November 2025 General Games Discussion Thread

[neogunhero]

I've got a pretty big issue going on in Oblivion. I've barely touched the main storyline, so when I finally decided to show up to Kvatch and help repel the Oblivion gates, there were very high level enemies coming out of it. I typically get past the Kvatch questline before freeroaming the game, but this time I've put it off and now I'm almost level 20. Out of all the times I've played this game, this was the first time I've seen anything other than low level Scamps outside that gate. There was a massive minotaur and a big ol spider lady that I don't have any recollection of in the original game. I haven't been upgrading my spells so they were doing minimal damage to the enemies, so I ran away, again.

Oblivion's leveling system is notoriously broken but I find it hilarious in moments like this. You could even say it's true to canon. I've been chosen as the savior of Cyrodiil from the invasion of Mehrunes Dagon and his gates to Oblivion but instead I chose to get rich and explore the countryside. In the time I put off fighting off the invasion, the enemies have only grown stronger. So have I, but I'm not yet prepared to fight them as I'm still using low level spells, even though my Intelligence and Willpower are at level 100 each. Just need a bit more time to get ready before saving the world.

 

[BeardyHat]

I played some more Heat Signature. It's kind of like a very simple immersive simulator in the best way possible. Stealth is typically encouraged and you get plenty of gadgets to help with that, but sometimes you can just get away with shooting/stabbing/bludgeoning your way through an enemy ship, especially after you've been discovered and need to make a quick getaway.

I've started running into a bit of a problem however. All of your gadgets have limited charges that only reset when you return to a station. This is fine for smaller ships, even if they have more advanced defences, but large ships both have more guards total and those guards travel in larger groups, meaning I often have to use up more charges per guard, especially if they have shields or armour.

As far as I see there are three solutions to this. Either I need to return to a station to recharge my gadgets one or more times during a mission (which is tedious), I need to grind easier missions hoping to find better gear (which is time consuming) or I need to grind to unlock more items for sale in the shop.

Realistically, the latter is probably the intended solution and I've just been trying missions that are too hard for where I'm at in the progression of the game.

Was thinking about picking this one up. It's only $2.99, but I also don't think I'll play it immediately, so maybe I should wait instead...

My oldest was playing a game on my TV PC the other day and I noticed what he was plying was running very poorly, even though this PC well exceeds the specs. I have noticed this in the past, but I chocked a lot of it up to the PC being older, but now I realized something wasn't right.

So I did some testing and discovered that the CPU was immediately pegged at 100*C while basically doing nothing and would massively throttle itself down to 1.3ghz. It should turbo at 4.4ghz and sustain around 4. So I took it apart and discovered the thermal paste was super crusty and old, which is odd, since I just put this new processor in it maybe only two years ago. So I cleaned it up and reapplied thermal paste only to discover what was probably my problem.

It's two fold, I think. Namely, it's a stock cooler I took off an i3, which I think is identical to the i7 its currently running, but these aren't known for being fantastic. It's also inside an ITX case, so limited airflow. But the big kicker is that I don't think I had it torqued down correctly. I noticed putting the heatsink/fan back on, I struggled to get it to seat fully down and ended-up having to mess with it and tweak it for awhile before I got a full seat. I think I previously left a gap and it worked for awhile, but ultimately the paste pumped out and dried out and thus the issue.

Things are working great now, but I did just order a more efficient cooler that'll fit in the ITX chassis. The CPU is still hitting 100* and throttling when games are running above 60FPS, but the throttling is only down to 3.6Ghz at the lowest, so it hasn't really caused any issues.

 

[neogunhero]

But the big kicker is that I don't think I had it torqued down correctly. I noticed putting the heatsink/fan back on, I struggled to get it to seat fully down and ended-up having to mess with it and tweak it for awhile before I got a full seat. I think I previously left a gap and it worked for awhile, but ultimately the paste pumped out and dried out and thus the issue.

