Introduction

I first want to start by saying the reason for this post is to acknowledge all complaints and issues we the community are experiencing and give possible solutions to these issues. This post is not to slam or give hate towards the developers but to offer feedback.
I tried to include as many complaints/issues as possible, and I included some of my own complaints and issues as well, they will be categorized with (opinion) if you want to know.
This post is going to be quite lengthy so I neatly organized it into the following:
Introduction
Progression

Levelling
Challenges

Gameplay

Style of play
Perks and Scorestreaks
Visibility
Best Play

Miscellaneous

Camos
UI
Quality of life
Performance

Skill-Based Matchmaking
Closing

Progression

Levelling

Weapon XP
Since the release of Black Ops Cold War and the first Double XP and Double Weapon XP event that ended on November 30th, XP has been the topic of discussion, mainly the Weapon XP. The community has been trying to acknowledge the problem and Treyarch insists that everything was working as intended until they "Increased Weapon XP earn rates". Even after that change, the Weapon XP earn rates are slow to this very day. The Weapon XP is also bugged as it often shows your weapon level higher than it actually is.
Posts I saw talking about this: Example 1, Example 2
XP Tokens
Previously in Modern Warfare 2019 and now in Black Ops Cold War, XP Tokens you use countdown in real-time and not in-game time. This decision is honestly nonsensical, it forces you to play non-stop for however long you used the XP Tokens. What if you need to use the washroom, get some snacks, your game crashes, an emergency happens, well you're out of luck. A quarter of the time is used to queue into the match anyway.
Posts I saw talking about this: Example 1

Challenges

Warzone Challenges
Do I have to say more? I am playing Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War not Call Of Duty: Warzone, I do not want to play Warzone to finish my Call Of Duty: Black Ops Cold War challenges, there are 2 completely different games, and not only that Warzone takes up almost 200 GB.
There are a total of 9 Operator Challenges and 4\* Season Prestige Challenges that you have to complete in Warzone, that's 13\* Challenges in total. I don't think they realize that certain people don't like Warzone. There pushing Warzone so much it's honestly annoying.
( * - one of the season prestige challenges can be completed in either fireteam or warzone)
Here's 1 possible way to fix this:
A separate challenge tab for Warzone just like Zombies
A way to earn it in Warzone and Cold War
Posts I saw talking about this: Example 1, Example 2, Example 3
Camo Challenges
We all know which camo challenges were talking about here. These challenges are insanely hard and rng to finish. They are the "Classic" and "Psychedelic" for the launchers. Classic requires you to "Get 2 kills without dying 20 times with all kills coming from the Cigma 2 in Multiplayer" and Psychedelic requires you to "Kill 2 or more enemies rapidly 25 times in Multiplayer". These challenges are nearly impossible to do because of Flak Jacket (talked more in-depth later). Also trying to shoot aerial scorestreaks with the RPG is nearly impossible as well, the rockets don't go in a straight line, they spiral, making it insanely hard to hit aerial scorestreaks, even hitting are hard Care Packages too.
Posts I saw talking about this: Example 1

Gameplay

Style of play

Objective players
The main issue stems from this COD's streak system itself. This scorestreak system does not reward objectives at all. Players can play the objective all game and still be bottom of the leaderboard if they don't go out of their way and get kills. If there's no incentive to play the objective what's the point of winning the game, it's meaningless, all it is now team deathmatch in domination, hardpoint, combined arms, etc.
Here's 1 possible way to fix this:

Add a score multiplier to objectives

Posts talking about this: Example 1, Example 2, Example 3, Example 4
Campers
This discussion happens every single COD so I'm going to keep this topic short and sweet. Ever since MW19, the camping situation has been out of control, the way that game promotes camping corrupted the community. Sitting in corners, listening with the volume of their headphones max, waiting for the perfect time to strike, they even prone in the middle of the map. I know there's not a lot you can do but just pointing it out there. Hmmmmm, just thought of something, maybe a playlist that disables the prone, how are they going to camp now HAHAHA, sorry, next topic.
Posts I saw talking about this: Example 1

Perks and Scorestreaks

Flak Jacket
Flak Jacket, oh flak jacket, at least your not E.O.D from last year. Everything is fine about it except for when it comes to weapons that contain rockets. The weapons I'm talking about are all the Launchers (Cigma 2, and RPG-7) and the M79. Why is it when I hit someone with A ROCKET the Flak Jacket symbol pops up, how is he not dead, it's literally a rocket. Even in hardcore, it's like that. All that we ask is if we shoot a rocket at someone they die instead of the Flak Jacket symbol popping up.
Posts I saw talking about this: Example 1, Example 2, Example 3
VTOL Escort (opinion)
Let's keep this one short and sweet as well, how is this scorestreak cheaper than the Chopper Gunner and Gunship, it's literally better than both of them.
Napalm Strike (opinion)
It feels like 3 go off every 2 minutes, and then depending on where they place it you either spawn in it or you are stuck cause they put it through the middle of the map.
Care Package (opinion)
Another short and sweet one, how is it that someone can open a care package and get a Chopper Gunner, how is that fair? The Care Package loot should only contain the War Machine and lower. That's just my opinion though.
New Perk (opinion)
Since I and many people don't like the scorestreak system this year I thought of a new perk. Killman! The Killman perk is the exact opposite of the Pointman perk from MW19. This perk makes it so Scorestreaks are earned through kills instead of game score.
Killman Perk. In Perk 2 Slot. (Ignore my poor photoshop skills)

Visibility

General
Visibility, in general, is awful compared to older titles but it is better MW19. Every operator blends into the map so well, shadows covering a player's whole body, it's like playing Where's Waldo but in Call of Duty. It's so bad we even have to change our video color settings for our display. It's probably much worse on a console as they're forced to have certain settings on. And on top of that, we're pretty much forced to put a flashlight on our gun to have any chance of seeing players.
Posts I saw talking about this: Example 1, Example 2, Example 3, Example 4, Example 5

Best Play

General
In Black Ops Cold War, Best Play is in every game mode, including "Search and Destroy" and "Prop Hunt". This year's Best Play implementation is the worse by far, people can sit in corners and just because they got 3 kills, boom, best play. I've seen people get Best Play even when they die in the Best Play, how is dying a Best Play? And then there's Best Play in Search and Prop Hunt, can I just ask why, what's the point? In Search and Destroy we want to see the last kill and/or the defuse, we don't want to see someone getting 2 kills back to back. And for Prop Hunt, we want to see where that last prop was, and if somebody kills 2 props back to back, you guessed it, best play.
Posts I saw talking about this: Example 1, Example 2

Miscellaneous

Camos

Looks
The looks of the mastery camos on certain guns are disappointing and look lazy. Just take a look at some of these guns.
Krig 6
KSP 45
Then other mastery camos look amazing.

AUG
Bullfrog
Please fix and update the certain mastery camos on guns, they look horrible.
Posts I saw talking about this: Example 1, Example 2

UI

Start-up Menu
Why is it that when I open Cold War I have to choose to play Cold War, stop promoting your other games, especially Modern Warfare, which is last year's game! If it's just Cold War with Warzone on the start-up menu that is fine, aka what we had before. Eventually, every single COD is going to be on the start-up screen.
Posts I saw talking about this: Example 1, Example 2, Example 3
Pre-game lobby
The pre-game lobby is very nice looking except for 1 thing, the lack of visibility of the player identity. Black Ops 4 did this greatly by showing the username, emblem, calling card, prestige icon and level. Now, all we have is a username, prestige icon and rank. What happened? Why downgrade? We work hard for certain emblems and calling cards and we want to show that.
Posts I saw talking about this: Example 1
Quality of life
Here is some nice quality of life changes that would be useful:

Clear all button for the green dots
War tracks playable in the music player

These quality of life changes are not a big ask, just something to make the user experience better.
Posts I saw talking about this: Example 1, Example 2
Performance
Since the release of the game, the performance has been bad. I've seen games crashing when on high zombies rounds, just going throughout the menus, and just looking at the settings while in-game. Yes I understand this stuff does happen during development, and yes it has gotten better since the release but it's been bad. It feels like everything I click I get a UI Error.
Posts I saw talking about this: Example 1, Example 2
Waste of space (opinion)
I just want to point out one nitpick I have. What is this wasted space?
Waste of space in Player Identity
This has been locked since the release and has just been sitting there, with no purpose, waiting for the day it will be used.

Skill-Based Matchmaking

Ah yes! The elephant in the room, Skill-Based Matchmaking! Or Performance-Based Matchmaking or Experience Optimised Matchmaking or Retention-Based Matchmaking, but for the point of simplicity, I'm just going to refer to it as SBMM. Anyways you get it, a system where it takes your skill and bases your matches around that skill. You know there's something wrong when there are countless posts every day talking about it, and when it trends on Twitter every month, when your favourite content creator talks about it, and when you, yourself, complain about it every day, to the point of not caring about you K/D or your W/L.
In all my years of gaming, I have never seen SBMM this strong. I had to get better throughout the years to achieve the skill I have today. I started playing COD in Ghosts (yes, I know, ghosts. I did enjoy the game though, still waiting for Ghosts 2 for the campaign...) and I was getting pummelled, but I didn't stop, I kept trying to get better, and I did! Now with this SBMM and the skill level, I'm at now it feels like I'm playing CDL lobbies. Just the other day I went 38/45 and the enemy that was on the top of the leaderboard went ONE HUNDRED AND ONE TO EIGHTEEN. Tell me how this is fair, I have never gotten 100 kills in a match, let alone get a 5.6kd (technically I did get a 100 kill game but it was on shipment in MW and anyone can get kills on that map).
I can't even play with my friends because either I'm not good enough or I'm too good.
This egregious SBMM system is making Call Of Duty unplayable, I get it you need to protect the new players, that's fine, but there's a point where you're not just protecting them anymore, your giving participation trophies away, and making the good players suffer. This whole SBMM system is just a placebo, putting you into way harder matches just to put you into easy matches to make you want to play more.
I have an idea for the people at Treyarch and Activision, can you make a playlist without SBMM just to test, just to collect data, please.
Something like this:
A fully optional \"No SBMM Test\" quick play filter
OR

A playlist that has \"No SBMM\" that the players are not aware of
Posts I saw talking about this: Example 1, Example 2, Example 3, Example 4, and countless others.

Closing

I hope you enjoyed reading this and I hope I included the main points in the community. Hopefully, someone at Treyarch or Activision sees this as well. If anyone has something to add feel free to comment. Also, please don't attack anyone that works at Treyarch or Activision, I want this to remain civil.
I wish you all a Merry Christmas and hope everyone has a good day!

