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JEMC on 13 February 2023
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Here are the Monday news! And take it easy, because there's a lot of them.

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Steam's Top 10

Why four of Steam's top five sellers are Hogwarts Legacy
https://www.pcgamer.com/why-four-of-steams-top-five-sellers-are-hogwarts-legacy/
Steam has released its sales charts for the week just gone, broken down here by SteamDb, and Hogwarts Legacy has sold extremely well. It was clear from the game's early access period that there was a big appetite for some open-world wizardry, with the game even breaking Twitch records for viewership in the runup to release, but even so it's striking to see that Hogwarts Legacy occupies four of the top five slots in Steam's best sellers for the week.
The reason why is that Steam treats each SKU, which is to say version of the game, as a distinct product. Thus the top seller is Hogwarts Legacy: Digital Deluxe Edition, which puts the previous week's best-seller, plain old Hogwarts Legacy, down to second position. But then both products seem to appear again in the third and fourth spots. This is because, for whatever reason, Steam categorises the pre-order sales and the release sales as distinct products. So the top two sellers are people buying the game before release, and the next two are those who bought it once it was out.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive smashes all-time player record 11 years after release like the boss it is
https://www.pcgamer.com/counter-strike-global-offensive-smashes-all-time-player-record-11-years-after-release-like-the-boss-it-is/
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive launched on 21 August, 2012, and on 11 February 2023 it has just surpassed its all-time record of concurrent players: At the time of writing, 1,320,219 players are in-game, while the previous record was 1,308,963 players around three years ago.

'Trans Witches Are Witches' game bundles raise over $79,000 in protest of Hogwarts Legacy
https://www.pcgamer.com/trans-witches-are-witches-game-bundles-raise-over-dollar79000-in-protest-of-hogwarts-legacy/
While gamers are fighting over whether or not it's OK to play Hogwarts Legacy, a group of LGBTQ+ indie designers have pooled their efforts and put together a bundle of 69 games (nice) that you can buy to, as the tagline puts it, "Reject Hogwarts Legacy's bigotry and support indie devs".
The Trans Witches Are Witches bundle, which costs $60, has raised more than $70,000 at the time of writing, while a smaller, sister bundle, the Apprentice Edition, goes for $10 and has raised more then $9,900.
>> You'll find these bundles at itch.io

GOG has a very strong start of the week:

Steam has two new deals:

There are three new deals at Humble:

And Fanatical brings a new Star Deal and a new BundleFest:

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

-Empty-

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Cyberpunk 2077 gets new 4K Texture Packs for clothing, stickers & vending machines
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/cyberpunk-2077-gets-new-4k-texture-packs-for-clothing-stickers-vending-machines/
Modder ‘XilaMonstrr’ has released three new 4K Texture Packs for CD Projekt RED’s latest game, Cyberpunk 2077. These new packs aim to improve the game’s clothing for NPCs and characters, as well as those for stickers and vending machines.
As usual, the modder used AI techniques in order to enhance and upscale the vanilla textures. Therefore, these improved textures retain the art style and aesthetics of the original textures.
>> There are also 2K versions of those mods, and the article has a bunch of pics and a gif.

This Skyrim Special Edition Mod adds over 7000 voiced lines via AI
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/this-skyrim-special-edition-mod-adds-over-7000-voiced-lines-via-ai/
Mathiew May has released a must-have mod for all Skyrim fans out there. As the title suggests, this mod adds over 7000 voiced lines to Skyrim Special Edition, making your character voice over the dialogue lines.
Now what’s really cool here is that Mathiew May used an AI in order to pre-generate all of these voiced lines. Currently, the mod features a female voice. Furthermore, the modder claims that the mod is highly versatile and that adding more voice lines will be very easy.
In future versions, the modder will improve the response time from an NPC after a line is spoken. Furthermore, they will add more voice lines, and allow other content creators to make their own voice packs.
>> Since screenshots wouldn't work here, there's a 3.5 minutes long video of the mod in action.

