waltc

Do you mean "evil" in the sense that most people are evil...in that they generally get caught doing their evil and have to pay for it, or are you referring to a type of fantasy "evil" that involves only rewards for evil deeds? I've seen a couple of RPGs in the past (if only I could remember which!) where you could "play" an evil character, but it was several times more difficult to play the game, because people shunned you and your reputation was crap and you were always on the run from the authorities, and so on...I tried it and quickly dropped it--no fun, more like hard work than fun, I thought. Fairly true to life, though...and then there's the fact that "evil people" in reality are generally not as intelligent as the law-abiding folk. It's like the old adage about smiling using 11 facial muscles and frowning requiring the use of 22 facial muscles--it's simply very hard to be "evil" and have an "evil party," I think. I mean, in an "evil party" they'd all be plotting against each other and trying to cut each other's throats the whole game... Like I say, evil folk are generally not the brightest bulbs in the room. Just doesn't seem like fun. I try and picture myself enjoying being an evil character in a game and it's difficult, as if that were true I'd have to wonder if somehow I had slipped into sadomasochism... But anyway...I guess my point is that this is something which superficially sounds like fun, maybe, but probably really wouldn't be... But this game has no shortage of evil in it... "There are many creatures of evil lurking everywhere in the game," Waltc said. Suppose we could play an evil character, though...if the monsters were suddenly our "friends" because now we were "evil", too, good gracious that would become boring...but if we still had to fight the monsters even though we, too, were "evil" (pronounced "eeeee-e-e-e-e-ville"), then it would be no different than when we were playing as regular imperfect folk trying to be decent folk...so that wouldn't really work out, either. I think there are good reasons why this probably has never worked...but this is just my opinion, of course...

I actually thought him shall-we-say "mentally challenged" as opposed to "evil"...

... And then, just for the OP, he could turn on subtitles in case he can't make out the speech...Oh, wait...but that would mean more infernal reading, wouldn't it? Q: Why do people who claim they cannot read at the junior high level join Internet forums where the only activity available is reading (and writing)? A: I don't know, but it seems rather contradictory...

Today we have changed our standard time definition to system that is no longer based on the rotation of the Earth around the Sun, but on atomic time. As a second is defined as: "9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium-133 atom." and length other standard time units are based on that definition. I think it is more like we use 'atomic time' to more accurately measure the time it takes for the earth to revolve around the sun, imo... So-called 'atomic time' is merely more accurate as opposed to being radically different from other methods of telling time--revolutions around the sun are still 'years' and rotations of the earth on its axis are still 'days', etc. It isn't exact to the nanosecond, but that is generally accepted to be A-OK. (We build in Leap Year, etc., to correct for the small inaccuracies that accrue.) But the astronomical observations are still very much the basis for our calendar. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leap_year

Actually, we'd be better off hoping NVIDIA looks over this. Waiting for any fix from Obsidian would take over a week if not longer and come with a likelihood of brand new problems. Obsidian, thankfully, is not in the business of fixing buggy GPU drivers when they are released by nVidia or AMD. It's nVidia's problem to fix, certainly, since the earlier drivers were reportedly running fine with the game.

I'm not sure I understand the difficulty metric being tied to the amount of camping supplies you can carry... Everyone understands that the only thing in RPGs that you can convincingly "make more difficult" is the combat... You can't somehow make the story itself more 'difficult', of course--that's not even a rational idea--and the whole notion of levels of difficulty indicates the game is getting confused--is it an RPG or is it an FPS? etc. Someone else mentioned that the idea of a limitless stash alongside of a very limited capacity for "camping supplies" was a bit illogical--it is. An ideal RPG should naturally progress from "extremely easy" all the way to "difficult" at the end, with your cast of characters advancing and gaining skills as they go--difficulty should ratchett up with character development (otherwise, what point is there in the 'character development' part of an RPG?) Tying camping supplies to difficulty is a gimmicky way to increase "difficulty", imo. One thing the game does very well: it doesn't tie fights and killing things blindly to carte blanche experience points...! (The one thing I liked a lot about the Might and Magic games (not "Heroes")--you got the advancements through completing the game's quests.) Aside from the camping supply limits, the other thing that bothers me about the game is the absence of healing spells/potions. If you are not cheating, then this construction means you have to rest often, which then runs you slam into the camping supply limits. The healing "utilities" that exist in the game that actually affect health are nice, but they are far too weak. Either the game should maintain the present camping-supply limits, and introduce healing potions & spells; or do away with the camping-supply limits and leave things as they are with regard to healing potions & spells. The third option would be to greatly buff up the healing utilities so that they'd be meaningful.

I really wish people wouldn't use words like "tanks"... (Makes me feel like this is a 'World of Tanks' game, or some other WWI/WW2 game.) But I think the game intelligently seeks out your weakest characters first--which is why they should be restricted to ranged spells & weapons, imo. This leaves your melee fighters to take on the worst of the bad guys first, be they spell casters or melee fighters themselves.

Easy mode does not mean that if you choose to fight the wrong villain at the wrong time that you won't get your *ss handed to you... You still have to play and strategize and think about what you are doing...if they took that aspect of the game away in easy mode they'd destroy the game--and I think you'd be even more disatisfied. Even on Easy Mode you may have to admit that one villain is too much for you and go and do something else and come back when you've advanced a level or two. But here's the thing: *If you don't pause the action in combat and make intelligent assignments with spells, at least twice during the fight, and you don't spend time equipping your armor and trying out different weapons that match the strengths of your members--making sure to have both ranged and melee characters--then there are a lot of fights you will lose...no matter your level. That's as it should be, imo. If you are so "story oriented" that the combat and inventory management and the strategy seem tedious, then perhpas you might prefer reading a book... Because "a book" would be about all the game would be if it didn't require some degree of interactivity with the players (you and me.) I really do think Easy Mode is easy enough...

Somehow, I think he sees his condition as rather a distinct advantage...

I think it's silly for people to get incensed about some curse words in print, one way or the other... It's silly to object to them; equally silly to object to their absence. That they do not enhance the game at all is certainly obvious. Whether they hurt the game at all is a matter of opinion. Let me conclude with a rhyme I recall from gradeschool: *There once was a man from Nantucket, His **** was so long he could *uck it. He said with a grin, as he wiped off his chin, "If my ear was a ***** I'd **** it." That ought to settle things nicely...

Your husband does not seem that much of an expert, actually. If he thinks AMD cpus "overheat" then why is his Intel cpu water cooled?... Heh... SInce he's also got very hot and water-cooled GPUs, I think it's a cinch that your problem is caused by overclocking--because you don't need water cooling if you aren't overclocking/overvolting. If you are actually telling the truth here: set all your system clocks to default and the game will probably run with no trouble. If your husband doesn't understand that then I'd seriously suggest he find a new career... When you are overclocking, *nothing* is guaranteed.

This isn't gonna work. ReShade does not have access to PoE's depth buffer. No idea if using this has any effect at all, but if it has it's certainly not doing what it should be doing. Yes...I had forgotten I had enabled that...but you are right...it doesn't work--I just tried it once and forgot about it... It won't hurt to enable it but there's really no reason to. Thanks for reminding me...!

