What are you Playing Now? It's not how you play the game, it's how you place the blame

[Hawke64]

Blue Fire. Reached the Lava River, defeating 2 main bosses on the way. It is a metroidvania, after all. The level design even in terms of gameplay has become noticeably odd - in many cases I was not sure if I was on the right path (clipped through a wall once). The story came to the "gather 4 McGuffins" (a knight's soul fragments) part with the MC being the chosen one. In general, the story is certainly present, but somehow as generic as it can be. Same with the combat - it is there, but poorly made. The character development system includes the HP (for completing the platforming challenges), MP (for XP from combat), damage (the swords found), and passive abilities (e.g. higher movement speed or negating the falling damage). On the other hand, the robes (the only aspect of visual customisation) are somehow amusing, though they do not provide any gameplay advantage.

Replaying Shadow of the Colossus. It is an excellent and concise action game - only the Colossi to slay, no gathering/crafting/trash mobs, no Assassin's Creed-like icon hunting. Also, the aiming somehow much more comfortable than in Uncharted, though less comfortable than it would be with a mouse.

[Keyrock]

17 hours ago, LadyCrimson said:

Hogwart's: 

Open file: \Users\YourUserName\AppData\Local\Hogwarts Legacy\Saved\Config\WindowsNoEditor\Engine.ini

At bottom, paste in:

Make the file read-only if you want/if it seems to reset on game start.

Before: (this is night, btw)
https://crimsonkeep.com/wallpapers/data/media/131/Hogwarts-00006.jpg
https://crimsonkeep.com/wallpapers/data/media/131/Hogwarts-00009.jpg

After:
https://crimsonkeep.com/wallpapers/data/media/131/Hogwarts-00007.jpg
https://crimsonkeep.com/wallpapers/data/media/131/Hogwarts-00008.jpg

...the no-bloom I like a lot. Definitely keeping that.
...the no-fog I'm conflicted. I like the less white/green/brown haze, but on the OLED tv, it's almost too dark/contrast-y even if you turn game brightness up (note: less of an issue on non-OLED monitor). Plus very distant low quality stuff can be more eye-catching/distracting without the fog-haze. Outdoors mood feels more generic at times or something too, less "highland hills" or whatever.
...The no-fog applies to indoors as well, so the castle rooms looks more vibrant with colors that pop a bit more. I wish the fog had a half-strength option, that would probably be perfect. Why do dev's always seem to go overboard with "volumetric" anything.  Oh well.

I'm one of those weirdos that really likes bloom. In the games that have a slider for level of bloom I generally slide it to max. I should probably seek help.

I'm also a big fan of volumetric fog. I agree devs can sometimes go too HAM on it, but I find the effect extremely impactful on creating atmosphere, far more so than ray tracing, to be honest. I've given up on trying to take a screenie to prove my point, though. It just doesn't translate to still images the way God rays do, for example.

Speaking of ray tracing, I managed to get it running in Hogwarts but I very quickly turned off ray traced reflections because, while some of the reflections look great, often times there's this sparkling effect on surfaces that looks like someone took a shotgun full of gold glitter and blasted the walls. It's quite distracting and looks gaudy and downright bad IMHO. I'm not sure if this is a Linux/Proton specific bug, a game bug, or if it's purposely made to look like that (I sure hope not). Anyway, the game looks better with ray traced reflections off IMHO, though ray traced shadows and ray traced ambient occlusion look fine, though I'm not sure if the performance hit is worth it, to be honest.

I'm still working out the best settings. During the intro I was able to run in 4K with no upscaling and even limited RT and pretty much always keep it above 60 FPS and often dip into triple digits. Once the game plopped me into the castle, though, the story changed. Running without upscaling was off the table, unless I wanted to turn everything down to low. With upscaling I've been able to keep a mostly ultra with some high settings mix and, for the most part, bounce between 70 and 95 FPS, which is quite smooth and super playable. There are moments where the FPS will momentarily plummet, particularly where there are a lot of NPCs around. Lowering the visible actors setting didn't have as much impact on the performance as I expected and certainly not as much as I would have liked. I suspect that this game could benefit from some further optimizations to smooth out those dips as nothing I try, short of dropping resolution, can keep the game from occasionally dropping FPS into the 40s and having a slight stutter. It's not the end of the world and happens infrequently enough that it doesn't ruin the experience, but it's definitely noticable and something that hopefully is alleviated a bit in the near future.

[Bokishi]

Hogsworth on Steam Deck got a Day 1 patch, and it is way smoother. All the stutters are almost gone. I can put all the settings on medium now (even though it yells at me not to) and cap the fps to 30, and it's a good experience so far

[HoonDing]

85 GB disk space for Hog's Warts

Seems like it's been a lifetime since I thought 5GB for a mere video game was outrageously absurd.

