artistic nature.  Nick Suttner can run this game on his iPhone because he 'gets' it.

I don't know if it's proper to say that PC gaming is becoming niche, but it seems to me that nowadays, when developers port a PC-rooted franchise onto a console(especially 360 and PS3), they'll retune the level, balance, difficulty, control, and even some core game mechanics to make the game work and not like a poor port. However when they port a console-rooted franchise onto PC, most of them don't bother all the fine tuning, and when they start a cross-platform franchise, they usually seem to make 360/PS3 version thier primary version in terms of game design(graphically, most developers still respect what a PC can do, though)
With all due respect , I am not bashing any platform though, since I was a PC gamer back in the good old PC PFS/RPG golden age. The above is just my own opinion because I feel that the genre I loved on PC(FPS and RPG) is especially becoming increasingly console-oriented in terms of game design. Even id shift their primary platform(according to Todd Hollenshead), I still remember back in the old days, the xbox version of doom 3 is completely a butchered version from PC. Sigh......

I think it's kind of funny when everyone brings up 'shitty port' when their shitty PC can't run an Xbox 360 game well.  Look, the 360 is a lot more powerful than you obviously think it is.  Braid does some crazy stuff that no other 2D game does.  Why should it run well on ancient crap hardware?  The port probably isn't completely optimal, but it's far far from a 'simple low res 2d game'...

Fail.

Maybe you need to learn how to use some command-line options, it really helps these days you know.

The game has been running well on my 5 years old PC and your claims that it has pathetic system requirements is invalid.

"Hmm, I know I'll get hate but....This is why PC gaming is becoming increasingly niche.**Runs**"

damn, braid seems like it could run in a flash browser.

"Maybe you need to learn how to use some command-line options, it really helps these days you know.

The game has been running well on my 5 years old PC and your claims that it has pathetic system requirements is invalid."

Braid runs fine on my laptop which is mid-range.

computowned

PC works but I get some serious tearing in the game I use the xbox controller.

You've gotten it backwards. The PC has always been niche, so we get shit ports. I haven't played Braid, but I bet you'll find that Braid does not take full advantage of the GPU and relies heavily on multicore processors. Same old shitty port story.

Presumably, if the game were properly optimized it wouldn't be a problem. You act as if real-time 2d games are novel.

"ZeroCast said:

"Maybe you need to learn how to use some command-line options, it really helps these days you know.

The game has been running well on my 5 years old PC and your claims that it has pathetic system requirements is invalid."

So, why don't you tell him exactly what command line options you used, as well as your compy's specs, rather than insult him? Not that having command line options solve issues should be accepted, as if an option is so important it should be in the options of the game, but anyway, maybe he can at least play it if you help instead of be an asshole to him."

I suppose -no_post will be the actually helpful command here, how much does it change the game's look?

Braid does some crazy stuff that no other 2D game does.

"Diamond said:

Braid does some crazy stuff that no other 2D game does.

No. "

"Diamond said:

Braid does some crazy stuff that no other 2D game does.

No. "

Very elaborate!Now it just seems as if you posted this thread to bash the game. Points to you, sir."

My PC will piss on those specs. I've got already anyway.

"Low res? As I recall, all Braid assets are made at 1080p resolution. Factor in everything it does regarding physics and their effect on time travel, and the tons and tons of animation every sprite in the game has. A lot of work went in to developing Braid's art style and it goes beyond simple 2D graphics and simple 2D gameplay. I'm not saying the PC port is spectacular or anything but maybe you aren't giving it enough credit. There's a lot of layers and a lot of shaders and effects going on in the background to make Braid look the way it looks. "

Why does a game like BRAID need the requirements of running Crysis on MINIMUM settings?

The problem is likely that like most PC games its gotta be optimized for a wide range of systems though this is usually accomplished by general optimization, where as the console version is optimzed specifically.
I'm sure a patch will be released that fixes most things as i understand it the pc version still had the barest of development team size.

OK, I just decided to try out the PC version demo because of this thread.  Game runs FLAWLESSLY on my PC.  60FPS, no drops.  The requirements are fine, maybe there's some bug, but if your PC is worse than mine, it's really fucking time to upgrade.

edit - I'm pretty sure the game disabled the post processing effects now that I played more, I didn't see any of the VCR-style effects when rewinding time that happen in the 360 version.  My PC is technically weaker than a 360 except in RAM, so I actually didn't expect this good performance.

Figured I'd give the game a try on my PC what with this thread being here and all. Download it and go to launch and I get a TODO error. Nice. Blow's solution doesn't really work, either.

"Diamond said:

"jakob187 said:

Why does a game like BRAID need the requirements of running Crysis on MINIMUM settings?

My computer can run Crysis on minimum easily, but probably can't run Braid.  Crysis on min isn't impressive."

Right, but even at minimum...I can guarantee that there is more work going on than there is in Braid.

Hence...I ask why the FUCK Braid seems to need such high requirements when something like Crysis could run on what Braid requires...

"

That sucks. Sorry to hear about that and no I am definitely not going to buy it....again. That is why the 360 version is so awesome! *don't hit me*

The Braid PC requirements should just be to have an Xbox 360, a broadband subscription and a screen to play it on.