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

[JEMC]

The Tuesday news, in one single post:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Steam’s Top 10

(Click here for the Top 100)

50 million downloads in less than a week: Zenless Zone Zero, MiHoYo's action-RPG gacha, is (unsurprisingly) popular
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/50-million-downloads-in-less-than-a-week-zenless-zone-zero-mihoyo-s-action-rpg-gacha-is-unsurprisingly-popular/
Even if you're pretty miserly on gacha games' entire shtick—god knows I am—you can't deny that MiHoYo hasn't missed yet.
Kicking down the door to a market (and then proceeding to corner it) back in 2020 with a little game called Genshin Impact, you might've heard of it, MiHoYo proceeded to make a turn-based RPG with the same legendary polish via Honkai Star Rail.
It's still early days, but it looks like action-RPG Zenless Zone Zero, a game released barely over a year since Honkai's debut, is poised to be a hat trick. According to the game's official Twitter account, Zenless Zone Zero has already raked in over 50 million downloads worldwide.

While Steam’s Summer Sale is still going on (but only until this Thursday, the 11th!) that hasn’t stopped them from launching new weeklong deals. There’s not many of them so I’ll leave it to you to check them by yourselves.

Fanatical has a new Star Deal and bundle:

• The new Star Deal is Hogwarts Legacy Digital Deluxe Edition, 66% off during 48 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/hogwarts-legacy-digital-deluxe-edition
• The new bundle is the BYO Bountiful Bundle, featuring 26 games for your 1+, 2+ or 6+ bundle: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-bountiful-bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

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MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

This Skyrim Mod makes its dragons feel more like those from Monster Hunter by overhauling their combat animations
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/this-skyrim-mod-makes-its-dragons-feel-more-like-those-from-monster-hunter-by-overhauling-their-combat-animations/
Modder ‘Cult’ has released an amazing new mod for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition. This mod will overhaul the combat animations of all dragons, making them more challenging and fun to battle.
As the modder noted, the aim of this mod was to make some unreadable attacks more telegraphed. Moreover, it makes some slow attacks a bit faster (like bites and tail attacks). What’s also cool here is that you can now evade the tail attack by jumping.
In short, this mod will make your fights with the dragons feel a lot better. In a way, these combat improvements reminded me of Monster Hunter. So, if you were disappointed by the dragon fights in Skyrim, you should get this mod as soon as possible.
>> The article has a 2 minutes video.

'The end is in sight'—Fallout: London, a DLC-sized mod plagued by delays, will arrive soon with its own installer to help slim the chances of Bethesda breaking it a 2nd time
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fallout/the-end-is-in-sight-fallout-london-a-dlc-sized-mod-plagued-by-delays-will-arrive-soon-with-its-own-installer-that-should-slim-the-chances-of-bethesda-breaking-it-a-2nd-time/
Fallout: London is one of the more ambitious mods I've seen—a complete conversion mod of Fallout 4 which is brave enough to ask the question: what if British people could also blow themselves up?
After repeatedly rejected expense requests for nuclear bombs to test this hypothesis (apparently they're "out of budget"), I'm pretty excited to see how Fallout: London shakes the series up, even if it's in an unofficial capacity—despite its ambitions, though, Fallout: London has yet to see the light of day after a "next gen" Fallout 4 update (which didn't look very next-gen at all) went ahead and nuked its development timeline.
(...)
Still, Fallout: London's almost here, according to the game's official Twitter account and Discord server: "There has been a lot of speculation regarding our upcoming release, and we wanted to open up and clear the air for our core supporters."
Fallout: London is, the announcement reads, simply "waiting for the final green light" while working with GOG to distribute the mod. "Once they've completed the process of double-checking that Fallout: London and its installer work on all supported machines, we should be good to go."
That installer is key, since it'll also be accompanied by a "downgrader", which should future-proof Fallout: London against any more of Bethesda's meddling. "It is in all of our interests that this final QA process is carried out in full, and we are very thankful that GOG is assisting … The end is in sight."
>> There are no screenshots or videos in the article.

