Home Gaming You may want to avoid Mortal Kombat X on PC

You may want to avoid Mortal Kombat X on PC

2 min read
99

danger

Mortal Kombat X was released yesterday, to very nearly universal critical acclaim. The platform of choice for publishers was the PlayStation 4. There’s been very little mention of the Pc version – and for good reason. It barely works. There are a number of issues plaguing the PC version of this year’s hottest fighting game, ranging from frame rate issues, to it being wholly unplayable. If you have the option, you may wish to avoid it for now.

Various reports all over the usual suspects Reddit , Steam forums, and Twitter suggest the PC version of the game is off to a rocky start. The culprit for many seems to the be Steam’s new streaming installation service, which downloads game files in packs. Theoretically, it’s to allow gamers to start playing games before they’re fully downloaded – similar to something that happens (sometimes!) on PS4 and Xbox One – but it appears to get stuck after the first 3GB are downloaded. It means the game launches, and some users even get to see the game’s main menu, before the game unceremoniously crashes to desktop. Some people can play the game, but have characters and modes greyed out.

It’s meant to download the 29 remaining packs in the background, but some sort of bug is preventing that from happening. It’s something NetherRealm and Valve are aware of, so if it isn’t fixed already, it’s something that should be fixed soon. Many report that that bit of the problem has already been remedied.

Unfortunately, that’s not where the problems end. It seems to be a rather poor port. The Pc version of the game was once again developed by developers for hire, High Voltage. They’re somewhat notorious for doing poor ports. In fact, Konami had to hire other developers to fix the Zone of the Enders HD Collection after High Voltage botched it. They also did the Saint’s Row IV remaster on the new consoles, which was a mess of fluctuating framerates.

In MKX on PC, frame rate appears to be unstable, and the thing – for many – is a bit of a buggy mess, with random crashes to desktop. The game’s locked at 60fps, but fatalities and X-Rays switch to 30fps, but that’s true of the console versions too.

Do you have the PC version of the game? Is it working for you? If not, what horror stories do you have to share? Either way, Mortal Kombat is a series that’s just more at home on consoles, and if you have the option, grab the game for one of the new ones.

One day, a great big AAA game will launch on PC without issues. But not this day.

Last Updated: April 15, 2015

99 Comments

  1. Ranting Raptor

    April 15, 2015 at 08:05

    Why are people still using these guys if they are so well known for shoddy porting work? Honestly?

    Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again yet expecting a different outcome each time

    Reply

    • Geoffrey Tim

      April 15, 2015 at 08:21

      Thye’re based in Chicago – just like NetherRealm. Probably easiest for communication.

      Reply

      • Dutch Matrix

        April 15, 2015 at 08:23

        Clearly “Fuck you, you doing a shit job” wasn’t part of that communication…

        Reply

      • Ranting Raptor

        April 15, 2015 at 08:53

        They did some terrible communication by the sounds of it….

        Reply

      • Ranting Raptor

        April 15, 2015 at 09:37

        Also…. They’re*

        😛

        Reply

        • Admiral Chief asked for this

          April 15, 2015 at 09:52

          It took you 45 minutes to pick that up?
          Eish Llew

          Reply

          • Ranting Raptor

            April 15, 2015 at 10:23

            I noticed it in my disqus feed lol

    • Non-Blacks are 20% Neanderthal

      April 16, 2015 at 04:39

      That’s NOT the definition of insanity. I have no idea why morons keep posting that.

      Also, the game runs at 1080/60 on my i5/290

      Reply

      • Ranting Raptor

        April 16, 2015 at 19:06

        Who threw out you cereal? Shame

        Reply

      • grenadeh

        May 18, 2015 at 04:41

        Because they’re all dumbass fucking 12 year olds who played Far Cry 3 and they thought the quote (Fucking taken from dozens of other popular media sources) was clever. And they all need to be beaten unconscious.

        Reply

    • grenadeh

      May 18, 2015 at 04:41

      Quit quoting stupid characters because you think it’s clever, that’s actually not the definition of insanity.

      Reply

  2. Umar

    April 15, 2015 at 08:06

    Are these the bastards that turned Zone of Enders into that slow mess of a game…holy hell, why would anyone trust these idiots?….

    Reply

    • Dutch Matrix

      April 15, 2015 at 08:17

      Same way Uwe Boll was trusted by devs to make great movies out of their games.

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        April 15, 2015 at 08:24

        Ouch!

