What are you playing?

[Space Lynx]

Can confirm, playing on Officer in Frostpunk 2 and I've reached 70k pops now but there was literally not a single moment I didn't have a resource deficit and wasn't fighting for my life in one way or another. Efficiency is everything. If you grow too large, there's no going back and you will find yourself fighting one deficit after another. I tend to lean towards the Adaptation tree but a lot of the buildings for example seem great (great resource/yield ratio) but they all cost more workforce and often add a bit of disease. The disease is easy to counteract but you'll still be building more hospitals, which take workforce too. Add those together and you'll find yourself far too keen on getting more population in, because otherwise you can't use all those shiny buildings... and then you find yourself struggling for every resource imaginable, including housing, which in turn costs 200+ Workforce just to house... more pops... that eat more resources...

That's how I'm stuck now. I can keep things under control but even an entire separate food colony shipping 900 food every week isn't enough to satisfy the demand now, and similarly, six fully upgraded industrial districts to produce Goods isn't cutting it either. And that's just when there's no whiteout... The only resource you can keep up easily is ironically heating. And then I researched and passed Apex Workers... a major production efficiency boost to everything... and all was fixed for about 40 weeks, until it spiralled out control again. Growing way too fast

I think the key is keeping your city and your people just out of their comfort zone, if you're stockpiling resources, you've got room not to grow, but to actually disable or reduce some production, and in the meantime you focus on securing more and more resources in the Frostland instead - because that's the only way to get resource income growth without population growth (and workforce cost); it actually does the opposite: new colonies will drain your main city of their pops, relaxing your needs.

I haven't launched Frostpunk 2 from PC game pass, but I may just uninstall it now, honestly all of that sounds like it will cause my anxiety, not fun lol

 

[ao6977]

Fallout 4, chernoyblite, daiblo 4, cyberpunk, killer klowns, predecessor, dragons dogma 2, skull and bones, and many many others. Ps5

 

[Makina]

Having an absolute blast with Forever Winter recently.

 

[nomdeplume]

 

[Splinterdog]

Revisiting Half Life 2 (Update) on my new gaming laptop. I never get tired of this game.

 

[Macro Device]

Just reinvented GTA III for myself after buying a 170 Hz panel. It's so hilarious.

Worms: Armageddon, Postal 2, FIFA 09, FlatOut 2 are also disgustingly funny at such refresh rate.

 

[lexluthermiester]

I meant Win10 vs Win11 in general what it comes to compatibility (man I hate typing that word, I can say it easily but typing it sucks nuts)

Just like almost everything Vista-stuff worked in Win7 etc

Ah ok. Yeah Win10 and Win11 have VERY similar compatibility. Compatibility is one of the many reasons I ditched 10LTSC in favor of 11. One of the thing microsoft has got right with 11 is improving backward compatibility.

 

[Macro Device]

One of the thing microsoft has got right with 11 is improving backward compatibility.

I know at least one game that doesn't run on W11+AMD GPU (never tested with NV ones) no matter what so it's so-so. Don't believe me, go get Zombie Smashers X.

W11 is dead for me because you can't monitor your CPU load.

 

[lexluthermiester]

W11 is dead for me because you can't monitor your CPU load.

What? You've heard of the Task Manager, yes? Seriously, it works fine.

However, we're straying from topic, so I digress. If you like to discuss this further let head over to the following thread;

Windows 11 General Discussion

With the leak and/or release of the Alpha build, the announcements and release of the Insider builds of Windows 11 there has been a lot of discussions in other threads that seem to be getting very off topic for those threads. It seems like good idea for Windows 11 to have it's own general...

www.techpowerup.com

 

[JWNoctis]

Can confirm, playing on Officer in Frostpunk 2 and I've reached 70k pops now but there was literally not a single moment I didn't have a resource deficit and wasn't fighting for my life in one way or another. Efficiency is everything. If you grow too large, there's no going back and you will find yourself fighting one deficit after another. I tend to lean towards the Adaptation tree but a lot of the buildings for example seem great (great resource/yield ratio) but they all cost more workforce and often add a bit of disease. The disease is easy to counteract but you'll still be building more hospitals, which take workforce too. Add those together and you'll find yourself far too keen on getting more population in, because otherwise you can't use all those shiny buildings... and then you find yourself struggling for every resource imaginable, including housing, which in turn costs 200+ Workforce just to house... more pops... that eat more resources...

That's how I'm stuck now. I can keep things under control but even an entire separate food colony shipping 900 food every week isn't enough to satisfy the demand now, and similarly, six fully upgraded industrial districts to produce Goods isn't cutting it either. And that's just when there's no whiteout... The only resource you can keep up easily is ironically heating. And then I researched and passed Apex Workers... a major production efficiency boost to everything... and all was fixed for about 40 weeks, until it spiralled out control again. Growing way too fast

I think the key is keeping your city and your people just out of their comfort zone, if you're stockpiling resources, you've got room not to grow, but to actually disable or reduce some production, and in the meantime you focus on securing more and more resources in the Frostland instead - because that's the only way to get resource income growth without population growth (and workforce cost); it actually does the opposite: new colonies will drain your main city of their pops, relaxing your needs.