This exact thing has happened to me before. CPU coolers have always been the most annoying part of a build to me, at least with the coolers I've bought. They're always so hard to reach the screws, and making the mistake of installing it after you've already mounted the mobo to the case or replacing an existing cooler is the worst. I've done that where I didn't properly screw down the cooler, causing a slight gap between the processor and cooler, completely drying out the paste. Good thing you caught it before any serious damage happened to the processor. I'm surprised your son didn't feel the warmth exuding from the PC lol. Edit: Forgot you mentioned TV PC, that makes sense as it's not right next to him.

 

[BeardyHat]

This exact thing has happened to me before. CPU coolers have always been the most annoying part of a build to me, at least with the coolers I've bought. They're always so hard to reach the screws, and making the mistake of installing it after you've already mounted the mobo to the case or replacing an existing cooler is the worst. I've done that where I didn't properly screw down the cooler, causing a slight gap between the processor and cooler, completely drying out the paste. Good thing you caught it before any serious damage happened to the processor. I'm surprised your son didn't feel the warmth exuding from the PC lol. Edit: Forgot you mentioned TV PC, that makes sense as it's not right next to him.

Honestly, I think it's just these older style Intel coolers. I'm not sure what they're using now, but I've never had an issue with any of my AMD coolers; this one is just hella finicky.

And kids are just so clueless! He didn't even notice that it was running at 15FPS pretty frequently when a lot of stuff was going on on screen. I asked him (before I looked at the issue fully the next day) if he wanted me to try and fix that and he said no. Same goes for when he plays Subnautica on my very old gaming laptop, it often chugs, but the kids just don't have any concept of it.

 

[Zloth]

I haven't been upgrading my spells so they were doing minimal damage to the enemies, so I ran away, again.

What!? Get back in there! If you start feeling bummed about re-loads, just play this song:

View: https://youtu.be/ojvFp3ywbMw?si=i4VdOB2yE27Veuot&t=20

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Every now and again its tempting to replace my big tower CPU cooler with an AIO just for ease of access and cleaning, but its nice to not have to buy a new one every few years for fear of pump failures or whatever. Tune in next month when Ive bought a new CPU cooler anyway.

I'm playing a lot of Hades at the moment, not much to add that hasnt been said before but its drawn me back in. My bad reactions mean I have yet to finish a run after over 50 attempts, but thats also partly because Ive been cycling the different weapons and going for base cosmetic upgrades, which isnt like me at all. Will definitely have to pick up the second game in the future, its good stuff.

 

[Johnway]

Still playing yakuza 5 and still finishing off the last few bits and pieces before i see kazuma kiryiu's story to a close. Currently just playing the dating sim and any last minute unlocks to succeed.


More pc envy, i'm just doing more window shopping and decided to use pcpartpicker to see how much i could save and amazingly, for the parts i wanted i could shave nearly £500(!) coming up just shy of 2k mark. pays to shop around and not tempted to pull the trigger but it feels like an unnecessary spend atm.

 

[BeardyHat]

Continuing the thread of new PCs, my friend just got a new one. 7800X3D and a 5070. I'm pretty envious of it and have been looking at PC parts myself, but I can't imagine what reason I'd have to upgrade. I barley use my desktop as is and when I do, it's rarely for gaming.

Him and I are both long time PC gamers and we've actually been chatting back and forth about our general lack of excitement around PCs anymore as we age. His parts sat on his counter for a couple of weeks before he finally ended up building his PC just to get the boxes out of the way.

 

[Pifanjr]

This exact thing has happened to me before. CPU coolers have always been the most annoying part of a build to me, at least with the coolers I've bought. They're always so hard to reach the screws, and making the mistake of installing it after you've already mounted the mobo to the case or replacing an existing cooler is the worst. I've done that where I didn't properly screw down the cooler, causing a slight gap between the processor and cooler, completely drying out the paste. Good thing you caught it before any serious damage happened to the processor. I'm surprised your son didn't feel the warmth exuding from the PC lol. Edit: Forgot you mentioned TV PC, that makes sense as it's not right next to him.