For those using Reshade who might want something a bit different...a bit darker and a lot more colorful (I don't really care for the washed-out look), attached is my MasterEffect.h file you can use with your other Reshade files. Just rename your current MasterEffect.h file to MasterEffectOLD.h, put my file in the root and fire up PoE and see what you think. I like it much better than the default, but that's just my peepers, maybe... (If you don't like it then you can delete my file and name your default file and you are back where you started.) I'm also running the game in conjunction with graphics slider set to maximum quality. Very nice....! Important: it pays to calibrate your your monitor correctly before doing anything like this. Here is the web resource I use: LCD monitor test images Pay closest attention to your black levels and white-balance adjustments...they are all handy, however. Also, make sure your GPU settings for color are set to their manufacturer defaults, along with gamma, etc., before you begin calibrating your monitor. (Never Mind...this site won't allow me to attach a tiny file, even if I rename it with a .jpg extension. Why have an upload option that cannot be used?) So here is the whole thing you can cut & past into a text file and then rename it to MasterEffect.h ....if you like... //++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ // ReShade effect file // visit facebook.com/MartyMcModding for news/updates //++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ // MasterEffect ReBorn 1.1.190 public beta by Marty McFly // Continuation of MasterEffect 1.6.1 // Copyright © 2008-2015 Marty McFly //++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ /*==============================================================================*\ | GLOBAL PARAMETERS | \*==============================================================================*/ #define MASTEREFFECT_TOGGLEKEY 0x20 //[depending on keyboard layout] Key used to toggle all MasterEffect effects. See ReShade documentation for more info. #define USE_DEPTHBUFFER_OUTPUT 0 //[0 or 1] Depth Buffer Output: Shows you the pixel depth, this is for debugging or depth map creation only. #define USE_SPLITSCREEN 0 //[0 or 1] Splitscreen: Disables all effects on the right half of the screen to show changes. #define USE_HDR_LEVEL 2 //[0 to 2] HDR Level: Rendering bitrate. 0: RGBA8 | 1: RGBA16F | 2: RGBA32F #define USE_HUD_MASKING 0 //[0 or 1] HUD Masking: Uses a texture mask (mcmask.png) to exclude certain screen areas from effects processing. /*==============================================================================*\ | ENABLE EFFECTS | \*==============================================================================*/ //COLOR #define USE_LUT 0 //[0 or 1] Color Lookup Table: Uses a gradient texture to adjust the colors of the image. #define USE_CARTOON 0 //[0 or 1] Cartoon : "Toon"s the image. #define USE_LEVELS 0 //[0 or 1] Levels : Sets a new black and white point. This increases contrast but causes clipping. Use Curves instead if you want to avoid that. #define USE_TECHNICOLOR 0 //[0 or 1] Technicolor : Attempts to mimic the look of an old movie using the Technicolor three-strip color process. Algorithm from prod80 #define USE_SWFX_TECHNICOLOR 1 //[0 or 1] Technicolor : Attempts to mimic the look of an old movie using the Technicolor three-strip color process. Algorithm from SweetFX #define USE_DPX 0 //[0 or 1] Cineon DPX : Should make the image look like it's been converted to DXP Cineon - basically it's another movie-like look similar to technicolor. #define USE_MONOCHROME 0 //[0 or 1] Monochrome : Monochrome makes the colors disappear. No control values. #define USE_LIFTGAMMAGAIN 0 //[0 or 1] Lift Gamma Gain : Adjust brightness and color of shadows, midtones and highlights. #define USE_TONEMAP 0 //[0 or 1] Tonemap : Adjust gamma, exposure, saturation, bleach and defog. (may cause clipping). #define USE_VIBRANCE 1 //[0 or 1] Vibrance : Intelligently saturates (or desaturates if you use negative values) the pixels depending on their original saturation. #define USE_CURVES 0 //[0 or 1] Curves : Contrast adjustments using S-curves. #define USE_SEPIA 0 //[0 or 1] Sepia : Sepia tones the image. #define USE_SKYRIMTONEMAP 0 //[0 or 1] Skyrim Tonemap: Applies color correction/tonemapping based on tonemappers of popular Skyrim ENB's. #define USE_COLORMOOD 0 //[0 or 1] Color Mood: Applies a "mood" to the color, tinting mainly the dark colors. #define USE_CROSSPROCESS 0 //[0 or 1] Cross Processing: Simulates wrong chemistry in color processing. #define USE_FILMICPASS 0 //[0 or 1] Filmic Pass: Applies some common color adjustments to mimic a more cinema-like look. #define USE_REINHARD 0 //[0 or 1] Reinhard: This is the Reinhard tonemapping shader, if you are interested, google how it works. #define USE_REINHARDLINEAR 0 //[0 or 1] Reinhard: Reinhard mixed with some linear tonemapping. #define USE_COLORMOD 0 //[0 or 1] Colormod: Contrast, Saturation and Brightness ported from colormod.asi. #define USE_SPHERICALTONEMAP 0 //[0 or 1] Spherical Tonemap: Another approach on tonemapping, uses some sphere algorithms. #define USE_HPD 0 //[0 or 1] Haarm Peter Duiker Filmic Tonemapping: Tonemapping used in Watch Dogs, ripped from the Watch Dogs shaders themselves. #define USE_FILMICCURVE 0 //[0 or 1] Filmic Curve: Improved version of the well-known Uncharted 2 filmic curve, first seen in iCEnhancer 0.3. #define USE_WATCHDOG_TONEMAP 0 //[0 or 1] Watch Dogs Tonemap: Enables one of the numerous watch dogs tonemapping algorithms. No tweaking values. #define USE_SINCITY 0 //[0 or 1] Sin City: Effect from the movie "Sin City" - everything else than red is grey. #define USE_COLORHUEFX 0 //[0 or 1] Color Hue FX: Desaturates everything but colors from a fixed hue mid and the range around it. Similiar to Sin City but much better. Thanks, prod80! //LIGHTING #define USE_LENSDIRT 0 //[0 or 1] Lensdirt: Simulates a dirty camera lens. IMPORTANT: bloom threshold and amount have influence on the intensity of the dirt! #define USE_GAUSSIAN_ANAMFLARE 0 //[0 or 1] Gaussian Anamflare: Applies a horizontal light beam to bright pixels. #define USE_BLOOM 0 //[0 or 1] Bloom: Makes bright lights bleed their light into their surroundings. NOT the SweetFX way to do bloom but a more proper way. #define USE_LENZFLARE 0 //[0 or 1] Lenz Flare: Boris Vorontsov's Skyrim Lensflare with custom offsets, ported to MasterEffect. #define USE_CHAPMAN_LENS 0 //[0 or 1] Chapman's lensflare: Simple lensflare shader with one big halo. #define USE_GODRAYS 0 //[0 or 1] Godrays: Adds some light rays rotating around screen center. #define USE_ANAMFLARE 0 //[0 or 1] Anamorphic Lensflare: adds some horizontal light flare, simulating the use of an anamorphic lens while recording. //DEPTH BASED #define USE_AMBIENTOCCLUSION 1 //[0 or 1] Ambient Occlusion: Enables physically incorrect shading that most newer gen games use. Multiple algorithms available. #define USE_DEPTHOFFIELD 0 //[0 or 1] Depth of Field: Simulates out of focus blur of a camera. Multiple algorithms available. //IMAGE ENHANCEMENTS #define USE_SHARPENING 0 //[0 or 1] Sharpen: Sharps the image but may increase aliasing #define USE_FISHEYE_CA 0 //[0 or 1] Fisheye lens & Chromatic Abberation: Adds some RGB shift in colors and distorts image to look like the "fisheye" effect. #define USE_GRAIN 0 //[0 or 1] Grain: Adds some image grain, looks like when a TV has no signal. #define USE_EXPLOSION 0 //[0 or 1] Explosion : Scatters the pixels, making the image look fuzzy. #define USE_SMAA 1 //[0 or 1] SMAA Anti-aliasing : Smoothens jagged lines using the SMAA technique. #define USE_HEATHAZE 0 //[0 or 1] Heat Haze: Convection in heated air causes the temperature of the air to vary and causes a shimmery effect that distorts whatever is behind. //OVERLAYS #define USE_HD6_VIGNETTE 0 //[0 or 1] HeliosDoubleSix Vignette: Adds some advanced vignette (darkening shader) to lead focus to screen center #define USE_COLORVIGNETTE 0 //[0 or 1] Boris Vorontsov Vignette: Simple colorable version of vignette, darkens/tints the image at the corners #define USE_BORDER 0 //[0 or 1] Border: Can be used to create letterbox borders around the image. #define USE_MOVIEBARS 0 //[0 or 1] Movie Bars: blackens the image on the top and bottom, simulating a higher aspect ratio. Default set to 21:9 aspect ratio. /*==============================================================================*\ | EFFECT PARAMETERS - COLOR | \*==============================================================================*/ //CARTOON #define CartoonPower 4.5 //[0.1 to 10.0] Amount of effect you want. #define CartoonEdgeSlope 1.5 //[0.1 to 8.0] Raise this to filter out fainter edges. You might need to increase the power to compensate. Whole numbers are faster. //LEVELS #define Levels_black_point 36 //[0 to 255] The black point is the new black - literally. Everything darker than this will become completely black. Default is 16.0 #define Levels_white_point 235 //[0 to 255] The new white point. Everything brighter than this becomes completely white. Default is 235.0 //TECHNICOLOR #define ColStrengthR 0.2 //[0.05 to 1.0] Color Strength of Red channel. Higher means darker and more intense colors. #define ColStrengthG 0.2 //[0.05 to 1.0] Color Strength of Green channel. Higher means darker and more intense colors. #define ColStrengthB 0.2 //[0.05 to 1.0] Color Strength of Blue channel. Higher means darker and more intense colors. #define TechniBrightness 0.8 //[0.5 to 1.5] Brightness Adjustment, higher means brighter image. #define TechniStrength 0.8 //[0.0 to 1.0] Strength of Technicolor effect. 