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

[JEMC]

It's time for the Friday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Alan Wake 2 has sold over 1.3 million units, is Remedy’s fastest selling game to date
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/alan-wake-2-has-sold-over-1-3-million-units-worldwide/
A lot of people believed that Alan Wake 2 was a commercial flop. That assumption was based on the fact that Remedy hadn’t revealed the game’s sales. Well, it appears that this is far from the truth. In fact, Alan Wake 2 is Remedy’s fastest selling game to date.
As Remedy revealed a couple of hours ago, the game has sold over 1.3 million units worldwide. Alan Wake 2 sold over 50% more copies and over three times more digital copies in its first two months than Control did in its first four months. So yeah, you can rest assured that Remedy is not in a financial crisis after developing this horror game.
>> I'll admit that I was very skeptical about the success of the game. In any case, as noted in the PCGamer article, the game has still yet to turn a profit.

Metro Exodus has now sold more than 10 million copies, 4A Games teases the next game in the series 'when it's ready'
https://www.pcgamer.com/metro-exodus-has-now-sold-more-than-10-million-copies-4a-games-teases-the-next-game-in-the-series-when-its-ready/
To mark the fifth anniversary of the most excellent post-apocalyptic shooter Metro Exodus, developer 4A Games announced today that it has now sold more than 10 million copies, and teased—very gently—the arrival of the next game in the series.

The Humble Store has two new sales:

• Sega's Year if the Dragon Sale features up to 80% discounts during 6 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/year-of-the-dragon-sale/
• And the Strategize with Style Sale brings up to 90% deals during 6 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/store/promo/strategize-with-style-sale/

Fanatical's new Star Deal is Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor - Martyr Definitive Edition, 86% off during 24 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/warhammer-40-000-inquisitor-martyr-definitive-edition.

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

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MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 Unofficial PC Version 1.0.2 brings major performance improvements, fixes 200 textures/shaders and adds IGTI upscaling
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/marvels-spider-man-2-unofficial-pc-version-1-0-2/
The team behind the unofficial PC port of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 has released a brand new version of it. According to the team, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 PC Brazil Version 1.0.2 brings major performance improvements.
Additionally, this latest version adds support for upscaling modes. From what I’ve seen, there isn’t yet support for DLSS 2 or FSR 2.0. Instead, the game uses IGTI upscaling.
What’s also interesting is that the game now has some graphics settings to tweak. For instance, you can adjust the quality of Geometry, Shadows, Ambient Occlusion, SSR Reflections, Clouds and Fog. The game also supports both DX11 and DX12 (though the devs recommend using the DX11 API).
Not only that but Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 PC Brazil V1.0.2 fixes around 200 textures/shaders and adds support for specular lighting to character models. Its team has also shared some updated PC requirements. These new PC specs also list the PC config you’ll need for gaming at 4K.
>> The article has a 7 minutes video.

Ultra niche Skyrim mod lets you become the most potent mage of all: the fist wizard
https://www.pcgamer.com/ultra-niche-skyrim-mod-lets-you-become-the-most-potent-mage-of-all-the-fist-wizard/
Somewhere in a filing cabinet is a contract. On that contract is my name and the name of my employer—PC Gamer's publisher Future PLC—and a job title: "news writer". And look, if someone assassinates the JFK of videogames* I'll be there to break it down for you, but personally? I think my true job is telling you about tiny, mini, minute, trifling little mods that I find very amusing and intensely niche. And guess what, friends? I've got another one for ya.
ELAF Left Hand Shield Bash is a mod from a creator named—get this—ELAF, and it rectifies one of the venerable RPG's most glaring oversights: that players and NPCs cannot use their unarmed left fist to absolutely batter interlopers who get within punching distance. In Todd Howard's world, the left hand is a purely auxiliary extremity: you can use it to wield a shield, a spell, or a second weapon, but if you have nothing in it while you're wielding something in your right hand, you can't use it as a weapon unto itself. Attempting to use an unarmed left hand (while the right is armed) just makes you block.
What kind of world is it that lets you be half a wizard but not half a boxer? A bad one, I reckon, and that's presumably why dear old ELAF has set out to fix it. Using their mod, you'll be able to restore your left fist to its rightful place as a Mack truck full of justice addressed to your enemies' faces, capable of staggering them and knocking them flat. You're still a wizard, really, but a wizard of a new type. The fist wizard, whose grimoire is more of a pamphlet, consisting as it does of one very effective spell delivered fast and repeatedly. No verbal or material components necessary.
>> The article has a short video.

