Andytizer
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Posts posted by Andytizer
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@Jan Solo can you keep us updated on this - for example if a user here wins the voucher, and how the data is used in your thesis and what kind of conlcusions you draw!
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Control has just been patched to version 1.04 which added a new requirement for players to be connected to the internet and to use Epic Games Store in order to launch.
When attempting to launch the game without an internet connection, an error appears stating that the player is "Unable to log in" and to "Please launch the game using the Epic Games Launcher and a valid Epic Games User Account".
Previously before this patch, Control was a DRM-free game. The game could be launched without launching Epic Games Store, and could be started directly through the exe file.
Users on reddit speculate that this new DRM is a measure to prevent users hex-editing PS4-exclusive content into the PC version. The patch also has the side effect of disabling the ability to play the game using a Steam controller, as launching through Steam is no longer possible.
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I have no idea who is completing these single player games these days as every kid I see is playing some kind of survival/F2P multiplayer shooters, or all the adults I know barely have time to game at all with work/kids in the way.
When I was younger, I'd get maybe a handful of games a year and I'd play an explore every single nook and cranny and extract the maximum value out of them. I'd play my shareware version of Descent over and over again or complete Monkey Island multiple times. Collecting games was a joy because each game would be worth dozens of hours of replayability, only a handful were released every month.
These days with all these free singleplayer games released on Humble or Steam or on Epic Games Store has really oversaturated the market with thousands of quality singleplayer game experiences. However I'm still collecting them (at least up until recently) because my monkey brain is still thinking as a child - 'free games' (or games on very low sale prices) seem like they are unlimited value. However with my hundreds of games unplayed, it's clear that these collections are never going to be played/completed.
The worst is when enhanced editions or remastered editions keep getting released. For example Metro 2033 sits in my Steam library unplayed because I know that if I play it, I'll be getting a worse experience than the Redux version. However I can't bring myself to ever buy the Redux as I have too many other singleplayer FPS games to complete first.
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Steam are releasing a new Remote Play Together streaming option. This will allow one Steam user to stream their game with another remote Steam user, and for them to play the same 'local' game together.
The feature was announced on the Steamworks website, which is a developer area, however the announcement has been shared publicly:
QuoteAll local multiplayer, local co-op and split-screen games will be automatically included in the Remote Play Together beta, which we plan to launch the week of October 21.
This kind of streaming online multiplayer feature has been available through other methods such as Parsec.
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The release date of Doom Eternal, previously November 22, 2019, has now been pushed back to March 20, 2020.
Whilst this is obviously disappointing for PC gamers, extra time to polish a game can never hurt.
Doom Eternal was also pushed heavily as a launch title for Stadia in November 2019, so this delay will have other ramifications on the platform. However Bethesda are still going to be releasing games on Stadia from their back catalogue: Doom (2016), Rage 2, The Elder Scrolls Online, and Wolfenstein: Youngblood.
The information about the delay came in this tweet:
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I can see this information being used for firewall opening/closing. However I’m not sure it’s important enough to put near the top of the page - I suspect it’s a valuable but niche piece of information. Perhaps it could fit inside the Network section which will also contain port numbers, or the Other information section.
Apart from the name of the executable, what else can be done with this kind of data?
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21 hours ago, Expack3 said:
I feel the success of Stadia is tied to whether game companies can get a majority of gamers on a Netflix-esque streaming plan. If they can, which thus far seems unlikely, then it'll be yet another option. If not, off to the Google graveyard, littered with 'revolutionary' or 'long-term support' products.
I don't think it'll be as good as Netflix which is a single subscription for everything.
Stadia will be a 'base' and a 'pro' subscription with some games included/discounted. But you'll still have to buy majority of the games which is quite offputting.
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Rockstar today announced that Red Dead Redemption 2 is coming out on PC on November 5th, 2019.
Red Dead Redemption 2 will first launch on Epic Games Store, Greenman Gaming, Humble Store and Gamestop. We assume the Epic Games Store would launch a Rockstar Games Launcher client version of the game, and the resellers would sell keys for the Rockstar Games Launcher edition of the game. It will also be a launch title for Stadia in November.
