#backporting is hard

[lettuce-from-the-spruce-forest]

Is renether ever going to get a 1.20.1 port?

maybe?

i'm currently trying to figure it out. it seems possible but very annoying to do

[toskarin]

is replicant remake -> automata a worthwhile sequence? is the original better?

flatly, yes, it's worthwhile

as for the second question, it's genuinely a really really really difficult one I'm gonna put below a readmore

the short version is "it's probably the best way to experience it as a new player in 2025"

there's so many tradeoffs being made to modernise the game, and while I do come out on the side of saying that the remake is probably the best way to experience it as a new player, it's still not a recommendation I can give without some tags hanging off it

I do think some people are pickier on the visual aspects here than I tend to be (I do wish some designs were preserved better), but the musical aspect is hard to ignore. I don't really like the updated soundtrack, and in a lot of cases, it feels like homogenising changes were made for sake of sounding "expensive" rather than out of a desire to preserve the original tone of the game

on the other hand, the remake is the only way at present to play in english with brother nier as the protagonist, and that alone is a pretty big point in its favour, considering the "translation" patch for the original release just ports over the script from the original english release, meaning you get the old translation's papa nier lines from brother nier

I think the best way to play it in english would be to port the old soundtrack into the new version (which has been unsuccessful as of current attempts) or to backport the updated translations minus the new content into the original version (which has not been done)

but barring those options, the remake's a fine one

[clericofshadows]

hope you don't mind this ask. but what are your favorite pc mods to use for the Mass Effect games?

oh man, there's so many... all my mods for sure ;)

and here's a link to the Mass Effect Modding discord!

but in all seriousness, here's a list. this isn't an install order nor does it list all requirements for mods, but it does have all the mods I can't live without or have used before and enjoy. read mod descriptions closely, watch for compatibility sections, and you'll be fine. I won't really mention cosmetics beyond listing some devs (including myself, to be transparent) who focus on that kind of thing, because this list will get even longer and cosmetics tend to be more on a case-by-case basis. I also won't list texture mods because I don't use them.

this is also not exhaustive and I will definitely forget some lol. browse nexus, there's definitely lots of things I probably looked over/missed.

also, do not use synth's guide, period. it's now unsupported and I'm tired of troubleshooting it on the main modding server.

LE1

LE1 Community Patch - Necessary for any playthrough.

Same-Gender Romances for LE1 - Makes Kaidan and Ashley available for same gendered Sheps, also functions as an optional flirting mod of sorts.

MELLO - Restores dynamic lighting for LE, makes the game closer to how it looks to OT.

Alliance Uniform Consistency - If you're like me and prefer ME3's Alliance uniform style, this mod backports them to LE1.

Skip Minigames (LE1) - Self explanatory.

Charted Worlds (LE1) - Marks more items of interest on UNC maps

Black Market License (LE1) - Gives more vanilla loot from "hidden" manufacturers, so weapons and an armor set that was previously inaccessible without console commands.

Private Message Terminal (LE1) - Adds a message terminal to the Normandy.

A Little Help From My Friends (LE1) - Requires Private message terminals, adds emails and collection assignment support from different characters.

Eclectic Emails (LE1) - Requires private message terminals, adds various emails to LE1 to flesh out the story and characters.

Galaxy Map Trackers (LE1) - Tracks discovered and undiscovered missions on the galaxy map

Pinnacle Station DLC - Brings the Pinnacle Station DLC back to LE.

Kaidan Alenko Overhaul (LE1) - Gives Kaidan a higher poly face and new hair

Casual Hubs for LE1 - Shepard and squadmates will wear casual outfits in some situations

LE1 Diversification Project - Overhauls ME1 with lots of asset diversity, cut content, and mission changes. Read the Article page for more details! (This mod has some hard requirements, read the description)

Advanced Weapon Models for LE1 - Backports ME3 weapon models to LE1.

Normandy Rapid Transit (LE1) - Adds the Normandy to the rapid transit fast travel points.

Mira Puzzle Be Gone - Tired of the Towers puzzle in Noveria? Me too.

Children of Rannoch - A Quarian Overhaul (LE1) - My personal favorite "visible Tali/visible quarian" face mod

Elements of Comparative Weaponry (LE1) - Gives better description information on weapons

No Skill Check Required for Loot (LE1) _ Take whoever you want without worrying about skillchecks.

