Video Games Randomness - Prioritize specific game threads!

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Mon Mar 19, 2018 12:11 pm

That sounds like what happened to my EVGA GTX 770 last month. I was playing Guild Wars 2 and it started locking up on me. Then it started crashing. Finally my entire screen on the desktop would go black then come back then black then back then it stopped coming back. I rebooted and it would not get back into windows and kept rebooting itself and did this about 7 times. Then finally it went to desktop and seemed normal. But no game would run and errors were calling it a Direct X 3d fail. Turned out the 2D part of the card was ok but the 3D side was dead. I had to drop back to a GTX 260 until a very cool guy on here mailed me his old GTX 950.

Strange both our EVGAs died the same way so close. I got mine around 2014 after getting a tiny bit of free spend cash.

ColdSteel · Post by **ColdSteel** » Mon Mar 19, 2018 12:49 pm

This is actually the second EVGA 670 that's died on me. I was able to get the first one replaced because it was still under warranty. Not impressed with that company's reliability at all. I'll never buy another EVGA card, that's for sure.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Mon Mar 19, 2018 12:52 pm

Same here. Before this I thought they rocked. I purchased the 770 because I thought it had a lifetime warranty. A lot of places did that then. I know XFX had them too. But it had a 3 year and they would do nothing at all because its serial ended in the wrong two letters. It was 1 year out of date. Before this one I had a nice MSI melt because both fans died. they also would not honor the warranty. If I ever get money one day Ill fro XFX or ASUS or Gigabyte.

Hope this 950 lasts a long time. Thinking on it mine came factory overclocked. SO they probably know how long they last and when that will cause death and warranty for that.

ColdSteel · Post by **ColdSteel** » Mon Mar 19, 2018 12:58 pm

Yeah, I know I'm rolling the dice buying this MSI. Never owned one before and your fan story doesn't give me much confidence. Maybe I'll get lucky. I looked at the ASUS and Gigabyte cards but they were too much. Hopefully this new one will last until my next PC and prices will stabilize by then.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Mon Mar 19, 2018 10:24 pm

By now it has become obvious to me that I'll be using a laptop the rest of my life. This is a good thing except for the smaller fonts in my games. I just can't get bigger letters for practical purposes.
I prefer to use my native resolution. I don't want my gaming to be 800 X 1080 or whatever.
So from now on when I buy a new game the size of the fonts is going to be a deciding factor.
If I had room I'd just buy some giant monitor (like 60"), but I don't.
<sigh>

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Mon Mar 19, 2018 10:33 pm

Cant you connect it by HDMI to a tv?

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Tue Mar 20, 2018 12:02 am

I could but I don't like other people watching as I play on my computer.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Tue Mar 20, 2018 7:57 am

Hunie Pop is not a spectator sport.

stessier · Post by **stessier** » Tue Mar 20, 2018 11:24 am

Goats aren't legally people.

Rumpy · Post by **Rumpy** » Tue Mar 20, 2018 7:20 pm

Playing the original Mafia. With just a few tweaks, such as a widescreen fix and increased viewing distance, the game looks amazingly good for its age. I'm playing the GOG version, so it maybe already has a few mods included such as better models, but pretty impressed at how well it scales up.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Tue Mar 20, 2018 11:28 pm

That reminds me I need to reinstall Mafia 3 someday soon and go at it. I played maybe 3 missions then stepped away. its a good game but trying to think of it as a Mafia game is off putting. No mafia feel to it.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Tue Mar 20, 2018 11:35 pm

I just sat down with Craft the World. 5 hours later I've decided to take a break.

KDH · Post by **KDH** » Wed Mar 21, 2018 12:59 am

.

...

Vivendi Selling Ubisoft Stake

[Mar 20, 2018, 5:58 pm ET]

We first learned of Vivendi's ambitions to take over Ubisoft back in 2005, and now just 13 years later, Vivendi has finally taken the hint that Ubisoft just isn't into them. Ubisoft now announces Vivendi is selling their entire stake in Ubisoft. Probably not coincidentally, Ubisoft also announces a strategic partnership with Tencent to accelerate their growth in China. Here's more:

Today, Ubisoft announced that it has signed an agreement with Vivendi for its full exit from Ubisoft’s share capital, with the sale of all Vivendi’s 30,489,300 shares. The transaction includes an investment by two new long-term investors, the Relationship Investing arm of Ontario Teachers’ Public Equities division, and Tencent, a share buy-back by Ubisoft, an acquisition of shares by Guillemot Brothers SE and an Accelerated Bookbuilding with institutional investors. Following the implementation of the transaction, Vivendi will no longer hold any shares in Ubisoft, and has committed not to acquire any shares in Ubisoft for 5 years.

