The Tuesday news:
SALES /PLAYER COUNT & DEALS
Steam's Top 10
(Click here for the top 100)
Dave the Diver, this year's out-of-nowhere breakout hit, has already sold a million copies in 10 days
https://www.pcgamer.com/dave-the-diver-this-years-out-of-nowhere-breakout-hit-has-already-sold-a-million-copies-in-10-days/
Frankly, I'm scared. It feels like just yesterday I went to sleep in a world in which the phrase "Dave the Diver" was no more than a meaningless burble. A reference, perhaps, to the speaker's mate Dave, who dives. Now look at us. The whole world is in the hot grip of Dave-mania: The game has an "overwhelmingly positive" Steam user review score, and developer Mintrocket has just announced it's already sold over a million copies.
A million! I don't think I've done anything a million times, and I've been out for way longer than Dave the Diver. And yet, apparently, the game sold "over a cumulative 1 million copies" in its first 10 days on the market, in which time it also hit 98,000 concurrent users, 66,000 Twitch viewers, climbed to the global #2 spot on Steam's top sellers chart, and comprehensively dominated the PC Gamer staff Slack.
The Humble Store features the Firaxis Week Sale, with up to 95% discounts during the next 6 days. There are keys for Steam and EGS: https://humblebundle.com/store/promo/firaxis-week/.
Fanatical has a new Star Deal and a bundle:
SOFTWARE & DRIVERS
-Empty-
MODS, EMULATORS & FAN PROJECTS
New version of Yuzu fixes graphical bugs in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Pokemon Scarlet & Violet, Metroid Prime Remastered & more
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/new-version-of-yuzu-fixes-graphical-bugs-in-zelda-tears-of-the-kingdom-pokemon-scarlet-violet-metroid-prime-remastered-more/
The team behind the Nintendo Switch emulator, Yuzu, revealed the changes, tweaks and improvements that it made to it last month. According to the team, its latest version of Yuzu fixes graphical bugs and glitches in Zeda: Tears of the Kingdom, Pokemon Scarlet & Violet, Metroid Prime Remastered, and more.
(...)
The Vulkan render also saw some important tweaks. For instance, byte[] changed the behaviour of the Vulkan memory manager to prefer (instead of require) using device local memory (VRAM) for image memory, which ends up allowing up to 50% of shared memory (system RAM) to be used by the GPU. This trick makes most Unreal Engine 4 games stable, but it is very likely it has the cost of making VRAM intensive games stutter more often once VRAM gets close to full.
First gameplay video for Return to Castle Wolfenstein Path Tracing
https://www.dsogaming.com/videotrailer-news/first-gameplay-video-for-return-to-castle-wolfenstein-path-tracing/
In June 2022, we informed you about a Path Tracing Mod from Dihara Wijetunga, AMD’s Senior Graphics R&D Engineer, for Return to Castle Wolfenstein. And today, we are happy to share its first gameplay video.
Similarly to Quake Path Tracing, Doom Path Tracing, Half-Life PT and Serious Sam Path Tracing, this mod will introduce full real-time path tracing effects to the game.
Now before continuing, we should note that this is still a WIP project. As such, this gameplay video does not represent the quality of its final version.
>> It's a short video from a tweet, so the quality is low.
Dark Souls 2 gets a 24GB AI-upscaled HD Texture Pack/Mod
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/dark-souls-2-gets-a-24gb-ai-upscaled-hd-texture-pack-mod/
Modder ‘fromsoftserve’ (lol at the name) has released a must-have 24GB HD Texture Pack/Mod for Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin.
As the title suggests, the modder has used AI tools in order to upscale the vanilla textures. What this basically means is that the new textures retain the art style of the original ones. Moreover, all textures are boosted by either 2X or 4X.
Now in case you didn’t know, Dark Souls 2: Scholar of The First Sin contains the main game as well as its three DLC campaigns. And yes, this pack overhauls the textures for all DLCs.
>> There are some screenshots.
New STALKER in Unreal Engine 5 project available for download
https://www.dsogaming.com/news/new-stalker-in-unreal-engine-5-project-available-for-download/
Remember the unofficial port of STALKER in Unreal Engine 5 we shared a while back? Well, from the looks of it, there is another similar project. Developed by RedProjects, this new STALKER in Unreal Engine 5 project looks ambitious, and there is a build that you can download right now.
