Octopus Overlords

Very smart move.

Just go in expecting a few things to be different (sort of like moving from 98 to XP and XP to 7.) Different just means you'll have to learn a few new tricks and solve a few problems before it all feels 'comfortable' again.

Also, this is tool you're looking for (Jedi wave.) https://www.oo-software.com/en/shutup10

Veeeeeery interesting.

This isn't about the games I've abandoned, but about what I'm doing about it, so it doesn't really fit in the Abandoned Games thread. Some games I've walked away from in the last six months:

1. Wasteland 2. A decent game that just didn't have the staying power to keep me interested over the full length. I burned out at the same point in two different runs about seven years apart.
2. Half-Life 2. A great game that I've played multiple times, such that even though it's been over a decade, I still remembered every element and was just going through the paces.
3. Mechwarrior 5. A great game that absolutely frustrated me with a number of poorly communicated mechanics that I didn't figure out until they'd already caused burnout. After a breather, it's worth another go.
4. Riftbreaker. A great concept that fell apart in design and presentation. It was fun until it was tedious, and it communicated with the player very poorly.
5. Borderlands 2 VR. No clue - completely broken and literally unplayable on modern VR headsets without a patch, and it's been two years since there was a patch.

I've decided to be smart. I keep a OneNote notebook just for gaming - hints, builds, links, notes, mods, etc, one tab for each game that needs notes.

Today I finally had the sense to create a page for 'abandoned games' with a subpage for each. In each, I write a brief explanation of why I abandoned them (or copy-paste the OO post discussing it.)

Why? Because most of them appeal to me for one reason or another, and six months or a year from now I'll get the urge to replay them. Invariably, I will end up quitting for the same reason (see Wasteland 2, above) because it's been long enough that I've forgotten why I quit. I have a strong urge, for instance, to play The Outer Worlds, and just can't remember why I quit (time to try to dig up my old posts on it.) Some are worth returning to - BL2 VR if it ever gets an update (it won't.) MW 5 if I can go in with what I've learned already in mind, but without the burnout. Some art not - Riftbreaker, which was just a flawed design, Wasteland 2, which I've washed out on twice.

Now I'll have an easy, quick way to find out why I left each game when I get the urge to play. I'll probably save a fair amount of time.

Ill have to look into this Onenote.

I failed Wasteland 2 3 times. And I loved The Fallouts.

Onenote is included with a paid subscription or purchase of Microsoft Office suite.

free 'workalikes' are Laverna and Zoho Notebook

https://laverna.cc/
https://www.zoho.com/notebook/

if you already use Gmail/Google Docs, check out Google Keep - not really the same thing, tho.

https://keep.google.com/

Thank you.

OneNote is free.

It's included in the paid subscription, but is also free aside from that. Has been for as long as I can remember.

IGN

'Soft-Spoken Blackmail': Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga Devs Reportedly Forced to Crunch

“It was a very soft-spoken blackmail,” one former employee told Polygon, saying the vibe was that “‘If people don’t start doing overtime, there’s going to be problems’”.

Whens this old way of doing things going to end??

Picked up Driver: Parallel Lines for $2. Its like an old poor mans GTA V sorta. Sounds good. terrible view from low behind the car. Nice 70s funk music and cars.

Sid Meier’s classic flight simulators are now on Steam

We all know Sid Meier best as the creator of Civilization, but he only led design on one of those, and he’s got a whole catalogue of classics outside of it. Among his earlier games are a set of flight simulators developed at MicroProse, which are now available on Steam. The release comes as part of the ongoing MicroProse revival and also sees the modern launch of several more of the publisher’s OG simulation games.

As for Meier’s games, you can now pick up both Solo Flight and F-15 Strike Eagle. Solo Flight was released in 1983, in the very earliest days of PC flight simulators. F-15 Strike Eagle was released in 1984, and spiced up the whole ‘flying around’ thing with combat missions.

While MicroProse would later be known for a wider variety of game genres, including numerous strategy classics like the original Civilization and X-COM, Meier originally co-founded the company alongside Bill Stealey with an initial focus on flight simulation. Several of MicroProse’s later sims – Harrier Jump Jet, Dogfight: 80 Years of Aerial Warfare, and The Ancient Art of War in the Skies – are also now on Steam.

Each of the games is available on Steam at a price of $6.99 / £5.19 / €5.69.