As part of the transaction, Ubisoft and Tencent have also announced today a strategic partnership that will significantly accelerate the reach of Ubisoft franchises in China in the coming years.

... from Blues:

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Wed Mar 21, 2018 1:26 am

30.5 million shares and thats not even half? That seems a bunch of shares. Are they not worth much?

ColdSteel · Post by **ColdSteel** » Wed Mar 21, 2018 9:16 am

Well, my new video card was supposed to be delivered today but it's still sitting at the FedEx facility in New Jersey. The nor'easter is going to hold it up at least a day it looks like. I might as well have paid for regular shipping.

The weather lately sucks so bad, this is the 4th nor'easter this month.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Wed Mar 21, 2018 9:38 am

Your post reminds me that every time I used to pay Newegg for priority service it never ever seemed to help so I stopped doing it about 8 years ago.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Wed Mar 21, 2018 9:59 am

Daehawk wrote: Wed Mar 21, 2018 1:26 am 30.5 million shares and thats not even half? That seems a bunch of shares. Are they not worth much?

https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/UBI:FP

Shares Outstanding: 111.83M
Price: 70.96 Euro equals 87.20 US Dollar

30.5 million shares * $87.20 = $2.659 billion

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Wed Mar 21, 2018 10:06 am

Geebus.

ColdSteel · Post by **ColdSteel** » Thu Mar 22, 2018 9:03 am

My new video card is still sitting at the FedEx facility in NJ for a third day. Another day without games, I guess.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Thu Mar 22, 2018 10:46 am

ColdSteel wrote: Thu Mar 22, 2018 9:03 am My new video card is still sitting at the FedEx facility in NJ for a third day. Another day without games, I guess.

I ordered a new gaming rig a couple weeks ago from Cyberpowerpc (I've had good systems from them in the past). It took them 12 business days to let me know that the processor I ordered was on a backorder with "no available ETA". So after cancelling the order, I found out it will take another 5-10 business days for the funds to be put back in my account. So they basically just wasted a month of my gaming time.

Assholes.

ColdSteel · Post by **ColdSteel** » Thu Mar 22, 2018 10:55 am

Skinypupy wrote: Thu Mar 22, 2018 10:46 am Cyberpowerpc

I considered them the last time I bought a PC. Their prices and customization seem to be excellent but what kept me away was their customer service ratings.

coopasonic · Post by **coopasonic** » Thu Mar 22, 2018 11:39 am

ColdSteel wrote: Thu Mar 22, 2018 10:55 am
Skinypupy wrote: Thu Mar 22, 2018 10:46 am Cyberpowerpc
I considered them the last time I bought a PC. Their prices and customization seem to be excellent but what kept me away was their customer service ratings.

Many of us have used them. I have used them two (or three?) times with no issues. They built my current gaming PC. Of course I have never had an issues requiring customer service so I can't speak to their service.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Thu Mar 22, 2018 11:42 am

I have. Had to RMA my boot drive, which involved sending it back before they sent a replacement, then them replacing a busted case fan. Aside from having no boot drive because I didn't want to shell out funds for the new drive to get it before I sent the old one back, I didn't have any issues.

ColdSteel · Post by **ColdSteel** » Thu Mar 22, 2018 11:57 am

https://www.consumeraffairs.com/compute ... er_pc.html

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Thu Mar 22, 2018 1:44 pm

ColdSteel wrote: Thu Mar 22, 2018 11:57 am https://www.consumeraffairs.com/compute ... er_pc.html

That is some truly abysmal customer ratings, though I suppose people don't go to Consumer Affairs very often to applaud the experience they had.

TheMix · Post by **TheMix** » Thu Mar 22, 2018 3:17 pm

At some point here I'm going to fill out their customer service survey. I won't be kind. Sadly I doubt they will allow me to put in a negative score.

The rep I got was beyond incompetent. He kept mixing me up with one of his other tickets. Because apparently having 2 open issues with people in Colorado was too much for him to handle. He never once responded to any emails I sent. Requests for confirmation that he received the sent info went unanswered. I'd have to call. At which point, if I was lucky, it would only take him 10 minutes or so to "catch up". Not to mention that he flat out lied to me (likely due to complete ignorance) at least once.

I'm sure my blood pressure spiked with every call.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Fri Mar 23, 2018 3:03 am

Getting back into Alpha Protocol. The engine is kinda weird. I thought I turned all the eye candy down, but frame rate is kinda weird, and controls are not crispy.

It's a bit like Splinter Cell, as it has gadgets, guns, and more. But it also has the Obsidian dialog that felt a bit like Mass Effect as you need to choose certain things and that'll affect how other characters treat you or if you get certain bonus effects.

