Straight Dope Message Board

[Mahaloth]

I know my laptop is 4 years old, but wow, Assassin's Creed 3 runs slow. Not totally clunky, but very draggy. I'm kind of surprised. I have settings set to "Normal", which appears to be their "low".

I also went into the .ini file and set Vsync to "0".

What a clunky PC port this game seems to be, at least to me. I've played finer looking games in full speed. Skyrim, Darksiders 2, etc.

[Kinthalis]

Originally Posted by Mahaloth

I know my laptop is 4 years old, but wow, Assassin's Creed 3 runs slow. Not totally clunky, but very draggy. I'm kind of surprised. I have settings set to "Normal", which appears to be their "low".

I also went into the .ini file and set Vsync to "0".

What a clunky PC port this game seems to be, at least to me. I've played finer looking games in full speed. Skyrim, Darksiders 2, etc.

Make sure you've got AA set to off. I think this is one of those games that defaulted to MSAA even at lower presets.

[Jophiel]

Dead by Daylight is currently doing another free weekend in case you want to play a fun game with one of the whiniest communities in gaming.

[Mahaloth]

Originally Posted by Kinthalis

Make sure you've got AA set to off. I think this is one of those games that defaulted to MSAA even at lower presets.

How do I do this? And thank you.

[Teuton]

This weekend (15th - 18th December), Ubisoft are making all the previous free games available to claim again, if you've missed any. They are:

Prince of Persia Sands of Time
Splinter Cell
Rayman Origins
The Crew
Beyond Good And Evil
Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon
Assassin's Creed 3.

So if you've missed any, snap 'em up!

[Jophiel]

Mass Effect 2 (Standard Edition) is available for free from Origin

[levdrakon]

Originally Posted by Teuton

This weekend (15th - 18th December), Ubisoft are making all the previous free games available to claim again, if you've missed any. They are:

Prince of Persia Sands of Time
Splinter Cell
Rayman Origins
The Crew
Beyond Good And Evil
Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon
Assassin's Creed 3.

So if you've missed any, snap 'em up!

Sorry for being such a newb, but I've never done this before. I went to ubisoft and created an account and it says my game (Assassin's Creed 3) is now mine. It now says to download uplay PC. What is that? If I don't want to dl the game and play it now, will it still be there in the future on a different computer? My laptop probably can't play these games right now, but I'd like to grab them for playing at a later date.

[Jophiel]

Originally Posted by levdrakon

Sorry for being such a newb, but I've never done this before. I went to ubisoft and created an account and it says my game (Assassin's Creed 3) is now mine. It now says to download uplay PC. What is that? If I don't want to dl the game and play it now, will it still be there in the future on a different computer? My laptop probably can't play these games right now, but I'd like to grab them for playing at a later date.

Uplay is a digital game client. Basically a library of your games from that service (Uplay) and you need to log into it to download and play your games.

The game or games (not sure if you only activated AC3 or the whole bundle by your post) are permanently attached now to your Uplay account. Whenever you want, you can install the Uplay client and the games will show in your library. If you get a different computer, just install the client again, log in and they'll be available to download.

There's three major game clients: Steam is by far the largest, then Uplay and Origin (not sure which of those is bigger). They all work the same basic way though -- if you grab the free Mass Effect 2 I linked earlier, you will need the Origin client to download it but, again, it's yours forever and on whichever computer you're using. Uplay is mainly games published by Ubisoft and Origin games published by Electronic Arts. Steam is owned by Valve but is the big box store of game clients, having a ton of games from hundreds of major & minor publishers.

[levdrakon]

Originally Posted by Jophiel

Uplay is a digital game client. Basically a library of your games from that service (Uplay) and you need to log into it to download and play your games.

The game or games (not sure if you only activated AC3 or the whole bundle by your post) are permanently attached now to your Uplay account. Whenever you want, you can install the Uplay client and the games will show in your library. If you get a different computer, just install the client again, log in and they'll be available to download.

There's three major game clients: Steam is by far the largest, then Uplay and Origin (not sure which of those is bigger). They all work the same basic way though -- if you grab the free Mass Effect 2 I linked earlier, you will need the Origin client to download it but, again, it's yours forever and on whichever computer you're using. Uplay is mainly games published by Ubisoft and Origin games published by Electronic Arts. Steam is owned by Valve but is the big box store of game clients, having a ton of games from hundreds of major & minor publishers.

Great, thanks! Appreciate the info. I'll start paying more attention to this free games thread. Sooner or later I'll be on a better gaming computer hopefully.

[Skywatcher]

Originally Posted by Jophiel

There's three major game clients: Steam is by far the largest, then Uplay and Origin

Four with GOG offering recent releases and in-development (their version of Steam's Early Access) games. They recently established a quasi-partnership with Steam: if one purchases a game from GOG that's also available on Steam, or vice-versa, one can link Steam and GOG Galaxy accounts to have that game listed in both libraries.

