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

[JEMC]

The Thursday news, all in one post:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

'We win… and it's your fault!'—Dwarf Fortress hits almost half a million sold in under a month
https://www.pcgamer.com/we-win-and-its-your-faultdwarf-fortress-hits-almost-half-a-million-sold-in-under-a-month/
The storming success of Dwarf Fortress continues apace. DF programmer and co-designer, Tarn Adams, announced this week that the game's "premium" Steam version sold almost half a million copies last month after its December 6 release. It seems like people are queueing around the block to spend money on a game that's been freely available for 16 years, and rightly so: Dwarf Fortress is an incredible and incredibly unique game.
The news means that DF has torn its pre-release sales estimates to shreds. Before the game's Steam version came out, an economist enlisted by its publisher—Kitfox—tentatively predicted that it would sell around 160,000 copies over the course of its first two months on Steam. It hit that within 24 hours of release. It's now reached more or less triple that number of sales in less than a month.
"Dwarf Fortress is a wild success it seems," says Adams, "but it is all an illusion without you." Adams, writing under the "Toady One" nickname he's used since before DF's first public release, continues, "none of this was possible without the support of the people that helped us out [...] along these amazing 20 years, by far the best in my life [...] We win... and it’s your fault!"

Powered by K-pop, an Among Us-like has smashed Among Us' concurrent players record
https://www.pcgamer.com/powered-by-k-pop-an-among-us-like-has-smashed-among-us-concurrent-players-record/
Never underestimate the dread power of K-pop. A month and a bit after online social deception game Goose Goose Duck burst onto Steam's most-played charts on the back of a stream from BTS member Kim Tae-hyung, the game has already smashed through the concurrent players' record of its inspiration, Among Us. Goose Goose Duck reached a peak concurrent player count of 563,677 earlier today, beating Among Us' all-time high by over a hundred thousand players.

The Epic Store gives away two titles:

• Kerbal Space Program: https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/kerbal-space-program
• Shadow Tactics - Aiko's Choice: https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/shadow-tactics-aikos-choice

Next week, they'll be giving away First Class Trouble.

I was wondering what would Steam have for us now that the Winter Sale is about to end, and it turns out that there are some weeklong deals going on! They aren't many so you can check them out by yourselves.

And Fanatical has two new deals:

• The Star Deal is Medieval Dynasty, 39% off during 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/medieval-dynasty
• And they've launched the Platinum Collection BYOB for January, with 21 titles to choose from to make your 3, 5 or 7 games bundle: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/platinum-collection-build-your-own-bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

NVIDIA GeForce Game Ready 528.02 WHQL
https://videocardz.com/driver/nvidia-geforce-game-ready-528-02-whql
Highlights

• This new Game Ready Driver provides the best day-0 gaming experience for the latest new games supporting NVIDIA DLSS 3 technology including Conqueror’s Blade and Dakar Desert Rally.
• Introduces support for the GeForce RTX 4070 Ti

Fixed Issues

• Portal RTX hang during resolution/mode change and GFE recording [3894168]
• [DirectX 12] Shadowplay recordings may appear over exposed when Use HDR is enabled from the Windows display settings. [200742937]
• AVS4You monochrome video preview [3890225]
• Players report black/grey screens in Outer Wilds with 522.25 driver [3841593]
• Lumion Pro 12.3 – Heavy corruption observed on app window [3784371]
• Fixed brightness issue on some Notebooks [3765244]

PSA: Steam has a hidden feature that lets you move your game installs around
https://www.pcgamer.com/psa-steam-has-a-hidden-feature-that-lets-you-move-your-game-installs-around/
Steam has a hidden feature tucked away in its settings that lets you manage all of the games you have installed. If you want to see where that massive chunk of Call of Duty data has made a home for itself, you don't have to dig around in your PC's folders. The Steam storage manager brings up a list of all the games on your PC and lets you do the work in one window.
For some reason, the Steam storage manager isn't located in an intuitive spot. To open it up, you have to go into your Steam settings. Pop open the settings from the Steam client by clicking "Steam" in the top left of the window and then hit "Settings". Now select "Downloads" and then click the confusingly titled "Steam Library Folders" to open the storage manager up.
The storage manager is split into tabs for each storage drive on your PC with a designated Steam folder on it. If you want to add another drive to the list, you can hit the plus button on the right. I don't personally keep a ton of games hanging around on my PC if I'm not actively playing them, but for all the people who hoard them just in case, you can see everything here without having to sift through your drives.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

