The Bore Steam Thread :monocle

[CajoleJuice]

I haven't even played a game in a couple of months, yet I'm tempted by this Rockstar deal.

[cool breeze]

Bully is $7.50

[Smooth Groove]

I haven't even played a game in a couple of months, yet I'm tempted by this Rockstar deal.

Me too.  There's a good chance that I'd have jumped on the whole collection if I hadn't already spent $30 on GTA4 episodes last week.  I wish Valve would at least let people gift extra copies. 

[Joe Molotov]

Bully is $7.50

The only Rockstar game I don't have (I bought the Rockstar Pack prior to them adding Bully, GTA4, and GTA Episodes), so I guess I'm down for $7.50. Apparently they just patched it up earlier this week.

[Smooth Groove]

Rockstar is slow with their patches but at least they still update their games 2 yrs after release. 

[cool breeze]

I wish I bought GTA4 yesterday now
[youtube=560,345]R1Hm4K5_Pr0[/youtube]
[youtube=560,345]zm7jr9-URQk[/youtube]

[Great Rumbler]

WOW

[CajoleJuice]

I haven't even played a game in a couple of months, yet I'm tempted by this Rockstar deal.

Me too.  There's a good chance that I'd have jumped on the whole collection if I hadn't already spent $30 on GTA4 episodes last week.  I wish Valve would at least let people gift extra copies. 

I'm gonna end up getting it, because the only game in the package that I have on PC is GTA:SA. And maybe I should give GTA4 another shot after selling my 360 copy so quickly.

[cool breeze]

well, the current deal is GTA1 to San Andreas for $7.50 (75% off)  and Episodes from Liberty City is $23 (25% off)

I was stupid to think episode would be 75% off during this deal.  I hope GTA4 is put up eventually, and now when I have class again 

[Arbys Roast Beef Sandwich]

shit cock, I just bought Vice City on the first day of the sale.

[cool breeze]

assuming San Andreas is $2.50 later on, it isn't really a problem.  GTA1 and 2 are freeware and Vice City and GTA3 were both $2.50.

[Great Rumbler]

GTAIV already went up yesterday.

[Bebpo]

oh wow. Good deal.

So I've bagged:
GTA1 -> GTAIV for $15 total.  Cannot complain about that.

Glad I didn't jump on the $42 deal since I already have Max Payne 1/2.  Only thing I'm missing now is GTA Eps from liberty city, but I already have that on X360 and if I want to double dip I'll get it in a year for $7.50 like I just did for GTAIV.

[Raban]

I wish I bought GTA4 yesterday now
[youtube=560,345]R1Hm4K5_Pr0[/youtube]
[youtube=560,345]zm7jr9-URQk[/youtube]

You and me both goddamn

[Smooth Groove]

Yeah, I bagged the GTA classics package as well even though I've got everything from two and up.  I don't generally double-dip but $7.50 for the sake of no-discs, hassle-free installation is too cheap to pass up. 

[Joe Molotov]

Played some Bully this afternoon, it was okay.

[Smooth Groove]

Does the performance get really flaky in the latter parts of Bully?  I've dabbled with the early parts of the game and it seemed to be running fine, unlike what most people reported. 

[Joe Molotov]

I think they patched out most of the major performance issues. I've only played an hour into it though, so I don't know if it gets worse later on.

[cool breeze]

GTAIV already went up yesterday.

I know.  I was in class  :'(

[Kestastrophe]

Dammit , I really wish they did this before the Vice City sale. Now the only game I want out of that bundle is San Andreas. I think its safe to say it will be on sale sometime this week though.

[pilonv1]

Fuck you and your stupid sales Steam.

[cool breeze]

Max Payne 2 is $2.50

[cool breeze]

http://store.steampowered.com/app/12120/

San Andreas is $5

75% off but it turns out San Andreas was $20 instead of $10

[Kestastrophe]

wtf, san andreas sale over? fffffffffuuuuuuuu 

[pilonv1]

ffs this is the most distinguished mentally-challenged sale ever

Weekend deal is good though:

Codemasters Racing Pack is $17.50

But you can buy them individually

DiRT $2.50
DiRT2 $10
FUEL $3.75
GRID $6.25
ToCA Race Driver 3 2.50

[Bebpo]

Hmmm, the only one of those I own is Grid on X360 (which I still haven't gotten around to playing  :'()

I thought I hear Fuel was terrible?  And dunno if I want ToCA.  Maybe I'll just pick up DiRT 1+2.

