Can someone explain me "PC port"

[EzioSan]

So i watch all these videos about "pc port" in the internet where the caster explains if it´s ported good for pc..or so i think.

this usually concerns games on multiple plattform. the conclusion e.g. for latest ubisoft games like watch dogs or acunity is that they gimped the port( total bisquet).

 

but why do they port games to pc`?Game coding comes from computers. They test the game on a computer until it runs as best as is couldi asume. Then proceed to port it to ps4? Then port it back to PC?

i dont get it and i think i´m wrong here..cause it makes no sense

[Lotus]

No, games are made for consoles, not ported to them. They're tested on consoles. The majority of money comes from consoles, and this generation of consoles (the PS4 and XB1 at least) have very similar hardware. Only some games are actually made on PC first, such as Valve games and Blizzard games. The rest are almost always native console games ported to work on PC.

[Speedyv]

Games ported from consoles aren't optimised for running on PC's thus they underperform.

 

It's just laziness and indifference from game companies. 

[andre82693]

look at   http://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/wiki/guide

[AlwaysFSX]

They're tested on consoles.

No? Do you want to spend an hour burning a test copy to a disk just to see if it works? No.

[Lotus]

No? Do you want to spend an hour burning a test copy to a disk just to see if it works? No.

Well, you're right in one respect, but I don't think you're right on the central point. Are you saying that they ship the game without testing on consoles? Are you saying that console development isn't their primary focus? Any testing on PC is done to emulate a console environment, and they're most definitely tested on consoles by the end of it.

[chilicheeseburger]

In game development there's a lead platform for which the game is originally made (often a console). Then it gets ported to another platform (another console or Windows) Ported means making it compatible with and optimizing it for different hardware while maintaining or in the best case improving gameplay, graphics, etc.

Now a bad port is when this is done poorly. PC ports tend to be bad nowadays because some developers don't care for PC a lot.

[Noxxx]

console games are tested on dev kit consoles, not on PC

[BurgerBum]

Well, you're right in one respect, but I don't think you're right on the central point. Are you saying that they ship the game without testing on consoles? Are you saying that console development isn't their primary focus? Any testing on PC is done to emulate a console environment, and they're most definitely tested on consoles by the end of it.

what i am almost absolutely sure is they runs ome sort of special VM that runs like the consoles's OS. then if that runs smoothly enough, they test it on actual console, and ship ASAP because they can fix any bugs they didnt find then with a patch.

[AlwaysFSX]

Well, you're right in one respect, but I don't think you're right on the central point. Are you saying that they ship the game without testing on consoles? Are you saying that console development isn't their primary focus? Any testing on PC is done to emulate a console environment, and they're most definitely tested on consoles by the end of it.

Well I meant that during development they almost strictly test on an emulated environment. I am sure they make test a final build on a console itself to verify it's working.

[BurgerBum]

what i am almost absolutely sure is they runs ome sort of special VM that runs like the consoles's OS. then if that runs smoothly enough, they test it on actual console, and ship ASAP because they can fix any bugs they didnt find then with a patch.

 

 

Well I meant that during development they almost strictly test on an emulated environment. I am sure they make test a final build on a console itself to verify it's working.

^~^

[Sharkyx1]

So i watch all these videos about "pc port" in the internet where the caster explains if it´s ported good for pc..or so i think.

this usually concerns games on multiple plattform. the conclusion e.g. for latest ubisoft games like watch dogs or acunity is that they gimped the port( total bisquet).

 

but why do they port games to pc`?Game coding comes from computers. They test the game on a computer until it runs as best as is couldi asume. Then proceed to port it to ps4? Then port it back to PC?

i dont get it and i think i´m wrong here..cause it makes no sense

PC port is really a buzzword.

Games are keyed into a PC but in a console environment, they don't run natively on PC, unless they are also PC titles. They are programmed on PC, but tested on consoles.

 

The meaning of port, is that the game in discussion had low effort put into its PC version, I wouldn't even blame Watch_Dogs or Unity on that, They are poorly coded games, while Watch dogs managed to hit its target Unity is far beyond what a current Gen console can do, and what a current PC can do with good graphics.

[NICKT]

In my opinion, nothing really wrong with a port.

I think what's of more honest contention is whether a port is good or bad, which I believe is genuinely a better discussion than complaining about ports, because one way or another it's being ported.

[Sined]

Out of curiosity, what do you guys think the lead development platform is for Far Cry 4?

[Tacitus]

Out of curiosity, what do you guys think the lead development platform is for Far Cry 4?

 

Almost certainly PS4 or Xbox One. I'd argue the former though as quite a lot of Ubi games lately have had PS4 exclusive content, so that's additional development that needs done for one platform.

[Laurysss]

Imagine  what beautifull life would be if they wouldnt port games to pc but create them on pc. Running shitty console hardware on pc and having amazing performance. But nope now you have to have a r9 290 or a 980...

[Humbug]

But nope now you have to have a r9 290 or a 980...

Not really.... try to look beyond Ubisoft games..

[Recon97]

It's a very good question to ask there OP.It's very simple,the PC port is actually a port where all PC come and unload or load pleasure on them.

[DigitalHermit]

It's a game for consoles made on a PC then ported from the console version to the PC (why? we might never know)...

[Sharp_3yE]

 

Porting is where a program which is originally made for a certain platform (EX: lets say Microsoft word developed for windows) and the developers want to make the program run on a different platform (EX: lets say Mac OSX). So, in my example Microsoft would have to take the existing code of Microsoft Word, which is originally coded and developed for Windows, would to be changed a bit to run on Mac OSX.

 

A port of a program is simply a program that was originally developed for one platform and taking that program and changing it so that it runs on a different platform.

 

Games often are developed for consoles. A pc port of a game would then be taking a game that is specifically developed for a console and changing it so that it runs on PC.