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

[JEMC]

It’s Monday? Again? *Sigh* Let’s go with the news, then:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

Despite its 'mixed' user rating on Steam, The First Descendant has racked up over 10 million players in its first week
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/third-person-shooter/despite-its-mixed-user-rating-on-steam-the-first-descendant-has-racked-up-over-10-million-players-in-its-first-week/
In the 1980s, British pop star Shakin' Stevens had a string of hits with what was essentially an Elvis Presley impersonation, leading the Chart Music podcast to nickname any poor man's incarnation of another pop star the Shakin' version. Tori Amos, for instance, is Shakin' Kate Bush.
I told you that so I can tell you this: The First Descendant is Shakin' Destiny. 
And yet, according to the official Twitter account, The First Descendant has been played by more than 10 million people in its first week. "We've reached 10 million Descendants in just 7 days!" they wrote. "Thank you all for your tremendous support and love. It means everything to us. We will do our best to bring you great experiences. Can't wait to continue this journey together!"
Meanwhile, on Steam, the new shlooter hasn't exactly been rolling around in positive reception. Some user reviews are frustrated by the endgame grind, saying, "They want players to feel frustrated and confused so that they are incentivized to pull out their wallets in order to improve their experience." Others complain about having to install two separate anti-cheat programs, or simply sum it up as, "When Warframe and Destiny 2 have a child together but they don't treat him/her nicely".
>> It looks like the game needs some work. Just like the icons, that will get changed to look less like Destiny’s 2 ones.

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

• The first one is Tomb Raider I-III Remastered Starring Lara Croft, 25% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/tomb_raider_i_to_iii_remastered
• The second one is The Planet Crafter, with a 30% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/the_planet_crafter

Steam has four deals:

• Big Ambitions, still in Early Access, will be 25% off until the 21st: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1331550/Big_Ambitions/
• Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus gets an 80% discount until the same July 21st: https://store.steampowered.com/app/673880/Warhammer_40000_Mechanicus/
• Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 also has an 80% discount, but until the 25th of July: https://store.steampowered.com/app/573100/Battlefleet_Gothic_Armada_2/
• And Alba: A Wildlife Adventure is going to be 75% off until the 28th: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1337010/Alba_A_Wildlife_Adventure/

Humble Bundle has launched the Summer Sims 2: Astragon Anthology Bundle, featuring up to 17 items (games and DLCs) from this publisher during the next 18 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/summer-sims-2-astragon-anthology.

And Fanatical has two new deals:

• The new Star Deal is Trepang 2, 52% off during 24 hours: https://www.fanatical.com/en/game/trepang-2
• And the Bundle Bash event will bring a new bundle every day during this week. Today’s new bundle is the BYO RPG Bundle, featuring 20 games for your 3+, 5+ or 8+ bundle: https://www.fanatical.com/en/pick-and-mix/build-your-own-rpg-bundle

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

Court documents show that not only is Valve a fraction the size of companies like EA or Ubisoft, it's smaller than a lot of triple-A developers
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/court-documents-show-that-not-only-is-valve-a-fraction-the-size-of-companies-like-ea-or-ubisoft-its-smaller-than-a-lot-of-triple-a-developers/
First noted by SteamDB creator Pavel Djundik and reported by The Verge, documents from an antitrust suit against Valve show that the company consisted of 336 employees in 2021. That's a fraction of the size of most big game publishers, even as Steam continues to shape PC gaming as a whole.
The documents originate from Wolfire Games' 2021 lawsuit arguing that Steam constitutes an unfair monopoly on PC digital distribution. The documents remain partially redacted, and were likely meant to have all the juicy details fully blacked out⁠—a surprisingly common error in the US legal system that leads to sensitive data being made public.
The Verge has a full chart of the year-by year number of employees and departmental payroll changes at Valve. The chart confirms prior reporting that the overall headcount at the company has remained pretty stable for the last 10 years—back in 2016 we reported that the company had around 360 employees, while Wikipedia quoted the company as having 330 in 2013. 
Here's the topline from 2021: Of those 336 employees, 79 directly worked on Steam, while a whopping 181 remained in the "Games" department⁠—pretty much the reverse of what I expected, given Steam's importance to company profits and how rarely Valve releases new games. There were just 41 employees working on hardware development at that time, right on the eve of the Steam Deck's launch, and the remaining 35 employees were in admin.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Latest version of the PlayStation 4 emulator, shadPS4, can now run Turok and boot Bloodborne with correct colors
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/latest-version-of-the-playstation-4-emulator-shadps4-can-now-run-turok-and-boot-bloodborne-with-correct-colors/
Earlier this month, we informed you about the PlayStation 4 emulator, shadPS4, launching Bloodborne. That version of the PS4 emulator could not display the right colors when Bloodborne was running. Thanks to a new update, though, you can now get the correct colors.
Do note that shadPS4 cannot progress further than the character menu. So yeah, don’t expect to be playing it on PC with this new version of shadPS4. Still, progress is progress.
Moreover, shadPS4 can now run Turok: Dinosaur Hunter Remastered. This isn’t THAT exciting for a lot of PC gamers as there is already a PC version of it. Still, it’s good to see more and more 3D games running on this PlayStation 4 emulator.
>> The article has a short video and some screenshots. And this same emulator can also boot Red Dead Redemption Remastered. Boot, not play.