[cool breeze]

yeah, I've heard bad things about DIRT

how is GRID or DIRT 1?

[Smooth Groove]

Hmmm, the only one of those I own is Grid on X360 (which I still haven't gotten around to playing  :'()

I thought I hear Fuel was terrible?  And dunno if I want ToCA.  Maybe I'll just pick up DiRT 1+2.

ToCA is very sim-my so probably not.  Dirt 1 + 2 on the PC blows away the console versions.  Surprisingly, the sequel runs better than the original despite having noticeable graphical updates. 

[pilonv1]

Dirt 2 is great, especially if you have a DX11 card

[Arbys Roast Beef Sandwich]

Is FUEL any good?

[cool breeze]

wait wait wait

my above post I meant to say I heard bad things about FUEL.  I heard good things about Dirt and GRID.

FUEL is supposed to be like an off road Burnout Paradise, but really empty and too big.

[Bebpo]

Man, I dunno if the GTA classic pack was a good deal, even at $7.50

Tried playing GTA1/2 and personally I don't think think they hold up anymore.  Not seeing where you are going when driving beyond 10 feet is kind of...not so fun.  I think Chinatown Wars camera was pulled back further which made it a little more acceptable.

Tried playing San Andreas and multitude of problems:
-highest resolution offered was 1600x~; no way to get 1080p even though the non-steam version post hot-coffee patch natively is supposed to support it
-awful tearing with no in-game v-sync option.  When I tried to use D3D it freaks out the program after you start a game and I had to log off to get out
-no native X360 controller support.  Had to use keyboard + mouse and the controls are not the greatest
-I was having sound issues.  Sound effects were really low or non-existent

Basically seemed very problematic and if I ever want to play SA I'd have to spend a bunch of hours trying to tweak this or just play the PS2 version.  I don't see GTA3 or VC working any better :X

[Great Rumbler]

Man, I feel the exact opposite. I've played all three of the PS2 games recently and they all run just fine, no Xbox360 controller support but I've done just fine with keyboard and mouse.

And I still really love GTA2. It's got some issues and can be a bit archaic in some ways, but it's really fun and doesn't get bogged down by all the cinematic-ness of the later games.

[cool breeze]

Bebpo, if you have an Nvidia card, use the nvidia control panel or nhancer (a more advanced version of the control panel) to force vsync and anti-aliasing.  Don't use D3Do.

The only problem I have with Vice City, and San Andreas seems to have the problem too, is that they use Vert- wide screen meaning they crop the top and bottom of the screen to give the widescreen effect; the hud also gets stretched.  I wouldn't be so upset if there wasn't a patch that fixes this for Vice City, but it doesn't work with the Steam verison.  The patch just extends he horizontal view without cropping like widescreen should be.

actually, if you don't have nhancer, it is a useful tool to have:  http://www.nhancer.com/

[Bebpo]

k, will try that.

Just tried GTAIV and it runs pretty well (50-60fps range).  Just wish the game supported AA as the jaggies everywhere in the city are very distracting (and the low res textures everywhere since I can't go higher than medium on texture quality  :'()

Forgot that the cars handle like molasses in the game, lol

[Bebpo]

Man, I feel the exact opposite. I've played all three of the PS2 games recently and they all run just fine, no Xbox360 controller support but I've done just fine with keyboard and mouse.

And I still really love GTA2. It's got some issues and can be a bit archaic in some ways, but it's really fun and doesn't get bogged down by all the cinematic-ness of the later games.

I think I'd like GTA2 better if I could play it in a window so it doesn't look so stretched out/ugly on a 1080p screen.  When I click WINDOW under the options box it doesn't do anything

[Bebpo]

I guess I'm just spoiled by GOG and their dedication to making old games run well on modern pcs.  I sometimes forget when they do these steam deals for cheap that non-optimized pre-PS3/X360 gen games don't always work well on today's computers. 