No Armor Skill Required - Equip armor without worrying about skills

XP Rescale (LE1) - Increases XP rewards

ME3 Alliance Armor for LE1 - Backports the ME3 marine armor for marines to wear in LE1

Mako Squadmate Banter - Adds the elevator banter to the Mako (Please note this mod has a hard requirement)

Mako Infinite Boost - Self explanatory

No Sexual Harassment (LE1 and LE2) - Removes a variety of things, such as sexist dialogue and the weird Sha'ira touching. I personally just remove the Sha'ira stuff.

Virmire Savior Mod (LE1) - Lets you save both Kaidan and Ashley on Virmire (note, do disable Kaidan Alenko Overhaul if using this mod)

Hot Labs Restored (LE1) - Massive cut content restoration for Noveria

Caleston Restored (LE1 - ALPHA) - Restores the cut planet Caleston that used to be the place for Liara's recruitment mission.

Punch Charles Saracino - Why punch a reporter when you can punch Terra firma?

New Outfit for Matriarch Benezia - GIves Benezia some more practical outfits for her appearance.

LE2

Unofficial LE2 Patch - Necessary

LE2 Prologue Framework - Necessary for many mods

Early Recruitment (LE2) - Early recruitment of Tali, Samara, Thane, Legion, and access to Illium and Tuchanka pre -Horizon

EGM Weapons in Cutscenes (LE2) - Weapons you hold will properly appear in cutscenes.

Trigger Buttons (LE2) - Trigger story mission with a button press rather than forced into them

Cerberus and Alliance Uniform Consistency (LE2) - If you're like me and prefer the ME3 fatigues/uniforms

Anderson and Hackett Consistency Mod (ME2LE) - Anderson and Hackett wear their ME3 dress blues.

Risky Suicide Mission (LE2) - Makes the suicide mission in LE2 feel more like a suicide mission. Best used for a brand new playthrough

Cerberus Weapons (LE2) -Gives the game more Cerberus weapons, backported from 3

Modern Weapon Pack - Backports weapons from 3

Casual Hubs for LE2 - Shepard and squadmates will wear casuals on and off the normandy in some scenarios

Expanded Shepard Armory (ME2LE) - Large armor and casual mod, also allows you to select armor right before a mission

Virmire Savior Mod (LE2) - Continuation of Virmire Savior 1, allows one Virmire Survivor to confront you on Horizon while the other is a temp squadmate

One Probe All Resources - Use one probe to gather everything

No N7 Armor in Liaras Apartment - Removes the creepy armor in Liara's apartment.

F.I.S.H. Mod (LE2) - Kelly will feed your fish without flirting with her

Renegade Scars for All - LE2 - LE3 - If you're like me and love renegade scars and want them on always

Nos Astra Mineral Exchange - Adds a trading market to LE2 for resources and currency.

Same-Gender Romances for LE2 - Continues the same sex Kaidan and Ash romances from 1, adds Tali and Thane for same gender sheps. LE3 mod isn't out yet.

Oriana looks like Miranda's Twin (ME2LE) - Oriana's face is changed to Miranda's

Easy Armor Stats (LE2) - Armor stats are moved above descriptions

Skip Minigames for LE2 - As the title says

Bonus Bonus Powers For LE2 - Freely add or remove powers from Shep's loadout

Combat Evade Maneuvers - Adds a biotic dash for roll evade

Recovered Powers - Gives Shep 4 new powers

HD Romance Photos - Adds a larger photo for ME1 romances

Optional Flirting Mod (LE2) - Makes flirting options more clear and some actions optional via interrupts

Zaeed's Wholesome Revenge (LE2) - Save the workers AND kill Vido on Zaeed's loyalty mission if completed fast enough

Geth Pulse Rifle on Lower Difficulties - Don't want to play harder difficulties but want this gun? This mod is for you

Full Weapon Recovery - Recover all special weapons on the Collector ship

Skip Mass Effect 2 Prologue - Skips straight to character creator when starting a new game

Truly Unrestricted Weapons LE2 - Shepard and squad can equip all weapon types

Children of Rannoch - A Quarian Overhaul (LE2) - The LE2 version of the LE1 mod. Also has an optional addon for even more armors.