This mod adds 15 new & unique quests to The Witcher 3 Next-Gen
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/this-mod-adds-15-new-unique-quests-to-the-witcher-3-next-gen/
Modder ‘PaulR0013’ has released a cool new mod for The Witcher 3 Next-Gen that adds to the game 15 new quests. According to the modder, the mod will turn some of the game activities into actual side quests.
For those unaware, The Witcher 3 features numerous side activities. These activities often result in giving rewards and sometimes unique interactions and dialogue. However, they are not tracked in the journal and do not feature notifications to assist the player with completing them.
So, what this mod does is turn these activities into quests by wrapping brand new (unique) quests around them. When the activity is triggered, this mod will open the quest and provide tracking via objectives, maps, and journal descriptions.
You can download the mod from this link. Do note, though, that you’ll need the game’s expansion packs (Hearts of Stone and Blood & Wine). If you don’t own them, you won’t be able to use it.
>> The article has a less than 2 minutes video.

Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell RTX Remix Path Tracing Mod keeps getting better and better
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/tom-clancys-splinter-cell-rtx-remix-path-tracing-mod-keeps-getting-better-and-better/
YouTube’s ‘skurtyyskirts’ has shared another video from his WIP RTX Remix Path Tracing Mod for Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell. In this video, the modder showcased the Chinese Embassy. This is a never-before-seen environment, so let’s take a look at it.
As skurtyyskirts noted, he has fixed some of the culling issues that appeared in earlier versions of the mod. The modder disabled object culling in the runtime which prevents lights from hijacking the lighting in a scene that were placed in the toolkit. However, lights are still disappearing in the RTX Remix version.
>> The video is over 3 minutes long.

Deus Ex and Unreal Tournament 99 look incredible in Unreal Engine 5 thanks to Surreal 98
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/deus-ex-and-unreal-tournament-99-look-incredible-in-unreal-engine-5-thanks-to-surreal-98/
DXU24 has shared a video, showcasing the latest version of Surreal 98. Surreal 98, previously known as DXU24, is a game rendering client that will bring Deus Ex and Unreal Tournament 99 to Unreal Engine 5.
When using Surreal 98, older Unreal Engine games, like Deus Ex and UT99, will automatically run in Unreal Engine 5. This will allow them to take advantage of most of the new features of Epic’s engine.
According to the modder, Surreal 98 already supports Full Ray Tracing and Path Tracing. Moreover, it comes with support for UE5’s Lumen. Not only that but the modder added support for POM (Parallax Occlusion Mapping).
In the following video, we get to see some comparisons between the vanilla and the modded versions of Deus Ex and UT99. These are the two games in which Surreal 98 focuses on. In the future, the modder also plans to add support for Unreal Gold and RUNE.
Do note that this has nothing to do with the RTX Remix Mods of UT99 and Deus Ex. Surreal 98 replaces the rendering engine with UE5. That’s a whole different – and more complicated – project.
>> The video is over 30 minutes long.

