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Post by Lee on Feb 14, 2018 9:13:45 GMT
Yeah, I'd say Yes Man was the route I felt the most comfortable with, especially since he learned to not be a yes man at the end and only listens to you (I think that's what was said at the end anyway-it has been a number of years at this point!) I still feel naughty about it, but I rather enjoyed the playthrough where I sided with the legion. It was an evil run I suppose, but my character honestly did it cause of the gay m/m acceptance. Though he was against the slavery and the treatment of women. Perhaps he was going to try to reform them form the inside-if that's even possible. Yes man ending is glorious and my favourite. Kick both out because they're both trying to exploit the Mojave, its native factions can handle things itself thank you.  (I kicked them both out just with speech it was amazing, you do need 100 speech though, good thing i focused on it the whole game) I usually use the speech check too, but I feel a bit like I cheated myself out of an epic boss battle when I do. So sometimes I go for the glory of battle. hehe |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2018 9:23:09 GMT
Yeah, I'd say Yes Man was the route I felt the most comfortable with, especially since he learned to not be a yes man at the end and only listens to you (I think that's what was said at the end anyway-it has been a number of years at this point!) I still feel naughty about it, but I rather enjoyed the playthrough where I sided with the legion. It was an evil run I suppose, but my character honestly did it cause of the gay m/m acceptance. Though he was against the slavery and the treatment of women. Perhaps he was going to try to reform them form the inside-if that's even possible. Yes man ending is glorious and my favourite. Kick both out because they're both trying to exploit the Mojave, its native factions can handle things itself thank you.  (I kicked them both out just with speech it was amazing, you do need 100 speech though, good thing i focused on it the whole game) I'm thinking I really missed a trick there as I invariably take what I think of as the pragmatic approach and side with NCR, even though I have my reservations. Yeah I know, I really need to vary my play-throughs a little bit more than I do! Talking of which, I occasionally try an "evil" play through but can never do it: my character always gets quickly watered down from evil to bad to misunderstood to surly to occasionally rude. I think the idea of reforming a bad faction from the inside is an interesting one, and given that the Legion so heavily relied on conscription, there probably aren't too many people who are dogmatic about their worse habits; though if they're the same people responsible for holding things together, that could be an "interesting" conundrum. Speech is one of the things I usually focus on with these games: I typically prefer talking my way out of situations (or into them!) over going in with all guns blazing, though in one of them (NV, perhaps? I forget now) getting it right up to 100% could be trickier than expected. |
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Post by Lee on Feb 14, 2018 9:29:43 GMT
I'm thinking I really missed a trick there as I invariably take what I think of as the pragmatic approach and side with NCR, even though I have my reservations. Yeah I know, I really need to vary my play-throughs a little bit more than I do! Talking of which, I occasionally try an "evil" play through but can never do it: my character always gets quickly watered down from evil to bad to misunderstood to surly to occasionally rude. I think the idea of reforming a bad faction from the inside is an interesting one, and given that the Legion so heavily relied on conscription, there probably aren't too many people who are dogmatic about their worse habits; though if they're the same people responsible for holding things together, that could be an "interesting" conundrum. Speech is one of the things I usually focus on with these games: I typically prefer talking my way out of situations (or into them!) over going in with all guns blazing, though in one of them (NV, perhaps? I forget now) getting it right up to 100% could be trickier than expected. yeah, it's implied by a few characters that after Caesar dies that the legion is very likely to fall apart without that strong leadership. So it would be interesting to see if the courier would be a stabilizing factor in the long run or if they would eventually fall apart regardless. I rather enjoyed the faction quest where you got to be a doctor-and could even kill Caesar if you chose without anyone knowing it. I saved him on the run I actually ended with them, but the run I went most of the way with them and then took yes man-I killed him.  |
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Post by Sir Drell on Feb 14, 2018 9:33:13 GMT
I'm thinking I really missed a trick there as I invariably take what I think of as the pragmatic approach and side with NCR, even though I have my reservations. Yeah I know, I really need to vary my play-throughs a little bit more than I do! Talking of which, I occasionally try an "evil" play through but can never do it: my character always gets quickly watered down from evil to bad to misunderstood to surly to occasionally rude. I think the idea of reforming a bad faction from the inside is an interesting one, and given that the Legion so heavily relied on conscription, there probably aren't too many people who are dogmatic about their worse habits; though if they're the same people responsible for holding things together, that could be an "interesting" conundrum. Speech is one of the things I usually focus on with these games: I typically prefer talking my way out of situations (or into them!) over going in with all guns blazing, though in one of them (NV, perhaps? I forget now) getting it right up to 100% could be trickier than expected. yeah, it's implied by a few characters that after Caesar dies that the legion is very likely to fall apart without that strong leadership. So it would be interesting to see if the courier would be a stabilizing factor in the long run or if they would eventually fall apart regardless. I rather enjoyed the faction quest where you got to be a doctor-and could even kill Caesar if you chose without anyone knowing it. I saved him on the run I actually ended with them, but the run I went most of the way with them and then took yes man-I killed him. That's my gameplan, i assassinate Caesar with Boone (i mean who else would i bring for that) then talk the legate down with speech at the end and let him leave. He seems very confident still, maybe the Legion collapses, maybe it doesn't. I like leaving that uncertainty so i don't feel like things are completely over for my Courier. |
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Post by dino on Feb 14, 2018 11:27:46 GMT
I really liked Veronica, even though she was not available! But I was quite happy trekking around with someone who was quite happy to punch things and obsess about dresses. I think overall I personally preferred FO3 but I think my priority is still wandering about exploring and seeing what there is to find, whereas Obsidian does much more tightly-controlled storytelling (which is sometimes a little dry for my tastes, but that's entirely subjective) and I also preferred 3's general atmosphere. I really enjoyed all three of the modern Fallouts, though. Regarding screenshots, I tend to use the following console commands (I think most work in all Fallouts but some experimentation may be required). tm - toggle HUD on and off. Do this one last because typos can otherwise be frustrating! tfc - toggle flying camera so you can move around. Remember to put it into third-person first if you want to include your PC. tfc 1 - same as tfc, but freezes the game. If this doesn't work in FO3/NV, do tgp after tfc to pause it (I think that one works, anyway!) sucsm 4 - change flying camera speed. Lower numbers are slower, higher quicker. 4 isn't too slow but makes it a lot less uncontrollable. tcai - turn off combat AI, so if you don't want to pause you won't get attacked, though companions and bad guys may still have a stand-off. Then you have various things like pose-rings and whatnot that are useful to bind to a hotkey to put a character into a pose, as well as being able to remove or move objects using enable/ disable, moveto etc. Don't forget to save beforehand if you start using stuff like that! I also use 'fov'. With fov and a small Number (I use fov15) you zoom more to what ever you want. It's great for better details. When you use a bigger number you zoom out. Great for grouppics. Fov alone Brings you back to standard I can make a modlist when i'm at home  |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2018 11:53:56 GMT
I also use 'fov'. With fov and a small Number (I use fov15) you zoom more to what ever you want. It's great for better details. When you use a bigger number you zoom out. Great for grouppics. Fov alone Brings you back to standard I can make a minilist when i'm at home  Oh yeah, I forgot about that one, really useful for composing the picture if you want particular background scenery or other characters (or not) though I keep forgetting to reset it afterwards! |
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Post by dino on Feb 14, 2018 12:19:34 GMT
Oh and I think TAI is also not on the list? Tai without clicking at someone forces that everyone stops running around. They will just stand here ( still moving their heads, Rolling with the Shoulders etc but they stand still) Tai with clicking at someone Turns of the AI of the character. They stop moving. Really useful for posing and/or grouppictures.  Hit again tai and everything works again. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2018 12:35:16 GMT
Yeah, I did wonder about including tai but generally prefer tgp or tfc 1 these days; that said, I generally take pot luck with character idles, I'm too disorganised to actually try posing them! Even though I have Dave's Pose Ring installed.
Still remember Oblivion's odd method for stopping animations and stuff which was to hit shift five times in quick succession so Windows would ask if you wanted to turn on sticky keys, which for reasons unknown (probably a bug) conveniently froze everyone in place. I think that was one of the screenshooters' staples back in the day...