Extended Romance Scenes - Ports LE3 romance scenes for LE2 romances

No Shared Power Cooldowns - Removes the shared power cooldowns.

Kaidan and Ashley LE3 Armors for Horizon (MELE2) - As the name says, gives Kaidan and Ashley their ME3 armors in Horizon. Softly incompatible with Virmire Savior (the squadmate who is in your squad won't have the updated appearance)

More Gay Romances - Jack and MIranda can be romanced by Femshep

New Squadmate Casuals (LE2) - Casual outfits for various squadmates. (Note that a lot of the Squadmate armor mods have their own casuals, so choose options accordingly if you want a specific one to show up, as this mod will override most)

Platonic Post Horizon Emails - Get a new email from Kaidan/Ashley if not romanced post Horizon.

LE3

LE3 Community Patch - Necessary

Expanded Galaxy Mod (LE) - A massive overhaul of the galactic war system, Normandy, additional squadmates on some missions, and many QOL features that can be modified via settings.

Miranda Mod (LE) - Puts Miranda on the Normandy post Horizon and can bring her on missions. (Note: Some conversations do use AI voice cloning)

N7 - A Spectre's Gift - A new mission added to the game with some Andromeda references

Spectre Expansion Mod - I don't currently use it, but in the past I have. Requires EGM's Galactic War option, and provides a lot of new choices and mini missions and text based opportunities to influence war assets. Also has a small non-combat mission.

Skip Geth Consensus - As the title says.

Project Variety (LE3) - My personal preferred content overhaul for ME3, includes countless options, restore cut content, new areas to explore. Definitely a mod page to read very closely, it is a HEAVY mod.*

Virmire Savior Mod (LE3) - Continuation of Virmire Savior from previous games. One VS is chosen on Mars to be part of the story, and the other joins you post coup

Audemus' Happy Ending Mod - THE Happy end mod for ME

Kaidan Alenko's Hospital Stay - Gives Kaidan a shirt to wear while in the hospital + a new face texture.

Ashley Williams' Hospital Stay - Gives Ashley a shirt to wear while in the hospital + a new face texture.

Omega Hub - Beta - Adds Omega as a hub

Take Earth Back - Massively overhauls Priority: Earth

No Shared Power Cooldowns - Removes the shared power cooldowns

Dreams Remade - Overhauls the dream cutscenes

Kaidan Alenko Overhaul (LE3) - Gives Kaidan a higher res face and new hair, plus new armors and outfits (Also available for 2, but isn't compatible with the Prologue Framework currently.)

Padme's Cabin Additions and Memorials (LE3) - Adds some new decoration to the cabin

Apartment Additions (LE3) - Allows you to invite your LI to the Citadel Apartment

Thane Can Live (LE3) - Thane can live post coup

Optional Flirting Mod (LE3) - I don't currently use it since it's incompatible with Virmire Savior, but makes flirting options clearer

Citadel Epilogue Mod (LE3) - Play the Citadel DLC post-ending

Pinnacle Station Apartment (LE3) - Ports the Pinnacle Station apartment to LE3 and you can invite your LI.

Shut Up Leng - Removes Kai Leng as much as possible from ME3

BETA Bonus Bonus Powers for LE3 - Customize Shepard's and squadmate power loadouts

Ashley Consistency Project (MELE3) - Ports Ashley's LE1 hair and head to ME3, adds new armors and a zipped up version of her outfit.

More Gay Romances - Jack and Miranda can be romanced by Femshep

*Note that PV has a lot of mods built into it, so there's lots of mods I've likely left out because I use PV.

Cosmetics authors for various games. This includes outfits/hair for Shepard. SEARCH THE APPAREL CATEGORY ON LE NEXUS FOR BEST RESULTS. This list also isn't exhaustive, but I tried to include authors who I've used their outfit/armor/hair mods, and made notes if they also have stuff in the squadmate armor category.

