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

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The Thursday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Palworld becomes second game in Steam history to hit more than 2 million concurrent players
https://www.pcgamer.com/palworld-becomes-second-game-in-steam-history-to-hit-more-than-2-million-concurrent-players/
Palworld continues to discover numbers I was heretofore unaware of. Did you know there could be 8 million of something? I sure didn't, but then the game went and sold just that many copies in the course of around six days.
But that's old news, frankly, because on top of its dizzying number of sales, Palworld has just become the second game in history to reach over 2 million concurrent players on Steam, attaining an all-time peak of 2,018,905 players simultaneously seeking the best Pals (according to SteamDB). That puts it ahead of Counter-Strike 2, Lost Ark, Dota, Cyberpunk 2077, and, well, actually, it puts it ahead of literally everything else on Steam that isn't PUBG: Battlegrounds.

The Epic Store gives away Infinifactory: https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/infinifactory-ec9686.
Next week the free game will be Doors - Paradox.

GOG has a couple things:

• It's the 25th of January, but who cares! Here's the New Year Sale! Featuring up to 90% discounts on more than 4600 titles from now until February 6th, 8 AM UTC: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/2024_new_year_sale
• And with a new big sale comes... a new GIVEAWAY: Mordheim: City of the Damned will be free to get during 70 hours: https://www.gog.com/en/game/mordheim_city_of_the_damned

Steam has two new deals:

• One Lonely Outpost, still in Early Access, will be 50% off until the 31st of January: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1465550/One_Lonely_Outpost/
• And King Of The Castle will feature a 30% discount until the 5th of February: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1839880/King_Of_The_Castle/

There's a new Humble Bundle: the With Soulslike These... You Need Enemies, featuring up to 9 items to get during 20 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/with-soulslike-these-you-need-enemies.

And Fanatical has anew Star Deal, a new sale and two bundles:

• The new Star Deal is the Batman: Arkham Collection, 88% off during 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/batman-arkham-collection
• Frontier Developments puts its games on sale with up to 80% discounts during 6 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/publishers/frontier-developments
• The Star Wars Collection Bundle is back with an 80% discount during 6 days: https://www.fanatical.com/en/bundle/star-wars-collection
• And the Capcom Collection BYOB features 12 titles to choose from for your 3, 4 or 5 games bundle: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/capcom-collection-build-your-own-bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

INTEL Arc Graphics 31.0.101.5186/5234 driver
https://videocardz.com/driver/intel-arc-graphics-31-0-101-5186-5234
Highlights

Intel Game On Driver support on Intel Arc A-series Graphics for:

• Enshrouded
• Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
• Like a Dragon: Infinite
• Tekken 8
• Palworld

Intel Game On Driver support on Intel Core Ultra with Intel Arc Graphics for:

• Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth
• Tekken 8
• Palworld

Fixed Issues

Intel Arc A-Series Graphics Products:

• Alan Wake 2 (DX12) may exhibit white corruption on reflective surfaces when Transparency is set to Off. A workaround is to set Transparency to Low or High.
• Sons of the Forest (DX11) may exhibit corruption on the item text in the game inventory.
• Intel Smooth Sync may not work as expected with certain DX11 games.

Intel Core Ultra with Intel Arc Graphics Products:

• The Talos Principle 2 (DX12) may experience an application crash during gameplay with certain Upscaling Presets.
• Call of Duty Modern Warfare III (DX12) may experience application crash in certain gameplay scenarios.
• Blackmagic Fusion may experience intermittent application crash during render operations.

>> The article also has the official performance increase this driver brings in almost 30 games.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Max Payne 3 Just Got a Must-Have 12GB HD Texture Pack
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/max-payne-3-just-got-a-must-have-12gb-hd-texture-pack/
Modder ‘nmslMDSXXX’ has just released a must-have HD Texture Pack for Max Payne 3. This HD Texture Pack weighs at around 12GB and aims to improve most of the game’s objects and surfaces.
As the modder noted, some materials will still have their vanilla textures. According to nmslMDSXXX, it was impossible to improve all of them as the game cannot afford higher-quality texture maps. So, from the looks of it, this appears to be an engine issue.
But anyway, if you want to replay Max Payne 3, you can go ahead and download the HD Texture Pack from this link. At the end of the article, you will also find some comparison screenshots. These screenshots will give you an idea of what you can expect from it.

Here’s how you can enable Ray Tracing in Palworld
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/enable-ray-tracing-palworld/
Modder ‘R3MIND_OFFICIAL’ has shared a way via which PC gamers can enable Ray Tracing in Palworld. All you have to do is edit and change some values from the game’s configuration file. That, or you can download a modded config file.
To prove that Ray Tracing works, R3MIND_OFFICIAL shared the following comparison screenshots. And yes, from what we can see, there are some ray-traced effects. For instance, we can see better reflections and better ambient occlusion.
The modder claimed that this solution adds partial Ray Tracing effects. So, don’t expect full Ray Tracing from this tweak. There might also be some visual glitches or issues. After all, the game does not have any native Ray Tracing support. Still, this is a tweak that may interest owners of high-end GPUs.
Alongside the new RT effects, this mod also improves the quality of Global Illumination and PostFX effects. It will also force the game to use the DX12 API.
>> Besides the screenshots, there's also a 5 minutes video.

Tekken 8 – Unreal Engine 5 Lumen On/Off Comparison Screenshots
https://www.dsogaming.com/screenshot-news/tekken-8-unreal-engine-5-lumen-on-off-comparison-screenshots/
A couple of days ago we informed you about a tool that let you enable UE5’s Lumen in the PC demo of Tekken 8. And, since Tekken 8 will be released tomorrow, we’ve decided to give it a go and share our results.
Now the good news here is that this tool does work. It indeed lets you enable Lumen for both Global Illumination and Reflections. However, the results are mixed right now.
At the end of the article, you can find some comparison screenshots. The vanilla version is on the left, whereas the modded version is on the right.

GAMING NEWS

Five Nights at Freddy’s: Into The Pit Gameplay Trailer Leaked
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/five-nights-at-freddys-into-the-pit-gameplay-trailer-leaked/
It appears that the gameplay trailer for Five Nights at Freddy’s: Into The Pit has been leaked online. So, if you are fans of this particular franchise, you should definitely watch it after the jump.

Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden gets official PC requirements
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/banishers-ghosts-of-new-eden-pc-requirements/
DON’T NOD has shared the official PC system requirements for its upcoming story driven action RPG, Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden. Additionally, Focus Entertainment has shared a new trailer that focuses on the game’s combat mechanics.

Outcast: A New Beginning Official PC Requirements
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/outcast-a-new-beginning-official-pc-requirements/
THQ Nordic and Appeal Studios have shared the official PC system requirements for Outcast: A New Beginning. In addition, the publisher has just shared a new trailer that you can find below.