        Reply

      • Umar

        April 15, 2015 at 08:32

        LOL…..Uwe…..man……that hurts

        Reply

        • Dutch Matrix

          April 15, 2015 at 08:34

          Bloodrayne hurt more…

          Reply

          • Lardus-Resident Perve

            April 15, 2015 at 08:47

            1st one was OK-ish if one had nothing else to do (but only once)…the rest…sheesh

    • Geoffrey Tim

      April 15, 2015 at 08:21

      Yes. Yes they are.

      Reply

      • Umar

        April 15, 2015 at 08:31

        🙁

        Reply

    • Viking Of Science

      April 15, 2015 at 08:21

      because they’re cheap…. like the prostitutes in Liberty City.

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief asked for this

        April 15, 2015 at 08:24

        Five dorrars cheap?

        Reply

        • justlikemo

          April 15, 2015 at 08:26

          its Fried Rice you Plick

          Reply

          • justlikemo

            April 15, 2015 at 08:27

        • justlikemo

          April 15, 2015 at 08:28

          ..

          Reply

          • Admiral Chief asked for this

            April 15, 2015 at 08:32

            (refresh)

          • justlikemo

            April 15, 2015 at 08:37

            its one of those mornings!

          • Admiral Chief asked for this

            April 15, 2015 at 08:38

            You want to choke a reopard rike dat?

          • justlikemo

            April 15, 2015 at 08:53

            haha, I’m soo off the mark today

          • Dutch Matrix

            April 15, 2015 at 08:40

            Wrong. That reopard considered eating the kid, and then died from cholesterol…

          • Admiral Chief asked for this

            April 15, 2015 at 08:41

            He gave him one lick, then promptly went into cardiac arrest

          • Dutch Matrix

            April 15, 2015 at 08:43

            Poor reopard…

          • Admiral Chief asked for this

            April 15, 2015 at 08:50

            At least death was swift

  3. Dutch Matrix

    April 15, 2015 at 08:09

    In all fairness, what do they expect, playing a game that is still being downloaded? But with that said, framerate issues and crap like that should not exist.
    Way to go, High Voltage. Please keep on restoring my faith in games like you are doing. (Sarcasm)

    Reply

    • Josh

      April 15, 2015 at 20:03

      The game reported as ‘Downloaded and Installed’. It’s not like we were complaining because the download was taking forever. They setup the install as 3GB (the menus) and then 29 DLC packs, which is highly unusual to say the least. It works now, but on my super overkill PC the port is still crazy buggy with frames dropping, and all kinds of bad stuff.

      Reply

  4. Blood Emperor Trevor

    April 15, 2015 at 08:09

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

    Reply

    • Dutch Matrix

      April 15, 2015 at 08:20

      You know what’s bad? And I hate myself for it. I bought GTA V yesterday, KNOWING that a 5GB day one patch is in existence. I am part of the problem…

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief asked for this

        April 15, 2015 at 08:23

        You twit!

        Reply

        • Dutch Matrix

          April 15, 2015 at 08:28

          I’m sorry Chief. But that bloody Van Riebeeck made me do it!

          Reply

          • Admiral Chief asked for this

            April 15, 2015 at 08:29

            Daai moer, geez, it is HIS fault of load shedding mos mos!

            MARIAAAAAAAAAA

          • HairyEwok

            April 15, 2015 at 08:31

            I swear if it wasn’t for Van Riebeeck we’ll all commute in flying cars and have cyborg strippers and proper games and dinosaurs will still roam the earth and basic services will work and nobody will ever die.

          • Dutch Matrix

            April 15, 2015 at 08:35

            Mass Effect would have been a history lesson…

      • Blood Emperor Trevor

        April 15, 2015 at 08:24

        Release day should be renamed early access day.

        Reply

        • Admiral Chief asked for this

          April 15, 2015 at 08:27

          Agreed

          Reply

        • Ranting Raptor

          April 15, 2015 at 08:54

          Wow. That is such a profound statement…

          Reply

      • Greylingad

        April 15, 2015 at 08:32

        With me being part of the problem as well, I must say, my jaw is still somewhere on the floor, I have tripped over it many, many times… GTA V on PC is just… amazing really, even though that 5 GB patch… Mother effer!…

        Reply

  5. Hammersteyn

    April 15, 2015 at 08:10

    I think that video was just an excuse so that they could make out. Roxette never did this 🙁

