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

[JEMC]

Here come the Monday new:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

CD Projekt predicts record earnings for 2020, expecting $304M profit
https://www.pcgamer.com/cd-projekt-predicts-record-earnings-for-2020-expecting-dollar304m-profit/
CD Projekt is due to publish its annual consolidated earnings for financial year 2020 on April 22, but decided to give an early preview of how it performed on its investor-focused Twitter account. The answer: rather well, with estimated sales revenues of 2,139 million PLN ($563 million USD), and a projected net profit of 1,154 million PLN ($304 million USD).
That's substantially higher than previous years. For the sake of comparison, off the back of the release of The Witcher 3 in 2015, CD Projekt earned 798 million PLN ($210 million USD) in revenues with a profit of 342 million PLN ($90 million USD).

GOG starts the week with a new sale and three new releases:

• The new Weekly Sale is full of games about solving mysteries with up to 90% discounts: https://www.gog.com/promo/20210419_weekly_sale
• The Stellaris Sale with up to 75% discounts from last week will last another 3 days: https://www.gog.com/promo/20210415_stellaris
• And these are the new releases:
  • Tales of the Neon Sea launches on the store with a 75% discount until April 26: https://www.gog.com/game/tales_of_the_neon_sea
  • The "game" She Sees Red - Interactive Movie, arrives at the store with a 70% discount until April 26: https://www.gog.com/game/she_sees_red_interactive_movie
  • And Dark Nights with Poe and Munro comes with a 20% discount until May 3: https://www.gog.com/game/dark_nights_with_poe_and_munro

Steam has two new daily deals:

• TT Isle of Man Ride on the Edge 2 is 55% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1082180/TT_Isle_of_Man_Ride_on_the_Edge_2/
• And Book of Demons features an 80% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/449960/Book_of_Demons/

The guys at Humble start the week with several new sales:

• The new Humble Down to Earth Bundle features 8 games during the next 11 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/earth-day-bundle
• The first of the sales at the Store is the Raw Fury Publisher Sale, with up to 90% discounts during the next 3 days. All but one key are for Steam: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/raw-fury-publisher-sale/
• The Assetto Corsa Franchise Sale features up to 80% discounts during the next 4 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/assetto-corsa-franchise-sale/
• The Asmodee Digital Sale comes with up to 80% discounts during the next 4 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/asmodee-digital-sale/
• And The Undead Sale features up to 90% discounts during the next 4 days. Most keys are for Steam: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/the-undead-sale/

And Fanatical has three new deals:

• The new Star Deal is Windward, 80% off during the next 24 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/windward
• The Bandai Namco Sale features up to 85% discounts during the next 6 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/publishers/bandai-namco-entertainment
• And Frontier Development puts its game up to 81% off during the next 7 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/publishers/frontier-developments

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

Widely-publicized Steam Invite hack has been fixed
https://www.pcgamer.com/widely-publicized-steam-invite-hack-has-been-fixed/
Early last week a non-profit group dedicated to software reverse-engineering publicly announced that a dangerous exploit it had found in the Steam backend had gone unfixed for nearly two years, and worse, Valve was allegedly attempting to prevent them from publicly disclosing its existence. The exploit, involving Steam Invites, allegedly allowed a hacker to gain full control of a victim's system via a remote code execution.
(...)
The original finder of the exploit has confirmed the fix and says Valve has provided them with permission to disclose details. They are working on a detailed technical writeup for release in the future.

A recent Windows 10 update is trashing framerates and causing games to stutter
https://www.pcgamer.com/a-recent-windows-10-update-is-trashing-framerates-and-causing-games-to-stutter/
In what has become an all too familiar story, complaints have surfaced of a cumulative update for Windows 10 causing a myriad of problems, including gameplay issues.
"Microsoft forced the April update, but it has the same issues we had experienced with the previous optional update. Random stutter, unstable fps, V-Sync seems broken sometimes—if I screen share on Discord my fps in games becomes very unstable with V-Sync enabled," a user wrote on Reddit (via Computer Base).
(...)
The common denominator in the various complaints is the installation of a cumulative update, including KB5001330 for Windows 10 version 2004 (20H1) and KB5001337 for Windows 10 versions 1930 and 1909. Same goes for some users who installed a preview version of this month's Patch Tuesday rollout, KB5000842, which was made available in late March.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Killzone 3 is playable with mouse & keyboard on PC via RPCS3 & KAMI
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/killzone-3-is-playable-with-mouse-keyboard-on-pc-via-rpcs3/
While Sony does not plan to release Killzone 3 on the PC, Yahfz shared a video that gives us a glimpse at what such a PC version could look like. Yahfz used RPCS3 in order to run the game with 60fps, and used KAMI in order to inject support for mouse and keyboard.
The end result appears to be amazing. Now as you will see, the game still displays the PS3 icons. Still, and given the fact some of the recently released PC ports lack proper K&M icon prompts, this can give you an idea of what a rough PC port of Killzone 3 could look like.

Watch Dogs Legion ScriptHook Mod is now available for download
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/watch-dogs-legion-scripthook-mod-is-now-available-for-download/
NOMAD Group has released an officially Ubisoft-approved mod for Watch Dogs Legion, ScriptHook. This is one of the best mods for Watch Dogs Legion and will let you do numerous things to the game.
Via this mod, players can create unique scenes and unlock a free camera (which is ideal for flythroughs). Additionally, they can spawn any vehicle and object they want. Naturally, players can also change the game’s Time of Day and control the game’s dynamic weather system.
Players can also visit story locations, enable noclip so they can go anywhere they want, and teleport anywhere they want. Moreover, they can create custom license plates, control world traffic, and basically create their own experience.
>> You can download it from here.