0.0 means original image. #define TechniSat 0.7 //[0.0 to 1.5] Additional saturation control since technicolor tends to oversaturate the image. //SWEETFX TECHNICOLOR #define TechniAmount 0.4 //[0.00 to 1.00] Amount of color change you want #define TechniPower 4.0 //[0.00 to 8.00] Power of color change #define redNegativeAmount 0.88 //[0.00 to 1.00] controls for different technicolor power on the respective color channels #define greenNegativeAmount 0.88 //[0.00 to 1.00] #define blueNegativeAmount 0.88 //[0.00 to 1.00] //DPX #define DPXRed 8.0 //[1.0 to 15.0] Amount of DPX applies on Red color channel #define DPXGreen 8.0 //[1.0 to 15.0] "" #define DPXBlue 8.0 //[1.0 to 15.0] "" #define DPXColorGamma 2.5 //[0.1 to 2.5] Adjusts the colorfulness of the effect in a manner similar to Vibrance. 1.0 is neutral. #define DPXSaturation 3.0 //[0.0 to 8.0] Adjust saturation of the effect. 1.0 is neutral. #define DPXRedC 0.36 //[0.60 to 0.20] #define DPXGreenC 0.36 //[0.60 to 0.20] #define DPXBlueC 0.34 //[0.60 to 0.20] #define DPXBlend 0.2 //[0.00 to 1.00] How strong the effect should be. //LIFTGAMMAGAIN #define RGB_Lift float3(1.000, 1.000, 1.000) //[0.000 to 2.000] Adjust shadows for Red, Green and Blue. #define RGB_Gamma float3(1.000, 2.000, 1.000) //[0.000 to 2.000] Adjust midtones for Red, Green and Blue #define RGB_Gain float3(1.000, 1.000, 1.000) //[0.000 to 2.000] Adjust highlights for Red, Green and Blue //TONEMAP #define Gamma 1.000 //[0.000 to 2.000] Adjust midtones. 1.000 is neutral. This setting does exactly the same as the one in Lift Gamma Gain, only with less control. #define Exposure 0.000 //[-1.000 to 1.000] Adjust exposure #define Saturation 0.000 //[-1.000 to 1.000] Adjust saturation #define Bleach 0.000 //[0.000 to 1.000] Brightens the shadows and fades the colors #define Defog 0.000 //[0.000 to 1.000] How much of the color tint to remove #define FogColor float3(0.00, 0.00, 2.55) //[0.00 to 2.55, 0.00 to 2.55, 0.00 to 2.55] What color to remove - default is blue //VIBRANCE #define Vibrance 1.15 //[-1.00 to 1.00] Intelligently saturates (or desaturates if you use negative values) the pixels depending on their original saturation. #define Vibrance_RGB_balance float3(1.00, 1.00, 1.00) //[-10.00 to 10.00,-10.00 to 10.00,-10.00 to 10.00] A per channel multiplier to the Vibrance strength so you can give more boost to certain colors over others //CURVES #define Curves_mode 2 //[0|1|2] Choose what to apply contrast to. 0 = Luma, 1 = Chroma, 2 = both Luma and Chroma. Default is 0 (Luma) #define Curves_contrast 1.15 //[-1.00 to 1.00] The amount of contrast you want // -- Advanced curve settings -- #define Curves_formula 2 //[1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10] The contrast s-curve you want to use. //1 = Sine, 2 = Abs split, 3 = Smoothstep, 4 = Exp formula, 5 = Simplified Catmull-Rom (0,0,1,1), 6 = Perlins Smootherstep //7 = Abs add, 8 = Techicolor Cinestyle, 9 = Parabola, 10 = Half-circles. //Note that Technicolor Cinestyle is practically identical to Sine, but runs slower. In fact I think the difference might only be due to rounding errors. //I prefer 2 myself, but 3 is a nice alternative with a little more effect (but harsher on the highlight and shadows) and it's the fastest formula. //SEPIA #define ColorTone float3(1.40, 1.10, 0.90) //[0.00 to 2.55, 0.00 to 2.55, 0.00 to 2.55] What color to tint the image #define GreyPower 0.11 //[0.00 to 1.00] How much desaturate the image before tinting it #define SepiaPower 0.58 //[0.00 to 1.00] How much to tint the image //SKYRIM TONEMAPPING #define POSTPROCESS 6 //[1 to 6] Mode of postprocessing you want. Mode 1 uses V1 values, Mode 2 uses V2 values etc // #define EAdaptationMinV1 0.05 #define EAdaptationMaxV1 0.125 #define EContrastV1 1.0 #define EColorSaturationV1 1.0 #define EToneMappingCurveV1 6.0 // #define EAdaptationMinV2 0.36 #define EAdaptationMaxV2 0.29 #define EToneMappingCurveV2 8.0 #define EIntensityContrastV2 2.5 #define EColorSaturationV2 3.2 #define EToneMappingOversaturationV2 180.0 // #define EAdaptationMinV3 0.001 #define EAdaptationMaxV3 0.025 #define EToneMappingCurveV3 30.0 #define EToneMappingOversaturationV3 111160.0 // #define EAdaptationMinV4 0.2 #define EAdaptationMaxV4 0.125 #define EBrightnessCurveV4 0.7 #define EBrightnessMultiplierV4 0.45 #define EBrightnessToneMappingCurveV4 0.3 // #define EAdaptationMinV5 0.08 #define EAdaptationMaxV5 0.20 #define EToneMappingCurveV5 8 #define EIntensityContrastV5 3.475 #define EColorSaturationV5 4 #define HCompensateSatV5 2 #define EToneMappingOversaturationV5 180.0 // #define EBrightnessV6Day 2.5 #define EIntensityContrastV6Day 1.5 #define EColorSaturationV6Day 2.0 #define HCompensateSatV6Day 3.0 #define EAdaptationMinV6Day 0.64 #define EAdaptationMaxV6Day 0.24 #define EToneMappingCurveV6Day 8 #define EToneMappingOversaturationV6Day 2500.0 //COLORMOOD #define fRatio 0.4 //[0.00 to 3.00] Amount of moody coloring you want #define moodR 1.0 //[0.0 to 2.0] How strong dark red colors shall be boosted #define moodG 1.1 //[0.0 to 2.0] How strong dark green colors shall be boosted #define moodB 0.5 //[0.0 to 2.0] How strong dark blue colors shall be boosted //CROSSPROCESS #define CrossContrast 0.95 //[0.5 to 2.00] The names of these values should explain their functions #define CrossSaturation 1.12 //[0.5 to 2.00] #define CrossBrightness -0.052 //[-0.3 to 0.30] #define CrossAmount 1.0 //[0.05 to 1.5] //FILMICPASS #define Strenght 0.725 //[0.05 to 1.5] Strength of the color curve altering #define BaseGamma 1.6 //[0.7 to 2.0] Gamma Curve #define Fade 0.2 //[0.0 to 0.6] Decreases contrast to imitate faded image #define Contrast 1.0 //[0.5 to 2.0] Contrast. #define FSaturation -0.15 #define FBleach 0.005 //[-0.5 to 1.0] More bleach means more contrasted and less colorful image #define FRedCurve 6.0 #define FGreenCurve 6.0 #define FBlueCurve 6.0 #define BaseCurve 1.5 #define EffectGammaR 1.0 #define EffectGammaG 1.0 #define EffectGammaB 1.0 #define EffectGamma 0.75 #define Linearization 1.3 //[0.5 to 2.0] Linearizes the color curve //REINHARD TONEMAP #define ReinhardWhitepoint 4.0 //[1.0 to 10.0] Point above which everything is pure white #define ReinhardScale 0.5 //[0.0 to 2.0] Amount of applied tonemapping //REINHARD LINEAR TONEMAP #define ReinhardLinearWhitepoint 4.4 #define ReinhardLinearPoint 0.06 #define ReinhardLinearSlope 2.25 //[1.0 to 5.0] how steep the color curve is at linear point. You need color curve understanding to know what this means, just experiment. //COLORMOD #define ColormodChroma 0.78 // Saturation #define ColormodGammaR 1.05 // Gamma for Red color channel #define ColormodGammaG 1.05 // Gamma for Green color channel #define ColormodGammaB 1.05 // Gamma for Blue color channel #define ColormodContrastR 0.50 // Contrast for Red color channel #define ColormodContrastG 0.50 // ... #define ColormodContrastB 0.50 // ... #define ColormodBrightnessR -0.08 // Brightness for Red color channel #define ColormodBrightnessG -0.08 // ... #define ColormodBrightnessB -0.08 // ... //SPHERICAL TONEMAP #define sphericalAmount 1.0 //[0.0 to 2.0] Amount of spherical tonemapping applied...sort of //COLOR HUE FX #define USE_COLORSAT 0 //[0 or 1] This will use original color saturation as an added limiter to the strength of the effect #define hueMid 0.6 //[0.0 to 1.0] Hue (rotation around the color wheel) of the color which you want to keep #define hueRange 