If you want Squadmate Armor mods, both the APPAREL and CHARACTER category will give you results.

clericofshadows: I primarily do male shepard casuals and armors, with a handful of exceptions for femshep (Guardian Armors for Shepard, my port of the Destiny 2 x ME collab), as well as squadmate armors

MorningAngel: Both male and female shepard, does causals and hair, and I mean lots of casuals and hair. Squadmate armors as well

Munchyfly: Squadmate armors and various casual/armors for shepard

Bejeweledhanban - Squadmate armors

spiderbabes: Hair and clothing for femshep

Rngdshep: Primarily armor, casuals for femshep, some mshep mixed in the femshep mods

Beckaboo: Some causals, some armors, and squadmate armors.

zebbros: Male and femshep casuals, some squadmate armors

MentalHygiene: male and femshep casuals

Padme4000: Male and femshep casuals and armors, some hair

Poucinette: Hair mods

Horography: Casuals for both male and femshep

Marcus22Khaar: Some hair, some squadmate armor mods

mithran56 and nanuke: both authors have some armors and casuals, some squadmate armors (often collaborate on each other's projects)

Kinkojiro: Armors for both male and femshep

Mistyvail: Armors for both male and femshep

Dsetzu: Armors for both male and femshep

jasonntodd: Armors and casuals for femshep, and some for squadmates

I think that covers most things? There's a lot I most definitely left out, so browse Nexus!

[taptrial2]

i want a pokemon game that's just an expansion on the pokémon amie gameplay loop. schnuggle your pokémon and feed it treats and then play minigames to work up its appetite for more treats. i want it

i also want every pokémon in existence to be backported to gen 6 so i can play head-it with them. and i would do that if it wasnt like, really hard and complicated. and if it didnt require knowing how 3ds game modding works. god

[landoflustfulladies]

sinfulfluff

I'm actually playing in an official Pathfinder 1e campaign like that right now! Iron God's is all about investigating the land of Numeria, where a giant spaceship crashed millennia ago -

I'll have to give that a look! Pathfinder 1e isn't hard to backport into 3.5 so I might be able to use it as is~

[genjishimemeda]

How do you think Sephiroth and Lazard's first meeting went? Any preconceived opinions? How much of a culture shock they were for one another?

so if there's one thing lazard is, it's that he's perceptive when it comes to interpersonal relationships (aside from the GAPING blind spot re: genesis and hollander that ultimately leads to his downfall). i'm sure the guy has a tight read on basically everyone in shinra, and especially on the higher ranking ones.

his first meeting with sephiroth i figure he keys into sephiroth's obvious… well, i'd call it autism, since that's how i hc sephiroth, but i think he'd know that something's a bit off about sephiroth psychologically. he'd probably consider how to use it to his advantage. he's also going to spot right away that sephiroth despises the limelight, resents his fame, and overall seems just resigned to his position. that could both prove troubling, yet useful. sephiroth may not be able to divine lazard's true intentions (if he plays his cards right), but he could also be a serious threat if sent after him.

sephiroth, i think, would initially really not like lazard because it's just another shinra suit and the person who's going to be giving him more direct orders. but lazard is immediately weirdly disarming. he addresses sephiroth like a person rather than a tool, and is nothing but warm and cordial. he finds his opinions listened to and respected, and his insight appreciated. lazard isn't interested in just telling him what to do, and that's. important, i think, for sephiroth. (crucially, though, sephiroth's lack of interpersonal skills relative to lazard's means he probably wouldn't be able to deduce the real reason why, which… well, read on.)

little tangent, it's hard to tell how old lazard is exactly. rufus is apparently 30 in FF7R, so if we backport that to OG, lazard could be as little as a few months older to as many as, like, 5 to 7. i'd say he's mid-twenties start of CC at least, to mid-thirties at most. anime age is hard to tell. the only reason i say this is, how old sephiroth is when they first meet informs how lazard would treat him:

if he meets him when sephiroth is like. a little bit older than ever crisis age, he's going to lean in on treating sephiroth like one would an actual teenager. i think he'd be (reasonably professionally) caring and perhaps authoritative, in a healthy parent type way. if they're closer in age, lazard would treat him like a peer. it's important to lazard to foster a sense of camaraderie with sephiroth, even if it's only for his own spiderweb-planning. learning more about angeal and genesis? more about the other shinra execs from sephiroth's POV? learning about… hojo, perhaps? the president? ­rufus~?