Gotta Collect 'Em All: Hype Decks and Popular Playing Card Series
When you're into cardistry, you'll know a thing or two about playing cards. They are, after all, the tools of the trade. And you'll quickly discover that there's a lot of different custom decks out there, many of which are great for card flourishing. A vast amount of cards that have already been produced, and there's steady flow of new cards that are being released on an ongoing basis.
Arguably the most popular playing cards beloved by cardists and collectors alike are what some refer to as "hype decks". These are decks that have effectively become a brand of their own by virtue of their sheer popularity. In the last few years alone there are several "brands" that have generated a huge wave of momentum. Almost every new release is quickly sold out, and previous releases don't take long to fetch high prices in the secondary market, as buyers scramble to "collect 'em all". In this article we'll introduce you to some of the more popular series of this sort, which are beloved by both cardists and by playing card collectors.
FONTAINES
The Fontaine brand is one of the biggest and most recognizable brands in the world of playing cards today, especially in cardistry circles. When you first see a Fontaine deck of cards you might wonder why. After all, what is there to get excited about card backs which have a lower-case "f" put together in a simple and minimalist design, and card faces that are mostly standard?
The reason for the success of this brand is the man behind it, Zach Mueller. Zach began making a name for himself with his creative cardistry videos, some of which went viral on youtube. Inspired by the iconic Jerry's Nugget casino deck which appears later on this list, around 2013 Zach whipped up a simple design of his own, printed the deck, and began using it in his cardistry videos. It wasn't even originally conceived as deck that would be published more widely, nor was including it in his cardistry videos originally intended as a marketing gimmick. But the popularity of his videos did have the result of producing a demand for decks like the one Zach was using. When he tried his hand at crowdfunding one, it became an instant success.
Zach built on this success with further releases of the same design but in different colours, and later expanded his Fontaine brand to include clothing and other merchandise. Today the Fontaine company has a significant number of releases every year, and they are typically so much in demand that each sells out in minutes. While many of the initial decks didn't evidence much variety aside from recolouring the back design, in recent times we have witnessed some more innovation, such as collaborations with other artists, and a UV black-light edition.
https://preview.redd.it/bk51kexhhcg61.jpg?width=600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7ad5a040ac2cd67d9644f02041f3937ba2e28642
ORBITS
The Orbit decks come from magician Chris "Orbit" Brown, with involvement from designer Daniel Schneider. The Orbit series is extremely popular with card flourishers, and it's not surprising why. The circle design on the card backs makes it ideal for cardistry. The first version of the deck was blue, had a print run of only 2500, and only managed to hit its Kickstarter target on the final day when it was put up for crowdfunding in 2015. In contrast, today collectors can't get enough of them! The fourth edition alone had a print run of ten times that amount, and the first few versions of the deck will now cost a pretty penny on the secondary market - if you can find them.
Common to most of the decks in the series is of course the signature circle look of the card backs. But there's also the regular presence of light-hearted jokers, mini-astronauts, and even tiny orbitting rockets on the card backs, all of which capture something of the galactic and space theme, and add elements of warm humor. There have been minor tweaks to the design to ensure that each deck is not just a simple recolouring of the previous version. The V7 deck is noteworthy for its retro pink and blue colours, and for including a tribute to the failed mission of the space shuttle Challenger in 1986, and has the added bonus of being a very cleverly marked deck.
The face cards of the Orbit decks mostly feature a style borrowed from the classic Arrco decks, which gives them a slightly different feel from your typical Bicycle deck, while ensuring that they still have a very familiar, recognizable, and practical look. Some of the decks feature even members of the Orbit crew as the court card characters. It is certainly a successful formula, and these are versatile playing cards that are both novel and familiar enough to make them suit a variety of purposes, from card flourishing to card magic. As with most other entries on this list, the success of the series has generated an increased demand for the first decks in the series, which are not easy to get hold of.
https://preview.redd.it/0lakhcmihcg61.jpg?width=600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=424b4fba74ee4be5d763fb2439b270df0d319019
JERRY'S NUGGET
The history of the Jerry's Nugget decks is a fascinating one, and it even includes a great detective story. The short version is that these striking red and blue decks were first printed in the early 1970s for Jerry's Nugget Casino in Las Vegas. They ended up in storage instead of being used at the casino, and eventually made their way to the gift shop, where they were sold for a dollar or two each. At this point they were discovered by some big name cardists, who began popularizing them via their videos, and spoke highly of their handling qualities, which were the result of printing methods that couldn't be replicated with modern methods. The demand for them grew, but by this time they were sold out. With a limited supply and increased demand, they slowly became a holy grail for collectors, prices typically reaching $500 per deck on the market.
Around 2019 Lee Asher became involved with a project to reprint the cards, to make them readily available again, and put them in the hands of a new generations of cardists and collectors. A deal was brokered between Expert Playing Card Company and Jerry's Nugget Casino, and with the help of an incredibly successful Kickstarter project that fetched nearly half a million dollars, a new edition of Jerry's Nugget decks hit the market.
The new decks are almost like the original, but consist of a Modern Feel version printed by USPCC and a Vintage Feel version printed by EPCC. The scene was ripe for capitalizing on the popularity of these classic decks, and so the deck was subsequently reprinted in colours like Teal, Coral, Black, Steel Grey, Yellow, Orange, Green, and purple. There are also some limited editions like Pink, and there are even special limited editions with gilding. Many card flourishers love the minimalist look of this series, the famous name and iconic look, and the variety of different colours make them ideal for collectors.
https://preview.redd.it/kuxzzlgjhcg61.jpg?width=600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8356844549aedec90eda4b447063afc00faf88f5
CHERRY CASINO
The Jerry's Nugget decks aren't the only decks that capitalize on the public interest in old-time casinos. This is also the concept that lies at the heart of the Cherry Casino decks, which is a series of playing cards produced under the Pure Imagination label. Pure Imagination Projects was founded in 2013 by Derek McKee, and the first Cherry Casino deck was produced around 2015 in a bright aqua colour. The idea was to draw on the image of an old time casino, hence the classic cherry artwork familiar from slot machines, an iconic symbol of gambling. Several versions then followed in successive years, as the Cherry Casino decks slowly grew in popularity
One of the drawcards of this series is the bold metallic ink used on the cardbacks for most of these decks, which instantly sets them apart from your average deck. One of my personal favourite colours in this series is the Tahoe Blue, which is inspired by one of the clearest and deepest lakes in the United States, Lake Tahoe. The use of metallic ink on card backs creates a gorgeous and inviting pearlescent blue that is hard to get enough of.
The Cherry Casino decks are also very versatile and practical, and the relatively standard card faces makes them ideal for card magic or for playing card games. Yet the striking card backs also makes them very appealing for cardists and collectors. This creates the ideal combination of something striking and something simple, which is the greatest strength of the Cherry Casino series. The vibrant and eye-catching colours, set them apart from the competition, and give them the magnetic quality that collectors look for, while they remain functional and suitable for a variety of uses. The first decks in the series are especially prized by collectors, since they are long out of print, and entered the market long before anybody realized how successful this series would become over time.
https://preview.redd.it/uvqcml7khcg61.jpg?width=600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2ef474b844f7af286d7d3c3bf3fb5a9f67bead9e
VIRTUOSO
Virtuoso, commonly called The Virts, is a group of Singaporean cardists, originally founded by Huron Low and Kevin Ho. Other team members joined them over time, and they began releasing cardistry videos on their youtube channel. Around 2012 one of their cardistry videos went viral and was eventually featured on the Discovery Channel, which only increased the growing interest in their work, especially their creative card flourishing videos.
It was also around this time that The Virts came up with the idea of designing a deck of card that was specifically geared towards cardistry. They used a design that was strongly geometric in flavour, and where even the court cards and number cards were optimized for card flourishing, to enhance the visual aesthetic of cards in motion. Today it's quite common for a deck to be optimized for cardistry, and there's a ready market waiting to buy decks like this. But at the time this was a groundbreaking idea, and even somewhat of a financially risky one. But card flourishers welcomed the very first Virtuoso deck with open arms, and the deck proved to be more successful than ever imagined.
Since the release of their first deck, The Virts have continued to release follow-up decks on a somewhat regular basis. Typically each new release is accompanied by a flashy video that showcases the amazing cardistry of The Virts themselves, which is cleverly accentuated by their cardistry-friendly cards. Their signature geometric design is common to all of the decks released so far, and the eye-catching colours and consistently handling qualioty ensure that card flourishers love it. Recent times have seen the rate of their releases slow down, but news in 2020 about their latest deck - which is scheduled to come out in 2021 - generated a new wave of excitement. Loyalty to the Virtuoso brand and decks is evidenced by the fact that many people were ready to pre-order the new deck sight unseen.
https://preview.redd.it/48zmr2okhcg61.jpg?width=600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cd5fcc61431a3e2764fd95bb5dba12a79658817d
ORGANIC PLAYING CARDS
One of the more fun entries in this list are the food-inspired decks created by Organic Playing Cards (OPC). This brand is originally the brainchild of Cameron Toner and Nathan Lex, who started OPC while they were in college, combining Cameron's love for card magic and Nathan's love for cardistry. The company has since evolved, and others have come on board as they grew. Their original goal was simply to produce a fun deck of banana-themed cards, now known as Peelers V1. Since then they've gone on to produce a cornucopia of fruit-inspired novelty decks.
The concept of what you can expect from an OPC deck is a simple one. Typically it's a deck that features two pieces of fruit on the card backs, some humorous changes to the court cards that incorporate that fruit, an adjusted colour scheme, and a fun take on the tuck box. For example, the Squeezers V1, V2, and V3 decks are orange, lemon, and grape-fruit themed retrospectively, and the tuck boxes are designed to look like juice boxes, complete with an ingredient list. The Snackers decks are themed on strawberries and blackberries, and come in a resealable package typical of a bag of candies, and even include an artificially added scent that smells like the fruit.
The latest additions to this popular series have included an avocado themed deck (Avocardos), and in somewhat of a departure from the usual fruit theme and look, a corn-themed harvest deck (Shuckers). So they are exploring new directions, but they haven't run out of fruit just yet, and I look forward to see what they come up with next.
https://preview.redd.it/56o6yqelhcg61.jpg?width=600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6b9aec71b43d043c10980cee343e3bf3e8ffed30
WHAT TO BUY AND HOW MUCH TO PAY?
Buying and pricing
In the end, you should buy what you like, not what other people tell you to like. But how much do these decks typically cost? Latest releases typically sell at retail price, and don't cost a fortune. Although in some cases, especially with in-demand brands like Fontaines, you have to be right at your computer when a new deck is released, and be among the first set of buyers who are fortunate enough process a purchase in the few minutes before they are sold out. Otherwise you'll have to rely on resellers, some of which can have inflated prices.
Older decks for virtually all of these series, however, tend to command much higher prices. This is simply a matter of supply and demand: as the number of collectors grows, more and more people want them, while the supply is limited, because the original decks are long out of print and out of stock at retailers. You'll have to rely on the secondary market to try to source these, and expect to dig deeper in your wallet if you want to get first and second edition decks of many of the above series.
Investing and re-selling
When collectors see some of these decks selling for over $100 on the secondary market, it can be tempting to think that it's a good idea to buy a stash of decks in the hope that you'll hit a jackpot with a brick of decsk that will be worth a bundle down the line. The reality is that this is hard to predict. When most of these decks were first released, nobody knew that they would become big hits over time. It's only as a series or brand generates momentum and establishes a loyal following, that the prices of the original editions start to rise.
For example, I have a Peelers V1 deck, and these are now worth up to US$150 today. At the time I picked it up, it was just a novelty deck from an unknown brand, and I used it as an everyday deck for card games and card magic. Who was to know the success that OPC would later become? Meanwhile I've just been using it casually for card games! Much the same is true for the very first Fontaines deck, which costs a fortune now, but at the time was really just an ordinary deck. The playing card market is fickle and future hits are almost impossible to predict. If you want to earn money, rather than gambling on playing cards, you're better off spending your time working for money at your regular day job.
Other popular series
Are there other series besides the ones covered above? For sure. Daniel Schneider's series of Black Roses deck also has its passionate collectors, as do the Golden Nugget decks, the Gemini Casino decks, and the NOC decks. The Planets series by Vanda was also popular for some time, but with the release of all the planets this is obviously now complete. There are also people who collect anything produced by a particular brand, such as Anyone Playing Cards. Perhaps even that new release you're thinking of purchasing will become the start of a successful new series or brand - you can never really tell!
https://preview.redd.it/ppwyhb5mhcg61.jpg?width=600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=75a4ee69f8af72d0c022c24d50e3581b80066959
HAS THE INDUSTRY JUMPED THE SHARK?
More and more, faster and faster
In the first few years of the boom in the playing card market that was created by the arrival of crowdfunding around 2009, new releases were typically produced either as a mass market deck, or as a numbered limited edition. That seems to have changed in the last few years, and the number of permutations for a particular deck seems to be more than ever before. First of all we get recoloured versions of the same deck, multiple times over. Then in addition we get a numbered deck, and a gilded deck... and multiple combinations of all of these. It starts to become impossibles for collectors to get a complete collection.
In addition, in some cases, a very limited edition of a popular series is produced at a high price tag, like the $75 Cherry Casino House Decks, putting it out of the reach of most collectors, except those with very deep pockets. In other cases, companies are releasing decks in different colours so fast (here's looking at you, Jerry's Nuggets), that collectors can hardly keep up. The inevitable question arises whether some of these developments are unhealthy.
How much is too much?
All this understandably makes some collectors begin to feel a little jaded, and wonder if some of these series have jumped the shark. Are some creators starting to take the mickey out of collectors, knowing that they will want to "collect 'em all", even if they have to spend ridiculous amounts to do so? Is this capitalism gone mad, and are producers becoming too motivated by trying to make big bucks?
If this trend continues, it can start to feel like price-gouging and greed, and creators run the risk of sucking the joy out of collecting, and losing their customers. All this means that producers have to be careful in the decisions they make about what they release, and not simply be motivated by making money.
Collect 'em all?
But there's a lesson in this too. It doesn't make sense to mindlessly collect every single thing. But if you do think carefully about what you want to collect, it can be a lot of fun to collect series like the ones covered here. By all means collect 'em! But maybe just not all of them. At least, not all the time.
https://preview.redd.it/c50y53umhcg61.jpg?width=600&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3f00f71fa02141ee251913695a2cc7fba823a260
Author's note: I first published this article at PlayingCardDecks here.

The only thing different is the format... also a lot more.
Disclaimer: I own nothing of the links and ideas, even if some came from me. Me just compiler no @.
Blackkat FAQ. Seems too aged to work now.
DMesse FAQ. Still seems useful... maybe.

Newbie Guide

GFL Corner	Matsuda	GFC	Gamepress	GFWiki
G-Doc #1	G-Doc #2	G-Doc #3	"Official" Vid	Prio Guide
1st Ech

I've heard things about Newbie Career Quests. What is it and how do I get it?

Things that newbie commanders can use to boost their early game.
Available in Quests button>Career Quests tab.

I think I drove myself into a wall not doing things efficiently. Do I have to restart my account to progress better?

Nah. You'll be just fine continuing. Just do things better from now on.

How do I level my girls? And I heard about corpse dragging, What is it?

First is grinding them on leveling maps. Corpse dragging is a resource efficient way to grind XP. The where and how. Dragging 0-2.
Second is using Combat Reports. You can get them in the Forward Basecamp or through the Data Room. You can give them by going to the Dorm>Warehouse>Gift tab or going to your owned doll profile and tapping the + button by the EXP bar. Note that they are not affected by dummy link EXP multiplier. They give 3000 fixed EXP per report.
Last one is the EXP mode combat sim. Total EXP per run is divided equally between all dolls present.

Is GFL being phased out/abandoned?

NO.

Not anytime soon, at the very least.

When do I do night campaigns?

Best metric would be when career quests send you there. Unlock them by completing the next chapter's emergency map (i.e. 11-4e unlocks 10-1n). Remember to equip PEQs to negate the accuracy penalty and bring HGs for map vision.

Is it worth to reroll in this game?

Depends on what you value more. If you want a pretty easy time until endgame, no need. Game gives you free strong dolls. Endgame? Mostly not, since this is a game of accumulation instead of meta characters.

What teams should I build?

ARSMG first, then whichever second ARSMG or RFHG you need more, then the other one you haven't made yet, then MGSG if you want.

Technical Help

Resupply/Costumes/Furnitures

Field Map

My team says Ammo/Ration depleted.

Move them to helipad. Double-tap them. Resupply is yellow button.

I just had a skirmish and saw that my team isn't in proper formation. Can I fix it without quitting the map?

me not caring enough to paraphrase it

How do I get the gold medals in maps?

Read the Gold Medal description in the combat summary.
Never retreat your team from the field map either by losing skirmishes (losses) or manual retreating (withdrawing).
Never repair fielded teams (red warning at the bottom left tells you this, don't miss it).
Retreating a doll from the battle phase/skirmish is fine. Really, anything that you SHOULD DO/ SHOULD NOT DO are already listed.

*Retreating Support Echelons does not prevent you from gold medals, nor does support kills (shown in green +#) count towards.

Do I keep the drops if I terminate/restart?

"Recently acquired" option in the armory says yes.

Why do I get the lack of ammo/ration warning and sometimes not?

You'll get the warning when you lack either of them and when you can see the enemy.

Combat/Battle/Skirmish

Story

I missed a major event, will it come back?

6mos. after their release they get added to the Campaign tab. For collabs... hope for the best.

What's the sequence of the stories?

Just the overview.

How to read the story again? It's not available in the story playback in Index.

Settings>Game>Story Playback then play the stage again. Or just Youtube it.

Where can I read the MOD, costume, event stories etc?

Every story and details should be included here.
Cafe stories.
MOD stories.
Includes extra artbook lore.^{Clean-up required.}

I want to read the GFL lore. Is there any summary out there?

Video format.

Commander Wardrobe

How do I change my commander's gender so I can change their dirty clothes?

Change gender in the commander's wardrobe, which can be visited by tapping the arrow below then tapping WARDROBE, or tapping your commander name then tapping on the avatar.

What does Infinite Surprise Dyes do?

Changes the appearance of your commander's clothes, IF they can be changed, that is.

What commander costume sets do the older servers have right now?

So far, nothing that the EN version doesn't have.

I saw that commander costumes have skills. How do I level it up?

Get another costume set with the same skill.

Expedition/Forward Basecamp

What should I buy from the black market?

Consumables first.

Which dolls should I use for expedition?

~~Maybe not~~ Everything related to Forward Basecamp included. GFC Guide. ATM says CLv. 20 required.

Can I deploy two or three of the same pets in expedition?

Actually, that is the method used by min-maxers regarding advantaged pets.

Can the basecamp not give expedition loots?

Only if you didn't do one. If you did and no visible loot, restart app.

Which pet corresponds to which exploration material?

Cat - Bricks/City; Dog - Buttstock/Snowfield; Bird - Acorn/Forest; Misc - Fluid/Wasteland
Then use the corresponding food that gives higher chance to visit a locale for a near 100% visit.

If advantaged dolls change mid-expedition, which one determined your rewards, the advantaged on the start of exploration or at the end?

The start of the expedition.

What are T-doll effects available in the older servers?

Available as of Valentine's Day.

Heavy Ordnance Corps

How to HOC?

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.

How high should my Reload stat be to have an effect in attack speed?

CC guide.

Which HOC chips should I use?

Your local reddit guide. Another guide. Gampress guide.The Android version.
Found another one.

Which HOCs should I iterate first?

AGS>2B/M2>AT4>BGM. No quoting.

When do I get to unlock the whole HOC grid/matrix/board?

At full promotion. The yellow ★★★★★ one.

Which HOC can destroy buildings?

All of them. Building attack damage uses the Pierce stat.

How can I get Data Patches?

Either from the Code Refactoring menu in the Garage or getting a 5★'d HOC's Core Data.

What are Data Patches used for?

For Iterating FSTs beyond yellow 5★. They have to be level 100 and at 5★ for Iteration to be available.

Factory Production

Is there a voodoo recipe for *insert pennies here*?

Freedom of information, just add net connection.

When should I do T-Doll Heavy Production?

Preferrably during rate-ups. Low priority otherwise.

Resource Management

Theater

Theater tips?

Theater tips. Theater tips. Theater tips. Theater tips.

Do I have to save HOC charges and Fairy points for the boss?

Nope. Joins boss battle regardless of charges. Replenishes on next raid. Go ham.

What does "Settle Reward" do? It sounds ominous.

More like "Settlement Reward". Just shows you things you'll get once Theater ends.

How much CE do I need for a good score?

Just put your best stacks in your unused slots, especially in boss nodes.

I can't beat the current stage. Is this it for me?

Nope. Just fall back to the last boss node you can handle. These nodes can mitigate the "beaten stage" penalty so it's worth more than non-boss higher node.

I wasn't able to place high enough to 5★ the reward HOC. Is there another way to get their central data?

Wait for the next theater and they'll join the HOC gacha.

I'm thinking of using Landmine Fairy. Will they work?

Well yes... as a stat stick. Can't use a Strategy Fairy skill in theater ~~mostly because you can't tap a node to activate it in the first place~~. Stick to Combat Fairies if you want to use skills.

Tactical Dolls

Neural Upgrade/MOD

How do Neural Upgrades work?

Gamepress. ATM. GFLCorner.

What's the Fire Control Core for?

Necessary for modding 5★ dolls.

What's the time frame for modding dolls?

From their release 'til forever.

Which dolls have a Mod in the older servers?

Unupdated as of now.

If I Mod my T-doll, is Level 100 still considered max level?

Thankfully, this is where common sense wins. In short, NO.

Where can I Mod my dolls?

Research>Neural Upgrade tab at the left.

Who should I MOD first?

Gamepress version.

Can I use duplicates to raise my doll's MOD level?

Yes, unless you're modding 2★ dolls. First, go to factory then dismantle all dupes. When you get enough cores, you can use them to raise MOD levels.

Events

Why didn't I complete "Consume 100 batteries" for the bingo mission when I EXP trained my HOCs?

Because you can get them back, that's what. It only counts when the training is finished, meaning there's no way to take it back.

Do auto-battles count for "Defeat Enemies"?

No.

What do I do with unused Keycards during the bingo event?

Keep them. You'll get 5 Calibration Tickets per 1 Unused Keycard. Points go to trash. Source: Game info tab.

Will the current event currency carry over to the next event?

No. Event currencies are for the current ones only.

When will my event medals expire?

One week after the end of said event.

Will the *insert ranking reward here* be available in the future?

Only if they rerun ranking maps.

Where can I see rankings?

Tap the bottom-right arrow at the main screen.

I wasn't able to clear the event. Will I still get the clear rewards when they get added to Campaign?

Nope. Gutted rewards compared to original. Free shit is free shit, and doll rewards gets cycled to Limited Dolls.

What's the optimal way of clearing ~~Bingo~~ Key Card Events?

Using the Targeted Draws to fully clear the board in one go.

Fairies

What are fairies?

ATM Guide.

How do fairies work?

GFC.

Does the Fervor talent give a 10% boost at the beginning of the battle?

0s, 8s, 16s. So yes.

Can fairies be recovered from Index?

No, unfortunately.

Third Party

I've heard of GFAlarm. Is it safe to use?

It's not modifying anything that can affect their income nor does it modify gameplay elements that would necessitate a ban. Should be fine.

Is it fine to use GFCalc?

Recommended more like.

Are keybinds bannable?

"Officially" recommended not to use keybinds. If you're willing to take the risk, go for it. Macros ARE a bannable offense, full stop.

Which emulators are good for GFL?

Mumu is the most recommended. There's also Nox, Memu, LDPlayer... Bluestacks seems to get shat though.

Any substitute for brainlets damage sim?

Github version and non-English version for starters. ATM has one too. Hycdes.

How do I kite using an emulator?

Keybinds are favored.

Auto-battles

Auto-battles?

Saves your sanity from painful-AF-to-grind-for-drops maps for starters.

Which map is best for auto-battles?

List of auto-battle statistics. Commentary.

What does total exp in the auto-battle completion mean?

...Not sure.

I can't do auto-battle even though I met the required CE. What happened?

Is it a night map? If it is, refer to night CE. If it still doesn't let you, increase CE, some required CE are listed wrong.

Can I get SPEQs/Limited dolls from auto-battles?

Yes, you can.

Support Echelons

Do support echelons use equipments?

Equipments, formation, and apparently costumes too are saved instances. Doll levels, equipment levels, skill levels, and chibi aren't.

I can't deploy a friend echelon. What do I do?

"Unable to deploy Support Echelon before the mission starts!". Maybe it's possible to set support echelon after starting the mission". If it's still a no, restart or check how many are allowed.

Dormitories

How do friend batteries work?

From QnA.

Why aren't my dorm batteries appearing?

Either it's because it's not their time yet or that you should check your surplus batteries.

Which dolls appear in which dorms?

Echelon position corresponds to dorm positione i.e. Echelon 1 in Dorm 1, Echelon 2 in Dorm 2, etc.

What are all the available pets right now?

If the pet you're looking for isn't here, it might be a Cafe Costume Story reward.

Others

I didn't get *insert reward here*. I checked my inventory but they're not there. How do I get them?

Have you checked the quests? What about the mail? If you did and they're still not there, either restart or wait for a few days.

How do I get a higher success rate for logistics?

Levels.

Would the equipment I'm enhancing get bonus points if I used an enhanced fodder?

Apparently no.

Which SF units are considered dolls/machines/armored/unarmored?

Note that Jupiter Cannons count as unarmored machine type.

Will there be problems with switching between two devices regularly?

Only if you think that manually logging in is a problem.

What's the Double Jupiter formation?

M4 MOD II + self-buff RF (usually IWS) + 3 HG (usually ROF buffers).

I can't access the new map even though I already cleared the prerequisite map.

Beat it again.

When will dorm battery, daily gift, friend battery reset?

Clock for your every need. And ranking updates one hour after Kalina's Daily Gift.

How can I play GFL if Apple Store doesn't have it?

Use Android, use emulator, use VPN, use jailbreak.

How does the rescue station work?

I claim no ownership.

What're the rewards for the Defense Drill?

Also includes the things you'll fight.

When is the anniversary?

May.

What does the Download Data button in the settings do?

Basically fairy and equipment texture, and dorm-related stuff.

How do I bind my account?

Settings>Manage Account>Bind to your preferred account.

Is it fine to use green equips?

Advised to use if lack gold ones. Do calibration only on gold ones for efficiency. Otherwise, fine to level them up.

How do I fill up the Enemy Index?

Just fight them. Win or lose, we get them.

Where can I get doll/fairy costume art?

Updated to CN servers.

How do I remove HOCs from Target Practice?

Tap on them again.

What does "Event" mean on the left side of the mission select screen?

Combat Missions: If there is a new night map, SPEQ rate up for X-4n.
Combat/Campaign: 1.5x EXP
Logistics: Great Success Rate Up
Combat sim: All simulations unlocked.

Which should I prioritizein the Data Room, Combat Reports or Special Combat Reports?

SCRs primarily because you can just EXP sim, corpse drag, and auto-battle the dolls, and also because basecamp sells far more CR than SCR. Note that you'd need 5000 SCRs to fully level a fresh HOC.

How do I maximize the efficiency of my RFHG echelon's ROF?

...I'll just leave it here.

What do advantaged dolls in combat map mean?

20% FP boost for AR, RF, MG. 20% EVA boost for SMG, HG, SG.

Limited-only Dolls

★★★★★

DSR-50	Five-Seven	TAC-50	OTs-14	CZ-75
AK-74u	AUG	Ballista	R93	JS 9
Lewis	HS2000	M82A1	Desert Eagle

★★★★

KLIN	UMP40	Honey Badger	Cx4 Storm	PP-19
KSVK	M1895 CB

★★★
Arctic Warfare

Type81R	RPD	Super SASS	MT-9	Ots-44
Type59

Operation Cube

Z-62	6P62	62 Shiki	ASh-12.7	ARX-160

Deep Dive

AR70	SSG 69	F1	EVO 3	HK45

For more info...

Nice Things To Have

Vertical Messages on Dorms and Chat.
CE Fromula.
Chibi Rips and Character Arts. And the how to's.
GFL Loading Screen Splash Arts.
Pre-mission flavor text.
tehcavy rips of Division CGs and art.

Unobtainable

Anything collab.
Some Kalina costumes.

Gems and Fireworks

Some doll costumes.

UMP45 Griffin jacket.
SPAS, SV-98, AK-12 skin.
M1895 KFC.

Hi Reddit readers, In this review i take a look at the SX Nano Auto Squonker from Yihi SXMini. The SX Nano was supplied for the purpose of this review by Yihi SXMini.
https://www.yihisxmini.com/productview/236.html
https://preview.redd.it/808rb7vt0sb61.png?width=1098&format=png&auto=webp&s=c412052e1f7c34c1fdd1af576020f63dc13e3fc3
Introduction
The SX Nano is the fourth portable device to be released incorporating the latest technology from Yihi, the ESS(Electronic Spray System) Driver integrated with the latest third generation temperature control technology.
Don't shoot me if i am wrong but as far as i can work out both iPV (Pioneer4You) who brought us the first portable device using the technology and VSticking are owned by Yihi SXmini so while SXmini concentrates on high end products we have iPV bringing us more affordable products while the aim of VSticking is to offer luxury but at an affordable price. I made no secret of the fact i really liked this new technology when i first reviewed the iPV version and was quite blown away when VSticking then brought us a version with a more functional TC DIY mode along with Rebuildable ADA's, then came the long awaited SX Auto from SXMini thrmselves which was their portable device following the technology being used in the X-Class.
The SX Nano almost reverts back to the IPV version in regard to being much more simplistic but is far from a downgrade as this device has been in development for a full year perfecting the firmware to bring the perfect vape out the box while making the device both more affordable (while maintaining quality) and also cheaper to use with the ADAv2's which just need the drop in disposable decks (Disk Coils) purchasing rather than the entire ADA.
I was first made aware of this device back in February and along with others received the first prototype a few months back which has been part of the process of making the Nano as good as it possibly can be and even since receiving my review sample there has been 3 more firmware upgrades, the RSA (rebuildable) decks, new Stainless Steel drip tip (which will be included) and now optional 0.3ohm disposable decks all become available, let's check out the SX Nano!
___________________________________________________________________
In The Box
https://preview.redd.it/0zyz042w0sb61.jpg?width=980&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=be9b0d047c679c05fa7af41684d520e1ace8b97c
Contents:
1pc SX Nano Device 1pc 0.6ohm (SS316L) SX-ADA V2 Atomizer Set 1pc 0.6ohm Disk Coil (SS216L) 1pc SS Drip tip 2pc Reservoirs 1pc USB Type C Cable 1pc User Manual 1pc Warranty Card
___________________________________________________________________
Aesthetics and Ergonomics
The SX Nano comes in the usual minimalistic White SXMini Cardboard packaging with customary matching paper gift bag! On opening the first thing that stands out is how small the device is, it's one of those devices that you can see as many photos as possible but it's size in real life will still surprise! My review sample is Black, the options are Black, Gunmetal, Red, Blue or Green, i must say the Green, Red and Blue look particularly nice shades of those colours!
We have a nice looking Chromed outline both front and back and grooved edging. On the face we have a very nicely machined protruding round chromed fire button central top and central bottom 2 smaller matching buttons lined up vertically, between the fire and lower buttons we have a narrow elongated display.
Looking at the device with the front facing you we have the reservoir at the bottom on the left edge, moving to the base we have a Type C USB port. Moving to the rear we have "SXmini" printed in White centrally which doesn't bother me personally but below we have printed safety marks which i just find an eyesore and somewhat looks cheap on such a nice looking, well made device.
Up top we have a small plate with proprietary BF connection, the ADA is Silver and heavily grooved with almost a multi heatsink fins look, at the top it steps and tapers to a proprietary screw-on Delrin drip tip! As mentioned the device is very small as the name suggests so just gets swallowed up in the hand and is a great out and about option!
https://preview.redd.it/q18xgl7y0sb61.jpg?width=980&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f4a49b8487ae8b191dbc41fe2d679b5ed7d7b428
Out the box the device comes with a silicon dust protection plug in the plates threading protecting the BF pin. If you keep this then if you are not going to use the device for a while you can remove the ADA and reinsert the plug!
https://preview.redd.it/ei5wbem01sb61.jpg?width=980&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=beb3ae706173f70284d60b5480aac26708e200d4
___________________________________________________________________
SX Nano Specs and Features:
Powered by the YiHi SX681J ESS Driver Battery capacity: 900mAh Reservoir capacity: 2ML Reservoir material: PETG Max Charge: 5V/1A ~60 min to full charge Quiescent Current <3 uA ADA mode supported coils: SX ADA v2 0.6ohm Device size: 87.4*39*17.9mm Colours: Black, Gunmetal, Red, Blue, Green
https://preview.redd.it/7uwq4ni21sb61.jpg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2d45f73ffcdbcac4a00895c14213d8068d46df95
___________________________________________________________________
What You Get And What's Available?
You receive obviously the device and ADAv2 with a 0.6ohm disposable deck pre-installed. You also get a spare disposable deck and a spare 2ml reservoir. Although in the sample i received only included the pre-installed Delrin screw-on drip tip the retail version will also include a longer profile Stainless Steel drip tip with Ultem base, very nice!
https://preview.redd.it/cd0yqpx41sb61.jpg?width=490&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=510013dcffe8e8204910fdd6986def79fb7c0661
Although they have decided to include the Stainless Steel drip tip it is also available as a separate purchase.
https://preview.redd.it/wxaq61z81sb61.jpg?width=490&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=732e5b3cd3c6b906127bbc0b5f30ecc4de008342
The previous ADA's were completely disposable but with the ADAv2 we have a permanent ADA then you simply replace the drop in disposable pre-coiled deck (disk coil) which both brings the cost down and is more environmentally friendly! The disposable decks are available with 0.6ohm builds and also will be available with 0.3ohm builds.
https://preview.redd.it/gvncyqqb1sb61.jpg?width=490&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=580ab4ac48d3a11ce3f8bcb22d124dea0e3aaedc
To save even more money a semi-rebuildable option is also available in the form of their RSA's which although i am sure stands for rebuildable squonkinq atomizer actually all you receive is a pre-wound, pre-wicked coils and paper rings that fit around the top of the deck.
https://preview.redd.it/onmsnved1sb61.jpg?width=490&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cfdcdd0e5a01b4fac762f148ccf479469f5438df
You actually use both the existing ADAv2 and use a used disposable deck, removing the used build and fitting the pre-wound, pre-wicked coil and ring, below is a video showing how the coil is fitted:

https://youtu.be/6g9CrcjTT1M
___________________________________________________________________
How The System Works
The SX Nano is a temperature control and bottom feeder device. The YiHi chip also controls the supply of e-liquid to the atomizer by pumping just enough e-liquid as you vape so when you press the fire button it heats the coil while simultaneously spraying the atomizer's build with e-liquid via the electronic pumping system, the system is called ESS (Electronic Spray System) Driver. The idea is that the e-liquid is completely isolated from the heating core apart from when you actually vape so you are always vaporising fresh e-liquid, so giving improved flavour and coil longevity.
Although it's a temperature control device it's a proprietary system although unlike the previous ESS Driver devices everything as been set-up for you so you have no knowledge of the Joules and equivalent wattage or temperature, just Cold, Normal, and Warm pre-sets. These pre-sets have been tailored over a year which has involved testers which i was lucky enough to be one to get them spot on!
___________________________________________________________________
The SX ADAv2
The SX ADAv2 looks just like a little BF RDA and works the same way, the upgrade is the v2 is not disposable but instead as already mentioned accommodates disposable coiled decks. Up top we have a proprietary screw-on Delrin drip tip and looking at the sleeve it has a small slot each side for adjusting airflow. The threading is much shorter but wider than the usual 510 threading and the connector on top of the device is shallow and has a fixed BF pin, the real bummer here is despite being proprietary like with the SX Auto, iPV V3-Mini and VKSma they have managed to have them all a slightly different size when it comes to the threading and as much as i love this device and the technology the lack of compatibility is it's biggest con!
https://preview.redd.it/3k7b75mh1sb61.jpg?width=1470&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=b2befb0305d1f000f7a89d46f2984c7cbeae17e0
___________________________________________________________________
Fitting The Disposable Decks
When you no longer are getting good flavour it's time to replace the pre-coiled deck which is done by simply pulling the deck out. Fitting a new deck is just as easy, you just press it in place and it can only fit one way!
https://preview.redd.it/lwfps4fj1sb61.jpg?width=1470&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0107914b67a19c35b5dec0c64480e9a182ee626a
___________________________________________________________________
The Airflow
We have a small slot either side on the sleeve and 2 small holes either side on the base section. When you look inside the sleeve you will see a recessed section either side and we have a tab each side on the base. When fitting the sleeve turn and it will drop in place when the tabs locate the recessed sections we now have a rail system with stoppers!
Turning the sleeve between stoppers allows you to have one hole open either side or two, of course you can have one and a part hole or even just part of one hole either side!
The air travels through the hole/holes either side and up from underneath giving bottom airflow!
https://preview.redd.it/oai6zmdl1sb61.jpg?width=1470&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a6871d120f1e007459bb31ad54a037d71a2f40b2
___________________________________________________________________
The E-Liquid Reservoir
The e-liquid reservoir holds 2ml of e-liquid and towards the top there is an indented slot to get your fingernail into for grip, just pull down and it slides out of the device. Looking at the device their is a pipe that feeds all the way down to the bottom, when fitting the reservoir just feed the pipe into the main hole at the top of the reservoir and slide back into position, it fits perfectly. Looking at the top of the reservoir we have a hole which is used for both filling and feeding the pipe into as already described. We also have a second minute hole which allows air to escape or suck air in depending on the requirement, make sure you leave enough volume for the pipe when filling. I found filling and both removing and refitting the reservoir quick, easy and a 100% mess free experience.
https://preview.redd.it/bw3uhqbo1sb61.jpg?width=980&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1bfc4e3c22b52aedd451dd7f4da6011a9de167c0
___________________________________________________________________
Operating The Device
The device is the usual 5 clicks of the fire button to turn on but you need to enter the menu to shutdown which is the first option, to enter the menu is 5 clicks and select shutdown.
https://preview.redd.it/mizqpmkq1sb61.jpg?width=490&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=89e4435fd2f7b04189f1f1e9c58cb671c41dcb0f
When you first use the device or install a new disposable deck and press fire it detects there is no liquid through the temperature control dry burn technology so doesn't fire but automatically pumps e-liquid to the ADA, while it does this "NO LIQUID" is displayed on the screen. Once the correct amount of liquid has been pumped through the system it goes into priming mode and "PRIMING" is displayed on the screen until the cotton is saturated.
Now pressing the up button you enter the 3 power pre-set modes which can now be scrolled through using the up and down buttons with fire selecting, the pre-sets are Cold, Norm and Warm.
Pressing the down button enters the pump speed setting which is set differently for each power pre-set but can be altered if you wish although each pre-set allows different pump speed parameters.
Just like the previous ESS Driver devices you can manually feed liquid through the pump by holding down the up button or draw liquid back by keeping the down button pressed but they have these pre-set settings and corresponding pump speeds so homed in i have found zero need to do anything other than choose my power pre-set and press fire!
https://preview.redd.it/1h1cpdls1sb61.jpg?width=980&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=39ff9a699b50841d827cb667244bcfded527deb7
As mentioned the device also has a menu which is 5 clicks to enter which allows you to scroll through and select from a choice of Shutdown (power the device down), Update (choose this when updating firmware), Brightness (adjust display brightness), Help (will come to this) and Exit!
The device has just one other feature which is 3 clicks of the fire button locks the whole device (it will not fire) and 3 clicks again unlocks the device.
https://preview.redd.it/1ntrxjnu1sb61.jpg?width=980&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9b71c86f2c29aabcbf1b67a1005cf28ff0cfde17
I really like the Help option as at a nice speed allowing time to read and digest the information it scrolls through how to use the device, it's almost a digital version of a manual, very useful!
___________________________________________________________________
Firmware V7
How i described operating the device is how it is explained in the manual that will be included but since the manual was printed the device has been updated to firmware version V7 which will be the version of the first production run! Not a lot has changed, it now just includes an Auto lock, 3 clicks to unlock and when initially feeding liquid and it says "NO LIQUID" it requires a second press of the fire button to confirm.
___________________________________________________________________
Charging
The Nano has a type C USB port for charging and firmware upgrades. The charge rate is 1A allowing the device to fully charge in just less than an hour while supporting pass-through, the only issue i have is the USB port is on the base and i much prefer devices standing up while charging!
https://preview.redd.it/k4fghcuw1sb61.jpg?width=490&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ba331ede0cc37541596b222d65b863f3ae4ce411
___________________________________________________________________
My Experience Using The SX Nano
To start with a bit of background as when i first heard about the ESS Driver technology i read up about it and was immediately intrigued. Also this is the fourth device i have reviewed using the technology and i have enjoyed using all four devices and seeing how the technology has evolved.
The first thing i want to point out is a con which has been resolved! On my sample the gap between the base of the ADA and the plate on the device is quite large, normally i mention gaping even though it doesn't usually bother me but this even bugs me. I did inform SXmini suggesting they did something about it but was told i wasn't the first to point it out to them and they had already improved it and sent me the photo below which is much better!
https://preview.redd.it/ghng7vqy1sb61.jpg?width=485&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0d3596c069355591e16c330727c5458b9e9af6b1
This device in my opinion really is very good but like most things it does have cons the first being the obvious that this is entirely a proprietary system so the ADA's won't fit anything else and likewise the device can only be used with the ADAv2! The other con with the Nano being so small and also incorporating a pump system means as a trade off it only has a 900mAh battery but on the plus side it has type C USB with a 1A charge rate so can be fully charged within an hour while also supporting pass-through.
I love how simple this device is, it really is very user friendly which is down to the constant improvements and firmware upgrades before release, remember this isn't the first device using this technology but the fifth yet they still worked on this device for a full year and we are already on firmware version 7 before release!
The idea with the Nano is the other ESS Driver devices had a real learning curve to them so were not ideal for newer vapers so they worked on just having pre-sets and putting a lot of effort in getting them right in regard vapor production, quality of vape and corresponding pump speed although the pump speed can be altered and manually activated and also you can manually draw liquid back.
The other aim was to make the device both affordable, cheaper to run and more environmentally friendly! And at around $60 for the device and just needing to replace the disk coil or even fitting the pre-wound, pre-wicked coils yourself to a used disc coil assembly this is a cheap vaping option while the build quality of the device is still extremely good!
I received my final sample version 7 or 8 weeks ago and although apart from two days it has been my secondary device over that period it has had quite some use and i am only on the second what i refer to as disposable deck (officially called disk coil) so like the previous disposable ADA's the longevity is quite outstanding!
The other thing that really has impressed me is apart from the initial liquid feed with a new coil i have never touched the pump speed setting or manually pumped or drawn back liquid yet i have had Zero leaking and not once the "No Liquid" message during use so they have really homed in the syncing between the power pre-sets and pump speed, it's pretty damn near perfect!!!!!
The flavour is also very good, not as good as my very best RTA's and RDA's but better than the flavour i get from the stock coils with pod mods! When it comes to airflow 2 holes open either side gives a choice between a tight restricted direct lung vape or very loose MTL whichever you prefer and one hole open either side is still a loose MTL but more a medium loose draw. You can go down to a part hole for a medium MTL and also closing the airflow altogether just allows very slight air leakage allowing for a tight draw but not ideal as the airflow is quite smooth but with the airflow closed down it's a bit of a rough ride! Another pros is the way the pump just delivers the liquid needed making this very efficient with juice, it might only be 2ml but that 2ml goes a long way with this device!
I like what is included and that they decided to also include the Stainless Steel drip tip. Both drip tips are very comfortable but if chain vaping on either Norm or Warm then the Delrin tip can get a bit toastie but my lips stayed nice and cool using the Stainless Steel option.
Finally it's quite light and very portable, the only other minor cons i have is the safety marks being visible on the rear of the device and it can easily fall over if knocked! I did partly because of the innovation involved say that the SX Auto was the best device i used in 2019 but it's far too early in the year to make such a statement about the Nano in 2021 but it's great to see the technology evolve in regard ease of use and becoming much cheaper with disposable disc coils, in my opinion it's a winner!
https://preview.redd.it/uzlzd1a12sb61.jpg?width=490&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=caa5d526c69a6ae921db17c77c3b1db988cc7119

___________________________________________________________________
Likes
Very good build quality Small and ergonomic 5 nice colour options Very nice looking (subjective) Innovation ESS (Electronic Spray System) Driver Integrated YiHi Chipset Easy to use temperature controlled device 3 Poweflavour pre-sets E-liquid isolated from heating core until you vape Can manually pump e-liquid to atomizer or suck back into tank if needed MTL or Tight Restricted DL Device lock/Auto lock Device can be turned off and on 2ml reservoir of e-liquid goes a long way due to micro management system Removing, Filling and reinstalling reservoir is very quick and mess free Adjustable airflow Zero leaking Very good flavour Smooth airflow Disk Coils give very good longevity 2 included drip tips Spare Disk Coil and Reservoir included Disc Coils, cheaper and more environmentally friendly solution Pre-wound, pre-wicked RSA's even cheaper and adds a semi rebuildable option Type C USB Charges in less than an hour Supports pass-through Firmware upgradeable
Cons
Lack of compatibility (entirely proprietary system) Only 900mAh battery Safety marks on rear visually obtrusive Does topple over quite easily Don't like USB port being on base
I would once again like to thank Yihi SXmini for supplying the SX Auto for the purpose of this review, thanks for reading and stay safe!
https://www.yihisxmini.com/productview/236.html
___________________________________________________________________

Before I begin here, a few brief notes:

I put a lot of thought into deciding what exactly to call this and what to include/exclude. I was originally trying to just stick to bugs, but there are some things that are important to list yet appear to be more oversights than bugs. However, moving on to oversights invites a discussion on balance, which is a massive issue here that I'm not going to touch on. My criteria for deciding whether something should be here was whether or not it seemed intended, and whether similar things work the same way. I am definitely happy to get more info on things to update the list with, but keep in mind that if it is a balancing issue like "mutant's is too weak" or "drum mag does not have enough ammo", I likely already considered it and chose to leave it out because it is not in the spirit of this post.
I am including issues that are both harmful and beneficial to players. I know some of you don't like that, but at the end of the day I would rather remain impartial by seeing things work properly and then decide what should and should not be there, as opposed to having to focus the game around broken mechanics.
I tested every single one of these myself in the past few weeks unless otherwise stated, which means I am limited to my own experience.
If any of you remember my similar post from last year, 25/83 issues I listed there were actually fixed between then and now. Most of those were directly with the Wastelanders update.
I tried my best to make this list easy to read, but it's very long and there is simply too much to make it easy beyond a certain point.

Alien Blaster

The sharpshooter grip can not be converted back to standard after crafting.
Projectiles are extremely delayed. The impact occurs long after the beam passes through an enemy, making it very difficult to hit moving targets.
This would normally not be put on this list, but the loading screens specifically say this is "a powerful energy beam weapon that can completely disintegrate enemies." This is blatantly false, as this weapon struggles to kill enemies in the forest.

Assault Rifle

Whistle in the Dark, the unique survival mode variant, can not use atom shop paints. Or rather the only paint it has, which is the bats one from NW.

Auto Grenade Launcher

It has grip and sights mod slots despite not having any interchangeable mods for them.

Bow and Compound Bow

The reflex sights can not be used, making them fairly useless except to slightly buff VATS accuracy. Even with the sights equipped, you draw the bow at either a sideways angle (“hipfire”) or straight up (ADS). During both of these animations, the reflex sights are too low to see through.
Using the bow can lock you into an odd position where you can not put it away or use your pip boy. You must swap weapons via the favorites wheel to get out of it. This seems to mostly happen the first time you use it on a server.
Both bows have a listed fire rate of 100. As this is clearly not the case, there are potentially some other background issues caused by this like with the gatling gun before that was fixed.

Chainsaw

It does not display how many mods you have learned (2 are possible, bow bar and dual bar).

Crossbow

You can not convert the frame back to normal after modding it.
The iron sights and glow sights that were introduced with Wastelanders do not stay on after leaving servers. The weapon still says it is equipped, and inspecting it in your inventory will show the correct sights, but the first person model in your hand will show the default sights instead. Example

Cryolator

The physical mod box for the crystallizing barrel is called “Cryolator Long Barrel”
The crystallizing barrel decreases total damage dealt to enemies even though the pip boy numbers show a flat increase. The exact value obviously depends on the enemy, but it seems to be somewhere around a 40% decrease. It appears that the game only deals the (now reduced) energy damage and completely ignores the ballistic damage.
The crystallizing barrel incorrectly shows a massive damage increase ONLY when paired with the two shot legendary effect. Without any heavy gunner perks, the standard barrel deals 36 energy damage, and the crystallizing barrel moves it up to 36 physical and 27 energy (physical damage is equal to the old energy damage). A two shot cryolator shows 45 energy damage with the standard barrel, and the crystallizing barrel moves it up to 72 physical and 36 energy (physical is equal to 200% of the base energy damage).

Cultist Blade

It was removed from the common legendary drop pool a long time ago, and new drops are no longer possible post-Wastelanders. Supposedly, it is still possible to get 1* variants from the monster mash event

Double-Barreled Shotgun

The dot reflex sight is heavier than a circle reflex sight for whatever reason.

The Dragon

The explosive secondary effect gives +80% damage instead of +20% damage, it seems to add a full damage explosion per pellet.
It was removed from the common legendary drop pool a long time ago, and new drops are no longer possible post-Wastelanders. Supposedly, it is still possible to get 1* variants from the monster mash event
You can no longer apply or craft bayonets on them; yet another stealth change not mentioned in patch notes. Was this a bug that got fixed, or is the removal itself a bug? Dragons with bayonets attached before that change still have them, and they have a unique model without any apparent clipping, so it seems like removing them was the bug.

(Enclave) Plasma Rifle

Flamer barrels benefit from rifleman and gunslinger perks. At least the splitter is understandable as to why it is not treated as a shotgun, but this is literally a fully automatic spray in more ways than one. It would make far more sense to use commando/guerilla perks.
Attaching a pulse capacitor while you already have a flamer barrel attached will cause it to still shoot yellow plasma bolts instead of a stream of green flame.

Explosive Bait

Can still be used to grief players/damage CAMPs outside of PvP.

Fire Axe

Modding the weapon to have spikes will not allow you to convert it back to a normal axe.

Flamer

Shooting an enemy that is point blank will not damage it; seemingly, the flame hitbox goes through them up to a certain range.
There is a big mess going on with nozzles and barrels. Compression/vaporization nozzles lower the reach of the weapon (although they state they lower range instead. On a side note, why does the weapon have a range of 200+ when it has such limited reach? That causes some very interesting interactions with explosive variants that shoot bullets instead of fire). Switching barrels causes the reach to revert back to the default - it does not matter which barrel you switch to. Yes, with a vaporization nozzle equipped, changing your long barrel to a standard barrel will INCREASE your reach. Then to top it all off, this effect resets when you leave the server. Based on the fallout 4 wiki, there was a similar issue: “The long barrel modification is implemented such that, in the game, it must be applied last to increase the range after a custom nozzle is selected.” For clarification: range refers to the pip boy range stat, which determines the range at which damage starts to fall off. Reach refers to how far the flames travel before they disappear. The vaporization nozzle is the only attachment that claims to lower reach.
Shooting friendlies with a flamer does not trigger the friendly fire perk. However, bashing with a flamer seems to work fine. Rather embarrassing considering it’s the weapon featured on the perk card.

Floater Grenades (Flamer, Freezer, and Gnasher)

Since update 20, they have been added to the explosives pool, so they can now be found in containers or dropped from enemies. This seems to be a bug due to the fact that they are gold bullion items, and they still can not be sold/traded despite being available to everybody.
They are not affected by any kind of weight reduction effect (specifically, explosives or weapon).

Fragmentation MIRV Grenades

They do not explode in tandem like they used to - the clusters all explode at once now, essentially making this a regular grenade with more damage and a wider radius.

Gatling Gun

Scrapping it will teach you an unnamed mod that can not be attached, even if you already know 7/7 mods for it. Example. I did not try scrapping too many of these, but it seems to loop infinitely each time you do.
The Appalachian Thunder Pipe skin is extremely obstructive in first person, becoming outright impossible to use if combined with the front sight. This post has a pretty good example of it.

Gatling LaseGatling Plasma

They will often not use up a core completely, even from a full reload, whether the core is fully charged or not. This leads to large amounts of cores with 1-5% charge taking up inventory space, and makes it look like you are not using ammo. Additionally, if you have many nearly-empty cores in your inventory, you will sometimes be displayed the incorrect amount of ammo and you will stop shooting/not automatically reload when it runs out.

Gatling Plasma

It has a magazine mod slot despite not having any interchangeable mods for it.
The beam focuser causes you to shoot green plasma bolts that leave a red mark on impact. They even have reflecting lasers when you hit a mirelurk's or fog crawler's shell.
The beam splitter turns it into a flamer. You can see impact points for green plasma balls if shooting the ground, so the game seems to be confused about what kind of weapon it is. It seems to actually “split” the shot, but only one portion of it shoots/hits, so it only leaves one hole in a surface and deals much less damage than a regular gatling plasma. However, if you have an explosive one, this mod works perfectly fine and splits it as intended.

Gauss Minigun

Displays 5 max mods to learn at a workbench even though there are 6 plans you can buy. Some of them don't contribute towards that limit.
Does not benefit from either ballistic bock or high voltage hefe, implying that the gun is not classified as either an energy or ballistic weapon.

Gauss Pistol
*The reflex sights are noticeably misaligned. The actual shot goes slightly beyond the top-left corner of the reticule circle. It seems to be too low when standing, and too high when crouched.

It displays 5 max mods to learn at a workbench even though there are 9 plans you can buy. Some of them don't contribute towards that limit.
Sometimes, after using the gun for a bit, it will have a light around it as if it was charged when it is not.

Gauss Pistol/Rifle/Shotgun

Charging is slightly buggy. Sometimes a charged shot will fizzle out, especially after being staggered, jumping, scoping, etc. Server lag seems to intensify this, fizzle rate sometimes goes up to 40-50% of charged shots at busy events.
Charging the weapon and then putting it away to cancel the charge will keep the counter stuck at whatever it was (probably 99) until you fire the weapon again.

Gauss Shotgun

It benefits from ballistic bock and not high voltage hefe, implying that the gun is treated as a ballistic weapon. This is inconsistent with the gauss rifle and radium rifle being treated as both energy and ballistic weapons.

Handmade Rifle

The tweaked receiver is identical to the powerful automatic receiver stat-wise.
The piercing magazine reduces ammo capacity down to 10. Interestingly, this was updated to actually be reflected in the mod description (“Reduced ammo capacity”), but this makes no sense balance-wise. All the other magazines (except standard, of course) have either +2 “ranks” to armor penetration, reload speed, or ammo capacity; OR +1 to two of those. The piercing magazine has +1 to armor penetration and reload speed, as it should, but also -2 to ammo capacity.
The blood eagle and gold skins do not have any textures for the suppressors, causing them to have a stretched looking mess instead. Example of BE skin Example of gold 1 gold 2
The Screaming Eagle skin is very, very bugged. This post does an excellent job summing it up. In short: it has parts that should move but don't, the sights are misaligned, there are clipping issues with the gun and attachments, and some of the animations do not work properly.

Laser Rifle/Ultracite Laser Rifle

There is a ridiculously specific bug where you can not shoot if you have a sniper barrel and rifle stock, are wearing power armor, and are playing in third person. If any of these factors is removed, you can fire normally again.
Capacitors like snappy, speedy, hair trigger, etc. that increase fire rate do not affect automatic barrels. This is true both in the pip boy and in practice.

Light Machine Gun

It has barrel, stock, magazine, and muzzle mod slots despite not having any interchangeable mods for them.
The muzzle brake is a mod that is learned from scrapping (and it even requires gunsmith 4 to “craft”), but every LMG has one by default and there is physically no way to replace it, making it impossible to "craft". This even counts towards the 2 mods that can be learned for this weapon, with the other being the prime receiver.

M79 Grenade Launcher

It has a receiver slot despite not having any interchangeable mods for it.

Minigun

If you are using the weapon without any ammo (i.e a shredder barrel build), jumping will mess with the spin-up, either resetting it or just breaking it until you let go and spin-up again.

Pipe Bolt-Action/Pipe Revolver

These two benefit from both rifleman and gunslinger perks when used with a rifle stock.

Pipe Gun

Unlocking every attachment in the game (from scrapping and plans) still leaves you with 65/66 learned mods displayed at weapon workbenches.

Pipe Revolver

The weapon’s base fire rate is reduced from 6 to 5 when using a pistol grip instead of a stock.

Plasma Caster

It displays 3 max mods to learn at a workbench even though there are 6 plans you can buy. Some of them don't contribute towards that limit.

Pump Action Shotgun

It has a sights mod slot despite not having any interchangeable mods for it.

Ripper

It was removed from the common legendary drop pool a long time ago, and new drops are no longer possible post-Wastelanders. Supposedly, it is still possible to get 1* variants from the monster mash event. Interestingly, the mr. handy buzz blade is still in the drop pool.

Salvaged Assaultron Head

In VATS, it will only deal damage equal to one charge, no matter whether you charged it before or after entering VATS.
Very old heads are missing the “effect” that irradiates the user on hit. I do not know the exact cutoff date, but I know that it was sometime before the purveyor update. "Broken" head from 2018

Single Action Revolver

It has a barrel mod slot despite not having any interchangeable mods for it.

Submachine Gun (.45)

The prime receiver deals more damage than the hardened; on all other guns, prime and hardened deal equal damage. The only other weapons where prime deals the most damage are those that do not have a hardened receiver, like the gauss rifle.
The scorched killer’s receiver nearly doubles the fire rate, from 75 to 127. This does not occur on any other weapon. This is the fire rate it had in Fallout 4, so it’s most likely a copy/paste that got through like the handmade drum mags.

Syringer

Trying to shoot the syringer will charge it into a weird throwing state, which moves it off-screen until you let go of the fire button, at which point it will fire as normal
The endangerol syringe has the inverse effect of what it says. Shooting an enemy with it gives THAT ENEMY an armor penetration bonus. I tested this against various scorched, they dealt significantly more damage against me with 278 DR after being shot by the syringe (2-4 damage, 100% increase; 7-12 damage, ~70% increase).

Tesla Rifle

Can rarely drop with a “Scope” attachment on the sights. This causes it to not have any sights at all, which is normally not possible as even the standard sights have a little ring. This also makes it so that the sight mod slot does not show up when inspecting it from your inventory. The most recent drop I was able to personally confirm was between patches 19 and 20. It's possible this was fixed in the latest patch, but the far more likely scenario is that I simply have not found one because they are very rare drops.

Trail Fireworks Mine

Equipping this speeds up your weapon’s reload. It seems to cut it approximately in half. This ignores the 130% reload speed cap that you are normally bound to.

Ultracite Gatling LaseUltracite Laser Rifle

Both sometimes have the appearance of a regular lasegatling laser when in the inventory or weapons workbench.
Some attachments turn the lasers back to red. I was able to confirm the UGL beam focuser, as well as the ULR true/stabilized sniper barrels.

Western Revolver

The refined and severe receivers provide a 37.5% damage increase, while hardened and prime only give 25%; these are probably supposed to be swapped.

General Weapons

Attachments

The bull barrel attachment for the .44 revolver is not obtainable in-game, even though the bull barrel is shown in the Nuclear Winter .44 camouflage, as well as the recent responders power armor paint images, as if it was in the game. According to dataminers, only parts of the required files for it are in the game.
10mm SMG Free States paint advertisement shows iron sights, even though it does not have any in-game.
The pump-action shotgun, similarly, has a red dot sight and sight rail shown in atom shop pictures even though this does not exist in-game.
There are a few attachments in the game that only exist on rare pre-modded weapons and can not be either attached with a physical mod or crafted from a plan. These include the tesla lobber barrel (random drop), cultist dagger shadowed/serrated blades (random drop), bowie knife shadowed/serrated blades (random drop), chainsaw flamer mod (mod box only), and super sledge heavy rocket (only exists on All Rise). With this game, it is difficult to tell whether this is intended or not. The pink/yellow/indigo baseball bats can at least be reasonably assumed to be intended as a collector's item, but locking away functional mods like that seems questionable.
This post here goes more in-depth than me on other issues related to missing attachments, the ones I listed are simply because they were already in some way featured in the game.

Bolt-/Pump-Action Weapons

The cycle/pump animation is repeated if you unscope/ADS while in the middle of the animation.
You can shorten/skip the animation by bashing, throwing a grenade/knife, or using a stimpak at the right time. However, this is only faster than letting the animation play on a hunting rifle without faster fire rate mods.
Faster fire rate effects do not work with these weapons in third person. This includes both the rapid legendary effect and any attachments that increase firing speed.

Energy Guns

Using a splitter on an explosive energy weapon causes ridiculous damage, it seems like the damage calculation is not applied properly. The explosions still deal full damage per projectile, ignoring the explosive nerf from early 2019. As a friendly reminder, Bethesda said, "we've temporarily removed the ability for them to spawn with that mod applied so we can make adjustments.". It has been over 18 months since then with no word on those supposed adjustments, but plenty of dupe waves spreading these broken weapons further and further.
Sometimes, a few seconds after an enemy dies, an ash/goo pile appears near its corpse even though the body did not disintegrate. Interestingly, the cryolator creates a red laser ash pile from this bug.

Explosive Launchers

The pip boy display for damage does not seem to accurately track some effects. For example, the Bunker Buster (mighty missile launcher, +20% dmg) only shows an increase of 1-2 damage over a regular missile launcher in the pip boy despite dealing significantly more damage to enemies in testing (~11% increase against a sheepsquatch).
Two shot still doubles the damage of these weapons instead of giving the intended 25% bonus. Similar to two shot explosive guns, the two shot only affects the projectiles (which deal basically no damage), but the explosions that spawn on impact each deal full damage.

Fancy Skins

The fancy revolver and shotgun from Pleasant Valley claim tickets will often have their unique visual aspects disappear, turning into normal weapons. This seems to only be a visual bug from the inventory/display cases.

Fire Weapons

All fire weapons except the flamer, molotov cocktails, flaming chainsaw mods, and flaming crossbow/bow mods still use energy damage instead of the post-Wastelanders fire damage. More specifically, the list of bugged fire weapons includes the floater flamer grenades, shishkebab, baseball bat searing/flaming mods, pitchfork barbed flaming mod, sledgehammer searing mods, power fist heating coil mod, and super sledge heating coil mod.

High Damage/DPS Weapons

Anything dealing large amounts of damage in a short amount of time can still cause the damage bug to occur. I have only been able to consistently trigger it with my automatic tesla rifle, plasma thrower, and flamer, but I have seen many reports of this still happening with a wide variety of weapons, mostly using a combination of bloodied, instigating, explosive, and/or fire rate effects. The gatling gun, .50 cal machine gun, tesla rifle, gauss rifle, flamer, and plasma rifle seem to be the most likely to cause this.

Scorched Killer Receivers

It seems like it will sometimes count towards the maximum attachments learned on a weapon, and sometimes not. My working theory is that the weapons with plans (such as the double-barreled shotgun or assault rifle) have it count towards the number, while weapons with a scorched killer's receiver that is only learned from the responders terminal do not.

Semi-Automatic Rifles

All of these weapons are affected by the ground pounder perk. This even affects rifles like the hunting rifle that do not have automatic variants.

Shotguns

Very often, they will cause enemy health to rubberband back up. This seems to be its own form of the damage bug, because it happens almost exclusively with shotguns. Damage numbers will be displayed normally, but the enemy will heal back 60-80% of the damage you dealt a moment after the hit. However, when used in VATS, they are SIGNIFICANTLY stronger. A test I did with a combat shotgun against some glowing snallygasters gave me an idea about this: it took 2 shots with VATS, and 14 shots without it. It almost seems like shotguns are bugged to deal their full damage per pellet instead of spread across them, but this is corrected when shot outside of VATS, causing them to deal a fraction of the damage they deal in VATS.

Spin-Up Weapons

If you are staggered from a crippled limb while spinning up, the sound will continue until you pull the weapon back out. If you die before you pull the weapon back out, the sound will persist indefinitely until you bring your weapon back out.
If you are staggered while already shooting a spin-up weapon, sometimes it will continue making the firing sound but you will not be shooting or hitting anything until you let go and start shooting again.

Throwing Weapons

Equipping a weapon with a legendary effect that applies a buff on equip, such as bloodied, junkie’s, berserker’s, etc., will affect the damage of your thrown weapons.

VATS

There is general bugginess always happening with VATS, but there is also a fairly consistent trend of 95% shots missing when targeting an enemy for the first time, especially with charged weapons like the gauss pistol or bow.

Untraceable/Other

When you load into a server for the first time during a session, if your first shot were to kill an enemy, it will not kill and they will recover back to full health.
Sometimes, pressing sprint will shoot your weapon. This is extremely difficult to replicate and I don’t think it’s a consistent bug. It seems to happen mostly after quick inputs while looting a body and/or crouching. Due to the nature of this bug, testing was not really possible beyond just confirming that it is still an issue.
If you have multiple versions of a weapon, sometimes the wrong one will have its condition depleted after hitting enemies. This has been suggested to be related to having those weapons on the favorites wheel or using the same atom shop skins on them, but there is no real solid correlation found yet. Here is an example, I am currently using a two shot experimental MIRV and the instigating fat man in my inventory breaks as soon as it hits something.
Tapping fire while in third person with most automatic weapons will make them shoot faster than their fire rate normally allows. This was originally falsely attributed to just the gatling gun, and it was fixed ONLY on the gatling gun, but it is still possible to perform with various other weapons.
Stealth criticals are still not fully consistent. Sometimes, your damage numbers will display the boosted value but enemies will only take regular damage. This is easiest to see with weapons that would one-shot an enemy (like 1000 damage against a super mutant) but end up only taking out 1/2 or 1/3 of their health bar.
Holding down the fire button with automatic weapons will sometimes refill part of its ammo (10-25%) right before you start a reload. It is also possible with semi-automatic weapons, but it is far less consistent then, and you need to be spamming the fire button very quickly. This does not have much of a real purpose as it forces you to reload anyway, but it has led to various reports of weapons reloading when they were not yet empty. The closest to useful I could get out of this was shooting the dragon twice in a row without a reload, but I have not been able to replicate it since then.
Apparently, some of the Wastelanders loot pools are bugged and can drop legendary item/effect combinations that should not be possible. Here is a rather reliable-looking video of a TSE Gauss Shotgun from an ally quest. Just to be clear, I do not know if this is real, but it looks convincing enough and this kind of issue is definitely something that has happened in this game before.

Legendary Effects

Crippling (+50% limb damage)

A few weapons are still bugged to only be able to drop with this secondary effect from legendary enemies. This means that crafting them, buying from the purveyor, or receiving as quest/event rewards is not affected. This used to affect all melee and unarmed weapons soon after the purveyor first came out, but it was since (mostly) fixed. Here is the exact list of weapons still affected.

Instigating (+100% damage on full-health target)

This effect lasts beyond the first shot with rapid fire weapons, and seems to last for a few seconds of consistent fire depending on how much lag the server is experiencing. This bonus is even reflected in damage numbers.

Rapid (+15% faster reload)

Entering power armor will negate this buff (as well as speed demon’s reload speed bonus). You will need to re-equip the weapon after entering power armor to regain the bonus.

Stalker’s (+100% VATS accuracy at +50% AP cost when out of combat)

This can still drop on melee weapons even though it has absolutely no benefit for them. I am not saying "useless" in the way people refer to mutant's or nocturnal or something, I really mean useless. Melee weapons in VATS are only capable of having either 0% chance to hit or 95% chance to hit, this effect does not affect the hit chance in any way.

Two Shot (Fires an additional projectile, +25% damage)

Some weapons still receive a 100% bonus from two shot, bringing their total with two shot up to 200% damage. Currently confirmed weapons to benefit from this include the crossbow and salvaged assaultron head. (Tested with a two shot assaultron head, with sneak criticals against a level 50 watoga protectron. A normal assaultron head fully charged dealt 648 damage. At max charge, the two shot head dealt 432 damage [66.6%] with one beam and 863 [133.3%] with the other, for a total of 1295 [200%]).
Some weapons have an even 50/50 damage split, while others are closer to 66/33 or 75/25. I have tested this extensively and it makes NO SENSE whatsoever. I tried 12 different two shot weapons. The results? Straight down the middle, 6 even and 6 not even. The gatling gun, flamer, auto grenade launcher, m79 grenade launcher, laser pistol, and pipe bolt-action rifle dealt the same amount of damage with each projectile. The cryolator, dragon, crossbow, plasma caster, ultracite laser rifle, and salvaged assaultron head dealt different damage with the bonus projectile than the main one(s). I analyzed every detail about these weapons I could think of and found absolutely no pattern; they just sometimes work and sometimes don't.

Vampire’s (Health regeneration per hit)

There is an extra space between the prefix and the weapon name.

Various effects

This is a fairly well-documented issue at this point, but certain legendary effects can cause a huge damage overflow bug. According to some past posts, it seems that these effects have an uncapped version of the furious effect (like in fallout 4) attached on top of their regular effect, so your damage rises exponentially (yet slowly) as long as you keep hitting your target and boosting that damage. This has come to be known as “magic” effects in the community. Despite popular belief, you can achieve this with most weapons that have either automatic variants or a multishot component; even automatic laser rifles or 10mm SMGs can trigger this.

TL:DR: EVERYTHING IS BROKEN IN SO MANY WAYS

I'm not sure what to say at the end here, that's kind of it. I do this kind of thing mostly as a hobby and decided to share it before the next update, sort of as a test to see how much is fixed in the next few patches. If you made it all the way down here, have a nice day and stay safe.

Hi Reddit readers, In this review i take a look at the SX Nano Auto Squonker from Yihi SXMini. The SX Nano was supplied for the purpose of this review by Yihi SXMini.
https://www.yihisxmini.com/productview/236.html
https://preview.redd.it/g1id7xgkyrb61.png?width=1098&format=png&auto=webp&s=704b48356cb589d7e86524546be3e1d65ea06919
Introduction
The SX Nano is the fourth portable device to be released incorporating the latest technology from Yihi, the ESS(Electronic Spray System) Driver integrated with the latest third generation temperature control technology.
Don't shoot me if i am wrong but as far as i can work out both iPV (Pioneer4You) who brought us the first portable device using the technology and VSticking are owned by Yihi SXmini so while SXmini concentrates on high end products we have iPV bringing us more affordable products while the aim of VSticking is to offer luxury but at an affordable price. I made no secret of the fact i really liked this new technology when i first reviewed the iPV version and was quite blown away when VSticking then brought us a version with a more functional TC DIY mode along with Rebuildable ADA's, then came the long awaited SX Auto from SXMini thrmselves which was their portable device following the technology being used in the X-Class.
The SX Nano almost reverts back to the IPV version in regard to being much more simplistic but is far from a downgrade as this device has been in development for a full year perfecting the firmware to bring the perfect vape out the box while making the device both more affordable (while maintaining quality) and also cheaper to use with the ADAv2's which just need the drop in disposable decks (Disk Coils) purchasing rather than the entire ADA.
I was first made aware of this device back in February and along with others received the first prototype a few months back which has been part of the process of making the Nano as good as it possibly can be and even since receiving my review sample there has been 3 more firmware upgrades, the RSA (rebuildable) decks, new Stainless Steel drip tip (which will be included) and now optional 0.3ohm disposable decks all become available, let's check out the SX Nano!
___________________________________________________________________
In The Box
https://preview.redd.it/0qh7egtmyrb61.jpg?width=980&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e09d545dcae315f3d1053620e9d0c472ac52a3d7
Contents:
1pc SX Nano Device 1pc 0.6ohm (SS316L) SX-ADA V2 Atomizer Set 1pc 0.6ohm Disk Coil (SS216L) 1pc SS Drip tip 2pc Reservoirs 1pc USB Type C Cable 1pc User Manual 1pc Warranty Card
___________________________________________________________________
Aesthetics and Ergonomics
The SX Nano comes in the usual minimalistic White SXMini Cardboard packaging with customary matching paper gift bag! On opening the first thing that stands out is how small the device is, it's one of those devices that you can see as many photos as possible but it's size in real life will still surprise! My review sample is Black, the options are Black, Gunmetal, Red, Blue or Green, i must say the Green, Red and Blue look particularly nice shades of those colours!
We have a nice looking Chromed outline both front and back and grooved edging. On the face we have a very nicely machined protruding round chromed fire button central top and central bottom 2 smaller matching buttons lined up vertically, between the fire and lower buttons we have a narrow elongated display.
Looking at the device with the front facing you we have the reservoir at the bottom on the left edge, moving to the base we have a Type C USB port. Moving to the rear we have "SXmini" printed in White centrally which doesn't bother me personally but below we have printed safety marks which i just find an eyesore and somewhat looks cheap on such a nice looking, well made device.
Up top we have a small plate with proprietary BF connection, the ADA is Silver and heavily grooved with almost a multi heatsink fins look, at the top it steps and tapers to a proprietary screw-on Delrin drip tip! As mentioned the device is very small as the name suggests so just gets swallowed up in the hand and is a great out and about option!
https://preview.redd.it/atgkgxyoyrb61.jpg?width=980&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=077f54925a18b29d50f859a1c6d138dfc7ca92ea
Out the box the device comes with a silicon dust protection plug in the plates threading protecting the BF pin. If you keep this then if you are not going to use the device for a while you can remove the ADA and reinsert the plug!
https://preview.redd.it/w2dbcnjryrb61.jpg?width=980&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dfbb4bcffcde22d88f628b2a5e088d52ade06525
___________________________________________________________________
SX Nano Specs and Features:
Powered by the YiHi SX681J ESS Driver Battery capacity: 900mAh Reservoir capacity: 2ML Reservoir material: PETG Max Charge: 5V/1A ~60 min to full charge Quiescent Current <3 uA ADA mode supported coils: SX ADA v2 0.6ohm Device size: 87.4*39*17.9mm Colours: Black, Gunmetal, Red, Blue, Green
https://preview.redd.it/err19bmuyrb61.jpg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f1ccb93e1d199bf0f097cd35c41bef3bbdf984e8
___________________________________________________________________
What You Get And What's Available?
You receive obviously the device and ADAv2 with a 0.6ohm disposable deck pre-installed. You also get a spare disposable deck and a spare 2ml reservoir. Although in the sample i received only included the pre-installed Delrin screw-on drip tip the retail version will also include a longer profile Stainless Steel drip tip with Ultem base, very nice!
https://preview.redd.it/r412lhqwyrb61.jpg?width=490&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5a66ee0666f58039673779025cadc6cc81e65112
Although they have decided to include the Stainless Steel drip tip it is also available as a separate purchase.
https://preview.redd.it/ddavr3iyyrb61.jpg?width=490&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d3f94bfeac7b35b59543c85888cc23d7b76e143e
The previous ADA's were completely disposable but with the ADAv2 we have a permanent ADA then you simply replace the drop in disposable pre-coiled deck (disk coil) which both brings the cost down and is more environmentally friendly! The disposable decks are available with 0.6ohm builds and also will be available with 0.3ohm builds.
https://preview.redd.it/zturtcf0zrb61.jpg?width=490&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2d360c3f190ee331bfc370006e698c63c61a8b69
To save even more money a semi-rebuildable option is also available in the form of their RSA's which although i am sure stands for rebuildable squonkinq atomizer actually all you receive is a pre-wound, pre-wicked coils and paper rings that fit around the top of the deck.
https://preview.redd.it/7jiu5vg2zrb61.jpg?width=490&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1dedae2d71fe736744ed84289f94ace4e1bcb02c
You actually use both the existing ADAv2 and use a used disposable deck, removing the used build and fitting the pre-wound, pre-wicked coil and ring, below is a video showing how the coil is fitted:

https://youtu.be/6g9CrcjTT1M
___________________________________________________________________
How The System Works
The SX Nano is a temperature control and bottom feeder device. The YiHi chip also controls the supply of e-liquid to the atomizer by pumping just enough e-liquid as you vape so when you press the fire button it heats the coil while simultaneously spraying the atomizer's build with e-liquid via the electronic pumping system, the system is called ESS (Electronic Spray System) Driver. The idea is that the e-liquid is completely isolated from the heating core apart from when you actually vape so you are always vaporising fresh e-liquid, so giving improved flavour and coil longevity.
Although it's a temperature control device it's a proprietary system although unlike the previous ESS Driver devices everything as been set-up for you so you have no knowledge of the Joules and equivalent wattage or temperature, just Cold, Normal, and Warm pre-sets. These pre-sets have been tailored over a year which has involved testers which i was lucky enough to be one to get them spot on!
___________________________________________________________________
The SX ADAv2
The SX ADAv2 looks just like a little BF RDA and works the same way, the upgrade is the v2 is not disposable but instead as already mentioned accommodates disposable coiled decks. Up top we have a proprietary screw-on Delrin drip tip and looking at the sleeve it has a small slot each side for adjusting airflow. The threading is much shorter but wider than the usual 510 threading and the connector on top of the device is shallow and has a fixed BF pin, the real bummer here is despite being proprietary like with the SX Auto, iPV V3-Mini and VKSma they have managed to have them all a slightly different size when it comes to the threading and as much as i love this device and the technology the lack of compatibility is it's biggest con!
https://preview.redd.it/ih0ca5h7zrb61.jpg?width=1470&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f3687f0747a31ccdcc2b25decaddb6210e2c0bf5
___________________________________________________________________
Fitting The Disposable Decks
When you no longer are getting good flavour it's time to replace the pre-coiled deck which is done by simply pulling the deck out. Fitting a new deck is just as easy, you just press it in place and it can only fit one way!
https://preview.redd.it/fh3ebck9zrb61.jpg?width=1470&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c411f63903a9dbdfe18d261fbb2b75ba28f06b4c
___________________________________________________________________
The Airflow
We have a small slot either side on the sleeve and 2 small holes either side on the base section. When you look inside the sleeve you will see a recessed section either side and we have a tab each side on the base. When fitting the sleeve turn and it will drop in place when the tabs locate the recessed sections we now have a rail system with stoppers!
Turning the sleeve between stoppers allows you to have one hole open either side or two, of course you can have one and a part hole or even just part of one hole either side!
The air travels through the hole/holes either side and up from underneath giving bottom airflow!
https://preview.redd.it/i4792cpbzrb61.jpg?width=1470&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=691b2111c4a281ad2bd4a89046b13188ce061b16
___________________________________________________________________
The E-Liquid Reservoir
The e-liquid reservoir holds 2ml of e-liquid and towards the top there is an indented slot to get your fingernail into for grip, just pull down and it slides out of the device. Looking at the device their is a pipe that feeds all the way down to the bottom, when fitting the reservoir just feed the pipe into the main hole at the top of the reservoir and slide back into position, it fits perfectly. Looking at the top of the reservoir we have a hole which is used for both filling and feeding the pipe into as already described. We also have a second minute hole which allows air to escape or suck air in depending on the requirement, make sure you leave enough volume for the pipe when filling. I found filling and both removing and refitting the reservoir quick, easy and a 100% mess free experience.
https://preview.redd.it/8wqyxbjezrb61.jpg?width=980&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=734bf3a35a5575b4d6f7d150064d71aac259e1ac
___________________________________________________________________
Operating The Device
The device is the usual 5 clicks of the fire button to turn on but you need to enter the menu to shutdown which is the first option, to enter the menu is 5 clicks and select shutdown.
https://preview.redd.it/kak44kzgzrb61.jpg?width=490&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2cf74f052a2439c1d3e31ed8b2a8f48c8d444956
When you first use the device or install a new disposable deck and press fire it detects there is no liquid through the temperature control dry burn technology so doesn't fire but automatically pumps e-liquid to the ADA, while it does this "NO LIQUID" is displayed on the screen. Once the correct amount of liquid has been pumped through the system it goes into priming mode and "PRIMING" is displayed on the screen until the cotton is saturated.
Now pressing the up button you enter the 3 power pre-set modes which can now be scrolled through using the up and down buttons with fire selecting, the pre-sets are Cold, Norm and Warm.
Pressing the down button enters the pump speed setting which is set differently for each power pre-set but can be altered if you wish although each pre-set allows different pump speed parameters.
Just like the previous ESS Driver devices you can manually feed liquid through the pump by holding down the up button or draw liquid back by keeping the down button pressed but they have these pre-set settings and corresponding pump speeds so homed in i have found zero need to do anything other than choose my power pre-set and press fire!
https://preview.redd.it/63sabk0jzrb61.jpg?width=980&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=47d3c09df1976d566861fa0ed904577128f7a4cb
As mentioned the device also has a menu which is 5 clicks to enter which allows you to scroll through and select from a choice of Shutdown (power the device down), Update (choose this when updating firmware), Brightness (adjust display brightness), Help (will come to this) and Exit!
The device has just one other feature which is 3 clicks of the fire button locks the whole device (it will not fire) and 3 clicks again unlocks the device.
https://preview.redd.it/rurfuq9lzrb61.jpg?width=980&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ace24fc5f4fc4476787b12338bcec51bc3bb3510
I really like the Help option as at a nice speed allowing time to read and digest the information it scrolls through how to use the device, it's almost a digital version of a manual, very useful!
___________________________________________________________________
Firmware V7
How i described operating the device is how it is explained in the manual that will be included but since the manual was printed the device has been updated to firmware version V7 which will be the version of the first production run! Not a lot has changed, it now just includes an Auto lock, 3 clicks to unlock and when initially feeding liquid and it says "NO LIQUID" it requires a second press of the fire button to confirm.
___________________________________________________________________
Charging
The Nano has a type C USB port for charging and firmware upgrades. The charge rate is 1A allowing the device to fully charge in just less than an hour while supporting pass-through, the only issue i have is the USB port is on the base and i much prefer devices standing up while charging!
https://preview.redd.it/cwz7yuknzrb61.jpg?width=490&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=778f2321c88124bacb7ad4be67784c3947ff5e85
___________________________________________________________________
My Experience Using The SX Nano
To start with a bit of background as when i first heard about the ESS Driver technology i read up about it and was immediately intrigued. Also this is the fourth device i have reviewed using the technology and i have enjoyed using all four devices and seeing how the technology has evolved.
The first thing i want to point out is a con which has been resolved! On my sample the gap between the base of the ADA and the plate on the device is quite large, normally i mention gaping even though it doesn't usually bother me but this even bugs me. I did inform SXmini suggesting they did something about it but was told i wasn't the first to point it out to them and they had already improved it and sent me the photo below which is much better!
https://preview.redd.it/fwfyxtxpzrb61.jpg?width=485&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=200af3d6bc693c67ffa2abb9c1801e7164fb4acc
This device in my opinion really is very good but like most things it does have cons the first being the obvious that this is entirely a proprietary system so the ADA's won't fit anything else and likewise the device can only be used with the ADAv2! The other con with the Nano being so small and also incorporating a pump system means as a trade off it only has a 900mAh battery but on the plus side it has type C USB with a 1A charge rate so can be fully charged within an hour while also supporting pass-through.
I love how simple this device is, it really is very user friendly which is down to the constant improvements and firmware upgrades before release, remember this isn't the first device using this technology but the fifth yet they still worked on this device for a full year and we are already on firmware version 7 before release!
The idea with the Nano is the other ESS Driver devices had a real learning curve to them so were not ideal for newer vapers so they worked on just having pre-sets and putting a lot of effort in getting them right in regard vapor production, quality of vape and corresponding pump speed although the pump speed can be altered and manually activated and also you can manually draw liquid back.
The other aim was to make the device both affordable, cheaper to run and more environmentally friendly! And at around $60 for the device and just needing to replace the disk coil or even fitting the pre-wound, pre-wicked coils yourself to a used disc coil assembly this is a cheap vaping option while the build quality of the device is still extremely good!
I received my final sample version 7 or 8 weeks ago and although apart from two days it has been my secondary device over that period it has had quite some use and i am only on the second what i refer to as disposable deck (officially called disk coil) so like the previous disposable ADA's the longevity is quite outstanding!
The other thing that really has impressed me is apart from the initial liquid feed with a new coil i have never touched the pump speed setting or manually pumped or drawn back liquid yet i have had Zero leaking and not once the "No Liquid" message during use so they have really homed in the syncing between the power pre-sets and pump speed, it's pretty damn near perfect!!!!!
The flavour is also very good, not as good as my very best RTA's and RDA's but better than the flavour i get from the stock coils with pod mods! When it comes to airflow 2 holes open either side gives a choice between a tight restricted direct lung vape or very loose MTL whichever you prefer and one hole open either side is still a loose MTL but more a medium loose draw. You can go down to a part hole for a medium MTL and also closing the airflow altogether just allows very slight air leakage allowing for a tight draw but not ideal as the airflow is quite smooth but with the airflow closed down it's a bit of a rough ride! Another pros is the way the pump just delivers the liquid needed making this very efficient with juice, it might only be 2ml but that 2ml goes a long way with this device!
I like what is included and that they decided to also include the Stainless Steel drip tip. Both drip tips are very comfortable but if chain vaping on either Norm or Warm then the Delrin tip can get a bit toastie but my lips stayed nice and cool using the Stainless Steel option.
Finally it's quite light and very portable, the only other minor cons i have is the safety marks being visible on the rear of the device and it can easily fall over if knocked! I did partly because of the innovation involved say that the SX Auto was the best device i used in 2019 but it's far too early in the year to make such a statement about the Nano in 2021 but it's great to see the technology evolve in regard ease of use and becoming much cheaper with disposable disc coils, in my opinion it's a winner!
https://preview.redd.it/3crfe8vtzrb61.jpg?width=490&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2a4a15200fe051e6f0f8abd7cc59e7cfefb60baf

___________________________________________________________________
Likes
Very good build quality Small and ergonomic 5 nice colour options Very nice looking (subjective) Innovation ESS (Electronic Spray System) Driver Integrated YiHi Chipset Easy to use temperature controlled device 3 Poweflavour pre-sets E-liquid isolated from heating core until you vape Can manually pump e-liquid to atomizer or suck back into tank if needed MTL or Tight Restricted DL Device lock/Auto lock Device can be turned off and on 2ml reservoir of e-liquid goes a long way due to micro management system Removing, Filling and reinstalling reservoir is very quick and mess free Adjustable airflow Zero leaking Very good flavour Smooth airflow Disk Coils give very good longevity 2 included drip tips Spare Disk Coil and Reservoir included Disc Coils, cheaper and more environmentally friendly solution Pre-wound, pre-wicked RSA's even cheaper and adds a semi rebuildable option Type C USB Charges in less than an hour Supports pass-through Firmware upgradeable
Cons
Lack of compatibility (entirely proprietary system) Only 900mAh battery Safety marks on rear visually obtrusive Does topple over quite easily Don't like USB port being on base
I would once again like to thank Yihi SXmini for supplying the SX Auto for the purpose of this review, thanks for reading and stay safe!
https://www.yihisxmini.com/productview/236.html
___________________________________________________________________

Build Guide

Maximum details including showing step-by-step assembly and installation of components:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XeUu0YcV2JjsxzpEYQL7mAyqkdN7Q0TTLC6gSsfxzC4
Includes BIOS settings, semi-verbose Opencore config.plist settings, and USB port mapping.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pictures

https://preview.redd.it/2sin5x7z71f51.png?width=698&format=png&auto=webp&s=490a76872084717cad2777331f2d9ee17a7c12a3
https://preview.redd.it/23lqjq4z81f51.jpg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f45d0b474919b02696e2f0239ae4d26ccc92256a
https://preview.redd.it/r9rtybg091f51.jpg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2e62652b5f95299211ecb71950ceedfbf195ec5b
https://preview.redd.it/yepvrnq191f51.jpg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=afae805cdaa9bc9acffeb219cbb78930d3556e85
https://preview.redd.it/r9mxlqt591f51.jpg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9078a5e6593743b79e7a5d2275cfc67d923e1e22
https://preview.redd.it/946b4si791f51.jpg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5e3d0fd0b13f2bdbf20ef8b2527b126dbf3605d7
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Background

Welcome to Papadiche's Z490 Hackintosh Guide!
I'm a professional music producer and audio engineer who requires an immense amount of computing power. My finalized sessions routinely run 200+ tracks, of which 50+ are virtual instruments, with over 800+ plugins. My preferred DAW is Logic Pro X, but I also use REAPER, Ableton Live, and Pro Tools (rare for me).
I built my first Hackintosh in 2009, using an incredibly corrupted version of Snow Leopard. Though I produced an EP on that machine, it was anything but stable. In 2013 I joined Clean Team and bought a maxed-out Late 2013 MacBook Pro. That became my new professional machine until retirement in early 2018 when I rejoined Shadow Team: Intel i7-7700K / ASRock Z270 Fatal1ty Gaming ITX/ac / 32GB 2400MHz RAM / nVidia GTX 760 2GB. The increase in performance was immediate and substantial. When working with clients, I had total confidence that we could get through our recording sessions without System Overload warnings and crazy temperature throttling. While this was true during general production, projects later in development would consistently max out the processor. Two years later, I upgraded: Intel i9-9900K / ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming ITX/ac / 64GB 3200MHz RAM / Sapphire Pulse RX 5600 XT 6GB. Oh man the ceiling has been raised! And yet... still about 50% of my projects overload when they're in the final rendering stage. Okay one more upgrade...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Motherboard Selection

Model	Good ACPI	CNVI Unlocked	Good VRMs	C14S Fit	Wi-Fi Fit
ASRock Z490M-ITX/ac	✔️	✔️	❌	❌	✔️
ASRock Z490 Phan ITX/TB3	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️	❌ (flex?)
Gigabyte Z490I ITX	✔️	❌	✔️	✔️	✔️
ASUS Rog Strix Z490-I	✔️	❌	✔️	✔️	✔️
MSI MEG Z490I Unify	❌	❌	✔️	✔️	✔️

Only ITX sized motherboards were considered since I re-used my NCase M1. Considering I required both M.2 slots for M.2 SSDs, having an unlocked CNVI Wi-Fi port was a must. This narrowed my search down to only the ASRock boards. Of the two, I read that not only does the Z490M not have good VRMs, but its CPU socket is also located 10mm further north than on the Z490 Phantom Gaming ITX/TB3... this meant the top panel of the NCase M1 wouldn't close with an NH-C14S installed!
The choice was made for me: ASRock Z490 Phantom Gaming ITX/TB3
Note: If you want Thunderbolt 3 support in the ITX form factor, only the ASRock Z490 Phantom Gaming ITX/TB3 and MSI MEG Z490I Unify have TB3 onboard. Both use the full-width 40Gbps, full-power 2.4W Intel JHL7540 TB3 chip. CaseySJ on tonymacx86 has proven this chip to be extremely well supported on macOS and has nearly-native capabilities including hotplug. Check out his posts for more details!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hardware

