Latest Comments by soulsource
Steam Deck now lets you override display resolution for games
3 Jun 2022 at 1:16 pm UTC Likes: 1
One situation in which I could imagine this to come in handy would be external screens. Right now, in Game Mode, games cannot be run at resolutions above the built-in screen's native resolution and will then be upscaled to the native resolution of the external monitor. If this setting allows going above the built-in screen's native resolution, games that do not upscale well, but also are not too demanding on the GPU, could be run at the native resolution of the external screen.
3 Jun 2022 at 1:16 pm UTC Likes: 1
Quoting: mphuZI just don't really understand this Game Resolution feature.I'll have to try this when I get home today.
With it, I will be able to magically run all games in 1920*1080 resolution, even those that do not support?
For example, Splinter Cell or Return to Castle Wolfenstein. They do not support modern resolutions, mods are required.
One situation in which I could imagine this to come in handy would be external screens. Right now, in Game Mode, games cannot be run at resolutions above the built-in screen's native resolution and will then be upscaled to the native resolution of the external monitor. If this setting allows going above the built-in screen's native resolution, games that do not upscale well, but also are not too demanding on the GPU, could be run at the native resolution of the external screen.
SteamOS 3.2 out for Steam Deck — better fan curves, refresh rate switching
27 May 2022 at 11:57 am UTC Likes: 1
If the update works for me (will try in a couple of hours, am at work right now), I'll definitely go with your second link ("maybe don't").
27 May 2022 at 11:57 am UTC Likes: 1
Quoting: EikeThanks a lot! That sounds far less intrusive than what I imagined when reading "put something inside", but I'm still a bit worried about it increasing wear on the fan. It at least sounds like it's working by putting strain on the fan's bearings in order to increase friction.Quoting: soulsourceNope, and the title sounds too frigthening for me to even look it up.Well, it's not the original title... :D
https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/uckns3/how_i_fixed_my_whiny_delta_fan_with_electrical/ [External Link]
https://www.pcgamer.com/maybe-dont-jam-electrical-tape-in-your-steam-deck-to-fix-fan-whine/ [External Link]
If the update works for me (will try in a couple of hours, am at work right now), I'll definitely go with your second link ("maybe don't").
SteamOS 3.2 out for Steam Deck — better fan curves, refresh rate switching
27 May 2022 at 11:38 am UTC
27 May 2022 at 11:38 am UTC
Quoting: EikeNope, and the title sounds too frigthening for me to even look it up.Quoting: soulsourceDid you try the "just put something inside and all is quite" trick to be found on YouTube?Quoting: EikeIt indeed is. Just judging from the noise level, I don't think there's a big difference between the PS4 and the Steam Deck, but the PS4 noise is at a lower frequency and therefore more calming than annoying.Quoting: soulsourceThat'S good news. My girlfriend keeps complaining about the "whining" of the Steam Deck...So she's... whining about it? ;)
But to be serious: Such sounds can be very annoying.
SteamOS 3.2 out for Steam Deck — better fan curves, refresh rate switching
27 May 2022 at 10:17 am UTC
27 May 2022 at 10:17 am UTC
Quoting: EikeIt indeed is. Just judging from the noise level, I don't think there's a big difference between the PS4 and the Steam Deck, but the PS4 noise is at a lower frequency and therefore more calming than annoying.Quoting: soulsourceThat'S good news. My girlfriend keeps complaining about the "whining" of the Steam Deck...So she's... whining about it? ;)
But to be serious: Such sounds can be very annoying.
SteamOS 3.2 out for Steam Deck — better fan curves, refresh rate switching
27 May 2022 at 8:37 am UTC
27 May 2022 at 8:37 am UTC
That'S good news. My girlfriend keeps complaining about the "whining" of the Steam Deck...
Humble Battles of Yore Bundle has plenty for Linux and Steam Deck
25 May 2022 at 6:10 am UTC
Edit: I'm really hoping that Valve adds some display options for Game Mode. Right now it's a bit annoying, because I use the same USB-C hub for charging and TV display, so whenever I charge the deck, the built-in screen goes blank. It would be nice to have it active, to check up on charging or download progress.
25 May 2022 at 6:10 am UTC
Quoting: slaapliedjeNot in Game Mode - at least not yet. That simply disables the built-in screen as soon as an external display is connected. In Desktop Mode it might work, but I haven't tried it, because the cable on my USB-C hub is way too short to allow picking up the deck.Quoting: soulsourceI haven't tried this yet... but can't you hook it to a TV and use the large screen for the game, and still use the built in controls? What would be killer is for games to have a mini screen so you could have the Deck's screen be a map, and the rest of the game display on the TV/Monitor. Like Fallout 4 could have the map on a Tablet/phone.Quoting: slaapliedjeNice! Though why would you use the DualShock 4 with the Steam Deck?While it's docked and connected to the TV.