    Reply

    • Blood Emperor Trevor

      April 15, 2015 at 08:10

      I know. It must have been love, but it’s over now. 🙁

      Reply

      • Hammersteyn

        April 15, 2015 at 08:11

        Hahahaha

        Reply

      • PoisonedBelial

        April 15, 2015 at 08:26

        Things will never be the same…

        Reply

  6. Viking Of Science

    April 15, 2015 at 08:13

    That Day will Never come! not even May 19th. Not because I don’t trust in The Witcher 3, but because, by Definition, The Witcher 3 is an INDEPENDANT game, not AAA. 😛

    Reply

  7. Martin du preez (D4RKL1NGza)

    April 15, 2015 at 08:13

    But I was told by the Master race that pc gaming is GOD TIER gaming.
    Just shows that devs don’t give a shit about PC vegans OP rigs and will always treat them like 2nd class citizens and throw them the scraps of the gaming world. So get fucked you militant pc fanboys always shitting on console gaming.

    As for real pc gamers. Hang in there guys and be patient,the wait will be worth it,the game is amazing.

    Reply

  8. Admiral Chief asked for this

    April 15, 2015 at 08:17

    Crappy ports
    Cash hungry content shy DLC
    Exclusivity

    Theses are the things breaking the gaming industry

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief asked for this

      April 15, 2015 at 08:17

      Oh yeah, and day one patches and broken AAAs as well

      Reply

  9. Admiral Chief asked for this

    April 15, 2015 at 08:17

    Meh, I’m still playing MK9 and DX and Planetside and STALKER

    Reply

    • Dutch Matrix

      April 15, 2015 at 08:19

      But… but… MK9 is the Politically Incorrect version with all the sexiness and under,side,top and upside down boob shots we were “horrified” with…

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief asked for this

        April 15, 2015 at 08:20

        Janee, I cannot play that game with my daughter watching, geez, so much bewbs

        Reply

        • Dutch Matrix

          April 15, 2015 at 08:23

          “Sweetie, please leave the room now. The Naughty Tannie is on now. I’ll call you before I slice her horribly into 7 pieces.”

          Reply

        • Brady miaau

          April 15, 2015 at 09:33

          Yeah, thats why your daughter cannot watch you play MK9.

          Reply

          • Admiral Chief asked for this

            April 15, 2015 at 09:37

            That as well as the sheer amount of violence

      • Blood Emperor Trevor

        April 15, 2015 at 08:26

        Surely under boob isn’t un-PC, only the other ones? O_O

        Reply

        • Dutch Matrix

          April 15, 2015 at 08:27

          No. Sorry. Any form of boobage designed to give a man a hard-on was spawned from the teat of Satan himself!

          Reply

  10. Ryanza

    April 15, 2015 at 08:20

    This has been the pattern for some time now. Develop for consoles and just don’t put any real effort into the PC version. Why is that. Why would they do their best to get a console version at it’s best and not fucking bother with the PC version. DRM. Console retail game discs don’t come with DRM on it. That means anyone can buy it. It has to work properly or else they will get sued. But since the Steam DRM era started, PC games has been on the downward path. They can get monkeys to develop PC games and sell it. Why because now everyone who buys a PC game will have access to a DRM client. All who buys PC games. That means they can release broken shitty games and no1 can sue them because all they have to do is wait for an update. DRM = updates for all = added support for all = can’t get sued.

    A console game can be bought by a person without internet and that person needs to get a working game or else he can sue. Updating a broken game on PSN or Xbox Live, means nothing to that person who bought that console game, who doesn’t have internet. Releasing a product that is broken or doesn’t work = your ass will get sued. Not the case with DRM. It’s funny how people support DRM but they don’t see the effects of DRM.

    Don’t Support DRM. The Witcher 3 is coming.

    Reply

  11. HairyEwok

    April 15, 2015 at 08:24

    Ahhh yes there it is the imfamous frame rate issue…. Was wondering if this game will let you fight in slow motion too.

    Reply

  12. justlikemo

    April 15, 2015 at 08:30

    thats if eishcom did not hit them while they were busy with their downloads

    Reply

  13. Hammersteyn

    April 15, 2015 at 08:31

    So PS4 is the preferred version? Straight from the Ponies mouth. Publishers like their games to be Stable. The PS4 is proving time and time again why it Reins supreme over the other consoles. The games don’t get Saddled with PC problems either. So stop being a Neigh-Sayer and embrace change. It’s time to Bale on XBOX as they wont be around Furlong

    *Trots off

    Reply

  14. Greylingad

    April 15, 2015 at 08:38

    And I was so looking forward to this… Gosh darn… Why?!Just why? Love the header and vid btw…

    Reply

  15. Admiral Chief asked for this

    April 15, 2015 at 08:40

    I guess the guys doing QA for the port are the same guys who do maintenance for Eskom

    Reply

    • Dutch Matrix

      April 15, 2015 at 08:42

      The Game Engine will be load shedding between the hours of 6pm and 10pm tonight.