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2018 14:30:49 GMT
Talking of screenshots, I think the most important asset is an eye for composition, and I'm often frustrated that I don't have one. Same with RL photography: it's something I'm interested in and would love to be good at, but I'm simply not and have largely abandoned it as a result. Frustrating, but I don't think it's the sort of talent that you can learn, you either have it or you don't.
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Post by Lee on Feb 14, 2018 14:46:05 GMT
Talking of screenshots, I think the most important asset is an eye for composition, and I'm often frustrated that I don't have one. Same with RL photography: it's something I'm interested in and would love to be good at, but I'm simply not and have largely abandoned it as a result. Frustrating, but I don't think it's the sort of talent that you can learn, you either have it or you don't. I like taking screenshots, but I'm not so great at it either. Of course, I play mostly on console-so that doesn't help. I have to work with whatever camera angles they throw at me. Still, I enjoy trying to get a good shot. Also sadly the photos always seem to lose quality between what's on my ps4, and what uploads to social media. An issue I have no clue if there is any workaround for outside of perhaps trying to put pictures on a flash drive directly from the ps4. I don't have a flash drive at the moment though. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2018 15:04:12 GMT
I like taking screenshots, but I'm not so great at it either. Of course, I play mostly on console-so that doesn't help. I have to work with whatever camera angles they throw at me. Still, I enjoy trying to get a good shot. Also sadly the photos always seem to lose quality between what's on my ps4, and what uploads to social media. An issue I have no clue if there is any workaround for outside of perhaps trying to put pictures on a flash drive directly from the ps4. I don't have a flash drive at the moment though. Although I lack much natural talent, I know a few of the technical things and one of them is to never use jpegs when at all possible as they're the digital image equivalent of cassette tape: convenient and ubiquitous, but it suffers a noticeable degradation each time you re-record it. I always store my stuff as PNG or Gimp's native format, which obviates a lot of the problem, though you still get problems with e.g. Facebook converting stuff to overly-compressed jpegs which have artefacts and other nastiness as a result. The game's native dds format doesn't help as that's also quite lossy and quickly degrades after a couple of translations so again I'll store the originals as PNGs or whatever to reduce the problems as much as possible, though I recently discovered in that regard that some tools are much better at saving new dds files than others, e.g. Nvidia's command-line tools are way better than Gimp's plugin (also Nvidia, IIRC, but very much inferior quality). |
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Post by dino on Feb 14, 2018 21:21:40 GMT
Okay my Internet hates me today so I only can name the mods i'm using without links: # Photolight. It's so great! With this mod the face of your character is always in a good light. No weird shadows anymore # ENB CNR. At least I Think thats the name 🙈 it's so beautiful! # NAC # Posemods! Must have is daves Pose mod. This has also a Ring for the expressions of your character. I love the flirty smile. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 14, 2018 21:57:16 GMT
Never heard of Photolight, but that sounds invaluable: so many potentially good screenshots ruined by horrible shadows. I'll have to look into that. ENB I've never been able to get working: I think it may conflict with my mouse driver or something. I should probably ditch the driver as I never use any of its features anyway.
NAC I haven't heard of either: what does that do?
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2018 9:22:17 GMT
So, I say I haven't heard of NAC but it seems I still managed to download it a fortnight ago.  At least it served as a reminder to install it! I'd previously been using Vivid Weathers but NAC apparently does more... well, more. |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2018 14:45:11 GMT
If you can try YUP for New Vegas, it fixes so manu bugs, I never had quest bugs with it in FNV, also for FO3 there is unofficial patch too, with it plus 4GB patch + enb memory patch I never have any crashes.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2018 15:23:47 GMT
I think I played NV before any major fixes had appeared; in fact I remember a really ugly situation where the first unofficial patch to be released ended up being yanked when it turned out the author had been using loads of people's work without their permission nor even crediting them, and when confronted about it, rather than make it right he had a massive tantrum and deliberately encouraged a massive shit-storm to happen. I ended up getting death threats thanks to all that malarky, which was lovely. Ugh, unexpectedly painful memories there.
Anyway, yeah, I think all were amenable to fixing as it was fairly trivial to get them back on track using the console, just without the fixes it could sometimes be quite annoying in an immersion-breaking way.
