Random News not worthy of own thread

[matthewfarmery]

Never thought much of Oblivion, strange, why they would remake that rather then morrowind? unless because morrowind is far larger and would probably take up a lot more room? hard to say. But then again, expect another buggy mess. Also, there is a rumour, that it may use unreal 5 instead of the creation engine. (devs own engine) Which may or may not have problems of its own. Including modding support. I personally dislike Oblivion, some may say its a good ES, but to me it was shallow, the levelling system was bad. And the whole needing to close portals after portals after portals until you nearly complete the story. (or avoid them) Weak game. Can't say I liked skyrim either. But I guess many may not even remember or played MW. Which was far superior in every way. (apart from graphics)

[chew-ie]

Rumors: Elder Scrolls Oblivion remake likely to be release in April. Will probably be hard to run.

Some other remakes like kotr might be happening also.

System Shock 2 remaster is also due for june this year

[matthewfarmery]

Hopefully it will be good,

https://store.steampowered.com/app/8665 ... _Remaster/

One of my all time favourite games. I really hope the remaster is worth the wait.

Edit

This just seems to be a remaster, not a remake. All they are doing to enhancing the visuals and probably sound. I think if you still got the original game, then use that with mods. This new version probably won't add anything new or change that much. Could be wrong, but from the looks of it, its just a visual upgrade.

[chew-ie]

It is - but it doesn't need much more. I remember coming back to this game years after it's release and just using some polishing mods. The game was still awesome - no small thanks to the awesome drum and bass tracks

[matthewfarmery]

Agreed, it doesn't. Which really begs the question, if you already got the game, do you need the remaster? the answer is probably no. But I will keep an eye on it. But I don't think it will get much more then a fresh lick of paint. Unless they plan on doing a bit of rebalancing? but that might be outside the scope of the project.

[matthewfarmery]

Small update, I checked out SS2 mods, it has some good texture replacement mods. and a community patch that fixes a fair few bugs and some enhancements, while staying true to the original vision of the game.


list of recommended mods.
https://www.reddit.com/r/systemshock/co ... irst_time/

In that respect, I'm not sure the remaster will have any real atvantage over a modded SS2. But I guess its all about ease of use, and bringing it up to some sort of modern standard without having to mod the game. As I already own the game on GOG, this remaster probably isn't worth it. But will still keep an eye on the release.

[felter]

I don't know how I missed this or how I have not heard about it, but it turns out the EU has had enough of predatory microtransactions in games and has released a set of guidelines for as they call them traders in the gaming sector. There are a few interesting points, like they are being told if they sell items for in game currency where that currency can be nought for real money, they have to give the price of those items in real money alongside the in game currency. This is being done by The Consumer Protection Cooperation Network and a set of principles.

These key principles apply to in-game virtual currencies understood as digital representations of value that
are purchased with real-world monetary value and then used by consumers to pay a price in exchange for the
supply of in-game digital service or content within a video game.2 The CPC Network considers in-game virtual
currencies as digital representations of real-world monetary value when they serve no purpose other than, or for
which other functions are secondary to providing for a method of payment, the purchase of digital content or
services in video games (or, where applicable, for the purchase or another in-game virtual currency). In such
cases, transactions where consumers pay a price for digital content or services by exchanging in-game virtual
currencies for game digital content or services are subject to European consumer protection laws3,
just like purchases with real-world currencies.

The principles are:
PRINCIPLE 1: Price indication should be clear and transparent
PRINCIPLE 2: Practices obscuring the cost of in-game digital content and services should be avoided
PRINCIPLE 3: Practices that force consumers to purchase unwanted in-game virtual currency should be avoided
PRINCIPLE 4: Consumers should be provided with clear and comprehensible pre-contractual information
PRINCIPLE 5: Consumers’ right of withdrawal should be respected
PRINCIPLE 6: Contractual terms should be fair and written in plain and clear language
PRINCIPLE 7: Game design and gameplay should be respectful of different consumer vulnerabilities

There is just far too much to go over so if you want a better explanation on each of the above principles Here's the order in full to read, or do what I did and listen to MightyTeapot go over them all with some legal help, that's what I did and how I found out about it. While none of these are written in law the small paragraph:

Please note that this document is a non-exhaustive list of practices that consumers may
encounter when playing video games. It does not preclude the CPC Network from undertaking
further actions or activities in the gaming sector.

Basically it's saying while they are not legally the law right now, if you don't abide by them, we will do just that and make them law.

[alt3rn1ty]

~ But I guess many may not even remember or played MW. Which was far superior in every way. (apart from graphics)

Loved Morrowind with all the DLCs, and quite often checked "Telesphoros List o Mods" website for any updates / new mods. Balmora expanded was good, plus all the Gothic/adult themed mods. Marvellous community that kind of set a good civilized standard for inclusivity and diversity. Very kind and helpful bunch of folk.

[matthewfarmery]

~ But I guess many may not even remember or played MW. Which was far superior in every way. (apart from graphics)

Loved Morrowind with all the DLCs, and quite often checked "Telesphoros List o Mods" website for any updates / new mods. Balmora expanded was good, plus all the Gothic/adult themed mods. Marvellous community that kind of set a good civilized standard for inclusivity and diversity. Very kind and helpful bunch of folk.

Not sure if you know, but there is openMW, an opensource project that replaces the original game engine with something better. Been in development for sometime now, and they are heading towards 0.49

https://forum.openmw.org/viewforum.php?f=2

I tested it a while back, a lot of mods should still work, but some will likely need to be updated, if they haven't already. Plus it makes the core game a lot more stable over the original release, which for me, was always a crash fest once I hit a certain point in the game. Worth checking out.

