It's not a patient game yet, but I caved and got Alan Wake 2 the other week. In the early stages so far (the game's quite scary!) but loving it.

I'd done that a few days ago, but you're right, not specifically to these suggestions. I tried the export VKD3D_DISABLE_EXTENSIONS=VK_EXT_mesh_shader VKD3D_FEATURE_LEVEL=12_0 VKD3D_SHADER_MODEL=6_5 %command% and variations of it. It reduced performance significantly, so would not suggest people on more recent Mesa versions try this anymore. When I looked into it, it seemed to mainly be in place for Mesa 22.x which was still lacking mesh shader support.

Thought I'd post an update. Performance is better now, playing in 1440p with FSR2 on Balanced, graphic settings on Medium. I'm getting around 45FPS.

I'm not quite sure what the fix was in the end, but I've installed proton-ge-custom-bin from the AUR, so I've got Proton GE installed onto my system (not just within Heroic). Both the AUR and Heroic are on Proton-GE 9.7. I then added the AlanWake2.exe file to Steam, and forced compatibility to use Proton GE. So whatever extra was happening with Heroic was taken away.

I tried changing my Mesa drivers, but it appears Manjaro is even with the nonfree repo at this point, so I'm still on Mesa 24.1.1, only on the Manjaro-approved version, not the mainline Arch version.

It appears that somewhere within that combination of (1) running the game directly from Steam, (2) using the system-installed Proton-GE package, and (3) reverting to the Manjaro Mesa package the framerate got bumped from lower 20-s to mid-40s. CPU and GPU usage still hover around the 40%, so I feel there would be more improvement to be had perhaps?

I tested the game on my second PC, which is running ChimeraOS, has a 5800X3D chip, 32Gb RAM and a 7600 XT card, where it's easily hitting these framerates and better (but with higher GPU usage, hardly any CPU usage, that 5800X3D is a beast). So I wonder if my 10700K might be a bit of a bottleneck? ChimeraOS' version of Mesa is on 23.2 so maybe there are just some kinks to be worked out in the 24.1 branch?

Anyway.... long story short: I'm happy with the overall performance at this point. Happy to dive into the Overlap and deal with Nightingale!

Hi, I’ve checked but the Manjaro nonfree branch is the main one, just more up to date with the Arch main branch. Or are you suggesting a particular version?

These all sounds like good ideas to play with, thanks! I'll have a go later tonight and will update here. It would be bonkers if the mesh shaders were at fault, since I got my 7800XT specifically for that feature...

Hi, sorry, the non-free is a very Manjaro-specific thing.

TLDR: They removed a lot of proprietary video codecs from Mesa, which means that Manjaro's Mesa tends to lag behind the Arch repo. By using nonfree, the Mesa installation is pulled and compiled straight from Arch.

So yes, I'm using RADV through Mesa 24.1.1 instead of version 23.x (which is where Manjaro is still at). I wanted to be on a newer version since 24.x packed in a lot of 7000XT improvements.

Out of curiosity, have you tried AW2 with your 7800XT? How does it run for you?

I think Burnham was referencing Book, not Tyler, when she said she knows what it’s like to lose someone but got him back. Book died during the final events of 10C, but they magically zapped him back into existence, if I recall correctly.

I prefer the world-famous song “Press X to Jason”

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_56257iS77A

Since it’s about the first 5-10 minutes of the game, it’s not a big spoiler.

Stupid Jason.

Not sure either, ENT rewatch was some years ago… I think that might’ve been another time version / shapeshifter or something something?

Hah, yes! Or O’Brien, the most important Starfleet officer in history!

As a show with so much promise, I often felt Disco reached for big concepts but never quite managed to get there. It would get bogged down with pathos and dragged out plot lines. Unfortunately, season 5 felt no different. This episode dragged on and on for me. Mol and L’ak had mostly become irrelevant and were completely unnecessary in this episode.

I get the series got axed and additional scenes were shot to round things out. But that random “we’re all hugging” scene? It was weird. And didn’t the actress who played Detmer say their absence was planned and revealing anything would be a big spoiler or something? Well. No, it really wasn’t.

Kovitsch was Daniels? I think at that point of the story, he could’ve been anyone and it wouldn’t have landed. He could’ve been Sloane (not dead after all!) and it would’ve made as much sense and be just as meaningful to the story.

The progenitor plot? With a tick list of “clues” and “challenges” to lead the way, but ultimately we decide your worthiness to reshape the universe as we know it with a geometry puzzle? I can’t even.

Discovery had potential, back in the day, but disappointed year on year. I had hoped this final season would offer redemption, but alas. Decent bunch of actors, but with subpar writing that usually went nowhere coherent. I won’t miss it. Glad it’s done. I hope Paramount learnt some valuable lessons from this and moves things on.

Something about the former Primarch really reminds me of Sarris from Galaxy Quest.

Thanks for posting this here, just purchased it. Keen to dive into the 2D course and the Shaders course!

Still making my way through Phantom Liberty in Cyberpunk 2077. It’s really good, but I had already completed the base game and I find it difficult to engage/care about it, since I already know it won’t impact the endgame. I think. Unless it does? But then, I was happy with the ending I got. So yeah, something set post-ending would’ve had me more excited, I think.

Apart from that, spending some time reacquainting myself with my zoo in Planet Zoo. It’s been two years, so that’s a fun game to return to.

Did anyone else notice that the alien statues in 5x02 looked remarkably similar to the Batarians from Mass Effect?

As an open source alternative, I prefer a Jellyfin server and then using Feishin as a client. Nicer UI and options. Plex is a major no-no for me since they’ve started emailing people what they’ve been watching on their own servers. Privacy issues and required online login/plex-owned accounts for my own media? No thank you.

Have a look at Three Minutes to Eight - small indie game released on Steam a while back. Haven’t given it a good run myself yet.

And as someone else mentioned: Oxenfree. Definitely good vibes there.

The Star Trek games I played growing up were 25th Anniversary (the ship battles were too complicated for 11yo me), later on I used my own pocket money and bought Final Unity. The Chodak are still a very cool alien race added to the universe. Loved those frog faces in space suits. :-)

Played and finished Elite Force and Armada. Earl Boehn (RIP) as a main villain was a moment of teenage glee being such a massive T2 and TNG nerd.

Interested in Resurgence, my husband recently played it on his PS5 but I don’t go near that machine. 😂

I’m at the Grymforge right now and Nere needs to be freed so I can stay safe in the Shadow-Cursed Lands. I’ll persevere, good to hear I’m getting close to your fave bit!

This is true! I’ve only dabbled with the tilemap features, but the changes made are impressive. And for more advanced users in 3D, it seems really quite phenomenal.