[Keyrock]

30 minutes ago, HoonDing said:

85 GB disk space for Hog's Warts

You need nearly double that space for Forspoken, Squeenix's latest swing and miss.  Although I've not actually played the game, nor do I have any desire to based on some of the cringe dialogue YouTube's algorithm deemed I needed to see, so that's based on hearsay. Not the install size, mind you, that's listed on the game's Steam page, the game not being good is the hearsay part.

Edited February 11, 2023 by Keyrock

[the_dog_days]

20 hours ago, LadyCrimson said:

Hogwart's: 

Open file: \Users\YourUserName\AppData\Local\Hogwarts Legacy\Saved\Config\WindowsNoEditor\Engine.ini

At bottom, paste in:

Make the file read-only if you want/if it seems to reset on game start.

Before: (this is night, btw)
https://crimsonkeep.com/wallpapers/data/media/131/Hogwarts-00006.jpg
https://crimsonkeep.com/wallpapers/data/media/131/Hogwarts-00009.jpg

After:
https://crimsonkeep.com/wallpapers/data/media/131/Hogwarts-00007.jpg
https://crimsonkeep.com/wallpapers/data/media/131/Hogwarts-00008.jpg

...the no-bloom I like a lot. Definitely keeping that.
...the no-fog I'm conflicted. I like the less white/green/brown haze, but on the OLED tv, it's almost too dark/contrast-y even if you turn game brightness up (note: less of an issue on non-OLED monitor). Plus very distant low quality stuff can be more eye-catching/distracting without the fog-haze. Outdoors mood feels more generic at times or something too, less "highland hills" or whatever.
...The no-fog applies to indoors as well, so the castle rooms looks more vibrant with colors that pop a bit more. I wish the fog had a half-strength option, that would probably be perfect. Why do dev's always seem to go overboard with "volumetric" anything.  Oh well.

You for got to add r.Stutter=0.

[Bokishi]

No Ansel photo mode while you're flying a broom! Whyyyyyy

[LadyCrimson]

Hogwart's - I am not particularly enjoying all the very tutorial-feeling main quest missions that seem to comprise how you get any new abilities/game mechanics. They go on and on and on. Maybe this is because I'm not a Potter-world-lore fan and don't get anything from all this teacher and classroom stuff, when all I want to do is progress to say, flying broom, trait unlocking, potion making, flying mount, etc and then go back to exploring more freely, but meh.

Some of the early side quests are more interesting/fun.

[LadyCrimson]

I seem to be getting a lot of CTD when I reassign spells. >.>

[Keyrock]

All my CTDs so far have been when loading an area, granted I don't have enough spells to necessitate reassigning yet, so I can't comment on whether I will have that same issue.

[Bokishi]

I got one ctd while fast traveling 

[LadyCrimson]

To be fair, not sure if it's actually assigning spells. I open that menu, change a spell, it CTD's. I close menu after changing spell and take one step, it CTD's. That sort of thing.  Anyway, I went into nvidia, made a profile for Hogwart's and set that performance mode setting to Prefer Maximum vs. Adaptive. So far haven't had another CTD, but as always, could be random coincidence lol.

I gave up and put DLSS/Quality/mostly Ultra on. While everything in the castle was 50-60 (at mostly Medium/native res), there were more and more forest spots where fps dropped below 40 and in this game, that is often motion "laggy" enough where even I care. I'll just sit back another foot.

[Keyrock]

2 hours ago, Bokishi said:

I got one ctd while fast traveling 

Yeah, I've been avoiding fast traveling since it means an area load, which in turn means chance of CTD. That doesn't bother me too much since Hogwarts and the surrounding lands are weird and interesting enough that I don't particularly want to use fast travel. Unfortunately, area loads can't be avoided entirely as they are part of main missions and also any time you want to go from Hogwarts to the countryside, or vice versa, you have to go through an area load and thus a chance of CTD. Hopefully they get that sorted in the near future as it's an annoyance in an otherwise really fun game.

Edited February 12, 2023 by Keyrock

[LadyCrimson]

Well, I've decided for myself, DLSS causes CTD's during fast travel (and random other times) far far more often. I played for hours, no DLSS, no CTD's with FT. Had DLSS on and suddenly CTD almost every single FT. Turned it off again, haven't CTD'd at FT yet.