sephiroth never comes to see him as a friend, and lazard is pretty careful about that, but he certainly is willing to come across as trustworthy enough to have sephiroth feel he can at least tell him certain things. less emotional, deep, personal things but more like. events and goings-on that would be relevant for them both. useful things. and sephiroth's not going to think it's strange if lazard asks him what rufus has been up to because lazard can easily spin a yarn about how it's relevant.

shit would get weird if/when lazard finds out about sephiroth's origins though. i think he'd feel bad for sephiroth in a somewhat… ah, another person screwed over by shinra way. but probably wuld do his best not to let that distract him from his real goals. once he's got angeal's cells though if he thought back on it, BOY would he feel horrible. a child born into that? a spirit crushed and broken before it ever bloomed? someone who simply… did as he was told, never thought to question it, but had the power to absolutely overturn it if he weren't the elephant staked into the ground? lazard is torn between horror and a pitying jealousy. if he'd had that power… but the cost. heh. the cost was too high. something something price of freedom dot mp3.

okay i think i'm done waxing poetic if you wanted something more gay PLEASE slap me with another ask.

[themonsterundermystairs]

in case you have the same issue as me with the new update of skyrim. i tried to downgrade but it would immediately crash. well, here is the answer:

download the following mods to downgrade:

- the downgrade patcher (https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/57618?tab=files)

-> just choose the version you want to go back to. it‘s an exe file that will do the hard work for you. you can do it manually, but it‘s faster and easier with the patcher

- Backported Extended ESL Support (https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/106441)

-> this mod will fix the crash that happens even before the main menu. the issue is that bethesda included a file that is incompatible with the previous versions of skyrim. that causes the game to crash if you downgrade. the downgrade can‘t remove the file. this mod makes older skyrim versions compatible with it.

i finally managed to get my game running again, thanks to amazing mod authors and support from reddit and nexus users. thought i‘d share, just in case it might help someone

[lyinginbedmon]

i'm unfamiliar with the modding process ENTIRELY, my only knowledge is that backporting mods is incredibly difficult. knowing this, is it at all possible we'd ever be able to get the wheelchair mod for older versions? i'm personally a huge 1.16 player, but i know that doing this stuff in prior versions is hard

It very much depends exactly on what you're backporting. In the case of Wheelchairs specifically, it can go back as far as 1.20.1 without significant difficulty, but if it goes to any point before camels (the first vehicle/mount that can actually sprint) then it gets significantly more difficult.

[iamboredom]

Hi everyone! Sorry for the extremely.... long... absence! Let's get back to it, shall we?

We're using Godot now! Also that's kind of not the main difference. Welcome to full 3D, which also supports SSR, bloom, and all that other fancy stuff.

Developer Notes under the cut.

It's been a very... exciting, few months? Many things are different and have changed. For example, Retry!

For the most part, this workflow doesn't change much, suprisingly. Except for some minigames I simply just backported from elsewhere. Unfortunately, this means I have to write my entire saving and loading system from scratch.

But to be honest, that doesn't seem as hard as doing literally anything in Renpy.

Here's some coffee. Thank you for waiting.

[verdictvelvet]

Dragon Quest II

same as before. nes version patched to backport the mobile translation. i also used cheats to really ramp up the experience i got from battles once i got further because oh my god dude. its pretty well known that this game came in hot and the balance gets increasingly shaky as you get deeper in so. it was nice to take the edge off the grinding requirements

if you don't really know dq2 then i think the easiest way to describe its identity is like... dq1 but bigger? you've got three characters now! (a compressed version of) the entire world map of dq1 is just a fraction of the map here! there's more enemies, more (and more complex) dungeons, more of just about everything. but the structure hasn't fundamentally changed. you move through the world and collect information and get stronger and find the items you need.

and it starts really strong! for the first stretch it does feel like a more complex, more ambitious, more characterful version of that first game's progression. and then it all goes to hell once you get that damn boat and all that tight focus is scattered across vast expanses of empty ocean that i found it genuinely hard to orient myself on, wondering if i missed some hint of what i was supposed to do on some island i hadn't found in the midst of all that nothing. it's too big and too empty and, increasingly, becomes kind of a pain in the ass to play, culminating in a final boss that boils down to 'hope you get lucky and he doesn't use his move that heals himself to full' and a real sense of wishing there was something more to sink my teeth into than 'bigger dragon quest 1'

[16naughts]

Dev Log June 6 - Surprise! That didn't work either.