0.1 //[0.0 to 1.0] Range of different hue's around the hueMid that will also kept. Using a max range of 1.0 will allow the reverse of the effect where it will only filter a specific hue to B&W #define satLimit 2.9 //[0.0 to 4.0] Saturation control, better keep it higher than 0 for strong colors in contrast to the gray stuff around #define fxcolorMix 0.8 //[0.0 to 1.0] Interpolation between the original and the effect, 0 means full original image, 1 means full grey-color image. /*==============================================================================*\ | EFFECT PARAMETERS - LIGHTING | \*==============================================================================*/ //LENSDIRT #define fLensdirtIntensity 3.0 //[0.0 to 2.0] Intensity of lensdirt. #define fLensdirtSaturation 4.0 //[0.0 to 2.0] Color saturation of lensdirt. #define fLensdirtTint float3(1.0,1.0,1.0) //[0.0 to 1.0] R, G and B components of lensdirt tintcolor the lensdirt color gets shifted to. #define iLensdirtMixmode 2 //[1 to 4] 1: Linear add | 2: Screen add | 3: Screen/Lighten/Opacity | 4: Lighten //GAUSSIAN ANAMORPHIC LENSFLARE #define fAnamFlareThreshold 0.90 //[0.1 to 1.0] Every pixel brighter than this value gets a flare. #define fAnamFlareWideness 2.4 //[1.0 to 2.5] Horizontal wideness of flare. Don't set too high, otherwise the single samples are visible #define fAnamFlareAmount 14.5 //[1.0 to 20.0] Intensity of anamorphic flare. #define fAnamFlareCurve 1.2 //[1.0 to 2.0] Intensity curve of flare with distance from source #define fAnamFlareColor float3(0.012,0.313,0.588) //[0.0 to 1.0] R, G and B components of anamorphic flare. Flare is always same color. //BLOOM #define iBloomMixmode 2 //[1 to 4] 1: Linear add | 2: Screen add | 3: Screen/Lighten/Opacity | 4: Lighten #define fBloomThreshold 0.6 //[0.1 to 1.0] Every pixel brighter than this value triggers bloom. #define fBloomAmount 0.3 //[1.0 to 20.0] Intensity of bloom. #define fBloomSaturation 0.8 //[0.0 to 2.0] Bloom saturation. 0.0 means white bloom, 2.0 means very very colorful bloom. #define fBloomTint float3(0.7,0.8,1.0) //[0.0 to 1.0] R, G and B components of bloom tintcolor the bloom color gets shifted to. //LENZ FLARE #define LENZDEPTHCHECK 1 //[0 or 1] if 1, only pixels with depth = 1 get lens flare, this prevents white objects from getting flare source which would normally happen in LDR #define fLenzIntensity 1.0 //[0.2 to 3.0] power of lens flare effect #define fLenzThreshold 0.8 //[0.6 to 1.0] Minimum brightness an object must have to cast lensflare //CHAPMAN LENS #define CHAPMANDEPTHCHECK 1 //[0 or 1] if 1, only pixels with depth = 1 get lensflares, this prevents white objects from getting lensflare source which would normally happen in LDR #define ChapFlareTreshold 0.9 //[0.7 to 0.99] Brightness threshold for lensflare generation. Everything brighter than this value gets a flare. #define ChapFlareCount 15 //[1 to 20] Number of single halos to be generated. If set to 0, only the curved halo around is visible. #define ChapFlareDispersal 0.25 //[0.25 to 1.0] Distance from screen center (and from themselves) the flares are generated. #define ChapFlareSize 0.45 //[0.2 to 0.8] Distance (from screen center) the halo and flares are generated. #define ChapFlareCA float3(0.0,0.01,0.02) //[-0.5 to 0.5] Offset of RGB components of flares as modifier for Chromatic abberation. Same 3 values means no CA. #define ChapFlareIntensity 100.0 //[5.0 to 20.0] Intensity of flares and halo, remember that higher threshold lowers intensity, you might play with both values to get desired result. //GODRAYS #define bGodrayDepthCheck 1 //[0 or 1] if 1, only pixels with depth = 1 get godrays, this prevents white objects from getting godray source which would normally happen in LDR #define iGodraySamples 128 //[2^x format] How many samples the godrays get #define fGodrayDecay 0.99 //[0.5 to 0.9999] How fast they decay. It's logarithmic, 1.0 means infinite long rays which will cover whole screen #define fGodrayExposure 1.0 //[0.7 to 1.5] Upscales the godray's brightness #define fGodrayWeight 1.25 //[0.8 to 1.7] weighting #define fGodrayDensity 1.0 //[0.2 to 2.0] Density of rays, higher means more and brighter rays #define fGodrayThreshold 0.9 //[0.6 to 1.0] Minimum brightness an object must have to cast godrays //ANAMORPHIC LENSFLARE #define bFlareDepthCheckEnable 1 //[0 or 1] if 1, only pixels with depth = 1 get an anamflare, this prevents white objects from getting flare source which would normally happen in LDR #define fFlareLuminance 0.95 //[0.6 to 1.0] bright pass luminance value #define fFlareBlur 200.0 // [1.0 to 9999999] manages the size of the flare #define fFlareIntensity 2.07 // [0.2 to 5.0] effect intensity #define fFlareTint float3(0.137, 0.216, 1.0) // [0.0 to 2.0] effect tint RGB /*==============================================================================*\ | EFFECT PARAMETERS - DEPTH BASED EFFECTS | \*==============================================================================*/ /*==============================================================================*/ //AMBIENT OCCLUSION - GLOBAL PARAMETERS #define AO_METHOD 1 //[1 to 2] 1: SSAO | 2: Raymarch AO | 3: HBAO | 4: SSGI #define AO_SHARPNESS 0.7 //[0.05 to 2.0] 1: AO sharpness, higher means more sharp geometry edges but noisier AO, less means smoother AO but blurry in the distance. #define AO_DEBUG 0 //[0 to 2] Enables raw debug output. 1: occlusion | 2: color bouncing (SSGI only!) #define AO_LUMINANCE_CONSIDERATION 1 //[0 or 1] Enables dampening of AO intensity on bright pixels, to preserve bright light sprites or beter lit areas. Not for GI! #define AO_LUMINANCE_LOWER 0.3 //[0.0 to 1.0] Lower brightness threshold where AO starts to fade out. Below this threshold AO has full power. #define AO_LUMINANCE_UPPER 0.6 //[0.0 to 1.0] Upper brightness threshold where AO starts to fade out. Above this threshold AO is 0. //AMBIENT OCCLUSION - SSAO #define iSSAOSamples 24 //[32 to 128] Amount of samples. Don't set too high or shader compilation time goes through the roof. #define fSSAOSamplingRange 50.0 //[10.0 to 50.0] SSAO sampling range. High range values might need more samples so raise both. #define fSSAODarkeningAmount 1.5 //[0.0 to 5.0] Amount of SSAO corner darkening #define fSSAOBrighteningAmount 1.0 //[0.0 to 5.0] Amount of SSAO edge brightening //AMBIENT OCCLUSION - RAYMARCH AO #define iRayAOSamples 24 //[10 to 78] Amount of sample "rays" Higher means more accurate AO but also less performance. #define fRayAOSamplingRange 0.0005 //[0.0001 to 0.02] Range of AO sampling. Higher values ignore small geometry details and shadow more globally. #define fRayAOMaxDepth 0.02 //[0.01 to 0.2] Range clip factor to avoid far objects to occlude close objects just because they are besides each other on screen. #define fRayAOMinDepth 0.00003 //[0.000 to 0.001] Minimum depth difference cutoff to prevent (almost) flat surfaces to occlude themselves. #define fRayAOPower 2.0 //[0.2 to 5.0] Amount of darkening. //AMBIENT OCCLUSION - HBAO #define iHBAOSamples 9 //[7 to 36] Amount of samples. Higher means more accurate AO but also less performance. #define fHBAOSamplingRange 2.6 //[0.5 to 5.0] Range of HBAO sampling. Higher values ignore small geometry details and shadow more globally. #define fHBAOAmount 3.0 //[1.0 to 10.0] Amount of HBAO shadowing. #define fHBAOClamp 0.1 //[0.0 to 1.0] Clamps HBAO power. 0.0 means full power, 1.0 means no HBAO. #define fHBAOAttenuation 0.02 //[0.001 to 0.2] Affects the HBAO range, prevents shadowing of very far objects which are close in screen space. //AMBIENT OCCLUSION - SSGI #define iSSGISamples 9 //[5 to 24] Amount of SSGI sampling iterations, higher means better GI but less performance. #define fSSGISamplingRange 0.4 //[5.0 to 80.0] Radius of SSGI sampling. #define fSSGIIlluminationMult 4.5 //[1.0 to 8.0] Multiplier of SSGI illumination (color bouncing/reflection). #define fSSGIOcclusionMult 0.8 //[1.0 to 10.0] Multiplier of SSGI occlusion. #define fSSGIModelThickness 10.0 //[0.5 to 100.0] Amount of unit spaces the algorithm assumes the model's thickness. Lower if scene only contains small objects. #define fSSGISaturation 1.8 //[0.2 to 2.0] Saturation of bounced/reflected colors. /*==============================================================================*/ //DEPTH OF FIELD - GLOBAL PARAMETERS #define DOF_METHOD 2 //[1 to 4] 1: Ring DOF(Petka/martinsh) 2: Magic DOF 3: GP65CJ042 DOF 4: Matso DOF #define DOF_FOCUSPOINT float2(0.5,0.5) //[0.0 to 1.0] Screen coordinates of focus point. First value is horizontal, second value is vertical position. 