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

[JEMC]

Thursday news, part one:

SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS

This week, the Epic Store gives away Moving Out: https://store.epicgames.com/en-US/p/moving-out
Next week, the free games will be Witch It and Ghostwire: Tokyo.

GOG has two LTO and a new sale:

• The two Limited Time Offers will last 22 hours and are:
  • The Legend of Skye, 30% off: https://www.gog.com/en/game/the_legend_of_skye
  • Interstellar Space: Genesis, with a 67% discount: https://www.gog.com/en/game/interstellar_space_genesis
• The Yakuza Franchise Sale puts the games up to 70% off during 13 days: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20241024_yakuza_franchise_sale

Steam has two new deals:

• Ravenous Devils, that has a demo, gets a 55% discount until October 30: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1615290/Ravenous_Devils/
• Railbound is going to be 40% off until the 6th of November: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1967510/Railbound/

And Humble Bundle presents the Microids Mystery Menagerie Bundle, with up to 19 items to get (18 games + 1 coupon) during 20 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/microids-mystery-menagerie.

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

You might want to hold off installing the latest Game Ready Nvidia GeForce driver if you're using Corsair iCUE or Bluestacks
https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/graphics-cards/you-might-want-to-hold-off-installing-the-latest-game-ready-nvidia-geforce-driver-if-youre-using-corsair-icue-or-bluestacks/
Nvidia's latest Game Ready GeForce driver (566.03) is out and should optimise your rig for some new and upcoming games and DLC, but Corsair iCUE or Bluestacks users might want to hold off on pressing that shiny green update button.
In its release notes (PDF), Nvidia reports (via Overclock3D) "higher than normal CPU usage" as an "open issue" for iCUE and Bluestacks software. The former is software that allows for centralised control for all your Corsair hardware—you know, for that sweet, sweet RGB sync—and the latter is Android emulator software.

'It even breaks my heart a bit': Denuvo pushes back on its haters, says Steam forums are a 'very toxic, very hostile environment'
https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/gaming-headsets/it-even-breaks-my-heart-a-bit-denuvo-pushes-back-on-its-haters-says-steam-forums-are-a-very-toxic-very-hostile-environment/
Not everyone thinks Denuvo DRM is a crime against PC gaming, but you'd probably struggle to find a PC gamer who says they like the anti-piracy software. And why should they? If it works properly, the only people who should notice the existence of Denuvo DRM are the software pirates trying to crack it. Everyone else is free to hate it—because they think it hurts performance, or just because they don't like DRM—or have no feelings about it at all.
That's been the status quo for a long time, but Denuvo is finally pushing back on gamers who characterize it as the Lex Luthor of PC gaming, and says that not only should we not hate it, we should appreciate Denuvo DRM for the good it does for game developers.
"It even breaks my heart a bit to see how our solutions, especially the anti-piracy solution, are picked up by the community," Denuvo product manager Andreas Ullmann told me earlier this year at the Game Developer's Conference in San Francisco. "Because I think it's not fully understood the benefits that our solution can bring, because preventing piracy, you earn more through your game, which is then reinvested into making greater games. I don't have any proof for it, but probably, if our solution does not exist, maybe there are some great games that never get developed."
>> My take on it

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Starfield Mod adds daily routines to 40 NPCs across major cities
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/starfield-mod-adds-daily-routines-to-40-npcs-across-major-cities/
Starfield fans, here is something for you. Modder ‘FlippingEggs’ has released a pretty cool mod for it that adds daily routines to 36 named NPCs, and 4 unnamed NPCs across major cities and settlements.
Going into more details, this mod adds daily schedules to 40 NPCs in total. It also adds 10 new robots that work in various stores, so you can buy stuff when the store owner isn’t there. Plus, it adds 57 data slates to various store countertops and NPCs’ personal spaces.
The modder has added NPC routines that are controlled by custom AI packages which he created from scratch. As such, NPCs will physically walk from their store to various locations, and back. All schedules and store hours are based on a planet’s local time. The business directories for the New Atlantis and Akila information kiosks have been updated to show businesses that have hours and/or robots.
Not only that but FlippingEggs restored two vanilla dialogue scenes. Antonio Bianchi (UC Surplus in the Well) and Farad Kallob (Eit Clothiers) will now have unique greeting scenes. Plus, the modder added extra dialogue options that allow you to skip some of the longer greeting conversations that Neon vendors give to you the first time you talk to them.
>> The article has no media.

I played the banned Skyrim mod that turns it into World War 2 and, no kidding, it's honestly kind of incredible
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/the-elder-scrolls/i-played-the-banned-skyrim-mod-that-turns-it-into-world-war-2-and-no-kidding-its-honestly-kind-of-incredible/
I never quite got Skyrim. I'm a Morrowind nerd, yeah, sure, we're all very certain of that, but it's not my pining for the old days that meant the game never sat right with me. What was it? The slightly floaty combat? The streamlined skill system?
No. It was the fact that it never let me annihilate a mudcrab with a DP-27 light machine gun using 7.62x54mmR rounds, sending it speeding at 400 miles per hour across a lake surface and into the waiting arms of God.
Luckily, someone has solved that problem. Skyrim WW2 Overhaul is, well, just what it says: a mod that cuts Skyrim's plinky, do-nothing civil war that consists of four Norwegians smacking each other in a field and replaces it with the most destructive conflict in human history. Specifically, it turns it into the Eastern Front, turning Imperials and Stormcloaks into the Red Army and Wehrmacht (which is which depends on the flavour of mod you download).
(… a long and detailed description of the mod...)
It is, I cannot emphasise this enough, incredibly fun to just dip in and see how long you can go for. Which makes it a shame it's not technically on Nexus Mods right now. The big ol' mod site banned it for reasons I can't find, but if I were to guess I'd probably say the whole 'WW2 Eastern Front' thing made it a bit of a magnet for awful people, even if the author promised "This mod is created purely for entertainment and not to push any political agenda or offend. Great effort has been made to exclude any symbols/units/uniforms that can be seen as offensive."
I say technically because, if you have the link, you can still download the mod. This link right here, to be specific. And if that doesn't work, a noble soul has uploaded it to Archive.org too (although that website's currently down for other reasons). I'd grab it now, if I were you. War waits for no man.
>> The article has some screenshots and a 30 seconds video.

GAMING NEWS

Star Wars Outlaws Title Update 1.3.0 Released, Full Patch Notes
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/star-wars-outlaws-title-update-1-3-0-released-full-patch-notes/
Ubisoft has just released Title Update 1.3.0 for Star Wars Outlaws, and it shared its full patch notes. According to the devs, this new patch will improve stealth to give players more flexibility in how they approach situations. It also brings some other improvements and bug fixes. So, let’s take a look at all of them.