And a Steam release? This is announced for some time in December. Presumably this will launch a Rockstar Games Launcher client version of the game as well, as it now does with Grand Theft Auto V and other Rockstar titles.
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This is a thought experiment about Google's newest streaming service. Will Stadia succeed where OnLive (RIP 2003-2015) failed? Is this the next revolution in gaming, or is Stadia just another headstone in Google's graveyard?
One day in the future it'll be interesting to refer back to this post to see whether any of our predictions came true.
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FreeSpace 2 is now completely FREE on GOG.com to claim until 27th September, 1pm UTC. Check out our FreeSpace 2 fixes article for information on the open source port FS2Open to run the game easily on modern machines.
Also check out GOG.com's huge Interstellar Sale with 85% off a multitude of space games.
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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is getting a multiplayer Survival Mode which will be exclusive to the PlayStation 4 and will only come to PC (and Xbox One) on 1st October 2020.
Quote"Just the Survival mode within the Spec Ops mode," a game representative told GameSpot in regards to what's a limited-time exclusive for PS4. "Everyone gets campaign, multiplayer and Spec Ops." According to the small, tiny text in a shot during the trailer--embedded below--you can see that Survival Mode will be exclusive to PS4 for nearly an entire year before coming to Xbox One and PC.
Timed exclusive content is always a shame, given that by the time 1st October 2020 rolss by Activision will be selling a brand new Call of Duty game with, one can assume, another yearly timed piece of exclusive content.
This generation's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare will see some interesting developments in multiplayer, where for the first time PC players will be able to crossplay with console players.
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Batman: Arkham Collection and Lego Batman Trilogy are free on Epic Games Store, deal is up on the 26th September 2019.
This is the first time we've seen Batman: Arkham Knight without Denuvo, which may offer some performance improvements over the Steam version.
- AmethystViper and Maxxeine
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Rockstar has now released their new Rockstar Games Launcher, another PC storefront competitor. To ease us in they are giving away Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for free. To claim the game, just download the Rockstar Games Launcher and login to claim the free game.
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Reports on reddit show that the latest update to Grand Theft Auto V on Steam has disabled the ability for players to play offline, even in singleplayer mode.
According to Rockstar Games support page, this is an unintentional bug:
QuoteQuestion: Why can’t I set my GTAV to Offline Mode now that I have updated to the Rockstar Games Launcher?
Answer: We are aware of an issue that is affecting some players' ability to play in Offline Mode and we are currently looking into it.
This issue has been interpreted as a way of forcing an always-on DRM onto the game. We look forward to seeing a timely update which fixes this issue.
The changes coincide with the launch of Rockstar Games Launcher, now a required part of installing Grand Theft Auto V on Steam. The new launcher includes a number of dependencies that need to also be installed:
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We have a partnership with Gamesplanet at the moment and thought it would be fun to conduct an interview with Gamesplanet. This is an opportunity to help give the wider PC gaming community a better understanding of how a third party game reseller works and to ask some interesting questions. It's also a chance to educate people on what makes Gamesplanet different from the grey market like G2A, CDKeys, Kinguin, etc.
I'd like to ask community members to pitch questions and we'll collate the best ones to ask Gamesplanet.
Here are a couple of mine. They could also be reworded, these are just off the top of my head!
What's the main reason that a pubisher/developer decides to sell through Gamesplanet rather than directly through a store like Steam
Why do some publishers sell keys to some resellers rather than others?
Do platforms like Steam make it easy to disable game keys purchased with fraudulent credit card transactions? -
Some games have content that are designed to be locked behind paid DLC or are preorder rewards. Often the game content itself (textures, models, code, missing console features) already exists in the downloaded PC game files. These could be accessed by hex editing certain files to provide access to the content, or in some instances downloading unofficial patches. Should we include these unlocking instructions? Or is it piracy?
We currently have a piracy policy: https://pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/PCGamingWiki:Editing_guide/Wiki_policy
The intent of this policy is to prevent PCGamingWiki being labelled as a piracy website and harming our visibility on Google and our partnerships. But preventing PCGamingWiki from giving this unlocking information harms the average PC gamer - for example, KOTORII Content Restored Mod unlocks unfinished content - if we banned unlocking copyrighted content, wouldn't this also fall into the same category?