This new UE5 project will support the entire STALKER trilogy. As such, once it’s complete, you’ll be able to play Shadow of Chernobyl, Clear Sky, and Call of Pripyat.
It’s also worth noting that this isn’t a simple port of STALKER in Unreal Engine 5. Instead, RedProjects describes it as a hybrid. All internal processes, NPC behavior logic, shooting, quests, and A-Life are from the original X-Ray engine. However, the graphical part has been replaced with Unreal Engine 5.
>> The article has some screenshots.
This Cyberpunk 2077 Plugin integrates OpenAI API, enabling ChatGPT support
https://www.dsogaming.com/mods/this-cyberpunk-2077-plugin-integrates-openai-api-enabling-chatgpt-support/
Modder ‘tomatojuice’ has released an amazing mod for Cyberpunk 2077 that introduces ChatGPT support to it. The modder has basically integrated the OpenAI API into the game, allowing you to call a number of AI methods directly from the scripting level.
With this plugin, players can use OpenAI’s GPT to generate unique dialogue for non-player characters (NPCs). According to the modder, this can increase the diversity and richness of in-game interactions.
Do note, you’ll have to use ChatGPT via script in order to get the new AI lines in Cyberpunk 2077. In other words, you won’t encounter NPCs using AI lines while playing the game. So, hopefully, a modder will be able to create a mod with this plugin to give NPCs new dialogue lines.
>> For obvious reasons, there are no pictures or videos of the mod.
Cyberpunk 2077 mod lets you pay off cops and hire them to smoke your enemies
https://www.pcgamer.com/cyberpunk-2077-mod-lets-you-pay-off-cops-and-hire-them-to-smoke-your-enemies/
Anyone who has played Cyberpunk 2077 will know that its in-game police system is, well, a bit naff. Indeed, despite improvements since launch, the police AI in the game remains rather rudimentary, and it's easy to have immersion broken by some ridiculous rozzer behavior.
Gamers know this and CD Projekt Red does, too, which is why a "complete overhaul" to the police system is incoming in Cyberpunk 2077's incoming Phantom Liberty expansion pack. That's great news, yes, but with Phantom Liberty still months out, not ideal for gamers playing today.
Enter talented modder anygoodname, who has recently released the Immersive NCPD Hotline mod for Cyberpunk 2077 over at NexusMods. This mod is noteworthy as it introduces whole new ways to interact with Night City's police force, making them easier and more fun to deal with, albeit in a slightly cheaty manner.
With the mod installed V can now, at the push of a few phone buttons, bribe the NCPD to attack enemies, as well as pay them to cover up any crimes and also to protect yourself against false blame reports. You can see how the first of these mechanisms works in the below gif.
Of the three of these new functions there's one that really stands out to me, and that's the ability to protect yourself from false blame reports. Yes, the other two functions look fun in a kind of cheat code-type manner, but that third one genuinely will make playing Cyberpunk 2077 better, as I'm sure every player will have had the game's overly sensitive cops going nuclear on them for no good reason before.
>> There are a couple of gifs and screenshots.
Star Wars Galaxies revival project adds 'planetary control mechanics' so you can really disappoint Lord Vader
https://www.pcgamer.com/star-wars-galaxies-revival-project-adds-planetary-control-mechanics-so-you-can-really-disappoint-lord-vader/
Star Wars Galaxies Restoration, the fan-made revival of the Star Wars MMO that closed its doors in 2011, has taken a major step forward with the release of a new update adding "planetary control mechanics" that promise to add new depth and complexity to the Galactic Civil War.
The planetary control system allows players to assign themselves regions of a planet, from where they can capture objectives and defend against enemy attacks. Successfully completing missions will enable players to rank up, with higher ranks conferring special abilities like air strikes and reinforcements, as well as exclusive armor and weapon skins and factional vendors. Commanders control local planetary regions and bases, Colonels control planets or the space above them, and Generals are in charge of entire systems.
>> There's an almost 2 minutes trailer for this new version.