Elden Ring mod finally lets you wear Ranni as a demigod backpack like the true consort you are
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/elden-ring-mod-finally-lets-you-wear-ranni-as-a-demigod-backpack-like-the-true-consort-you-are/
Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree raises the bar for "fashion souls" players who chase the RPG's ultimate endgame: finding the cleanest fit possible. And by "raises the bar" I mean it establishes the concept—at least lore-wise—that you can just strap a demigod to you like you're giving them a piggyback ride. The ultimate drip. Sadly, it isn't possible to equip a demigod backpack in the game normally, so ApolloHoo has released a mod to fix that.
"Ranni's Promised Consort Tarnished" isn't the most descriptive title for a mod, but the images on the Nexus Mods page get the point across: You can wear everyone's favorite moon witch on your back like Godfrey's lion or a certain boss in the DLC. She doesn't do anything special back there but if you're a newlywed in new game+, you can think of it like a honeymoon in the Lands Between.
Comments on the Nexus Mod page say it can be tricky to install. You need to unzip the folder, which can throw up errors (it did for me), and drag the files into a Mod Engine 2 folder. A few people in the comments have uploaded "fixed" contents of the folder, but I'll let you decide how much you trust downloading files from random Nexus Mod strangers. Some commenters say they got it working without any extra help. It's worth scrolling through the comments though, there are instructions for how to prevent Ranni from showing up misaligned on your character and how to switch which weapon makes her appear (by default it's the Finger Seal).
>> No screenshots nor videos in the mod.

A brand new version of the RTX Remix Path Tracing Mod for Need for Speed Underground has been released
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/a-brand-new-version-of-the-rtx-remix-path-tracing-mod-for-need-for-speed-underground-has-been-released/
Modder ‘alessandro893’ has released a new version of his RTX Remix Path Tracing Mod for Need for Speed Underground. According to the release notes, version 0.1 brings performance optimizations, as well as some graphical improvements. So, let’s take a closer look at it.
For those unaware, this RTX Remix Mod adds full Ray Tracing/Path Tracing effects to the classic NFS: Underground PC racing game. From what I can see, though, it appears that the mod is still in an early dev state. Yes, it looks better than its initial version. However, it still needs a lot of work.
Version 0.1 allows all cars to have head/tail lights, volumetric lights and emissive mask. Furthermore, it packs a huge amount of new PBR textures, and it fixes an issue with the game’s transparent materials.
>> There’s a less than 2 minutes video of the mod.

GAMING NEWS

You can now play Point Blank X on PC with a mouse, a Wiimote or a GUN4IR
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/play-point-blank-x-pc-mouse-wiimote-gun4ir/
Arcade rail/light-gun shooter fans, here is something really special for you today. Someone has dumped the arcade ROM of Point Blank X, and this arcade shooter is now playable on PC. Not only that, but you can use a mouse to enjoy it. And if that wasn’t enough, you can either use a Wiimore or a GUN4IR.

Helldivers 2 players realise you can survive ludicrous falls by doing a Hug emote while flying through the air
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/helldivers-2-players-realise-you-can-survive-ludicrous-falls-by-doing-a-hug-emote-while-flying-through-the-air/
The Helldivers are currently engaged in an all-out brawl over planet X-45, thanks to a major order that has everyone wondering about the potential reward of a mysterious interplanetary battle station. The order is due to wrap up soon and, although players have been making good progress, a renewed assault from the dastardly Automatons in the final day means it's all hands on deck, and over 50% of all Helldivers are on this single planet.
The official narrative aside, however, the hardy defenders of democracy have discovered a new variety of bug: the good kind. Helldivers 2 incorporates fall damage which, depending on the situation, can be as deadly as any Bile Titan. (...)
Players have now discovered that fall damage can be reduced significantly through the simple method of triggering an emote animation once airborne. The below clip shows a Helldiver coming in hot and landing their pod atop an Automaton tank, destroying it, and triggering an explosion as their avatar exits the Hellpod. The explosion sends them into the stratosphere but, partway through the arc, the emote is triggered and the Helldiver character swiftly changes from flailing about to a weirdly rigid posture. They sail through the air like this and land safely from a fall that should have been fatal several times over.