May has wrapped up, and it's really starting to feel like summer out there. Which in Nondescript Northeastern US town means hazy, hot, and humid. Not that we do much outdoors except for an evening walk anyway, so, you know- still business as usual. I know it's not the most amazing soundtrack, but I decided it would be a decent idea to stick up some of our game music on Newgrounds, if you're interested in using it in anything (it's Creative Commons, so you know, nothing commercial. But independent YouTube videos and free games and the likes are good) Last week I talked about switching away from WebKit for our Steam Deck build. Long story short, Steam is stuck using Debian 11 as the base for all games. WebKit dropped support for Debian 11 before switching away from using the CPU to do graphics compositing, and I can't backport because they also changed their toolchain that also dropped support for Debian 11. So Crescent Roll has to be super performant and use less than 25% of a single thread the CPU at all times or you get frame drops specifically on the Linux version. We got there, but then something changed, and now it has to be 20% or less, and now the Main Menu and certain stages drop down to about 45 FPS. Which isn't unplayable, but come on - it's a 2D flash game. This gizmo can run Cyberpunk. That ain't a good look. The only real alternative right now to WebKit is CEF (Chromium Embedded Framework). In fact, most things use it, because WebKit is specifically known to have poor performance in comparison. The only issue is that the Linux install for it is 1GB, while our game is 30MB, which is also not going to fly. However, that's the Linux version - the Windows version is about 200MB, which is actually less than the WebKit Linux install size. Steam Deck has a system called Proton on it that lets you run Windows apps, so why not use that?

So, on Friday, I went to work, and was able to use CefSharp to easily hook in the CEF instance to our runtime. There was a couple of tweaks that needed to be done in order to get the packaging right, but in less than 8 hours we had it - a 200MB completely standalone exe with no external dependencies. You didn't even need dotNet installed - it was all self-contained and completely portable. Beautiful. A bit on the chunky side, but pretty much what we've been aiming for from the start. Except it doesn't work with Proton. At all. And there's nothing I can do about it.

Proton is technically a layer on top of Wine, which is the de-facto Windows compatibility layer for Linux that's been around for just about a good 3 decades now. Apparently, Chrome does some really weird stuff under the hood in order to run as well as it does. And Wine has not, and is not interested in supporting whatever this weirdness is. So that super cool CEF version of the game is just sitting on my hard drive, completely useless. I suppose it's not so bad, as I only spend essentially a day and a half on it. But, guess I have to squeeze more blood from our stone. And we just kind of twiddle our thumbs until Valve adds a Debian 12 option. Or Google trims their package size down. Or Ladybird releases Canvas support. Or Microsoft ports Edge to Linux like they said they would. Hmm... You know, it really feels like I bet on all the horses, but somehow we're still losing the race.

[imunbreakabledude]

doing the last ~9months of quests on my alt account to regain quest cape has really highlighted once again how much the OSRS team has upped the quality of quest design... or else just didn't put in the same level of effort to a couple of the semi-backported quests. because curse of arrav and while guthix sleeps both just feel.... worse than other quests that have been released in OSRS in the last ~3 years.

in a bunch of small ways. it's hard to articulate exactly.

but comparing them against other quests of similar length/difficulty that have been unique to osrs... yeah, they just feel a little jankier.

The puzzles... aren't like, completely terrible? but they feel a little more awkward to interact with AND a little more obtuse than other puzzles the OSRS team has designed in modern quests? maybe it's just me, but as someone who does new quests guideless (at least until i get stuck), I was able to figure out the vast majority of DT2's puzzles on my own (save a few of the tougher bits of ghorrock prison, which they added more hints for after) and they felt intuitive to work through... but the WGS weight puzzle and the Curse of arrav weird colored tile puzzle both felt much more obtuse and janky to trial-and-error through in comparison. i can't quite explain why.