0 is left/upper, 1 is right/lower. #define DOF_NEARBLURCURVE 10.0 //[0.4 to X] Power of blur of closer-than-focus areas. #define DOF_FARBLURCURVE 0.5 //[0.4 to X] Elementary, my dear Watson: Blur power of areas behind focus plane. #define DOF_BLURRADIUS 15.0 //[5.0 to 50.0] Blur radius approximately in pixels. Radius, not diameter. #define DOF_MANUALFOCUS 1 //[0 or 1] Enables manual focus. #define DOF_MANUALFOCUSDEPTH 0.1 //[0.0 to 1.0] Manual focus depth. 0.0 means camera is focus plane, 1.0 means sky is focus plane. //DEPTH OF FIELD - RING DOF #define iRingDOFSamples 6 //[5 to 30] Samples on the first ring. The other rings around have more samples #define iRingDOFRings 4 //[1 to 8] Ring count #define fRingDOFThreshold 2.5 //[0.8 to 2.0] Threshold for bokeh brightening. Above this value, everything gets much much brighter. 1.0 is maximum value for LDR games like GTASA, higher values work only on HDR games like Skyrim etc. #define fRingDOFGain 0.1 //[0.1 to 2.0] Amount of brightening for pixels brighter than threshold. #define fRingDOFBias 0.0 //[0.1 to 2.0] bokeh bias. #define fRingDOFFringe 0.5 //[0.0 to 1.0] Amount of chromatic abberation //DEPTH OF FIELD - MAGIC DOF #define iMagicDOFBlurQuality 2 //[1 to 30] Blur quality as control value over tap count. Quality 15 produces 721 taps, impossible with other DOF shaders by far, most they can do is about 150. #define fMagicDOFColorCurve 3.0 //[1.0 to 10.0] DOF weighting curve. //DEPTH OF FIELD - GP65CJ042 DOF #define iGPDOFQuality 6 //[0 to 7] 0: only slight gaussian farblur but no bokeh. 1-7 bokeh blur, higher means better quality of blur but less fps. #define bGPDOFPolygonalBokeh 1 //[0 or 1] Enables polygonal bokeh shape, e.g. POLYGON_NUM 5 means pentagonal bokeh shape. Setting this value to 0 results in circular bokeh shape. #define iGPDOFPolygonCount 5 //[3 to 9] Controls the amount pf polygons for polygonal bokeh shape. 3 = triangular, 4 = square, 5 = pentagonal etc. #define fGPDOFBias 0.00 //[0.0 to 20.0] Shifts bokeh weighting to bokeh shape edge. Set to 0 for even bright bokeh shapes, raise it for darker bokeh shapes in center and brighter on edge. #define fGPDOFBiasCurve 0.0 //[0.0 to 3.0] Power of Bokeh Bias. Raise for more defined bokeh outlining on bokeh shape edge. #define fGPDOFBrightnessThreshold 1.8 //[0.6 to 2.0] Threshold for bokeh brightening. Above this value, everything gets much much brighter. 1.0 is maximum value for LDR games like GTASA, higher values work only on HDR games like Skyrim etc. #define fGPDOFBrightnessMultiplier 2.00 //[0.0 to 2.0] Amount of brightening for pixels brighter than fGPDOFBrightnessThreshold. #define fGPDOFChromaAmount 0.0 //[0.00 to 0.4] Amount of color shifting applied on blurred areas. //DEPTH OF FIELD - MATSO DOF #define bMatsoDOFChromaEnable 1 //[0 or 1] Enables Chromatic Abberation. #define bMatsoDOFBokehEnable 1 //[0 or 1] Enables Bokeh weighting do define bright light spots and increase bokeh shape definiton. #define fMatsoDOFChromaPow 1.4 //[0.2 to 3.0] Amount of chromatic abberation color shifting. #define fMatsoDOFBokehCurve 8.0 //[0.5 to 20.0] Bokeh curve. #define fMatsoDOFBokehLight 0.012 //[0.0 to 2.0] Bokeh brightening factor. #define iMatsoDOFBokehQuality 2 //[1 to 10] Blur quality as control value over tap count. #define fMatsoDOFBokehAngle 0 //[0 to 360] Rotation angle of bokeh shape. /*==============================================================================*\ | EFFECT PARAMETERS - IMAGE ENHANCEMENTS | \*==============================================================================*/ //SHARPEN #define fSharpBias 0.35 //[0.05 to 1.0] How big the sharpen offset is (used to compare neighbor pixels to get sharpen amount #define fSharpStrength 1.0 //[0.05 to 1.0] Amount of sharpening you want. #define fSharpClamp 0.5 //[0.2 to 2.0] Clamps the sharpening to a maximum amount to prevent aliasing //FISHEYE, CHROMATIC ABBERATION #define fFisheyeZoom 0.5 //[0.5 to 1.0] some lens zoom to hide bugged edges due to texcoord modification #define fFisheyeDistortion 0.15 //[-0.3 to 0.3] distortion of image, fish eye effect #define fFisheyeDistortionCubic 0.15 //[-0.3 to 0.3] distortion of image, fish eye effect, cube based #define fFisheyeColorshift -0.03 //[-0.1 to 0.1] Amount of color shifting //IMAGE GRAIN #define fGrainSaturation 1.0 //[0.0 to 2.0] Saturation of Grain. Higher means more colored noise, 0.0 means blacknwhite no TV signal noise. #define fGrainIntensityBright 0.0 //[0.0 to 2.0] Intensity of Grain in bright areas. #define fGrainIntensityMid 0.0 //[0.0 to 2.0] Intensity of Grain in midtone areas. #define fGrainIntensityDark 0.1 //[0.0 to 2.0] Intensity of Grain in dark areas. //EXPLOSION #define fExplosionRadius 10.5 //[0.2 to 100.0] Amount of effect you want. //SMAA #define fSMAAThreshold 0.08 //[0.05 to 0.20] Edge detection Threshold. If SMAA misses some edges try lowering this slightly. I prefer between 0.08 and 0.12. #define iSMAAMaxSearchSteps 64 //[0 to 98] Determines the radius SMAA will search for aliased edges #define iSMAAMaxSearchStepsDiag 32 //[0 to 32] Determines the radius SMAA will search for diagonal aliased edges #define iSMAACornerRounding 0 //[0 to 100] Determines the percent of antialiasing to apply to corners. 0 seems to affect fine text the least so it's the default. #define iSMAAEdgeDetectionMode 2 //[1 to 3] 1: Luma edge detection 2: Color edge detection 3: Depth edge detection #define bSMAAPredication 1 //[0 or 1] Enables predication which uses BOTH the color and the depth texture for edge detection to more accurately detect edges. #define fSMAAPredicationThreshold 0.01 //[0.001 to 0.2] Threshold to be used in the depth buffer. #define fSMAAPredicationScale 2.0 //[0.5 to 4.0] How much to scale the global Threshold used for luma or color edge detection when using predication #define fSMAAPredicationStrength 0.4 //[0.1 to 1.0] How much to locally decrease the Threshold. #define iSMAADebugOutput 0 //[0 to 4] 0: Normal | 1: edgesTex | 2: blendTex | 3: areaTex | 4: searchTex - Only for troubleshooting. Users don't need to mess with this. //HEAT HAZE #define fHeatHazeSpeed 2.0 //[0.5 to 10.0] Speed of heathaze waves #define fHeatHazeOffset 5.0 //[0.5 to 20.0] Amount of image distortion caused by heathaze effect #define fHeatHazeTextureScale 1.0 //[0.5 to 5.0] Scale of source texture, affecting the tile size. Use Heathaze debug effect for better visible effect. #define fHeatHazeChromaAmount 0.6 //[0.0 to 2.0] Amount of color shift caused by heat haze. Linearly scales with fHeatHazeOffset. #define bHeatHazeDebug 0 //[0 or 1] Enables raw texture output for debugging purposes. Useful for texture experiments. /*==============================================================================*\ | EFFECT PARAMETERS - OVERLAYS | \*==============================================================================*/ //HD6VIGNETTE #define fHD6VignetteMode 1 //[1 to 3] Vignette Alignment 1: Left and right | 2: top and bottom | 3: corners. #define fHD6VignetteTop 0.7 //[0.3 to 1.5] Top/left (depending on mode) height of bar. #define fHD6VignetteBottom 0.7 //[0.3 to 1.5] Bottom/right (depending on mode) height of bar. #define fHD6VignetteRoundness 0.0 //[0.0 to 100000.0] Amount of circularism (new word invented hoho), 0 means linear vignette, 100000.0 means rougly total circle. #define fHD6VignetteColorDistort 0.0 //[0.0 to 5.0] Distorts the colors. #define fHD6VignetteContrast 11.6 //[0.0 to 20.0] Contrast of vignette curve. #define fHD6VignetteBorder 6.5 //[0.0 to 5.0] Vignette Border factor. //STANDARDVIGNETTE #define fVignetteAmount 2.9 //[0.0 to 5.0] Amount of vignette color change. #define fVignetteCurve 1.5 //[0.0 to 5.0] Curve of vignette color change. #define fVignetteRadius 0.95 //[0.0 to 5.0] Radius from center where vignette color change kicks in. #define fVignetteColor float3(0.0, 0.0, 0.0) //[0.0 to 1.0] RGB vignette color. //BORDER #define fBorderWidth float2(10,10) //[0 to 2048, 0 to 2048] (X,Y)-width of the border. Measured in pixels. If this is set to 0,0 then the border_ratio will be used instead #define fBorderRatio float(1920.0 / 1080.0) //[0.1 to 10.0] Set the desired ratio for the visible area. You MUST use floating point - Integers do not work right. #define fBorderColor float3(1.0, 0.0, 0.0) //[0.0 to 1.0] What color the border should be. In RGB colors, 0,0,0 is black, 1,1,1 is pure white. //END #define DISABLESPLASH 0 //[0 or 1] Disables the "MasterEffect" splash screen everytime