My old PC currently only has a big passive cooler that isn't bolted down because I lost the screws, but it still works. Though it started having issues starting up again, so I have to occasionally switch the RAM sticks around which somehow fixes the issue.

Honestly, I think it's just these older style Intel coolers. I'm not sure what they're using now, but I've never had an issue with any of my AMD coolers; this one is just hella finicky.

And kids are just so clueless! He didn't even notice that it was running at 15FPS pretty frequently when a lot of stuff was going on on screen. I asked him (before I looked at the issue fully the next day) if he wanted me to try and fix that and he said no. Same goes for when he plays Subnautica on my very old gaming laptop, it often chugs, but the kids just don't have any concept of it.

I don't always notice a game is running badly either. I had been playing Barotrauma on my old PC and while it would sometimes lag a bit, I thought it ran just fine. Then I played it on the new PC and realised that the game was supposed to be way more smooth, it only seemed to run fine on the old PC compared to the times it was lagging.

 

[dxchase]

Continuing the thread of new PCs, my friend just got a new one. 7800X3D and a 5070. I'm pretty envious of it and have been looking at PC parts myself, but I can't imagine what reason I'd have to upgrade. I barley use my desktop as is and when I do, it's rarely for gaming.

I have alternate timeline friends. I have a friend from high school/grade school who, year after year would spend his money on top-dollar PC stuff but never use it for gaming, always saying it was for office use but have 2 GPUs, 64 gigs of ram and 4k high hz monitors to do data stuff lol and his current set up has a 4070ti (i know not the newest gen) and a G9 49'' monitor with 2 other monitors on the side but tells me hes been buying and playing games on his xbox lol. Always overkill with the gadgets but never uses them and then uses way subpar hardware to do the stuff his big budget electronics could do so much better haha.

Ive been trying to convince him to get a steamdeck or something so he can still use PC hardware thats better than the xbox haha.

 

[Zloth]

UGH! The liturgical village in the snowy lands of Elden Ring. UUUGGGGHHH!!

You have to get four beacons lit. My first try, I got 3 of the 4 lit. However, to get to the last one you have to make a VERY tight jump up to a roof from a slightly lower roof. Even when you do, there are a pair of archers up there with crazy-strong bows. I was having trouble with the jump and knew I would probably die from the archers even if I made it, so I looked around and noticed an archer in the distance looking the other way. So, I tested to see how easy they are to kill using my sniper fire-eye spell. It took away about a fifth of her hit points. She promptly turned around and shot 3 guided arrows at me. I dodged them, but by the time I dodged, she was already starting her animation to shoot three more. I healed and dodged, but then discovered that her attack animations were way faster and longer ranged than my fire eyes, so I got killed pretty quick.

Next attempt, I go back around the same path I did before to light the beacons. An invisible assassin attacks me, I try to fight back, and get killed before I even get to the first beacon.

Next attempt, I watch for footsteps (if you're going to be invisible, stay away from snow!) and try to beat the assassin. My clever attempt lets me get the first swing in before dying horribly.

Next attempt, just run by the assassin, which is what I unknowingly did the first time, and climb up to the beacon. It's already lit! You don't have repeat your lightings! FromSoft is so kind and forgiving - gotta love those guys. <ahem>

OK, so I happen to be close to that archer that wasted me the first time. Lets hop some roofs and see how she likes the taste of my tentically sword! I somehow don't find my way to her, she peppers me with arrows until I die.

NEXT attempt, I just go straight to the roof with the jump. I make the jump but get wasted by arrows from two archers before I can get to melee range for one of them. (They are on either side of the tower with the final beacon so, if I can get close to one archer, the second will be blocked.)

I figure I am going to have to kill at least one archer. I've got to find out how to do that. There are some stairs going up where I can get a clear shot at one without making any others mad, so I make a few attempts from there to try and kill just one. Spells with the range to hit her are too slow to fire off. I tried pulling out ye'olde jellyfish shield, which is the best I can wield against magic damage, but it isn't perfect. MAYBE I can use throwing knives at her, but my dex isn't great so they won't do much damage. After a few more deaths, I decided to quit for the night and complain about it here.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

UGH! The liturgical village in the snowy lands of Elden Ring. UUUGGGGHHH!!

You have to get four beacons lit. My first try, I got 3 of the 4 lit. However, to get to the last one you have to make a VERY tight jump up to a roof from a slightly lower roof. Even when you do, there are a pair of archers up there with crazy-strong bows. I was having trouble with the jump and knew I would probably die from the archers even if I made it, so I looked around and noticed an archer in the distance looking the other way. So, I tested to see how easy they are to kill using my sniper fire-eye spell. It took away about a fifth of her hit points. She promptly turned around and shot 3 guided arrows at me. I dodged them, but by the time I dodged, she was already starting her animation to shoot three more. I healed and dodged, but then discovered that her attack animations were way faster and longer ranged than my fire eyes, so I got killed pretty quick.

Next attempt, I go back around the same path I did before to light the beacons. An invisible assassin attacks me, I try to fight back, and get killed before I even get to the first beacon.

Next attempt, I watch for footsteps (if you're going to be invisible, stay away from snow!) and try to beat the assassin. My clever attempt lets me get the first swing in before dying horribly.

Next attempt, just run by the assassin, which is what I unknowingly did the first time, and climb up to the beacon. It's already lit! You don't have repeat your lightings! FromSoft is so kind and forgiving - gotta love those guys. <ahem>

OK, so I happen to be close to that archer that wasted me the first time. Lets hop some roofs and see how she likes the taste of my tentically sword! I somehow don't find my way to her, she peppers me with arrows until I die.

NEXT attempt, I just go straight to the roof with the jump. I make the jump but get wasted by arrows from two archers before I can get to melee range for one of them. (They are on either side of the tower with the final beacon so, if I can get close to one archer, the second will be blocked.)

I figure I am going to have to kill at least one archer. I've got to find out how to do that. There are some stairs going up where I can get a clear shot at one without making any others mad, so I make a few attempts from there to try and kill just one. Spells with the range to hit her are too slow to fire off. I tried pulling out ye'olde jellyfish shield, which is the best I can wield against magic damage, but it isn't perfect. MAYBE I can use throwing knives at her, but my dex isn't great so they won't do much damage. After a few more deaths, I decided to quit for the night and complain about it here.

I remember that exact place quite well. Those kinds of areas encapsulate what great and terrible about From. Its so damn frustrating the first time you get stuck like that,and try over and over again. What you do get is good stories out of it, and you'll likely find if you ever play through the game again its suddenly way easier than it was the first time in a way thats satisfying but also confusing.

Reminds me of the Anor Londo archers in DS1, the first time I got stuck there for probably double digit attempts, but every time Ive played it since I just juke them and get through after 1 or two attempts without thinking much about it.

Do you have the DLC @Zloth? Its a huge game in itself and you'll be coming up to the place you get into it soonish.

 

[Johnway]

Well that's act 1 of yakuza 5 and boy, what a send off to act 1 a massive brawl that was entertaining and OTT. Admittedly, not difficult, but it was welcome all the same. We'll see how Act 2 plays out as we switch to a different character but it will be hard to beat as it tries to pull its old tricks out of the bag once more.


Path of exile and we're finally got to the mapping stages. So the order of business is to grind as many of the maps out as quickly as possible and gear up. No currency to spend just yet, i still need to get the skill tree sorted and see what happens. Fingers crossed it will be plain sailing. I'm itching to get more currency so i can hopefully buy my way to the top, but its very unlikely. i would like to get onto the challenges asap, but i need the gear to do that first.

 

[Zloth]

Do you have the DLC @Zloth? Its a huge game in itself and you'll be coming up to the place you get into it soonish.

Now'ish, in fact! I didn't get the DLC, though, and honestly, I've had my fill already.

The game DOES generate stories! Humor, too - there's some funny stuff about this game out there on YouTube.

Anyway, for those following along, first attempt at Mohg, which got pretty close considering all I did wrong.

View: https://youtu.be/emD4rEK7C3k?si=dc5Qpht11371GLCA


Playing a bit smarter. I buff up at the start (a little) and use an amulet to make my lightning attacks work better.

View: https://youtu.be/UCkd2r1kbw4?si=D3Z1bnQzHyL_n2Z2


There were multiple battles between the two. I really should have tried harder with the Mimic Tear. For a spell user, you've really got to un-memorize any spell you don't want to use in the battle. The one time I tried using her, I left all the spells in, so she kept trying to throw fire at this guy. Highly unwise.

 

[JCgames]

Things are working great now, but I did just order a more efficient cooler that'll fit in the ITX chassis. The CPU is still hitting 100* and throttling when games are running above 60FPS, but the throttling is only down to 3.6Ghz at the lowest, so it hasn't really caused any issues.

Is the cpu way over clocked? My comp runs about 55c. Get a decent cooler, you can get a nice air cool for like 30 or so, or 80 for liquid.

Also check your processes. Make sure extra stuff you dont need isnt running on start up. You could also grab cc cleaner and malware bytes to make sure everything is running well. If your still on win 10, you might want to upgrade. My comp has been having all sorts of glitches since win 10 ended. I thought i could put it off a bit, but firefox isnt launching and my mouse pointer keeps vanishing. It all started basically the day after the final windows update.

 

[neogunhero]

And kids are just so clueless! He didn't even notice that it was running at 15FPS pretty frequently when a lot of stuff was going on on screen. I asked him (before I looked at the issue fully the next day) if he wanted me to try and fix that and he said no. Same goes for when he plays Subnautica on my very old gaming laptop, it often chugs, but the kids just don't have any concept of it.

Ah, to be young and be perfectly contempt with sub-30fps gaming. My first gaming PC could barely run Fallout 3 and Assassin's Creed but I still beat them running at like 20fps lol. These days I recoil at the thought of playing anything below 60fps, though I prefer performance over visuals these days and will happily scale back graphics to gain frames, compared to back then when I'd crank all the graphics up to max no matter if my PC could handle it or not.

Every now and again its tempting to replace my big tower CPU cooler with an AIO just for ease of access and cleaning, but its nice to not have to buy a new one every few years for fear of pump failures or whatever. Tune in next month when Ive bought a new CPU cooler anyway.

I get the same thought every now and then but then I check my temps and I'm always surprised just how good air coolers have gotten these days. I have a ThermalRight Peerless Assassin with two 120mm fans and I rarely ever see it go above 55c in demanding games.

Always overkill with the gadgets but never uses them and then uses way subpar hardware to do the stuff his big budget electronics could do so much better haha.

If I was his friend I'd be very annoying any time he got a new computer. "Soooo... what are you planning to do with the old one??"

Well that's act 1 of yakuza 5 and boy, what a send off to act 1 a massive brawl that was entertaining and OTT. Admittedly, not difficult, but it was welcome all the same. We'll see how Act 2 plays out as we switch to a different character but it will be hard to beat as it tries to pull its old tricks out of the bag once more.

Yakuza always knows how to end a chapter in style. So many great OTT fight scenes in every game, one of the main reasons why I love the series so much.

 

[neogunhero]

Still playing Oblivion Remastered, still ignoring the main quest.

I've gotten plenty stronger. Hit level 100 Destruction and Conjuration, almost done with the Mage Guild questline, also hit level 100 Mercantile so I'm making even more money now that I can sell at 100% value to every vendor.