Apex Legends announces 'improved' battle pass structure that actually sucks for players, removes option to pay with in-game currency
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/battle-royale/apex-legends-new-battle-pass/
One thing you never want to see as a player of a live service game is a convoluted new spreadsheet—they're rarely if ever a bearer of good news. Case in point: The "improved" Apex Legends battle pass structure, announced today with a blog post and headache-inducing chart, has immediately led to protest planning.

The First Descendant contains icons from Destiny 2, and one theory about how they got there is a reminder that not everything on the internet is what it purports to be
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/the-first-descendant-contains-icons-from-destiny-2-and-one-theory-about-how-they-got-there-is-a-reminder-that-not-everything-on-the-internet-is-what-it-purports-to-be/
It came to light recently that an awful lot of icons in The First Descendant look an awful lot like icons in Destiny 2—far more than anyone could reasonably attribute to coincidence. Some have been adjusted to a small degree, others are just about straight-up copies, and it all seemed very strange: Would Nexon, a major player in the games business, really just steal assets from genre competitor Bungie, as if nobody would notice?
Shortly after the similarities were noticed, an explanation was put forward: Destiny 2 and The First Descendant both appear to make use of free-to-use icons sourced from a site called Iconduck. That seemed to make sense at first blush, but it raised an obvious follow-up question: Why the hell would Bungie use free artwork? We're not talking about a one-person indie working on their first project, after all: Destiny 2 is one of the biggest shooters on the planet.

Sony's hero shooter Concord reveals PC system requirements ahead of two weekend beta tests
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/sonys-hero-shooter-concord-reveals-pc-system-requirements-ahead-of-two-weekend-beta-tests/
Concord, the upcoming hero shooter from Firewalker Studios and Sony, "has some juice," executive editor Tyler Wilde declared in a recent preview. Even better, it also has a couple of beta weekends coming very soon, so while I personally would trust Tyler's assessment implicitly, you'll be able to make up your own mind if that's how you prefer to do things—as long as you have a PC up to the task, that is.

League of Legends game director asks the community how players who throw games should be punished: 'Immediately or some lenience?'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/moba/league-of-legends-game-director-asks-the-community-how-players-who-throw-games-should-be-punished-immediately-or-some-lenience/
League of Legends game director Pu Liu has confirmed that not only does Riot have the capabilities to increase detection of soft inting, but it's also looking at ways to punish transgressors. 
Soft inting is apparently "a large problem in the game," Liu tweets as part of his announcement. This term covers players who don't lose games on purpose but don't contribute to a win. Instead of interacting with other players in a team fight or the objective, they tend to farm sidelanes and just generally switch off focus. Players can do this for various reasons. It may be that someone on their team made them angry, so they want to stop them from winning, or they just give up too quickly and can't be bothered to try for the rest of the match. 

The Baldur's Gate 3 council of sages (or Larian Studios, if you want to be boring) meets on holy ground to discuss 'lift off' for its next big game
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/baldurs-gate/the-baldur-s-gate-3-council-of-sages-or-larian-studios-if-you-want-to-be-boring-meets-on-holy-ground-to-discuss-lift-off-for-its-next-big-game/
Around two years ago, a wise council of sages, artificers, and mages from across the realm (a collection of people sometimes called a "game development studio") met in an officious chamber to discuss how to finish Baldur's Gate 3, a game that would go on to steal about 200 hours of my life—and gain one of PC Gamer's highest review scores, period.
That's according to Larian CEO and co-founder Swen Vincke himself, as per a recent post to Twitter. In it, Vincke shows the hallowed halls in which the game developer held a summit yesterday: "2 years ago we came to this exact place to discuss how to finish BG3. This time around it’s to discuss lift off. Spirits are high, morale is good, expecting a flooding any minute now."