Community MetaSteam | April 2020 - A Disaster Report From Raccoon City

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beep boop

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Dec 6, 2018
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Paratopic is a solid recommendation from me if you're looking for a light spookemup. It's a walking sim of around 40 minutes with rich, creepy, surreal texture (figuratively). Nothing that will scare you out of your seat, if that's what you're looking for. Just weird, creepy and even silly. Short, cool ideas, great aesthetic, clever sound design. Just a lot of goodness in a little package.
 
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Durante

I <3 Pixels
Oct 21, 2018
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Nvidia will never fight it because it pisses off the game companies they need to integrate their tech.

I just wish that service had gotten bigger so they would be able to use market share or something since by all accounts its generally way better than Stadia. Now we are stuck with Stadia (lol) or whatever Xbox puts out if you want streaming.
Well, with a bit (really not too bad) of setup you can rent an Amazon instance and do whatever you want with Parsec streaming:

(The streaming quality with Parsec's h265 mode with Turing HW acceleration is likely better than anything else out there)
 
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Line

meh
Dec 21, 2018
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Jumping into emulation, it makes me really hope that Sony will bring their older games on PC.
Ratchet does not like PCSX2, neither does Jak and Sly Cooper. Framerate wise there's no issues, but the mipmaps are glitchy as fuck, and fixing that is reeeeally annoying... and it defeats the purpose if you do it in software mode, it doesn't run well and you can't use most of the extra stuff brought by an emulator.
Weird ass rendering techniques from first party games, eugh.
:anguished-face:
 

Swenhir

Spaceships!
Apr 18, 2019
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GeForce Now losing all these games blows. I used to love this service, but now... blargh. I've been using Shadow for months though and it's been mostly fantastic. This better not happen to Shadow.

Or.
There.
Will.
Be.
Hell.
To.
Pay.

:wd_herewego:
Likewise! It's the only way I can play anything current with my puny laptop. And the recent addition of storage is great because they were kind of taking the piss there. Now if only their communication was less childish and their support actually competent...

Well, with a bit (really not too bad) of setup you can rent an Amazon instance and do whatever you want with Parsec streaming:

(The streaming quality with Parsec's h265 mode with Turing HW acceleration is likely better than anything else out there)
That is very interesting, I didn't know Amazon was offering that. That being said, the NVIDIA T4 Tensor Core GPUs don't seem aimed at games at all. I'm doubtful the performance is any good. Maybe I configured it the wrong way but when I tried parsec with Shadow, it ridiculously crushed any kind of detail that only relied on the red color channel.
 
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beep boop

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So stupidly late to the party, but wow is there a seemingly endless amount of incredible-looking experimental stuff on itch.io

Some of the stuff I've been checking out, mostly lo-fi walking sims, spookems:

These lofi PSX or N64 looking games are REALLY doing it for me. That era gets flak for looking awful but I personally cannot get enough of it.
 
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Tizoc

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Jumping into emulation, it makes me really hope that Sony will bring their older games on PC.
Ratchet does not like PCSX2, neither does Jak and Sly Cooper. Framerate wise there's no issues, but the mipmaps are glitchy as fuck, and fixing that is reeeeally annoying... and it defeats the purpose if you do it in software mode, it doesn't run well and you can't use most of the extra stuff brought by an emulator.
Weird ass rendering techniques from first party games, eugh.
:anguished-face:
Have you tried RPCS3?
 

Durante

I <3 Pixels
Oct 21, 2018
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That is very interesting, I didn't know Amazon was offering that. That being said, the NVIDIA T4 Tensor Core GPUs don't seem aimed at games at all. I'm doubtful the performance is any good. Maybe I configured it the wrong way but when I tried parsec with Shadow, it ridiculously crushed any kind of detail that only relied on the red color channel.
Amazon isn't really "offering that", they are just offering hardware for whatever you want to run ;)
T4 performance in games will basically be exactly like a 2070S.

Red-only detail is indeed an issue for any streaming since they all use 4:2:0 encoding as far as I know. There's an open Parsec feature request for 4:4:4 encoding which would fix that.
 

Swenhir

Spaceships!
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There's an open Parsec feature request for 4:4:4 encoding which would fix that.
The day they implement that is the day I really ditch the Shadow client because lords is it heavy. In the meantime, at least I can read red text with it.

Thank you for clarifying for the T4's performance in games!
 

Eferis

MetaMember
Nov 12, 2018
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All the “fuck capitalism” folks, especially on Twitter, that go all “hell yeah, get paid” when someone in their group signs an exclusivity deal or goes working for a billion dollar news company (any reference purely coincidental... sorta) are hilarious.
 
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Mor

Me llamo Willy y no hice la mili, pero vendo Chili
Sep 7, 2018
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Oh, look at that. If someone refunded a game, it gets tagged in the user review now. Just noticed it. Maybe it's been there a while now!
Yes, that has been there for some time, it was one of the changes to the review system and it's actually useful.
 