then, there's also a bunch of tedious sections that again, just feel a little... worse to do than anything i can remember in similarly long OSRS-unique quests like DT2 or SOTE. the rubble-mining bit in curse of arrav really stands out - dear guthix, what a stupid, boring sequence of a quest just to pad out its length. to a lesser extent, the whole black knight's fortress bit in WGS... it's not a terrible concept for a sequence, but i think it's the way you have to run all the way in there, needing supplies, need to kill the elite black knights for the armor (which they're not guaranteed to drop every kill!) and that you have to bring 2 attack styles because they pray against you and then you need tons of free inventory slots to pick up like a dozen various items in that same room so you either have to drop shit or make multiple trips or manage your inventory WAY more than is normally required for such an average quest step and it just feels so much... less... polished for the player experience than other OSRS quests.

and jesus, the surok fight... I THINK this was new for the OSRS version, and it's a very very cool concept to use the standard spellbook for a bossfight... 10/10 creativity... but the execution is... a bit janky. although it's of course easier overall than any of the DT2 bosses, the mechanics are WAY harder to figure out intuitively than most of the DT2 boss mechanics. I don't know how i would guess to telegrab/alchemise a bomb, mouse over an NPC to see that it's "strong" or "agile" then cast a weaken or bind spell, ... arguably the elemental surges canceling with opposite elements is the MOST intuitive of the 3, but still not made very obvious, and it's just like, given how much damage each of these does if you fail and how many tries it might take to figure this out on your own, you could spend so many attempts on this boss that really isn't that DIFFICULT on its own, it's just obtuse. (that's not to mention the inherent jank of manual spellcasting, like, just now i did it while knowing the full mechanics but still failed my first attempt because my spells just like... weren't landing on some of the specials for some reason with the timing.)

that's not to mention the story & dialogue elements of WGS that feel very, very lame compared to the standard OSRS has set with other comparable quests. i get they were trying to balance nostalgia "it's WGS from 2008!" with modern standards but a lot of this just doesn't hold up. idk, i ranted about that back when the quest came out so i'll not go on too much about it now... but yeah, these two quests (WGS and curse of arrav) in particular really stick out as "meh" compared to other recent quests, or even other semi-backported ones like Land of the Goblins and Defender of Varrock.

[toskarin]

one thing that annoys me in fantasy writing, but not a lot because I mostly just drop stories like this before they can make me go insane, is when a modern understanding of sexuality is backported into a fantasy setting so hard (in service of representation) that it comes with an implicit modern social framework that also backports modern conservatism

why* is this fantasy setting going through the motions of a protestant marriage ritual. if it's medieval and christian in every other way, why is the anxiety getting tied up around modern political talking points instead of in actual scruples

*: I know the answer and don't need it explained, but the assumptions being made are still annoying

[simmingelitist]

im still directing folks to the starter packs, it looks like LC needs serious work if it'll ever be worth it but even then... ppl might just backport any fixes they make anyway lol. i wish ppl talked abt the ts1 side more but it sounds like theres nothing rly there to talk abt, its hard to make ts1 work but when it works it doesnt have that many issues ime

[chrysaoravioli]

2nd Year Anniversary: Happy Little Experiments

Remember this?

It's hard to believe an entire year has flown by and yet, I don't really have much to show for it, huh? At least, in terms of completed projects... nada. Zilch.

It seems like I've simply rested on my laurels, haven't I? Well, not quite...

A Nagging Feeling

While I was making the Bayonetta 3 combo video, I kept finding myself thinking, "Hey, what if this move was backported to a previous game?" or "Man, this hit reaction state was so cool. What if we could port it forward?". And as I kept working on this project, the list of musings kept growing bigger and bigger.

After the combo video was released, it was clear that the completion of this project had left me a bit empty. I found that it was difficult for other games to keep my attention because Bayonetta 3, despite some of its faults, had set an incredibly high bar for mechanical satisfaction that only one other game has ever surpassed (hint, it's also another Platinum title :D ).

For some time, I was contemplating what I should do next. Another combo video? Maybe creating the high level guides that I had briefly talked about? What about the violin covers? I kept going back and forth, and yet, I always came back to my list of "what ifs". There was this nagging feeling, a sort of itch that was just out of reach that desperately needed to be scratched.

I simply concluded, "eh, why not? Let's learn how to make a game because it's bothering me."

