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

[JEMC]

Here come the Monday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition hits highest Steam concurrent players for a BioWare game
https://www.pcgamer.com/mass-effect-legendary-edition-hits-highest-steam-concurrent-players-for-a-bioware-game/
Mass Effect: Legendary Edition launched on Friday, and the Steam numbers suggest it's had a pretty successful launch weekend.
The remastered trilogy is the number one trending game on SteamDB right now, reaching a peak concurrent player count of 59,817 on Sunday. As noted by industry analyst @BenjiSales on Twitter, it marks the highest concurrent players on Steam for any BioWare game. It's also the second-highest concurrent player count for any EA game on Steam, only beaten by Apex Legends.

GOG's new Weekly Sale is full of "exciting" Indie games up to 90% off: https://www.gog.com/promo/20210517_weekly_sale

Steam has two new deals:

• The daily deal is Remnants, still in Early Access, 20% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/574180/Remnants/
• And Sky Haven, also in Early Access, will be 20% off until May 23: https://store.steampowered.com/app/674090/Sky_Haven/

The new Humble Deckbuild & Battle Bundle features up to 7 games to get during the next 11 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/deckbuild-battle

Fanatical's new Star Deal is F1 2019 - Legends Edition, 96% off during the next 24 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/f-1-2019-legends-edition
Keep in mind, tho, that it actually started yesterday and that they've almost run out of keys, so a new Star Deal will go live very soon.

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

-Empty-

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Black & White 2 gets a 4K HD Texture Pack
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/black-white-2-gets-a-4k-hd-texture-pack/
Modder ‘merendas235’ released a 4K HD Texture Pack for Black & White 2. As its name suggests, this pack will overhaul all of the game’s textures in order to improve its visuals.
From what I can see, merendas235 has used AI techniques in order to improve the quality of the vanilla textures. Thus, the new textures have the same art style as the vanilla ones.
The modder has provided a comparison video. This video will give you an idea of the improvements this pack brings to the table. Thus, I strongly suggest watching it before downloading the pack (as it’s around 6GB in size).
>> Available from Nexus Mods.

This Resident Evil Village third-person mod turns Ethan into a headless monster
https://www.pcgamer.com/this-resident-evil-village-third-person-mod-turns-ethan-into-a-headless-monster/
Resident Evil Village might continue Resi 7's pivot into first-person horror, but one modder is attempting to bring the latest entry back to the series' third-person roots. Just don't lose your head over it quite yet, okay?
Spotted by Eurogamer and currently in development on the developer's Patreon, FluffyQuack's mod is described as "very experimental" for good reason. The biggest, I reckon, is that our man Ethan Winters is missing his head. A heavily-armed decapitated man in a parka might be a good shout for a new Resi monster, but it's an odd look for our cowering protagonist.
The mod also breaks a few interactions with in-game objects, and Ethan's gun isn't quite aiming where it's supposed to. The camera will also snap back into first-person on occasion. But it's certainly impressive in how it mostly works, and an earlier video shows Quack strolling around House Beneviento in third-person as one of Lady D's daughters.

A modder has turned Serious Sam 4 into Mario Kart
https://www.pcgamer.com/a-modder-has-turned-serious-sam-4-into-mario-kart/
A modder has taken Serious Sam 4, a game about anything other than a fun karting experience, and turned it into just that.
Pan's 7Smoke Racing mod takes the FPS and essentially turns it into a PC Mario Kart. Tracks like Cheep Cheep Beach, Dry Dry Desert, Thwomp Ruins, and Neo Bowser City have all been recreated for the mod, and look surprisingly similar to their Nintendo counterparts. The mod comes with 20 tracks in total, split into five different cups. There's also a gold rush battle mode with nine arenas, no doubt a nod to Mario Kart's coin rush mode.
>> You can find it at Steam.