      Reply

      • Greylingad

        April 15, 2015 at 09:48

        Hahahahahaha!!! Would that be stage 1,2 or 3 load shedding?

        Reply

  16. Lardus-Resident Perve

    April 15, 2015 at 08:49

    Playing fighting games on PC…Master race HA!

    Reply

    • Ryanza

      April 15, 2015 at 08:52

      Wireless controllers?

      Reply

      • Lardus-Resident Perve

        April 15, 2015 at 08:55

        Fully aware that they have controllers (wired and wireless) and can have big screens etc.

        Reply

        • Ryanza

          April 15, 2015 at 09:11

          But I was thinking how shit it would be to play MK with on a keyboard.

          Reply

          • Lardus-Resident Perve

            April 15, 2015 at 09:15

            O crap ja! I played MK4 on the PC for a bit using a keyboard (pirate copy back in the day) – it was truly awful!

    • Kervyn Cloete

      April 15, 2015 at 09:32

      Ja I’ve got xbone/Xbox360 controllers for my PC. When my buddies come around, I just move the PC to the lounge hooked up to my 46″ LCD and we jam there. The fact that I’ve bought all the major fighting games of the last few years (plus some classics like King of Fighters) with virtually all their DLC for dirt cheap on Steam sales, means that it’s like the ultimate fighting arcade setup.

      Reply

      • Ryanza

        April 15, 2015 at 09:33

        Xbox One controller vs Xbox 360 controller for PC? Tell me everything. All your opinions.

        Reply

        • Kervyn Cloete

          April 15, 2015 at 09:38

          Well, biggest difference is that there’s no wireless receiver for the Xbone controllers yet (C’mon, MS!). Luckily, they just use a standard micro USB cable. I got a 3m long cable, so reaching all the couches in the lounge isn’t a problem.

          As far as comparison between the controllers itself, there are no majorly overt differences, but the XBone’s are just slightly more comfortable and have a FAR superior D-Pad. That last bit is pretty important for fighting games though.

          Reply

          • Ryanza

            April 15, 2015 at 09:46

            I like cool looking controllers. The chromes and that Tomb Raider controller is cool. The Xbox One default controller, it just doesn’t look right. Thought about waiting for a cool custom controller to come along, but if you say the d-pad is good, then next controller has to be a Xbox One controller.

  17. Kervyn Cloete

    April 15, 2015 at 09:17

    I would like to tell you about my experience of playing it on PC, but I never got that far. After downloading 3GB of files, it told me the game was ready to play. And then downloaded another 460MB update. Followed by a 405MB update. Followed by a 530MB update. Followed by me already being asleep at this time.

    Reply

  18. b1nd3r

    April 15, 2015 at 10:12

    works perfectly for me, Doesnt mean my skillz are any better than “MASH ALL THE BUTTONS”

    Reply

  19. Mark Vincer

    April 15, 2015 at 11:13

    Don’t you want to know how we keep starting fires?

    Reply

  20. ItchyTasty

    April 15, 2015 at 15:17

    Not a damn thing wrong with it, run smooth as hell. Infact it seems to be optimized greatly. I tested it on my 2 year old rig and I’m getting nearly every setting maxed out (on my high end rig, it’s eating it up). The game is fine, it’s just human stupidity, if a game is streaming a download then just WAIT until it’s fully downloaded before playing, simple. That being said the developers where idiots to ever have this stream downloading service in place. It’s needless and none beneficial.

    Reply

  21. Mike1202

    April 15, 2015 at 18:45

    Wow i just finished it on PC and i have to say that this game is PURE AMAZING!!

    i will write some review later but here are quick pros and cons:

    PROS:

    Roster additions almost universally great to play

    Streamlined, more fluid story mode

    CONS:

    Final boss almost too easy after build-up

    i am job tester from this site http://gamereviewjob.tk/ and i can recommend it to EVERYONE!!!!

    Reply

  22. Fernando Belloni

    April 16, 2015 at 00:48

    Its incredible how this port has terrible framerate drops on a fighting game where every frame counts, and on the other side GTA V framerate is between 45-60fps most of the time, even on a GTX 650ti with just 1GB VRAM, medium overall rendering quality and waaaaaaaay more complicated GPU work.

