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A Slot Machine near me has some familiar faces...

A Slot Machine near me has some familiar faces... submitted by Keba_ to tf2 [link] [comments]

Why I'll never stop buying GME, and why you probably should

When I turned 18, there was a casino about 2 hours away on a reservation that I could get into. We'd get paid on Friday night, head to the gas station near us that would cash a paycheck, pile into my crappy little Ford, then make the drive. We'd get there a little before midnight and everyone had their own game.
The second time we went, one of my friends was hypnotized by the craps table. There were 16 players standing around this sea of green, and every minute or so, you could hear them screaming at the top of their lungs like they just won a million dollars. On the way home that night, I taught him everything I learned from books I'd read about the different bets. "Smart" bets where the house edge was only 1.4%, all the way down to the risky ones where the house edge was over 10% (meaning that for every $100 wagered, you should expect to lose $10).
The next time we went, we hung around the table, trying to figure out the right way to bet. It seemed a little complicated, so we tried other games. At the end of the night, I had the last $10 and he asked if he could borrow it to go place a bet. I handed it over, then went to the bathroom in preparation for the ride home. When I finally found him again, he had a stack of chips in front of him. He had been gone for about 5 minutes and already turned $10 into a few hundred. Well, if you can turn 10 into 100, you can turn 100 into 1,000 just as easily. We left empty handed that night, but I'll never forget the rush.
I loved blackjack. I learned how to play at an early age from my uncle, who would always cheat and take my money. He'd say "I just taught you a very valuable lesson." He actually taught me two: 1) if you play against a casino, you may have a good night and win thousands of dollars, but if you keep going back, you'll eventually have nothing left. 2) My uncle was a scumbag who continually cheated and took my money, then told the family I was a poor sport and they couldn't understand why I hated doing anything with him. One of my earliest memories at the casino was running $100 at the blackjack table into $3000, which is more than I made in a month of bussing tables. I went home, paid my rent and blew the rest on useless things I can't even remember.
What does any of this have to do with $GME? Well I'm still chasing the same high as I was when I was 18. I don't go to the casino anymore, but I've got something even better on my computer. I bought $2k worth of weeklies on Jan 25. Before everything crashed, they were worth over $100k, more than enough to fix most of the problems I've caused in my life. BUT, I was still standing around that craps table. The roller had just made his 30th point in a row, $GME was on fire and couldn't possibly roll a 7! I put my 2k back in my pocket and shoved the rest on the pass line. A few minutes later, the croupier inevitably yells "7 out!" and just like that, I'm back to nothing.
Now I do what every moron around the table does. You reach back into your pocket, pull out the 2k and make a deal with your maker. "Just let it happen one more time. I won't be greedy THIS time and I'll stop when I hit 50k." I stop looking at the smart bets and start eyeing the center of the table, where hard ways are paying 10:1. Yeah, that'll be how I get back to 50k. A couple of those in a row and I can put a down payment on a house. 5 minutes later, I'm on my way out to the car and I feel like I've been punched in the gut. Again.
Every one of you in this subreddit is another person sitting at the casino. Everyone has their game. The people holding $GME stonks right now? You're playing baccarat. If you've never heard of it, it's what James Bond plays in the old movies. It's about the most boring thing you can do. Two hands are dealt and you're betting on which one wins before anything happens. There's no actual skill and it's the same thing as betting heads or tails, while losing 1% of your bet every time.
The people who cashed out and picked something else like $AMC or $BB? Those are the slot players. You had a big hit and now you're going to switch machines because the other ones are "due". You're looking for the exact same magic, thinking there was something smart in your play, when it was really just dumb luck in timing.
The people saying "If Daddy Elon or Cowboy Cuban gets in, we can trigger a squeeze!" You're the guy who spent too much money in the first 20 minutes of the trip and now you're begging everyone else for a loan.
Tldr: Nothing is happening with $GME. Stop saying "tomorrow is the day." Billionaires are not coming to bail you out. If institutional investors come in, they're waiting for this constant downhill slide to end at where the stock belongs, probably around $20. You can't trigger shit by holding. The HFs will outlast you.
Edit: Screenshots from the worst 40 minutes of my financial life https://imgur.com/a/MlTRJmx
Edit 2: JFC, some of you are takin WSB way too seriously. You should not be using reddit for DD. Also, this is not financial advice. Don't take financial advice from someone who tells you stories about chasing highs at casinos.
Edit 3: This is WSB, my dudes. I'm glad most of you were entertained by my story. For the few of you who got that worked up by a random stranger on the internet telling you that he's a degenerate, you may actually have a problem. https://www.ncpgambling.org/help-treatment/
submitted by mt4h to wallstreetbets [link] [comments]

oh, you're making change all right.

this happened a few years ago, but its still one of my favorite stories.
I was riding my motorcycle to go get dinner at a fast food place for myself and wife and I realized as I got near the restaurant that all I had was a $100 bill and some loose change. Knowing that the fast food place wouldn't break a $100, I pulled up to a gas station and parked at the pumps as it was the most convenient parking. as I waited in line a woman in front of me paid $80 in bills for fuel cigarettes and beer. As they finished the transaction, I politely asked "while you have your drawer open, could you please break a $100?"
The clerk gave me a snotty look and said "I don't make change!" and slammed the register shut.
(side note here, I live in Vegas so I could have put the $100 in a slot machine at the gas station and then cashed out. It's what the clerks usually ask you to do. but.... This lady had me a little pissed due to her tone)
so I said "No problem, I understand, can I please get $20 on pump 6?" (this is where I usually am asked to put money in a slot machine)
she gladly gave me $80 in cash and I walked outside and pumped $0.03 into the gas tank. walked back in and told her "it didn't all fit and I need my change for pump 6. oh, and I have 3 cents here so if you could just give me back a $20"
she said "that's not how you make change"
well bitch, "it worked for me!"
submitted by snotwimp to MaliciousCompliance [link] [comments]

After completing my build last week I want to share the story of all the mistakes I made so you can avoid them

I ended up building a computer at the end of 2020 after years of window shopping for prebuilts that I probably would have regretted purchasing. I'm not new to pc gaming as I have a gaming laptop that's approaching 4 or so years old with a little over 1 TB of storage. With the laptop aging and with me wanting a more robust device for music production, VR, and possibly even streaming I decided around July that I probably wanted a desktop that was more capable than my laptop. I knew a little bit about computers but really immersed myself to learn as much as I could. I went from almost seriously considering an Alienware desktop back in July (eww) to taking seriously parts sourcing and looking at builders like VRLA and Redux who seemed to at the very least be transparent about what they were putting into their systems. When I realized there were a few custom things I wanted (massive amounts of storage, Vive wireless vr adapter) I said "f- it" because I was going to have to open up any build I'd purchase from one of these guys to add all the stuff I wanted.
The actual building process was simultaneously less and more involved than I initially thought. It took me 3 days (Dec 25-28) and over 12 hours from opening up my motherboard's box and flashing my BIOS to turning on my computer for the first time. It was also a little stressful since slotting some of my components was more difficult to do than I initially believe. Regardless, despite the somewhat clumsy nature I went about this process, the build worked like a charm and I'm writing this post from the computer. Anyway, I want to go over the highlights to help new builders optimize their process.
Purchasing components
This is an admittedly dumb and stupid mistake but outside of the general research I did to understand building and some rudimentary knowledge of some of this year's newest components PCPartPicker was what I leveraged for information about stock and pricing. This generally isn't a huge deal but with prices being so volatile in 2020 (especially around the last quarter of the year) it means that I overpayed for some things. There were parts, like my 3080 that I was somewhat willing to do this for, but I had no idea how much above MSRP I'd ultimately paid for my Ryzen 5 5600x until it was too late. Here are the the biggest lessons I learned:
Compare across multiple sites. The fact that I didn't know MSRP for my CPU was my fault and honestly if I wasn't using PCPartPicker as my only point of reference I would have known better. And even then, if I'd looked closely at the historical pricing section of the site I'd understand that the prices being given to me at the time weren't necessarily MSRP. This point is more or less also one that is meant to remind everyone to understand the breadth and scope of the tools they're using for research. It didn't help that I was making these decisions in the second and third weeks of December trying to build by Christmas. Last minute decision making can lead to bad decisions.
Give yourself enough time. Kind of bleeding over from the last point, if you have to (or want to) build by a certain deadline, make sure you give yourself enough time. Not only to understand how to build and how computer components work together, but also time to understand price to performance differences between any components you're comparing. And for any of you trying to build soon, I'd caution unless you absolutely need to you just to wait until mid-spring/summer as the selection of parts is set to improve substantially.
Don't get caught up in the hype. With the hype cycle surrounding this year's newest components it was very easy to fall into this. I suppose this was less of an issue for me because my budget had flex room, but all the same no one really seeks to spend as much as they possibly can when building (at least I hope). Initially in my build I'd allotted up to $400 for my CPU and was going to settle on getting a Ryzen 7 3800 with the hope of upgrading down the line. Deep down though, because of the hype surrounding Ryzen 5000 I wasn't satisfied with that, so at the first chance of getting one of these newer chips, I took it without thinking. It was a Ryzen 5600x (with stock cooler) for $445. I thought it was a good deal because a the time I mistakenly believed MSRP was $399. While $445 is cheaper than some CPUs, even Intel gen 10 chips, if I decide to upgrade I'll spend more over the life of my build. And for just a bit more if I'd gone with Intel I could have gotten an i7 or i9 for slightly better performance in gaming.
You'll always learn something that will give you buyers regret. After I paid nearly $300 above MSPR for my 3080 the rumors of 3080TIs became louder. The Ryzen 5000 series will likely be the last of the AM4 chipset so I'm wondering if I should have just gone with Intel anyway. But at the end of the day I take pride in the build I have created and will put my lessons to use if I decide to do another build in the future.
Building: Day 1
I was overprepared in the sense that I had a lot of things I ultimately didn't use. Antistatic gloves, for example, which I ended up ditching pretty quickly because the material kept getting caught on the underside of my mobo which freaked me the hell out. Just purchase an antistatic workspace or an antistatic brace and that'll be enough. I ultimately ended up building on my mobo's box while wearing an antistatic brace grounded to my PSU.
In day one all I really only manged to flash the bios on my MSI X570 Tomahawk with a USB. It took me an hour to realize that although my 24 ATX and cpu power were connected on my mobo that the PSU and mobo wouldn't turn on until I pressed the "flash bios" button with a pen. I initially thought my PSU was defective and wasted a lot of time. After making Christmas dinner I then installed my case fans and rbg halos which also took me over an hour because I apparently didn't understand how fan screws worked... there's not much to say here other than that I'm an idiot (-_-).
Day 2
The bulk of the building took place during day 2. I actually touched the mobo and installed the CPU and other components and put it into the case. One mistake I made early on was installing my CPU before confirming if the heat sink I wanted to use (Cooler Master 212 black) had its own plate. It most definitely did, and so I had to carefully remove the CPU I'd seated and put thermal paste on and place it elsewhere until I was ready to reseat it. The entire process was painful as Cooler Master's instructions were terrible and for about an hour I was under the impression that my motherboard would snap as I struggled to tighten the heatsink. I also struggled to put the cooler fan on the heatsink as the directions for the CPU fan clips were also abysmal. This video really saved me at a point were I thought I'd give up on the build. Nothing else of note happened other than my ram fell out the first time I placed my case upright because I didn't seat it properly.
Day 3
Most of day 3 was mostly installing my graphics card and cables. One thing I learned was since the graphics card was so big and chunky and since it obstructed my view of the slot I was trying to place it in, it's easier to install it while the case is up right. I actually almost nearly scratched my mobo and my M2 drive with my graphics card while trying to align it. I also had to remove my gpu after I'd successfully installed it to clear a path for my exhaust fan cables. It was at this point I'd actually broke the latch in the PCIe slot holding the graphics card because I didn't check if it was still secure. It broke cleanly so I was able to put the latch back into the slot okay.
As for the cabling, that took me over 4 hours because I eagerly began plugging my front panel cables and fans in, only to realize after I installed my PSU that these cables were obstructing where my ATX cables would be coming in.
Once my cables were nearly done, I saw that one of my motherboard screws was missing. A missing screw isn't a big deal, but I couldn't account for where I might have lost it because I distinctly remembered using every mobo screw. I was freaked out because there was a possibility it was in my case, behind my motherboard. But I was so close to finishing that I didn't want to take out my motherboard just for one freaking screw. After 30 mins of retracing my process I resigned myself to removing my mobo out of caution. I undid the cabling I'd started (I was about halfway done). After undoing the 5th screw I started hearing a rattling in my case and after shaking the case the missing screw pops out. I guess loosening my motherboard from some of the standoffs gave the lost screw enough room to roll away. I had no idea it fell in there but I'm glad I caught that before turning my system on.
About an hour later all systems were go. I'm not happy with my cable management but it's good enough. The only other thing that gave me trouble was the RGB in my system. This is mainly because Phanteks isn't very transparent about the types of adapters needed to power its 12V ARGB halos, but after buying their stupid adapter a day later I have glowing fans.
Reflection
One of the biggest things I learned was that it's important to map out the building process step-by-step. I think I ended up redoing things like cabling because while I had a high level understanding of the building process I wasn't really thinking through my next move as I completed each step. But all in all, while I had some difficulties, I'm ultimately proud of myself for doing this and I'm absolutely in love with my machine. I sadly haven't gotten much time to really put my build to the test. I have a few people asking me about temps. Hopefully in the next two weeks I can test that during a dedicated gaming session.
Anyway, while I still don't think building is for everyone, I do recommend that anyone looking for a computer (esp a gaming computer) at least understand computer parts and how they work together so that they actually know what it is they're getting when they go to a builder. To this end, you should probably watch a bunch of computer building videos as if you were going to build and use that knowledge to inform what you buy. Still, regardless of whether or not you go with a builder you shouldn't be afraid of building. As you can probably tell from my story the building process is a lot more forgiving than newbies (myself included) might initially think. You don't have to be a handy person to build. I most certainly am not. I actually struggled to put together the table I built my computer on literally the night before I started building my PC.
For anyone who is on the verge of getting ready to build I've created a YouTube playlist of vids that helped me build as well as my own video featuring my build and my own tips. Let me know if you have any questions.
submitted by -mickomoo- to buildapc [link] [comments]

Old Austin Tales: Forgotten Video Arcades of The 1970s & 80s

In the late 1980s and early 1990s when I was a young teen growing up in far North Austin, it was a popular custom for many boys in the neighborhood to assemble at the local Stop-N-Go after school on a regular basis for some Grand Champion level tournaments in Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat. The collective insistence of our mothers and fathers to get out of the house, get some exercise, and refrain from playing NES or Sega on the television only led us to seek out more video games at the convenience store down the road. Much allowance and lunch money was spent as well as hours that should have been devoted to homework among the 8 or 9 regular boys in attendance, often challenging each other to 'Best of 5' matches. I myself played Dhalsim and SubZero, and not very well, so I rarely ever made it to the 5th match. The store workers frequently kicked us out for the day only to have us return when they weren't working the counter anymore if not the next day.
There is something about that which has been lost in the present day. While people can today download the latest games on Steam or PSN or in the app store on your smartphone, you can't just find arcade games in stores and restaurants like you used to be able to. And so the fun of a spontaneous 8 or 10 person multiplayer video game tournament has been confined to places like bars, pool halls, Pinballz or Dave&Busters.
But in truth it was that ubiquity of arcade video games, how you could find them in any old 7-11 or Laundromat, which is what killed the original arcades of the early 1980s before the Great Crash of 1983 when home video game consoles started to catch up to what you saw in the arcade.
I was born in the mid 1970s so I missed out on Pong. I was kindergarten age when the Golden Age of Arcade Games took place in the early 1980s. There used to be a place called Skateworld on Anderson Mill Road that was primarily for roller skating but had a respectable arcade in its own right. It was there that I honed my skills on the original Tron, Pac Man, Galaga, Pole Position, Defender, and so many others. In the 1980s I remember visiting all the same mall arcades as others in my age group. There was Aladdin's Castle in Barton Creek Mall, The Gold Mine in Highland, and another Gold Mine in Northcross which was eventually renamed Tilt. Westgate Mall also had an arcade but being a north austin kid I never went there until later in the mid 1990s. There were also places like Malibu Grand Prix and Showbiz Pizza and Chuck-E-Cheeze, all of which had fairly large arcades for kids which were the secondary attraction.
If you're of a certain age you will remember Einsteins and LeFun on the Drag. They were there for a few decades going back way before the Slacker era. Lesser known is that the UT Student Union basement used to have an arcade that was comparable to either or both of those places. Back in the pre-9/11 days it was much easier to sneak in if you even vaguely looked like you could be a UT student.
But there was another place I was too young to have experienced called Smitty's up further north on 183 at Lake Creek in the early 1980s. I never got to go there but I always heard about it from older kids at the time. It was supposed to have been two stories of wall to wall games with a small snack bar. I guess at the time it served a mostly older teen crowd from Westwood High School and for that reason younger kids my age weren't having birthday parties there. It wasn't around very long, just a few years during the Golden Age of Arcades.
It is with almost-forgotten early arcades like that in mind that I wanted to share with y'all some examples of places from The Golden Age of the Video Arcade in Austin using some old Statesman articles I've found. Maybe someone of a certain age on here will remember them. I was curious what they were like, having missed out by being slightly too young to have experienced most of them first hand. I also wanted to see the original reaction to them in the press. I had a feeling there was some pushback from school/parent/civic groups on these facilities showing up in neighborhood strip malls or next to schools, and I was right to suspect. But I'm getting ahead of myself. First let's list off some places of interest. Be sure to speak up if you remember going to any of these, even if it was just for some other kid's birthday party. Unfortunately some of the only mentions about a place are reports of a crime being committed there, such as our first few examples.
Forgotten Arcade #1
Fun House/Play Time Arcade - 2820 Guadalupe
June 15, 1975
ARCADE ENTHUSIASM
A gang fight involving 20 30 people erupted early Saturday morning in front of an arcade on Guadalupe Street. The owner of the Fun House Arcade at 282J Guadalupe told police pool cues, lug wrenches, fists and a shotgun were displayed during the flurry. Police are unsure what started the fisticuffs, but one witness at the scene said it pitted Chicanos against Anglos. During the fight the owner of the arcade said a green car stopped at the side of the arcade and witnesses reported the barrel of a shotgun sticking out. The crowd wisely scattered and only a 23-year-old man was left lying on the ground. He told police he doesn't know what happened.
March 3, 1976
ARCADE ROBBED
A former employee of Play Time Arcade, 2820 Guadalupe, was charged Tuesday in connection with the Tuesday afternoon robbery of his former business. Police have issued a warrant for the arrest of Ronnie Magee, 22, of 1009 Aggie Lane, Apt. 306. Arcade attendant Sam Garner said he had played pool with the suspect an hour before the robbery. He told police the man had been fired from the business two weeks earlier. Police said a man walked in the arcade about 2:45 p m. with a blue steel pistol and took $180. Magee is charged with first degree aggravated robbery. Bond was set on the charge at $15,000.
First it was called Fun House and then renamed Play Time a year later. I'm not sure what kind of arcade games beyond Pong and maybe Asteroids they could have had at this place. The peak of the Pinball craze was supposed to be around 1979, so they might have had a few pinball machines as well. A quick search of youtube will show you a few examples of 1976 video games like Death Race. The location is next to Ken's Donuts where PokeBowl is today where the old Baskin Robbins location was for many years.
Forgotten Arcade #2
Green Goth - 1121 Springdale Road
May 15, 1984
A 23-year-old man pleaded guilty Monday to a January 1983 murder in East Austin and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Jim Crowell Jr. of Austin admitted shooting 17-year-old Anthony Rodriguez in the chest with a shotgun after the two argued outside the Green Goth, a games arcade at 1121 Springdale Road, on Jan. 23, 1983. Crowell had argued with Rodriguez and a friend of Rodriguez at the arcade, police said. Crowell then went to his house, got a shotgun and returned to the arcade, witnesses said. When the two friends left the arcade, Rodriguez was shot Several weeks ago Crowell had reached a plea bargain with prosecutors for an eight-year prison term, but District Judge Bob Perkins would not accept the sentence, saying it was shorter than sentences in similar cases. After further plea bargaining, Crowell accepted the 15-year prison sentence.
I can't find anything else on Green Goth except reports about this incident with a murder there. There is at least one other report from 1983 around the time of Crowell's arrest that also refer to it as an arcade but reports the manager said the argument started over a game of pool. It's possible this place might have been more known for pool.
Forgotten Arcades #3 & #4
Games, Etc. - 1302 S. First St
Muther's Arcade - 2532 Guadalupe St
August 23, 1983
Losing the magic touch - Video Arcades have trouble winning the money game
It was going to be so easy for Lawrence Villegas, a video game junkie who thought he could make a fast buck by opening up an arcade where kids could plunk down an endless supply of quarters to play Pac-Man, Space Invaders and Asteroids. Villegas got together with a few friends, purchased about 30 video games and opened Games, Etc. at 1302 S. First St in 1980. .,--.... For a while, things, went great Kids waited in line to spend their money to drive race cars, slay dragons and save the universe.
AT THE BEGINNING of 1982, however, the bottom fell out, and Villegas' revenues fell from $400 a week to $25. Today, Games, Etc. is vacant Villegas, 30, who is now working for his parents at Tony's Tortilla Factory, hasn't decided what he'll do with the building. "I was hooked on Asteroids, and I opened the business to get other people hooked, too," Villegas said. "But people started getting bored, and it wasn't worth keeping the place open. In the end, I sold some machines for so little it made me sick."
VILLEGAS ISNT the only video game operator to experience hard times, video game manufacturers and distributors 'It used to be fairly common to get $300 a week from a machine. Now we rarely get more than $100 .
Pac-Man's a lost cause. Six months ago, you could resell a Pac-Man machine for $1,600. Now, you're lucky to get $950 if you can find a buyer." Ronnie Roark says. In the past year, business has dropped 25 percent to 65 percent throughout the country, they say. Most predict business will get even worse before the market stabilizes. Video game manufacturers and operators say there are several reasons for the sharp and rapid decline: Many video games can now be played at home on television, so there's no reason to go to an arcade. The novelty of video games has worn off. It has been more than a decade since the first ones hit the market The decline can be traced directly to oversaturation or the market arcade owners say. The number of games in Austin has quadrupled since 1981, and it's not uncommon to see them in coin-operated laundries, convenience stores and restaurants.
WITH SO MANY games to choose from, local operators say, Austinites be came bored. Arcades still take in thousands of dollars each week, but managers and owners say most of the money is going to a select group of newer games, while dozens of others sit idle.
"After awhile, they all seem the same," said Dan Moyed, 22, as he relaxed at Muther's Arcade at 2532 Guadalupe St "You get to know what the game is going to do before it does. You can play without even thinking about it" Arcade owners say that that, in a nutshell, is why the market is stagnating.
IN THE PAST 18 months, Ronnie Roark, owner of the Back Room at 2015 E. Riverside Drive, said his video business has dropped 65 to 75 percent Roark, . who supplied about 160 video games to several Austin bars and arcades, said the instant success of the games is what led to their demise. "The technology is not keeping up with people's demand for change," said Roark, who bought his first video game in 1972. "The average game is popular for two or three months. We're sending back games that are less than five months old."
Roark said the market began dropping in March 1982 and has been declining steadily ever since. "The drop started before University of Texas students left for the summer in 1982," Roark said. "We expected a 25 percent drop in business, and we got that, and more. It's never really picked up since then. - "It used to be fairly common to get $300 a week from a machine. Now we rarely get more than $100. 1 was shocked when I looked over my books and saw how much things had dropped."
TO COMBAT THE slump, Roark said, he and some arcade owners last year cut the price of playing. Even that didn't help, he said. Old favorites, such as Pac-Man, which once took in hundreds of dollars each week, he said, now make less than $3 each. "Pac-Man's a lost cause," he said. "Six months ago, you could resell a Pac-Man machine for $1,600. Now, you're lucky to get $950 if you can find a buyer." Hardest hit by the slump are the owners of the machines, who pay $3,500 to $5,000 for new products and split the proceeds with the businesses that house them.
SALEM JOSEPH, owner of Austin Amusement and Vending Co., said his business is off 40 percent in the past year. Worse yet, some of his customers began returning their machines, and he's having a hard time putting them back in service. "Two years ago, a machine would generate enough money to pay for itself in six months,' said Joseph, who supplies about 250 games to arcades. "Now that same machine takes 18 months to pay for itself." As a result, Joseph said, he'll buy fewer than 15 new machines this year, down from the 30 to 50 he used to buy. And about 50 machines are sitting idle in his warehouse.
"I get calls every day from people who want to sell me their machines," Joseph said. "But I can't buy them. The manufacturers won't buy them from me." ARCADE OWNERS and game manufacturers hope the advent of laser disc video games will buoy the market Don Osborne, vice president of marketing for Atari, one of the largest manufacturers of video games, said he expects laser disc games to bring a 25 percent increase in revenues next year. The new games are programmed to give players choices that may affect the outcome of the game, Os borne said. "Like the record and movie industries, the video game industry is dependent on products that stimulate the imagination," Osborne said "One of the reasons we're in a valley is that we weren't coming up with those kinds of products."
THE FIRST of the laser dis games, Dragonslayer and Star Wan hit the market about two months ago. Noel Kerns, assistant manager of The Gold Mine Arcade in Northcross Mall, says the new games are responsible for a $l,000-a-week increase in revenues. Still, Kerns said, the Gold Mine' total sales are down 20 percent iron last summer. However, he remain optimistic about the future of the video game industry. "Where else can you come out of the rain and drive a Formula One race car or save the universe?" hi asked.
Others aren't so optimistic. Roark predicted the slump will force half of all operators out of business and will last two more years. "Right now, we've got a great sup ply and almost no demand," Roark said. "That's going to have to change before things get- significantly better."
Well there is a lot to take from that long article, among other things, that the author confused "Dragonslayer" with "Dragon's Lair". I lol'd.
Anyone who has been to Emo's East, formerly known as The Back Room, knows they have arcade games and pool, but it's mostly closed when there isn't a show. That shouldn't count as an arcade, even though the former owner Ronnie Roark was apparently one of the top suppliers of cabinet games to the area during the Golden Era. Any pool hall probably had a few arcade games at the time, too, but that's not the same as being an arcade.
We also learn from the same article of two forgotten arcades: Muthers at 2522 Guadalupe where today there is a Mediterranean food restaurant, and another called Games, Etc. at 1302 S.First that today is the site of an El Mercado restaurant. But the article is mostly about showing us how bad the effects were from the crash at the end of the Golden Era. It was very hard for the early arcades to survive with increasing competition from home game consoles and personal computers, and the proliferation of the games into stores and restaurants.
Forgotten Arcades #5 #6 & #7
Computer Madness - 2414 S. Lamar Blvd.
Electronic Encounters - 1701 W Ben White Blvd (Southwood Mall)
The Outer Limits Amusements Center - 1409 W. Oltorf
March 4, 1982
'Quartermania' stalks South Austin
School officials, parents worried about effects of video games
A fear Is haunting the video game business. "We call it 'quartermania.' That's fear of running out of quarters," said Steve Stackable, co-owner of Computer Madness, a video game and foosball arcade at 2414 S. Lamar Blvd. The "quartermania" fear extends to South Austin households and schools, as well. There it's a fear of students running out of lunch money and classes to play the games. Local school officials and Austin police are monitoring the craze. They're concerned that computer hotspots could become undesirable "hangouts" for students, or that truancy could increase because students (high-school age and younger) will skip school to defend their galaxies against The Tempest.
So far police fears have not been substantiated. Department spokesmen say that although more than half the burglaries in the city are committed by juveniles during the daytime, they know of no connection between the break-ins and kids trying to feed their video habit But school and parental worries about misspent time and money continue. The public outcry in September 1980 against proposals to put electronic game arcades near two South Austin schools helped persuade city officials to reject the applications. One proposed location was near Barton Hills Elementary School. The other was South Ridge Plaza at William Cannon Drive and South First Street across from Bedlchek Junior High School.
Bedichek principal B.G. Henry said he spoke against the arcade because "of the potential attraction it had for our kids. I personally feel kids are so drawn to these things, that It might encourage them to leave the school building and play hookey. Those things have so much compulsion, kids are drawn to them like a magnet Kids can get addicted to them and throw away money, maybe their lunch money. I'm not against the video games. They may be beneficial with eye-hand coordination or even with mathematics, but when you mix the video games during school hours and near school buildings, you might be asking for problems you don't need."
A contingent from nearby Pleasant Hill Elementary School joined Bedichek in the fight back in 1980, although principal Kay Beyer said she received her first formal call about the games last Week from a mother complaining that her child was spending lunch money on them. Beyer added that no truancy problems have been related to video game-playing at a nearby 7-11 store. Allen Poehl, amusement game coordinator for Austin's 7-11 stores, said company policy rules out any game-playing by school-age youth during school hours. Fulmore Junior High principal Bill Armentrout said he is working closely with operators of a nearby 7-1 1 store to make sure their policy is enforced.
The convenience store itself, and not necessarily the video games, is a drawing card for older students and drop-outs, Armentrout said. Porter Junior High principal Marjorie Ball said that while video games aren't a big cause of truancy, "the money (spent on the games) is a big factor." Ball said she has made arrangements with nearby businesses to call the school it students are playing the games during school hours. "My concern is that kids are basically unsupervised, especially at the 24-hour grocery stores. That's a late hour for kids to be out. I would like to see them (games) unplugged at 10 p.m.," adds Joslin Elementary principal Wayne Rider.
Several proprietors of video game hot-spots say they sympathize with the concerns of parents and school officials. No one under 18 is admitted without a parent to Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre at 4211 S. Lamar. That rule, says night manager David Dunagan, "keeps it from being a high school hangout. This is a family place." Jerry Zollar, owner of J.J. Subs in West Wood Shopping Center on Bee Cave Road, rewards the A's on the report cards of Eanes school district students with free video games. "It's kind of a community thing we do in a different way. I've heard from both teachers and parents . . . they thought this was a good idea," said Zollar.
Electronic Encounters in Southwood Mall last year was renovated into a brightly lit arcade. "We're trying to get away from the dark, barroom-type place. We want this to be a place for family entertainment We won't let kids stay here during school hours without a written note from their parents, and we're pretty strict about that," said manager Kelly Roberts. Joyce Houston, who manages The Outer Limits amusements center at 1409 W. Oltorf St. along with her husband, said, "I wouldn't let my children go into some of the arcades I've visited. I'm a concerned parent, too. We wanted a place where the whole family could come and enjoy themselves."
Well you can see which way the tone of all these articles is going. There were some crimes committed at some arcades but all of them tended to have a negative reputation for various reasons. Parents and teachers were very skeptical of the arcades being in the neighborhoods to the point of petitioning the City Government to restrict them. Three arcades are mentioned besides Chuck-E-Cheese. Electronic Encounters in Southwood Mall, The Outer Limits amusements center at 1409 W. Oltorf, and Computer Madness, a "video game and foosball arcade" at 2414 S. Lamar Blvd.
Forgotten Arcade #8
Smitty's Galaxy of Games - Lake Creek Parkway
February 25, 1982
Arcades fighting negative image
Video games have swept across America, and Williamson and Travis counties have not been immune. In a two-part series, Neighbor examines the effects the coin-operated machines have had on suburban and small-town life.
Cities have outlawed them, religious leaders have denounced them and distraught mothers have lost countless children to their voracious appetites. And still they march on, stronger and more numerous than before. A new disease? Maybe. A wave of invading aliens from outer space? On occasion. A new type of addiction? Certainly. The culprit? Video games. Although the electronic game explosion has been mushrooming throughout the nation's urban areas for the past few years, its rippling effects have just recently been felt in the suburban fringes of North Austin and Williamson County.
In the past year, at least seven arcades armed with dozens of neon quarter-snatchers have sprung up to lure teens with thundering noises and thousands of flashing seek-and-destroy commands. Critics say arcades are dens of iniquity where children fall prey to the evils of gambling. But arcade owners say something entirely different. "Everybody fights them (arcades), they think they are a haven for drug addicts. It's just not true," said Larry Grant of Austin, who opened Eagle's Nest Fun and Games on North Austin Avenue in Georgetown last September. "These kids are great" Grant said the gameroom "gives teenagers a place to come. Some only play the games and some only talk.
In Georgetown, if you're from the high school, this is it." He said he's had very few disturbances, and asks "undesirables" to leave. "We've had a couple of rowdies. That's why I don't have any pool tables they tend to attract that type of crowd," Grant said.
Providing a place for teens to congregate was also the reason behind Ron and Carol Smith's decision to open Smitty's Galaxy of Games on Lake Creek Parkway at the entrance to Anderson Mill. "We have three teenage sons, and as soon as the oldest could drive, it became immediately apparent that there was no place to go around here," said Ron, an IBM employee who lives in Spicewood at Balcones. "This prompted us to want to open something." The business, which opened in August, has been a huge success with both parents and youngsters. "Hundreds of parents have come to check out our establishment before allowing their children to come, and what they see is a clean, safe environment managed by adults and parents," Ron said. "We've developed an outstanding rapport with the community." Video arcades "have a reputation that we have to fight," said Carol.
Kathy McCoy of Georgetown, who last October opened Krazy Korner on Willis Street in Leander, agrees. "We've got a real good group of kids," she said. "There's no violence, no nothing. Parents can always find their kids at Krazy Korner."
While all the arcade owners contacted reported that business is healthy, if not necessarily lucrative, it's not as easy for video entrepreneurs to turn a profit as one might imagine. A sizeable investment is required. Ron Smith paid between $2,800 and $5,000 for each of the 30 electronic diversions at his gameroom.
Grant said his average video game grosses about $50 a week, and his "absolute worst" game, Armor Attack, only $20 a week. The top machines (Defender and Pac-Man) can suck in an easy $125 a week. That's a lot of quarters, 500 to be exact but the Eagle's Nest and Krazy Korner pass half of them on to Neelley Vending Company of Austin which rents them their machines. "At 25 cents a shot, it takes an awful lot of people to pay the bills," said Tom Hatfield, district manager for Neelley.
He added that an owner's personality and the arcade's location can make or break the venture. The game parlor must be run "by an understanding person, someone with patience," Hatfield said. "They cannot be too demanding on the kids, yet they can't let them run all over them." And they must be located in a spot "with lots of foot traffic," such as a shopping center or near a good restaurant, he said. "And being close to a school really helps." "Video games are going to be here permanently, but we're going to see some operations not going because of the competition," which includes machines in virtually every convenience store and supermarket, Hatfield said.
This article talks about three arcades. One in Georgetown called Eagles Nest, another in Leander called Krazy Korner, and a third called Smitty's Galaxy of Games on Lake Creek Parkway "on the fringes of North Austin". This is the one I remember the older kids talking about when I was a little kid. There was once a movie theater across the street from the Westwood High School football stadium and behind that was Smitty's. Today I think the building was bulldozed long ago and the space is part of the expanded onramp to 183 today. Eventually another unrelated arcade was built next to the theater that became Alamo Lakeline. It was another site of some unrecorded epic Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat tournaments in the 90s.
But the article written before the end of the Golden Era tell us much about the pushback I was talking about earlier. Early arcades were seen as "dirty" places in some circles, and the owners of the arcades in Williamson County had to stress how "clean" their establishments were. This other article from a couple of weeks later tells of how area school officials weren't worried about video games and tells us more arcades in Round Rock and Cedar Park. Apparently the end of the golden age lasted a bit longer than usual in this area.
At some point in the next few years the bubble burst, and places like Smitty's were gone by the late 80s. But the distributors quoted earlier were right that arcade games weren't going completely away. In the mid 1980s LeFun opened up next in the Scientology building at 2200 Guadalupe on the drag. Down a few doors past what used be a coffee shop and a CVS was Einsteins Arcade. Both of those survived into the 21st century. I remember the last time I was at Einsteins I got my ass beat in Tekken by a kid half my age. heheh
That's all for today. There were no Bonus Pics in the UT archive of arcades (other than the classical architectural definition). I wanted to pass on some Bonus newspaper articles (remember to click and zoom in with the buttons on the right to read) about Austin arcades anyway but first a small story.
I mentioned earlier the secret of the UT Student Union. I have no idea what it looks like now but in the 90s there was a sizable arcade in with the bowling alley in the basement. Back in 1994 when I used to sneak in, they featured this bizarre early attempt at virtual reality games. I found an old Michael Barnes Statesman article about it dated February 11, 1994. Some highlights:
Hundreds of students and curiosity-seekers lined up at the University of Texas Union to play three to five minutes of Dactyl Nightmare, Flying Aces or V-Tol, three-dimensional games from Kramer Entertainment. Nasty weather delayed the unloading of four huge trunks containing the machines, which resemble low pulpits. Still, players waited intently for a chance to shoot down a fighter jet, operate a tilt-wing Harrier or tangle with a pterodactyl. Today, tickets will go on sale in the Texas Union lobby at 11:30 a.m. for playing slots between noon and 6 p.m.
Players, fitted with full helmets, throttles and power packs, stood on shiny gray and yellow platforms surrounded by a circular guard rail. Seen behind the helmet's goggles were computer simulated landscapes, not unlike the most sophisticated video games, with controls and enemies viewed in deep space. "You're on a platform waiting to fight a human figure," said Jeff Vaughn, 19, of Dactyl Nightmare. "A pterodactyl swoops down and tries to pick you up. You have to fight it off. You are in the space and can see your own body and all around you. But if you try to walk, you have to use that joy stick to get around."
"I let the pterodactyl carry me away so I could look down and scan the board," said Tom Bowen of the same game. "That was the way I found out where the other player was." "Yeah, it's cool just to stand there and not do anything," Vaughn said. The mostly young, mostly male crowd included the usual gaming fanatics, looking haggard and tense behind glasses and beards. A smattering of women and children also pressed forward in a line that snaked past the lobby and into the Union's retail shops.
"I don't know why more women don't play. Maybe because the games are so violent," said Jennifer Webb, 24, a psychology major whose poor eyesight kept her from becoming a fighter pilot in real life. "If the Air Force won't take me, virtual reality will." "They use stereo optics moving at something like 60 frames a second," said computer science major Alex Aquila, 19. "The images are still pretty blocky. But once you play it, you'll want to play it again and again." With such demand for virtual reality, some gamesters wondered why an Austin video arcade has not invested in at least one machine.
The gameplay looked like this.
Bonus Article #1 - "Video fans play for own reasons" (Malibu Grand Prix) - March 11, 1982
Bonus Article #2 - "Pac-Man Cartridge Piques Interest" - April 13, 1982
Bonus Article #3 - "Video Games Fail Consumer" - January 29, 1984
Bonus Article #4 - "Nintendoholics/Modems Unite" - January 25, 1989
Bonus Article #5 and pt 2 "Two girls missing for a night found at arcade" (truly dedicated young gamers) - August 7, 2003
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40 Upcoming Indie/AA Games

With so many games releasing nowadays, I think it's easy for the good ones to get lost in the shuffle. I'm going to list 20 highly anticipated Indie/AA games. I'm sure there's many great ones I'll probably miss (like I said, there's so many it's hard to keep track sometimes), so please let me know what other ones I should look out for. I’m going to order them by release date. If the game does not have a tangible release date, I’ll place it in the list based on what I think is more likely to come out first, based on marketing material and release date delays.
1. Cyber Shadow
2. TOHU
3. Little Nightmares II
4. Taxi Chaos
5. Rangok Skies
6. It Takes Two
7. Balan Wonderworld
8. Garlic
9. King’s Bounty II
10. Clive ‘N’ Wrench
11. Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion
12. Knight Squad 2
13. Hell Pie
14. Iron Meat
15. There Is No Light
16. 30XX
17. Scorn
18. Windjammers 2
19. Hollow Knight Silksong
20. Psychonauts 2
21. Coromon
22. Solar Ash Kingdom
23. No Place for Bravery
24. Bushiden
25. Hazel Sky
26. Gestalt: Steam & Cinder
27. Jack Move
28. Heavenly Bodies
29. Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course
30. Brave Earth: Prologue
31. Hazelnut Bastille & Dawnthorn
32. Freedom Planet 2
33. Acid Knife
34. Cassette Beasts
35. Tale of Ronin
36. OddBallers
37. Spark the Electric Jester 3
38. Samurai Gunn 2
39. Witchbrook
40. Witchfire
What are some other upcoming indie/AA games you’re looking forward to?
If you’re looking for more indie games to play, see my post here:
submitted by Underwhere_Overthere to pcgaming [link] [comments]

OpenMW VS Vanilla, A comprehensive guide to the differences

This post will take a look at Morrowind in the Gamebryo Engine (Vanilla) VS OpenMW. It will compare the two and show the differences, as well as which is recommended for various situations. This look will involve very little in the way of graphics, but it will be included. This will be a fair and unbiased guide for anyone wondering which they should be using. I hope to answer any and all questions I can in this post. Any major questions asked after this post will be added to the FAQ section at the end. I want this to be a comprehensive comparison for people to refer to when deciding which engine to use. I will be using OpenMW 0.47.0 (nightly build) for this, as well as the most recent release for MGE XE/MCP/MWSE
​

Modding:

OpenMW Vanilla
Number of mods able to be loaded at one time 2,147,483,646 255 *(1024 is being tested by MWSE team)
Supports Normal Maps, Specular Maps, and Parallax Texture Maps Yes Requires MCP, MGE XE.
Supports MWSE Mods/LUA Not yet, WIP LUA branch is in testing ATM Requires MWSE
Multiple data folder support Yes Requires Mod Organizer 2
Modify load order in the launcher Yes No
Supports True Type Fonts Yes No
Supports distant land and statics Yes Requires MGE XE
Supports Shaders Yes Requires MGE XE
Support for landmass mods (map expansion) Yes Requires MCP
Support for groundcover mods Yes Requires MGE XE
OpenMW is capable of loading many more mods at one time than the Vanilla engine (and far more mods than actually exist). While not all mods are compatible YET with OpenMW (most are), they are working towards that goal, including support for LUA script mods.
Both can have fancy looking graphics with "maps" on them, OpenMW has the advantage as it's just some box you tick in the launcher (as of 0.47.0), where as Vanilla requires outside programs to get the same result.
Mods that require MWSE (Morrowind Script Extender) will not work with OpenMW. They will, however, work on the Vanilla engine while using MWSE. OpenMW does have a LUA branch in testing though so it's only a matter of time.
Multiple data folder support is something that OpenMW supports, and it's amazing. What is it? Well, in Vanilla Morrowind, you would just install all your mods into the Data Files directory, then select them in the launcher (if they were an esp/esm/bsa), and play. If they were a plugin-less mesh/texture replacer, you'd do the same thing, overwriting any files it asks you to. With OpenMW you don't have to do that anymore. Instead, you can create a new folder for each mod, and install it in said folder, keeping the file structure. Then you edit the OpenMW config found in one of these places, and scroll down to where it says data="path to your Morrowind install" and add a new line that says data="path to your mod". Now this sounds like extra work, and it is, but it has a distinct advantage. If you no longer like a mod, you can simply remove it by getting rid of its corresponding data line. This preserves the Morrowind install you have, so you won't have to mess around with reinstalling, should something go wrong. It's better in the long run, and it will be streamlined in the future, but it's not difficult to do even now. Update: Vanilla Morrowind can have multiple folders thanks to Mod Organizer 2
On that same vein, OpenMW allows you to change your load order in the launcher, and will even tell you when a mod needs to be changed in the load order or if the mod requires another mod you don't have selected. No such feature exists in the Vanilla engine, and to fix your load order and check dependencies, you need outside programs like Mlox or WryeMash.
True type fonts are directly supported in OpenMW and not supported in Vanilla. This means you can use any TTF in OpenMW you wish.
Distant land and statics are supported out of the box with OpenMW 0.47.0, while Vanilla requires MGE XE. Both engines can now see all across Vvardenfell. The difference is, OpenMW doesn't need you to generate a new "Distant land and statics" file if you add or remove mods. It just works seamlessly. Vanilla requires you to use MGE XE and regenerate the file every time you add/remove mods.
OpenMW supports shaders out of the box. Vanilla will require MGE XE to do this.
When it comes to landmass mods, the Map in Morrowind gets updated. If you're using OpenMW, this is not an issue. You can add as many landmass mods you want, and the map will adjust to fit the world. Vanilla needs the help of MCP (Morrowind Code Patch).
OpenMW now supports using groundcover mods out of box in 0.47.0. Vanilla also supports ground cover, with the aid of MGE XE.
Closing thoughts on mods:
Unless you're using MWSE mods, or mods that require the code patch, OpenMW is the better choice. This is due to stability and performance, and mod potential. OpenMW's construction set allows for modding the terrain in a way the Vanilla construction set cannot. The terrain in OMWCS can be raised far above the limit in the Vanilla engine, allowing for things like increased mountain and valley sizes. Red Mountain can finally be an actual mountain. The future of Modding is bright with OpenMW, especially with LUA support coming.
​

Graphics:

When it comes to Morrowind, graphics seem to take a back seat most the time, still, it's an important topic to discuss. Since we covered modding, I'm going to cover Graphics from a "vanilla" look alone. This means no graphic mods.
​
OpenMW Vanilla
Supports fully detailed actor shadows Yes Requires MGE XE
Supports dynamic shadows for statics and land Yes Requires MGE XE
Supports full water reflections Yes Requires MGE XE and does not support actors being reflected
Supports water refraction Yes Requires MGE XE
Supports per pixel lighting Yes Requires MGE XE
Supports FOV change in game Yes No
Rain/Snow collision with statics No Requires MCP
Supports modern screen resolutions Yes Requires MGE XE/MCP
For fully detailed actor shadows, OpenMW works out of box. The vanilla engine requires MGE XE and the highly detailed actors shadows option is buggy, per MGE XE's own admission. Without MGE XE the vanilla engine has very basic and generic shadows for actors, including the Daedric Crescent Blade looking like a claymore.
Dynamic shadows for statics and land are supported out of box in OpenMW. The Vanilla engine doesn't have them without the aid of MGE XE. Even with MGE XE, the player shadows still super cede all other shadows. That means it is visible when it should not be. This issue doesn't exist in OpenMW
When it comes to water reflections, they too work out of Box with OpenMW. In game you can change the settings you want to get the desired reflections you want, including how detailed they are. Vanilla Morrowind cannot do this without the help of MGE XE, and that doesn't support actor reflections, and you have to change those settings outside of the game by running MGE XE. So if you want to fine tune them and get the best look, you may spend some time hopping in and out of Morrowind.
Water refraction is another OpenMW setting that you can mess with in game, out of box. Vanilla Morrowind requires MGE XE to get this feature and must be configured in MGE XE, not in game.
Per pixel lighting is supported out of box for OpenMW. The vanilla engine requires MGE XE/MCP to get the most out of the lighting.
FOV change is a major thing in games now, and is supported in game with OpenMW. You can change the FOV for the vanilla engine with the help of MGE XE, however that must be done while the game isn't running. This means you can change it on the fly if you want/need to.
Rain and Snow falling through objects can affect the way the game looks. This is not supported in OpenMW. The vanilla engine requires MCP to make this possible.
OpenMW supports whatever screen resolution you have, natively, without the need for external programs. Vanilla requires MGE XE/MCP to get most of that done.
Closing thoughts on graphics:
Graphically speaking it comes down to what you want and what you're willing to work with. OpenMW has many graphical features baked into the engine, and many of those are able to be changed in game, on the fly. For the Vanilla engine to get on par with that, it requires MGE XE at least. However, MGE XE does a VERY good job at what it does. Sadly, MGE XE can't change certain things while you're playing, and doesn't have the ability to reflect actors in the water. If this changes I will update this. If you want an easier time with just one program, OpenMW is for you. If you don't mind using another program to get the same features, and don't mind not being able to change things in game, then MGE XE and the Vanilla engine are for you. I would suggest using the latest version of MGE XE though, as it comes with some MWSE functionality built in.

QOL Features:

Next we will take a look at some QOL (quality of life) features. These are things that make your game experience more bearable. Without these, life might be just a bit too difficult. This section isn't about bugs. It is important to note that the features listed here won't be ALL the features, but rather some that might improve the game.
​
OpenMW Vanilla
Head Bobbing Yes Requires Mod
Search Inventory/Spells Yes Requires Mod and MWSE/MGE XE
Alchemy UI Improvements Yes Requires Mod and MWSE/MCP
NPCs avoid collision Yes No
Smart AI pathfinding Yes No
Smart combat AI Yes Requires Mod and MWSE
Improved third person Yes Requires Mod and MWSE/MGE XE or MCP
Toggle Sneak Yes Requires MCP
Permanent barter disposition change Yes Requires MCP
Swift spell casting No Requires MCP
Allow stealing from KOed NPCs Yes Requires MCP
Arrow de-knocer Yes Requires MCP
On-use extra ring slot No Requires MCP
Don't loot on dispose of corpse No Requires MCP
Ownership Tooltip Yes Requires MCP
Enchanted item cooldown Yes Requires MCP
Fortify max health Yes Requires MCP
Attribute/Skill uncap No Requires MCP
Sort save games by character Yes Requires MWSE mod
Delete saves in game Yes No
Works with two monitors while using full screen Yes No
Controller support Yes Requires external program
Copy/Paste into console and command auto completion Yes No
Dialogue system upgrades Yes Requires MWSE
Supports Advanced Tooltips No Requires MWSE
The first thing we have is head bobbing. Some people like it, some don't, either way OpenMW offers it. It's optional, of course. For the Vanilla engine, there are some mods like Darknut's first person enhanced that add this feature.
Searching the inventory/spells is a function baked into OpenMW. This extends to shop keepers inventories, and loot containers. This is not present in the Vanilla engine without the aid of a mod and MWSE.
In OpenMW the alchemy UI is leagues above the Vanilla engine. It allows you to see all ingredients in a single window. It also allows you to filter by ingredients in a drop down list, or by effects. The effects sorting is tied to your alchemy skill, so you can't sort for effects you don't know. This window is also resizable. In the Vanilla engine, you can't do any of that without MWSE and a mod. Even with that mod, the OpenMW interface is better. Additionally, with OpenMW, you can "batch brew" potions, allowing you to make as many as you want at a time, provided you have the skill and ingredients that is.
NPCs get in the way a lot in Morrowind. They will walk into you and be an annoyance, leading to many frustrated players "discretely" disposing of those NPCs. In OpenMW, there is an optional features that has NPCs avoid colliding with the PC when possible. No such feature exists for the Vanilla engine in any capacity, at least not that I could find. There is the "Move or take my place" mod, but that's a bit different.
OpenMW has better AI pathfinding than the Vanilla engine, meaning NPCs will no longer have issues navigating the world. This uses a similar system to Skyrim's AI pathfinding. This doesn't exist in the Vanilla engine in any capacity.
AI combat has been improved in OpenMW and is also baked into the engine. This will make them adapt to the player during combat. The Vanilla engine has something similar in a mod that requires MWSE, but it's not on par with OpenMW. Of note, however, is that with MCP the Vanilla AI will use zero cost spells (Racial abilities), which can make fighting them a bit more difficult, and deserves some credit.
Improved third person camera (Over the shoulder and shoulder switching included) comes with OpenMW as a normal feature. To get this same thing in the Vanilla engine, you either need a mod that works with MWSE OR you can use MCP.
Toggle sneak is an important thing. Too long have players strained their hands holding down the sneak button! Thankfully this is a built in feature of OpenMW, and is optional, should you wish to develop carpel tunnel syndrome. This can be changed in the launcher. For the Vanilla engine, if you want to suffer, simply do nothing. If you want sneak to be toggled however, you will need MCP.
Another feature that is well loved is the ability to keep that barter disposition buff (or debuff) when you're done trading. This is another feature that comes with OpenMW and can be toggled. The Vanilla engine requires MCP to get this feature.
Swift spell casting, like in Oblivion, can be amazing and really be a game changer. OpenMW doesn't have this feature as of the time of writing this. It IS planned for 1.0 however, and will be implemented at some point. For now, the Vanilla engine has this via MCP.
Wanna steal from an NPC you just knocked out? That's a feature you can toggle in OpenMW. The Vanilla engine allows this via MCP. I recommend using this no matter which way you play the game, it can be amusing.
Have you ever pulled your bow back, aimed at a target, then changed your mind? Lots of us have. In OpenMW you just need to re-sheath your weapon to put the arrow away and save it for another day. The Vanilla engine doesn't do this (you'd have to just shoot your shot), but with the aid of MCP you can de-knock your arrows.
You have 10 fingers and only two rings? Well with OpenMW that's the case anyway. The Vanilla engine also does this, but you can get around that using MCP, which allows you to equip one more ring, so long as it's a "cast when used" type ring.
Getting rid of bodies is a chore, more so if you don't want their loot. For OpenMW this feature isn't yet implemented, but will be in the future. For now, you just have the let them decay on their own. This won't cause any issues in OpenMW, so don't worry. The Vanilla engine doesn't have this feature either, but with the aid of MCP, you can get rid of the bodies, their loot, and the evidence.
Wanna know if someone owns something so you don't "accidentally" steal from them? Sure, but you really want to know if it's owned because you want to steal. In OpenMW, you can do just that. It's a feature that can be toggled in the launcher that allows you to see a red crosshair when looking at something that is owned. If that's not enough, you can also have the tooltip red. You can also just have a red tooltip, if you're so inclined. The Vanilla engine is able to do this too through MCP.
Feel like you're exploiting the enchanted items with "cast when used" enchants too much? OpenMW allows you to make it so you have to do the casting animation for these items (more immersive if you ask me) as a form of cool down. This is, of course, optional. The Vanilla engine can get a similar feature from MCP, just without the animation. Both can keep you from machine gun firing Vivec to death.
When you cast a "fortify health" spell in Morrowind, you don't want it to make your current health greater than your max, example 250/150. That's because if it wears off and your health with the spell is at 50/150, once the effect is gone, you're dead. OpenMW fixes this by having the spell fortify your max health, so you don't die after you just got done beating down that helpless town guard. The Vanilla engine doesn't have this functionality without the aid of MCP.
In Morrowind there is a hard limit to your skill's max level, and your attribute's max level. This limit is present in OpenMW. This limit can be taken off in the Vanilla engine using MCP, allowing you to level up indefinitely, should you so choose.
Sorting your save games is an important part of keeping your sanity when looking for a save. In OpenMW this is done by default. To get a similar function in the Vanilla engine, you will need MWSE and a mod.
On the subject of saves, OpenMW allows you to delete excess saves (should you have them) while still in game. You have to delete them in your saves folder in the Vanilla engine, as it's not an option in game.
If you have more than one screen and want to play Morrowind in full screen without having to unplug one, then OpenMW is for you. No, I don't mean windowed full screen, which you can do with the Vanilla engine using MGE XE, I mean true full screen.
Wanna use a controller for some reason? OpenMW has that built in. Just plug it in and play. It's not perfect, since you're using a controller for a game that uses a mouse cursor, but it works without fuss. For the Vanilla engine you'll have to use something like Xpadder to be able to use your controller.
Another fine feature of OpenMW is the ability to copy something from a source (let's say the UESP wiki) and paste it into the console window. The console also has auto complete features for commands by hitting the TAB key. To add to this, copy and paste also works when you want to name a potion or item. None of this works in the Vanilla engine.
The dialogue system has been upgraded as well, with quest specific topics being blue, and all others the standard gold color. The colors also change to grey when you've exhausted all possible answers to said topic, so no longer will you ask the same questions to NPCs and get the same answer, as you'll already know they will tell you something you've heard before. This is available in both OpenMW and Vanilla using MWSE.
MWSE supports a mod that allows people to add advance tooltips to items, adding things such as a bit of lore or story to the item. This features isn't present in OpenMW yet.
Closing thoughts on QOL:
When it comes down to quality of life improvements, OpenMW is the easier path. It is true that MCP has a few extra features, but those will be added into OpenMW in time. If you don't mind finding the right mods to make the Vanilla engine have the same features as OpenMW and you don't mind using multiple programs to get there, then you are set either way. It really comes down to how much work you want to put in, and how complicated you want things to really get.

Performance:

The Ogrim in the room, so to speak, is performance. It's no secret that Morrowind has a reputation for being buggy, poorly optimized, and victim to save file corruption. Over the years, the Morrowind community has fought hard against this beast, trying to tame the Gamebryo engine. This battle has been long fought, and there has been much success. Here we will look at which engine is better. OpenMW or Vanilla with MGE XE/MCP/MWSE.
There isn't much to say here really. OpenMW wins hands down. It loads faster, I've never had a crash from a stable release (and oh have I tried to crash it), and your saves are safe. Add to that, more stable fps (and higher fps) and you have a winner when it comes to performance.
Vanilla has some fixes, but they aren't perfect. MCP has an option that fixes MOST save game corruption, but not all. It also has some options that help the game to perform better. However, when I did a timed test, with the exact same load out, Vanilla with help took longer to load and had a lower fps.
Next is a table showing load times for two identical set ups. Distant land and statics (same view distance), no mods.
OpenMW Vanilla with MCP/MGE XE
Seconds from hitting "Play" on the launcher to being in game. 10.11 41.70
On average with Vanilla using MCP/MGE XE, I get 20-35 fps, sometimes I get up to 60. OpenMW is almost always at 60fps. These are both with distant land and statics turned on, and no texture mods.
Then there's the matter of bugs. OpenMW doesn't suffer from any of the original engines bugs, period. That's a winning move right there. With MGE XE and MCP and MWSE you can fix most (if not all) of the Vanilla engine's bugs, but it takes multiple programs to do that.
Another thought to take into account is that the Vanilla engine, no matter how patched, doesn't play nice when you alt+tab to another widow. It can cause Morrowind to crash. OpenMW doesn't suffer from this either.
Something else to note is that OpenMW is capable of using Multi-core processors, more ram (Vanilla could do this with the 4gb patch), and takes better advantage of modern PC hardware. For this reason, it is going to be more stable and run smoother.
Performance closing thoughts:
There really isn't much to say. OpenMW wins hands down, and it's not even close. If you want stability, performance, and safe saves, well OpenMW is the better option. The only real reason to use the Vanilla engine would be if you really want to use mods that requires MGE XE/MCP/MWSE.

What does Gabe the N'wah recommend?

If you're not keen on mods that require MWSE/MCP/MGE XE, then I recommend OpenMW. If you're on an OS that ISN'T Windows, then I recommend OpenMW. When it comes to ease of use and performance OpenMW can't be outdone. Each have mods that are exclusive. Mods made in the OpenCS can't be used in the Vanilla engine, and mods made for MWSE/MCP/MGE XE can't be used in OpenMW.
​

FAQ!

Q: What is OpenMW?
A: OpenMW is an engine re-implementation for Morrowind.
Q: Why do we need a new engine, isn't the old one good enough?
A: Creating a new engine has many benefits. One is that it runs natively on Mac and Linux, but there's also greater modding potential. The old engine will eventually become a thing of the past as hardware and OS changes continue to be made. There may come a time where Morrowind will need to be emulated with the old engine, much like using DosBox. We aren't there yet, but there is very real potential for that. Couple that with the fact that this new opensource engine allows for anyone to make their own port of it, and the potential is darn near limitless. OpenMW can be played on an Android device, and there is even a multiplayer port. There is also the fact that OpenMW is capable of reading and using files from Fallout 3/NV, Oblivion, and Skyrim. I'm sure you know what that means for the future of Morrowind. There's also a VR port, something that is impossible in the Vanilla engine.
Q: Is there any reason to use the old engine?
A: Yes. If you want to use certain mods, you will have to use the old engine and whatever fixes those mods require. There are also, for now, more guides on how to install mods and make Morrowind look very pretty, for the old engine. The guides thing is something I hope to get good at and fix though.
Q: When will OpenMW be done?
A: No one can really say. They've been doing 1 release a year lately, and those releases have been major, however, we don't know how close to 1.0.0 they are. Right now though, the entire game and many mods are fully playable via OpenMW. What's left to be done are under the hood changes, and adding in some more nice features for us to play with, along with some bug fixes.
Q: Isn't OpenMW only 46-47% done? Isn't that what 0.46.0 and 0.47.0 mean?
A: No. The release numbering is done in the legacy format, meaning that the first zero is reserved for the "1.0" release, where they feel like they have all they want and can focus on adding other things, the .46 is the 46th iteration of the engine to be released, and the final .0 is for minor bug fixes.
Q: Is it possible for a mod that does not require MWSE/MGE/MCP to still be incompatible with OpenMW for some strange reason?
A: Yes. If the scripting isn't done right, then it may need to be fixed. OpenMW is a bit stricter when it comes to scripting, so if the mod author was sloppy, it could require a fix.
Any other questions I will happily add to this section, but this is getting fairly long.
OpenMW Downloads
For the Vanilla Engine:
Morrowind Code Patch
Morrowind Graphics Extender
Morrowind Script Extender
​
If there is anything else I need to add to this, please let me know. If there are any changes I need to make, please let me know. I've never done a post like this before and I welcome any help I can get! Y'all are a bunch of beautiful fetchers!
​
Thank you to u/KillerBeer01, u/Aethlicious, u/psi21a and u/Mulucrulu for their contributions!
submitted by Lingering_Trees_Gabe to Morrowind [link] [comments]

I’m a ‘Rock-Collector’. I hunt the nightmare boulders of the black beach.

The beach isn’t actually ‘black’. It’s dark grey, with flecks of white. Classic British misery. A ‘black beach’ is just a term we use to describe stretches of coast upon which the creatures have been sighted. ‘The’ black beach is the stretch of coast where the creatures appear most frequently.
A black beach could make itself known at any by-sea location in Great Britain or Ireland, at any time, and may never become as such again. A one-off thing.
On ‘the’ black beach, however, the creatures are a roughly bi-weekly occurrence. (That’s twice a month, not twice a week.)
We’re in the pursuit of one now. ‘Rock-Collecting’ we call it, to our dry amusement.
​
Carwyn pulls the gun strapped to his shoulder a little further up on his back, then taps his silver hammer against the great wet rock. He grimaces and holds his ear right by it; he looks out past my shoulder, squinting at nothing as he focuses his senses on listening for any telltale signs of life.
I scratch my jaw patiently.
He pulls back and shakes his head.
“Not this one mate”, he grunts.
“Aye”, I reply with a nod, and we carry on down the beach. He walks the grim sands, I step from stone to stone a little further inland. Foolish of me, admittedly, but I don’t much care. We’re seasoned experts by this point. The creatures are too big to disguise themselves as any of the rocks that lie underfoot, I’m sure of it.
You’d think by now we’d be able to recognise the intruding boulders on sight, given how frequently we find ourselves here, but the creatures have an unfortunate habit of moving the beach’s actual stones around too, so our surroundings are subtly different each time anyway. We’re not even sure how they do it. They don’t simply come up to them and ‘push’ them around like dung beetles, if that’s what you’re picturing. We have cameras and equipment set up to try and capture image and sound, but the boulders only move by inches at a time. Seemingly of their own accord, but we know the truth. We just don’t know HOW. Our funding’s not great. We often lose equipment to vandals, and to the ever-present swells of storm and wind and weather. We do as best we can.
“Arthur”, he says, putting out a sudden hand and coming to a stop. I pause, and he points, out into the gently frothing waters, about a dozen or so metres ahead.
The top of a slimy boulder sticks out from the surface of the sea, still as a rock (…as one would expect, I suppose), but it is unfamiliar. I try to gauge the height of the tide, whether it’s possible that the water is lower than it was on our last visit, revealing a rock that might well have been there for hundreds of years.
But I cannot be sure. This could be our creature.
Carwyn stashes away the silver hammer. He’s not going to bother using it for this one. He’s confident, and to tell the truth, so am I. You do start to develop a sixth sense for this sort of thing.
He reaches into one of the pockets of his jacket as he wades into the icy water. It froths white around his ankles, then calves, and knees. I remain on the beach and quietly slip my rucksack from my shoulder, setting it down by the stones on the sand.
It’s always nerve-wracking, this part. Identifying the creature and subduing it while we have the chance. I open the straps and remove the equipment from inside, setting up the device with practised efficiency, slotting the poles of the tripod into their places and tightening the built-in screws.
Carwyn is waist-deep now, he has reached the rock, and I watch as he pulls a shard of silvery chalk from his pocket, drawing a shape onto the side of the stone that faces towards the beach. It’s a circle, about 15cm in diameter, with a smaller circle inside, intersected by a diagonal line. The angle of the line is important. It needs to vary based on the size of the creature.
I press and hold the button that brings my equipment to life. I slap its side once or twice to encourage it along its way. Drizzle taps quietly against the metal and against the screen as it flashes dully. A digital: ‘BATTERY: 89’ appears, and I grunt with disapproval.
89%. Useless bloody machine. How can it have lost 11% charge before even being switched on? Unless one of the others didn’t let it recharge fully before stowing it away… Both options are equally possible, and it makes no matter, really. There’s still plenty enough to satisfy the device’s purpose this evening.
I test the legs of the device’s tripod, all three pushed into the upper layer of sand. I swivel round the head and fasten it into place, then crouch down beside it, looking through the thing’s sights. I have it pointed directly at the suspected creature. I align the crosshair with the circle that Carwyn has drawn on the surface of the rock. I reach over and release the catch, without taking my eyes away. If the crosshair is not locked directly onto the marker, then we’re going to cause a great deal of mess. Mess that Carwyn and I will be responsible for clearing up. I don’t need that kind of shit this evening. It’s bloody cold, and I want to go home.
I raise my thumb and Carwyn dutifully backs away, slowly and carefully, about a metre or so. Regulation calls for him to move further back, but as usual, he can’t be bothered. Fine by me.
I pull the metal trigger of the machine and it starts to whirr mechanically. I hold it down. A couple of seconds should be enough. It casts a circle of light, one that aligns perfectly with the chalk marker drawn by Carwyn, and it is bright. There is a quick flash that follows; brighter still, and a sound that I often liken to the snapping of a matchstick, accompanied by the thick smell of burnt rubber.
​
…And then the boulder rears up out of the sea.
​
It’s exhilarating, this spectacle. Fear courses through my body, but it is expected. I enjoy its cold rush, in a perverted sort of way.
The rock releases a long, loud screech, grey smoke steaming from the drawn circle. Its underside unfurls into a sharp, black, beetle-like shape, seven or eight legs on each side- it’s difficult to tell, they blur as they move- and it pushes angrily out through the water, away from Carwyn, thankfully; I don’t think it's noticed him yet.
It’s noticed me, though. Or at least, has given the impression that it has. It turns right towards me, with a face that is best described as the blades of three grey-black swords, wet and slimy, and held together with strands of tight, taut dark flesh.
The creatures don’t ‘see’ in the traditional sense. The flash and the burn will have screwed up its navigational system. Hopefully it will head towards me, towards land, such is the plan.
It does so, and the pounding of panic in my heart as it screeches and pushes through the froth and foam towards the beach is a real test of will. I hold my position. Movement at this stage would only put me in further danger.
But it’s close… Fuck, it’s way too close! This is a fast one!
Carwyn has removed the gun from his back. He has pointed it at the approaching creature. And he fires. A smallish chain is launched from the barrel, and it spins around and around, a silver blur, before catching on two of the creature’s legs and locking around them tight with a squirt of black blood. The thing screeches again and staggers sideways into a nearby collection of rocks, where it grunts and collapses under its own weight. It quivers and leaks over the sand.
​
It’ll be nearly done for now. They can’t handle the shock of the sudden burn, no matter how large they are.
​
I realise I’ve been holding my breath, and allow myself an intake of air.
It squeals one final time, then throbs and quietly implodes; its insides are drawn up into the rock, then splattered out as a thick, greyish tar like fluid across the sand and stone. The boulder of its body, a few minutes ago a seemingly indestructible force of nature, now starts to disintegrate into stones and pebbles and shards and chunks.
​
“Bleurgh”. I clamber to my feet with a grunt and brush the sand from my knees, wiping the screen of rainwater and tapping it for a second time. ‘BATTERY: 48’ it reads.
“Fuckin’ useless”, I mutter as I power it down and start to disconnect its various apparatus. Carwyn joins me, the weapon stashed once again in its sling across his back.
“Tidy”, he mutters as he looks the corpse over.
“Aye”, I murmur back as I stuff the machine into the open rucksack, resting it up against a nearby cluster of stones.
“Tough one today”, he says, and we walk over to the creature’s body. It’s still twitching a little, but it is of no danger to us, now.
​
I take a deep breath. I hate this bit.
​
We remain in silence for a moment longer. I wonder who will be the first to crack today.
​
…It’s Carwyn. “Right”, he says, with a clap of his hands. “Let’s see if this bastard was holding on to anything”. He unclips his tone-whistler from his belt and adjusts its settings before switching it on. It emits a long, low, consistent tone, one that sets my teeth on edge.
…Nothing happens, so he adjusts it further, raising the pitch just a little.
​
The creature’s corpse starts to writhe and throb a little more violently in response, and with a sickening lurch it expels from within a sticky, grey, man-sized sack; slimy and wet.
Fuck.
Carwyn and I exchange a look.
I sigh and crouch down beside the sack, unsheathing my knife and starting to cut away the edge of the membrane-like material. It doesn’t take much, and does not require any real exertion of force before it starts to split of its own accord, and it tears open with a burst of fluid, revealing the contents inside.
Carwyn steps closer for a better look.
​
…It’s a girl, this time. Can’t be any older than twenty. Naked, except for the remains of a silver locket around her neck. Eyes wide and blind, she is gaunt and drained.
​
…Long-dead, of course.
​
“…She’s kinda fit, you know”, says Carwyn after a beat. “I would”.
“Cachau Bant, Carwyn you pissant”, I reply, but it’s half-hearted. I know that dark humour is his way of dealing with this shit.
He says nothing in reply, but we get to work. We hose down her body- using sea-water, primarily, with a final and very sparing dose of fresh- and then we carefully wrap her up in the sheet of plastic we’ve brought along. We’ll leave our equipment here for now so she’s easier to carry, always a risk, of course, but a calculated one, and we take her back to the truck.
Released from the dank of the creature’s innards, she stiffens quickly in the cool coastal air, and we carry her across our shoulders, marching more or less in step across the sands and back to the vehicle parked at the opposite end.
​
“Rest well, girl”, I whisper quietly into her ear. “…Rest well”.
​
We carefully place her down in the back of the truck, covering her up with the tarp and fastening it in place.
Carwyn grimaces, then puts his hands on his waist, looking over at me.
He’s a scruffy bastard, I think to myself.
I decide to say it.
“You’re a scruffy bastard, Carwyn”.
He snorts and gestures to me.
“I’m dressed for the occasion. What the fuck are you wearing beneath that jacket? …A shirt? A fucking button-up shirt?”
“Button-down”, I correct, as we start heading back across the beach to the equipment.
“What?”
“It’s button-down, not bottom-up”.
“What’s the bloody difference?”
“Button-down shirts have buttons on the collar”.
Carwyn’s eyes flick to my collar and then back to meet mine. He sighs and shakes his head. “You are tragic sometimes, mate”.
​
…I choose to ignore this slight.
​
We walk on.
​
“Shit”, he says suddenly, stopping in his tracks. “Arthur, look”.
I raise my gaze from the sand and stone and squint through the mist and rain, further down the beach. Our equipment is just visible through the haze, and beside it… Beside it is an enormous rock, one that was not there before.
“FUCK”.
Tensed and suddenly terribly alert, we both stare down the stretch of coast to the creature, for it must be a creature, of course. And yet…
“…I’ve never seen that before”, Carwyn says.
“No, me neither. They don’t move around when we’re nearby… They just don’t… And two? Two on the same beach, on the same night?”
The implications of this event are greater than you might first appreciate. We understand and expect the appearance of a single creature at a time.
One. Alone.
The fact that there are now two so far confirmed in the same night means our assumptions were wrong. Our knowledge, whilst limited, at least had the comfort of obeying an understood set of rules- rules which have just been shattered.
If there’s a second creature here this night, then who could say how many more there are, right now, all around? Could there be three? Or five? Or a dozen?
I swallow with a dry throat. I look to Carwyn. He’s thinking the same as I. We abandon the equipment, GTFO, and accept the bollocking back at base.
“What do you think?” I mutter to him. “We could grab the burner set-up at least. I packed it into the rucksack. There should be enough charge to take the creature out if we try”.
“That thing isn’t obeying the rules”, he says back. “I say fuck it. Leave the gear behind and we’ll tell command to get someone else to come clear it up”.
“Aight. Sounds good to me”, I reply, and we turn to head back to the truck.
​
…But something obstructs our way.
There is a third boulder. It must have crawled out of the sea in the ten or so minutes it took us to walk this stretch of the beach.
​
…And to my horror, I see that the rock has been carved. Crudely carved into the face of a human.
​
…It’s mine.
I’m looking into a huge, rough stone copy, of my own face.
​
[Part 2/2]
submitted by Darkly_Gathers to nosleep [link] [comments]

RNG In My Buttons Is Not Fun And Should Be Removed

This is going to be mostly a rant so bare with me as I try to vent my frustrations as best as I can without having it be a word salad. I'm mainly going to be talking about Havoc DH. Anyway, here we go:
RNG on my Havoc DH buttons is extremely unfun and needs to be completely reworked/overhauled. What do I mean? Well let's go through the list.
  1. Chaos Strike has a 40% chance to refund 20 Fury
  2. Demon's Bite generates 20-30 Fury
  3. Blade Dance has a 30% chance to proc Chaos Theory (When Leggo is equipped)
  4. Darkness has a 20% chance to absorb damage, or 70% in PvP with Talent that you have to take or you're trolling let's be real. (This is literally a slot machine, sometimes you block everything, other times you drop it and explode anyway because RNG so fun wow!)
  5. Blur has a 50% chance to dodge
  6. Demon Blades has a 'chance' to reset the cooldown of Felblade
  7. Demon Blades itself has a 60% chance to proc off auto attacks
  8. Consume Magic takes 1 beneficial magic effect and 20% chance to take 2 with conduit. (Keep in mind, Consume Magic does not have a priority list. Meaning if you are trying to consume a BoP, there is a chance it will instead Consume the Priest Buff on the target instead! Literally roll the fucking dice)
This is the reason Havoc DH cannot be good unless their numbers are inflated to insane proportions like they were in BFA. Right now, they are complete garbage. Everyone agrees. If they didn't give 5% Magic Damage to Raid, they wouldn't be used. They are on a fundamental level, poorly designed.
Ever played a DH and been like, "Man, this feels bad to play." This is why. Blizzard thinks RNG is fun. It's not. It's annoying. Leave RNG to the loot drops not my rotation and defensives. Like, who the hell thought a slot machine on a defensive was a good idea?
Blizzard: "Hey your 3 minute Raid CD, it has an 80% chance to do nothing."
Me: "Why?"
Blizzard: "Because it's fun! Isn't it so fun! Aren't we good at this? We're so good at this!"
Chill with the RNG Blizzard. I'm so tired of dealing with 8 instances of RNG every time I play. It's really NOT fun. Make everything guaranteed.
  1. Chaos Strike refunds 20 fury off every other Chaos Strike
  2. Demon's Bite generates 25 Fury
  3. Chaos Theory Procs on every 3rd Blade Dance
  4. Darkness has EITHER a 100% chance to absorb damage or make it give flat damage mitigation.
  5. I would leave Blur, as I find this nowhere near as annoying as the others since it also gives flat damage mitigation if the RNG fails.
  6. Demon Blade's chance to proc should be 100%
  7. Felblade's CD should reset after Demon Blades has generate a certain amount of fury. 80-100 maybe?
  8. Give Consume Magic a priority list for god's sake! It should take BoP over Priest Buff EVERY TIME. Long CD Spell > Low CD Spells, it's not rocket science.
Why do these changes? Because it would make Havoc DH consistent. Consistent is fun, because it's reliable. If I know my ability will do something, I can plan accordingly. Rather than, "Oh I'm being bursted? Let me Darkness...oh cool I died because my 3 min cooldown did nothing." *smile*
Not even asking for buffs, I just want consistence. You can nerf my abilities more, if they'll do the same thing every time I press them. Take away all this trash RNG.
And if you don't want to do that because, "Oh DH is supposed to be easy and RNG based so noobs can play them, blah blah blah." Cool. Give me a 3rd spec, make it a dps spec and make it 'Hard' to play. So people can stop using the age old excuse of, "DH is easy to play that's why they are x". Give me a 3rd dps spec that's 'Hard' like Monk or Feral Druid, so you can stop using ease of use as an excuse. Just take away the RNG.
submitted by Zeradith_TV to wow [link] [comments]

After all the celebrations, Sherb drama, and eating too many bday cupcakes, I need a power nap before the after-party! Dream of Jennovia, as the Dream Scavenger Hunt is happening now!! :)

Hi everyone :) Thanks for tuning into my final birthday event!! Who doesn't need a power nap before parties, amirite? The dream scavenger hunt is happening now, for the next hour!
 
Dream address: DA-0670-0437-7786
Note that my dream will be set to around 1:00PM so it'll be light out for you to find items, but all times on this post is in real-time EST! Please remember that claiming your prize will occur 1.5 hours after this post, at 11:30PM EST.
 
To keep things organized, I’ve laid out several rules. Please read these rules, as failure to follow them will prevent you from claiming an item!
  1. Most important rule: Do NOT edit or delete your comment. I will completely ignore anyone who does so. My phone gets notifications from the Reddit app the second you post here, so if your comment does not match that exact notification, I will not respond. This is to prevent people from “trading up,” i.e. claiming one item, and then editing the comment when they find something better. Just trying to make it fair for everyone, and also editing will confuse me haha
    • This subreddit may auto-filter your comment if it detects currency items. Try your best to avoid this (examples of my poor attempts below). But I will not be responsible for these instances, and claiming will be FCFS based on what shows up for me
  2. Only item per person! I’ve put a lot of my own time and resources to finding and buying these items, and setting up this scavenger hunt. Please be respectful to me and other participants by only claiming the item you want/need. Don’t just claim for resale or trade! :(
  3. The mystery item is located in inaccessible locations, so you won't know what’s in it until you receive it. Once someone has claimed the mystery item, I’ll update the post with what it was :) To claim, simply tell me the location of the mystery item
  4. To claim something, use ONLY the following format:
    [ITEM/MYSTERY] by/at/on/behind [LOCATION]
    Do NOT start your comment with anything but the format I’ve provided. All other optional comments can go after the format
    Yes: Tree branches by the left tree behind resident services. Yay!
    No: Yay! Tree branches by the left tree behind resident services
  5. Be as specific as possible with the location of the bag. Any ambiguity that makes me unsure will prevent you from claiming the item. If your post is unclear, I'll comment "please be more specific" once for a chance to clarify. Please respond to my comment with a more specific location to claim.
  6. I will update this post as items are claimed, by writing its location next to the item, but please also check earlier comments to see if anyone has claimed an item. If they have been claimed before you commented, unfortunately, you will not be able to redo for a different item. I will reply with “Claimed!” on your comment once you have properly claimed an item. Please wait until the end of the scavenger hunt for pickup.
  7. I may make an error, such as promising an item to a later commenter, when you correctly followed the rules for claiming. Unfortunately, if I’ve already told someone else that they will be receiving the item, I won’t be back-tracking on that promise. But I will give you the item’s worth in NMT. Please don’t argue with me about an item’s worth in this case >< And remember that edited posts will prevent you from receiving the NMT if I've made a mistake
  8. I left a ladder at the airport for your convenience!
  9. Redeeming your item: This is a flash scavenger hunt, so you have one hour for the hunt. At 11:30 PM EST (30 minutes after end of hunt), I will reach out to everyone in the order of comments and I will let you know when you are next in line to redeem (so expect about 5-10 minutes from my initial “you’re next” comment until it is your turn). Once it's your turn, I will DM you the code, and you will have 5 minutes from the time I DM you to redeem the item(s). Expect a 1-2 hour delay for pickup if you are not the first few commenters. I will not be holding prizes for you for redemption at a later time. No wetsuits please
    • Note that if you are redeeming the ungifted villagers, you will actually have 24 hours to come to my island and invite them. If you are claiming a villager, please tell me a one-hour time slot in EST time that you'll be available for pickup! That way I can plan the order of villagers moving in and out.
  10. I’ve set these rules in place to keep things as organized and fair as possible. Please be patient with me, as I’m sure it’ll get hectic.
  11. Thank you for reading all this, and have fun!!
And finally…
The Treasure List:
White-wrapped items
 
Mystery/Pink-wrapped Items
Thanks for reading all this! Hope you had fun in all of the birthday events I hosted today :) I'll be hosting for a meteor shower tomorrow too!
https://i.imgur.com/KnG2Ou5.jpeg
submitted by lemon__donuts to NoFeeAC [link] [comments]

Using a $15 adapter with a Samsung EVO SSD, you can get 3000MB/s in ESXi Dell Optiplex 9020

Using a $15 adapter with a Samsung EVO SSD, you can get 3000MB/s in ESXi Dell Optiplex 9020
Edit: some older machines like the 9020 can use the nvme in the pcie slot but will not be able to boot from it. This wasn’t a big deal to me since I already had esxi installed on a SATA drive to boot the OS anyway. Just move the vmdk files from the old datastore to the SSD and update the config files to point to the new drive location.
I'm getting near native SSD write performance on a Dell Optiplex 9020 with this cheap adapter from Amazon and a Samsung EVO.
https://preview.redd.it/6orejadk80g61.png?width=1292&format=png&auto=webp&s=08d4dcb446e9e0fa700a196be829ef3b39b261f7
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https://preview.redd.it/uryjq70w80g61.png?width=510&format=png&auto=webp&s=f9fa999ec32d6146033712196620e9ea00aedbe8
Running ESXi 6.7 on cheap Dell hardware and having it outrun my desktop is quite a good feeling :-D
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https://preview.redd.it/nma9msq5x2g61.png?width=1567&format=png&auto=webp&s=c841721c462b8368042cf3f5db09b63386bdc47d
submitted by Valuable-Barracuda-4 to homelab [link] [comments]

this event made me consider whether to keep playing

This is mostly my reactions and rationalizations to the Brave event and how it's affected me a a player of DMK. I've been playing for nearly a year. I've experienced Onward, Pocahontas, Hercules, two Tower Challenges, the Lock Shock and Barrel Halloween event, Mandalorian, and now Brave.
At first I was okay with not completing things since I just didn't have storyline characters unlocked or leveled up to be of any use. But starting around that second Tower Challenge, the one where they offered Rabbit for a second time in a row, things started feeling off. The Halloween event was brutal. Lock, the premium character, was surprising in that he not only was 500 gems but despite being useful to the point of being necessary for one of the tasks he ended up being not that useful for the rest. Meaning even people who purchased Lock found out they couldn't get Shock unless they got lucky with drops or burned through a ton of elixir buying the needed tokens. Then the Mandalorian came out a few weeks later, and I didn't participate much but I did hear that once again the premium character wasn't as useful as expected. Kuiil needed to be leveled up before he could be properly used, and he had some token conflicts with characters.
And now we are at Brave, where people who had both premium characters and the premium attraction and the parade float and discovered they could not finish the event. They did everything right, and it wasn't enough. The RNG was just too strong - there were too many stages where people got screwed over by RNG or bottle necked by arbitrary cooldown times. Some people even had full Frozen collections to help, and were struggling! I had Fergus, Dingwall, and the Ring of Stones at level 2. Up until the last hour, I had no idea if I would be able to complete the event or if I would come up short.
And I realize it's only going to get harder.
This isn't fun anymore. I've never played a game where I needed to wake myself up repeatedly during the night, to stand a chance at completing it. For days at a time. I've never played a game that made me wonder if I could 'get away' with sneaking my phone into my phone-hating teacher's class because lectures cut into a character's task completion. This is supposed to be a game, not a job.
With Brave, the difficulty is entirely intentional. Gameloft didn't want people completing the event. Gameloft wanted people so frustrated that they caved in and bought a sack of gems. Merida herself was 10USD, and without any tokens her costume was 970 gems. Two 500 gem deals bring her costume to just under 40USD. Let's say you did your best, got all the Glitched Fabric, but still came up short 7 comfy fabrics. That's still 560 gems that Gameloft wants you to spend.
You just busted your ass for the "privilege" of giving Gameloft an additional 24USD of your money. Nice hustle.
And then there's the fact that Gameloft made sure only Frozen characters can get Glitched Fabric. And not just Frozen characters, but you needed Anna and her traveling costume (so 2 legendary chests, minimum) or the Fire Spirit with the Enchanted Forest attraction upgraded to level 1 (another 2 legendary chests).
You could also have it dropped from the Dressing Room if you have it at level 2, but with an 8 hour cooldown most people couldn't collect enough fabric before the event ended and were forced to spend more gems. Some people were lucky enough to have the Dressing Room upgraded all the way to level 5, which requires a total of 475 relic tokens to do. And the odds of getting WIR relic tokens have decreased, now that Gameloft has added Brave relic tokens to the chest pools.
And when an event ends...does it even feel good having those event characters you earned? Thanks to the 75 character limit, you're going to spend the next few weeks leveling them up and then be forced to box them up and send them Home by the time the next event starts. There are so many storyline characters that have so many tasks needed to collect more tokens, but event characters are mostly isolated and very rarely are able to collect tokens for characters not in their collection. So their main purpose becomes slot machine bait: they'll eventually be the next helper collection for a future event (that you'll have to lose sleep, buy all the premiums, and even then burn through more elixir or gems or even real money in order to complete), and anyone who wasn't able to get all the characters can try their luck opening a legendary chest.
I'm not even done with the story. I'm at the brink of my game getting bottle necked because I have over 75 characters which can be out and about doing tasks. But with recent events, they prove it won't matter how far along in the story I am. It won't be enough to complete events.
Now, each new event character feels like it bloats regular chests. All those event character tokens taking up space, all those event relic tokens that you don't need anymore because the relic token system is utterly broken and Gamelot isn't interested in fixing it.
All for what? For shoring up for the next hustle. For making sure you have fewer gems ready for the next event, tempting you to give in and pay cash. And maybe this is because I've only been playing for about a year while others have been playing much longer, but it is discouraging knowing that I'll never be able to complete many collections because it all lies within the slot machine legendary chests. At first I thought Tower Challenges were going to be a chance to make up for it, but I realized Gameloft hardly ever offers Tower Challenges and when they do happen you get...one or two returning characters plus an attraction, common tier. It's been a year and Gameloft has offered a grand total of 5 returning event characters. They have also added 25 event characters.
Free legendary chests are sporadic, sometimes a few will be offered as milestone prizes during events but for the most part we get one, maybe two a month. But not in January though, we get nothing this month. Spending gems is the only way to really complete a collection, but of course you don't want to spend your gems because you need those for the next event, but of course what's the point when the 75 character limit prevents you from really enjoying and showing off your completed collections. DMK operates on FOMO: fear of missing out. If you don't complete a collection during its event, it is extremely difficult to do so after without spending money, and Gameloft ensures that the rate of free offers is outpaced by new events. "If I don't get the comfy, it won't be available again for years. And when they release it again, it will be just as hard to obtain, so I might as well spend money/gems now." That's how they get you. "If I don't get Merida now, she'll be in a Legendary Chest, but she'll only have a base 2% chance to get, so I might as well spend money/gems now." Same thing.
I've come to realize I don't feel like I'm playing a game anymore. I feel more like I'm trying to see how much I can get away with an abuser. This is no longer a fun time waster, but something negatively influencing my life. Between the 75 character limit, the lack of usefulness for premium characters, and the absurd hoops needed to complete an event to screw people over with RNG and tempt them into spending more gems/cash, this isn't a game anymore it's just a chore. I don't see DMK getting better. So, I'm done. Let it go, as a certain Snow Queen would say.
I hope I don't come off as sounding dramatic. I only want to rationalize my decision, and help others understand if they are feeling the same way. I am not demanding that anyone quit or stop spending their own money if they still find enjoyment and satisfaction. I am not angry at anyone, but I will note that the more people spend real money the more it encourages Gameloft to rig things with less and less fairness. If anyone is feeling reluctant to stop playing or reduce playing due to the time and money they have already spent, this is a phenomenon called the sunk cost fallacy. It's harder to walk away from something when you feel you have invested in it. But this is a tapping game, and the only investment is whether you still find it fun and rewarding to play. You're never going to get that money back, there will be no payout at the "end". The only real loss is your money and time if you continue to play a game that is no longer fun.
In case anyone was wondering if I was able to get Merida's comfy costume at the very end, it doesn't matter if I did or not. Because I'm walking away.
I thank everyone here, and hope whatever decisions you make, you base them on your own satisfaction. Stay healthy and happy.
And in case anyone is wondering what else to do for a time waster, I picked up the inexpensive Stardew Valley and have been having a blast with it. Yes, I traded my kingdom for a farm.
submitted by midnight_neon to disneymagickingdoms [link] [comments]

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