Heroes of Might and Magic 2 fans are building it a better engine
https://www.pcgamer.com/heroes-of-might-and-magic-2-fans-are-building-it-a-better-engine/
Heroes of Might and Magic 2 is one of the best fantasy turn-based strategy games of all time, overshadowed only by its successor, whose active modding scene has produced excellent HD mods and unofficial expansion packs. But Heroes 2 has hardly been abandoned: The ongoing Fheroes2 project, which was begun over a year ago, is on course to deliver the definitive Heroes 2 experience.
Fheroes2 is a multiplatform, open source recreation of the Might and Magic 2 game engine with a dream list of features, including improved AI, larger resolution support (and window resizing), faster unit splitting, hundreds of bug fixes, and the most coveted of all features: an instant battle option to skip easy fights, and a restart button to replay the battle manually if you're dissatisfied with the results. The videos also show off the highly polished animations, making me slow down and watch the tiny horseys gallop across the map.

There's an FOV fix for Mass Effect Legendary Edition already
https://www.pcgamer.com/mass-effect-legendary-edition-fov-fix-mod/
Though it's up to a rating of Very Positive now, Mass Effect Legendary Edition launched to mixed user reviews on Steam. Among the complaints were the absence of a field-of-view slider, leaving it with a tight FOV of 70. Modders have already come to the rescue, however, with JadeBarker uploading Better Camera (Higher FOV) to NexusMods on the day its Mass Effect Legendary Edition section opened.
Anyone who modded the original games will be familiar with Coalesced.bin, the file in your BioGameCookedPCConsole directory you'll need to replace to get most mods working. Just be sure to back it up first. Once you've swapped it for the version in the mod you'll be able to press F10 in-game to push your FOV up to wherever you find it most comfortable. Note that one problem with altering the FOV is that the second level of zoom on the Mako's cannon (accessed by pushing ctrl) won't work. Guess you can't have everything.

New Skyrim HD Texture Packs overhaul all armors, actors & clutter
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/new-skyrim-hd-texture-packs-overhaul-all-armors-actors-clutter/
Modder ‘kartoffel’ released three HD Texture Packs for Skyrim Special Edition that overhaul all armors, actors and clutter. These packs come in two versions, with the highest versions of these three packs weighing around 14GB.
Do note that these packs are for the Special Edition of Skyrim, and not for the Original.
>> Check the article for its descriptions and links, all from Nexus Mods.

GAMING NEWS

Here are 3 minutes of unedited PC gameplay footage from Biomutant
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/here-are-3-minutes-of-unedited-pc-gameplay-footage-from-biomutant/
THQ Nordic has released a new video, showcasing three minutes of unedited gameplay footage from the PC version of Biomutant. This video will give you a glimpse at what you can expect from the PC version of this upcoming title.
>> Why do they (almost) always show gameplay from someone that sucks at the game?

Fallout 76 Steel Reign Update is now available on PTS
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/fallout-76-steel-reign-update-is-now-available-on-pts/
Bethesda has released the Steel Reign Update for Fallout 76 on its PTS (Public Test Server). This update brings all-new quests to Fallout 76 with the Steel Reign questline, which picks up right where you left off with the Brotherhood of Steel at the end of Steel Dawn.

New Starfield screenshots leaked online, to be exclusive on PC and Xbox consoles
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/new-starfield-screenshots-leaked-online-to-be-exclusive-on-pc-and-xbox-consoles/
In September 2020, we shared the first leaked screenshots for Starfield. And, from the looks of it, some new screenshots were leaked earlier today. These screenshots are from the game’s 2018 build, meaning that they are a bit old and do not represent the quality of the game.

First gameplay footage for The Division Heartland leaked online
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/first-gameplay-footage-for-the-division-heartland-leaked-online/
A few days ago, we informed you about a new free-to-play Tom Clancy’s The Division game, Tom Clancy’s The Division Heartland. And from the looks of it, its first gameplay footage has been leaked online.

Guilty Gear -Strive- gets a story trailer
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/guilty-gear-strive-gets-a-story-trailer/
Arc System Works has released a Story Trailer for Guilty Gear -Strive-, casting a spotlight on the game’s Story Mode. This trailer comes with lots of exciting new scenes including battles between Giovanna and Nagoriyuki, Sol working with the newly red-haired Jack-O’ and startling revelations from “That Man,” Asuka R. Kreutz.

Here are 20 minutes of gameplay footage from The Wild at Heart
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/here-are-20-minutes-of-gameplay-footage-from-the-wild-at-heart/
GameInformer has shared a video, showcasing the first 20 minutes of gameplay footage from The Wild at Heart. The Wild at Heart is a 2D game that appears to be inspired by the Pikmin games, and releases on PC on May 20th.