[Updated] Batman: Arkham Knight Re-launches... with More Issues

Published: October 28, 2015 7:00 PM /

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Batman Arkham Knight Batarang

It's been a rocky path for Warner Brothers' Batman: Arkham Knight on PC, with a troubled launch leading to it being pulled from all distributors on PC and refunds being offered. Seeking to sort it out, they released content for the well received console versions, and worked on patching the troublesome PC Port of the game that had those issues. They weren't the only problems at launch, as shortly before launch one of the special editions was cancelled as well due to issues with the production of the statue.

As we reported last week, today was the day Warner Brothers and Rocksteady had chosen to re-release Batman: Arkham Knight onto the PC with a promise of the issues that plagued it being fixed, as well as a slightly reduced price point. They had, after the September interim patch (and confirmed that they would have them finished for the re-release in an October 1 post), stated they were targeting on having the following issues fixed before it went back for sale: 

  • Adding support for SLI and Crossfire
  • Adding support for the latest DLC & Season Pass content
  • Adding support for additional updates such as Photo Mode
  • Continued improvements and bug fixing for a Windows 7 specific memory issue that occurs on configurations with 8GB of system RAM and some NVIDIA GPUs during extended game play
  • Continued improvements for Windows 10 specific issues on systems with some AMD GPUs 

On the bright side, it appears they got some of it done with their announcement of the re-launch. The downside is that today's re-release has shown that there is still a lot of work to do on this port. Regarding general performance there has been numerous complaints, including people who say that it had been working better for them previously, and there were some particular things that came up - although it appears all the DLC and Season Pass content will be making it later today, presumably along with Photo Mode, although it isn't mentioned by name.

On SLI and Crossfire, it is the most egregious breach of trust, as they still haven't managed to get it work. Additionally there are still driver issues with the GPU partners, which is odd given the fact they've spent the last 5 months working on fixing this, and previously said they were working with NVidia on it. There is no timeline provided for SLI and Crossfire instead a generic, "we are still with them" statement on the matter.

Windows 7 memory issues are still a thing for Batman: Arkham Knight, and their final solution appears to be to blame a hard drive paging issue with some GPUs on Windows 7. Their solution to this problem is to tell you to restart the game during long sessions and that will fix the apparent memory leak issue. That hasn't actually been fixed.

Windows 10 users though, may find themselves envying their non-upgraded friends as Batman: Arkham Knight is recommending that they have 12 GB of RAM. In particular that allows them to operate without paging and 'provide a smoother gameplay experience.' One thing to note is that all current generation consoles have less than half of the recommended 12GB RAM available for games, with the PlayStation 4 have 5.5 GB available.

Additionally, those who had left reviews in the past are finding that their reviews are now noted as 'pre-release reviews' for reviews that were left about the version that had previously been released, and many of the issues from that still release apply. However, it does not appear that any reviews are being deleted, and the pre-release review tag is applied to both positive and negative reviews. It is possible that this may be a limitation of the Steam system as most of the reviews read now that they are coming from October 27 or 28 regardless of when they were written, with some showing earlier in October as well.

Update: The Original time and post for reviews have been added back. They are not posted as pre-release reviews anymore nor all listed as October dates.

For those who did have the game and didn't get a refund or who buy it before November 16th, Warner Brothers is offering free copies of the previous Arkham games, the Community Challenge Pack DLC free for all and a week before consoles, and Batman: Arkham inspired Team Fortress 2 items created by the community in a contest they are holding in conjunction with Valve.

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Don Parsons
| Senior Writer

A longtime lover of speculative fiction, in almost all its forms, Don joined TechRaptor in 2014 on a whim sending in an application as he was looking for… More about Don

More Info About This Game
Learn more about Batman: Arkham Knight
Developer
Rocksteady Studios
Platforms
PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4
Release Date
June 23, 2015 (Calendar)
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