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JEMC 4 days ago
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The Monday news, part one:

SALES/PLAYER COUNTS & DEALS

Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 has almost hit 2 million sales, a 'reminder' to parent company Embracer 'to bring great products to the market'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/kingdom-come-deliverance-2-has-almost-hit-2-million-sales-a-reminder-to-parent-company-embracer-to-bring-great-products-to-the-market/
As reported by VGC, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 is nearing two million units sold across all platforms just under two weeks after it hit one million on its launch day alone. This has apparently "reminded" developer Warhorse's parent company, The Embracer Group, that selling good games that people like and want to buy is an important part of the business.
“The success of Kingdom Come: Deliverance II is a reminder of our core⁠—to bring great products to the market,” Embracer CEO Lars Wingefors said in response to the news. “High-quality teams need to have the resources and the time to execute their visions. When you have the right teams, this trust benefits everyone, including gamers, employees, and shareholders. I am convinced that we will remain among the industry leaders in our core business verticals in the future.”
Which is the kind of observation that should seem obvious to anyone with even a cursory knowledge of the industry, but is rapidly becoming a radical stance among the C-suite set as the experienced teams behind beloved games are forced to crunch on ill-considered projects outside their expertise or interest areas, then shut down when those games inevitably flop. Embracer's own Daedalic Entertainment had a good thing going making 2D adventure games before it was tasked with the now-infamous licensed triple-A action-adventure, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum. Daedalic has since laid off a third of its staff and pivoted away from developing its own games entirely.

France's biggest game industry union puts together a 'Grève Bundle' to support striking workers
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/frances-biggest-game-industry-union-puts-together-a-greve-bundle-to-support-striking-workers/
Workers in France's videogame industry took part in a nationwide one-day strike yesterday, and to help cover their lost wages the Syndicat des Travailleurs et Travailleuses du Jeu Vidéo (STJV) union has put together a Grève {"Strike") Bundle on Itch.io, offering a mix of more than 50 games, digital books, and other material for $10.
The strike was in protest of "layoffs and exhausting working conditions" in the game industry, and saw more than 1,000 people take part across the country. While there have been strikes at individual French studios in the past, this is apparently the first-ever industry-wide strike, according to an RFI report, and comes as the industry continues to grapple with layoffs, studio closures, and other labor disputes. As of 2022, there were 580 game studios in France.

To celebrate the launch of the latest game in the series, GOG brings the Trails Series Sale 2025, with up to 60% discounts until the end of the month: https://www.gog.com/en/promo/20250214_trails_series_sale.

Steam has these deals:

Humble Bundle presents the Deckbuilder Bonanza Bundle, with up to 6 games to get during 18 days: https://www.humblebundle.com/games/deckbuilder-bonanza.

Fanatical starts the week strong with the Gaming Legends Sale and also the following deals:

SOFTWARE & DRIVERS

Epic gave away nearly 600 million games in 2024, and it's 'not slowing down' for 2025
https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-industry/epic-gave-away-nearly-600-million-games-in-2024-and-its-not-slowing-down-for-2025/
With 2024 now well behind us, the Epic Games Store has shared its annual look back at the year that was. On the whole, it sounds like a pretty good year for Epic, which saw the number of games on its store, and the number of people using it, both take big jumps.
The Epic Games Store rang up 295 million users in 2024, an increase over 2023 of 25 million, and the "Epic ecosystem" grew as well, to 898 million "total Epic cross-platform accounts," up by 94 million from the 2023 number. What really surprised me, though, is that 1,100 new games were released on Epic in 2024, taking the total number of games on the storefront to over 4,000. Frankly, I didn't realize there were 1,100 games on the Epic Store in total.
(...)
Epic also shared a rundown of its top PC games in 2024, and while specific numbers aren't included it's interesting to see how they break down across three separate categories. Farming Simulator 2022 raised my eyebrow, but 2023 and '24 editions weren't released, and the most recent version, Farming Simulator 2025, didn't come out until mid-November 2024.

MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS

Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth gets a 21GB Texture Pack that enhances 98% of the interiors, overhauling around 14000 textures
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/final-fantasy-7-rebirth-gets-a-21gb-texture-pack-that-enhances-98-of-the-interiors-overhauling-around-14000-textures/
Modder ‘Romi’ is back with another must-have Texture Pack for Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth. This pack is 21GB in size and covers 98% of the game’s interiors, overhauling around 14000 textures.
To showcase some of the new textures, the modder shared the following comparison screenshots. So, be sure to check them out as they can give you a pretty good idea of what you can expect from it.