It's OS X users who are the distinct minority...not Mac owners, as Macs today are 100% x86 clones that will run Windows natively (just like a Dell or Acer, etc.)--that's why Apple includes bootcamp, a sort of "dual-booting-for-n00bs" utility that helps out OS X users who want to run Windows as well as OS X. Apple support for bootcamp really isn't so hot, however, because your hardware drivers (some of them) have to come from Apple and device drivers have never been Apple's forte', either those for OS X (largely hidden from the user) or those for Windows (easily accessed and updated by the user.) As well, according to the last thing I read from Valve on the subject, OS X is still largely if not completely locked in to OpenGL 3.x...whereas OpenGL support in Windows is now on the 4.x level, and soon will be @ 5.x level. Apple has never been gung-ho about 3d-gaming API support--if it weren't for other companies like Valve there'd be very little coming from Apple in that regard. I agree that it is odd, though, why beta OS X versions of PoE would have supported rendering of the capes/cloaks while the release-version does not. That's got to be either a bug, or some sort of funky licensing issue that Obsidian has run into somewhere. Hopefully it is just a bug and you'll see them rendered properly soon...! (If not, there's always bootcamp to the rescue..! Honestly, with the present situation of Macs being just another x86 clone, I'm surprised to see anyone spending the money & time on OS X support--the only thing wrong with OS X is that Apple ties it artificially to the Mac firmware so that it won't run anywhere else--well, at least legally...)