For the five people in the world who thought Malenia was too easy, a new mod turns Elden Ring's toughest boss into a 4-phase marathon ordeal including cut attacks and dialogue
https://www.pcgamer.com/for-the-five-people-in-the-world-who-thought-malenia-was-too-easy-a-new-mod-turns-elden-rings-toughest-boss-into-a-4-phase-marathon-ordeal-including-cut-attacks-and-dialogue/
Elden Ring's optional megaboss Malenia is one of those memetic videogame tests of skill now. Like the Emerald Weapon in Final Fantasy 7 or the White Palace in Hollow Knight she represents the ultimate challenge in her game, and might just be the boss design high-water mark in FromSoftware's notoriously boss-centric body of work. So why not make this fight even more difficult?
That's the proposition of Unalloyed Malenia from modder MiquellaTheUnalloyed. The mod further breaks up the fight with two new phases including a moveset change in the first half and a full heal partway through the second, as well as a host of other tweaks. The fight's also been injected with new additions to Malenia's moveset, including the second, secret Waterfowl Dance that never made it into the final game, plus some animations lifted from Sekiro and Bloodborne.
>> There's an almost 8 minutes video of the mod.

New Cyberpunk 2077 Mod Fixes the AMD FSR 3.0 Frame Generation Ghosting Issues
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/new-cyberpunk-2077-mod-fixes-the-amd-fsr-3-0-frame-generation-ghosting-issues/
Modder ‘gramern’ has released a new mod that aims to fix the annoying ghosting issues that PC gamers were getting when using the AMD FSR 3.0 Frame Generation Mod.
Going into more details, the mod eliminates the most irritating frame-gen ghosting behind cars and motorcycles while driving in a 3rd person view. It also manages to slightly reduce ghosting when driving bikes in first-person view. What this mod basically does is disable Frame Interpolation in the area behind the vehicles. However, the rest of the scene is still being interpolated. As such, you can get higher framerates without the ghosting issues. It’s a clever trick that the modder discovered. And, from the looks of it, it works pretty great.
According to gramern, this fix is compatible with both LukeFZ’s and Nukem’s AMD FSR 3.0 Mods. So, if you’ve been using them, you can download this fix from this link.
>> There are no screenshots nor videos.

GAMING NEWS

The final version of Skull and Bones still has the MAGPIE-00001701 crash error
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/the-final-version-of-skull-and-bones-still-has-the-magpie-00001701-crash-error/
Skull and Bones will officially release today, and Ubisoft has provided us with a review code. However, the game’s final version still has the MAGPIE-00001701 crash error that prevented a lot of gamers from playing its Open Beta build.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Patch 6 released, has over 1000 tweaks, fixes, changes and improvements, will require 150GB of free space
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/baldurs-gate-3-patch-6-released-has-over-1000-tweaks-fixes-changes-and-improvements-will-require-150gb-of-free-space/
Larian Studios has released the highly anticipated sixth title update for its latest RPG, Baldur’s Gate 3. According to the team, Patch #6 has over 1000 tweaks, fixes, changes and improvements. The patch is now live on PC, so let’s take a closer look at it.

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth vs Crisis Core Remastered Graphics Comparison
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/final-fantasy-7-rebirth-vs-crisis-core-remastered/
YouTube’s “NeoGamer” shared a cool video in which they compare Final Fantasy 7 Remake Rebirth and Crisis Core Remastered. It looks pretty interesting, so be sure to check it out.