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

[JEMC]

It's Monday and these are the news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

GOG has three new Deals of the Day and five sales/bundles:

• These are the DotD, available until Wednesday;
  • Amnesia: The Dark Descent is 80% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/amnesia_the_dark_descent
  • The Whale Rock Games - Immersive Puzzles Bundle gets a 90% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/whale_rock_games_immersive_puzzles_bundle
  • And Whale Rock All Games Bundle is also 90% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/whale_rock_all_games_bundle
• The first sale is the Husbandos & Waifus Sale, with up to 89% discounts during another 2 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/2023_husbandos_waifus
• Wired Productions celebrates its 15th anniversary puting its games on sale, up to 85% off, until May, 22nd: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/2023_wired_productions
• Wired Productions also have a Build Your Own bundle, with higher discounts the more games you add to your bundle. It will also run until the same May, 22nd: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/2023_wired_productions_byob
• Publisher 505 Games puts its games up to 90% off during the next 7 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/2023_505_games
• And, remember the Whale Rock Games bundles available in the DotD? Well, if you miss those 90% discounts, you'll still be able to grab them with an 89% discount until the 15th of June. Learn more here:

Steam has one new deal: I am an Air Traffic Controller 4, that has a demo, is 50% off until Sunday: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1348390/I_am_an_Air_Traffic_Controller_4/.

And Fanatical has a new Star Deal and has also started another Bundlefest:

• The Star Deal is Batman: Arkham Collection, 88% off during 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/batman-arkham-collection
• The new bundle is the Killer Bundle 26, with 24 games with a 94% discount: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/killer-bundle-26
• Fanatical also has a contest to win a bundle and a new Spin to Win feature.

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

Unreal Engine 5.2 is available for download, new features detailed
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/unreal-engine-5-2-is-available-for-download-new-features-detailed/
Epic Games has announced that Unreal Engine 5.2 is now available for download to everyone. Moreover, the team has detailed its new features that developers can use in their games.

Denuvo V18, used in Resident Evil 4 Remake, has been cracked
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/denuvo-v18-used-in-resident-evil-4-remake-has-been-cracked/
EMPRESS has cracked Resident Evil 4 Remake, meaning that she was able to successfully bypass the latest version of Denuvo, Denuvo V18.
According to the cracker, Resident Evil 4 Remake used four different DRMs. Alongside Denuvo V18, Capcom has used Denuvo SecureDLC V2, its own Anti-Tamper tech, and VMProtect.

Valve makes Steam beta participation easier because it wants more Steam beta participants
https://www.pcgamer.com/valve-makes-steam-beta-participation-easier-because-it-wants-more-steam-beta-participants/
Valve's been hard at work on upgrades to the Steam client recently, and that means testing those upgrades before they roll out and break your launcher. Normal stuff, right? Anyway, to that end they need more people to test it, so they're asking for that—and making it easier to do so, with a new one-click opt-in to testing.
"We're introducing a one-click opt-in, to make it easy for you to try out all the new features and provide feedback. Once the features ship to everyone on Steam, your client will be updated to the latest public version available," said Valve in an announcement.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

New version of Duke Nukem Forever: Restoration Project released
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/new-version-of-duke-nukem-forever-restoration-project-released/
The team behind the Duke Nukem Forever: Restoration Project has released the “Duke It Out” Update for it. This update brings significant performance improvements, as well as new content.
Going into more details, the team has managed to improve performance on both the DX8 and DX9 renderers. Furthermore, it was able to enable high-resolution rendering. Not only that, but the game’s OpenGL renderer is now closer to parity with the DirectX renderers.
The Duke It Out Update also adds nine maps for multiplayer action. The team has also made a number of other enhancements and improvements to the multiplayer as well. For instance, it has fixed the alternative game modes like Bomb and Team Deathmatch. It has also packed a number of new Mutators to play with as well such as Shotgun Start and Instagib.
>> The article has a short video of the mod.

DRIV3R gets a Definitive Edition Mod that you can download
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/driv3r-gets-a-definitive-edition-mod-that-you-can-download/
Modder ‘Zombie2358’ has released a Definitive Edition Mod for DRIV3R that is a must-have for everyone that wants to replay this old Driver game.
DRIV3R Definitive Edition fixes a lot of issues that plagued the PC version. Moreover, it introduces some new HD textures and improves the draw distance for some objects. Furthermore, it packs a number of UI improvements, as well as fixes for interiors, EAX and Graphics Layers.
In future versions, the modder plans to improve the game’s LOD and fully implement Cop Boats. Additionally, Zombie2358 plans to add HD Vehicles Interiors.
>> There's an over 17 minutes long video of the mod.

Fallout 3 gets another lore-friendly HD Overhaul Texture Pack
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/fallout-3-gets-another-lore-friendly-hd-overhaul-texture-pack/
Earlier this month, we shared an HD Texture Pack for Fallout 3. And today, we present you yet another lore-friendly HD Overhaul Mod that you can download for this classic Fallout game.
Fallout 3 HD Overhaul is providing new and improved HD textures, ranging from 1K resolution up to 8K. The mod replaces thousands of textures all over the world of Fallout 3.
As you may have guessed, this mod uses AI techniques in order to upscale the game’s vanilla textures. After all, that’s the main reason it’s lore-friendly. Its size is also around 6GB so if you didn’t like the previous pack we shared, you give this one a try.
>> The article has some screenshots.