All right, guess I'd stay on Citizen for a while. I play games mainly to get rid of tension and stress these days, not for more of them.

I haven't launched Frostpunk 2 from PC game pass, but I may just uninstall it now, honestly all of that sounds like it will cause my anxiety, not fun lol

Actually do give it a try; On Citizen difficulty it is not too out of control, once you figure out the basics and not go on a spending spree for things you don't immediately need. It's still a balancing act, but not quite the same juggling act @Vayra86 described, at least early in the game.

The atmosphere is great. I've had actual dreams on it - whether that is a good thing is debatable.

 

[Space Lynx]

Just reinvented GTA III for myself after buying a 170 Hz panel. It's so hilarious.

Worms: Armageddon, Postal 2, FIFA 09, FlatOut 2 are also disgustingly funny at such refresh rate.

yep, I discovered this in 2012 when I imported a QNIC 1440p 60hz from south korea, and overclocked it to 110hz. this scales too, but with diminishing returns. 180hz is really my cutoff point, after that the diminishing returns are just not a big deal. in 2012-2015 everyone said i was nuts for saying high refresh was a game changer, but they just hadn't experienced it yet, now its common so everyone understands

this is my dream monitor, but its 1 grand... maybe in like 3 years if its $499 (and I want glass on it) i will get it, but its a bit too pricey for me. and to be hones i don't really care about 480hz anyway cause that just means you need a rtx 5090 when it comes out, which again is just stupid silly to be honest.

I've had actual dreams on it - whether that is a good thing is debatable.

that's wild lol, I only ever had dreams about one game, it was Socom 2 on playstation 2, i played the hell out of that game, and the dream was in the same graphics i remember, lmao

 

[Macro Device]

What? You've heard of the Task Manager, yes? Seriously, it works fine.

If it was THAT simple I wouldn't have brought it up. Any overlay in any game shows INCORRECT CPU usage values, even if you have a regular P-core only CPU. This is a known issue and M$ are to never fix this because screw Windows users in particular. Anyhow, yeah, that's off topic so perhaps I'll come up with a full-on W11 trashing in the appropriate thread because frankly, this is the worst OS I've ever seen. BY FAR.

in 2012-2015 everyone said i was nuts for saying high refresh was a game changer

I'd never say that. Stupid fast monitors were expensive back then and with median salary of way below $1000, it's a no go. Especially when you're a lame student like me at the time. Later, I was kinda outta whack and only now, since late 2021, I'm reinventing PC gaming for myself.

180hz is really my cutoff point

I benchmarked myself and I literally can't see any difference past 160 Hz. Should a game run at a much higher framerate, I will increase the quality settings rather than keep it that way because why not.

 

[Space Lynx]

I benchmarked myself and I literally can't see any difference past 160 Hz. Should a game run at a much higher framerate, I will increase the quality settings rather than keep it that way because why not.

See my thread here, everyones eyes are a little different on their limitations. the title is worded funny on purpose, cause i got sick of people saying they can't tell difference between 60hz and 100hz lol

Only some humans can see refresh rates faster than others, I am one of those humans.

CRT monitors always felt smoother to me at 75hz, by a lot compared to modern LCD's at 60hz. Then in 2012/2013 I imported my first ever Korean monitor that overclocked to 100hz, that is the day gaming changed forever for me. Fast forward to now and I regularly game at 165hz 1440p or 1080p, and I...

www.techpowerup.com

 

[FoulOnWhite]

Echoes of wisdom, new California FO4 mod, and some old Zelda games on my 3DS.

 

[Vayra86]

All right, guess I'd stay on Citizen for a while. I play games mainly to get rid of tension and stress these days, not for more of them.


Actually do give it a try; On Citizen difficulty it is not too out of control, once you figure out the basics and not go on a spending spree for things you don't immediately need. It's still a balancing act, but not quite the same juggling act @Vayra86 described, at least early in the game.

The atmosphere is great. I've had actual dreams on it - whether that is a good thing is debatable.

Balance in all things... I've got Officer going now with 40k pops, two full blown colonies out in the frostland (2x10k pops) and literally immense resource overproduction on everything. Its a breeze... so weird. This time the factions aligned with my own agenda... and boom, everything just works. +250 housing, +800 food, +1200 materials and +600 goods... yeah... lol

Pretty cool to have such different playthroughs despite the fact I did the exact same map, same starting factions and same ambition goal. A lot of it rides on carefully selecting the first two, three laws you pass because that will determine the two extra factions you get, and some of them are just fantastic, others not so much, especially not if they don't mix well with the base factions you have. This time I got Menders and Venturers... and just like last time when I got that combo, everything just clicked into place for me.

