Game Bar Prevents Steam Overlay

When you first plug in an Xbox controller, you will see a pop-up for the game bar if you click the Xbox button. To turn off this feature so you can use the steam overlay in big picture mode do the following:

In Steam, press Win+G or Xbox button to open Game bar (choose "Yes, this is a game.")
Open the settings (cog icon) on Game bar and uncheck "Open Game bar using [Xbox logo] on a controller"
Uncheck "Remember this as a game" and Game bar should close
Now Game bar won't open when pressing the Xbox button anymore (seems to be global) and the Xbox button works as expected again in Big Picture mode. To open Game bar later, press Win+G.

Source: here

Debugging Diablo 3 with Steam Link and Steam Controller

So I really wanted to use my Steam Controller to play Diablo 3. However, when I added it to Steam and then launched it in Steam Link with the Controller, the sound came through fine, but the Steam Link would not display the actual game playing. Here are some quick recommendations

• When you add Diablo 3 to steam, go ahead and click the auto program link that pops up, once it has been added to the library: Right Click > Properties > Target > and change this from the Diablo III Launcher.exe to Diablo III.exe. 
• If you did this properly you should actually see the Diablo III Icon switch from the Red Icon to the Blue Reaper of Souls one, it also means you will have to manually sign into your Blizzard account when the game first launches
• Since I had the launcher set before, the steam controller was only in the desktop configuration, but once you have it launching the actual game you can see the community configurations for it. The very top one with the most downloads is quite good
• Once I switched it to the game instead of the launcher it also worked for Steam Link fine.

Molecular Level Fallout 4 no faction alignment

I noticed the quest gave me the option to seek aid from a faction. Which seems to indicate you can do it yourself without seeking help. Turns out it is not intuitive to do it yourself. Basically you NEED to talk to a faction first and then do a few steps and it resets the quest progress.

1.  After getting the plans from Virgil go to Desdemona 
2. She tells you to talk to Tinker Tom
3. Talk to him and listen to him talk about what you need 
4. After he is finished talking, trade with him and get the schematics back 
5. The quest will then reset and the Relay will appear in your workshop menu

Some other forums have posted the bonus of seeking help is they describe how to do everything.

Solution was originally mentioned on this page, unfortunately it only has 1 upvote :( Someone also mentions that it is not possible to do it with the minute men because he isn't a store normally so the schematics do not appear (haven't confirmed that though)

Create a Desktop Icon to Rotate the Screen

So Windows 10 kind of breaks the Razer Edge's Drivers for auto-rotation sadly. I still want to use my tablet like a tablet, and I won't always have my keyboard to do ctrl+alt+arrow key. I made a desktop shortcut to do it.

For the shortcut (errrr .bat file) you need this program.

http://noeld.com/programs.asp#Display

Steps:

1. Open Notepad
2. Extract Display to C:\ or change the address in the script
3. Put this in notepad:

start C:\display.exe -device 1 -rotate 90 /toggle
exit

1. Save it as "anythingyouwant.bat"
2. Put that .bat on your desktop and click when desired
3. Rejoice! 

Grabbed the ideas from this link and just made it a batch script (http://superuser.com/questions/447155/how-do-i-set-up-a-hotkey-or-shortcut-to-rotate-my-screen-in-windows) if you are having issues, try running it in the cmd window first to see what it says

Windows 10 Upgrade for Razer Edge Pro

I'll just say this. I was tired of Windows 8, I really missed my start menu. Windows 10 brought it back!

I did a fresh install of Windows 8.1 on my Razer Edge Pro, and upgraded flawlessly to Windows 10 using their migration button in the task menu. As noted in the Razer Insider forum posts, the Auto-rotation feature will be disabled because Windows 10 won't be able to find the drivers for the sensors sadly.

One issue I encountered was with the Windows 10 installation itself I got error "Windows Update Installation Failure 80240020"

This was solved for me using this thread: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-windows_install/windows-update-installation-failure-80240020/d695e827-9774-4e10-8972-df8d51a7bb51?auth=1

The summary is:

1. Locate the registry key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\WindowsUpdate\OSUpgrade]
2. It should exist, but if not, create it.
3. Create a new DWORD (32-bit) Value with Name = "AllowOSUpgrade” (without the quotes), and set the Value = 0x00000001.

