LadyCrimson

TLDW: more testing needed but overhead issues, so don't pair with older gen or maybe lower end CPU, or something, may/likely get 30-50% less performance vs. picking/using, say, a 4060. eg, ryzen 5 2600 and one wanted to replace their 1660. It's not just simple bottlenecking. So decent budget gpu upgrade for some, not for others. (original reviewer/tester/vid they're referring to)

Tim Cain's recent videos on violence as default in AAA games and the cost of moddability were interesting. Games generally having violent actions as the progression requirement or simply the main gameplay loop irks me more and more as time goes on. I would like it if non or less violent option games could be something other than puzzle or farming/walking sims, if you get my meaning. But I still have no idea what to do instead. Stealth/avoidance is the main method I suppose but having to sneak around at a crawl pace gets old after a while.

I was watching a video on the Star Trek alumni (not just actors) who have passed this year and when they reached David Soul, I was gobsmacked. I never knew/realized he'd played an alien chr. in the ToS "The Apple." I knew him from other things but never recognized him from ST. Of course that was an episode I rarely rewatched, and the makeup, so.... Anyway, some were probably already mentioned in the thread when they happened, but a belated RIP to all the ST universe folks that passed in 2024.

Another year older, but I am still none the wiser. Best of luck in the new year.

My ram won't be here for probably a few or several more days. Since the reboot situation is so unpredictable, it makes me not want to play anything. Cue extra boredom. (me: decrease "memes" and "theme song lyrics" by half to enlarge "cat videos", and decrease "cringey memories" by half to make "random obsession" larger) I did buy a few of the story collection books of Stephen King that I hadn't read and am slowly going through those. I came to the conclusion years ago that I like his shorts and short novels more than his 800+ page novels. But so far not impressed with the more recent offerings of such. They're not bad, but I'd probably rather re-read the older collections. May try John Scalzi's Lock In, next.

I've definitely come to think pacing - in either direction - is a large factor why I have a hard time getting into anything now. They are either too rushed, or too indulgent.

No timeouts but more frequent long page loading again. Also, just got a "can't edit post because moved or it's been too long." --- this was trying to edit a post 5 minutes later. I assume that is not normal, even if there is still (no clue) an actual edit time limit.

^ "This post can no longer be edited because it's been moved or too much time has passed." (It's been maybe 5-10 minutes). I was going to add, doesn't Great Britain do something similar re: ads playing during a show's runtime?

To me it depends on what a series pattern is being styled for. Procedural (Law and Order, CSI, sitcoms, etc) are easiest re: long multi-seasons and make sense because they are generally 80-90% self-contained stories but with some important chr arc threads being moved forward a little at a time, whether in every episode or every few episodes. Didn't matter if there were 2 seasons or 15 seasons much of the time because you can keep churning out new self-contained mysteries/funnies, with season long "who's the ripper?" arcs. The larger pattern these days is for series - at least initially - to be a 6-12 hour movie. The "self contained" aspects are now minor subarcs that often wouldn't really even be missed if deleted, and the focus-flow is all for main plot suspense and momentum to go on and on. So you have to have enough story - and the skill at drawing things out on a fine blade - to justify series-length movies. If you don't, it will drag and the "filler" will get more silly and hard to ignore. Shorter seasons are less risky but can feel rushed. Obviously there are crossovers and series that mix both styles with varying success, just talking generally. ========== K-dramas are interesting (from the a US standpoint) because they were/usually self-contained (that's becoming less true now ofc). But even back when, 16 was often a little long - 16 was probably what they wanted for ideal ad/commercial amounts - so you'd get the half or back third season lag/filler. They used to be filmed a few weeks advance of air-date, like old US TV, so if popular they might even spur of the moment extend the series a few more episodes. with mixed results. There used to be (may still be, times change, I don't keep up) restrictions on S. Korea re: playing ads during an episode air-runtime. That is, they couldn't run ads like the US does, in the middle of/interrupting episodes. This was, supposedly, one reason why some k-dramas started splitting 1-hour episodes into 2 episodes - so instead of 16 it looks like there's 32 episodes - so more actual ads (vs. blatant in-show PPL) could be played for that one episode. Anyway, it's probably changing/already has changed somewhat at this point, but it was an interesting difference vs. US broadcast TV.