[alt3rn1ty]

~ But I guess many may not even remember or played MW. Which was far superior in every way. (apart from graphics)

Loved Morrowind with all the DLCs, and quite often checked "Telesphoros List o Mods" website for any updates / new mods. Balmora expanded was good, plus all the Gothic/adult themed mods. Marvellous community that kind of set a good civilized standard for inclusivity and diversity. Very kind and helpful bunch of folk.

Not sure if you know, but there is openMW, an opensource project that replaces the original game engine with something better. Been in development for sometime now, and they are heading towards 0.49

https://forum.openmw.org/viewforum.php?f=2

I tested it a while back, a lot of mods should still work, but some will likely need to be updated, if they haven't already. Plus it makes the core game a lot more stable over the original release, which for me, was always a crash fest once I hit a certain point in the game. Worth checking out.

wow those guys are still going. Thats dedicated. I think I might dust off the old archives and give it a whirl, thank you

[matthewfarmery]

I found this site for an automatic or manual setup of recommended mods.

https://modding-openmw.com/

You do need the latest RC version of 0.49 for some of the mods to run. The total overall is a large package around 100gig plus, while some of the others, are a lot smaller. You can click on the mod list to see what mods are included. I think I'm going to download the one day modernisation that has over 120 mods, (total overall is 559 mods) the instructions seem pretty clear, and you should not miss any steps. you need an active Nexus account,

So might be worth a look, if you want to replay the game.

Edit

The one day modernisation package comes to about 40 plus gig, I'm still downloading it. But I think it adds a lot of new content and a fair few fixes. So its a good medium. going to be interesting what the game will look like once I finally boot it up.

Edit 2

Got it installed, about 38gig and to be honest, really good. Going to be fun exploring Morrowind again, the process was pretty easy if you use autocratic, I had to rerun one of the tools to download the mods, (one of them didn't fully download and gave me an error) as for the install order, that is sorted by using the config tool, it sets the load order, and while it may seem that a few plugins aren't enabled, some are merged, and siege of Siege isn't enabled, as it comes with another installed mod. So once its all done, and no steps missed. Your good to go. The settings page of the launcher is pretty good too. how many settings you enable, is your choice. Having sneak as a toggle is a real nice feature. and also increase the view distance from the game itself. Otherwise, I have it installed and so far, everything is playing nicely.

Morrowind remastered!!!

[chew-ie]

I never heared about this FLIP-ship (FLoating Instrument Platform) before - glad I have now!
It's a ship which can "rotate" by 90° by flooding most of it's hull in order to transform into a mobile research platform.

It was recently saved from the scrapyard and is about to get restored & modernised now!

@sources newatlas.com

On wikipedia, there is a video about the "flipping process"

[matthewfarmery]

Small update, WOW this game really shines, been a while since I last played it, and the graphics are a huge difference over vanilla, maybe at some point I might go for the total overall, as you can upgrade from the one day modernisation version, by selecting the total overall package and following the same steps. I also tweaked some settings. increased the view distance. But yeah, looks like a brand new game.

Patch for purists is a recommended patch, you don't need MCP or any other unofficial patches, as they were for the vanilla engine. And openMW includes a lot of fixes anyway. I now understand why 0.49 is needed, as that includes Lua, which opens the door to even better mods and enhancements.

So yeah, really enjoying the game again, so worth a look if you have the MW itch!

[Alerion_V.X3]

Kudos

Marine Le Pen barred from running for public office for five years

[chew-ie]

My hell yes! moment for today. Open to more for this week

[matthewfarmery]

So Trump is now planning on selling shares of his social media platform, hopefully the share price will drop like a stone. But no doubt there might be some whowill buy the stock, but those that have kept onto the stock, will no doubt be the hardest hit.

[clakclak]

EU set to fine Twitter up to 1 billion US Dollar for breaking disinformation law.

[matthewfarmery]

make it 10 billion, it might make them notice. and about time. But I doubt 1 billion will be enough.

[Observe]

EU set to fine Twitter up to 1 billion US Dollar for breaking disinformation law.

The article mentions "illicit content and disinformation", but it doesn't go into details. What exactly is it that X has done wrong? Disinformation is a much over-used word these days, often meaning something that the government or institutions don't agree with. Personally, I would rather every nut-case theory or belief has an opportunity to express themselves - as long as they don't incite violence or blatantly advocate breaking the law.

I would rather know about someone's hair-brained theory or belief, than have them plotting in the dark. Forewarned is forearmed. Personally, I think the EU needs to lighten-up, not clamp down. History never looks kindly on censorship.

[Warenwolf]

EU set to fine Twitter up to 1 billion US Dollar for breaking disinformation law.

The article mentions "illicit content and disinformation", but it doesn't go into details. What exactly is it that X has done wrong? Disinformation is a much over-used word these days, often meaning something that the government or institutions don't agree with. Personally, I would rather every nut-case theory or belief has an opportunity to express themselves - as long as they don't incite violence or blatantly advocate breaking the law.

I would rather know about someone's hair-brained theory or belief, than have them plotting in the dark. Forewarned is forearmed. Personally, I think the EU needs to lighten-up, not clamp down. History never looks kindly on censorship.

DSA laws - which Elon did not give rats ass about - have been around for some time - if any company, American or otherwise, has issues dealing with them, they are welcome to take a hike.

Commission's finding regarding X from last year (which an eventual fine will take in consideration): https://ec.europa.eu/commission/pressco ... ip_24_3761

What EU needs is far more aggressive approach towards its enemies (which Elon is), using the same methodology fighting Nazi collaborators during WW2 and communist infiltrators post-WW2.
Kicking the can down the road and doing nothing has been M.O of EU on so many areas in so many years and by now, it should bleeding obvious for anyone that this does not work.