Grand Theft Auto 4 gets a new car pack with vehicles from 1950-1993
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/grand-theft-auto-4-gets-a-new-car-pack-with-vehicles-from-1950-1993/
Modder ‘Jjent1’ has released a new cool car pack for Grand Theft Auto IV. As the modder noted, this pack brings to the game cars from the late 1950s to 1993.
Unfortunately, the modder has not shared the complete list of cars that are featured in this pack. Still, you can find below some screenshots that he shared.
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You can download the new/custom car pack for GTAIV from here. In order to install, it, you’ll have to place “vehicles.img” into pc > models > cdimages. Then, you’ll have to place all the other files into common > data.

Mass Effect Restored Light & Illumination Natively Mod available for download
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/mass-effect-restored-light-illumination-natively-mod-available-for-download/
Catachrism has released a must-have mod for the PC version of the first Mass Effect game. Mass Effect Restored Light & Illumination Natively (MERLIN) is a mod that aims to restore dynamic lights and post-processing effects from the X360 version.
In case you weren’t aware of, the PC version of Mass Effect lacked a number of effects that were present in the X360 version. Thus, this mod aims to restores as much of those effects as possible. Moreover, it corrects other things that were broken in the PC port (as well as some things that were broken in all releases of Mass Effect).
>> You'll find it at Nexus Mods.

Duke Nukem 3D: Alien Armageddon V4.0 is now available for download
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/duke-nukem-3d-alien-armageddon-v4-0-is-now-available-for-download/
DukeBoss and a team of modders have released an amazing mod for Duke Nukem 3D, Duke Nukem 3D: Alien Armageddon V4.0. This mod adds many new high-quality enemies, sexy NPCs, and a second playable character.
Version 4.0 adds a new game mode, called Attrition. In this mode, players will battle through a random sequence of some of the best community maps, gaining levels and upgrades as you progress. Attrition features randomized enemies and almost 200 maps to draw from.
Version 4.0 also overhauls some enemies with new art and abilities. Furthermore, it adds some new enemies.
>> Available from ModDB.

Halo 3 goes horror with a Call Of Duty-inspired zombies mod
https://www.pcgamer.com/halo-3-goes-horror-with-a-call-of-duty-inspired-zombies-mod/
Halo 3 might have preceded Halo's own horde mode, Firefight. But a new mod for The Master Chief Collection has given the trilogy-closer its own survival gametype—one inspired by the series' oldest rival.
Released over the weekend by modder Crisp, Halo 3: Zombies brings the slow, terrifying death march of Call Of Duty's Zombies mode into Halo's opening jungle map. Undead Nazis have been replaced with the parasitic Flood, but the format remains the same. Hold out against the horde, raising money with each kill to spend on new weapons, powerups, and new parts of the map. Mystery boxes let you gamble on spicier tools, while some rounds will see more powerful foes drop in from orbit.

GAMING NEWS

Here are 15 minutes of gameplay footage from NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/here-are-15-minutes-of-gameplay-footage-from-nier-replicant-ver-1-22474487139/
PlayStation Underground has released a new video, showcasing 15 minutes of gameplay footage from NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139. In addition, Cycu1 released an early graphics comparison video between this remaster and the original PS3 version.
>> And here's another trailer that highlights the extra content.

Petroglyph puts on hold Earthbreakers in order to focus on a new game
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/petroglyph-puts-on-hold-earthbreakers-in-order-to-focus-on-a-new-game/
Petroglyph has announced that it will put on hold its FPS/RTS hybrid, Earthbreakers. According to Petroglyph, it will now focus on an exciting brand new game. In order to finish it, though, it will also need the team that was working on Earthbreakers.

Days Gone – PC vs PS5 Early Graphics Comparison Video
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/days-gone-pc-vs-ps5-early-graphics-comparison-video/
A couple of days ago, Sony and Bend Studios released the first gameplay trailer for the PC version of Days Gone. Thus, Cycu1 released a video in which he compares the PC version with the PS5 version.

New Resident Evil Village gameplay video showcases its environments
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/new-resident-evil-village-gameplay-video-showcases-its-environments/
Game Informer has released a new gameplay video for Resident Evil Village that showcases some of its environments. This is a short video, however, we are certain that most Resident Evil fans will like it.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV Patch 1.2 adds new options, fixes crash
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/the-legend-of-heroes-trails-of-cold-steel-iv-patch-1-2-adds-new-options-fixes-crash/
Nihon Falcom has released a new patch for the PC version of The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV. According to the release notes, Patch 1.2 fixes a potential crash issue, fixes some minor translation issues, and adds two new features.

Genshin Impact Patch 1.5 releases on PC on April 28th
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/genshin-impact-patch-1-5-releases-on-pc-on-april-28th/
miHoYo has announced that Update 1.5 for Genshin Impact will release on April 28th. In order to celebrate this announcement, the team also released a new trailer that you can find below.

Call of Duty WW2 Vanguard rumored to be significantly held back by old-gen consoles
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/call-of-duty-ww2-vanguard-rumored-to-be-significantly-held-back-by-old-gen-consoles/
Earlier this month, we informed you about a new rumor regarding Battlefield 6. So, time for some rumors about its direct rival, the Call of Duty series. According to Tom Henderson, a well-known Battlefield and Call of Duty leaker, Call of Duty WW2 Vanguard will be heavily held back by old-gen consoles.

F1 2021 PC Requirements
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/f1-2021-pc-requirements/
Codemasters has revealed the official PC system requirements for F1 2021 via its Steam store page. F1 2021 will be using the DX12 API and will support Ray Tracing effects on PC.