I've downloaded DLSS version 2.5 and 3.1.1 that you can stick in the Hogwarts Steam folder cause supposedly it's outdated, but haven't tried it yet. Just went back to playing native at Medium/High (View distance is always on Ultra) and outdoor drops to 38. Haven't tried capping to 30.

btw there's also a bug of the game not recognizing your saves/chr. exist anymore. There's a complicated process fix for it that may work in most cases and I think it's quite rare to happen, but ... eh.

The game on Steam actually ran a little better (fps and CTD's) before release day and that 300MB supposed DLC "patch."

Still liking the game overall a lot (I'm lvl 18 and I think I'm getting close to having my broom), but getting a little fed up.  >.>

Edited February 12, 2023 by LadyCrimson

[LadyCrimson]

Ok, I think this worked for me:
https://gamerant.com/hogwarts-legacy-pc-stuttering-fix/

gpu shader cache was already on, but I did for some reason have hardware-accelerated GPU scheduling Off at some point (probably for another game, haha!), turned it on. In the Engine.ini, since I have 11GB v-ram instead of 8gb, I put the -r.Streaming.PoolSize- to 6144 (raise in increments of 1024 is the advice). Not sure that makes much difference over 5120 except totally maxing out vram, I might drop it back down.

I'm back to the native/no-dlss settings I largely had before and while the outdoor/fps dips are about the same, the difference is the massive frame pacing stutter/lag at that FPS is mostly gone. GPU utilization went from 30% or so to 85%, if that means anything. So it now plays like I expect sub-60, even sub-40, to play.

For those who think even one fps under 60 is totally unplayable it still won't be great but for an old fart like me, it's very tolerable vs. the resolution/settings I want.

Edit: I have not tested yet whether DLSS still seems to cause constant CTD with FT for me, or not, with these changes.

Edited February 12, 2023 by LadyCrimson

[Wormerine]

Elden Ring. Finally reached infamous Malenia.

Yeah, I see what the whole complaining was about.

First of all, a lot of Haligtree was giving me DS2 vibe with game showing you a problem and than surprising you with almost guaranteed death trap. And progressing through those death traps on consequent runs being tedious.

Malenia's first phase is actually quite solid outside the bull**** swirly attack - it feels that surving the phase depends how often and when she will decite to use it. Playing without shield means death sentence if she triggers it after what would normally be a punishable attack.

Didn't make up my mind about the 2nd phase yet - I don't live long enough to get a feel of her moveset. Of course bull**** swirly thing is still there, but there also some other contenders right now - I find the attack where she flighs into the air and sends he clones to attack you really difficult to read.

I feel like overall the fight lacks distinct audio. If more of her attacks were telegraphed through sounds, I think I would find it easier to figure out what she is doing. Like wind-up to the switly attack is silent, and one would think they would try to indicate what is coming. It feels like they also could imprive chaing of attacks. Getting the same, hard to dodge rush+slash 4 times in a row is not a fun experience.

[Keyrock]

Hogwarts Legacy continues to deliver the goods. I still get CTDs here and there; with a lesser game I would probably set this aside for a few months (and possibly never return), but this game is enjoyable enough and the world is just so incredibly great to explore that I'm happily willing to put up with the growing pains of a brand new game to keep at it. This is the first legit GotY contender of 2023; it doesn't do anything new or innovative, but it does a lot of things really really really well. It's just fun; almost  everything you do in this game feels good and the world is just such a joy to explore. The attention to detail continues to impress me (with the exception that if you swim when you get back on land you are instantly dry, there is no wet texture. I guess they had to cut corners somewhere) wherever I go. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, since Avalanche was responsible for the excellent and criminally underrated Mad Max game.

Edited February 12, 2023 by Keyrock

[uuuhhii]

1 hour ago, Wormerine said:

Elden Ring. Finally reached infamous Malenia.

Yeah, I see what the whole complaining was about.

First of all, a lot of Haligtree was giving me DS2 vibe with game showing you a problem and than surprising you with almost guaranteed death trap. And progressing through those death traps on consequent runs being tedious.

Malenia's first phase is actually quite solid outside the bull**** swirly attack - it feels that surving the phase depends how often and when she will decite to use it. Playing without shield means death sentence if she triggers it after what would normally be a punishable attack.

Didn't make up my mind about the 2nd phase yet - I don't live long enough to get a feel of her moveset. Of course bull**** swirly thing is still there, but there also some other contenders right now - I find the attack where she flighs into the air and sends he clones to attack you really difficult to read.