MSAA seems fixed in the 1.03 patch--pretty sure it was simply broken in previous releases. I run it at the x8 setting in 1.03 and it looks just as good as the SMAA in ReShade. Am currently running with both turned on to see if there's any difference between in-game MSAA x8 & SMAA and MSAA x8 w/o SMAA (So far, not much, but I'm still evaluating... ) In game MSAA looks very good--the marked improvement that you'd expect now that MSAA is working (Win8.1x64/Catalyst 15.3b's.) Actually, I've concluded that ReShade with SMAA (and whatever adjustments you might wish to make) does indeed look superior to in-game MSAA, imo.

Yeah, that's... interesting. Obsidian is not liable for any issues but why not be liable for technical weaknesses? And already I'm not talking about changing the requirements for two weeks before the release... WinXP is no longer supported by the publisher - ok, but Win7 32-bit is, right? And I wouldn't be a problem if the whole game was unstable. But only Guided Vale doesn't load. Why, because of this "unfortunate tree" ? Everything else is fine. So maybe Obsidian would try to issue some patch for those who also don't want be liable for any system issues? Is it so difficult? Impossible to do? It would be very nice. Thx I wish game devs would do themselves a big favor and simply use x64 OSes as the minimum requirement for all of their games. IMO, trying to shoehorn 6-8GBs of game programming into 3GB's or less of system memory means huge headaches not only for the developers, but also for the end users unlucky enough to still be saddled with 32-bit cpus, because the furious paging that has to occur will slow things to a crawl, and sometimes even paging won't work and you have to simply pare back the game content in some respects. Oh, well--it could be worse--they could still be developing for 32-bit systems, primarily--thank goodness they aren't! I mean, even game consoles are 64-bits today! People who cling to 32-bit systems should expect to get the short end of the stick--because they've got a lot less capability for the games to run in. If you want to game you need a 64-bit system--and that's it. Wanted to add that the developers for Might & Magic X (UbiCrotch, publisher) had originally planned on a 32-bit version of the game in addition to the 64-bit version, but during the developmental stage of the game (in which people bought into the alpha/beta process) they nuked the 32-bit option entirely because they simply couldn't shoehorn the game into 32-bits--game wound up requiring 6 GBs of ram--and that was in January '14...!