This mod that lets you fight your Morrowind character in Oblivion is one of the coolest I've seen in ages
https://www.pcgamer.com/this-mod-that-lets-you-fight-your-morrowind-character-in-oblivion-is-one-of-the-coolest-ive-seen-in-ages/
Lord knows there are a lot of Elder Scrolls modders out there, but I think Nickies might be my favourite. The modder, who once gifted us the creation that lets you order a real-life Domino's pizza from inside The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion, put a new mod out last month, and it's as creative as ever. Cross-Game Invader Add-On for Oblivion and Morrowind lets you transfer your Morrowind character to Oblivion and vice versa, giving you an opportunity to finally confront your true enemy, yourself, in one-on-one combat.
You don't have to fight, of course. If you prefer, you can use your character from one game as a follower in the other, or even just play as your character from one game in the mean streets of the other. To make the transition more seamless, the mod also lets you import spells and enchantments that are specific to their respective game.
Given that Oblivion pared down Morrowind's broken and beautiful magic-creation system (though not as much as Skyrim did), that sounds like a great opportunity to smuggle some profoundly overpowered magic into the game.
>> There's an almost 3 minutes long video.

Finally, after 21 years, Morrowind meets my exacting standards of realism and immersion with this mod that adds footprints
https://www.pcgamer.com/finally-after-21-years-morrowind-meets-my-exacting-standards-of-realism-and-immersion-with-this-mod-that-adds-footprints/
Despite being a game full of chunky, blank-faced weirdos with awful hair that makes you swing at an enemy 20 times before you can land a single hit, Morrowind is an incredibly immersive game, sucking you into Vvardenfel and making you feel like part of its world. Modder abot over on the Morrowind Nexus has now, finally, torn down that last barrier between Morrowind and a perfect simulation of reality: with abot's new mod, the Nerevarine leaves behind footprints as they walk.
Okay, maybe a little silly, but it's such a great idea⁠—just one of those little details you forget about while running up your eighteenth snowdrift in Solstheim with a train of awful little max-level goblin men chasing you down. And really, obsessive detail like this absolutely fits in a game that actively drains your stamina while you slowly jog around its alien moonscapes.
>> And, to showcase this new feature, there's a 8;19 minutes video of it.

STAR WARS Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II Remake in Unreal Engine available for download
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/star-wars-jedi-knight-dark-forces-ii-remake-in-unreal-engine-available-for-download/
Now here is something for our Star Wars fans. Earlier this week, Ruppertle released the first version of a remake of STAR WARS Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II in Unreal Engine.
The first version of this remake features two official levels from the original game and 4 Survival levels. Furthermore, it comes with a Sandbox Mode and a 3D Model Viewer. Additionally, there is a bonus level for testing, as well as some secrets that players can uncover while playing.
In order to showcase the graphical improvements that this remake brings to the table, Ruppertle released the following comparison video. As you can see, the graphics in this fan remake look absolutely amazing.
>> The video is barely 1 minute long. Also, since we're talking about Disney, I'd download it quick before they make a move.

20 years on, this mod adds new lightsabers, character models, and quality of life fixes to one of the best Star Wars games
https://www.pcgamer.com/20-years-on-this-mod-adds-new-lightsabers-character-models-and-quality-of-life-fixes-to-one-of-the-best-star-wars-games/
Most recently updated in July of last year, Jedi Academy Enhanced might just be my new go-to for nostalgic replays of the classic FPS-come-lightsaber duel simulator. The mod primarily adds new character customization options and quality of life additions, all while building on prior open source mod work for Jedi Academy.
>> There's a 7 minutes video of it.

First Hogwarts Legacy Mods bring SSGI, VR support and 60fps FMVs
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/first-hogwarts-legacy-mods-bring-ssgi-vr-support-and-60fps-fmvs/
Hogwarts Legacy officially came out last week and it has already gotten some cool mods that we highly recommend downloading. These first mods add support for SSGI, VR, and 60fps for FMVs.
>> There is a very long video of the VR mod (94 minutes).

