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

[JEMC]

Another Monday, another round of news:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

GOG starts the week with three new Deals of the Day that will last until Wednesday:

• The NSFW title Cloud Meadow, in Early Access, is 27% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/cloud_meadow
• Empires: Dawn of the Modern World gets a 52% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/empires_dawn_of_the_modern_world
• The third DotD is Alan Wake, with a 74% deal: https://www.gog.com/en/game/alan_wake
• And a quick reminder: you have less than 64 hours before the Summer Sale ends.

Fanatical has two new deals:

• The Star Deal is ELDEN RING, 39% off. The deal started yesterday and it will run for another 24 hours or they run out of the remaining 51% of keys left: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/elden-ring
• The BYO Enigma Bundle 2 has 18 games to choose for your 1+, 5+ or 10+ bundle: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-enigma-bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

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MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Fans are bringing World of Warcraft to Unreal Engine 5, and here’s your first look at it
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/fans-are-bringing-world-of-warcraft-to-unreal-engine-5-and-heres-your-first-look-at-it/
World of Warcraft fans, get ready for a treat. The Turtle WoW Team is currently working on bringing its World of Warcraft fan expansion, Mysteries of Azeroth, to Unreal Engine 5. This will allow you to experience the classic WoW in UE5, with most of its modern features. And, below, you can find its first gameplay showcase video.
Turtle WoW 2.0 — A new chapter in the Mysteries of Azeroth. For those unaware, Mysteries of Azeroth is a fan-made expansion story for World of Warcraft Vanilla that delves deeper into exploring the original lore of the game.
The expansion aims to take a different path from the Burning Crusade, emphasizing the familiar Azeroth of Vanilla WoW over the cosmic battle with the Burning Legion. While being heavily based on the lore from Warcraft 3 and Vanilla WoW, Mysteries of Azeroth seeks to enhance the game by adding content that matches the already well-established lore of Warcraft Universe.
Turtle WoW 2.0 will feature two graphical modes. These two modes are Legacy and Modern. The Legacy Mode will be the classic, old one. On the other hand, the Modern Mode will have better textures, lighting effects, HD 3D models and richer environments.
>> The article has the PC requirements to be able to play it and a less than 3 minutes video.

Kingdom Hearts 3 just got a must-have 4K Texture Pack that overhauls all environments
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/kingdom-hearts-3-just-got-a-must-have-4k-texture-pack-that-overhauls-all-environments/
Modder ‘1vierock’ has released a must-have 4K Texture Pack for Kingdom Hearts 3. This mod is 15GB in size, and it will overhaul the textures of all environments. As such, it will greatly improve the visuals of the game, and below you can find some comparison screenshots between the vanilla and the modded versions.
From what I can see, the modder has most likely used an AI tool in order to upscale the default textures. Or at least that’s the impression I got from the comparison screenshots.
Now contrary to some other AI-upscaled packs, this one looks great. You will immediately notice the higher-quality textures. In other words, you won’t have to zoom in to find the visual improvements. Not only that, but the modded textures retain the art style of the original ones.
>> The article has some comparison screenshots.

Modders are working on a multiplayer mod for Cyberpunk 2077, and here’s your first look at it
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/modders-are-working-on-a-multiplayer-mod-for-cyberpunk-2077-and-heres-your-first-look-at-it/
Cyberpunk 2077 fans, here’s something for you today. A team of modders is currently working on a multiplayer mod for Cyberpunk 2077. Titled CyberMP, this mod will allow you to play CDPR’s title in multiplayer. And below, you can find a gameplay video from its latest WIP version.
Now before continuing, we should note that this mod is still in an early state. As you will see, there are numerous de-sync issues. Again, this is to be expected. Nevertheless, the video can give you a glimpse at playing CP2077 with your friends.
Sadly, there is no ETA on when this mod will come out. Since it’s currently in a pre-alpha stage, we can assume that it won’t come out this year. Realistically, we should expect some beta sessions in 2025 and a full release in 2026 or 2027.
We should also note that CyberMP will not offer a co-op mode for quests. In other words, you won’t be able to play the game’s campaign with your friends. Instead, think of CyberMP as GTA Online.
>> The article has two videos.

