STiFU
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Posts posted by STiFU
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2 hours ago, peter_spy said:
About that geo-locking thing, Valve and other companies just have been fined for this: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2021/01/20/valve-and-five-publishers-fined-e7-8-million-for-geo-blocking-steam-keys/
I wonder how that will affect video game pricing here in europe, as they will have to equalize prizes accross the Europe. Considering how Germany yields the highest video game revenues in Europe, I don't expect they will lower the prices here much. Consequently, they will probably raise the prizes in eastern Europe quite a bit. So, sorry peter, I guess you'll have to pay more in the future.
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On 1/13/2021 at 8:55 AM, cabalistic said:
The new GOG Galaxy client is a god-send in that regard, as it can integrate with your other accounts and list your entire library. I've used it repeatedly to verify if I really don't own a particular game or just forgot under which account it is
I have just tested it. It's really cool. All my games from GOG, Bethesda Launcher, Origin, Epic, Uplay, Battle.net and Steam under one hood. The only feature I am missing right now is "sort by date of purchase" because I usually want my most recent purchases at the top.
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We probably need @cabalistic here.
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As the title says! I am just curious. The answer doesn't necessarily have to be your all-time favorite game, because I would argue that some games even get better after the first playthrough. Obviously, all answers without major spoilers, please.
So for me, it would be the Outer Wilds and the Splinter Cell Series.
Outer Wilds, because it is an unbelievable intense experience to explore the physically simulated cold outer space and unravel the secret about that innovative 22-minute supernova timeloop that leads to some very interesting gameplay ideas. Sadly, it will never be the same as in the first playthrough, so this ist definitely my 1st place in this category. I learned about this game on this very forum and after Marc Brown (Game Maker's Toolkit) explained in one of his videos how this game works, I just tried it eventhough I thought that these types of games were not my cup of tea.
And I say the Splinter Cell series, because there is just nothing like it and I am hungry for techy espionage stealth thrillers.
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1 hour ago, chakkman said:
You know why stuff like that is complete nonsense? Let's say there is a TV station which negotiates deal with different countries on broadcasting licenses for sport events. The EU says geoblocking is against their laws. Which means that the TV station doesn't have any valid base to negotiate different deals with different countries, meaning every third world country with third world wages and a third world economy has to pay the same as the richest country in the world.
See why that is just total BS? Apart from that, the EU can't pretend to rule everything. Engaging in non-EU country economics leads to obvious conflicts. And, imagine everyone here would buy cheap Chinese or Indian game keys. Then every single games publisher and developer studio has to close its doors. Great stuff.
You know, it just confirms my conviction anyway. The EU consist of left-liberal oddballs which have no idea about the bigger picture, and only act from the stupid consumers perspective. That will only lead to the decline of everything which is positive in a wealthy society. Add Corona to that, and the prospects are really, really dark. They will destroy everything if they go on acting stupid.
There are no third world contries inside the EU and EU-rules only apply to EU-members, i.e., when you sell a product in EU-contries, so your whole argument is moot. That being said, yes, not everything the EU does is fantastic, but there are tons of really good things that the EU made happen and the British government are utter dumbasses for their Brexit and many many Brits and other Europeans will now suffer the consequences.
But wow, the next topic derailed into a political discussion. Maybe we should start enforcing stricter on-topic rules.
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Using the fragment shader to render a fake sphere on flat surface.
https://bgolus.medium.com/rendering-a-sphere-on-a-quad-13c92025570c
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11 minutes ago, peter_spy said:
You don't have to look far to find examples, Thief reboot had animations for taking loot from all the cupboards and drawers, and it was boring as hell.
I would even go so far to say that it's actually annoying due to those frequent unwanted viewport animations.
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55 minutes ago, peter_spy said:
There are Steam-exclusive games?
I don't think I've bought any, not consciously at least. And I thought it's obvious that there's a difference between PC-only game being made like that for various legitimate reasons (budget, control scheme problems, etc.), and a game that can easily be multiplatform, but it's locked to one one console or storefront because reasons. Using shallow symmetry arguments like that is cheap trolling, you know 
Otherwise, I believe all console players, or other account owners should be able to play all the games being released, on a platform of their choice.
It was not meant as trolling. Just wanted to point out in a funny way that there are tons of games exclusively being published on Steam and the same goes for Battlenet. This used to be true for Uplay and origin as well, but both can now be accessed through Steam as well.
Admittedly, most exclusive Steam games are from indie devs that likely couldn't find a better publisher, but there are also AAA-titles, like Alyx or Left 4 Dead for instance. The only difference here is really that Epic pushed comparatively aggressively for exclusiveness in a time where people are used to buying almost everything from Steam. If Steam hadn't such a dominant standing in the PC-Gaming community, I bet nobody would really care about the couple of exclusive deals by Epic.
