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

[JEMC]

We've reached the Friday news!

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Starfield breaks 1 million concurrent players across all platforms: a 'great milestone,' Phil Spencer says
https://www.pcgamer.com/starfield-breaks-1-million-concurrent-players-across-all-platforms-a-great-milestone-phil-spencer-says/
Starfield is now in full release, and—surprise!—it's a hit: Shortly after it went into release on September 6, Xbox boss Phil Spencer said on Twitter that Starfield had surpassed a "great milestone" of one million concurrent players across all platforms. That's a big number for sure, but is it really a high water mark of note? As the Doctor once said, it depends on the context.
"Starfield exceeded 1 million concurrent players across all platforms today," Spencer tweeted. "Thanks to all the players who helped us reach this great milestone and congrats to the @BethesdaStudios."

There are no new deals at Humble or Fanatical.

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

INTEL Arc & Iris Graphics 31.0.101.4676
https://videocardz.com/driver/intel-arc-iris-graphics-31-0-101-4676
Highlights

Further refinements for Starfield.

Fixed Issues

Intel® Arc™ Graphics Products:

• Starfield (DX12) improved stability in different areas of the game.
• Starfield (DX12) may incorrectly render glass surfaces and objects.
• Starfield (DX12) may exhibit missing eyebrows on characters.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

You can already play Final Fantasy 7 Ever Crisis on PC in 4K
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/you-can-already-play-final-fantasy-7-ever-crisis-on-pc-in-4k/
Square Enix has just released Final Fantasy 7 Ever Crisis on smartphones and PC gamers can already use an Android emulator in order to enjoy it at 4K.
YouTube’s ‘KyoKat PC Gameplay | Benchmark‘ has shared the following video, showcasing Final Fantasy 7 Ever Crisis running on PC. In order to play this new FF game, the YouTuber used Bluestacks. However, you can also use LD Player 9 or Nox Player in order to run Ever Crisis on PC. Final Fantasy 7 Ever Crisis lets you relive the most memorable moments from FFVII and experience the journey of a young hero Sephiroth.
>> The video is a tad over 19 minutes.

Starfield mod enables Starfield achievements that were disabled by Starfield mods
https://www.pcgamer.com/starfield-mod-enables-starfield-achievements-that-were-disabled-by-starfield-mods/
One of the best things about Starfield is mods. There are already hundreds of them, ranging from the silly to the sublime—we've got a running list of the best Starfield mods, to help you stay on top of them all. There's just one drawback: If you use mods (or console commands), your Starfield achievements will be disabled. That's a real problem! The solution? You guessed it: A mod.
The mod in question is called Baka Achievement Enabler (SFSE), and what it does is very simple: "Prevents achievements from being disabled with mods or when using the console." It's not too difficult to get running, either. You'll need to use the Starfield Script Extender—that's the SFSE bit in the mod title—which enables "additional scripting capabilities and functionality" in Starfield. Once that's in place, grab the Baka Achievement Enabler mod, extract it into your Starfield root folder (the one with the starfield.exe file) and run the game using the sfse_loader.exe file rather than the normal startup exe.

Starfield gets a mod that fixes its sprinting stuttering issues
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/starfield-gets-a-mod-that-fixes-its-sprinting-stuttering-issues/
Modder ‘AntoniX35’ has released a mod for Starfield that fixes the annoying twitching/stuttering when sprinting on uneven ground. This is a must-have mod for Starfield, and we highly recommend downloading it as it should be compatible with all the previous mods we’ve shared.
>> There's a 1;20 video showing the before and after.

Starfield mod turns space travel into an actual series of loading screens by getting rid of all the ship landing and take-off scenes
https://www.pcgamer.com/starfield-mod-turns-space-travel-into-an-actual-series-of-loading-screens-by-getting-rid-of-all-the-ship-landing-and-take-off-scenes/
For one Starfield modder, every short animation of your ship landing and departing from planets that you're forced to watch is time you could've spent actually playing the game. So, they cut out every transitional space travel scene to please all the players who are tired of seeing them every time you want to travel somewhere new.
Ship Skip is a mod that makes Starfield's space travel a little more honest. It deletes the short animations where you see your ship dock, undock, land, or takeoff and skips right to the loading screen. It effectively transforms Starfield into the "series of loading screens" experience that people jokingly described it as when they found out you can't actually land your ship manually.
It works as intended for both the Steam and Windows Store versions of Starfield. Installation is fairly simple, but you should know going in that it has some bugs the developer is currently working on squishing. When you board enemy ships, you can get stuck in an animation loop, and your ship's docking extension will stay out after you dock.
>> There's a short gif of the mod.