Hogwarts Legacy arachnophobia mode arrives just in time for launch
https://www.pcgamer.com/hogwarts-legacy-arachnophobia-mode/
In a fantastical world where people get turned into all sorts of animals and objects, the modder behind Hogwarts Legacy's arachnophobia mode chose to turn all the spiders into red cubes. It's not the most creative solution, but it's also their first mod and it's ready to go for the game's full release today. The Hogwarts Legacy arachnophobia mode does exactly what you'd think it would do: it removes all the spider enemies in the game and replaces them with much less threatening red boxes. Its creator, Norskpl, says the mod works in the late-game Tomb of Treachery location. The assumption is that all the spiders in the game—including the bosses—use a similar model throughout.
>> There's an almost 4 minutes long video.

Players are modding Hogwarts Legacy to make their characters paler
https://www.pcgamer.com/players-are-modding-hogwarts-legacy-to-make-their-characters-paler/
Character creators are frequently criticized for lacking dark skin tones, or for lighting dark skin awkwardly and unrealistically. "Black skin is still a radical concept in video games," Vice said in 2017, for instance. So it felt like waking up on Opposite Day to discover that Hogwarts Legacy is being criticized for its paleness limits.
With an air of self-awareness, a number of commenters have complained on Reddit that the lack of particularly pale skin has kept them from recreating themselves as Hogwarts students.
"I'm Nordic and pale to the point where people sometimes ask if I'm sick or something," one poster said. "A bit disappointed that I can't recreate that."
>> There is no video, onlya couple of screenshots.

Hogwarts Legacy modders wasted no time adding VTubers to it
https://www.pcgamer.com/hogwarts-legacy-modders-wasted-no-time-adding-vtubers-to-it/
You're racing to class in the labyrinthian halls of Hogwarts and look up on the wall to see a framed portrait of an anime girl doing the 🥺 emoji. That's right, Hogwarts Legacy has VTubers now.
The Moving Frames - Anime VTubers - Hololive mod replaces the school's magical, moving paintings with GIFs and clips of popular Hololive VTubers, streamers who use animated 2D avatars.

This mod creatively revives a long-forgotten Mass Effect 2 feature in the Legendary Edition remaster
https://www.pcgamer.com/this-mod-creatively-revives-a-long-forgotten-mass-effect-2-feature-in-the-legendary-edition-remaster/
Mass Effect has some of the best worldbuilding in any RPG, period. Seriously, even with the impending Reaper invasion it still seems like it'd be fun to live in that version of the Milky Way. One of the coolest bits of background flavor BioWare included in the series was the Cerberus Daily News, a little ticker on Mass Effect 2's home screen that provided short news bulletins about the galaxy's happenings. Now modder Cirosan on the Legendary Edition Nexus has brought these stories forward into the Legendary Edition re-release.
The original CDN was really ambitious for how much of a minor addition it was⁠—Mass Effect 2's main menu was updated with a new story every day from January 26, 2010 to January 24, 2011, with short revivals later in 2011 and 2012 to promote ME2's DLC and, eventually, Mass Effect 3. Some of these stories would foreshadow later developments in Mass Effect's main story, while others simply added to the texture of the setting.

GAMING NEWS

New trailers for WILD HEARTS and Wanted: Dead
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/new-trailers-for-wild-hearts-and-wanted-dead/
Electronic Arts released the official story trailer for its upcoming monster hunting game, WILD HEARTS. Additionally, 110 Industries has released a Game World Overview trailer for Wanted: Dead.

CDPR is looking into improving The Witcher 3 Next-Gen CPU core utilization & DX12 performance
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/cdpr-is-looking-into-improving-the-witcher-3-next-gen-cpu-core-utilization-dx12-performance/
CD Projekt RED has revealed that it’s currently looking into improving CPU core utilization and improving overall DX12 performance for The Witcher 3 Next-Gen.
The company is also looking into addressing some Ray Tracing issues. For instance, it’s working on reducing global illumination lighting leaks. Additionally, it’s also investigating the RT shadows pop-in issues that we’ve reported. Not only that, but the team also plans to restore horizon-based ambient occlusion on PC.



Please excuse my bad English.

Currently gaming on a PC with an i5-4670k@stock (for now), 16Gb RAM 1600 MHz and a GTX 1070

Steam / Live / NNID : jonxiquet    Add me if you want, but I'm a single player gamer.