MSAA seems fixed in the 1.03 patch--pretty sure it was simply broken in previous releases. I run it at the x8 setting in 1.03 and it looks just as good as the SMAA in ReShade. Am currently running with both turned on to see if there's any difference between in-game MSAA x8 & SMAA and MSAA x8 w/o SMAA (So far, not much, but I'm still evaluating... ) In game MSAA looks very good--the marked improvement that you'd expect now that MSAA is working (Win8.1x64/Catalyst 15.3b's.)

There isn't an issue you have raised that the Gog staff can help you with--they did what they could do, which is to offer you your money back. Those are all developer issues, and Gog is a distributor of the game, not a developer. Gog is at the mercy of whatever Obsidian provides for them in the way of files and patches. When Gog (or Steam) lists what OSes the game supports and so on, that is a list the developer provides them.

So they're actually willing to pay a little something for software in China, these days? It may not be something you're interested in looking at, but that may well be a factor in why more Chinese localizations aren't done, or done more rapidly, anyway. But hey... Your English here is very good, and I have to admit that Chinese text is like braille to me (incomprehensible), and that if the game had been done in Chinese text & voice that I would have absolutely no way of knowing whether I liked the game or not... That fact that you like it so much, along with your English here, indicates to me that your understanding of the game is already very good--else you'd not know whether you liked it or not (since if our positions were reversed I wouldn't be able to say heads or tails about the game!) Give yourself more credit for your English--I'll wager it is much better than you think...

He has a point though. You can say whatever you want its your opinion but some people really value their first playthrough. And since most players who just play the game don't notice the stat increase bug, they just keep wondering hmm this game is pretty easy. Just like the OP, now he is near the end until realizing it, and it ruined his experience. So yeh... I don't think it's much of a point, though... Everybody knows that with the huge assortment of PC hardware and software running with Windows today, games when first released are going to require some level of bug fixing/refinement. If Obsidian took a year longer with the game they couldn't guarantee it would be bug-free on day #1, because it isn't possible for them to have a useful number of beta testers before shipping--popular games today can sell a million copies the first week, or better. Some things simply can't be done any better, or any faster, until *after* a game ships. We may not like that, but that's reality for you. So if that reality bothers you then it's simply best if you wait a couple of months before you buy. RIght? Everybody knows that. OTOH, if you have open eyes and cannot control yourself and want the game as fast as you can lay your grubby little hands on it--then you should be fine because you *know* what to expect. No surprises if there are some bugs at first--especially, if you are so impatient you have to race through to the end ASAP. Maybe the OP is new to computer gaming and is unaware of these things, and if so I can understand his angst. But if he's been around computer gaming any length of time he should know better--and consider this a valuable lesson learned in any event. The following things are almost always true: 1) The longer you wait to buy a game after it ships the fewer bugs it will have because much will have been fixed. 2) The longer you wait to buy a game after it ships the cheaper it will be as the price usually drops to stimulate demand. I cannot think of a time when the above facts were not evident in the computer-gaming realm...

Well, after I turned off the tutorial and restarted the game, I moved to another area and turned the Tutorial messages back on, maximized, and haven't had the page-turn-repeat sound again...I'm thinking that if I minimized the messages it would start again...really, though, after you get the hang of the game probably best to just turn off the tutorial completely, imo...

Exactly, same thing here...that's where the bug will be found...after minimizing the tutorial tips...

Thanks! I'm going to try this momentarily! I wanted to add that I had tried forcing FSAA *Supersampling* on at the driver level (Catalyst 15.3's)--and it works, but not very well. Whether I set 2x or 8x, or setup up edge-AA only, from 2x-24x, I get very, very blurry characters--doesn't matter the level I set! It's all the same. I can get rid of the blurriness by setting everything to MSAA...but then, I get no result at all... That tells me that really effective AA is going to have to come through the game engine (or through a game-specific executable like yours!) If I use the IE Mod to force in-game FSAA, I can see no difference between 0 and 8 or even 16...so my thinking is that in the game engine itself MSAA is broken, and the engine isn't compatible with standard OpenGL API command structures from either nVidia or Ati. But thanks for your utility...! Will get back with feedback... Feedback: Great...! Good work...works flawlessly...can see a big difference...no blurring at all! Thanks again! (I especially like the visual feed back to let you know it's running.) Very nicely done! I'm running a 2GB 7850 @ ~1GHz core, stock ram & cooling. Win 8.1x64, 8GB's ram. That's it on the essentials. Well, you're welcome, but I'd like to say that I don't want to take any credit for this. I've done nothing but take a tool (Reshade) and set it up to work with the game. Took an effects pack for said tool (MasterEffects), enabled SMAA and tweaked it a little to my liking. So credit where credit is due: Reshade: http://reshade.me/ MasterEffects: http://reshade.me/forum/shaderpack-mastereffect/161-mastereffect-reborn-official-thread#381 And what I'd really like to see is a native SMAA implementation in the game. It's free to use, it should be easy to implement, and it could be set up to work on 3D assets only. https://github.com/iryoku/smaa Well, using to the tool to apply in this game was an inspired idea... Glad you had the thought.... And yes, the credit does belong to you in that regard. You are right, of course, that the game should include many more internal image-quality controls than at present...it could be that what you've done here will inspire Obsidian in that direction, although I'm sure they knew what was missing when they shipped the game...'tis a puzzle, though, why this was overlooked for so long...

Thanks! I'm going to try this momentarily! I wanted to add that I had tried forcing FSAA *Supersampling* on at the driver level (Catalyst 15.3's)--and it works, but not very well. Whether I set 2x or 8x, or setup up edge-AA only, from 2x-24x, I get very, very blurry characters--doesn't matter the level I set! It's all the same. I can get rid of the blurriness by setting everything to MSAA...but then, I get no result at all... That tells me that really effective AA is going to have to come through the game engine (or through a game-specific executable like yours!) If I use the IE Mod to force in-game FSAA, I can see no difference between 0 and 8 or even 16...so my thinking is that in the game engine itself MSAA is broken, and the engine isn't compatible with standard OpenGL API command structures from either nVidia or Ati. But thanks for your utility...! Will get back with feedback... Feedback: Great...! Good work...works flawlessly...can see a big difference...no blurring at all! Thanks again! (I especially like the visual feed back to let you know it's running.) Very nicely done! I'm running a 2GB 7850 @ ~1GHz core, stock ram & cooling. Win 8.1x64, 8GB's ram. That's it on the essentials.

Found some here: http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/71903-console-commandscheats/ and here: http://orcz.com/index.php?title=Pillars_of_Eternity:_Console_Commands&redirect=no I have to say that this should be something that ideally Obsidian might officially comment on...I'm not interested in "cheats" nearly as much as I am in "tweaks" to image quality, & etc. Another: http://rien-ici.com/iemod/console