The Backlog Check-in Vol. 351: 9/21/24: The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom Edition

[argyle]

For those of you who don't want to bother with PC gaming because of the (occasional) hassle, I'll tell a little recent story. I mentioned that I started up Return to Castle Wolfenstein recently - a 20+ year old game, but one that sells on the Steam storefront still.

Anyway, I installed it a long time ago, but just decided to fire it up. Well, first I click the play button and some loading up "noise" starts activating in the background, and I'm eager to dig in. Well, it hiccuped, spurted and flashed a few times and then finally dumped me back onto the game page in my library without starting. I tried again a few times to be sure it wasn't just a one-off, which can sometimes happen of course. Still the same trying to load with no success. So I start digging around and found a patch (called Knightmare 1.42d) that should sort me out. I grab it, scan for malware, extract into my directory and try again. Everything loads up fine. Sweet! Quick fix, no problems. So I started playing and have been enjoying myself for a couple of hours over a few sessions. Next time I try to fire it up, it starts loading my save and *bam*, back to the game page with a crash. I'm like, that's weird. I try a few more times and still a no go. So I turned off cloud saving on Steam so that I could uninstall and reinstall without reinfecting a new installation with whatever was causing the problem. Fresh install now ready to go, with *only* my save folder restored to the proper location, I boot it up again. Still, won't load without crashing. I thought that is very strange. So I did another clean install without restoring even my save file - only replacing the 1.42d patch that remedied the original problem, back to square one, ya know. Boot it up again and it *still* crashes upon trying to start. I'm like what the HECK! Why would it run before but not now. It makes no sense whatsoever. So I do some more digging and found another patch (iortcw) and did the dance to get that one running. And now things are running fine and look even better with no crashes so far. But one down side is that I'm not technically running it through Steam so I don't get to see my hours played. It's a little thing, but I love having that record for the time I've spent with each game. Also, in the process of trying to sort this mess out I discovered a community mod called 'REALRTCW' that is more than just a patch - it's got plenty of improvements and changes, and it's free for owners of the game proper, so I installed it and figured I might give that a play when I'm finished with vanilla.

But, I just thought I'd share for those of you who hate that sort of hassle. I know some of you guys can't stand that sort of thing. Personally, I kind of like it, in a masochistic, twisted sort of way. Granted, it's always preferable when you just install, click play and you're off. And that is usually the case - 95%+ of the time as long as it's not an older title. But there's something in that sort of annoyance that just brings out the stubborn bastard within. (This problem wasn't too bad in this particular case be clear, even if annoying.) I just grit my teeth and the obstinate cuss within is determined to wrassle that bitch to the ground one way or another, lol.

That is why I will never be a PC gamer. I would have thrown my rig out the window somewhere in the middle of that first paragraph. Thank you for sharing.

Let me add this, with my new gaming rig I've been surprised & impressed by how newer games have taken most of the "fiddling around" out of the process. Anything recently made (I'd say past couple years, at least) will give me an option to analyze my system & set the settings to match what I have. You can always go in & tweak if you want, but if you just want to get into the game with optimal settings and not have to spend forever trying to figure out what those are, they have you covered now. I *can* do this stuff, I'm just sick of it by this point in my life.

[isthatallyougot]

For those of you who don't want to bother with PC gaming because of the (occasional) hassle, I'll tell a little recent story. I mentioned that I started up Return to Castle Wolfenstein recently - a 20+ year old game, but one that sells on the Steam storefront still.

Anyway, I installed it a long time ago, but just decided to fire it up. Well, first I click the play button and some loading up "noise" starts activating in the background, and I'm eager to dig in. Well, it hiccuped, spurted and flashed a few times and then finally dumped me back onto the game page in my library without starting. I tried again a few times to be sure it wasn't just a one-off, which can sometimes happen of course. Still the same trying to load with no success. So I start digging around and found a patch (called Knightmare 1.42d) that should sort me out. I grab it, scan for malware, extract into my directory and try again. Everything loads up fine. Sweet! Quick fix, no problems. So I started playing and have been enjoying myself for a couple of hours over a few sessions. Next time I try to fire it up, it starts loading my save and *bam*, back to the game page with a crash. I'm like, that's weird. I try a few more times and still a no go. So I turned off cloud saving on Steam so that I could uninstall and reinstall without reinfecting a new installation with whatever was causing the problem. Fresh install now ready to go, with *only* my save folder restored to the proper location, I boot it up again. Still, won't load without crashing. I thought that is very strange. So I did another clean install without restoring even my save file - only replacing the 1.42d patch that remedied the original problem, back to square one, ya know. Boot it up again and it *still* crashes upon trying to start. I'm like what the HECK! Why would it run before but not now. It makes no sense whatsoever. So I do some more digging and found another patch (iortcw) and did the dance to get that one running. And now things are running fine and look even better with no crashes so far. But one down side is that I'm not technically running it through Steam so I don't get to see my hours played. It's a little thing, but I love having that record for the time I've spent with each game. Also, in the process of trying to sort this mess out I discovered a community mod called 'REALRTCW' that is more than just a patch - it's got plenty of improvements and changes, and it's free for owners of the game proper, so I installed it and figured I might give that a play when I'm finished with vanilla.

But, I just thought I'd share for those of you who hate that sort of hassle. I know some of you guys can't stand that sort of thing. Personally, I kind of like it, in a masochistic, twisted sort of way. Granted, it's always preferable when you just install, click play and you're off. And that is usually the case - 95%+ of the time as long as it's not an older title. But there's something in that sort of annoyance that just brings out the stubborn bastard within. (This problem wasn't too bad in this particular case be clear, even if annoying.) I just grit my teeth and the obstinate cuss within is determined to wrassle that bitch to the ground one way or another, lol.

That is why I will never be a PC gamer. I would have thrown my rig out the window somewhere in the middle of that first paragraph. Thank you for sharing.

Let me add this, with my new gaming rig I've been surprised & impressed by how newer games have taken most of the "fiddling around" out of the process. Anything recently made (I'd say past couple years, at least) will give me an option to analyze my system & set the settings to match what I have. You can always go in & tweak if you want, but if you just want to get into the game with optimal settings and not have to spend forever trying to figure out what those are, they have you covered now. I *can* do this stuff, I'm just sick of it by this point in my life.

Yeah, modern hardware coupled with modern games is mostly buttery smooth, with only a *very* rare and if-then, very minor exception. Since I like to play a bunch of older games, I do get a bit more of a bumpy road in some cases, but I always get it sorted. And cane, I think you underestimate yourself, or maybe you just know that you don't *want* any sort of hassle, even if you could handle it, which of course is completely understandable.