I am very interested in hearing your thoughts before we come to a policy decision. Please respond below and please cite examples where possible.
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Hi Armistel I haven't checked this myself but I would suggest changing your OS mouse settings: jedi Knight: Dark Forces II mouse sensitivity pcgw
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I'm afraid this is due to too many connections to the database happening at once - it'll happen when we have too many concurrent connections. It is something we are aware of and will be addressed when we do a large migration from Hetzner to Digital Ocean later this year.
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The PC gaming community landscape has changed dramatically over the years. In my youth in the late 90s, PC gamers flocked around IRC and various web forums around the world. I was in a Quake 2 ‘clan’ that played in a league organised in one such forum (BarrysWorld, RIP). In modern times, PC gamers have migrated from the traditional forum to places like /r/pcgaming and Discord. Entire communities have formed around individuals that who stream and commentate on Twitch and YouTube. Gone are the days of the dedicated server community.
I am fascinated by how gaming communities form and how they have changed over time. It’s a shame that there doesn’t seem to be a proper history of PC gaming communities (perhaps that’ll be another post..). However it strikes me that there isn’t even a contemporary ‘guide’ to what the current PC gaming community landscape looks like right now, which is why I’ve put together this little article. When you Google for ‘best PC gaming communities’ you get this rather paltry PC Gamer article which is barely representative of the PC gaming community. I’d like to attempt something more comprehensive.
Another thing to note is that reddit has entirely dominated the PC gaming ‘forum’ concept in the English speaking world. As of right now /r/pcgaming has over 1.5 million subscribers. Other niche subreddits also exist such as /r/battlestations /r/mechanicalkeyboards /r/ultrawidemasterrace - these would have been very niche communities in the past, but by virtue of being on reddit, they probably account for some of the most visited PC gaming community sites on the internet. I am not going to include any subreddits on the list as they are so popular they could easily make a list all on their own.
In this article I am also not going to attach the forum juggernaut - Steam Discussions - which has a subform for every single Steam game, is clearly the de facto place to to post discussion and technical support. For example when Metro Exodus was released exclusively on the Epic Game Store (which didn't have its own forum), gamers used the Steam Discussion forum to discuss technical problems with that platform (or to moan!). Similar to Steam Discussions, GOG forums where the most active discussion about games still take place. However although these are amazing resources, I would like to draw our attention to smaller PC gaming communities.
What excites me the most about writing this article is the comments that will inevitably come up where readers will reply with new and exciting PC gaming communities that we have never heard of. My plan is to later collate this information to help expand our wiki article: PC gaming online communities.
Criteria:-
A community is a place where a member can create threads of discussion (not just comments on posts)
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Not exclusively on reddit
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Not attached to an individual company (e.g. Overclockers)
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Communities that span multiple games, not just a single game or series
The Widescreen Gaming Forum was founded back October 13th, 2003, back when widescreen displays were just becoming popular. At the time, many games didn't support 16:9 resolution, or if they did the game would stretch the interface from 4:3 to 16:9 or there would be presented in the dreaded Vert- format (Vert-/+ and Hor-/+ being terms coined by WSGF at the time.). You can read all about the origin of this community in an interview we conducted a few years ago. Now, WSGF is at the forefront for multi-monitor support, FOV fixes and support for new aspect ratios such as 21:9 and 32:9. The community members have been creating fixes and hacks to add PC game support for these aspect ratios for years and it is often the very first place to find them published.Unfortunately due