Edit: I'm really hoping that Valve adds some display options for Game Mode. Right now it's a bit annoying, because I use the same USB-C hub for charging and TV display, so whenever I charge the deck, the built-in screen goes blank. It would be nice to have it active, to check up on charging or download progress.
Humble Battles of Yore Bundle has plenty for Linux and Steam Deck
24 May 2022 at 3:36 pm UTC
24 May 2022 at 3:36 pm UTC
Quoting: slaapliedjeNice! Though why would you use the DualShock 4 with the Steam Deck?While it's docked and connected to the TV.
Humble Battles of Yore Bundle has plenty for Linux and Steam Deck
24 May 2022 at 10:27 am UTC
24 May 2022 at 10:27 am UTC
By the way, I received my Steam Deck yesterday, and Pathfinder: Kingmaker is working pretty well on it.
(I had to disable Steam Input for my DualShock 4 though, otherwise the game would show Xbox button guides.)
(I had to disable Steam Input for my DualShock 4 though, otherwise the game would show Xbox button guides.)
Stellaris 3.4 'Cepheus' and Stellaris: Overlord out now
21 May 2022 at 6:02 pm UTC
21 May 2022 at 6:02 pm UTC
I've now played the Origin that lets you start as a vassal up until midgame.
It was quite fun up to now, and I must say, the changes to the economy seem to have reached a quite fun state again. Starting as a vassal tends to limit your early-game expansion a bit, but you also get the benefit of starting out with a relatively strong "ally" that prevents others from bothering you. In other words, you can focus on whatever you choose when the game begins (defence, research, or resource production). In addition, if you get along well with your overlord, you can renegotiate the vassalisation terms and get a pretty decent payment for your services.
The limited expansion paired with the potentially quite large income from subventions is an excellent starting point for a "tall" empire build, imho.
So, yeah, Stellaris got me hooked again.
It was quite fun up to now, and I must say, the changes to the economy seem to have reached a quite fun state again. Starting as a vassal tends to limit your early-game expansion a bit, but you also get the benefit of starting out with a relatively strong "ally" that prevents others from bothering you. In other words, you can focus on whatever you choose when the game begins (defence, research, or resource production). In addition, if you get along well with your overlord, you can renegotiate the vassalisation terms and get a pretty decent payment for your services.
The limited expansion paired with the potentially quite large income from subventions is an excellent starting point for a "tall" empire build, imho.
So, yeah, Stellaris got me hooked again.
Humble Battles of Yore Bundle has plenty for Linux and Steam Deck
19 May 2022 at 8:12 pm UTC Likes: 3
It's one of the best CRPGs I've played up to now, even though it has some issues.
The Pathfinder rule system is indeed very similar to D&D 3.5, and the setting, Golarion, is pretty close to the "default" D&D setting too. You won't find any of the trademarked D&D monsters though, and some things are named differently and also have different lore. In addition there are some interesting features on Golarion, that you might not find in most D&D settings, like the Silver Mount (a crashed spaceship) or the Worldwound (a nation ravaged by demonic corruption due to planar rifts that lead into the Chaotic Evil plane of the Abyss).
However, Kingmaker is set in an area named the River Kingdoms, which is mostly what you would expect from an "early renaissance" fantasy setting. The River Kingdoms border Numeria though, the nation where the Silver Mount crashed, and the Sellen River, a very prominent feature on Kingmaker's map, also flows through the Worldwound further downstream, so you can expect to hear of those two areas during the game.
The story of the game is also "normal" fantasy. A local leader, swordlord Jamandi Aldori, offers you a barony if you can rid the area of bandits. And that's where your path towards a kingdom begins. The game mixes a (not too complex) d20 based kingdom management layer with regular top-down-view role playing game segments.
Basically, you build up the kingdom, until an emergency strikes, at which point you (and a significant part of the ruling council..) march off to take care of the problem personally - by punching it in the face, sticking a sword in it, or setting it on fire - your choice.
The combat mechanics, and since the game is mostly about combat also the main game mechanics, are very well implemented. They do not reach the same level as they did in Temple of Elemental Evil, but they are close. You can play combat in turn based mode, or you can battle in real time with pause (though I don't see why one would want that).
