Carzy Zarx’s PC Gaming Emporium - Catch Up on All the Latest PC Gaming Related News

[JEMC]

It's Monday and you know what that means: The news!

Btw, I'm not happy with the layout of these posts, there's too much blank space, so I'm trying something. Any feedback will be welcomed.

SALES & "SALES"/DEALS

Steam's Top 10

1. Assassin's Creed Odyssey
2. MONSTER HUNTER: WORLD
3. PLAYERUNKNOWN'S BATTLEGROUNDS
4. Assassin's Creed Odyssey
5. Grand Theft Auto V
6. 中国式家长 / Chinese Parents
7. 太吾绘卷 The Scroll Of Taiwu
8. Assassin's Creed Odyssey
9. Frostpunk
10. XCOM 2: War of the Chosen & Tactical Legacy Pack

Call of Duty: Black Ops 4's PC launch day sales are more than double from last year
https://www.pcgamer.com/call-of-duty-black-ops-4s-pc-launch-day-sales-are-more-than-double-last-year/
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4's launch day digital sales on PC have more than doubled over last year's Call of Duty: World War 2. Publisher Activision describes the sales as a "new franchise high".
This is the first Call of Duty game to be released on Battle.net rather than Steam, which had previously been the series' home for a long time. You'll probably recall that this is the first Call of Duty not to launch with a five-to-seven-hour campaign mostly composed of shooting lads in corridors, too, instead packing a battle royale-esque Blackout mode that was the subject of a high-profile beta on PC.
Maybe that element is more of a draw to PC players this time around.
>>We'll have to see the long term sales, but it doesn't bode well for those hoping to see the series go back to Steam and with a proper campaign.

GOG's new weekly sale is live. Named "Defies classification" it offers up to 85% discounts: https://www.gog.com/promo/20181015_weekly_sale

Meanwhile, the Steam's daily deal is Age of Wonders III, 75% off (and the DLCs, 50%): https://store.steampowered.com/app/226840/Age_of_Wonders_III/

And at Fanatical, there are two deals to mention:

• The Star Deal is The Jackbox Party Pack 3, 80% off for the next 24 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/the-jackbox-party-pack-3
• There's a new bundle, the Part Hard Bundle, with two games for $1 for the next 10 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/party-hard-bundle

 

SOFTWARE

The origin of Ctrl-Alt-Del, according to its creator
https://www.pcgamer.com/the-origin-of-ctrl-alt-del-according-to-its-creator/
Have you ever wondered why we've always pressed Ctrl-Alt-Del to restart Windows PCs? (Or how about now that I've mentioned it?) For those with inquisitive minds, a new video from Great Big Story dives into the deep, dark secrets of Ctrl-Alt-Del's origins.

Steam Link now allows streaming to multiple devices for local multiplayer
https://www.pcgamer.com/steam-link-now-allows-streaming-to-multiple-devices-for-local-multiplayer/
This week a new Steam client update rolled out, and then was updated and rolled out again with a workaround for a crash related to AMD drivers in Windows. Among the many notes are a couple of interesting things involving the Steam Link:

1. You can play local co-op by streaming to multiple devices simultaneously (high quality 5 GHz WiFi network required)
2. You can use your Android phone as a touch controller for games by tapping to disable audio and video in the Steam Link app

>>Here are the full update notes, because I'm sure you didn't read them.

 