to some issue with Google - as of 2019 - much of the website is currently incorrectly flagged as holding malicious content. These are false positive results due to the nature of the files being hosted (trainers, hacks, etc.). PCGamingWiki are currently in the process of migrating files to our Files section, and discussion forums have been archived and moved to a new subreddit. The main bulk of their 'Detailed Reports' remain on the main website, and community members are encouraged to submit reports.VOGONS stands for Very Old Games On New Systems. There's a huge crossover of content between this old school forum and PCGamingWiki, as we both aim to get older games working on new computers. However where VOGONS really shines is the exploration of old PC hardware - your pre-Window XP beige box, which many would argue is the correct way to play many older games. On the forums there are threads about capturing video from a GeForce MX 440 or identifying 286 and 386 motherboards.The adventure game may have waned in popularity on PC, but it is thriving more than ever on the Adventure Game Studio platform. These forums are the place where players, hobbyists and professionals come together to discuss adventure games built in the Adventure Games Studio engine, or to talk about the classic 2D adventure game genre in general. Many developers with successful Steam releases will hang out and make announcements and updates here like Wadjet Eye games. Other games you’ll see in development which - if you follow long enough - you may see on more mainstream releases. It's fascinating to see indie games like Tardigrades announced on the forum, slowly get updates and then see how it slowly became entangled in the Star Trek: Discovery lawsuit.SimHQ's forums remains one of the best places to discuss very deep 'simulation' games that have often been the exclusive realm of PC gamers: flight simulators. air combat games, tank games and in-depth grand strategies. Dig out your HOTAS! Here you can discuss the best mods and hardware setups for games like Falcon 4.0, IL-2 Sturmovik and DCS World.This gaming community for Linux gamers founded in 2011 by Liam Dawe. It is the premier place to find information and reviews on Linux games. This community is particularly passionate about any new releases or Linux ports of games and crowdfunded Linux port promises, and has enough momentum to be able to turn the fortunes of smaller developers who offer Linux ports, for example, Space Mercs received 35% of its sales through Linux users. The website itself receives daily updates and the community is active on its forums.In 2019, Space Sim Central's forums aren't as active as they used to be, but there is a forum with thousands of posts all about the latest and greatest space simulator games whether you're into recent releases like Everspace and Rebel Galaxy Outlaw or classic space games like Freespace or Wing Commander. Special mentions to Hard Light Productions (Freespace modding forum) and Wing Commander Combat Information Center, which have very active space game communities too.Perfected your aim in CS:GO and want to those transferable skills to work in Apex Legends? These community profiles and tools are shared in this active forum dedicated to having the same mouse sensitivity feel in multiple games. Find out what the best mice and mousepads from the experts, or find out the 'optimal' sensitivity in this megapoll of over 1000 users.Teeters on the edge of being a game series community for SimCity, but manages to span multiple ‘city builder’ style games - specifically SimCity 4, SimCity 2013 and Cities: Skylines. I’m sure if other worthy city building games were released they would also be included here. This community shares swathes of modding tools, packs and content like new buildings, animations, and things to fill your simulated city.The Cutting Room Floor is a very specialised wiki dedicated to finding cut content from games that are still left on disc or in the data files. These unused files often contain clues as to what the developer initially envisioned the game to be, but simply didn't have time to implement - such as unused audio files, textures, dialogue trees, etc. This isn’t specifically a PC gaming community, but has some fantastic PC content - for example - Deus Ex music files contain all sorts of secret cryptic text messages or the prototype of Half-Life 2 that was leaked by hacker Axel Gembe in 2003 contains references to a mysterious 'Spire' set in a snowy location, which sounds awfully a lot like a destination in Episode 3 'Borealis' location.