Dark Souls 2 Lighting Engine V_9_3_5 Mod is now available for download, with support for both NVIDIA DLSS 3.7 and AMD FSR 2.2.1
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/dark-souls-2-lighting-engine-v_9_3_5-mod-is-now-available-for-download-with-support-for-both-nvidia-dlss-3-7-and-amd-fsr-2-2-1/
Modder ‘Ganaboy’ has released a new version of the Dark Souls 2 Lighting Engine Mod. This update adds support for NVIDIA DLSS and AMD FSR. These will make the game’s graphics look better, especially with DLSS, and will also help it run more smoothly on PCs.
Going into more details, DS2 Lighting Engine V_9_3_5 adds support for NVIDIA DLSS 3.7 and AMD FSR 2.2.1. Both of these upscaling techniques also have access to motion vectors. As such, they should have minimal visual artifacts in motion.
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Do note that the mod only adds support for the NVIDIA DLSS and AMD FSR Super Resolution tech. It does not bring support for Frame Generation. So, don’t expect such a thing from it.
For those unaware, DS2LightingEngine is one of the best graphical mods for Dark Souls 2. This mod enables modern effects like Volumetric Fog, High Quality Ambient Occlusion using GTAO and Adaptive Tessellation. Not only that, but it allows many light sources to cast shadows. Players can also enjoy a new Distant Geometry system, as well as improved material rendering for metals/non-metals. The mod also allows placing new meshes and texture overriding and has an improved postprocessor.
>> There’s a 2 minutes video in the article.

Witcher 3 mod restores cut boat-racing quests
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/witcher-3-mod-restores-cut-boat-racing-quests/
The release of the REDkit modding tools has opened up The Witcher 3 like a Yuletide goose, resulting in finds like an extended version of the ending in which Yennefer pulls off a shocking betrayal. Less plot-relevant but still pretty neat, modder MerseyRockoff has found the audio and text files for a cut series of quests where Geralt could enter a string of boat races, and set about recreating them.
As MerseyRockoff notes, "all the conversations, characters, notices and journal entries featured in the mod were originally written by CDPR, but re-created and brought to life by me using REDkit." That means the Boat Races mod feels like a seamless insertion into The Witcher 3, with Geralt having fully voiced conversations with race organizers and various townsfolk about competitive boating, as well as overhearing relevant chatter on the street.
The races themselves have you choose between representing Novigrad or Redania, who sponsor the competitions, in four tournaments: the Novigrad Regatta, the Oxenfurt Regatta, the Helmsman's Dash, and the Rally of the Wrecks. Each sees you racing between burning wooden checkpoints, with a bundle of cash and experience points waiting if you win.
>> The article has an over 25 minutes video and the instructions to install the mod.

GAMING NEWS

Dataminer unearths 'cut' voicelines from Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree's stoic final boss
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/dataminer-unearths-cut-voicelines-from-elden-ring-shadow-of-the-erdtree-s-stoic-final-boss/
Before we get into this, there'll (naturally) be spoilers for Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree's final boss within.

'It was so much of a cash cow': Former GTA 5 dev implies ill-fated Agent Trevor DLC was sacrificed at the altar of GTA Online
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/grand-theft-auto/it-was-so-much-of-a-cash-cow-former-gta-5-dev-says-ill-fated-agent-trevor-dlc-was-sacrificed-at-the-altar-of-gta-online/
There was a time, in the halcyon days of the 2000s to early 2010s, where we used to get new Grand Theft Auto games. Okay, to be fair, Grand Theft Auto 6 is on its way, but it's been over a decade since GTA 5 released—contrast that to the five years between GTA 4 and 5.
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I'm being glib here, but you can't deny that game development on one of Rockstar's flagship franchises has slowed down considerably. That's partially due to development times getting longer across the industry—but it's also due to the fact that GTA Online, the live service component of GTA 5, has made Rockstar approximately enough money to buy god.
According to former developer Joe Robino, who worked on GTA 5 as a virtual cinematographer and senior camera artist, GTA Online was so successful that it helped sink plans for a DLC focused on Trevor Philips. This sounds a whole lot like the "James Bond Trevor" DLC that was datamined by players, then later confirmed to have once been in development by Trevor's voice actor, Steve Ogg.

Factorio's big Space Age expansion arrives in October and it's going to be even bigger than we thought
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/sim/factorios-big-space-age-expansion-arrives-in-october-and-its-going-to-be-even-bigger-than-we-thought/
Factorio's interstellar expansion Space Age will launch on October 21, a date developer Wube says is good for two reasons: It gives developers enough time after their summer vacations to finish polishing the game, and enough time before the Christmas holidays to take care of any bug fixes.

After a year of competitive dino survival, Capcom ends new updates for Exoprimal
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/after-a-year-of-competitive-dino-survival-capcom-ends-new-updates-for-exoprimal/
It's a sad day for humanity's endless culture war against large lizards: Exoprimal, Capcom's competitive action game that pits two teams of anime mech suits in a race to see who can fight dinosaurs fastest, has gotten its last new update just a year after its release. Capcom announced today that "all planned Exoprimal seasonal content has been finished," and the conclusion of Exoprimal's Season 4 on July 11 will mark the end of ongoing content development.