[cool breeze]

I recently heard GOG apparently did that.  I'm gonna buy Outcast from it since they fixed it to work on modern computers.

k, will try that.

Just tried GTAIV and it runs pretty well (50-60fps range).  Just wish the game supported AA as the jaggies everywhere in the city are very distracting (and the low res textures everywhere since I can't go higher than medium on texture quality  :'()

Forgot that the cars handle like molasses in the game, lol

nhancer allows you to force AA (different types too) for any game

like I said, it is useful tool to have.

[pilonv1]

Now I don't know whether I should or should not get the Rockstar pack, I really only want San Andreas, but having no controller suppport is terrible

[Bebpo]

Ok, with vsync/triple buffering San Andreas is fine.  The Vert- thing is kind of annoying along with stretched texted/menus but playing in 4:3 feels too claustrophobic so I can deal with it to use the full screen. 
I think the keyboard + mouse controls are probably ok once you adjust.

Now I don't know whether I should or should not get the Rockstar pack, I really only want San Andreas, but having no controller suppport is terrible

It supports joypads so there may be a way to get the X360 controller working right.  When I tried I could move around with the left analogue but the right analogue did nothing and I couldn't figure out how to make it control the camera.

[Bebpo]

I recently heard GOG apparently did that.  I'm gonna buy Outcast from it since they fixed it to work on modern computers.

k, will try that.

Just tried GTAIV and it runs pretty well (50-60fps range).  Just wish the game supported AA as the jaggies everywhere in the city are very distracting (and the low res textures everywhere since I can't go higher than medium on texture quality  :'()

Forgot that the cars handle like molasses in the game, lol

nhancer allows you to force AA (different types too) for any game

like I said, it is useful tool to have.

Doesn't work for GTAIV.  Apparently there's no way to do AA with the engine?  I read that you have to do SSAA through something and it's a big processor hit and not that effective in motion.  Kind of a shame since it's a nice looking engine/city.

Ah, apparently in Directx9 you can't do AA & HDR.  Since GTA4 is dx9 and usese HDR you can't have AA.  There are some mods that tweak the post-processing to smooth it out a bit though.

[cool breeze]

Steam has Manhunt and Max Payne back on sale (Max Payne bundle, both games for under $4), they had bully up again yesterday, so they better have GTA4 up again 

[Bebpo]

well I ended up caving on the Codemaster Racing pack.  I always wanted to play Dirt but it was OOP for X360/PS3 after a bit and wanted to play Dirt2 since it looks so nice.  Plus Fuel sounds interesting enough to check out for a few hours (http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2009/06/22/fuel-around-the-world-in-eight-hours/).  Grid is worth the double dip for better resolution/framerate.  And Toca 3 is just a bonus.

Plus Dirt 2/Fuel are GWFL so you get X360 achievements, which is nice.  Finally almost all the games (maybe not Toca 3) have X360 controller support.  All that was enough to push me over for $17

[Smooth Groove]

Grid is a real solid game on the PC.  You should be able to get it looking pretty good on your rig, Bebpo. 

About GTA4's lack of AA, I think it was just due to poor programming on Rockstar's part.  The damn thing takes a whopping 1,300 megabytes of framebuffer memory to fully maximize!  There are much better looking games on the PC that require far less memory than GTA4.  The HDR + AA is a hindrance but most newer hardware + drivers have found ways around it.  GTA4 is probably the only big title left that can't have some kinda AA forced on it.  It's a shame because you'd think that, with two extra years, Rockstar would at least fix the AA issue in GTA4 episdoes. 

[Great Rumbler]

San Andreas is back on sale for $5.

[Kestastrophe]

[Bebpo]

About GTA4's lack of AA, I think it was just due to poor programming on Rockstar's part.  The damn thing takes a whopping 1,300 megabytes of framebuffer memory to fully maximize!  There are much better looking games on the PC that require far less memory than GTA4.  The HDR + AA is a hindrance but most newer hardware + drivers have found ways around it.  GTA4 is probably the only big title left that can't have some kinda AA forced on it.  It's a shame because you'd think that, with two extra years, Rockstar would at least fix the AA issue in GTA4 episdoes. 