What, no Spitfire Ace and Hellcat Ace? :-/

Though I haven't seen AAoW in the Skies for decades. Back then didn't have the money to get all the games I wanted.

I find it sort of interesting that the old MicroProse catalog got scattered to the winds. The revived MicroProse didn't have much (any?). Seems most are retained by the latest iteration of Atari (i.e. Infogrames / Hasbro / whatever), which are these Sid Meier flight games. Though a lot of them went to Retroism, and a lot of them went to Ziggurat.

I really enjoyed playing Dysmantle so I picked up Hardspace: Shipbreaker since the idea of just taking things apart interests me... but man I'm having trouble controlling my guy in space. Even using a gamepad, I can never stay still enough to cut where I want and when I float in one direction I usually end up mashing the wrong button to correct it and making it worse. Still it's a blast and I'm only at level 3.

telcta wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 11:01 am I really enjoyed playing Dysmantle so I picked up Hardspace: Shipbreaker since the idea of just taking things apart interests me... but man I'm having trouble controlling my guy in space. Even using a gamepad, I can never stay still enough to cut where I want and when I float in one direction I usually end up mashing the wrong button to correct it and making it worse. Still it's a blast and I'm only at level 3.

I'm interested in Hardspace but I'm waiting for more of the "Coming Soon" items on their store page to be implemented.

telcta wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 11:01 am I really enjoyed playing Dysmantle so I picked up Hardspace: Shipbreaker since the idea of just taking things apart interests me... but man I'm having trouble controlling my guy in space. Even using a gamepad, I can never stay still enough to cut where I want and when I float in one direction I usually end up mashing the wrong button to correct it and making it worse. Still it's a blast and I'm only at level 3.

I use the keyboard and it can get a bit hectic if you try to move more than one direction at a time. But the advantage of using keyboard and mouse is you can hole Q/E to brake and it'll keep you mostly still unless you're yanking a large piece.

Kasey Chang wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 12:00 pm

telcta wrote: Sat Jan 22, 2022 11:01 am I really enjoyed playing Dysmantle so I picked up Hardspace: Shipbreaker since the idea of just taking things apart interests me... but man I'm having trouble controlling my guy in space. Even using a gamepad, I can never stay still enough to cut where I want and when I float in one direction I usually end up mashing the wrong button to correct it and making it worse. Still it's a blast and I'm only at level 3.

I use the keyboard and it can get a bit hectic if you try to move more than one direction at a time. But the advantage of using keyboard and mouse is you can hole Q/E to brake and it'll keep you mostly still unless you're yanking a large piece.

Thanks, I'll give that a try. I just got tethers and finished that tutorial so that'll take some of the frustration of trying to position myself behind a piece to "push" into the furnace.

You can "fling" a piece into the furnace too, it just takes a bit more time. You can grab a piece, then turn yourself, and the piece will follow slowly depending on its mass. Let go at the right time then add a few pushes and it'll go where you want. You can HEAR the grapple beam straining as it tries to exert lateral force. The sound effects are great in this game.

One badddddddd Shepard

Maybe I haven't lost it. Ive got to where I can come in first place in Quake Champions against players and bots now. That game is blink fast too. zoom zoom. Too bad only a handful seem to play it at any given time of the day

The GTX 970 arrived today. Was thinking it would be a simple swap but no. The new card was [----] that much too long. I spent an hour with pliers and a hammer bending and banging my case to no avail. The hard drive cage and another cage came together RIGHT where the card end was. My only option was to take a grinder wheel to the card's metal cooler shroud or use my old case. I went with the old case

Dragged out my 1999 In Win Q500 30+ lbs case. Its a super tower. I had to gut my system and rebuild it in the old case. Have room to spare. I left out both mechanical hard drives and my dvd recorder. Only put my 2 ssd drives in it.

On startup nothing worked because it said my system clock was set to 1/1/2005....thought it was fubared but I reset it in bios and its working. Not sure what will happen if I turn it off. The thing is 11 years old so the cmos battery may be dead.

Also all my system tray icons and programs are gone...no anti virus or malwarebytes or razer software is there now. All gone but Steam and my ssd software. Not sure why..the mechanical drives were supposed to only have backups and photos on them...nothing installed. Guess Ill go through and see what I need. Going to use it a few days as is before the win 10 upgrade.

I remember when Nvidia released a new driver every month. My last one in Sept last year and nothing new since.

Daehawk wrote: Tue Jan 25, 2022 7:06 pm I remember when Nvidia released a new driver every month. My last one in Sept last year and nothing new since.