Ssn2 and 3 were filmed back to back or something of that nature, so in reality it's basically one long season, split apart, 2nd half next year (I would guess 4-6 months from now or some such). But the way they did the cliffhanger - there was zero sense of satisfaction re: a "part 1" ending. I'm fine with some cliffhanger in some stuff but it has to be done well. That was just ... cutting a cake in half and leaving with the knife still in the cake, before the cut is even finished. The bigger issue I had with ssn2/pt1 was the voting segments. They went on far too long/were too much the focal point, and other side/concurrent arcs mostly feel like filler, in the sense we still know almost nothing/it didn't seem to progress. I'd guess all the strings will pull together in part2 somehow but it felt sloppy. That said - I did like it overall, and there were great moments. Eps 1-4 I felt pretty good about/felt invested, it was just the longer it went, the more picks I felt like nitting. In the end, even if it all works, I think splitting the season and plot arcs was a mistake. Edit: I was, however, quite excited as more and more cast members kept showing up and I recognized more and more from S.K. films/dramas/music. Quite the cast, even past the main knowns.

^ I used windows crap mem-test just to get an idea what I wanted to try first. I know there's supposedly better memory test programs but these days most such programs seem to be mostly bloat/spyware of some sort, even if old versions used to be great. eg, I don't tend to download/use such. Almost every single program/company that made the program I used to like has become something I would never want to install on my PC so I just don't bother anymore. In the end if it's the mobo, can't do much about that/I'd see no point trying to "fix" that aspect, and I'd just build a new PC entire. If ram or psu replacement makes it go away, great/ideal. If it doesn't ... oh well. In my life situation, I'm not too fussed. Just would mean I won't be playing games too often for a few months or something. I'd certainly prefer it to be a simple ram fix tho, ofc.

Oh, yeah, I know there are non-gaming upsides/needs. And in the past nvidia's "top" was meant for professional use vs. consumer, (Titan, whatever other names) with them seeming to want to return to that mindset/pricing, perhaps - it's just become out of whack in that regard in gamer's minds - and I am, of course, looking at all of it from the gaming perspective. The main irritation for many lately mostly seems to be about the vram issue tho. I would be fine with much less "powerful" performance in other areas of 5080, but AA/AAA dev's seem to have decided doing graphics that want huge vram #'s at least available, for gaming, should be a thing. And it's probably only going to get worse (even discounting full RT) So mid to highish end, gamers want/think they should get more vram at minimum, even if it isn't the uber fastest vram or highest bandwidth or whatever other tech specifics. Is it dev's fault, or the gpu makers fault, chicken, egg. There will always be gamers who buy every gpu generation because they have nothing better to do, just like some people buy/lease constant new cars, but most of us - even most of us with plenty of cash to fling around on an optional hobby - want a bit more justification. If they just stuck 20gb vram on the 5080 I probably wouldn't complain. Just me tho.

@Bartimaeus I would guess the main reason for that (gaming news channels) is a "gaming news" channel can't really survive on a few videos made a month, waiting for actual news. Daily or every other day videos "required". Hence having to find a reason, any reason, to blabber about something in constant new uploads. Algorithm - all those hidden factors that are seemingly much more important than simply channel sub numbers now - and all that. Thus they have all become TMZ or whatever, styled reporting. imo they should stop pleading for viewers to subscribe. I don't think that really does jack anymore - at least not without high numbers in all the other algorithm factors. YT "knows" most people sub and then never return to view the channel again.

(comedy, not news) dunkey has all the random game news for 2025, confirmed. ..."game news" channel "news" is pretty much like this, now, tho. ...oh, and swords are in. Haha.

Juror #2 is on HBO/MAX now, so we watched that. I was a little disappointed. It's like if you mashed a much lesser 12 Angry Men (but they go outside!) and some John Grissom jury novel together in a modern cinematic and edited way. Felt a bit perfunctory in pacing and script. The moral dilemma is fine, although I ended up not really liking the protagonist - eg, didn't feel much sympathy, probably because he came off as being stupid. >.> Still, watchable, didn't dislike it. Made me hope Eastwood has one more movie in him tho, and a better one, to perhaps end his career on.

I can already see all the YouTube meme videos about this. ...I remember as a kid, watching The Jetsons after school, wishing for all that cool make believe tech. And now here we are. ...I would still prefer a robot maid/housekeeper, however. And a Roomba is not it.