Intel i9-10900K
ASRock Z490 Phantom Gaming ITX/TB3
64GB 3200MHz CL16 OLOy RAM (MD4U323216DJDA)
Sapphire Pulse RX 5600 XT 6GB
4TB Samsung 860 Evo SATA
2TB Samsung 860 Evo SATA
2TB Samsung 960 Pro M.2
512GB XPG SX8200 Pro M.2
SilverStone 650W SFX
BCM94360CD + M.2 Key-E Adapter w/ 1x BT Antenna + 3x Wi-Fi Antennas
Noctua NM-SFC12 Fan Clips (required to mount a 120mm fan on the heatsink; the NM-SFC14 brackets are too loose)
Noctua NH-C14S
2x Noctua NF-A12x15
2x Noctua NF-A12x25
1x Noctua NF-A9 PWM
CRJ to 4-Pin PMW Adapter
Double-sided tape 3M VHB 5962

Optional:

Bingfu RP-SMA Wi-Fi Extension Cables
Noctua NT-H2
Case Interior Dust Covers 287mm x 140mm
Short MHF2 to RP-SMA Cable(s)
NCase M1 or Node 304 (do note the Node 304 has no room for additional case fans, but can fit the massive Noctua NH-D15/Noctua NH-D15S which I highly recommend; having used both cases and coolers I can say the D15 in the Node 304 lowers thermals by around 10% over the C14S in the NCase M1)

Do note that the BCM94360CD has MHF2 connectors whereas the BCM94360CS2 has MHF4 connectors. They are different sizes and not interchangeable! MHF2 is a somewhat non-standard connector for PC Wi-Fi cards, whereas MHF4 is the standard laptop connector for mobile Wi-Fi cards. The antennas linked above contains MHF2 cables and therefore work perfectly with the BCM94360CD; if you opt to go with a different Wi-Fi card, double-check its connectors and triple-check the Wi-Fi antenna cables and connectors to make sure they fit!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Things that don't work 100%:

FAT32-formatted USB storage devices do not reconnect after Sleep, even with the Jettison app installed.
All other USB storage devices require the Jettison app installed to eject correctly. I have confirmed that having RAM clocked above 2133MHz, such as enabling an XMP Profile in the BIOS, has no effect on USB storage devices ejecting incorrectly with Sleep. I was only able to get USB storage devices to eject properly when the RAM was set to the XMP profile with over-voltage of 1.40v and clock-capped at 1600MHz. Using any of the standard, stock RAM profiles resulted in incorrect ejection, as did the unedited XMP profile.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Things that work 100%:

Shutdown
Restart
Sleep (Recommended: Disable Power Nap)
Native NVRAM
Audio
USB Sleep ejection and remounting (with Jettison app)
Thunderbolt 3
All USB Ports
Wi-Fi
Bluetooth
Ethernet
iCloud
iMessage
AirDrop
Continuity
Handoff
Dark Mode
Find My Mac
8K Video Playback
Starcraft 2
Netflix DRM

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Overclock

https://preview.redd.it/9559yj047uh51.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=53dc42c4aedaad1d3357e015d321a286a0e56dec
Considering the Intel i9-10900K is notorious for being an overclock-able CPU, I tried every combination imaginable with Fixed Voltage and eventually wound up with the highest scores and best thermals with the following settings changed from stock:

2 Cores @ 5.3GHz
10 Cores @ 5.0GHz
AVX Offset : Auto
Cache Ratio : 4.5GHz
FCLK Frequency : 1GHz
CPU Tjunction Max : 100
Max Long Power : 200
Long Duration Maintained : 128s
Max Short Power : 350
Max Amps: 255.75
VCore : Auto
LLC : Level 3
DRAM Voltage : 1.400v
RAM Profile : XMP Profile 1
RAM Frequency : 3600MHz
RAM Timings : CL 18-22-22-38

These settings raised the CPU's Cinebench R20 scores by 15-20%, and the CPU's Geekbench 5 scores by 10-15%. Thermals were increased by about 5C over stock in most working scenarios. VCore is 1.32v average over 2+ hours of benchmarking. VCore jumps to ~1.43v for very short periods of time. Cache Ratio (frequency) is rock solid at 4.5GHz, reasonably stable at 4.6GHz, unstable at 4.7GHz, and refuses to boot at 4.8GHz.
Update 2020-08-10: I ended up reducing some of the frequencies and instituting an AVX Offset of -3 after lots of stress testing and two weeks of work. Very occasionally (about once every 100 uptime hours) macOS would lockup and the front power light would alternate blue and red flashing. According to the motherboard's manual this means the CPU or RAM has hit a fault/error. In my case, that means the Overclock was too aggressive in some random aspect(s). I've updated the settings in this post to reflect my most recent BIOS. Hopefully we're all stable now! I will further update/tweak if system instability continues to be an issue.
Update 2020-08-18: Seven (7) full days of uptime including Sleep for 8+ hours every night. Perfect stability through multiple nights of benchmarks, continuous and strenuous workloads, and multiple nights of Sleep. Removed any AVX Offset and reset to 2 Cores @ 5.3GHz and 10 Cores @ 5.0GHz. Average 1.33v over 10 hours of stress testing. For more information, screenshots, and a BIOS .BIN load file, check out the Google Docs link at the top of the guide!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Geekbench 5 Benchmark

https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/cpu/3252163
https://preview.redd.it/exahymut7uh51.png?width=717&format=png&auto=webp&s=1da5d3771236822f8ccdbae411ad1297f5358c81

CPU	Single Core Score	Multi-Core Score
Intel i9-10900K	1470	11300-11700 (4.8GHz to 5.1GHz)

https://browser.geekbench.com/v5/compute/898838
https://preview.redd.it/a39gl6nx7uh51.png?width=709&format=png&auto=webp&s=9ce94fd0570bdffa5cfb5d4e320ed0ab2fe06af7

GPU	Metal	OpenCL
Sapphire Pulse RX 5600 XT	61000	52000

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cinebench R20 Benchmark

CPU	Score
Intel i9-10900K	6550-6700 (4.8GHz to 5.1GHz)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Logic Pro X Performance

200 Tracks with the standard NewLogicBenchmarkTest. No thermal issues as the CPU peaks at around 85C.

CPU	Number of Tracks
13" MacBook Pro	14
15" MacBook Pro	35
iMac18,3	100
2013 Mac Pro	110
Intel i9-9900K	158
Intel i9-10900K	190-201 (4.8GHz to 5.1GHz)
2019 Mac Pro (3.2GHz 16-Core)	310

In normal use I can render 300 Tracks with 800+ Plugins and 500 Voices (from Virtual Instruments) at 75% CPU load and 65C with around 38dB of fan noise. Quiet enough to where the computer could be in the vocal booth, and minimal-to-zero noise would be heard through the microphone. Very happy!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Temperatures

CPU temperatures are better than any other case I've used! When under >75% heavy processing for extended periods of time, the CPU hits 80C with the fans running at full speed. For normal workloads, the CPU temperature will top out at ~70C with fans running at 50% speed.
Idle: 40 C Load: 70 C Max: 100 C
GPU temperatures peak at 60C under Geekbench 5 testing, and 65C while rendering 8K video. While I originally have the GPU connected to the bottom case fan nearest the front panel via CRJ to 4-Pin PMW Adapter, I found that it rarely spun due to the Fan Stop feature in the GPU's BIOS. I have since used another 4-pin PWM Y-Splitter off the "CPU OPT" fan header to permanently spin the front case fan.
Idle: 35 C Load: 60 C Max: 70 C
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Noise

https://preview.redd.it/dyjiuw848uh51.jpg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d5d8be001fa3116ea925a21579c1ab4fb50ff9fa
In the BIOS, I set up identical custom fan profiles for the "CPU FAN," "CPU OPT," and "CHASSIS" outputs. VR Fans are set to the "Silent" profile. In my case, I have the "CPU FAN" connected to the Noctua NF-A12x25 intake fan on the Noctua NH-C14S CPU Cooler, the "CPU OPT" connected to the 2x Noctua NF-A12x15 intake fans mounted on the side panel/radiator rail + the bottom front case Noctua NF-A12x25 exhaust fan, and and the "CHASSIS" connected to the rear Noctua NF-A9 exhaust fan + the bottom case Noctua NF-A14 exhaust fan (which comes originally installed on the Noctua NH-C14S). The custom fan profile is as follows:

Temperature 1 : 20
Fan 1 % : 20
Temperature 2 : 50
Fan 2 % : 30
Temperature 3 : 60
Fan 3 % : 40
Temperature 4 : 70
Fan 4 % : 50
Critical Temperature : 80

This fan profile provides the same thermals as the Performance settings but at lower noise levels than the Silent settings. Full Speed results in a 5C CPU temperature reduction across the board, and eliminates any thermal throttling. The CPU will throttle on the consecutive runs of Cinebench R20 with my custom fan profile. For me, that's acceptable since in real-world use thermal performance is plenty acceptable.
At idle, the fans are whisper quiet at around 35dB. For normal 50% CPU loads, the fans spin up to around 38dB. Under difficult process loads, the fans spin as loud as 43dB, and for absolutely all-out maximum 100% CPU loads, the fans get up to a loud 50dB. Unless you are cryptomining or rendering long movies/videos through the CPU, your fans will stay in the "whisper quiet" to "reasonably quiet" range. Pushing the computer to be "loud" was something I did simply to ensure it would typically stay quiet, and to verify how loud it would get if somehow pushed to maximum loads.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Install EFI Creation

Use the standard, up-to-date Opencore guide: https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Desktop-Guide/
Audio and Ethernet were particularly tricky, and not covered in the Opencore guide.
AUDIO One BIOS change and one edit in config.plist are required for perfect audio:
BIOS -> Advanced -> Chipset Configuration -> Onboard HD Audio : Enabled ( do not leave as "Auto" but do leave Front Panel : HD )

... DeviceProperties Add PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1F,0x3) layout-id Data 0B000000 ... ... ...

ETHERNET Ethernet requires the LucyRTL8125Ethernet.kext since ASRock went with a Realtek 8125 chip instead of a standard Intel chip for Ethernet support. Within config.plist add the appropriate Kext entry:

... Kernel Add BundlePath String LucyRTL8125Ethernet.kext Enabled Boolean True ExecutablePath String Contents/MacOS/LucyRTL8125Ethernet PlistPath String Contents/Info.plist ... ...

Make sure you install the appropriate kext ( LucyRTL8125Ethernet.kext ) within your EFI folder and Ethernet should appear under System Preferences -> Network! Then you'll need to select Ethernet, click Advanced, click Hardware, and Select Configure : Manually with Speed : 1000baseT and wired internet should connect. With Configure : Automatically selected, as is default, wired internet will not connect. Verification can be made by viewing the Ethernet port on the back of the motherboard and inspecting the lights; no lights on means the port is not active.
https://preview.redd.it/d48fcrnp71f51.png?width=780&format=png&auto=webp&s=1ea01f7b15765759fe783d684773eacefb89b37c
Aside from Audio and Ethernet, follow the Opencore guide exactly and you'll be golden!
My short-hand guide with settings specific to this exact hardware configuration can be viewed at the Google Doc Build Guide link above. USB port mapping is also covered in the Build Guide.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Daily EFI Creation

Starting from the above EFI, do the following:
SSDT EDITS/ADDITIONS

Prune your SSDT-EC-USBX-Z490.aml to correctly match your Embedded Controller
Generate your SSDT-SBUS-MCHC.aml to correctly path macOS to your SMBUS
Patch all your USB ports (make sure HS14 is set to 0xFF UsbConnector or you will have the "instant wake from Sleep" issue)
Install Thunderbolt 3 hot plug SSDT patches
Install AMD Radeon Enhancement SSDT
Compile and install SSDT-USBW.aml to fix USB Wake from Sleep

ACPI

Rename PEGP to EGP0

... ACPI Patch Comment String Rename PEGP to EGP0 (Graphics) Enabled Boolean True Find Data 50454750 Replace Data 45475030 TableSignature Data 45475030 ... ... ...

BOOT-ARGS

Remove -v

DEVICEPROPERTIES

Fix the acpi-wake-type attribute by modifying config.plist:

... DeviceProperties Add PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x14,0x3) acpi-wake-type Data 01 ... ... ...

KERNEL

Under Quirks -> XhciPortLimit : NO

MISC

Install the clean macOS GUI boot menu
Note: Audio device is PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1F,0x3)

KEXTS

Install USBWakeFixup.kext to properly allow USB devices to Wake the computer

PLATFORMINFO

Generate a new Serial Number if you like
Replace your ROM with the MAC address of en0 (typically your Ethernet port; visible at System Preferences -> Network -> Ethernet -> Advanced -> Hardware)

Here is how your EFI folder should look when all finished:
https://preview.redd.it/ht3xrln381f51.png?width=821&format=png&auto=webp&s=26254a7cb8866306fa855db343c58bb0f03b7e44
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Improvements

None at the moment! :)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My Songs Made On Hackintosh

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Previous 9900K Build : https://www.reddit.com/hackintosh/comments/gl8xrv/i99900k_64gb_3200_rx_5600_xt_silent_imac_pro/
Permalink to most recent Papadiche build: http://www.papadiche.com/computer

Biggest Casino Slots Win Compilation - the home for videos

green machine slot videos 2019

green machine slot videos 2019 - win

A collective of the community's issues and complaints

Introduction

Progression

Levelling

Challenges

Gameplay

Style of play

Perks and Scorestreaks

Visibility

Best Play

Miscellaneous

Camos

UI

Skill-Based Matchmaking

Closing

Hype decks and popular series of playing cards

Lounge FAQs V3

Newbie Guide

NO.

Technical Help

Resupply/Costumes/Furnitures

Field Map

Combat/Battle/Skirmish

Story

Commander Wardrobe

Expedition/Forward Basecamp

Heavy Ordnance Corps

Factory Production

Resource Management

Theater

Tactical Dolls

Neural Upgrade/MOD

Events

Fairies

Third Party

Auto-battles

Support Echelons

Dormitories

Others

Limited-only Dolls

Nice Things To Have

Unobtainable

SXmini SX Nano - Auto Squonker Review

An Updated List of Weapon-Related Issues Still in the Game

Before I begin here, a few brief notes:

General Weapons

Legendary Effects

TL:DR: EVERYTHING IS BROKEN IN SO MANY WAYS

SXmini SX Nano - Auto Squonker Review

Z490 ITX Guide

Build Guide

Pictures

Background

Motherboard Selection

Hardware

Things that don't work 100%:

Things that work 100%:

Overclock

Geekbench 5 Benchmark

Cinebench R20 Benchmark

Logic Pro X Performance

Temperatures

Noise

Install EFI Creation

Daily EFI Creation

Improvements

My Songs Made On Hackintosh

green machine slot videos 2019 video

green machine slot videos 2019 top

MASSIVE WINNING ON GREEN MACHINE DELUXE Slot Machine ...