Here’s Skyrim with 3500+ mods at 8K on an NVIDIA RTX 5090
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/heres-skyrim-with-3500-mods-at-8k-on-an-nvidia-rtx-5090/
YouTube’s ‘Digital Dreams’ has shared a video, showcasing a heavily modified version of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim running at 8K on an NVIDIA RTX 5090. So, let’s see whether this new high-end GPU can handle Skyrim with over 3500 mods.
To capture this video, Digital Dreams used an AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D with 64GB of RAM and an NVIDIA RTX 5090. Moreover, the YouTuber included a Performance Tab, meaning that we can see how the game actually runs on this specific PC system.
As we can see, the game runs with an average of 55FPS. The minimum framerate is at around 40FPS in forest areas. On the other hand, in less demanding areas, the game can run with 60FPS.
In theory, Skyrim would benefit from Smooth Motion. From what I can tell, Digital Dreams did not enable it. Since the base framerate is above 40FPS, Smooth Motion should do a pretty good job at improving overall performance.
It’s also worth noting that Digital Dreams has shared the list of mods he has used. So, if you want to make Skyrim look like what you see in this video, you can download the modlist from this link.
>> The article has an over 10 minutes video.

New Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Mod Enables Async Compute
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/new-kingdom-come-deliverance-2-mod-enables-async-compute/
Modder ‘ChemBoy1’ has released a must-have mod for Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 that enables Async Compute. By enabling Async Compute, you’ll get a better performance in this game without any drawbacks whatsoever.
Async Compute basically lets the render pipeline run tasks asynchronously rather than synchronously. This can help the GPU finish rendering frames in a shorter time, thus improving your framerate.
I’ve tried the mod and I can confirm that it does boost overall performance. At Native 4K/Experimental Settings, I was getting 66/75FPS on my NVIDIA RTX 5090. After installing the mod, I got 71/80FPS (which is around 6-7% better performance).
With DLSS Quality Mode at 4K, I was having 82/91FPS without the mod. With the mod, I was having 90/101FPS. That’s an 11% performance increase.
In short, yes. This mod works. It will improve your overall performance. And no, I did not experience any issues with it. Everything looked and felt exactly the same. So, as I said, this is a must-have mod for everyone.
>> The article has no media.

The Gray Cowl of Nocturnal is another DLC-sized mod for Skyrim
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/the-gray-cowl-of-nocturnal-is-another-dlc-sized-mod-for-skyrim/
Modder ‘MannyGT’ has released a new version of his The Gray Cowl of Nocturnal fan expansion for Skyrim: Special Edition. This DLC-sized mod packs over 8 hours of new gameplay. So, make sure to download it if you are currently playing it.
Going into more details, the mod contains many new assets like new meshes, new sounds, new textures and new voices. You’ll see new dungeons, new houses and new landscapes. Most of these 3D assets were created by MannyGT himself.
As said, this is a DLC-sized mod. In total, you can expect 8-15 hours of gameplay time. And this right here is the reason why Skyrim will never die. As long as modders release new fan expansions for it, players will keep enjoying it. In a way, this reminds me of the mods we were getting back for Quake 2. Ah, those were the good days.
>> There’s an over 2 minutes video in the article.

Maybe I'll finally stop getting lost in Fallout: New Vegas' Bison Steve Hotel thanks to this new minimap mod
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fallout/maybe-ill-finally-stop-getting-lost-in-fallout-new-vegas-bison-steve-hotel-thanks-to-this-new-minimap-mod/
Earlier this month, modder Stentorious on the New Vegas Nexus graced us with one of those "oh my god, why hadn't somebody done this already" quality of life tweaks for Obsidian's open world classic: Modern Minimap, a handy, legible minimap for navigating the Mojave's twistiest interiors.
New Vegas' floating quest markers are good enough for navigating most of the time, but if you're looking for something outside the bounds of quest objectives, some of the game's areas can be a bit of a bear to orient yourself in. The Bison Steve Hotel's upper floors, with their samey rooms and collapsed passageways, immediately spring to mind for me. Freeside and its neighbors are pretty bad offenders as well, split up as they are into multiple separate, nested loading zones.
And New Vegas' local map on the Pip Boy pause screen, inherited from Fallout 3, is practically no help. The faint outlines of navigable paths and obstacles blend together with a confounding amount of clutter and visual noise on the monochrome screen, making the slight delay of bringing up the Pip Boy to orient yourself always feel like wasted time.
The Modern Minimap mod thankfully works with the Local Map Overhaul to help with all of those problems, presenting a far cleaner, more legible output than New Vegas' default while still fitting the retro-futurist Pip Boy aesthetic, and all without having to pause your game. Modern Minimap has two versions, with minimalist and maximalist approaches to icons and other features. I'd probably stick to the "Lite" version, but I'm a bit of a purist stickler when it comes to mods. Modern Minimap has a fair number of dependencies that you'll also have to download, but some of them, like NVSE and Johnny Guitar, are essential addons you should always just grab by default when reinstalling New Vegas.
>> The article has a three minutes video.