I suspect that's on you. I get notified of driver updates pretty regularly. Of course, I'm running a supported OS.

I checked just today. I even ran driver uninstaller and reinstalled drivers..same one

Daehawk wrote: Tue Jan 25, 2022 7:28 pm I checked just today. I even ran driver uninstaller and reinstalled drivers..same one

For what operating system? The one that stopped being supported years ago? I'd be very surprised if Nvidia was still supporting it when Microsoft stopped.

I forget, you are running Windows 7? 32 bit?

They don't have anything more recent than early 2018. I assume because they stopped supporting either the OS or that card. Or, also likely, there just isn't anything else they can do to improve the performance.

Want newer drivers? You'll need a newer OS. And possibly a newer card.

Edit: For Windows 10 64-bit, the latest driver (for a GTX 970) is: 511.23 - Release Date: Fri Jan 14, 2022

TheMix wrote: Tue Jan 25, 2022 7:32 pm

Daehawk wrote: Tue Jan 25, 2022 7:28 pm I checked just today. I even ran driver uninstaller and reinstalled drivers..same one

For what operating system? The one that stopped being supported years ago? I'd be very surprised if Nvidia was still supporting it when Microsoft stopped.

Yup:

Nvidia to ditch driver support for Windows 7 and Windows 8 – plus some older GPUs

techradar.com wrote:Nvidia is ceasing support for Windows 7 and Windows 8/8.1 with its graphics drivers in October 2021.

This means that the company’s Game Ready Driver will only support Windows 10 from then on when it comes to new features and work on the performance front, as well as bug fixes.

I have Win 7 64 bit. In a day or two Ill have Win 10 whatever. Yes Ive finally given up.

Well, the good news is that you'll be able to update your drivers soon.

Daehawk wrote: Tue Jan 25, 2022 7:45 pm I have Win 7 64 bit. In a day or two Ill have Win 10 whatever. Yes Ive finally given up.

FWIW, after installing Windows 10, I would strongly encourage you to use the mighty useful -- and totally free -- Debloat Windows 10 script created by Chris Titus. It's a simple and easy way of keeping Microsoft bloat and telemetry shenanigans to a minimum, and can also configure your Windows Update service to download security updates-only (thereby preventing Microsoft from forcing obnoxious and unwanted feature updates down your throat). The video below walks you through precisely what this tool does, and how to use it:



Then, follow these simple instructions on How to make Windows 11/10 look and feel like Windows 7.

This should increase your system stability and gaming performance (especially with older hardware), while also providing you with a much more familiar-looking UI.

Or just use ShutUp10 if you don't want to go to that extreme.

Sounds good. Saw a video somewhere on Win10 using 90% resources and some tweaks to get it down to like 30% but lost it.

Daehawk wrote: Tue Jan 25, 2022 10:23 pm Sounds good. Saw a video somewhere on Win10 using 90% resources and some tweaks to get it down to like 30% but lost it.

Of what resources? CPU? RAM? I haven't seen Win10 using 90% of anything unless something got stuck (which happens with any version of Windows), usually fixed with a reboot. Right now I'm sitting at 3% CPU usage and 33% RAM, and that's mostly Firefox. If I sort resource usage by RAM, the second is Windows AV, and the sixth is Windows Explorer (at 124MB) and I have to go all the way to #15 to find another Windows process.

Be careful of horror stories. If you just turn off the tracking and telemetry, and disable things you don't use (use your own judgment, not an automated program that doesn't give you choices - which is why I recommend SU10), it's a non-issue. Just like every other version of Windows.

Honestly Win10 these days is six and a half years old. It's a very solid, stable, reliable, and a well-patched OS that follows in the tradition of every other Windows OS being good. (98 good, Me bad, XP good, Vista bad, 7 good, 8 bad, 10 good, 11... jury's out.) And the interface isn't that different from 7, save for the start menu (and I prefer 10's.)

/edit - I quit my browser and shut down all of my resident programs - driver and hardware utilities, Steam, Discord, etc. A few things running in the background can't be forced off as they relaunch themselves (some Nvidia bits, for instance.) And with that I was at 2% CPU usage and 20% RAM, and that's with all the pretty settings set to 'pretty.'

Blackhawk wrote: Tue Jan 25, 2022 9:17 pm Or just use ShutUp10 if you don't want to go to that extreme.