Its counterpart old-school forum is run by the same founders and is called Jul, and is a proper sleuth's view into the archaeology of games. Fantastic threads include this one on Fallout: New Vegas, which unearthed data which suggested that Obsidian planned for a much more ambitious game world - for example The Strip would have been a huge single open environment, and there were plans to have world map locations dynamically change hands following successful Legion or NCR quests.A community dedicated to creating cheats for games - whether these are single player titles where cheating is ‘harmless', or multiplayer games for cheats, aimbots. These cheat mostly mostly come in the form of CheatEngine tables. Notably made the rounds in recent news due to cheating and microtransactions being patched in Wolfenstein: Youngblood. If you enjoy getting an advantage in games then this is the best place to download or submit your cheats and trainers for virtually every PC game.Yes this is a forum based around a YouTuber - but this is more of a media company of over 20 staff of PC hardware enthusiasts, rather than just an individual personality who happens to be an avid PC gamer. The forums are a great resource for every aspect of PC hardware and building and has an active PC gaming forum.Probably so ubiquitous it barely deserves a mention, but NexusMods is the forefront PC game modding community consisting of game content, mods, and clients. Primarily this was a modding site for Skyrim, and has expanded to hundreds of different games, the most popular being Bethesda titles like Fallout 3, 4 and New Vegas, as well as titles like Dark Souls. It has been a real boon to PC gaming, where you'll find many quality of life fixes as well as additional game content mods.HowLongToBeat is a fantastic resource for information about how long it takes to complete a game. For a game like Skyrim, you'll be pleased to know that the main story takes a generous 25.5 hours to complete. However a 'completionist' run time averages out at 226 hours. The community invites users to submit their playtimes to help make their information more accurate. The forum itself is kind of like a support group for the typical gamer's Steam backlog (although note this is a multiplatform website). Each user profile encourages players to increase their percentage of 'completed' games. They even coined the term of 'retirements' or games that aren't worth completing, and they host a monthly game club (like a book club, but for games!).And there's us! We are a passionate group of PC gamers who enjoy collating fixes and cataloging information about PC games. We have over 300 active editors and produced over 750,000 edits since our project began in 2012. If you'd like to help out please check out our Assignments system and join us on our Discord, we'd love to welcome new members to the community. -
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The goal of PCGamingWiki is to fix PC gaming. Did you ever have a game that just wouldn’t run? Spent days looking for fixes, only to find abandoned forum posts with nothing more than “nevermind, fixed it”? Our aim is to make that a thing of the past.
One of our newest and most ambitious goals is to cover every single major PC game on the day of release. To do this, we have developed an Assignments system to distribute review codes to volunteers who complete our wiki fix articles.
However, many review codes are still unclaimed and we need help - we are looking for more volunteers to dedicate their time to help complete our wiki fix articles, and in return receive the reward of the games themselves. You can see the full Assignments table for all future and past games too.
We have assigned 413 games so far, and the count increases every day. Our assignments have led to the creation of ultra-widescreen mods for games like Heavy Rain, World War Z, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night and FOV fixes for games like Team Sonic Racing and The Sinking City.
If you would like to help, we would love to hear from you! Don't know much about wiki editing or testing PC games? Don't worry. You can join our Discord (#articles channel) and ask for feedback and help, as our community would be more than happy to assist.
To apply for an Assignment, read the general information page and please apply for any outstanding Assignments or other games you are interested in.
Where do our review codes come from?
We try to reach out to every games publisher of every notable PC game to ask for review codes. Many publishers include us on their lists, but sadly we are often ignored or rejected because we are too small or we don't produce 'real reviews'. However, we would argue that our wiki fix articles are a very valuable service for PC gamers.
In situations where we can't get review codes from the publisher, we will buy them out of pocket using our funds (primarily from donations and Patreon funds). We are also lucky to be in partnership with GOG.com who will step in to provide game keys, and Gamesplanet who provide account funds to help us make purchases.
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The above screenshot comes from the Borderlands 3 Epic Games Store product page, confirming that the game will make use of Denuvo Anti-Tamper DRM. It remains to be seen whether Denuvo may cause performance issues for Borderlands 3. It was previously reported that some users experienced performance increases in Denuvo-free versions of Devil May Cry V. This announcement of Denuvo for Borderlands 3 is particularly disappointing, as we have had several high profile releases on Epic Games Store which are DRM-free, for example Rebel Galaxy Outlaw, Journey and Outer Wilds.
Borderlands 3 comes out September 13 2019, and is an Epic Games Store exclusive.
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I don't think this is quite the right fit, the individual patches could be directly linked (or mirrored on our Files system).
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Looks like you've been added to the Trusted group, and that you've been making great progress on adding all the VorpX info. Let us know if you need anything else.
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22 minutes ago, Ajaxtomas said:
No need! I have done it myself :). Is it a problem?
Brilliant, great job!
Control adds always-online DRM despite being single-player game
in News and general PC gaming
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Remedy have just sent out a response via official channels with this image: