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

[JEMC]

The Thursday news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

The Epic Store gives away a couple of things:

• Freshly Frosted: https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/freshly-frosted-c636d0
• A bundle of 1,000 Gold & 200 Gems for the free to play Rumble Club: https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/rumble-club-rumble-club-free-game-of-the-week-bonus-fe7b22

Next week, the free game will be Sunless Skies: Sovereign Edition.

Steam has three new deals:

• Ship Graveyard Simulator, that has a demo, is going to be 85% off until June 26: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1286880/Ship_Graveyard_Simulator/
• Growing Up gets a 40% deal until the 27th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1191120/Growing_Up/
• Publisher Freemind Games puts its games on sale with up to 90% discounts. The length of the deals vary, with some lñasting until June 26 and others until the 3rd of July: https://store.steampowered.com/sale/FreemindPublisherSale

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

-Nothing-

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Fallout: New Vegas modders come fully unglued in a race to see who can do the stupidest possible thing to a missionary's hat, and it's lasted nearly a month so far
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fallout/fallout-new-vegas-modders-come-fully-unglued-in-a-race-to-see-who-can-do-the-stupidest-possible-thing-to-a-missionarys-hat-and-its-lasted-nearly-a-month-so-far/
Well, the Fallout: New Vegas modding community is officially beyond help. It's with a mixture of amusement and alarm that I bring you news the modders have lost it, becoming so intoxicated of modding a single Mormon's hat that I fear they may have no route back to polite society at all. The hat is their world now: All they know and all they can ever know.
I am referring, of course, to the just-concluded war for Daniel's hat. Daniel is a Mormon missionary from New Vegas' Honest Hearts DLC, the pacifist counterpart to Joshua Graham's righteous fury, and generally not a character given much attention by the fanbase. He is, after all, a bit dull compared to the iconic figure of Graham.
That is until a modder named Redquinox created Daniel's Hat Refitted, an attempt to adjust dear Dan's sombrero "so it actually fits a human head." Our hero was a bit miffed by the hat as it was: "I was sick and tired of staring at that stupid, comically oversized clown hat floating over Daniel's head, knowing it had the potential to be the best-looking hat in the game were it not for the aneurysm the designer must have had while making the model."
Redquinox's strong emotions triggered a hat inferno. The next day, a creator named clanky4 uploaded Daniel's Hat Unfitted, a "Mesh adjustment for Daniel's hat, so it actually fits an entire human." Redquinox themself followed that up with Daniel's Hat Unfitting, which made the hat tiny, and then we got Daniel's Hat Remasked, which adjusted the hat so it covers Daniel's face. 
Literally all of this happened in the course of around 24 hours or so.
Then it all just got very silly. June 1 saw Daniel's Hat ReHatted, which put Daniel's hat inside several other hats. We also got Daniel's Hat STYLISH, which just tilted it to around a 30-degree angle on his head. Over the next three weeks or so (that is to say, until literally yesterday) we got mods to turn it into a beer hat, a mod that turns it into the infamous Fallout 3 train hat, a mod which turns Daniel into his own hat, a mod that… well, I don't know what it does, but the description just reads "Daniel has weaponized his hats. God save us all."
>> The article has some screenshots.

Fallout: Nuevo Mexico dev team breaks months of silence, confirms the big New Vegas mod we liked so much last year is 'on hold' as lead developer steps back from the project
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/fallout-nuevo-mexico-dev-team-breaks-months-of-silence-confirms-the-big-new-vegas-mod-we-liked-so-much-last-year-is-on-hold-as-lead-developer-steps-back-from-the-project/
Fallout: Nuevo Mexico made a big impression on senior editor Rich Stanton when he ran across it in 2023: "The mod of my irradiated dreams," he enthused at the time. Sadly, after at least three years of work it looks like the project has run aground, as a message on the official Nuevo Mexico Discord server says development is on hold and the project lead has decided to step back from the whole thing.
Set a mere five years after the events of the first Fallout, Nuevo Mexico promises a greater emphasis on player choice and traditional RPG elements than the more recent games in the series—sweet words for fans of the great Interplay originals. It's also fully voice acted, and even has its own original soundtrack. In terms of ambition and depth, it looks comparable to the more well known Fallout: London mod.
Or at least, it did. Earlier this year, the whole thing basically fell off the radar. The Fallout: Nuevo Mexico YouTube channel was scrubbed of content and most of the channels on the Discord server were erased. It apparently caught at least some of the developers by surprise: In response to an April inquiry, one redditor who claimed to be part of the voice acting team said they had "no clue" what was going on, adding, "Everything just sorta disappeared overnight."
After two months of silence, the team has now acknowledged that work on the Nuevo Mexico mod has come to a halt.
"The project has been on hold for some time, and [project lead] Zapshock has decided to step back from active participation in the community," JK Serling, credited as head of public relations, said in a message posted to the Fallout: Nuevo Mexico Discord (via VG247). "For now, Zapshock won't be available on Discord or any social media platforms."
Serling said they've taken over responsibilities for the mod, although whether that's strictly in a comms capacity or with the intent of carrying on development isn't clear. "Should Zapshock decide to return to modding, they will only stay in touch with close friends and developers ONLY," they wrote, adding that updates and replies to inquiries will be made if and when Zapshock comes back.

GAMING NEWS

Multiplayer tactical space-based shooter, Boundary, has been officially discontinued/canceled
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/multiplayer-tactical-space-based-shooter-boundary-has-been-officially-discontinued-canceled/
Boundary was a game I was really looking forward to as it reminded me of Shattered Horizon. However, it appears that this multiplayer space-based shooter is officially dead. This is coming straight from Skystone Games who claimed that the devs have ceased all services for the game.
>> Bad news for those that got it in Early Access, but that’s a risk with the games that use it,

Elden Ring Title Update 1.12 Released, Patch Notes Revealed
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/elden-ring-title-update-1-12-released-patch-notes-revealed/
FromSoftware has just released Title Update 1.12 for Elden Ring, and shared its full patch notes. This patch adds support for the SHADOW OF THE ERDTREE DLC, and it packs a number of tweaks, fixes and changes. So, let’s take a closer look at it.

Elden Ring Patch 1.12 brings performance improvements on PC
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/elden-ring-patch-1-12-brings-performance-improvements-on-pc/
FromSoftware has just released Patch 1.12 for Elden Ring, and from the looks of it this update brings major performance improvements on PC.
From the looks of it, these performance improvements are solely for the game’s Ray Tracing effects. So, if you don’t use RT in this title, you might not see any performance benefits from it.