The Currently Playing & Random Game Thoughts Thread (14 August to 20 August)

[ZedClampet]

Welcome fellow geniuses.

I just looked at Humble Choice for the first time in months. Looks like I'm going to be a member until my debit card expires If anyone wants one of the following, let me know:

Deep Rock Galactic--Already have it and finished with it.
The Ascent--Twin stick in an amazing world. Already have it and am playing it.
Emily is Away >3 I'm ready to get involved in a murder for hire to get rid of Emily after the first two games, so I don't want this one. A horrible depiction of women as incomprehensible and fickle.
Hired Gun--Looks interesting if you like hectic shooters, which I don't
Star Wars Squadrons--I had enough of dog fights in the Air Force. No wait, I was never in the Air Force. I still don't want it, though.
I am Fish--I'll try not to judge you if you want it. Unless you are @WoodenSaucer
Planet Zoo--Don't forget to pick up the DLC so you can have animals in your zoo. What little I've played is actually fun, though.
Ghost Runner--I need to lose about 20 pounds for wall running.
Destroy all Humans--Looks cute, but not for me.
Man of Medan--Been there, done that. Great co-op fun. Has QTE's like a Telltale game.
Just Die Already--Kill old people. That's literally the whole thing.
Project Winter--Multiplayer social deception
Man Eater--Multiplayer, play as the shark
Mordhau--Already have. Go medieval on other players.
House Flipper--Already have. Fun if you like that sort of thing.
Beyond the Wire--WWI multiplayer.

While making this extensive list, I actually found a bunch of stuff I want to play. Now I'm happy I've been too lazy to cancel.

 

[Brian Boru]

If anyone wants one of the following

Are you letting anyone grab, or applying some rules like those in the keys giveaway thread?

Game keys giveaway thread

Greetings community! Here is the thread for the people wanting to give away game keys to the community. We have created some ground rules to make it fair and to prevent bots from stealing them: 1. First comes first served. When the giveaway is posted, the first person who responds will get the...

forums.pcgamer.com

 

[ZedClampet]

Are you letting anyone grab, or applying some rules like those in the keys giveaway thread?

Game keys giveaway thread

Greetings community! Here is the thread for the people wanting to give away game keys to the community. We have created some ground rules to make it fair and to prevent bots from stealing them: 1. First comes first served. When the giveaway is posted, the first person who responds will get the...

forums.pcgamer.com

Ah, I looked for that thread yesterday and didn't see it.

No rules. Will be lucky to give a single game away. Don't want to make it harder.

 

[ZedClampet]

Does anyone have a free video editor they'd recommend?

 

[mainer]

Does anyone have a free video editor they'd recommend?

Funny you should mention that, I've been searching around to see if there's a decent free video editor myself, as I've begun to take a few in-game videos and wanted a way to edit some of them in a "reasonably" professional manner. Simple things like cutting up some clips, maybe stringing some together with transitions, or adding my own soundtracks, things that you could do with the old Movie Maker software that came with Windows 7.

Most of the ones I've looked at are $50-$100 and I'm just not willing to play that for some software that I'll only occasionally use. It's weird that I won't blink on dropping that kind of money on a game I want but I become a "tightwad" when it comes to buying productivity software. If you do find one, of if someone else knows of one, I'd be interested as well.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

@ZedClampet I'd take Necromunda: Hired Gun as long as no one else wants it? Had it wishlisted for a while and was waiting for a cheap sale.

Been playing Doom Eternal and Crusader Kings 3 this weekend. They really layer on the movement skills fast in Doom Eternal, hopefully it wont get too much for my tiny mind to keep up with, the game is so fast, and theres glory kills, flamers and chainsaw plus double jump and double dash, and I've barely played a couple of hours. Really liking it so far though, just as much as I liked Doom.

CK3 I started a campaign as a count in Gallicia, already annexed the surrounding counties and declared myself Duke. Will continue to pick off the odd county around, my bishop is a bit slow so it takes some time to fabricate claims, and I dont have much intrigue skill to easily murder him.