Fallout: The Odyssey gets a cool short film in Unreal Engine 5
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/fallout-the-odyssey-gets-a-cool-short-film-in-unreal-engine-5/
Webb Productions Entertainment has shared a cool, stylized short film of Fallout: The Odyssey in Unreal Engine 5. This film is dedicated to the Fallout: The Odyssey total conversion mod for Fallout New Vegas that is currently in development.
Going into more details, this short features the Wattz Laser Rifle from artist TraVinh. On the other hand, Webb Productions Entertainment has created the armors and some of the weapons with QwibQwibMods.
It’s a cool video, so be sure to watch it. Just… well… don’t expect much from it. It’s a cool short film and nothing more. Oh, and Fallout The Odyssey will not bring the Fallout: New Vegas game to Unreal Engine 5. Instead, it will be a total conversion mod for it. I mean, it’s obvious but since this video was made in Unreal Engine 5, some may have thought that Fallout: The Odyssey was a UE5 project. It’s not.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Looks 10X Better with DLSS 2
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/star-wars-jedi-survivor-looks-10x-better-with-dlss-2/
Modder ‘PureDark’ has successfully implemented DLSS 2 in Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, and shared a comparison between his DLSS 2 Mod and FSR 2.0.
For this comparison, PureDark moved rapidly the camera while capturing the screenshots. And, as you can see, the DLSS 2 Mod looks SIGNIFICANTLY better than the official FSR 2.0 implementation.
>> Sadly, the mod is behind a Patron wall.

Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom mods have already unlocked the framerate to 60 fps—but you shouldn't use them just yet
https://www.pcgamer.com/tears-of-the-kingdom-60-fps-mods-may-12/
Remember the era of PC games that would run at double speed if you unlocked their draconian fps limits? It's rare for PC games these days not to support dynamic framerates, but it's more common on consoles like the Nintendo Switch, where developers know exactly how much (or how little) processing power they have to work with. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is designed with a 30 fps cap, and mods have already been able to remove that cap and trick the game into running at 60 fps… if your PC can handle it. But given Tears of the Kingdom's early state of emulation, not even a mighty gaming rig can keep Tears of the Kingdom running at 60 fps all the time.

A Remedy dev modded native HDR into Control, along with a heap of other graphical improvements
https://www.pcgamer.com/a-remedy-dev-modded-native-hdr-into-control-along-with-a-heap-of-other-graphical-improvements/
Remedy's SCP-adjacent horror game Control remains one of the best games to show off your fancy new graphics card. It may be almost four years old, but it's still a solid showcase for ray tracing with its office setting's shiny floors, destructible furniture, and contrast between dark and light. It does have a few graphical issues, however, like textures loading in late and, if you enable Windows auto HDR, dark grays where there ought to be true blacks and areas where bloom reduces the detail.
As Digital Foundry pointed out in a recent video, those problems have been solved thanks to a mod by one of Remedy's own developers. Filippo Tarpini, a senior Unreal Engine developer, joined Remedy six months after Control launched, but has been tinkering with it on the side—first releasing a resolution and aspect ratio unlocker, and now including that in an HDR ultrawide DLSS RT patch that significanly enhances Control's look.
>> The article has the Digital Foundry video.

Cut content mod restores Skyrim's vampires to their former glory
https://www.pcgamer.com/cut-content-mod-restores-skyrims-vampires-to-their-former-glory/
The option to become a vampire has been a part of the Elder Scrolls games since Daggerfall, but Skyrim's Dawnguard expansion was focused on the sun-dodgers—letting you become either a shapeshifting Vampire Lord, or a crossbow-wielding vampire hunter. What you may not realize is that add-on also defanged vampires to a degree.
Dawnguard reduced the damage caused by a couple of varieties of vampires, disabled a perk that let boss-level vamps ignore a percentage of armor while wielding maces, and changed the frost resistance and fire weakness stats of all vampires. What's more, the effect of hitting stage four of vampirism, where you're supposed to be "hated and feared," was reduced. NPCs will no longer attack a stage four vampire on sight—only one who is in their Vampire Lord form, or feeding.
The Bloodhunt – Cut Vampire Content Restoration mod by ssocialanxiety undoes some of these changes, while also enabling a couple of unused vampiric abilities that were found in Dawnguard's files: Vampiric Strength gives bloodsuckers a boost to unarmed damage, while Dread Cloak gives stage-three vampires a damaging aura once per day.

GAMING NEWS

Diablo 4 has major DLSS 3 stuttering issues on the AMD Ryzen 7000 series CPUs
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/diablo-4-has-major-dlss-3-stuttering-issues-on-the-amd-ryzen-7000-series-cpus/
Diablo 4’s Server Slam is currently underway and supports NVIDIA’s DLSS 3 tech. Thus, we’ve decided to test it and share our impressions. Unfortunately for all AMD Ryzen 7000 series CPUs, though, the game has major stuttering issues when DLSS 3 is enabled.
(...)
For those wondering, this is the exact same issue that plagued Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3: Next-Gen. And while NVIDIA told us that they were able to identify what was causing these stutters, they have not addressed it in either of these two games.

Take a look at Call of Duty: Black Ops 4’s canceled Career Campaign
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/take-a-look-at-call-of-duty-black-ops-4s-canceled-career-campaign/
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is one of the few COD games that did not feature a single-player campaign mode. However, it appears that Treyarch and Raven have been testing a 2V2 career mode, and below you can find an in-dev video from it.