[Jophiel]

You can get a game added to your GOG account if you own it on Steam -- limited to only a few games at a time and with short duration of availability -- but you don't get Steam keys added for games you own on GOG. I can't imagine that Galaxy sees as much use as Uplay or Origin (both of which are way behind Steam).

That said, GOG Galaxy is a thing and GOG gives out free games sometimes.

[Teuton]

Yeah, I don't think the gog connect thing is a partnership with steam in any way, they just use the steam api to see if you have the games and unlock them on your gog account if you do.

That said, gog is also worth getting an account on, especially if your machine isn't high spec and you don't mind playing older games.

[levdrakon]

Originally Posted by Teuton

That said, gog is also worth getting an account on, especially if your machine isn't high spec and you don't mind playing older games.

That would be me, thanks.

[Mahaloth]

Originally Posted by Jophiel

You can get a game added to your GOG account if you own it on Steam -- limited to only a few games at a time and with short duration of availability -- but you don't get Steam keys added for games you own on GOG. I can't imagine that Galaxy sees as much use as Uplay or Origin (both of which are way behind Steam).

That said, GOG Galaxy is a thing and GOG gives out free games sometimes.

Is it all my GOG games that can now be redeemed through Steam? I have 13 or so GOG games and I was wondering how I could go about getting them fully listed in my steam collection.

[SenorBeef]

No, it's the other way around - if you have certain games in your steam account they will be added to your GOG account.

[Didactylos]

Originally Posted by Mahaloth

I know my laptop is 4 years old, but wow, Assassin's Creed 3 runs slow. Not totally clunky, but very draggy. I'm kind of surprised. I have settings set to "Normal", which appears to be their "low".

I also went into the .ini file and set Vsync to "0".

What a clunky PC port this game seems to be, at least to me. I've played finer looking games in full speed. Skyrim, Darksiders 2, etc.

In Uplay under settings/general you can untick "Enable ingame overlay". When playing "The Division" it worked wonders on my rig. No guarantee it will make any difference in AC3, but worth a try.
ETA: Uplay will nag you every time you launch a game, but worth it.

[SenorBeef]

Rainbow 6: Siege is on a free weekend on steam starting today. Thread.

[SenorBeef]

Ghost Recon: Wildlands open beta for the next few days.

If you have twitch prime, which is included with amazon prime, you can get The Banner Saga free.

[Jophiel]

Chivalry: Medieval Warfare is currently free on Steam. A multi-player first person "shooter" with swords and bows; For Honor before For Honor was a thing.

Free through the morning of the 28th (tomorrow) but once you click it to own, it's yours to play forever.

[SenorBeef]

Squad has a free weekend on steam. It's a realism, teamwork focused shooter by the guys who did BF2 project reality. Somewhere between Arma and Insurgency in scale. Also a half off sale.

[Skywatcher]

Steam has Elder Scrolls Online free to play and the game at 67% off for the weekend.

[Skywatcher]

Saints Row 2 is free at GOG for the next 30 hours or so and the rest of the series has hefty discounts.

[Kinthalis]

There's going to be a free/beta weekend for the upcoming Dawn Of War III title this weekend.

[Terminus Est]

The original Starcraft+Brood War is now free.

[Jophiel]

Originally Posted by Skywatcher

Saints Row 2 is free at GOG for the next 30 hours or so and the rest of the series has hefty discounts.

You can also use GOG Connect to add Saints Row 3, 4 & Gat out of Hell to your GOG account if you own them on Steam. Not super-duper useful but you get the full DLC versions of 3 & 4 even if you only have the base games on Steam.

https://www.gog.com/connect

[Whack-a-Mole]

Fantasy General is free on GOG. An oldie but a goodie.

[Teuton]

Fantasy General is an awesome game from my younger days, thanks Whack-a-Mole!

[Sicks Ate]

I recall sucking really...really bad at that game. Might pick it up anyway, though.

Hey since I'm here, you can get free first 3 missions of Dishonored 2 as a demo, playa le as either of the two choices.

I'm just finishing my playthrough as Corvo, and it took me about 4 hours. So add the time it will take as Emily and it was well worth the no dollars I paid for it.

As an aside, pleasantly surprised that I can comfortably play with slightly tweaked 'high' graphics settings. I have a lower-end rig and was mentally prepared to not be able to run it at all.

[madsircool]

Originally Posted by Whack-a-Mole

Fantasy General is free on GOG. An oldie but a goodie.

Its listed at $5.99.


Have to turn off no script..doh.

[Jophiel]

Dungeons 2 is free on the Humble Store for a short time.

[Johnny Bravo]

Thanks. I seem to recall almost purchasing that one several times.

[SenorBeef]

Mirage: Arcane Warfare open beta this weekend. It's by the people who made Chivalry, it has melee weapon combat with magic to augment it. I've been playing the closed beta and it's pretty fun. I'll be organizing games tomorrow.

[Unpronounceable]

GOG is giving away Eador: Genesis at the moment.

[Jophiel]

Not sure how far buried the general "deals" thread is but I didn't see it...