As it was the 867 start we are tribal and I dont have access to better levels of Partition for quite some time, which means the realm will break up equally between my sons when this character pops it. The prime heir always gets the capital county and highest tier title though, so if you only develop that one with buildings and only have one dukedom my PC will remain the most powerful in my realm. Then its on to an independence war with the King and conquering enough duchies to declare a new Kingdom next life hopefully before that life ends so the realm doesnt break up into several dukedoms. Thats the thing I love about this game, when everything doesn't go to plan you have to figure ways around, and the game almost always goes on whatever happens.

 

[ZedClampet]

Most of the ones I've looked at are $50-$100 and I'm just not willing to play that for some software that I'll only occasionally use.

A lot of the ones I saw are using a subscription model now. There's no way I'm paying $19.99/mo.

Humble occasionally has a software bundle that includes what appears to be a decent video editor. I'm going to keep an eye out for that, and I'll let you know if they bring it back.

In the meantime, I found a couple of free, open-source video editors. One is called OpenShot and the other is Kdenlive. Apparently OpenShot is very easy to use with a pretty good number of features while Kdenlive has even more features, but isn't very beginner friendly. Best I can tell, OpenShot will let you do everything you listed. I'm going to install it here in a minute and give it a try.

 

[ZedClampet]

Ah, man. I had a cool video of me winning on the track I'd never won Unbeaten on by slamming into the lead car in the last turn, but Geforce Experience didn't record the game sounds.

A few minutes later....

Now I have it working. Too late for the video. I feel like it should have been set to record game sounds out-of-the-box.

Hey, @mainer OpenShot really is super easy to use.

 

[Frag Maniac]

Welcome fellow geniuses.

I just looked at Humble Choice for the first time in months. Looks like I'm going to be a member until my debit card expires If anyone wants one of the following, let me know:

Ghost Runner--I need to lose about 20 pounds for wall running.

Imagine someone trying to make a real life, fan made film of this game. Talk about challenging!

 

[Zloth]

Does anyone have a free video editor they'd recommend?

Here you go: https://ffmpeg.org/

The learning curve is... a little steep. Like going right to left here. But it's free and works very well.

 

[ZedClampet]

Here you go: https://ffmpeg.org/

The learning curve is... a little steep. Like going right to left here. But it's free and works very well.

Thanks. If OpenShot doesn't end up working out, I'll give it a try.

 

[Brian Boru]

free video editor

From my notes, haven't tried any of these, don't even know offhand which aren't free:

VSDC
OBS Studio
- - -Tips
Handbrake
Top 2019 | Free
Shotcut—How-to
Best free 2021
Best free 2022
Camtasia
After Effects Alternatives

PS [sorry @Zloth] OBS is the one I see/read most people raving about.

 

[ZedClampet]

@mainer So I wanted to goof around with OpenShot, so I made a little video. I should have made a game video, but I was feeling stupid, and so we have this instead. I always have to try to be funny. So sorry:

TMI Chronicles: Testicular Rash

Anyway, I did crop and string a video together earlier, but then I found out it had no sound to it, but the process was really easy. In the above video, it was made with two pictures and a sound file. I added three transitions, which are super easy to add. I did manage to crash the system by trying to overlap transitions. Apparently that's a no-no.

Just for the record, I mechanically raised the pitch of my voice for both characters.

I've never tried to do voices or to voice act before. It was actually very fun.

 

[Colif]

not playing this but it seems a very specific video game

 

[ZedClampet]

*sigh*

Sorry for the poor video. I should realize by now that no one shares my sense of humor. For some reason, I was absolutely positive that it was funny, but at least I had fun making it. I think I did a pretty good job doing the voices. I've deleted it, though. Nothing worse that a bad joke.

