LadyCrimson

If I buy a 50xx gpu it'll be the 5090, because with all the vram, even if a couple generations later it won't be able to utilize "frame generation limitlessv99" and "UberHot-DLSS v3659", only on 70xx" or something, it would at least run the darn game because of vram and general power. If it doesn't blow a house circuit, or catch on fire, anyway. I currently have this weird desire to see how far I could get the Indy game to run with middle path tracing at 1080p. The thing about PT (for me) is not simply that fps drops to 30-35 - it's that the fps is not stable/smooth, like 30fps in old games. It's an utter stutter/lag fest. Since I like the first half of the game best, I could start a new save...AAA games these days are mostly good for benchmarking/testing your rig. Heheh

I'm not sure I'm seeing a Superman in that trailer. But there is a SuperCuteDog, so I guess that's something. Nicholas Hoult as Lex - that could be interesting. Or not. He's an actor that I've liked in a few films/roles (one was About a Boy, as a kid, The Menu, Warm Bodies, I guess Xmen) but he's not typically a "huge charismatic presence/larger than life", either as good or evil. Still, could be interesting. I don't know - Superman could still be fun, but they keep turning him into some super mentally tortured, "my life is so harrrrrd" character, and I find that almost as dull by now as the "I'm too cartoonishly invulnerable for my own good". I think I prefer a confident but rationally cautious and aware of his weaknesses, Superman.

Ordered a small box of toffee/chocolate chip cookies. Not low carb. Ordered a couple packages of landjaeger styled meat sticks (not the most expensive ones but still pretty tasty). Zero carb. And since it's all being delivered today, this early this afternoon I should be in snack coma heaven. The internet means you're not safe from snack-shopping even at 4am.

Why 99.5% of players still don't care about full ray tracing. At least not for the 30-50fps cost. The RT-global illumination alone is decent and even that is a performance hit, but I could see it being a standard eventually. Can't compare with non-RT GI since there is none. Shadows/reflections etc aren't maxed and I'm sure it would all look "crisper" or something on a new $7k PC w/"supreme" settings, but you get the point. Pathtracing Off: Full pathtracing on: a little change in colortone of those wall plates and the pedestal is better backlit? No pathtracing: Full pathtracing: whiter/brighter building/foliage lighting, water is a tad less brown, the bamboo railing is more top-lit/whiter? Does it make a difference you can see? Yes. Is it worth the performance cost (and hardware cost/upkeep) or make some giant immersion difference? Me: Heck no.

Fair. It doesn't really "feel" like a serious AAA game to warrant that "full AAA" price. Also, zero replayability for probably 99% of those who play it. Also, the cats are weird looking and are not cute.

I started noticing that sensation in the desert and jungle areas. It's not microstutter, or fps drops. Just sometimes you're walking/swimming around, it feels fine, and then suddenly it feels ... sluggish. Animation still looks smooth/isn't jerking, but feels like you're walking in quicksand for several seconds. Most of the time it's fine but yeah, it's weird. Figured it was the cpu-maxing or something. But the frame pacing isn't going haywire or anything. Haven't had any issue w/temps, gpu or cpu - but I do have that giant mega Noctua cooler on the cpu. I'm kinda thinking the game is a "failure" - in the sense there seems to be very little interest in it. Steam in particular. The RT gpu and generally steep requirement thing is probably part of it, Indy-topic and more casual SP adventure (vs. fast/exciting action) being a smaller or even niche market another, available on gamepass another etc. Of course I have no idea re: console sales or how many gamepass subs might've been "sold" or renewed to play it. EDIT: and while the visuals are nice, don't get me wrong, from my perspective it's not even that great of a case for RT (even with full PT on, I've looked periodically, ooo, lighting on that mirror pedestal's base is different, pfft). The environments/art design overall just isn't impressive/unusual enough for that. I've tried to continue playing it a few times, getting maybe 20 minutes and then "eh" stopping. I did finally look up a main plot concept and I'm pretty sure I'm not too far from the end game anyway. It has good first impression but it already wore out its welcome. There's just not much to it outside of visual designs, a bit of humor, maybe a couple decent puzzles/dungeons in each larger section, and Indiana-love. The rest is filler fluff.