I also needed to load the cmd prompt and do the auwuclt.exe/updatenow trick.

uMod Could Not Send to Game, Could not find hash, maybe file is not named as *_HASH.dds

So I actually ran into this when changing some textures in Diablo III using uMod. All the textures I had previously worked, so as you can imagine I was surprised to get the error. I think it should have been much simpler to find the solution, basically, if you are getting this error....it is likely the texture you are trying to replace is not present. In the case of Diablo III the textures were renamed. I ended up hunting down the textures manually.

Skyrim Crashes to Desktop (CTD) when looting chests or opening bodies

This actually happened to me when I was trying to click on the body (Gunjar's body) in the tutorial. I ended loading another save file and discovered it occurred when even trying to open chests. I read a bunch of posts and many suggested it could be one of the following:

• Mod Load Order 
• Conflicts with Animation Skeleton (X32 Max Skeleton)
• Corrupt Save
• Verifying Configuration for missing files with Steam
• Defrag Machine
• Video Quality Settings 
• SkyUI 
• Heavily Scripted Mods, FNIS etc...

Here is a good reference post: http://forums.nexusmods.com/index.php?/topic/2076864-ctd-when-entering-helgen-keep/

Post #3 more or less had my issue

Turned out there was actually only one issue in that huge list above, the culprit was SkyUI. I had the really old SkyUI and when I updated to the newer SkyUI I didn't fully uninstall the older version and it was having conflicts since some files were moved to the .esp of the new SkyUI where they were folders before. I deleted the old SkyUI stuff and I haven't had a problem since!

Steam Error Code: -130 Failed to load web page / steam needs to be online to update

Hi all,

A friend of mine recently got a pretty terrible virus. After removing everything I discovered his steam also seemed to be broken. On the Steam "Ads" popup as well as the main page I would get the following errors:

Error Code: -130  Failed to load web page (unknown error). 

steam needs to be online to update. please confirm your network connection and try again

 

 

it turns out you can correct these simply by doing the following: 

 

Chrome Settings > Show Advanced Settings > Network > Change Proxy Settings > Lan Settings > Deselect ProxyCheckbox

 

I guess the viruses turned on some proxy...

Game Review: Blackguards

Title: Blackguards
Classification: Tactical Turn-Based RPG
Developer: Daedalic Entertainment
Publisher: Daedalic Entertainment
Release: Nov 6, 2013 (Early Access Release)
Similar Games: XCOM, Fire Emblem, FF Tactics, Onimusha Tactics
Co-Op?: No

Description:

"
What happens when the only hope of a threatened world lies not with heroes in shining armor, but in the hands of a band of misfits and criminals? Blackguards, a new turn-based strategy RPG, explores this very question. You will discover over 180 unique hex-based battlegrounds within a dark and mature story of crime, drugs, and murder.

Play as a warrior, mage or hunter and customize your character's skills as you see fit. The challenging campaign delivers a story of doubt, treason and loss. You decide the course of the story at key turning points and determine its outcome.

• More than 180 unique battlemaps provide ever-evolving and novel challenges. 
• Make sure you have plenty of snacks, as this dark fantasy adventure has 40+ hours of exciting play time. 
• Lead up to five characters in your party to glorious victory or devastating defeat. 
• Enjoy enchanting hand drawn backdrops. They're beautiful even when your party members get their asses handed to them. 
• Your choice of spells, skills and abilities determine your battlefield tactics. Aggressive? Defensive? Tactical? It's your call how to tackle each challenging encounter! 
• Use interactive objects like bee hives or barrels to your advantage in combat, or blow yourself up by carrying a torch into flammable swamp gas. 
• Dish out some serious damage with 40 special abilities and more than 90 spells... or find yourself on the other end and get obliterated.

"

Summary:

I'll add on to this as I play more but for right now I have the following:

The first thing I have to say about this is I really, really like these types of games. I really enjoy games like Fire Emblem & Onimusha Tactics on the GBA and XCOM on the PC, which are specifically turn-based games. Blackguards also gives me the vibe/atmosphere of old school RPG games I love like Baldur's Gate I & II, Path of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor , Icewind Dale and Neverwinter Nights + expansions + mods (The old bioware game, not that new MMO). While the games I just listed are not turn based, they do have pause button tactics, and they share the fantasy setting and RPG skill allocation, feats, that sort of thing. The most recent game of this genre was Dragon Age Origins but it has been a while since that came out.