The current "leaks and rumors" have the 5090 being over 2k and the 5080 being not quite half that. So, say, $2200 and $1300. With the theory on such rumors being they learned their "lesson" and want the price difference to = more people buying 5080 vs. "it's only $300 more for the xx90/all that vram, so why not." And the 5080Super/ti/whatever maybe would later have 24 for $400 more than 5080 and be the "true" 5080 etc. Edit: ofc it's all speculation/leaks. Nvidia could change their minds at last minute etc. I am not convinced yet twice the VRAM would be worth almost twice the price (if that is indeed what happens). I mean in my case a jump from 2080ti to 5080 would still, I assume, be quite a leap, but man - does nvidia think vram is made of gold? Could game dev's just stop racing ahead in the direction of requiring so much vram just to run a game, even without full PT? Thanks.

And what = faster? lower CL number? Higher? I see mostly CL18 and CL16 listed on the ddr4 Corsair Vengeance line (my original/previous ram is supposedly CL 16)? Edit: that's what I ordered. I could still cancel it tho. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZPLM1R1 EditEdit: I need/want no-RGB and low profile Edit: google one chart saying 3200/16 and 3600/18 is the same. Gazzilionth edit: meh, canceled and got the 3600/CL16 for $10 more. Whatever.

^ Did you finish Indy, then?

If one of those ring things gets to the point where it could give me an idea of blood glucose levels - for me, it doesn't have to be uber accurate, but also couldn't be super inaccurate, ofc - I might consider one. But the notion of needing a "phone app" to make it work/see data (or a sub. to see certain data) always makes me go "meh." Better home medical monitoring is always welcome for certain cases tho. But I'd also be worried re: data gathered/unscrupulous natures of companies etc, as/if it became more prevalent vs. more of a novelty. But then I'm a suspicious get off my lawn old bird so. @Bartimaeus We did the windows mem test thingie at base ram speed (no XMP) that the bios wanted to use (2133), we also tried lowering it. We did one stick at a time, we did both, switched slots etc. One stick gave "there's an error" in the first few seconds, the other would wait for a couple minutes, didn't matter what slot you put them in, each stick's behavior remained the same in that way, so whatever is wrong with them is at different points/stress. DDR4 3200 or 3600 ram isn't expensive at all right now so eh, cheap enough to try it. EDIT: reboot is still very intermittent and only occurs while gaming (for the moment). And varies per game. Like Indiana didn't bother it at all but that zombie game really hates it. Heh.

Ok, hubby was able to remove/move around ram sticks without removing cpu cooler. Easier. Well, can't do/reach the farthest 2 slots (so if I wanted 4 sticks/remove cooler), but eh. Now I'm annoyed tho, because all the ram stuff always lists the max "speed" as the "speed" of the ram. I want to know the base speed of the ram (y'know, without the oc XMP or whatever). Edit: does it even matter? I think the CPU is rated for the 2133 tho. EDIT: never mind, hubby's wrong. I think it's 2666 for cpu. Looking again...

ran windows memory diagnostic. All it says is theres a problem, zero other info. How useful. Guess I shall buy new ram tho. Which means repasting cpu since that giant noctua cooler basically blocks ram removal access. hahaha I think I can still buy the exact same ram for 100 bucks. Maybe Id get 4-5 years out of it again. pffft what a pita

Guess I have a sort-of Millennium Falcon now. (No Man's Sky)

Squid Game, season 2, 1st episode Gong Yoo is the best. would probably watch him play a man whose job is to dress up as a carrot in front of a grocery and that's all he does for most of the show. He made the 1st episode of SG2 great. I probably don't have to watch any more. ...although I might, eventually.

Manor Lords - they put out a new beta/experimental branch that added a mt. map, river map, other stuff, so I finally updated/looked at it. Didn't really play much, just looking at stuff. ---First, the food spoilage mechanic now has options. Off, 50%, Normal, Double rate. So, that takes care of that annoyance for me. Don't know when it was added. ---The river (one, snaking through whole map) - well it looks nice. They can split a region into pieces, making it more difficult re: layout plans. There are some default already-existing bridges for workers to use, and can build your own. Not sure it adds much. ---The "mountain" map is more of a "mountain valley" map. You have 4 regions in a narrow strip, one after another so you have to conquer them in a line order. Build areas have steeper hills/edges to annoy you, but you do not get to build/use major mountain terrain in any way, seems like, just used as a visual border. If you are "casual city builder" focused, this feels much more limited since less total regions and you always have to start from the same spot and can only move in one direction vs. more radially placed/multi-border touching regions. It is probably more of a combat/conquering challenge. If you look on YT, no one seems to be playing this map. River pretty beats all?