15 minutes of gameplay from the Dark Souls 3 prequel mod, Dark Souls: Archthrones
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/15-minutes-of-gameplay-from-the-dark-souls-3-prequel-mod-dark-souls-archthrones/
The modding team behind the prequel mod for Dark Souls 3, Dark Souls: Archthrones, has released a brand new gameplay video for it. This video showcases 15 minutes of gameplay footage, so be sure to watch it after the jump.
In Dark Souls Archthrones, players will be able to access its five worlds via the Nexus of Embers. Players will encounter numerous bosses, and they will also be able to find some allies. Additionally, the mod will have a reimagined version of Lothric and other Dark Souls locales.
It’s also worth noting that Dark Souls Archthrones will have elements from Demon’s Souls. As such, players can expect a world layout, soul form, world tendency, and more. Its dev team also plans to add many new enemies, NPC questlines and many secrets to find.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Rebuild Texture Pack V1.0 is available for download
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/s-t-a-l-k-e-r-rebuild-texture-pack-v1-0-is-available-for-download/
Modder ‘Andrey0007’ has released an HD Texture Pack for the first STALKER game, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl. As the modder noted, this pack features brand new textures (and not overhauled textures via AI techniques).
Going into more details, the new textures were created exclusively for the OGSR Engine, as it works well with unloading a large amount of memory. Moreover, this pack only covers the textures of the first game, Shadow of the Chernobyl.
In total, this pack overhauls over 4100 textures. However, there are still some vanilla/untouched textures. The modder claims that he will include more of them in an upcoming version.
>> The article has some screenshots and a 9 minutes long video.

Who needs Fallout 5 when you can play first-person Fallout 2 for free?
https://www.pcgamer.com/who-needs-fallout-5-when-you-can-play-first-person-fallout-2-for-free/
I need to make a confession: I'm not a Fallout 2 guy. For as much as I love Fallout 1 and New Vegas, the second game's pop-culture reference-filled and prurient style always grated on me. But maybe my relationship with Fallout 2 isn't doomed. Perhaps all I need is a new perspective. Literally.
The Fallout 2 Remake 3D (via PCGamesN) from Polish developer Jonasz Osmenda offers exactly that. Transplanting Black Isle's opus into distressingly immediate first-person, the mod uses the original game's assets to recreate environments like Klamath, Arroyo, and the Temple of Trials in exacting detail. Of course, those are assets made for an isometric game in the late '90s, so basically everything becomes an unparseable mess of pixels when you get close to it, but it's nice to see familiar, post-nuclear faces like 'woman in jacket' and 'hunched bald man' again.

Fallout: London mod shows off working trains, mailbox murderbots
https://www.pcgamer.com/fallout-london-mod-shows-off-working-trains-mailbox-murderbots/
Of all the ambitious Fallout 4 mods in the works, I think I'm most excited for Fallout: London, which will finally give us a look at how the UK handles the post-apocalypse. And the Fallout: London mod team isn't just hard at work crafting an entirely new map, characters, and quests—they also regularly take time to give fans progress updates, like the one above that kicks off the new year.

GAMING NEWS

The source codes for Blood 1996 and Dungeon Siege have been leaked online
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/the-source-codes-for-blood-1996-and-dungeon-siege-have-been-leaked-online/
And the leaks keep on coming. In May 2022, the 2001 build of Duke Nukem Forever got leaked online. Then, earlier this month, we got a leaked version of PREY 1995. Afterward, the source code for the arcade version of Mortal Kombat 2 found its way to the Internet. And this week, the source codes for the classic PC games, Dungeon Siege and Blood 1996, have been leaked online.

Unreal Engine 5-powered semi-open world game, Dragon Sword, gets first gameplay trailer
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/unreal-engine-5-powered-semi-open-world-game-dragon-sword-gets-first-gameplay-trailer/
Hound13 has released the first gameplay trailer for its upcoming semi-open world game, Dragon Sword. Dragon Sword will be powered by Unreal Engine 5, and has an art style similar to that of Genshin Impact.
>> I don't know why they mention Genhin to describe its style when there are dozens of games with the same anime style.

Atomic Heart, Witchfire & Tower of Fantasy will support NVIDIA DLSS 3, get new gameplay videos
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/atomic-heart-witchfire-tower-of-fantasy-will-support-nvidia-dlss-3-get-new-gameplay-trailers/
Yesterday, NVIDIA revealed that Atomic Heart, Witchfire and Tower of Fantasy will support NVIDIA DLSS 3. Moreover, the green team has shared some new gameplay videos that showcase DLSS 3 in these three games.

Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney Easter eggs discovered in FIFA 23
https://www.pcgamer.com/ryan-reynolds-and-rob-mcelhenney-easter-eggs-discovered-in-fifa-23/
FIFA 23 players have discovered an unusual Easter egg hidden in the game: Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, who provided their voices for a bit of gentle trash-talking.

Just a reminder that tomorrow is the Three Wise Men festivity, and there will be no news.