Game physics and frame rate question.

[orcinhell]

I am totally oblivious to coding and game development. I know the basics like how textures work, etc stuff that most gamers know... That said I have a question. I just got Metal Gear Solid 5, its a fantastic game but I was a bit disappointed because I recently got a new 144hz gsync screen and the frames are locked at 60. First world problems right.

 

Every so often a series or game comes over from console and this seems a trend, MGS 5 has locked frames, Dark souls 1 had locked frames, 2 is locked at 60 I believe. And every time when I search to see if you can unlock frames I am met with the same reasoning... the game developers tie the physics to the frames/frame rate. Which seems odd but after playing Dark souls 1 and uncapping the frames with a mod weird stuff starts to happen, you can no longer jump as far and can fall through the world in some spots etc.

 

So why do they do that? From my perspective even before I had the screen it seems limiting especially for the PC platform (I realise some of these games came to PC as an after thought but DS 2 and MGS were going to come to PC from the start). I am guessing its to do with ease and time restraints, consoles games are developed to run at a certain frame rate and so tying the physics to frame rate seems like a consistent way to do it. Just wondering if someone in the know can explain it too me.

 

Not sure if this is the right place but I decided to post general is it didn't seem to fit into the PC gaming section.

[YT2002]

I am totally oblivious to coding and game development. I know the basics like how textures work, etc stuff that most gamers know... That said I have a question. I just got Metal Gear Solid 5, its a fantastic game but I was a bit disappointed because I recently got a new 144hz gsync screen and the frames are locked at 60. First world problems right.

 

Every so often a series or game comes over from console and this seems a trend, MGS 5 has locked frames, Dark souls 1 had locked frames, 2 is locked at 60 I believe. And every time when I search to see if you can unlock frames I am met with the same reasoning... the game developers tie the physics to the frames/frame rate. Which seems odd but after playing Dark souls 1 and uncapping the frames with a mod weird stuff starts to happen, you can no longer jump as far and can fall through the world in some spots etc.

 

So why do they do that? From my perspective even before I had the screen it seems limiting especially for the PC platform (I realise some of these games came to PC as an after thought but DS 2 and MGS were going to come to PC from the start). I am guessing its to do with ease and time restraints, consoles games are developed to run at a certain frame rate and so tying the physics to frame rate seems like a consistent way to do it. Just wondering if someone in the know can explain it too me.

 

Not sure if this is the right place but I decided to post general is it didn't seem to fit into the PC gaming section.

Maybe mojority of gamers own 60hz panels. Or they didnt think it was worth it. 144Hz is more for FPS players

[orcinhell]

Maybe mojority of gamers own 60hz panels. Or they didnt think it was worth it. 144Hz is more for FPS players

 

Yea, I get that part but was wondering if the old reason they tie physics to framerate is true? and if so why? I am honestly fine with the 60fps its a great game and well optimized, but it got me thinking and I wanted to know for once and for all. Maybe when building a game engine allowing high frames i.e. over 60fps has to be there from the start, and its not about tying physics to frame rate as much as allowing the engine to run that fast does weird things because it was never designed for it.

[Blebekblebek]

Console ports

Multiplatform

[nfank]

Cant jump as far? Hmm that might explain why I find getting to the vendor in sens easier than other people ive played with

[Me1z]

Because lazy programming. Just like graphics, physics is calculated in 'frames'. It's much easier to force a game engine to run physics calculations at the same rate as graphics calculations, because it guarantees that they are in sync and being calculated in the right order. If calculations are not run in the right order you get audio bugs, graphical bugs, and physics bugs because they are all interdependent. Out of sync calculations are how you get stuff like this: