Topic: PC Gaming

@skywake
I'm content with Switch 2 graphics. But it has one more generation until we get those graphics (improved even) with mostly 60fps as standard. At that point I'll find it hard to justify a Switch 4. Unless it has exclusive games (which it likely will). Can't say I'm confident PS/Xbox will be able to say the same, though.

Steam Machine and Steamdeck are the future of PC gaming imo. With each new generation of gamers who grow up with smartphones vs PC, and low barrier consoles, PC devices minimizing barrier of entry and providing a console like experience will be the new thing people gravitate towards, imo.

And that's a good thing I think. We'll probably need another 5-6 years to get to where we have a Steam Machine 2 and Steamdeck 2, but at that point, I'd never buy a PS/Xbox again. Heck, already I can say Series X is my last Xbox. And I'm 95% sure I'll never buy another PS.

Switch 2 (and eventually Switch 3, with a Steam Machine 2 and Steamdeck 2 for the minority of games that don't come to Switch systems or have gyro aiming (but can map mouse to gyro in Steam), is the endgame for me.

I’m interested in where the industry goes. With ram and SSD prices going through the roof for the foreseeable future, and nvidia not releasing a new consumer GPU until 2027, maybe it’s time for developers to properly optimize their games and not rely on latest hardware.

I’m content with my SteamDeck. But due to ram and storage costs, might put my money towards a Switch 2 because of the unannounced Zelda games coming out and most of what I like to play, are either on Switch/Switch2 or will be released on the consoles.

GTAVI interests me. But it seems anytime I power on my PS4 to play some Cold War, there is a need for a patch and can’t go online until my console is patched. Really sours me on buying a ps5. And I haven’t had an Xbox since the 360 days.

Oh yeah, cool signature btw.

So, I've been playing Edmund McMillen's (of The Binding of Isaac fame) new rougelite SRPG Mewgenics since it launched last week on Steam, and it has really been popping off (almost doubling Isaac's 24-hour Steam peak today). And rightfully so: it's a deceptively deep and addicting RPG with a good mixture of randomness and progression throughout so far. He's been mentioning on Twitter that, if nothing else, a Switch 2 release should be in the cards down the road, and it's a pity it's not, because I think this game would have blown up even more on that console.

I could see it doing the same thing for Switch 2 that Fire Emblem Awakening did for 3DS. Mewgenics is an almost perfect 'one more run' sort of game, and I'm really missing the hybrid form factor of the Switch 2 right now as I bounce my cloud saves between my rig and my Steam Deck.

But yeah, really loving this, and if it gets a fully physical release on Switch 2, I might have to double dip and grab it there as well.

I absolutely love PC gaming, the value of games are incredible, so many and you can do much more with PC like emulation however on the negative side there is no fixed platform optimisation and I remember so well many PS4 games performed 3x better than a PC with a similar spec would perform. Same is true of Nintendo and Xbox consoles however not the next Xbox probably as that is going to be more PC based. However optimising for a fixed platform costs time and money and therefore retail pricing is higher.

I've only just got my Switch 2 and of course I have Mario Kart World but I played the demo of Donkey Kong Bonanza and it was good but never worth £60-70 retail, the value wasn't there. So fixed platform developing may end up with a price point that is uncompetitive. It's a lovely device but not without issues and the 2026 forecaset for all gaming hardware and software is a bit grim with prices increases expected and a drop in hardware sales plus we are already seeing a huge slowing of software sales. If you have existing competent PC hardware and with the incredible value of PC software, often given away like Epic weekly games then PC is far better. I have a mini pc it is Ryzen 5700 based and delivers a passmark CPU score of about 18,000 which is higher than PS5 at 16,000 and Switch 2 at 2000. It's GPU is around 1.95 Teraflops and has 16GB of memory. It runs Steam OS very well with fantastic emulation quality due to the high CPU resources and very decent PC gaming performance at 1080p, sometimes 720p for more complex games and 4K for older games. The mini pc cost £125 from Aliexpress but prices now have doubled it seems or more.

Big breakthrough! It turned out that one of the Steam VR setting can only be changed in the config file!

All I had to do it turn off motion smoothing! Now Resident Evil games with DirectX 12 (RE8, RE4R and even RE9) can be played on my laptop! RE8 now is buttery smooth! And I though it is because my laptop is weak for those games in VR

@Zuljaras

Out of interest what spec is your laptop? One person's weak laptop is another person's powerful laptop.

@BonzoBanana
Processor - 12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-12650H (2.70 GHz)
RAM - 32.0 GB
Video Card - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 Laptop GPU - 8GB GDDR6

That definitely seems like a powerful laptop to me. The CPU side goes over 21,000 passmark CPU score and the GPU almost 12 Teraflops of performance plus a lot of AI upscaling/frame doubling technology. My admittedly budget gaming laptop (£350 about a year ago)is two thirds the CPU performance and half the GPU teraflops.

@BonzoBanana I have not checked any scores (I might not understand them anyway), but it is kind of old by todays standards as I got it almost 3 years ago. And it is a laptop and PC gamers kind of say they are not ok for VR gaming.

Anyway I am glad I can play the latest PC titles in VR

Today I made Resident Evil 3 Nemesis work on the Steam Deck WITH ANALOG CONTROLS! No more Tank controls!

The mod is really new, the have just made it this or last month!