MODS/EMULATORS

Heavy Rain, MotorStorm: Pacific Rift and Spiderman 3 running on the PC via the PS3 emulator, RPCS3
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/heavy-rain-motorstorm-pacific-rift-and-spiderman-3-running-on-the-pc-via-the-ps3-emulator-rpcs3/
YouTube’s ‘reznoire’ and ‘Emulators for PC’ have shared some new videos from the latest version of the Playstation 3 emulator, RPCS3, showing Heavy Rain, MotorStorm: Pacific Rift and Spiderman 3 running in it.
From these three games, the only one that can be somehow described as playable is Spiderman 3. MotorStorm: Pacific Rift has many graphical glitches and its performance is not that great, and the very same can be said about Heavy Rain.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey/Origins high CPU load isn’t caused by Denuvo but by insane driver overhead
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/assassins-creed-odyssey-origins-high-cpu-usage-isnt-caused-by-denuvo-but-by-insane-driver-overhead/
Modder ‘Kaldaien’, best known for his incredible mods for NieR: Automata, Monster Hunter World, Final Fantasy XV and more, is currently working on a SpecialK mod for Assassin’s Creed Odyssey. The first version of this mod is currently available for download and according to the modder, the high CPU load that PC gamers witness in both Origins and Odyssey is not caused by the Denuvo anti-tamper tech.
As Kaldaien explained, the high CPU load is due to insane driver overhead caused by naive resource management. It appears that the game has a much too conservative resource ceiling for textures, meaning that the engine loads, then unloads and later reloads the same assets hundreds of thousands of times over the course of an hour.
As said, Kaldaien has released the first version of his SpecialK mod for Assassin’s Creed Odyssey that features Alternate Task Scheduling (causes task threads to sleep more often), Re-Balance Interval (works around a Windows scheduler bug for Ryzen CPUs that tries to run 75% of the game’s thread on a single CPU core) and Multimedia Class Scheduling (intelligently raises and lowers the priority of resource management threads as they begin to impact the availability of the CPU for non-resource loading tasks).
>>Get the mod from Steam.

This mod turns Skyrim into a tropical rainforest
https://www.pcgamer.com/this-mod-turns-skyrim-into-a-tropical-rainforest/
There are countless mods that make Skyrim even colder and harsher than it already is, but Project Rainforest, a Skyrim Legendary Edition mod, does the opposite. Snowy tundras turn to tropical grasslands, frozen lakes to warm swamps, and icicles to lily pads.
It changes the whole of Skyrim, Fort Dawnguard, Falmer Valley, and parts of Solstheim from the Dragonborn DLC. You'll need all of the game's DLCs installed to run it. Cave interiors are now green and temperate, and creator sa547 has gone to a lot of effort to tweak weather effects, swapping snow for rain storms, and adding tropical climates in certain areas.
Creator sa647 says that a version of the mod that works with Skyrim Special Edition will be coming "soon".
>>Get the mod from Nexus Mods.

Skyrim super-realistic rainfall mod brings beautifully awful weather to Tamriel
https://www.pcgamer.com/skyrim-super-realistic-rainfall-mod-brings-beautifully-awful-weather-to-tamriel/
As reported by Sam Horti over the weekend, this mod turns Skyrim into a tropical rainforest. PlayerTw0's wonderful Real Rain SE, on the other hand, turns the climate controls in the opposite direction—giving us realistic rainfall like never before.
With the simple goal of making rain "as real as possible", Real Rain overhauls the game's rain textures to become more random and natural looking, "while making the rain denser without any FPS lag or bloated save files."

Bowsette sets Breath of the Wild alight in this work-in-progress emulated mod
https://www.pcgamer.com/bowsette-sets-breath-of-the-wild-alight-in-this-work-in-progress-emulated-mod/
Breath of the Wild's PC mod scene is bizarre and amazing, wrote Lauren Morton last year, and it's still throwing curveballs today. Bowsette—the Bowser-Princess Peach crossover that first stormed the interwebs last month—is the latest star to enter Hyrule via emulation.
As reported by GoNintendo (via Kotaku) Bowsette comes with a combustible dress, horns and a flaming sword, and is seen kicking ass up and down Hyrule in the following in-development footage.
>>The mod isn't available yet.

 

GAMING NEWS

Here are 37 minutes of brand new gameplay footage from Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/here-are-37-minutes-of-brand-new-gameplay-footage-from-thronebreaker-the-witcher-tales/
CD Projekt RED has released a new video, featuring 37 minutes of brand new gameplay footage from Thronebreaker: The Witcher Tales. According to the press release, this walkthrough focuses on the game’s first act and is rich in both story and exploration gameplay, as well as turn-based card battle combat.