There's nothing 'extreme' about it. Because if you pay attention to the 'Essential Tweaks' section of the video above or look at the relevant Github, you can clearly see that it specifically includes and uses ShutUp10's 'recommend tweaks' to safely rein in Windows 10 privacy settings.

Here's an earlier video in which this is more thoroughly explained and illustrated:

Daehawk wrote: Tue Jan 25, 2022 7:45 pm I have Win 7 64 bit. In a day or two Ill have Win 10 whatever. Yes Ive finally given up.

maybe you should just install Win11 now and buy yourself a few extra years

Daehawk wrote: Tue Jan 25, 2022 6:03 pm On startup nothing worked because it said my system clock was set to 1/1/2005....thought it was fubared but I reset it in bios and its working. Not sure what will happen if I turn it off. The thing is 11 years old so the cmos battery may be dead.

you don't want to roll without any BIOS battery - that's going to cause some bad behavior (especially with web SSL certificates and the like). you can get a replacement CR2032 for about a dollar twenty-five with free shipping on eBay

that's going to cause some bad behavior (especially with web SSL certificates and the like).

Ya that was the thing..Firefox refused to work because of certificates and it not being able to tell safe stuff. Im not sure why it did that. I did have to unhook the PSU and remove it all and hook it all back up. But that clock reset makes me think CMOS battery. Been hoping to limp on for 2 more years or so until I can fully build new but Im having to bit by bit fix and replace things. Battery may just be one more item on my list.

Is there a recommended brand or one to stay away from? I see Energizer, Duracell, Amazon Basics, and some names I have never seen in my life.

Daehawk wrote: Tue Jan 25, 2022 11:58 pm Is there a recommended brand or one to stay away from? I see Energizer, Duracell, Amazon Basics, and some names I have never seen in my life.

go with a seller with a trusted rating, make sure a battery expiration date is mentioned in the listing, and probably stay away from the no-name brands.

optionally, when the battery is received, check the voltage with a voltmeter or battery tester (if you have them) to make sure the charge is good. i once received a dead battery but the seller sent out a replacement immediately.

Daehawk wrote: Tue Jan 25, 2022 11:58 pm

that's going to cause some bad behavior (especially with web SSL certificates and the like).

Ya that was the thing..Firefox refused to work because of certificates and it not being able to tell safe stuff. Im not sure why it did that. I did have to unhook the PSU and remove it all and hook it all back up. But that clock reset makes me think CMOS battery. Been hoping to limp on for 2 more years or so until I can fully build new but Im having to bit by bit fix and replace things. Battery may just be one more item on my list.

Is there a recommended brand or one to stay away from? I see Energizer, Duracell, Amazon Basics, and some names I have never seen in my life.

In my experience, the most reliable CR2032 coin cell batteries tend to be those with Japan listed as the country of origin, e.g. Maxell, Sony, and Panasonic. Those brands typically provide a 10-year shelf life, so as long as you carefully check the expiration date as hitbyambulance suggested, they provide rock solid reliability and longevity (since they're usually constructed with superior quality materials vs. generic Chinese flotsam).

Today was the day I was going to try getting Win10 installed over my Win7. Now Im not sure. Its the weekend and its going to be super cold. I dont want to mess it up and be without a PC all weekend. If it screws up that means reinstalling Win 7 since thats the last one I own and then trying to do Win10 again. Stress.

Edit: Watching the videos you guys posted again and downloading Shutup10 next. I dont plan to make it look like Win7 or anything...just turn off so much privacy stuff and make sure it works. Ill learn to use it. Used to love learning new PC stuff. I was overjoyed going from Win 3.11 to Win 95. Im just old and stubborn now But I am excited about games running better...or running at all. I can play ME Legendary...and all the other remakes whenever I get them. Also game services like Gamepass will work again when I can afford that.

Still not clear on how or why MS gives away Win10 and then 11. They used to charge over $100 for each new OS. I guess this way they get more users and keep their monopoly.

EDIT: Also grabbing that Debloat Windows. Ill see which seems easier....I know this one has the other in it as well.

Anyone remember the free game thats like a updated Master of Orion?

Daehawk wrote: Fri Jan 28, 2022 4:03 pm Anyone remember the free game thats like a updated Master of Orion?

Remnants of the Precursors?

Thank you so much. I knew it was named after some race of the games but couldn't recall it. It looks like what Ive always wanted...a simply graphic and ease update . I never wanted MOO 3.