Fallout 4 just got driveable cars/vehicles with Havok physics
https://www.dsogaming.com/pc-performance-analyses/fallout-4-just-got-driveable-cars-vehicles-with-havok-physics/
Fallout 4 fans, here is something for you today. Modder ‘BlahBlahDEEBlahBlah’ has released a mod that brings driveable cars/vehicles to Fallout 4, complete with Havok physics. So, let’s take a look at it, shall we?
Driveables of the Commonwealth – Wasteland Havok is basically an add-on for an older mod. In other words, you’ll need both the expansion and the base mods.
The expansion adds 8 “wasteland” vehicles (plus 2 experimental variations). All of these vehicles have Havok physics. Moreover, some of them come with multiple body/tire/paint options.
Now while this is a really cool concept, the mod needs a lot of work. From what I can see, the wheel axis is completely messed up. As such, it can become a real pain in the a$$ to drive the vehicles. Again, it’s a cool concept, and it’s something that some Fallout fans may appreciate. But man, a more polished version of it could easily be one of Fallout 4’s best mods.
A couple of days ago, the modder shared a video in which he announced a collaboration with The Wasteland Garage. In that video, which I also included below, we can see some better wheel physics. So, all hope is not lost. At least not yet.
>> The article has two videos.

The New Adventures of The Silver Shroud is a new quest mod for Fallout 4 with new boss fights, voice acting, and the reimagining of an old Fallout 3 enemy
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/the-new-adventures-of-the-silver-shroud-is-a-new-quest-mod-for-fallout-4-with-new-boss-fights-voice-acting-and-the-reimagining-of-an-old-fallout-3-enemy/
TheModdingGoat has released a new quest mod for Fallout 4, called The New Adventures of The Silver Shroud. This is a new and exciting quest mod dealing with further adventures of The Silver Shroud. So, let’s take a look at it.
Featuring a return to old fashion branching Fallout dialog, The New Adventures of The Silver Shroud promises a journey where your choices somewhat matter. The mod is said to have full of scripted boss fights, expert voice acting, and a custom boss theme. Moreover, the mod has a re-imagined old Fallout 3 enemy, and dialog that reflects your actions within the mod and from the game itself.
For the mod to start you must first complete the vanilla Silver Shroud quest and wait four days, after which listen to radio station 19.8.
The modder suggests using it on a new game. However, you can also use it on your ongoing playthrough. In theory, it should not cause any conflicts or issues.
>> You’ll fins a less than 2 minutes trailer of the mod.

Persona 4 Golden mod turns it back into your granddaddy's Shin Megami Tensei, fixing the gravest aesthetic crime of its non-PS2 version
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/persona-4-golden-mod-turns-it-back-into-your-granddaddys-shin-megami-tensei-fixing-the-gravest-aesthetic-crime-of-its-non-ps2-version/
Persona 4 is, for reasons almost entirely to do with the legendary Endurance Run, a profoundly important game to me. So important that when its whizzbang Golden version finally got its PC release back in 2020, I put a hundred hours into it in the blink of an eye.
But something felt a little off, and now I know what it was. Turns out, Persona 4 Golden had some distinct visual differences from the game's original 2008 PS2 release. It was much clearer, for one thing. Where the base game was bathed in a sickly fog, P4G was cleaner, sharper, more colourful. I've never been sure if it was an aesthetic choice or an accommodation Atlus made for Golden's appearance on the itsy-bitsy screen of the PS Vita—where it first released—but I knew it felt kind of wrong. It wasn't the Persona 4 I knew.
Well, good news: The Persona 4 I knew is being painstakingly restored by fans with precisely the same kind of obsessively weird brain I have. Meet P4 Fog Restoration, a mod from BrawlerAce that restores the glorious aesthetics of the PS2 era to P4G's sharpest, 4K-est PC version.
Per its GameBanana page, P4 Fog Restoration is actually only 40% done, and the plan is to eventually cover the entire game. As it currently stands, "All dungeons present in the original Persona 4 have received full visual overhauls, including to normal and boss battles, to match P4 PS2 as closely as possible." It's also touched up the Velvet Room and a few assorted other areas, though it sounds like P4G's exclusive dungeon hasn't been touched yet. Inaba itself—P4G's overworld—hasn't been affected yet either.
>> The article has a 2 minutes video.

GAMING NEWS

This may be our first look at BioShock 4
https://www.dsogaming.com/screenshot-news/this-may-be-our-first-look-at-bioshock-4/
A screenshot from what appears to be a 2021 build of the upcoming next-gen BioShock game, BioShock 4, has appeared online. This leaked screenshot does not show much, so don’t get your hopes up. Still, this is something that may interest our BioShock fans.