Nobody asked, but this Starfield modder delivered—here's the most innocent companion as Thomas the Tank Engine
https://www.pcgamer.com/nobody-asked-but-this-starfield-modder-deliveredheres-the-most-innocent-companion-as-thomas-the-tank-engine/
The Starfield mod pipe has been gushing out bangers, like one that overhauls the UI and another that adds Nvidia's DLSS, but, until today, none of them have inserted the funny blue train that seems to get modded into every videogame in existence: Thomas the Tank Engine.
BulwarkHD has corrected that with a mod that transforms Starfield's most innocent companion into Starfield's most horrifying companion. Thomas the Tank Engine Vasco Retexture is a mod that wraps the nice little robot in the skin of the happy blue train, and it couldn't be more disturbing to look at. The mod paints the lanky robot blue and red and slaps Thomas' unblinking face onto the front of his body.
>> I don't find it creepy, but you can judge it by yourselves thanks to the one screenshot included in the article.

Worried about missing companion chats in Baldur's Gate 3? This mod aims to fix that
https://www.pcgamer.com/worried-about-missing-companion-chats-in-baldurs-gate-3-this-mod-aims-to-fix-that/
I really like the companion conversations in Baldur's Gate 3—they range from adding new insight to characters to being absolutely hilarious, like this one with Astarion where he rips you a new one for your bad aim.
The downside is, they can be really easy to miss. There's no UI notification that lets you know when they might have something to say, and with some companion flags being outright bugged on release (such as the whole cast being a bit too horny, or Minthara simply not speaking her mind to the tune of 1,000 missing lines), there's been plenty of anxiety as to whether putting off Long Rests will have you missing out on all that juicy story content.
It's still receiving tweaks and adjustments, but the Camp Event Notifications mod by Kvalyr aims to fix that. "This mod regularly checks for pending/available 'Camp Night Events' and adds a floating exclamation point above your main character's head (similar to the one that shows on companions when they have something to say to you)."

GAMING NEWS

Bethesda claims that the Intel ARC GPUs do not meet Starfield’s PC minimum requirements
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/bethesda-claims-that-the-intel-arc-gpus-do-not-meet-starfield-pc-minimum-requirements/
Bethesda has officially released Starfield to PC and from the looks of it, owners of the Intel ARC GPUs will have trouble running it. According to Bethesda Support, even the Intel Arc A770 GPU does not meet Starfield’s PC minimum requirements.
>> I don't know who gave Bethesda so many shovels, but they're quite busy digging a deep hole.

Beyond Sunset is a cyberpunk retro FPS, inspired by Doom Eternal and Deus Ex
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/beyond-sunset-is-a-cyberpunk-retro-fps-inspired-by-doom-eternal-and-deus-ex/
Movie Games has announced that its upcoming cyberpunk first-person shooter that is inspired by Doom Eternal and Deus Ex, Beyond Sunset, will hit Steam Early Access on November 8th.

Remnant 2 September 7th Update brings QoL improvements and Potato Mode, full patch notes
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/remnant-2-september-7th-update-brings-qol-improvements-and-potato-mode-full-patch-notes/
Gunfire Games has released the September 7th Update for Remnant 2 that brings to the game numerous QoL improvements, as well as a Potato Mode.

The Crew Motorfest Final PC System Requirements
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/the-crew-motorfest-final-pc-system-requirements/
Ubisoft has revealed the final PC system requirements for The Crew Motorfest (via its Ubisoft Connect store page). Moreover, Ubisoft has shared the resolution, settings and framerates that these PC requirements target.

Mortal Kombat 1 Jean-Claude Van Damme is locked behind Premium Edition
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/mortal-kombat-1-jean-claude-van-damme-is-locked-behind-premium-edition/
And we finally went full circle. Mortal Kombat started as a fighting game that would be focused on Jean-Claude Van Damme. However, that never came to fruition and now, after over 30 years, Jean-Claude Van Damme finally makes his debut in it.
Jean-Claude Van Damme will be a skin for Johnny Cage. (...)
The bad news here is that he will only be available to those who have purchased the Premium Edition, which really, really sucks. (...)