I've also focused on improving all my spells. Finally got some strong basic spells like fire ball and shock damage, and gave myself some major conjuration spells. I have a spider daedra lady that I can summon for up to two minutes at a time and she's actually helpful in combat unlike other summons.

The only downfall to having access to the highest level spells now is the amount of magicka they take to use. Although I'm level 100 intelligence and willpower and have multiple magicka bonuses on my gear, I can only cast a handful of spells before running out of magicka. What I really need to do is gather some Sigil Stones inside the oblivion gates to enhance my gear even better, but of course I'm avoiding the main quest still. I've just been stocking up on magicka potions which is really helpful.

I'm coming up with my own lore before officially starting the main quest. As I rank up through the Mages Guild I've created a backstory which is transition me into the main questline. As I become one of the Mages Guild's best students, I'm suddenly tasked with saving the world from the invasion of the Oblivion gates, just like I've irradicated necromancy in the Guild. As a master of the arcane arts, I'm well equipped to take on such as task, rather than being a lowly prisoner who suddenly becomes "the chosen one". As soon as I finish up at the Guild I'll finally proceed to Kvatch to close the gates. Those poor soldiers have been fighting it off for months without a clue how to close them!

 

[BeardyHat]

Is the cpu way over clocked? My comp runs about 55c. Get a decent cooler, you can get a nice air cool for like 30 or so, or 80 for liquid.

Also check your processes. Make sure extra stuff you dont need isnt running on start up. You could also grab cc cleaner and malware bytes to make sure everything is running well. If your still on win 10, you might want to upgrade. My comp has been having all sorts of glitches since win 10 ended. I thought i could put it off a bit, but firefox isnt launching and my mouse pointer keeps vanishing. It all started basically the day after the final windows update.

It's just an ITX build with an improper cooler, really. I think the cooler itself is undersized, but then to top that off, the ITX case is just pretty cramped and I used what I had as far as PSU's went. I should have a modular PSU in there to minimize cables, but I don't, so I have a whole bundle just kind of stuffed in there and sort-of forced off to the side, but still interrupting the airflow from the front fan.

When we have the extra money I'll get a modular PSU, but for now, the $20 on a more efficient cooler will hopefully work to keep temps down, but we'll see.

Oh and also the computer itself is in a TV stand/box thing with doors. I did actually cut holes in the side and place an intake fan and an exhaust fan in the TV stand and it actually works quite well; has cut temps pretty solidly in the past.

I'm hoping to have time and motivation to install the new CPU cooler today, but it means disassembling this entire case to get it in there and I have a few other priorities, so we'll see!

Ah, to be young and be perfectly contempt with sub-30fps gaming. My first gaming PC could barely run Fallout 3 and Assassin's Creed but I still beat them running at like 20fps lol. These days I recoil at the thought of playing anything below 60fps, though I prefer performance over visuals these days and will happily scale back graphics to gain frames, compared to back then when I'd crank all the graphics up to max no matter if my PC could handle it or not.

I can do 30FPS these days since I've owned a Steam Deck, though that also really depends on the game. From games work well at 30FPS, but other action games definitely do not. Currently putting some time into Darkest Dungeon 2 and 30FPS is more than acceptable.

 

[Rolfil]

I had a week's holiday so got to start playing Path of Exile on the first sunday. I've stopped now that I've done all tier 1-16 maps. Just have a few uniques to get map completion done. Once they do the next patch this week and fix the new drops from breach I'll go back. Need about 7 divine for weapon upgrade though so I will pray to the tree and sell yellow lifeforce.

Thankfully PowerWash Simulator 2 was released (Ok Oct 23rd but I bought it today).
The original was one of my favourite games and the sequel is great. The 'ding' sound when you wash an item gives you a nice dopamine release in what is otherwise a pretty relaxing game. Oh and if you end up playing it then get the SwirlForce Surf Ace as your first purchase. It's basically make cleaning large surface areas a lot easier.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I get the same thought every now and then but then I check my temps and I'm always surprised just how good air coolers have gotten these days. I have a ThermalRight Peerless Assassin with two 120mm fans and I rarely ever see it go above 55c in demanding games.

Yea those Thermalrights are really good!

Mine will touch 80C in the most demanding games because the graphics card is chucking all its heat in there and I always forget to turn my fan profile off silent lol. To be fair the 5800X3D is known to be a bit hotter than other AMD 5000 series because of the 3d cache stacked on top, doesnt worry me, TJ Max is 90 before it throttles and its never been close to that.

 

[Johnway]

Yakuza always knows how to end a chapter in style. So many great OTT fight scenes in every game, one of the main reasons why I love the series so much.

i think the end of Act 1 was probably one of the best in the series. There were so many (weak) enemies it might as well have been a dynasty warriors game. The incredible thing was that there was no boss at the end of it. Sure, there were more "elite" gangsters who get an introduction, but they have the health of a normal enemy if you were typically walking around. it was just a great send off to let off some steam and just go to town wrecking enemies. if you're familiar with the (Y3?) fight at the japanese diet building, it was like that but better. For some reason the gangsters brought 2 US javelins into the fight and Kiriyu stood there as they streaked past like a boss.

https://media1.tenor.com/m/sp7NAbVd8R0AAAAC/kiryu-kazuma.gif

 

[neogunhero]

Oblivion Remastered is the first game I've played that requires 32GB of RAM and really means it. I've never seen this much usage before.

 

[BeardyHat]

Oblivion Remastered is the first game I've played that requires 32GB of RAM and really means it. I've never seen this much usage before.

Maybe it's a memory leak? Though I guess it would run away with it if it were.

Darkest Dungeon 2 is definitely growing on me. Still not sure I like it as much as the original game, but it's definitely got more charm than I initially thought several years ago. I'm trying to remind myself that I need to be patient and that failing these runs is all in the name of progress and making stronger characters to actually take stuff on.

The other day I forgot about the Librarian boss and just kind of waltzed in there thinking I was doing pretty well and I was hot poop. Well, he beat our asses quite handily and now I remember I need to probably wait until I can start with some stronger characters. But on my last run I did get 35 Candles, which is the resource used for unlocking everything and I did manage to buff up my favorite characters a little bit. I still have a ton more characters to unlock, as well as many other things, but hopefully my next run goes that much better.

 

[neogunhero]

Maybe it's a memory leak? Though I guess it would run away with it if it were.

I don't think so, because it stays quite solidly at 24GB total usage. The Oblivion exe itself is using almost 15GB alone. I'm chalking up the performance issues and high memory usage to the fact that it's technically running two engines at once, the original Gamebryo engine and UE5 simultaneously.

 

[Pifanjr]

My old PC currently only has a big passive cooler that isn't bolted down because I lost the screws, but it still works. Though it started having issues starting up again, so I have to occasionally switch the RAM sticks around which somehow fixes the issue.

An update on my PC situation. Today it again refused to start up, but this time moving RAM sticks around didn't do anything. I took all of them out and carefully used a little plastic sliver to scrape the sockets, which removed a bunch of dust, and then removed as much dust from the rest of the PC as well, but that didn't matter either.

Then I noticed one of my case fans wasn't hooked up to the motherboard at all, it even still had the twist tie around the cable. I figured if I might as well plug it in, but then I discovered why it hadn't been: the only available plug for it was almost impossible to reach. In my attempts to put the fan in, I accidentally bumped hard enough against the passive cooler to detach it from the CPU, but at least I got it plugged in after that. Then I had to clean the cooler and reapply some cooling paste and lo and behold, the PC started up again.

Not sure if the PC was failing to start because the CPU was overheating because the cooling paste wasn't working anymore or if something just jiggled in just the right way somewhere during all of this, but at least it's working again for now.