LadyCrimson

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?

@Gorth I have this suspicion that BL4 may reduce the otp humor/jokes a bit. The trailer has me thinking they want to be taken a teensy (teensy) bit more seriously in that regard. Not sure why I feel that way but trailer gives me that vibe. I think at this point I wouldn't even mind if they did tone that down, it was getting a little out of hand. And yeah - BL3's plot and npc writing was terrible. Even for "what it is."

Ok fine, it was on moderate sale. Certainly cute graphics. Controller feels clunky/awkward tho, especially within the menus. But ... very cute art style.

Netflix - Carry On After watching it, I saw someone describe it as a lower rent Die Hard2+Phone Booth. I'd say that's kind of apt. As a maybe late 80's/90's feeling suspend-disbelief action thriller, I'd say ... "it's fine." Won't blow your socks off, but there are worse ways to kill a little time. Some decent action/set pieces, decent actor choices. It does give the sensation that if it had been just a little better, scripting, pacing etc, it could have been something more than "fine", but it is what it is.

Rented Deadpool and Wolverine. I thought I knew what I was getting/expecting, but apparently I was a little bit wrong. The action sequences were decent if a little over-edited, Hugh was great as Wolverine, some of the jokes and Wolverine/Deadpool sniping were funny. Two nigh invulnerable dudes duking it out etc. But the first hour of setup went on too long imo, and the general flow of the film felt unfocused/pointless. One scene of silly or chr. cameo after another. So, it was ok/average for throw away Marvel hijinks, but not focused enough for any attachment. The main thing about Deadpool (the 1st film was only ok imo, never saw the 2nd) is that the joke of breaking the wall and all the self-awareness *is* funny - but it's so constant and in your face it stops being funny after about 20 minutes, for me. Grinds the joke into flat dust before long. Ah well. At least I got to see Hugh as Wolverine one more time.

Monitor/screen type and settings does tend to affect how much of a difference is noticeable. eg, it's a fair bit more noticeable on the 4k OLED, vs older 1440 LED. Outside of "sunray shadow filter" and any fancy reflections, it's mostly about contrast and brightness and very subtle angling, re: light filtering, seems to me. I can imagine. And then if one has to add DLSS on top of it just to get the fps. Still cracks me up when people say how their 40xx runs it great at native supreme/fullPT at 1440/4k/100fps .... and then they finally mention using "DLSS at Performance + Frame Gen." The definition/knowledge of "native" seems to be slipping away.

There are zero eggs in the local grocery. There is a sign of "eggs limited to 1 package per customer" or something, but all gone. California has now declared a state of emergency for finding it in cattle/milk or something. Ok. As long as I can still buy my yogurt. Don't care about/hardly use eggs/milk much myself, but I must have my Fage yogurt! I've heard Barnes and Nobles (and other bookstores) are doing well lately - eg, books are doing well, despite all the tech. I find this refreshing. Going to go to one and buy up a bunch of books I ignored from the past decade or two. Maybe I'll find I can enjoy reading novels constantly, again, vs my boredom with most media.

^ re: mobo etc. Hm, interesting. re: 2080ti in "new" build - I wouldn't do that thinking I'd get any gains. It's just that it would still "work" while I'm waiting for another generation of gpu's, so whenever I feel like finally buying a ridiculously over-priced gpu, I already have something to just throw it into. Since I like 4k, even if I don't care about Supreme/Ultra/RT/frame-gen/120+ fps etc, I still don't feel like gpu's are seriously "4k worthy" yet. Oh sure they're better than my current overall and ofc re: RT, but with the way dev's are going, it's going to be another 2-4 years before we know what a "good 4k" gpu may be. It's just so I have the chassy ready. Granted, doing things that way (rig, upgrade gpu later) isn't my typical thing, I like building wholesale and then largely never changing/upgrading/touching a rig for 5-8 years, but eh. Was just considering it.

I'm not familiar with that reference, but my original thought seeing this Kent was awkward-Peter-Parker. Not in looks so much as body/expression carrying. And yes, that hair style is blargh, lol. I didn't realize the guy with the terrible blond bowl haircut was 1-Nathan Fillion and 2-Guy Gardner. I mean his face/hair made me think of younger Joe Pesci for some reason and ofc I knew it couldn't be him so I looked it up. That made my interest go up maybe 8%. Guy Gardner can be an interesting chr. Not sure the size of his role in this film tho. It does look like this movie is going to not spend as much time with the "origin" of Supes, which is good, but I wonder if that means it'll simply fall into the "too many chrs/arcs" trap earlier.

^ Seems a little pricey. Supposedly there is another version coming out lower price with similar performance, so maybe one should wait and see what happens there (if it's not just rumor) but I know zip about amd. Which is ofc the problem with all tech and time. It's just in the past I felt more "sure" of what paths to take for my needs/preferences at the time I wanted to build if I wasn't going to endlessly "wait for next thing", regardless of what popular reviewers were saying was "the uber bestest". EDIT: btw, is AMD better re: mobo longevity re: switching out cpu's later? Obviously I don't mean 10 yrs or something, but even a year or two later?

I've been contemplating building a new (basic parts/lots of storage and giant case) rig but not getting a gpu yet - just tossing the 2080ti into the 'new pc' - but the CPU market seems so up in the air itself this moment that I fear the "I made a mistake" regret a year or two later. >.> I have funds, I just have zero idea what I'm going to do this time. Except ignore/delay thinking about it, some more.

Scratch that. Unlike a few other earlier RT games, even DLSS-balanced used with 720p/everything low (haha), full PT tanks the fps, even if it's not taking up all 11 vram (about 10). And I mean tanks. I'd guess more vram and faster CPU would help with that ofc, but yeah, that's still nuts. Other settings really don't matter much.

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!