 

[Frindis]

I'd love to get my hands on Mordhau. Smashing people medieval style sounds like a lot of fun

 

[ZedClampet]

How did it come to this? I got my new Duke controller, and I played The Trial at least a dozen times this weekend and The Tour maybe 5 times, and I'm just trouncing the field, far and away the best driver, and no one could be more shocked about it than I am. When I first started playing multiplayer a few weeks ago, I just sort of hung out in the back not wanting to get in the way. I was just in the races to get the weekly prizes. Occasionally I would win if the game started me at or very near the front of the field. But then the game stopped nerfing the Unbeatable AI, and I suddenly realized that if the humans were going to win The Trial, it was up to me to beat the AI, and I started going to the front ASAP. I didn't really think about it. And just suddenly I realized the implications, that none of the human drivers can beat me. I'm sure there are plenty out there who can, but they haven't been in my races. But I'm several levels above your average player, and that feels awesome.

 

[WoodenSaucer]

Does anyone have a free video editor they'd recommend?

Lightworks has a free version. It's a professional video editor, but there is a learning curve.

But honestly, every once in a while, Humble Bundle offers a previous version of Vegas Pro for an extremely good price. In my opinion, Vegas Pro is one of the best out there. If you see another deal for that on Humble Bundle, snatch it up.

 

[mainer]

In the meantime, I found a couple of free, open-source video editors. One is called OpenShot

Hey, @mainer OpenShot really is super easy to use.

Thanks! I just downloaded and will give it a try at some point. Some of the other programs that other's have listed sound interesting, but I'll see how it goes with OpenShot first.

 

[ZedClampet]

Just finished performing an exorcism on Guido's computer, which had malware on it, and the other day I just barely stopped my daughter before she downloaded malware. I've preached to them that if they aren't on their regular sites like YouTube that they have to carefully consider everything they click on and gave them various examples. We've discussed illegal downloads, file sharing, emails, misleading download links, and on and on, and yet it seems they still have to learn by screwing up.

So this weekend we're going nuclear. I'm going to teach them how to sandbox. Then they can download all the viruses and malware they want.

*******************

Tried another Phasmophobia-like called Ghost Watchers. I'm not sure I like it. The ghosts seem to hunt most of the time, and you have to actually be holding your flashlight to be able to see, so if you pull out another piece of equipment, you are in total darkness. You can turn on the lights, but the ghost is constantly turning them off. But the biggest reason I don't like it is because it's all or nothing. Every other game in the genre lets you leave the site whenever you want and pays you for whatever objectives you completed. But in this game you have to do everything or you've wasted your time.

 

[Zloth]

We've discussed illegal downloads, file sharing, emails, misleading download links, and on and on, and yet it seems they still have to learn by screwing up.

Our workplace throws fake phishing attacks at us from time to time. I was out for a few days and, when I got back, I saw I had a voicemail email* waiting. Clicked the link and: "that was a fake and you FAILED!" (only in more diplomatic terms). It actually looked nothing like our voicemails, but I haven't gotten a voicemail at work for a year or so, so I didn't know better. Also, all our email links go through some third-party filter thing, so hovering over the link just showed that third party plus a bunch of gobbledygook.

* - our work phones are all virtual now. If somebody calls, it goes through the computer speakers. If somebody leaves a voice mail, it saves on some server and sends us an email with a link so we can hear it.

 

[ZedClampet]

Our workplace throws fake phishing attacks at us from time to time. I was out for a few days and, when I got back, I saw I had a voicemail email* waiting. Clicked the link and: "that was a fake and you FAILED!" (only in more diplomatic terms). It actually looked nothing like our voicemails, but I haven't gotten a voicemail at work for a year or so, so I didn't know better. Also, all our email links go through some third-party filter thing, so hovering over the link just showed that third party plus a bunch of gobbledygook.

* - our work phones are all virtual now. If somebody calls, it goes through the computer speakers. If somebody leaves a voice mail, it saves on some server and sends us an email with a link so we can hear it.

If you hadn't gotten one in over a year, that should have caused suspicion Sorry, just playing auditor.

Back when I was an auditor, I sent a lot of those. I don't know if I ever sent one out that didn't get clicked on by someone.