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1 hour ago, peter_spy said:
I don't hate Epic Launcher, but I do hate exclusivity, in general, hardware or software. I'll always be against artificially limiting access to cultural works. So I'm not buying any Epic Store exclusive out of principle. I can wait
And having an app to manage all other store accounts, so you remember what you've bought is a clear sign the system is broken, and probably a mess from a GDPR standpoint
I get that argument. So, consequently, you obviously are also not buying those tons of games released on PC only, exclusively via Steam, right?
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2 minutes ago, cabalistic said:
The new GOG Galaxy client is a god-send in that regard, as it can integrate with your other accounts and list your entire library. I've used it repeatedly to verify if I really don't own a particular game or just forgot under which account it is
Oh really???? That's amazing, thanks! Gonna have to check that out!!
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On 1/12/2021 at 4:33 AM, irg said:
I was really looking forward to Hitman 3 but was rather inattentive and only yesterday learned that it was out this month, and more importantly an Epic exclusive for a solid year on PC. it still looked largely like just more of Hitman 2 right down to the UI, so i guess that helps me to hold off til a discount next year. i can almost never find a reason to ever get a game first thing on launch for the full 79.99 CDN anyhow.
well, I say that, but I am also looking forward to the PC port of Ys IX Monstrum Nox some time this year which will likely use that exact price point. fingers crossed they brought on the individual(s?) that fixed up the PC version of Ys VIII for a much more solid launch of this one.
some smaller commercial titles on the edge of my thoughts would be Gloomwood and the next episode of Hedon.
I think ultimately though, the possibility of some further Thief/TDM releases are at my most anticipated yet again.
All that hatred towards epic launcher, I don't get it. You get good sales there too and they frequently give you a 10€ coupon as well. What's bad about giving Steam some competition and paying devs more money while doing so? Then, there is also the fact that they give away games for free.
Back when Steam was released, everybody was like "nooooo I don't want it, I don't want some company tracking all my games". Nowadays, nobody wants anything else than Steam. How times have changed...
The only downside I see is that I never know under which service I own a specific game I want to play, but that problem had existed long before Epic Launcher, with Battlenet, Origin, Uplay etc.
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14 hours ago, OrbWeaver said:
It may be that he is not referring so much to the capabilities of the engine, or even the resolution of the textures and models (which is not all that easy to notice if you are not specifically looking for it), but to the style of map creation. I have noticed that some missions tend to use design techniques which were common in the simpler Thief games but look less realistic compared to the level of detail in modern games, e.g.:
- Truncated slivers of bricks around and above a doorway rather than a realistic supporting beam or lintel, making it appear that the door or window is just cut into the surface rather than built around.
- Weird, inconsistent slivers of interlocking bricks on the front of steps, rather than a row of complete bricks or a single large stone.
- Bricks on two sides of a right-angle corner which do not line up with each other as real bricks would, making it look like a brick-pattern wallpaper applied to an underlying surface (which is essentially what a texture is).
- Unsupported large flagstone textures on ceilings (which would in reality fall straight to the ground).
- No skirting boards, trim, coving, ceiling beams or any other details which often appear where walls join horizontal surfaces.
- Lack of dirt and grime — everything looks totally clean, homogeneous and repetitive, right up to the edges of rooms.
That is not to say that all missions look like this, and some (including those I have played from Grayman) are notable for their realism, but I think it's easy to fall into the trap of rapidly slapping textures on brushes (or cutting brushes without regard to texture alignment) giving a result that players can instinctively recognised as "wrong" without being able to determine the exact reason why.
Yeah, and there is also that mostly rectangular level design, which just doesn't look very natural in a medieval context. We are not designing modern north american cities here afterall.
Obviously, those rectangular designs are due to the usage of brushwork instead of models and I actually don't mind it at all, but it does reduce realism.
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2 hours ago, woah said:
Quick question, because I'm having trouble finding more information on this: What is the difference between eye tracking and pupil detection? Is one just trying to determine direction, while the other is trying to determine the complex deformation of the eye?
A more descriptive term for pupil detection is probably pupil localization: You have a calibrated camera setup and try to locate the pupils in 3d space with that. This task can usually be performed fairly accurately.
Eye-tracking on the other hand usually refers to detecting what you are looking at, so you can control the mouse with your gaze for example. Pupil detection is actually one of the required steps in optical eye tracking. After the pupil center has been detected, the eye ball center also has to be estimated. Then, a ray is shot from the eye ball center through the pupil center and intersected with the display plane to get the display coordinates you look at. As you can imagine, estimation errors add up in these various steps, which makes eye-tracking a rather inaccurate technology, especially when free head movement and uncalibrated scenarious are involved.
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That nostalgia hits hard!!
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Bummer, not on youtube. Would've gladly checked it out...
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Kind of weird to ask for restaurant recommendations on an international forum...
So, I'd say Bissmark 92, it's a small premium burger restaurant in Herne, Germany, which only serves local bio beef. This way, you don't have that much of an invironmental bad conscience, when you eat that beefy burger! You should try it, it's only about 7000 km from where you live. Practically next door! ;-D
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I know there are a few VR fans here, so:
https://www.ign.com/videos/hitman-3-sandbox-vr-trailer?sf135661317=1
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2 hours ago, Anderson said:
Silent Hill remaster on PC would be welcome I think. Sadly PC is not popular in Asia for some reason (despite their homes being so tiny).