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yuraya

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May 4, 2019
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If regular PC ports are getting a 4-6 week delay then all the other big games being made from scratch are gonna be pushed back even farther because of WFH. Probably like 2-3 months and that is assuming things get back to normal soon. If it doesn't then I can see every summer/fall AAA game get delayed to next year.
 
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lashman

lashman

Dead & Forgotten
Sep 5, 2018
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So stupidly late to the party, but wow is there a seemingly endless amount of incredible-looking experimental stuff on itch.io

Some of the stuff I've been checking out, mostly lo-fi walking sims, spookems:

These lofi PSX or N64 looking games are REALLY doing it for me. That era gets flak for looking awful but I personally cannot get enough of it.
yeah, i love that look too! :) you can do pretty awesome-looking stuff in that style





 

Arsene

On a break
Apr 17, 2019
3,279
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Canada


Ah i see Dragon Marked For Death got hit with that sweet regional pricing. Man i fucking hate regional pricing, greedy fucking developers, you fucking pieces of shit.

Almost makes me want to go back to the old days of Amiga piracy, that's what they deserve.
Yeah Inti's regional pricing is pretty bad. I didn't mind it too much with Gunvolt or Blaster Master because they're cheap anyway but this is pretty horrendous.
 
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Trisolarian

Junior Member
Jul 12, 2019
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Anyone run into serious crashing issues with Sea of Thieves, specifically regarding any software conflicts?

My computer is old and shit and soon to be retired but I've got XBGP for PC, so I'm playing some stuff for a few weeks, including Thieves. Not alone of course, my best friend (twin) and other best friend are joining in my sucking at being pirates. So I need a smooth and stable experience...... Which I'm not getting....

Biggest issue is every 10-15 minutes, game crashes. After updating, the only thing I can think of is that my GPU, bought second hand, seems to have been flashed to support higher boost clocks then what came from the factory. Not always a problem but certain games have given me MAJOR issues in the past. I installed MSI afterburner to limit the boost amount, we'll see what that does. (GTX 660ti, which WILL run sea of thieves on low settings) Anyone have specific software conflicts with a third party service, custom driver, etc?
 
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lashman

lashman

Dead & Forgotten
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What game is that?
just something i made a while ago, lol :p

Not a huge fan the artificial blur/scanlines either. I prefer the serrated knife look :p
i think it complements the style since all that old stuff wasn't supposed to look razor-sharp ... it was all made with CRTs in mind etc














made by Velocity 2X devs
 
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Trisolarian

Junior Member
Jul 12, 2019
1,284
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So stupidly late to the party, but wow is there a seemingly endless amount of incredible-looking experimental stuff on itch.io

Some of the stuff I've been checking out, mostly lo-fi walking sims, spookems:

These lofi PSX or N64 looking games are REALLY doing it for me. That era gets flak for looking awful but I personally cannot get enough of it.
Lovely. I love this shit. Every Halloween I take a deep dive into experimental horror in games, books, internet fiction.... (most films are too tame...)

Life sucks rn, I love Halloween, imma dive into this stuff. Thnx.
 

beep boop

MetaMember
Dec 6, 2018
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For the interested, I happened upon this interview with one of the developers behind Paratopic. Plan on listening to it over my third playthrough later tonight. I like this game a lot :blobmorning2:


just something i made a while ago, lol :p

i think it complements the style since all that old stuff wasn't supposed to look razor-sharp ... it was all made with CRTs in mind etc
Impressive! Are you developing it into a game?
And yeah, it's part of the aesthetic I suppose. I tend to turn such post processing off, but I can't say I mind it!
 

Aaron D.

MetaMember
Jul 10, 2019
987
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I absolutely love 32-bit inspired modern games. Esp. creepy ones.

Y'all should check out Alpha Beta Gamer on YouTube. They specialize is this strange sub-genre and uncover a lot of hidden gems.
 

QFNS

Plays too many card games
Nov 18, 2018
1,223
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Somebody hook a brutha up with 100 dollarydoos to get all them godzilla goodness in mtg arena :wd_pc:
It is one of the better crossover things I've seen them do. Too bad they fucked with the mastery pass for this set making it less value again. I'll never understand why Wizards must constantly squeeze MTG players for more cash. The game is profitable, done mess with a good thing.

Thankfully the set seems good. Mutate is a cool effect.
 
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FeedMeAStrayCat

When you see me again, it won't be me.
Sep 19, 2018
389
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Likewise! It's the only way I can play anything current with my puny laptop. And the recent addition of storage is great because they were kind of taking the piss there. Now if only their communication was less childish and their support actually competent...