Beware that in Kingmaker placement of characters seems to be more important than in Wrath of the Righteous. You'll always want to flank enemies, you will need to use crowd control spells (think: Grease), and you will also want to quicksave often (or play on low difficulty).
Equipment in Kingmaker is very easy to come by. By mid-game you'll be swimming in magical weapons and armour, and most of your kingdom's finances will come directly from the loot you collect while doing quests. That said, you can still invest a significant amount of time equipping your party, as you'll likely want to have a weapon specialization feat on all your characters, and finding a good suitable weapon for this can take a while (especially since Kingdom artisans are creating items from a random pool).
The progression in the game is well pulled off, with you being able to reach the maximum level of 20 near the end of the game. In other words, if you plan on getting the semi-overpowered level 20 class abilities, you can do so as long as you play the side-quests and don't multiclass.
Speaking of character levels, the character sheets in Pathfinder are in general a bit less complex than in D&D 3.5 and in Kingmaker some variant rules for skills are used that make it even less intimidating. You can still spend hours pondering which Feats you are going to take, or in which of the skills you invest your points though. In addition, you can multiclass, and there are prestige classes you might aim for.
One of your companions, Octavia, is for instance perfectly suited for the Arcane Trickster prestige class. Similarly, her boyfriend Regongar can benefit a lot from taking a few levels as Dragon Disciple, and Valerie, who is likely to become your main tank, has "Stalwart Defender" written on her armour. If you don't like the pre-made companions, there's also the option to just create characters from scratch. However, not travelling with the pre-made companions means missing out on a lot of story.
The game's story is fun to play for almost all of the game, and there's a lot of dialogue to enjoy - sadly only partially voiced. The encounters tend to be challenging, and are varied enough to remain entertaining until the last chapter, which sadly is not up to par to the others.
This is the only real negative point I can say about this game, by the way. In the last chapter you'll nearly exclusively face the same types of enemies again and again, with only minor variation in the enemy group composition. It's not that those encounters would be particularly hard, but they become boring and repetitive, and since those enemies have very annoying abilities, you will have to reload a few times if you accidentally moved into their aggro range without pre-buffing.
Oh, there's a second negative point... The loading screens take relatively long, what is quite punishing if you die, because in addition to loosing, you are also punished with waiting time.
Aaand, that brings us to technical details. Kingmaker is one of those games that I'd call an outstanding example when it comes to gamepad support on Linux. Not only did this game work perfectly fine with my DualShock 4 controller, it did also display the correct icons for the controller's buttons. (I still played it mostly with mouse and keyboard though.)
The Linux version itself works pretty well too. And yes, it is a native Linux build, even though the binary file is named Kingmaker.exe. Performance is good throughout most of the game, but near endgame you will probably notice that FPS will go below 60 (CPU bound). This is not an issue of the Linux version, but happens on Windows as well.
For me the game also crashed a few times, with a nasty tendency to do so at the island on Lake Candlemere.
Still, Kingmaker is definitely on my top-list when it comes to good Linux support and (relatively) few bugs.
Whoa, that became a huge wall of text for just wanting to say that it's an awesome game and you should definitely give it a try.
19 May 2022 at 8:12 pm UTC Likes: 3
Quoting: foobrewAnyone played Pathfinder: Kingmaker? Been wondering about that one. I know very little about the Pathfinder universe except that it's very similar to D&D.Yes, I've played through it, then the successor (Wrath of the Righteous) and am now at the beginning of my second play-through of Kingmaker again.
It's one of the best CRPGs I've played up to now, even though it has some issues.
The Pathfinder rule system is indeed very similar to D&D 3.5, and the setting, Golarion, is pretty close to the "default" D&D setting too. You won't find any of the trademarked D&D monsters though, and some things are named differently and also have different lore. In addition there are some interesting features on Golarion, that you might not find in most D&D settings, like the Silver Mount (a crashed spaceship) or the Worldwound (a nation ravaged by demonic corruption due to planar rifts that lead into the Chaotic Evil plane of the Abyss).
However, Kingmaker is set in an area named the River Kingdoms, which is mostly what you would expect from an "early renaissance" fantasy setting. The River Kingdoms border Numeria though, the nation where the Silver Mount crashed, and the Sellen River, a very prominent feature on Kingmaker's map, also flows through the Worldwound further downstream, so you can expect to hear of those two areas during the game.
The story of the game is also "normal" fantasy. A local leader, swordlord Jamandi Aldori, offers you a barony if you can rid the area of bandits. And that's where your path towards a kingdom begins. The game mixes a (not too complex) d20 based kingdom management layer with regular top-down-view role playing game segments.