Can't tell if I'd be interested in that Exodus game or not. It looks kind of intriguing but per usual never enough gameplay being shown. Lots of 2 seconds of gameplay being constantly fast spliced around like an action movie trailer never "tells" me anything. Especially if it's supposed to be more of a story rpg? Need more of the "how skills/quests work" stuff. The Borderlands 4 trailer mostly made me think it might be more interesting to play as one of the bandits/enemies than the "vault hunters." (the gameplay bits start just after the 1minute mark). Since I assume hubby will want it even if I'm "meh", we'll likely have to buy hubby some cheap new gpu, even if he's fine with 1080p gaming on his 4k monitor. I think he has a nvidia 1660 or something, which barely worked ok with BL3.

I never have vsync enabled and I haven't updated the game, so no, I haven't noticed. Haha. I've seen posts (pre and post patches) of all kinds of weird stuff re: cpu/gpu usage, frame pacing, other, under certain conditions, although usually related to frame generation/PT on. Which is why I don't want to update because it's running ok for me (and I haven't run into that whip/camera bug) so why risk it. Only thing I've noticed (no patch) is I get slightly lower overall CPU usage and higher overall GPU usage with DLSS OFF/TAA, maybe that's normal, dunno. But I think this is the first game that is likely CPU bound at my 4k (dlss or not) settings. eg, gpu sits around 40-50% most of the time vs. maxed out/cpu overall always says 100% (and almost all cores including H-threads are very high graph use in Performance Monitor, not just 2-4). Dunno if it's because of something re: poor/odd game coding or not tho. I've seen people with better PC's (and running full RT) report the same sort of thing. Edit: could be because of using Vulkan too I suppose.

She got in my way while trying to get on ladders/use whip icons, by suddenly rushing to stand exactly in front of the ladder or a ledge blocking my view/ability to use icon. But the worst was the verbal in a few cases. I want to glance around a large room before "moving on" and the entire time she is repeating the same "maybe we should do this, Dr. Jones" line every 3 seconds, for 5 minutes, until I finally did what she wanted so she shut up and I went back to exploring the room. Her character is fine, but good lord.

That's California for you. Wood smoke has too many larger particulates. Or something. If you buy a house here with a nice original wood burning fireplace still in existence, never ever do any renov. that would tear it down. You'd probably only get a permit for a gas-insert type thing. Not that I'm a building contractor. Just what I've read here and there. May even still vary county to county for all I know. ========= Haven't slept well in a few days (short cycles, early-waking etc). Crashed/slept 12 hours yesterday. So here I sit, wide awake again, twiddling my thumbs, wondering "What Will I Do Today?" At least it's not raining. Maybe a bundled-up walk is in order.

I live in California, hence those are probably illegal, like wood burning fireplaces. ...or at least, illegal to burn actual wood logs in - of course, they'd have to catch you/someone would have to report you. I'm sure such doesn't get enforced a lot. But in terms of permits to put one in a house now - not likely/full of restrictions etc. Edit: As always - if I was really into cooking I might want certain appliances. But I'm not, so I'd rather spend 5k-10k on ... computers/games/TV's etc. Priorities!

^ Cost is one part of the "can't be bothered" aspect - not in the sense of cleaning but in the sense of wanting super fancy cookware or appliances, which often come with more care and consideration to deal with. I like no fuss and I don't spend enough time cooking to care. Edit: and cheap-ish. For that matter, we've only bought/purchased two new large appliances in our 35+ years together, and one was only because we kind of had to to rent the other house. Did buy an ancient used fridge once, too. I think at this point in my life my rangetop preference would go like this: Gas > exposed coil > glass covered coil Ovens I like electric/convection, anything but gas, basically.

I reached the next area in Indy game and while it is a bit more involved ala Vatican/Egypt sections in terms of gameplay loops, my motivation to continue shrinks every minute. It's not that anything has changed/grown worse per se - the loops have just become too repetitive/not engaging enough. I may eventually get around to it but I'm in no rush. Based on my time and forum posts I think the 25-35 hours to finish the game (not completionist) and maybe 45-50ish (completionist) are fairly accurate. I've maybe done 60-75% vs. 100% in all areas. It's not a very long game I think. My favorite things in this game are the long Indy story scenes (some of them are very entertaining in that Indy campy way), some of the area designs/artwork (lots of details in some ways). Gizeh/Egypt was the highlight. But in the end, I would definitely recommend either trying it on Gamepass if you have that, or waiting for at least a moderate sale. Indiana Jones vibe/nostalgia - 9/10 Gameplay, AI/mechanics/loops - 5/10 "tomb-ing/exploring/puzzling satisfaction" - 3/10 (because there was not enough of it)