That is very interesting, I didn't know Amazon was offering that. That being said, the NVIDIA T4 Tensor Core GPUs don't seem aimed at games at all. I'm doubtful the performance is any good. Maybe I configured it the wrong way but when I tried parsec with Shadow, it ridiculously crushed any kind of detail that only relied on the red color channel.
A fellow Shadow user! :devilish::shlooter::steam_pigblanket: I've been playing The Evil Within on it as of late, which runs mostly smooth at 1440p and max settings.
Yeah, base storage is weak, which hasn't bothered me too much. I haven't actually needed to use their support yet, so that's disappointing to hear. Ugh.
Otherwise, it's been the smoothest and cleanest cloud solution I've used so far (out of GeForce Now, Google's Ass Creed Odd beta prior to Stadia release, and ............ OnLive back in the day :face-with-tears-of-joy: ). I really should try out the Stadia trial just for the hell of it to see what has improved.

I had not realized that Amazon/Parsec combo was even a thing, but that doesn't seem like a viable option for me. I'm not even sure I'd qualify to try it out, since I don't work for any company that would use it or am a student or anything. I'm a little confused and overwhelmed just looking at their FAQ pages lol I'd love to try it though, since it's a lot more powerful than the base Shadow sub.
 
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InquisitorAles

I know nothing
Oct 19, 2018
229
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Done with my review on RE2, time to move back to RE3:

I started playing too many games at once and barely can keep up with them, so I want to focus on my backlog. Thankfully, outside Gears Tactics and with all those delays, there's no stuff releasing in the next few months that I want to play, so I might actually pull it off and complete more games!
 

Swenhir

Spaceships!
Apr 18, 2019
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A fellow Shadow user! :devilish::shlooter::steam_pigblanket: I've been playing The Evil Within on it as of late, which runs mostly smooth at 1440p and max settings.
Yeah, base storage is weak, which hasn't bothered me too much. I haven't actually needed to use their support yet, so that's disappointing to hear. Ugh.
Otherwise, it's been the smoothest and cleanest cloud solution I've used so far (out of GeForce Now, Google's Ass Creed Odd beta prior to Stadia release, and ............ OnLive back in the day :face-with-tears-of-joy: ). I really should try out the Stadia trial just for the hell of it to see what has improved.

I had not realized that Amazon/Parsec combo was even a thing, but that doesn't seem like a viable option for me. I'm not even sure I'd qualify to try it out, since I don't work for any company that would use it or am a student or anything. I'm a little confused and overwhelmed just looking at their FAQ pages lol I'd love to try it though, since it's a lot more powerful than the base Shadow sub.
I really need to look into the Amazon/Parsec thing but I don't have the energy at the moment. I think it comes down to cost, which I have no idea about at the moment unfortunately. Shadow has been good but I'm worried about their lasting power given how anemic the current configuration is. It's doing alright for most games at the moment but I can't possibly see it coping with next-gen releases.

I think one side of the costs that is probably underestimated with Amazon is storage and bandwidth. If you intend on downloading a lot of stuff from the instance, or need any kind of storage, the bill seems like it's going to be dear based on my previous experience. Again, research needed.
 
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Tizoc

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It is one of the better crossover things I've seen them do. Too bad they fucked with the mastery pass for this set making it less value again. I'll never understand why Wizards must constantly squeeze MTG players for more cash. The game is profitable, done mess with a good thing.

Thankfully the set seems good. Mutate is a cool effect.
I don't know how to mutate :lampblob:
I am a simple man.
I just punch things.
Gimme dinos and I will rush them
Gimme badass knights and I will rush them
 
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Durante

I <3 Pixels
Oct 21, 2018
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I had not realized that Amazon/Parsec combo was even a thing, but that doesn't seem like a viable option for me. I'm not even sure I'd qualify to try it out, since I don't work for any company that would use it or am a student or anything. I'm a little confused and overwhelmed just looking at their FAQ pages lol I'd love to try it though, since it's a lot more powerful than the base Shadow sub.
Yeah, it's not really a consumer product.

That said, even if it was, if you spend a lot of time gaming it would be quite expensive. An instance is $0.526 per hour, that's ~21 USD just in "hardware cost" for a 40 hour game.

Which also is an interesting data point for all those game streaming services. I'm pretty sure they are all currently wildly in the red and in "player acquisition, cost be damned" phase. What will be interesting is how they plan to transition out of it. Of course, that Amazon price is not cost, but the cost also isn't trivial for hosting high-end dedicated hardware for each concurrent player. This isn't video streaming.
 

Tizoc

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I need to, but I have no idea how well it goes. It was definitely not a good idea a few years ago, but there have been a lot of improvements...
If ur gonna play the ps3 versions
Make sure to use the digital veraions since rpcs3 emulates how the ps3 handled games
So disc gamws will install game data to hdd :p
 
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