I can imagine increasing the memory in FO3 avoided a lot of the crashes as it seemed to have some of the same bugs as Oblivion, and fairly obviously the programmers couldn't be bothered to do any sanity checking (I worked with someone like that... her code was awful, I honestly don't know how she got away with it. I don't mean incompetent, as such, just awful as in just being too much of a lazy arse to do it properly.) The worst crashes such as the "dead cell bug" were caused by something, typically a corpse, being far enough out of bounds to cause too much memory to be allocated and when it was unable to get it, sudden CTD. And those corpses never reset, so unless you could figure out their reference ID and disable them, that region was inaccessible for the remainder of the game. Figuring them out was trial and error, the only way was to go through every NPC and creature spawn point in the area and try them in turn, which usually worked unless something had gone wandering, then you had to increase the search radius and try to remember where something may have followed you from which was excruciating.
A savegame editor may have made life easier but AFAIK there's still no such thing.
That was probably more ranty than I'd intended.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2018 16:02:49 GMT
Every Bethesda's game is a crash fiesta for me  But starting with FO4 and Skyrim Special it got better thanks to the x64 bit architecture I guess. Also I don't know why but most my games are more stable on Windows 10, less stuttering and just more stable, so this is a bright side of W10 for now  |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2018 16:10:21 GMT
The operating system can make a huge difference to the performance of applications. Randomly reminded of IBM's VM operating system (one of their big mainframe systems) and stuff could run quicker on that than it would when running natively: it was just better at allocating and controlling resources sensibly.
But yeah, Bethesda's games are not exactly noted for their stability. So far FO4 has actually been remarkably good, though it will still randomly CTD for no apparent reason or if some mod just slightly screwed something up. Still not as bad as Oblivion, which even under Windows 10 is guaranteed to crash between 30 minutes and an hour if you're using enough mods, and that's not counting some of the well-known gotchas (incorrectly specified packages, some scripts that trigger a crash even though strictly speaking there's no programming error: simply a complete lack of any sort of sanity checking by the game) which is irritating. I think the worst was Morrowind after the Bloodmood expansion, particularly when in Solstheim I was lucky to get 15 minutes of gameplay without a completely random CTD.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2018 16:22:26 GMT
That's because Morrowind, Oblivion, FO3, FNV, and Oldrim are all x86/x32 bit apps. x64 bit can use much more memory, also combining it with x64 Windows and at least 8gb ram it will make most games stable, but when the game is broken from within like some/most Bethesda's games, they will need additional patches/mods/fixes to make them more stable or actually playable 32bit era is long dead, even first PS4 and Xone consoles in the 2014 were x64 bit compatible. And that's good, we can have much bigger/advanced games which will actually use all that useless RAM |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 15, 2018 17:33:13 GMT
No wai! I will always love the Vax series in all its 32-bit goodness, even though it caused a lot of controversy when compared with the 36-bit PDP-10 (it's argued that the Vax had neither the power of the PDP-10 nor the agility of the PDP-11, though it's hard to deny it was successful). I think my first encounter with a 64-bit computer was in 1990, a VME-based Motorola 88000 (remember them? I think they descendants may still be used in engine management systems) whose performance didn't totally convince me but the suddenly much bigger memory map was a different matter. Oh yeah, and ISTR the PDP-10 could only access 18 bits' worth (262,844) of its 36-bit words, just over 1MB in modern parlance. Though very powerful in its day I think it had rather limited room for manoeuvre. I dunno. My favourite era of video games was the 8-bitters from the early '80s which had very limited resources (the PDP-10 had various text adventures, as did the IBM System/370 mainframe, but they're hardly the same thing) but which were awesome, but curiously I really went off them altogether until the early 2000s: I just fundamentally didn't get on with the 16-bit games era for some reason. Edit: of very tenuous relevance, I do love the way the PIP-boy and various RobCo stuff is so obviously derived from the various PDP-10/PDP-11 operating systems. It doesn't correspond directly to any of them but it's very reminiscent of most. |
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At least it served as a reminder to install it! I'd previously been using Vivid Weathers but NAC apparently does more... well, more.
But starting with FO4 and Skyrim Special it got better thanks to the x64 bit architecture I guess.