My favorite part of the job was physical impersonation. There were various targets. First I would wander around the bank (I usually had some fake id or badge just depending on the particular bank) looking for offices where the person had left and left the PC unlocked. If they caught me doing that I had to skip the next job. If they didn't catch me, I would try to get into the server room. If I couldn't just get in, I would go to the customer service area, tell them a story and tell them I needed access to the servers. Sometimes they gave it to me, but most of the time I argued and pressured them until they were ready to call the police. At that point I had to show them proof of who I really worked for.

After that came the ugly part of the job--dumpster diving. Nothing quite beats crawling through a dumpster looking for sensitive documents.

Of course, there were a lot of other things we did like reviewing passwords, calling in and impersonating one of their customers to see if they would give me customer information, etc. but the phishing and physical impersonation were the fun parts.

By the way, Bitdefender didn't recognize the malware on Guido's system. It must be relatively new.

 

[Brian Boru]

Bitdefender

I figured you'd have them on guard, that's one of the best, so yeah…

I'm replaying some Command and Conquer Remastered last few days. Man, it still hasn't got any easier! Took me half an hour of restarts to find a way to even begin GDI mission 11—in Greece, to contact spy Delphi, first ion cannon. You get 6 Grenadiers and a MCV, but are greeted by 3 turrets and a Nod tank on the landing beach. Then if you don't settle in the right area, you get swamped before you can establish a foothold.

Then mission 12—clear SAMs so chopper can evac Dr Mobius—dumps you in a base needing repairs, and without any income!

I avoid using sandbags or MCVs full of Engineers, tricks which make things a lot easier. And I love to use air power, even tho ground forces would probably be more efficient.

 

[Frindis]

@ZedClampet It's amazing how many places you can get access to with just a yellow utility vest and a couple of velcro badges saying something like "security administrator", "Deputy Droopy Droop" or "Donut master engineer" or perhaps being in the flower business will help also. Not speaking from personal experience of course😅

 

[ZedClampet]

@ZedClampet It's amazing how many places you can get access to with just a yellow utility vest and a couple of velcro badges saying something like "security administrator", "Deputy Droopy Droop" or "Donut master engineer" or perhaps being in the flower business will help also. Not speaking from personal experience of course😅

Yep. We had some people who played it to the max. I called one guy the master of disguise. I just went simple with a name tag. Banks may be a little different from other places because they live under the constant fear of being robbed. Still, I rarely had problems roaming the halls so long as I looked and acted like I belonged there. Now when they caught me in someone's office checking out the computer, that was another story, and, of course, the server rooms were supposed to be locked, so you needed help getting into those, although at the end I bought a lockpicking kit off of Amazon, but then I became a consultant and didn't get to use it. I did lock myself out of my house once, but the kit was inside Then I started carrying it in my car. Shortly after, someone broke into my car and stole it. The police caught him. He had broken into quite a few cars and houses. They never gave me my stuff back, though, and I finally stopped asking them about it. I've wondered if the lockpicking kit was the reason they kept it. Glad I didn't have a bunch of disguises in there hahahaha

I figured you'd have them on guard, that's one of the best, so yeah…

I'm replaying some Command and Conquer Remastered last few days. Man, it still hasn't got any easier! Took me half an hour of restarts to find a way to even begin GDI mission 11—in Greece, to contact spy Delphi, first ion cannon. You get 6 Grenadiers and a MCV, but are greeted by 3 turrets and a Nod tank on the landing beach. Then if you don't settle in the right area, you get swamped before you can establish a foothold.

Then mission 12—clear SAMs so chopper can evac Dr Mobius—dumps you in a base needing repairs, and without any income!

I avoid using sandbags or MCVs full of Engineers, tricks which make things a lot easier. And I love to use air power, even tho ground forces would probably be more efficient.

Nothing worked on that malware, so I had to manually go through and delete it. I found a program that was reinstalling it every time I deleted it. It was a mess.

When I asked you the other day if you had played that Command and Conquer it was because it was in one of those Humble Choice things. Since you didn't need it, I went ahead and added it to my account and am going to try it out one of these days.