It is quite the journey too make it work, but after that it is a joy to play!

And the modding works flawlessly with the GOG version! You do all your modding on PC and then just copy/paste the RE3 game folder to the Steam Deck, add one command to the Launch options and "It just works! - Todd Howard"

@Zuljaras hey friend! Long time no see and Nice guide you got there, pardon my ignorance but do you suppose this’ll work fine on Linux? I’d love to know. : )

@Zuljaras hello, thanks for the reply, and yes, I missed the part about the steam deck so that’s a gaff on my end, nevertheless, thanks for replying, I’ve been experimenting a lot with GE-proton : )

PS: 😅yes, we’re all not getting any notifications, no biggie though!

@Zuljaras
Have you tried out the Resident Evil: Requiem PCVR Mod from Praydog yet? It's not finished just yet, but I think they've released 25% of the game already. Beardo Benjo went hands on with it and said it's spectacular. If PSVR2 aint' doing it, than look no further into future PCVR mods. For now, you play it with the DualSense, using the same traditional controls presnt in the flatscreen version, except you aim with your head just like in the PSVR1 version of RE7.

I just need a PC(5070 Ti, or maybe a 5080), and PSVR2 Adapter, while also using Quest 3 wirelessly ala' Virtual Desktop....Then I'll sell my PSVR2 off shortly after I get the Steam Frame, and just use Q3 exclusively for it's MR related stuff.

Dream Air SE is another headset that I'm intersted in. And we'll probably be getting Quest 4 some time in 2027 which I'm sure will out perform Steam Frame in most of the specs, while probably also offering a separately sold 6ghz dongle for PCVR, for low latency and unoticeable image compression.

But if you've got money to burn, it doesn't get any better than the flag ship Pimax Dream Air(Light House Edition, which is shipping now.) with a 5090.

@NeonPizza nope, it is still too expensive to double dip. By the time it is discounted on Steam the mod will probably be done

I tried all others:
RE2R(from start to finish)
RE3R - just tested it to see that it is working
RE4R - it works!
RE7 - it is 100 better than the PSVR version!
RE8 - buttery smooth experience, PSVR2 is probably better!

I am also thinking of buying the native meta quest 3 version of the original RE4.

@Zuljaras
Even though I don't have a gaming PC just yet, which i plan on using exclusively for VR and VR only.

I still ended up making a Steam Account. Requiem is right at the top of my wishlist. But I'll eventually wind up getting it on sale by the time i snag a 5070 Ti/5080 PC. Heck, by that point the Steam Frame will probably be out, hopefully before June, and Requiems PCVR mod will be finished.

And Ya, RE7 PCVR allows you to use any upcoming headset which of course overall will make the PSVR2(OLED blacks aside), and especially the PSVR1 version feel dated. You've also got more power at your disposal to clock it at 72 or 90fps so you can bypass that nasty motion duplication/reprojection effect that happens at 60 in VR.

And RE4 on Stand alone Q3 is really good. Not in the same ball park as RE4R for PSVR2, but it definitely has it's perks. 90-120fps, no reprojection, noticeably better clarity thanks to the pancake lenses, higher pixels per degree, no mura & RGB-based LCD display which provides a more clearer detailed image than PSVR2's Pentile arranged OLED display, topped with more consistent resolution through out, wireless and ringless controllers. Still, it feels more bare bones in terms of gameplay than RE4R, as expected since it's based off of the GCN original. Less weapons, no knife parrying etc.

also, Q3 faulters with it's weaker 3D depth perception(70% vs PSVR2's 85%, where as Steam frame is nearly 90%), no Eye Tracking + Dynamic Foveated Rendering for greater performance, Terrible milky black levels & Contrast, weak stand alone power, and no 6ghz dongle for PCVR support. It's also weighty at 500g(SF is 75g lighter). Q3 is finished in my eyes once the Steam frame drops, purely for none exclusive VR gaming. Plus SF is smaller, has Eye Tracking + DFStreaming, has much better weight distrubition from front to back without needing that lame top middle velcro strap, and you can easily get a huge boost in power by simply connecting it to the plug n' play PC console Steam Machine. It's like what? A less capable PS5 or something? Quest 3 doesn't have it's own Quest machine, so that's another big win for SF.

And weren't you saying you had a 4090. Hopefully devs and modders will update their titles to support eye Tracking + DFS to enhance the overall peformance, instead of PC's having to do the extra heavy lifting. That's one of the big advantages of PSVR2. Most of it's games seem to support ET + DFR. With PC, it's the complete opposite. Hopefully we'll see a chance once SF releases, and devs/modders take advantage of its ET & DFS.

I'm itching to try out the RE2R & RE3R PCVR mods too! Is there noticeable jank though, or have things been ironed out after all the updates and patches?

@NeonPizza there is jank as they are mods after all. But when you consider they are free it is quite remarkable.

I also highly recommend Half-Life 2 VR mod. Now that does not have jankiness and it plays like a professional game. It has implemented manual reload of the weapons, gameplay changes to the shooting as you can hold the weapons with both hands for better aim and reduce recoil.
And you can use teleportation as movement to battle motion sickness

Lately, started to play Star Wars: Old Republic, MMORPG. I am playing as Sith Warrior. It is alot of fun to play. I wonder, when it will become pay to win. lol