Basically, you build up the kingdom, until an emergency strikes, at which point you (and a significant part of the ruling council..) march off to take care of the problem personally - by punching it in the face, sticking a sword in it, or setting it on fire - your choice.
The combat mechanics, and since the game is mostly about combat also the main game mechanics, are very well implemented. They do not reach the same level as they did in Temple of Elemental Evil, but they are close. You can play combat in turn based mode, or you can battle in real time with pause (though I don't see why one would want that).
Beware that in Kingmaker placement of characters seems to be more important than in Wrath of the Righteous. You'll always want to flank enemies, you will need to use crowd control spells (think: Grease), and you will also want to quicksave often (or play on low difficulty).
Equipment in Kingmaker is very easy to come by. By mid-game you'll be swimming in magical weapons and armour, and most of your kingdom's finances will come directly from the loot you collect while doing quests. That said, you can still invest a significant amount of time equipping your party, as you'll likely want to have a weapon specialization feat on all your characters, and finding a good suitable weapon for this can take a while (especially since Kingdom artisans are creating items from a random pool).
The progression in the game is well pulled off, with you being able to reach the maximum level of 20 near the end of the game. In other words, if you plan on getting the semi-overpowered level 20 class abilities, you can do so as long as you play the side-quests and don't multiclass.
Speaking of character levels, the character sheets in Pathfinder are in general a bit less complex than in D&D 3.5 and in Kingmaker some variant rules for skills are used that make it even less intimidating. You can still spend hours pondering which Feats you are going to take, or in which of the skills you invest your points though. In addition, you can multiclass, and there are prestige classes you might aim for.
One of your companions, Octavia, is for instance perfectly suited for the Arcane Trickster prestige class. Similarly, her boyfriend Regongar can benefit a lot from taking a few levels as Dragon Disciple, and Valerie, who is likely to become your main tank, has "Stalwart Defender" written on her armour. If you don't like the pre-made companions, there's also the option to just create characters from scratch. However, not travelling with the pre-made companions means missing out on a lot of story.
The game's story is fun to play for almost all of the game, and there's a lot of dialogue to enjoy - sadly only partially voiced. The encounters tend to be challenging, and are varied enough to remain entertaining until the last chapter, which sadly is not up to par to the others.
This is the only real negative point I can say about this game, by the way. In the last chapter you'll nearly exclusively face the same types of enemies again and again, with only minor variation in the enemy group composition. It's not that those encounters would be particularly hard, but they become boring and repetitive, and since those enemies have very annoying abilities, you will have to reload a few times if you accidentally moved into their aggro range without pre-buffing.
Oh, there's a second negative point... The loading screens take relatively long, what is quite punishing if you die, because in addition to loosing, you are also punished with waiting time.
Aaand, that brings us to technical details. Kingmaker is one of those games that I'd call an outstanding example when it comes to gamepad support on Linux. Not only did this game work perfectly fine with my DualShock 4 controller, it did also display the correct icons for the controller's buttons. (I still played it mostly with mouse and keyboard though.)
The Linux version itself works pretty well too. And yes, it is a native Linux build, even though the binary file is named Kingmaker.exe. Performance is good throughout most of the game, but near endgame you will probably notice that FPS will go below 60 (CPU bound). This is not an issue of the Linux version, but happens on Windows as well.
For me the game also crashed a few times, with a nasty tendency to do so at the island on Lake Candlemere.
Still, Kingmaker is definitely on my top-list when it comes to good Linux support and (relatively) few bugs.
Whoa, that became a huge wall of text for just wanting to say that it's an awesome game and you should definitely give it a try.
- New US Congress bill proposal requires all operating system providers to verify ages [updated]
- Pick up some quality adventure games in the Humble Golden Tales Bundle
- Amazon Luna rips out game stores, game purchases and third-party subscriptions
- Mozilla announced "Thunderbolt", their open-source and self-hostable AI client
- Dune: Awakening to get self-hosted servers, plus they're splitting PvE and PvP
- > See more over 30 days here
Recently Updated
- Testing the VRAM valve patch
- Liam Dawe - Shop Crush - Psychological Horror Thrift Sim with Literal Illusio…
- hollowlimb - Proton/Wine Games Locking Up
- Caldathras - video buffer overflow
- LoudTechie - Retrieve root (Desktop mode) without factory reset
- LoudTechie - See more posts
How to setup OpenMW for modern Morrowind on Linux / SteamOS and Steam Deck
How to install Hollow Knight: Silksong mods on Linux, SteamOS and Steam Deck