I feel like overall the fight lacks distinct audio. If more of her attacks were telegraphed through sounds, I think I would find it easier to figure out what she is doing. Like wind-up to the switly attack is silent, and one would think they would try to indicate what is coming. It feels like they also could imprive chaing of attacks. Getting the same, hard to dodge rush+slash 4 times in a row is not a fun experience.

damage scaling is also a problem in late game

margit often kill player with more than 8 fast small hit or 3 slow big hit

2 or 3 fast big hit from malenia and most character are dead

[LadyCrimson]

Hogwarts:
--they did a good job with not making me feel like there are (silly) invisible walls everywhere. Either it's fairly linear dungeon/rooms where you don't expect a lot of freedom, or in the wide open, if it looks like you can maybe get up, there's probably a way. I did find the map edge (shimmering) once via climbing a cliff face - but see, I was surprised they let me climb way up there in the first place.
--I did bump up combat difficulty to Normal. I'm sure there's a few tougher bosses later, but so far enemies have been cakewalks with Basic attack and one or two spells and barely trying, since it gives you all the block etc. prompts (maybe you can turn those off, haven't looked). The talent/skill system, I feel like I'll barely need any of them. I haven't used a single potion and I already can't pick any more up.
--That said, I don't consider easy combat a negative here. it's still pretty fun and there's more moves and spells to learn for more combos for variety. It's an adventure light-rpg, not a constant action/mega-hard game, and that's fine with me/what I want.
--some of the later Main Quests become more involved/longer. Improvement.
--Dinner time, then maybe I'll finally get my broom.

[Bokishi]

You’ll start noticing the invisible walls when you get the broom 

[LadyCrimson]

1 hour ago, Bokishi said:

You’ll start noticing the invisible walls when you get the broom 

Like, ones that go from some rock on the ground to whatever skybox limit flying has? That would be odd to be stopped in mid-air, but I suppose it won't be much different than the flying car in FFXV which was like that too.

I was looking forward to flying around but even with that ini tweak largely fixing frame pacing issues for me, I picture it tanking again while flying and then CTD on top.   I expect some things need to be accessed while flying but overall I enjoy hoofing it (it doesn't feel slow) enough I'm not sure I care too much at this point.

[LadyCrimson]

Those Merlin Trials can kiss my

[Keyrock]

There's a fix for the CTDs in Hogwarts Legacy, though it will be of little use to some in this form as it's Linux specific. I run this command from a terminal before launching the game:

Quote

sudo sh -c "echo 1000000 > /proc/sys/vm/max_map_count"

I've played for several hours and fast traveled a bunch of times to test it out and haven't had a single CTD since. It's been so long since I used Windows as my primary OS that I couldn't tell you how to translate that to a command you could run in a DOS shell on Windows, but I'm sure it's possible to get the same effect somehow. There's probably also a way to make this permanent in one of the .ini files.

I'm contemplating making a simple shell script to run that command then launch the game binary, but then I'd have to mess with Steam to have it run said script instead of the binary directly. It's probably not worth the trouble, running that command from a terminal is quick and easy enough.

Edited February 13, 2023 by Keyrock

[LadyCrimson]

Well, I am an old fool. I thought I bumped it up to Normal but must've mis-clicked and it was still on Easy.  >.>

On Normal/Hard all those block etc. prompts I was seeing go away. That makes more sense. So you have to get good with recognizing/noticing all enemy tells to avoid being hit too often, where the often tight FoV makes it hard see them if it's larger groups. I might use a few potions now and then now. Still not difficult on Normal, but Hard ramps it up a bit and is a little more work/focus then I want for casual nose-picking exploring adventure.

I feel like those prompts should only be on Story mode for those who truly wish to ignore combat, since they mean there's two Story modes, basically. >.>

[Wormerine]

Ding, dong! Malenia is dead!

That took quite a few hours. In the end I needed some internet wisdom to help me out. First, once I got couple time to the 2nd phase I realised that dodging the Waterfawl dance by distance alone won't cut it, to her increased aggression in phase2. Getting a decent shield drop and farming necessary runes to upgrade fortunately didn't take long.

The 2nd stumble was her clone attack I mentioned, for which I just couldn't figure out the dodge pattern. Even after watching couple helpful videos I still didn't manage to dodge it reliably.

Fortunately, after stripping my character out of his armor to afford carrying shield, two katanas and still being able to quick roll, and about 3 hours of trying Malenia tasted her first defeat (in this universum, of course). I must say, I started to enjoy fighting her near the end - I suppose that's what they cann Stockholm syndrome.

She really demands using whole kit to survive, which I suppose is good for a secret ultimate boss. What isn't good is that those two nasty insta-death attacks, I think are very difficult to figure out what will not result in ones death. I am really not surprised that people who played on launch and didn't have access to guides spent 20+ hours on her.