Hitman 2 will feature a multiplayer mode called Ghost Mode
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/hitman-2-will-feature-a-multiplayer-mode-called-ghost-mode/
Warner Bros and IO Interactive today announced the addition of competitive multiplayer for HITMAN 2. As the press release reads, Ghost Mode is a unique and brand-new take on 1-versus-1 online competition, putting players’ assassination skills to the ultimate test.

New Dragon Quest XI patch adds 90fps/120fps/144fps framerate options, brings keyboard improvements
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/new-dragon-quest-xi-patch-adds-90fps-120fps-144fps-framerate-options-brings-keyboard-improvements/
Square Enix has released a brand new patch for DRAGON QUEST XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age. This patch adds more framerate options (90fps, 120fps and 144fps) as well as the option to leave the frame rate unlocked. Moreover, it adds three (Low, Medium, High) pre-set graphic settings to choose from.

CRYENGINE-powered War of Rights showcases cool dynamic weather effects
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/cryengine-powered-war-of-rights-showcases-cool-dynamic-weather-effects/
Campfire Games has released a new trailer for War of Rights, showcasing its newly implemented dynamic weather effects. War of Rights is a multiplayer game set around the tumultuous period of the American Civil War, during the Maryland Campaign of September 1862, that is powered by CRYENGINE.

Project Warlock is an old-school first-person shooter that is coming out on October 18th
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/project-warlock-is-an-old-school-first-person-shooter-that-is-coming-out-on-october-18th/
Buckshot Software has announced that its old-school first-person shooter, Project Warlock, will be coming out on GOG on October 18th. Project Warlock is tribute/homage to Doom, Hexen, Duke Nukem 3D and Wolfenstein in which players battle through 60 levels of non stop action packed with bloodthirsty enemies and challenging bosses.
>>So far, this game is GOG exclusive, just so you know.

Resonance of Fate 4K / HD Edition will get an official optional 4K HD Texture Pack on the PC
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/resonance-of-fate-4k-hd-edition-will-get-an-official-optional-4k-hd-texture-pack-on-the-pc/
tri-Ace has announced that an official 4K HD Texture Pack will be available for the upcoming PC version of Resonance of Fate 4K / HD Edition. This optional HD Texture Pack, will significantly increase the game’s overall size from 16GB to 83GB.
>>Wow. The original textures must be rubish.

New screenshots released for Escape from Tarkov, showcasing the TerraGroup Labs
https://www.dsogaming.com/screenshot-news/new-screenshots-released-for-escape-from-tarkov-showcasing-the-terragroup-labs/
Battlestate Games has released a new set of screenshots, showcasing the TerraGroup Labs that will be coming soon to Escape from Tarkov. Escape from Tarkov is a hardcore realistic story-driven online multiplayer game that combines features of FPS/TPS, combat simulation and RPG with MMO elements.

Paradox Interactive’s new game engine will be friendlier to mods, will take advantage of DirectX 11 features
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/paradox-interactives-new-game-engine-will-be-friendlier-to-mods-will-take-advantage-of-directx-11-features/
In an interview with Venturebeat, Paradox Interactive’s John Wordsworth revealed that Imperator: Rome and all future Paradox games will be powered by a new game engine. This engine, called Clausewitz-Jomini engine, is basically two engines built together.

Monster Energy Supercross – The Official Videogame 2 releases on February 8th, first screenshots and details
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/monster-energy-supercross-the-official-videogame-2-releases-on-february-8th-first-screenshots-and-details/
Milestone and Feld Entertainment have announced Monster Energy Supercross – The Official Videogame 2. In this new release, globally available on February 8th, players will step into the boots of an official Supercross Champion and experience the exciting life of a professional athlete in the most competitive and highest profile off-road motorcycle racing championship in the world.