    Reply

  23. Kervyn Cloete

    April 16, 2015 at 12:10

    So PC feedback. I let the game download every single file pack and update that it wanted to before starting it up for the first time. Played the single player story mode for about 45mins, and it was rock solid. No crashes or weird glitches or anything.

    First impressions: This game is PRETTY! Really, really good looking and running at 1080p @ 60fps with everything maxed out, it just looks so amazingly crisp and fluid. But the strange thing is that while the in-engine gfx are freaking incredible, the pre-rendered cutscenes only run at 30fps and look really, really bland. I’m talking like the type of visuals you would expect to see in a game from 5 years ago. How dafuq
    do you have worse looking pre-rendered models than the in-engine models? It’s really weird.

    As for gameplay, it feels very good. The environment interactions don’t feel anywhere near as powerful or as
    slow as in Injustice, so it means they just become cool additions that you can quickly throw into the kombat, instead of them being total game changers where one hit kills a third of your health. So old school players don’t have to worry too much about that ruining that classic MK feel.

    The SP campaign doesn’t allow for the different styles though, so I haven’t really got into that. Also only played with Johnny Cage – whose default style is vintage Cage – and Kotal Khan, a new character that I
    initially felt was way too slow and cumbersome, but then I started checking out a few combos, and he actually plays really well. Played against AI controlled Kano in one match and he looked like an absolute
    beast now!

    Haven’t really done much else than that, and unfortunately won’t get much time today either. Stupid Eskom loadshedding!

    Reply

  24. iCe

    April 17, 2015 at 14:24

    i have a AMD FX 8350 CPU with 8 GB RAM, Nvidia GTX 560Ti and runing from a 840 EVO SSD and i cant get more than 20 fps on the lowest settings and droping the resolution to 1600×1050 from 1920×1200 … this game is one of the worst console ports i’ve seen and that makes me sad 🙁

    Reply

    • paul

      April 19, 2015 at 17:00

      upgrade gpu plz

      Reply

  25. neenee

    April 17, 2015 at 20:34

    i just bought it and so regretting it know didnt realise this happened to the game really want my money back now

    Reply

  26. Rich

    April 19, 2015 at 01:04

    I downloaded & installed the game on my PC. Th game plays fine – good frame rates – but no mouse or game controller. It does not recognize my Xbox360 USB controller or my mouse. I have to play the game with just the keyboard. Does anyone have a fix for this?

    Reply

  27. HELLLOW

    April 19, 2015 at 14:59

    story mode on pc just wont work for me

    Reply

  28. Sham

    April 20, 2015 at 03:49

    Performance is pretty bad on my PC, and while it’s not top of the line, it’s no slouch either. This is the first game in a long time that’s caused my rig to choke. I won’t say it’s unplayable quite, but random lag and slowdowns are really bad news for a fighting game in particular. Funny thing is though, I tried it with all settings at max, and then all settings at bare minimum, and the performance seems…about the same. Still lags in the same places and all. Curious.

    Reply

  29. vice86

    April 20, 2015 at 21:55

    I bought on release day…yeah, downloading 29 parts sucked but big whoop. The game played just fine after lowering some graphics options on my 2011 built PC with a mid-range card. Played for almost an hour and a half with no crashes or anything.

    Reply

  30. TGuigz

    April 22, 2015 at 18:15

    Well I must be some miracle my PC version of the game runs great. Perhaps if you decide to buy this for PC make sure you aren’t running a toaster oven or a potato with jumper cables.

    Reply

  31. Dallas Benavides

    April 27, 2015 at 00:23

    i can play Bioshock Infinite on Ultra settings, cant play this above 800×600 resolution. it all works well until you actually start playing. Please fix this, seems like a waste of money right now.

    Reply

    • Dallas Benavides

      April 27, 2015 at 01:17

      Nevermind, after I restarted my computer it started working well and I turned everything all the way up. It’s at about 30fps consistently. But it looks pretty smooth.

      Reply

  32. grenadeh

    May 18, 2015 at 04:40

    The game is absolute f*cking trash on PC, to date. I just uninstalled it. I’m done, I wash my hands of it. Between the broken game itself, the unbalanced matchmaking of the entire 4 shitheads who play it and are masters at the game and will rape the sh*t out of you with 20 hit combos and corner spamming and unblockable combo starters, it’s an absolute waste of time space and money.

    Reply

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