Alan Wake will be on sale tomorrow for 90% off on Steam. Come Monday, it's being removed from the store due to expiring music licenses. So, if you don't own it and ever thought you might want to, this is your last chance.

Even once removed, you still keep the game in your library and can re-install it, etc like any other game. It just won't be available for purchasing.

[madsircool]

Are you sure you will be able to keep the music?

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20...-andreas.shtml

[Jophiel]

Originally Posted by madsircool

Are you sure you will be able to keep the music?

https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20...-andreas.shtml

If it's straight up removed from the store, you should. They're no longer distributing "new" copies of the songs. I believe the GTA scenario was so they could just keep selling the game and was easier than differentiating between old and new copies.

Mafia II went off the store for a while and returned as a new package on Steam with some songs removed but, as far as I know, people who own the old package still have the complete song list.

[muldoonthief]

As of 8 AM EDT, it's still at $30 on steam.

[Jophiel]

Steam sales usually start at noon CST so I'd expect it then. Here's a blurb about it from Engadget:

One of Alan Wake's best features was its licensed soundtrack, and now the tunes developer Remedy Entertainment carefully curated are causing a bit of grief. Remedy's rights to The Black Angels' "Young Men Dead" and "Up Jumped The Devil" from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (among others) are expiring, and with them, so must Alan Wake itself. Remedy tweeted that because of this, the game will be delisted from Steam and other digital storefronts after May 15th.

To make sure everyone who wants to play it still has a chance to, Remedy will discount the game by a whopping 90 percent on Steam. It's going for $30 at time of publication, so when the sale starts tomorrow the price should drop to $3. Oh, and if you're buying it, don't forget to hit the jukebox in the game's diner early on for an easy achievement/trophy for playing "Lime in the Coconut."

Edit: According to the embedded Tweet in that article, it does indeed start at 12 CST/10 PST

[TonySinclair]

Alan Wake sale is live now. Be sure you get the Franchise, which includes Alan Wake, American Nightmare, and Collector's Edition Extra, all for $3.99 total. For some reason, they are also offering AW and AN separately for $2.99 and $3.99 respectively.

[zoid]

Originally Posted by TonySinclair

Alan Wake sale is live now. Be sure you get the Franchise, which includes Alan Wake, American Nightmare, and Collector's Edition Extra, all for $3.99 total. For some reason, they are also offering AW and AN separately for $2.99 and $3.99 respectively.

That's exactly what I just did.

[Jophiel]

American Nightmare isn't on sale by itself. But I think that the licensing issue doesn't affect it so it's not on the block for delisting, hence no separate AN fire sale without buying AW.

My understanding of the situation is that the developers felt the music was too integral to the AW story to strip it out and the game doesn't sell well enough any longer (it came out in 2012) to justify renewing licenses on the music so they'd rather see it delisted than put out a bastardized version without those tracks.

[Unpronounceable]

Mount & Blade is free on GOG this weekend.

[Unpronounceable]

And now Steam is giving away Starpoint Gemini 2

[Jophiel]

Rising Storm GOTY is available for free though Humble Store

https://www.humblebundle.com/store/r...e-year-edition

[Skywatcher]

Free Fallout 4 weekend at Steam. One must buy the game to continue playing after the weekend but the whole thing (game + season pass) can be had for $50.

[madsircool]

Not quite free but Football Manager 2/3 off on Steam.

[Whack-a-Mole]

Outland is free on Steam right now. Not sure if it is any good but it has positive reviews.

Also, Battleborn has a free trial or free-to-play (not sure which) thing going on. I think they are an Overwatch wannabe.

[Jophiel]

Originally Posted by Whack-a-Mole

I think they are an Overwatch wannabe.

Not really; they're two distinctly different types of game but they had the misfortune (for BB) of coming out at the same time and with cartoonish characters and everyone assumed and promoted the idea that BB was just a low rent Overwatch.

That said, I'm not claiming that BB is a good game. I haven't played it but my son owns it and played it for maybe two days before getting bored. Fortunately, I got it for the X1 for $5 on a "Well, hard NOT to get five bucks out of a game" premise.

Anyway, the BB "free to play" is only its multiplayer which won't do much to dispel comparisons since no one can try its single player story mode.

[SenorBeef]

Mirage: Arcane Warfare is having a free weekend. It's by the people who made Chivalry - it's a melee/magic first person game.

It had a weird launch where it got no mention on the steam page or anything and flopped, so they're getting out an early free weekend to get some publicity.

Anyway, it's a lot of fun. It has most of the good things about chivalry and fixed a lot of the bad stuff. I definitely recommend giving it a try. I'll be organizing some games over the weekend so contact me on steam if interested.

[Mahaloth]

Originally Posted by Whack-a-Mole

Outland is free on Steam right now. Not sure if it is any good but it has positive reviews.

I picked up two copies, one for my wife's Steam account and one for mine. The co-op is online only for some reaso. Zero local co-op. Dumb.

My wife now owns two games. Portal 2 and Outland.