Giving Unreal Engine a Shot

Those of you that have been following my Twitter may have noticed an uptick of Unreal related tweets around March 2024. That's when I had a few personal breakthroughs and was absolutely excited to share any and all progress, no matter how inconsequentially basic.

You see, I had actually began experimenting with game engines around July 2023. After the Unity debacle in September, I made the switch to Unreal but I found it an absolute behemoth of a program to parse. In addition, I made the mistake of following a book that also taught C++ for Unreal, leaving me incredibly frustrated and lost. All I could think was "god, I really hate programming."

However, around March, I decided to sit down and just start from scratch. Forget finishing that silly book, just try to do something simple like... making a door open without writing a single line of code.

I Don't Actually Hate Programming...

...as long as it's Blueprints.

You see, this visual scripting system is actually a godsend. Forget about header files. Forget about trying to figure out the exact syntax. Forget about what feels like arbitrary words that somehow makes the computer do things. Instead, just take these coloured blocks, connect them with little wires, and hey, it spits out the same exact result as the hieroglyphics you've been trying to learn!

And holy ****, it actually makes sense! This node based scripting system allowed me to perfectly visualize and execute any idea that I had in my head. It's so freakin' convenient!

Only two weeks later, I was able to craft a basic initial framework for a dial combo system, similar to the one found in Bayonetta 2 & 3.

By then, I was locked in. Seriously. As soon as 5 PM rolled around, for two months straight, I would begin experimenting with charged attack inputs, delay combos, and a little system for evaluating left stick inputs to enable command attacks. By May, I was even brave enough to begin experimenting with hitboxes.

There's still so much more work to do but I was absolutely over the moon. Unreal Engine satisfied that same mechanical desire that I had felt when playing Bayonetta 3 but I still hungered for more...

A Self-Imposed Challenge

In June, I decided to challenge myself by recreating a specific mechanic from a game within a month. I needed a bit of a breather, as I knew that working on the stylish action system required a lot of interconnected subsystems that was beginning to feel overwhelming. So, I decided to work on recreating part of the painting system from Splatoon.

In the first week, I researched Render Targets and learned how to draw a simple shape into the RT. This simply uses the "Find Collision UV" node from a trace hit, then draws the painting material to the Render Target at the hit UV coordinate.

In the second week, I decided to go a little further and apply an entire Render Target to a custom mesh. This required creating a second UV channel with custom UVs so that the paint could be "continuous". However, one issue is that if an UV island wasn't scaled properly, the paint blob would become distorted.

In the third week, I took the plunge into the Material Graph so that I could figure out how to restrict painting surfaces. There was a lot to learn since creating the necessary functions to manipulate colour was a bit of a foreign concept to me. In the end, I was able to successfully figure out a solution that restricts a paintable wall with a mask.

In the final week, a Tricolour painting system that was much closer to Splatoon! While I'm still using the somewhat questionable custom UV channel albeit with more uniform UV islands, I can have multiple static meshes that share the same Render Target! Team Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie paint into their respective R, G, or B channels of the Render Target, which is then processed into a material to transform these into the appropriate colours defined in a Material Parameter Collection.

While there's still work to do in figuring out how to turn this into an interactive game element, I'm fairly proud of my work in this month long exercise. I learned a lot about the Material Graph and have even begun researching into how to bring all of this stuff that lives on the GPU, back to the CPU in a performant manner.

What's Next for Year 3?

For the time being, that little nagging feeling of mine has led me to realize that I'm really happy and satisfied as I slowly tinker away in Unreal Engine. It does mean I'll have to sacrifice some of my video ideas but I think that's okay.

I'm not really that old but I'm also not getting any younger. While I did enjoy making the combo videos and violin cover, they end up feeling so ephemeral that I think my time is much better spent on something that can have a more lasting impact.

So, as long as these little experiments continue to satisfy my curiosity and engineering spirit, that's what I'll stick to for the foreseeable future. And who knows, maybe if things pan out, you'll be able to play and experience the results of my experiments a year from now! Wish me luck!

While I wished I could've done more for my channel, I still hope you'll continue to support me in the future. Thank you so much for all of you who have stuck around!

Best wishes!

chrysaora 🎐