I use water sitting on the surface for while, maybe 409 or windex after, paper towels or sponge or the "nonstick scrubber" plastic side sponges. I've used the Easy-Off type oven spray oven cleaner to remove the black glue. I have never shaken/shake-slide a pan because I cook nothing that requires it (also, full pans are rather heavy for me these days). I use a wooden spoon to stir/move pan contents around and like I said, if the pan bottom is not perfectly flat/has become a bit warped, this action alone will cause the pan to "walk" across the surface eventually so it's no longer centered over the burner coils and then I pick it up and move it again. Over and over. I did recently buy a new "wok" type pan and it's flat/more stable. Most (cheaper) pans also have all that texturing on the underside/outside bottom for some reason - machined circle lines and logos, whatever. The surface was already damaged but it's grown worse since we took over, possibly due to my wobbly pans (that didn't feel wobbly on coil burners, cause you don't notice as much I guess). I can't be bothered to take a pic of my actual stovetop but this picture from reddit shows what I mean. I see videos of "do these many steps to clean or polish" and frankly I can't be bothered. It annoys me because exposed coil burners I didn't have to think/notice about such at all - but it doesn't annoy me enough and I don't care enough to fiddle with powders, polishes, razor blades or multi-steps. It is what it is. Edit: to be clear, ours is not induction. Just glass over burner coils.

This house came with a glass top electric stove. I dislike it. It works fine, but the "this is the burner area design lines" on the glass is easily scratched and if your pot/pan isn't perfectly perfectly flat, it will wobble at the lightest handle touch and slide all over the surface so I have to keep readjusting where it's sitting. If you spill anything, it burns into black glue onto the glass surface and oven cleaner may be needed to remove it (vs. those pan things under a burner you can just replace). Can't complain tho, it was "free" (minus the cost of the house, ahem). I'm still miffed that the fridge (also "free" with the house) has two giant double doors that are apparently made of aluminum or something, meaning magnets will not stick to it. Only a little strip of the side of the fridge - because the fridge is housed within a kitchen cabinet-hole - can hold magnet-notes. Boo. Edit: my mistake, it's not the lines on the stovetop that etch, it's the glass itself. So you get unpolished look scuffs all over.

^ I was playing Path of Exile (1) before Pillars was even announced. Then when Ob's PoE came out I was, for a while, constantly confused in forums/posts. These days I try to see context before applying a name to an acronym. There are way too many of them these days, since most of us seem to be afflicted with lazy typing fingers. Sideways: the other day I was contemplating how long it had been since I had written anything but a shopping list or quick game-note by hand. I used to write journals, poems, stories, entire game walkthru/notebooks etc by hand up to about late-20's (I did also use manual electric typewriter a lot back then, too). I barely know what a pen is, anymore.

"Red One" - brain at your door (or maybe as far as your neighbor's door) Xmas movie. I thought it might be the Jingle all the way type of silly/"stupid" - but fantasy/cgi/some action stuff. It reminded me more of Xmas Men In Black (in a non-direct comparison way) mixed with some darkish (well, vs. singing elves/snowmen and dancing reindeer) fantasy tones here and there, and typical Santa nice/naughty/redemption moralizing. Or something. Anyway, it's not a good movie, but maybe because I had zero expectations and wasn't looking for any depth whatsoever, I still found some stuff hilarious. *shrug*

Indy - from a gameplay perspective, the areas right after Gizeh sucked, far as I'm concerned. Cinematic story lovers will like it tho. I would actually like a YT cut of this game where it's mostly all the "movies", in-game cutscenes, and the bare minimum amount of gameplay shown needed (the intro RotLA re-do need not be included, for example), to create a sort of 4-6 hour movie. Versus the 12+ hr "entire main game" fast run through videos where you have to watch someone playing for 8+ hours of it.

Indy - apparently if you've upped your health bars and food-health bars enough, when you fall down a pit, you don't die. Just a sliver of health remaining, so no game-over/auto-reload screen. When it 1st happened, I thought maybe there was some way out of the pitch black pit that even a torch barely helped at all, but no. Result is same, restart checkpoint, so it doesn't matter, but it's hilarious they let you boost health so much/didn't account for that so it happens.

Requirements for FF7-Rebirth are RTX-2060/RX-6600. eg, no GTX. Also, 12gb VRAM for 4k, possibly even for lower resolutions depending on settings, who bloody knows.It's not about RT - theory from some is need a gpu that will support DX12-Ultimate mesh shaders and other other features. https://fullcleared.com/news/here-are-the-pc-requirements-for-final-fantasy-vii-rebirth/ ...it's just that time where gpu tech/game dev tech standards is finally changing over. Had that long period of "my gpu/pc is 8-10+ years old and still does everything!" - but that's going, going, gone. Well, outside of indie games. And eventually that'll go to, for more graphic indies/A/AA, I would bet on it. At least the vram req. part. My 2080ti purchase, for time period I bought it, looks better all the time. If only I could hold out for the 60xx/whatever period.... Edit: at least that Arc B580 looks like a good budget 1080p card. Maybe Intel really will light a little fire under Nvidia's butt ... probably not. Nvidia obviously doesn't care about low budget gpu's.

Oh, also, if you'd like to not see all those logo intros starting the Indy game steamapps\common\The Great Circle\base\video\boot_sequence Rename the file in there. Depending on your PC you may see the loading shaders text line (those logos are like load screens, these days) for 1/4 of a second but then you're in game manu. I don't care about the time saved, it's more my ears saved. Can we please make the game volume control slider ALSO affect the crashing logos "TADAAAA" audio?

Indy game: I believe I'm near the end of Gizeh. I think my game save says around 16 hours. This region has somewhat worn out my liking for sneaking around, because the enemies change it up a little. Also, they do eventually respawn. By that I mean, the region is more fun to randomly explore, but enemies/stealth/combat becomes more tiresome. I have something like 900 "cash" collected for the region and have only had to spend ... 75. I collected 1000's of adventure points doing Adventure/Fieldwork and picking up all the notes, medicine, and relics ( a few) I saw along the way. Meaning I've "read" almost all the books I've found. I can now hold twice as much bread!

Yeah, I know about that. I don't really care about combat stuff, since I'm not looking for the hardest combat difficulty, and I like stealthiness or avoidance vs. leroy tactics. it is nice that you can mix and match the options vs. the defaults if one wants it. Guns imo are last resort/boss only, imo .... there's reasons, but I don't want to spoil. And maybe some would like it anyway. The adventure menu (puzzling) changes nothing. There is no "puzzle difficulty=full", it's just moderate/off/off, which is what the "overall adventure exp" Moderate settings does by default. If you picked Puzzle-Light at the start, you could change it to Moderate, but it doesn't get any better than that.

Ok, Gizeh more engaging in some ways. Perhaps I simply like "outdoors" locations than "cramped historical city" locations. All issues/nitpicks I personally have with the game overall are still there, mind, but the "map/location" design improves it. There seem to be more secrets and tiny cavern holes and brief surprises to stumble on to. Nothing expansive re: exploration/tomb-ing, but at least it's more interesting to navigate. Also, my advice: unless you're a mega-completionist type (which is fine if you are, I mean no offense!), I would maybe stick to mostly the main quest (Adventure) and the larger sidequests (Fieldwork). The rest are largely busy/filler/collection work. That said, the occasional Mystery was interesting, and if you trigger anything/can do it right then, why not. The game loop (largely the same format/cycle as Vatican) gets repetitive fast, but Gizeh is definitely better as a map. Plus one of the cutscenes/story was ... hilarious. Voss is a good Indiana Jones villain.

^ Oh, as usual, to be clear, I am not saying "Indy game sucks." There's fun to be had, it is what it is. Certain audience types will love it to death I'm sure. But it's main draw is nostalgia for Indiana, his character and original films. Just don't expect interesting/deep gameplay, mechanics, AI, reward-motivation, action, etc. I suppose I was hoping for at least a little more old school tombraider-ing feeling perhaps. The answer to that is no. I'm not sure I'll finish it, really. Depends what Gizeh offers.