The story is actually quite good so far. I just went through act one, and it already turned into "ghost protocol" (deny your existence). Though there seems to be a lack of instant knockout weapon, but instead, you can do takedowns if you get close enough.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Fri Mar 23, 2018 4:32 am

Ever played the DeadSpace series Kasey? Wonderful games all.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Fri Mar 23, 2018 12:04 pm

That's on my backlog. I'm not really into horror though. I think I have bioshock 1 and 2 somewhere in there too. But then, I'm horrible at stealth games. I'm basically blazing my way through with cheats through AP and enjoying the experience and narrative, not the actual gameplay.

ColdSteel · Post by **ColdSteel** » Fri Mar 23, 2018 2:11 pm

I'm happy to say that my new MSI 1050 TI was delivered at noon today. It installed quickly and easily with no problems and I'm back up and gaming. It's incredibly quiet compared to my old GTX 670 and best of all it's clearly superior to it as far as performance goes as well.

jztemple2 · Post by **jztemple2** » Fri Mar 23, 2018 2:56 pm

Skinypupy wrote: Thu Mar 22, 2018 10:46 am I ordered a new gaming rig a couple weeks ago from Cyberpowerpc (I've had good systems from them in the past). It took them 12 business days to let me know that the processor I ordered was on a backorder with "no available ETA". So after cancelling the order, I found out it will take another 5-10 business days for the funds to be put back in my account. So they basically just wasted a month of my gaming time.

Assholes.

I think we found out what happened to your processor

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Sat Mar 24, 2018 12:44 am

I am surprised Alpha Protocol screwed up the Taipei references. Taipei, capital of Taiwan, speaks Mandarin. One of the missions, you're supposed to talk with the Triad Boss. However, the boss used the term "gweilo", which is unique to Hong Kong and Cantonese people.

Also, the restaurant has a sign that days 打烊 / Closed. That expression is actually used in both Mandarin and Cantonese, but it's only used for "closed for the evening (come back tomorrow)". It doesn't translate as "closed" precisely. I can give this one "iffy".

At least they got the surname "Sung" right.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Sat Mar 24, 2018 1:20 am

Alpha Protocol is one of those games I should really dig but cannot enjoy for some reason. And I cant figure out just why I dont like it or more that it doesn't grab me. I dont seem to hate it or even dislike it. But I have not enjoyed it the couple times I have tried it. Shrug.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Sat Mar 24, 2018 1:56 am

I think the problem is the gadgets just didn't seem to be that... useful. You know in Splinter Cell all the gadgets are good, and with the latest ones, you can go loud or quiet. Somehow, Alpha Protocol lets you just go full guns, all the way. And the mini-games are a PITA, like the hacking one and the lockpick one.

KDH · Post by **KDH** » Sat Mar 24, 2018 7:42 pm

.
... 9 Monkeys of Shaolin
.
... STEAM page ... release date: Fall 2018
.
...

Spoiler:

Hopefully you can turn the Bloom off

AWS260 · Post by **AWS260** » Sat Mar 24, 2018 9:09 pm

I don't know why, but YouTube's "recommended" category recently spit out this review of 2003's Warhammer 40k: Fire Warrior. It's pretty entertaining, and makes me grateful that it's not 15 years ago.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Sun Mar 25, 2018 1:04 am

Still going in Alpha Protocol. I just finished the Taipei phase of all missions, and it really got that... Telltale feel where you made a choice, but two more bad things happen, so whatever you did, didn't do as much good as you thought it should. But it does feel very... spy-worthy.

Spoiler:

Guess I'm heading to another continent.

Kasey Chang · Post by **Kasey Chang** » Mon Mar 26, 2018 4:19 am

The reputation system in Alpha Protocol is a load of fun, and there are plenty of sacrifices to make, as you're often given A/B choices, and you can't do both. Defuse the bomb, or save the hostage? Grab the data to expose the conspiracy, or save your ex-handler? There is no good solution, and in a way, that's how the spy game is all about: shades of gray.

With that said, I really really don't like the gun play in this game. The framerate seems way too low for a game this old. I have a rig that's not modern, but it should be state of the art for its day. The way you activate a special power, which you will need to complete a lot of the missions, is a bit of PITA, as you just have too many areas to cover, and you end up specialize in one or two areas, and end up having a hard time in some missions.

You have a choice of two weapons, out of 4: pistol, SMG, shotgun, or assault rifle. Only the pistol has a suppressor, of course. And there are like half dozen models of each (rated 1 to 3 stars) each with further upgrades in terms of recoil accuracy, stability, magazine capacity, and so on. You can sell the stuff back, but at a SEVERE discount. And you basically have to scour the premises to pick up extra money for your operation fund, a few thousand here and there. It's kinda PITA. It's like making James Bond pick through pockets of his enemies. It's... boring.