Dark Messiah of Might and Magic gets co-op mode and extra content thanks to the mod community's collaboration with Ubisoft: 'To see it all come together has been very emotional for us'
https://www.pcgamer.com/games/action/dark-messiah-of-might-and-magic-gets-co-op-mode-and-extra-content-thanks-to-the-mod-communitys-collaboration-with-ubisoft-to-see-it-all-come-together-has-been-very-emotional-for-us/
I never cease to be amazed at the modding community's ability to make PC games bigger, better, and in many cases weirder. But the love shown by modder KingDavidW to Arkane's pre-Dishonored hack 'n' slash Dark Messiah of Might and Magic goes above and beyond. As recently outlined in a lengthy update on ModDB, KingDavidW has been actively working with Ubisoft—Dark Messiah's publisher—and Nvidia to bring a swathe of mods and modding tools to the 2006 action game. Now, that collaboration has begun to yield fruit.
KingDavidW leads with details regarding the collaboration between themselves and Ubisoft/Nvidia, which feeds into numerous mods currently being created by the game's modding community. "The official support we've had from the Ubisoft and Nvidia partnership has allowed us to reach heights we never thought we could in our work here," he writes, noting that "Our contacts at Ubisoft have been fighting for us to bring everything we can think of to this amazing community".
One of the ways Ubisoft has assisted the modders is with restoring cut content to Dark Messiah, which is the new aim of the suitably titled "Dark Messiah: Restoration Mod". KingDavidW explains this mod was originally limited to fixing "gameplay related bugs" such as buggy ropes, level soft-locks and "the dreaded French keyboard popup", a phrase that sounds like a particularly difficult magic trick.
However, Ubisoft provided access to some "amazing assets" from Dark Messiah of Might and Magic: Element, the Xbox 360 version of the game. "Within that there was a load of cut content never before seen In Dark Messiah." Now, the Restoration mod provides access to bonus missions, alternate levels, a "cut level" from Dark Messiah called The Caves, and several cut weapons such as the "Sword of Misery or the Necromancer Staff".
Alongside this cut content, Ubisoft is also helping the modders work on an "advanced SDK", which KingDavidW hopes will result in a release within "the next few months instead of the end of the year." As for Nvidia's assistance, KingDavidW doesn't specify precisely how the company has helped. Presumably it has to do with the Dark Messiah RTX mod the community is working on. This remains heavily in development, as it requires reworking models and textures which KingDavidW says take "extremely long to make". The community has put together a trailer showing the mod's progress so far, which you can view below:
**shorter than 2 minutes video here**
Finally, the modders have sort-of released a cooperative mod for Dark Messiah. This is still technically unfinished and hasn't been added to ModDB yet, but the modders have made it available on Github for public testing,. KingDavidW says that "all the main kinks should be ironed out for a playable experience" but that the team needs to "refine" the levels to make them ideal for co-op play. Regardless, I can easily imagine how much fun Dark Messiah must be in co-op, what with its bevy of physics-based traps and spells. Who fancies a game of keepie-uppies with a ragdoll orc?

GAMING NEWS

STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl Patch 1.2.1 Released & Detailed
https://www.dsogaming.com/patches/stalker-2-heart-of-chornobyl-patch-1-2-1-released-detailed/
Yesterday, GSC GameWorld released a massive new update for STALKER 2. And today, the devs pushed another small one. So, let’s see what this new update brings to the table.
Title Update 1.2.1 is dedicated mostly to fixing crashes, including those on loading save files. As such, the game will now be more stable on your PC system. Moreover, it won’t longer crash upon loading saves.

9 minutes of gameplay from the third-person post-apocalyptic survival horror game, M.I.N.S.K.
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/9-minutes-of-gameplay-from-the-third-person-post-apocalyptic-survival-horror-game-m-i-n-s-k/
YouTube’s ‘Punish’ has shared a video, showcasing 9 minutes of gameplay from the new third-person post-apocalyptic survival horror game, M.I.N.S.K. This is an indie game that appears to be using Unreal Engine 5. Or at least that’s the vibe I get from the video.

Here’s how you can somewhat fix the awful mouse camera in NINJA GAIDEN 2 Black
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/heres-how-you-can-somehow-fix-the-awful-mouse-camera-in-ninja-gaiden-2-black/
After finishing Final Fantasy 7: Rebirth, I’ve decided to play NINJA GAIDEN 2 Black. And man, its default mouse camera movement is among the worst I’ve ever seen. Thankfully, though, there is a way to somewhat fix it and make the game playable with KB&M.



Please excuse my bad English.

Currently gaming on a PC with an i5-4670k@stock (for now), 16Gb RAM 1600 MHz and a GTX 1070

Steam / Live / NNID : jonxiquet    Add me if you want, but I'm a single player gamer.