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

[JEMC]

The Tuesday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Steam's Top 10

(Click here for the top 100)

I didn't see it yesterday, but GOG has a new Weekly Sale with up to 90% discounts during 6 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20230925_weekly_sale.

Steam has new sales and weeklong deals:

• The Melbourne International Games Week Sale features games made in Australia with up to 80% discounts until September, 28th: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/migw2023
• The Shoot'em Up Sale comes with up to 70% discounts until the 2nd of October: https://store.steampowered.com/category/shmup
• Fireshine Games puts its games on sale, up to 75% off until the 2nd (except Core Keeper that will keep its discount until the 9th): https://store.steampowered.com/sale/FireshineGamesPublisherSale2023
• The Wolfenstein Franchise Sale puts the games up to 85% off until October, the 2nd: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/wolfensteinfranchise2023
• Publisher Sekai Project will puts its games up to 85% off until the 2nd of October: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/sekaipublishersale23
• The Jagged Alliance Midweek Madness Deal puts the games on sale with up to 90% discounts until the 2nd: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/jaggedalliancemidweekmadness2023
• The Mega Man Battle Network Legacy Collection (Vol.1 + Vol.2) gets a 34% discount until the 4th of October: https://store.steampowered.com/sub/821963
• Amanita Design celebrates its 20th anniversary with a sale, putting its games up to 85% off until October, 5th: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/Amanita20
• And here are some of the weeklong deals:
  • Marble It Up! Ultra is going to be 20% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/864060/Marble_It_Up_Ultra/
  • Timespinner gets a 30% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/368620/Timespinner/
  • City of Gangsters is half its usual price: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1386780/City_of_Gangsters/
  • Cat Quest gets a 67% discount: https://store.steampowered.com/app/593280/Cat_Quest/
  • And the last one, BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger, 85% off: https://store.steampowered.com/app/263300/BlazBlue_Calamity_Trigger/

The Humble Store has two new sales:

• The Ubisoft Build Your Strategy Sale brings up to 85% discounts during 6 days. All the keys are for UbiConnect except for one that's for Steam: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/build-your-strategy-sale/
• And the Six Degrees of Freedom Sale comes comes with up to 90% discounts during 6 days. There are keys for Steam, one for GOG and several direct downloads: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/six-degrees-of-freedom-sale/

And Fanatical hasn't launched its new Star Deal yet, but at least they have a new bundle: the Mystery Vault Bundle, with up to 20 unknown games to get: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/mystery-vault-bundle.

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

Valve launches SteamVR 2.0 beta with 'goal of bringing all of what's new on the Steam platform into VR'
https://www.pcgamer.com/valve-launches-steamvr-20-beta-with-goal-of-bringing-all-of-whats-new-on-the-steam-platform-into-vr/
Great news, VR fans. Valve has just released SteamVR 2.0 in beta. This is the software that powers the entire virtual reality experience on Steam, from hooking up to hardware to the interface you use to whizz around virtual worlds, and it just got a ton more features.
"Today we are shipping SteamVR 2.0 in beta," a Steam representative says. "We see this as the first major step toward our goal of bringing all of what's new on the Steam platform into VR."
Today's beta release adds Steam Chat and Voice Chat, an improved Steam store with VR front and centre, and an updated keyboard. It also adds "most of" the current features from Steam and Steam Deck. That's potentially pretty big, as since the launch of the Steam Deck, we've seen both Steam Deck and Steam receive heaps of improvements, most notably to big picture mode.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Disk Cache Enabler Mod released for Skyrim, Fallout 4 & Starfield
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/disk-cache-enabler-mod-released-for-skyrim-fallout-4-starfield/
Modder ‘Archost’ has released a must-have mod for everyone who currently plays Fallout 4, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition or Starfield.
This plugin basically makes these three Bethesda games use OS’ file cache, which leads to less disk access over time. According to the modder, owners of both SSDs and HDDs will benefit from it. Since this plugin reduces the disk calls, it can lead to less freezing and fewer sound drops.
(...)
Since this plugin can improve overall performance, we highly recommend using it. In theory, it could resolve or at least minimize Starfield’s stuttering issues. So, those interested can go ahead and download it from the following links.
>> There are no screenshots nor videos of these mods.

A nasty Johnny Silverhand bug nearly derailed my Cyberpunk 2077 playthrough, but this mod came to the rescue
https://www.pcgamer.com/cyberpunk-johnny-blue-glitch-how-to-fix/
When V started coughing up blood during a conversation with Johnny Silverhand, I thought Cyberpunk 2077 was really trying to drive home the urgency of my ticking time bomb of a brain. Throughout the next quest, and the one after that, my entire field of vision kept pulsing with the glitchy blue effect that highlighted Johnny popping into a conversation. It felt like a bit much, but I was really getting into the roleplaying, so I figured heading home to V's apartment for a night's rest would set me right. When it didn't, I asked my colleagues how they got rid of "Johnny vision" because clearly I'd missed something.
That's when I got the bad news from Phantom Liberty reviewer Ted Litchfield: "I don't think I've ever seen that happen before."
Uh oh.
(...)
Unfortunately, that solution was a no-go for me: I'd stubbornly played about three hours of Cyberpunk 2077 with "Johnny vision" slowly driving me mad, and I wasn't about to throw away that progress and redo all of it. So I sought salvation from the only logical source: the mod community.
I found it almost immediately. The mod FX Begone, which supports the 2.0 update, targets and removes a ton of Cyberpunk's visual effects. It can disable the green hue of your scanner, the red glitchiness that clouds your screen when you take big damage, and, crucially, the "Johnny glitch," which removed the constant blue effect from my screen.
>> The article has a video of the glitch.

Starfield mod lets you zip between planets seamlessly
https://www.pcgamer.com/starfield-mod-lets-you-zip-between-planets-seamlessly/
Starfield's space travel isn't exactly satisfying: no matter how much the music swells and the engines roar, travel itself is just a series of short cinematic sequences and loading screens. No one was expecting Starfield to be a sim like Elite Dangerous or a seamless experience like No Man's Sky, but I think a lot of players agree Starfield's travel system is just a little… meh. You never feel like you're really flying anywhere.
A new Starfield mod addresses this issue, sorta, and fixes it, kinda. At the very least, it gives you a different way to fly your ship. As spotted by PCGamesN, the mod is called Slower Than Light - Fly in a Star System. Essentially if you're in orbit around one planet or moon in a star system, you can now fly directly to another planet or moon in the same system. Seamlessly. No cinematics or loading screens at all. It's pretty cool.
>> There's an over 7 minutes video of the mod.

GAMING NEWS

Starfield Update 1.7.33 released, fixes blurry textures & AMD star lens flares, improves stability, full patch notes
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/starfield-update-1-7-33-released-fixes-blurry-textures-amd-star-lens-flares-improves-stability-full-patch-notes/
Bethesda has just released Patch 1.7.33 for Starfield, and shared its complete list of changes and improvements. According to the changelog, Update 1.7.33 packs various stability and performance improvements to address crashing and freezes.

Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis is officially coming to PC via Steam
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/final-fantasy-7-ever-crisis-is-officially-coming-to-pc-via-steam/
Square Enix has announced that Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis will be officially coming to PC via Steam. Although there isn’t any ETA on when it will come out, the company claimed that it has already started working on its PC version.