@Space Lynx I think FP2 while not very forgiving, is a very relaxing game nonetheless. Its not a very steep learning curve either. You will fail a few times, and then you'll have it figured out for the most part.

 

[Macro Device]

everyones eyes are a little different on their limitations

My limitations are brain related, not eye related. I had nine concussions and a couple drug abuse incidents, that's why my brain doesn't work too good. Should I be born in a safer place, I perhaps might've had 300+ Hz limitation, who knows.

Played some Max Payne 2 on a 170 Hz panel. So cursed I just love it.

 

[Splinterdog]

My limitations are brain related, not eye related. I had nine concussions and a couple drug abuse incidents, that's why my brain doesn't work too good. Should I be born in a safer place, I perhaps might've had 300+ Hz limitation, who knows.

Played some Max Payne 2 on a 170 Hz panel. So cursed I just love it.

Oddly enough, I've just been playing Max Payne 1&2 on my laptop and used the various Win 10/11 fixes and they now run just great.
Both are classics and definitely replayable.

 

[Vayra86]

See my thread here, everyones eyes are a little different on their limitations. the title is worded funny on purpose, cause i got sick of people saying they can't tell difference between 60hz and 100hz lol

Only some humans can see refresh rates faster than others, I am one of those humans.

CRT monitors always felt smoother to me at 75hz, by a lot compared to modern LCD's at 60hz. Then in 2012/2013 I imported my first ever Korean monitor that overclocked to 100hz, that is the day gaming changed forever for me. Fast forward to now and I regularly game at 165hz 1440p or 1080p, and I...

www.techpowerup.com

Eyes don't see. The brain sees, and the brain is also extremely good at pulling wool over your eyes. Perception is a strange thing, and so is placebo. I apply mountains of salt to anyone saying they can 'see' 300 frames per second. You don't see them. You just have a different perception of smoothness, and like many things, the longer you look at it, the better the brain can adjust to it. If we call that 'seeing a difference', okay. I'm more convinced this is a mental thing than a physical limit. Its also closely related to how much sleep you've had, whether you are happy or not, etc. Nothing of that has anything to do with eyesight. Its processing power.

The soap opera effect is the best example of this. Almost everyone can see it; the simple difference between 50 and 60hz TV, or 24 vs 50/60; and why? Because everyone's always looked at either 50 or 60hz TV. When something changes, we notice it and often our brain can't even really put the finger on what's changed, but it confuses us so we then deem it 'unnatural'.

 

[Ruru]

Let's play NES for a while. I'll grab a beer and play some The Guardian Legend.

 

[KrazyT]

Let's play NES for a while. I'll grab a beer and play some The Guardian Legend.

My Good-Nes !

 

[Vayra86]

Let's see when the game crashes. Saving already takes nearly 30 seconds, frame times are... uncomfortable at 4x speed. I think I can fit 150k people here...

 

[lexluthermiester]

Let's see when the game crashes. Saving already takes nearly 30 seconds, frame times are... uncomfortable at 4x speed. I think I can fit 150k people here...

View attachment 365490

Your GPU is solid so the only suggestion I'd make is to increase your RAM, if you're hitting a wall.

 

[Count von Schwalbe]

Let's see when the game crashes. Saving already takes nearly 30 seconds, frame times are... uncomfortable at 4x speed. I think I can fit 150k people here...

View attachment 365490

Lol. I had (have) a Rimworld colony with several hundred sheep and goats that decided to self tame and then multiply exceeding much. I just left them within my walls and before I knew it I had 500+ livestock and 4 colonists...

The game lagged so bad 3x speed was unusable, and 2x was no faster than 1x.

 

[Vayra86]

125k pop

 

[Splinterdog]

I was about to buy Mafia Definitive Edition for $5 in a sale, but then spotted it on Game Pass, which is when the fun started. Endless black screens, so the game wouldn't load at all.
When I finally got it going, I think the culprit may have been Logitech G-Hub, which I disabled along with some others, but I'll have to double check.
Anyway, it looks like a keeper with an interesting storyline, great graphics and it pulls you in. I may just go for that deal in the end, especially when the black screen is solved.

I was about to buy Mafia Definitive Edition for $5 in a sale, but then spotted it on Game Pass, which is when the fun started. Endless black screens, so the game wouldn't load at all.
When I finally got it going, I think the culprit may have been Logitech G-Hub, which I disabled along with some others, but I'll have to double check.
Anyway, it looks like a keeper with an interesting storyline, great graphics and it pulls you in. I may just go for that deal in the end, especially when the black screen is solved.

It turns out that iCue was preventing the game from loading, not Logitech G-Hub. iCue has been really flaky recently and I had to set up a Task Schedule for it to load at start up because of the mouse wasn't loading correctly, being as slow as molasses.
Anyway, at least I found the cause of the problem and yes, it's a great game that sucks you in, feeling authentic and very Godfatherish!