Yeah, it really kills me because as the first person mod shows, GTAIV's city is mighty impressive.  It has this great sense of realism and scale.  Almost like a sim where you are really there living in it.  But then becuase it's a city and thus has lines everywhere the lack of AA takes you out of the experience and reminds you that you are just playing a videogame since everything shimmers as you drive around.

[Joe Molotov]

I bought the Agatha Christie Collection and Whispered World, gonna get my adventure gaming on. I've played Evil Under the Sun already, it was pretty sweet.

[Bebpo]

This is the first time in a while that I've bought a collection with huuuuuge games (racing game collection).  Must be like 50gigs total.  Need Fiossssss

[Bebpo]

I've managed to download 2 games so far.  Been downloading since like 2pm.

2 hours of downloading later:
Fuel - Doesn't run because Steam is sold out of keys and I have to wait until they get more from the publisher.

2 hours of downloading later:
Dirt - Game starts up.  Go through all the menus.  Forced to watched 5 min tutorial telling me HOW TO PICK RACE  go to start race, race loads and...crash.
oh wait, apparently the steam version of Dirt doesn't support Windows 7 even though the retail version does!   

DiRT 1 works perfectly fine on Windows 7 with the latest retail patch applied (it removed part of the SecuROM protection that made it incompatible in the first place).
For some idiotic reason this patch was never applied to the Steam version and the retail patch is incompatible as far as I know.

Remember the old saying:
Never buy a Codemasters game on Steam ... unless you want to be screwed over.

Yet it seems to magically work for about 50% of people on Win7, unfortunately I am not one of them.


Between the issues I was having with GTA pack yesterday and these issues.  I'm really starting to get upset with Steam.  I'd always thought they were awesome and waited to buy all my pc games until they were on steam because I love the interface, the achievements, the auto-updating, the ability to have this digital collection at my fingertips for decades to come.  But if older games are going to have compatibility issues AND you can't use official/unofficial patches to fix them because the steam version of the .exe is unique....seems like I'm just throwing my money down the toilet for some of this stuff.

I think for all games if you get a cracked no_cd.exe and replace the one in the main game directory it'll put the .exe on the same level as the retail disc.  Might need to see if I can fix Dirt this way.  I'd like to actually play it!

[Smooth Groove]

2 hours of downloading later:
Dirt - Game starts up.  Go through all the menus.  Forced to watched 5 min tutorial telling me HOW TO PICK RACE  go to start race, race loads and...crash.
oh wait, apparently the steam version of Dirt doesn't support Windows 7 even though the retail version does!   

It's probably the I7 bug.  If you're using an I7 and have hyperthreading on, the game gets confused because it doesn't know what to do with 8 threads.

Check the fix near the bottom of the page: http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=880461

[Bebpo]

Hey, that worked!  Thanks

Game is ...not as graphically impressive as I remember the X360 demo being 3-4 years ago.  Time sure raises expectations.

[Bebpo]

Grid runs a smooth 60fps and looks better than Dirt but still console softness and low detail, low draw in distance with everything maxed.  I googled around and saw there is a realism mod that takes off the crappy bloom filter and makes the game look much better.  But I couldn't find a download link for it anywhere   Even if I do I dunno if it would work on the steam version.  Hope it does!

[cool breeze]

If it works with the Steam version, I might pick grid up.  I just searched for it (mod is by someone called Dargo) and it makes the game look so much better.  The thing I hated most about the GRID demo was how brown and dusky it was. 

[archie4208]

Guild Wars is very tempting.  Does anyone have any impressions on it?

[Great Rumbler]

Guild Wars is very tempting.  Does anyone have any impressions on it?

I played an hour or two of it, it was okay but not really my thing. I know one guy who swears by it though.

[Joe Molotov]

GTA IV is on sale again.

[cool breeze]

bought it...15 gigs, 3 hours to download 

I heard that the first person mod works with the episodes too, and I like those more than regular GTA4, but I'm getting this to just mess around with.

[Raban]

BOUGHT.

[Bebpo]

I set Grid to 1920x1080p and it worked?  Is it just upscaling it internally or something?

The textures were all low-resy.  Definitely still looks like a 720p X360 game and not like a ground up 1080p sharp PC game.