We had Silent Hill 4 recently on GOG. But that game is still jank, despite being a masterpiece and, possibly one of the last best Silent Hill games. I guess it's impossible to fix completely without the source code.
Here is to hoping for a Silent Hill 2 Remaster!!
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1 hour ago, Destined said:
I wish you all a happy new year!
Not sure how the rules were for you. Here in Lüneburg it was not much different than usual. Slighly less fireworks, since they were not sold, but apparently people had enough old stocks and lighting them was only forbidden in specific parts of town, so it was still enough.
I mean, regardless of the rules, you are still supposed to socially isolate, instead of throwing a big party, but I don't want to start another Corona-discussion
So, my woman and I have spent the evening in front of the TV and went to bed at half past 12, because our little one would awake at 7 am, regardless of whether we partied or not.
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Happy new year, everybody! It's been the most boring new year's eve ever!
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12 hours ago, Anderson said:
Isn't 50 degrees Celsius the optimal temperature for the long term? I mean, ideally? Are the graphics really worth it?
My graphics card doesn't even enable its fan until it's 50°C warm.
Because of that, when the GPU is idle, it cycles periodically between 40°C and 50°C. I would actually prefer if the fan kept rotating at low speed all the time, as the occasional spin-up can be a bit distracting when working. I wonder if I could somehow configure that behavior?
I've read reviews that my GPU was 60°C under heavy load. I could only reproduce that with opening the case and putting in on my table (rather than closed and inside my PC-cabinet). Considering the GPU enters thermal throttling at 83°C, I think my current 67°C is fine.
Edit: Apparently you can control fan speed via programs like MSI Afterburner. Now, if only I could find the terms and conditions of warranty for my graphics card, I would know what I am actually allowed to do with it.
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On 12/17/2020 at 6:31 PM, STiFU said:
Game's crashing on me every 5 minutes at the moment, including the occasional bluescreen. I am on a 3060 Ti, which might just be too new, I recon! It was released on december 3rd, so the drivers might not yet be the best.
As this only happened with CP at first, I thought it was just a software issue. Lately, these crashes and bluescreens also happend with another game, however, which I found really suspicious. Turns out, the new graphics card has a significantly higher heat output, which made the whole system overheat. Luckily, I was able to resolve this issue with two case fans and removing the door of my PC-cabinet. I just performed a two-hour test in CP on maxed settings (with DLSS) and it didn't crash with the GPU running at 67°C.
As a bonus, this also increased my performance quite a bit, as the GPU would previously go into thremal throttling at 83°C.
So basically, I would finally be ready to start playing CP now, hadn't I just started another game because CP wouldn't run.
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51 minutes ago, peter_spy said:
It feels a bit like skating, her running and walking feels more like gliding over surfaces. And when she runs into something, and you keep the directional key or pad pressed, she keeps running in place, so that does look silly
As for the internal monologue, it would be much better IMO, if the protagonist didn't have to say things in her head, and then say it out loud to a character in dialogue. Yes, that's how it works in real life, more or less, but it doesn't mean it's interesting for the viewer (at least to me it's rather bland or annoying).
I didn't get far yet, so I can't comment on the gameplay much (and I didn't in the previous post as well). It feels okay; again, kind of standard Remedy stuff, shooting guys with guns regardless of what paranormal force controls them (in Alan Wake it was black, here it's red and that's about it in terms of differences
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Maybe if I wasn't slightly familiar with the concept of the SCP Foundation, I'd want to come back to play it every evening, just to see where the story goes. Unfortunately, as a whole, it's just okay-ish to me. Great graphics and lighting; great sound design too, as you mentioned. But other aspects didn't grab me with anything in particular (yet?).
Ok, that sounds a lot less negative now. I can live with that!
Then again, you're always very critical, so I should be used to that!
As for the monologue, there is actually an explanation for that. It is a spoiler, 'though, so only continue reading once you heard of "Polaris" in the game:
SpoilerYou are actually not talking to yourself, but to Polaris, another super natural force that is somehow connected to all of this and seems to live inside your head.
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10 hours ago, JackFarmer said:
And how do you navigate?
Is it like Max Payne or Alan Wake?
Hopefully note. :(((
Peter, I think it was a good idea NOT to buy it....
You have approximate quest pointers where you need to go, but no ingame compass, which is good as it encourages you to actually pay attention to your surroundings. That being said, the single-layer map can be sometimes hard to read in those multi-layered areas, especially so because you cannot zoom in the map. Still, you'll find your way around somehow.
Anyway, my personal experience with the game and the game's 85% on metacritic say that it is in fact NOT a good idea NOT to buy it...
Most anticipated PC games?
in Off-Topic
Posted
Ah ok, sorry. I just based my assumption on that article you cited, which explicitly named Poland as one of the contries whose keys were geo-blocked. Didn't mean to be offensive or anything.