The minigames are somewhat derivative of the ones in Covert Action (an old Sid Meier game) but a lot less clever. The "hack access pad" and "turn off alarm" was pick the circuits in sequence, and it's tolerable. The computer hacking one was EXTREMELY hard due to the way controls work. You have to match two keys onto a whole screen of shifting alphanumerics except for the two sequences you need to match. And you have to use both hands: WASD on the keyboard, and mouse. The keyboard is VERY slow, it takes at most, 2 key presses per second, so I tap tap tap while, the mouse is super-sensitive and I need VERY subtle movements to line it up right. The worst is the lockpick sequence. You need to go up/down on the tumbler until it aligns, click, then advance to the next one. Excep the mouse acceleration is all wrong. I need to use most of the desk, even take mouse off the desk move it back, to get more room, to get the vertical bits right if there's a large movement needed. And this is NO adjustment in the game (remember I said it's too sensitive for the codebreaking?)

You're not given a lot of time to plan your moves, even though most missions are not timed. One oops, and enemies swarm you. You can go loud, but then, you don't have an unlimited supply of ammo. You have special ammo, but they are too much trouble to switch out in the middle of a fight. Gadgets require a bit more planning, and can be interesting, but it just feels this game couldn't quite decide whether it should be a shooter, or a gadget stealth game like Splinter Cell. It kinda didn't feel right as both. There are optional sniper rifle sequences in the game, but they don't track very well, and I wouldn't use it to make tracking shots. The sensitivity is all wrong.

As for tactics, I prefer going silent, but I'm NOT very good at stealth. There was one mission where I had to infiltrate a CIA listening post and I was able to do it with ZERO casualties (I smacked the agents around, and hit the last one with tranq rounds). But the tranq rounds take a lot of shots, 4-6 to put down a guy, more if he's wearing armor.

All in all, while I enjoy some of the mechanics in the game, it just feels as if the game didn't quite spend enough time in testing, or the PC port was not done right. It is an interesting variation on Splinter Cell, but it doesn't have the polished action of SC.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Mon Mar 26, 2018 4:35 am

Reminds me I really need to play that splinter cell game I got a long time ago.

EDIT: Uh oh! Looks like I own a few Splinter Cell games. Now I have no idea which to play. Not sure Ill like any of them as I loved Thief but didn't care at all for Phantom Pain.

Splinter Cell
Chaos Theory
Double Agent
Conviction
Black List

Maybe just try the newer of the bunch and forget the rest? Should I start at the beginning with the series of what I own? I remember years ago trying to play one and wishing I had someone to coop the game with.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Mon Mar 26, 2018 7:35 am

I sometimes wonder about game developers.

I'm finally getting through Silent Storm: Sentinels. I just completed the "Save the UN" mission.

The Objective: Stop a Hammer cell from planting bombs under the UN building and destroying world leaders. We don't know when the bomb will go off, so hurry.

The Reality: Once you trigger a cutscene in the last room, you've got three turns to kill 4 heavily armored enemies before they plant 4 bombs and escape, and approximately an additional 3 turns to disarm any bombs that have been placed.

This game does not lend itself well to "Rush" missions like this. It took me five attempts before I gave up and went searching for answers. The result was finding a lot of condescending people saying things like "Don't you know how to play? This is so obvious." ... only it's not obvious. Each of my five attempts ended with everyone dying in an explosion, even the one time I managed to kill all four terrorists before they escaped. I've logged hundreds of hours in Silent Storm games, and this stumped me.

The Solution: In this mission, you can find an Air Rifle and Air Pistol plus two additional darts. These are one-hit, one-kill weapons. Four darts is exactly the right number needed to take down the four terrorists, but nothing at all tells you that you need to do this. You give the Air Rifle to your Sniper and the Air Pistol to your Scout. You send them in first to quickly knock out the terrorists as they flee and/or before they plant the bombs, and follow them immediately with your Engineer to disable any bombs that the terrorists succeed in planting.

Even knowing this, I still had to attempt the mission ending 5 or 6 more times to get it right - can't miss a shot. Can't get gunned down by a terrorist. Can't take too long disarming. Basically, you need to run the last three turns and bomb disarming flawlessly. I had to take down two terrorists on turn one before they planted bombs, and then one per turn for turns 2 and 3. On turn three, I was rushing my Engineer in to disarm one of the armed bombs because running him in too early gets him killed.

The Air Guns are conveniently hidden in a locked chest that's not too hard to find... but if you missed that, you're not finishing the mission. This is a terrible design choice. I lucked out and did find them, but I assumed it was just a new weapon find - and this gun is stupidly expensive to reload at $500 per shot (as opposed to around $5 for most guns). Because of the size of the ammo and single-shot nature, in all my games of Silent Storm, I've never bothered using this gun because a silenced rifle is just more practical. It honestly never occurred to me to use this as a real weapon against the hardest mission ending I've yet seen in the game.