Anyway, since then, I have been waiting for another game to grab my attention the same way all these massive titles did. I decided to pick up Blackguards, and I will admit that I was scared because it was Early Access. I will tell you now this game has not disappointed me in the slightest, even though it is Early Access. The characters are fun, the gameplay is exactly what I wanted. I have to say they won me over pretty quickly. I wrote down a few pros/cons that were most apparent for me.

Pros:

• I personally love the turn-based gameplay/combat system
• Nice artwork and environments
• Plenty of voiced dialog
• Fun characters  

Cons:

• Kind of easy even on hard difficulty, but I like these types of games so.....yea
• Graphics are a tad dated so this might bother some
• Some features are kind of buggy but it is still Early Access so calm down (using bandages ect...)
• I would like some cooler / more tiered armors and weapons
• Seeing the reference tags on characters/objects is distracting
• No in depth character customization (but it is to be added later!) 

Verdict: 

YES. This is a fun game to play even early access. I am glad I did it and I think the RPG community will come together to love it. 

Torchlight 2 Camera Mod / Point of View Changer

I thought I would put this down:

I really wanted to change up the angles to play my character from behind like a 3rd person game. Turns out there is a mod for that.

Youtube Vid Demo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CGqMBRIJl4
Find the Mod Here: http://forums.runicgames.com/viewtopic.php?f=48&t=40402
Download Link: http://www39.zippyshare.com/v/96628732/file.html


Here is the readme file I made myself to use the mod:

---------------------------
start the cam program
start TL2

once you're inside TL2 press and hold Shift and your Middle mouse button at the same time then move your mouse

that changes the camera angle

you can make the camera very low and behind you
you can move the camera left and right
---------------------------

Enjoy

Dragon Commander Screen Resolution Stuck

So my Screen Resolution is stuck for Dragon Command which I just bought on the -40% Steam Sale

My native resolution is 1600x900 and they apparently don't like it.
The fix for it is as follows:

1. Launch the Game, then go to options>video and select windowed [note I didn't have any other resolutions available]
2. Go to C:\Users\[YOURUSER]\Documents\Larian Studios\Dragon Commander
3. You should see a file called "graphicSetting.lsx" open it in notepad or np++
4. Search for the lines with variables "ScreenHeight" and "ScreenWidth" change this to what you want I changed back to 1600x900

Good Luck!


Sources
[1] http://steamcommunity.com/app/243950/discussions/0/846960628345147746/#p6
[2] http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=156708832#102862

Game Review: Enclave (PC) 2013

Title: Enclave (Not to be confused with Fallout Enclave!)
Classification: 3rd person hack-and-slash RPG
Developer: Topware
Publisher: Topware
Release: March 10, 2003 (Original Release) Oct 4, 2013 (Steam Release)
Similar Games: Champions of Norrath, Gothic, Eldar Scolls, Fable, Kingdoms of Amalur ect...
Game Modes: Single-Player
Co-Op?: No

Description:

Experience incredibly atmospheric and intense medieval combat action!
Go ahead and enter a new world, the award-winning world of ENCLAVE!

The people of Light and Darkness are divided by a bottomless rift that split the earth many millennia ago. The lands of light are an Enclave of truth and order surrounded by the twisted and barren lands of the dark, known as the Outlands. Over the centuries the rift has started to close…

And now it is only a matter of time before the forces of Light and Darkness will clash in an unprecedented, merciless struggle for survival!
Remember... When a storm comes up, for some it’s better to keep out of its way… while for others it’s time to block its path!


Summary:

Enclave is a muuuuuch older game that I must have missed a decade ago. Although it definitely shows its age it is still a lot of fun.

I'll add on to this as I play more but for right now:

Pros:

• Fun Gameplay despite being horribly out of date
• Challenging

Cons:

• Dated Graphics 
• Punishing deaths 
• Lame Green Crosshair when shooting

Verdict: 

Pick it up on steam while on sale for $2.50, I didn't think I would like it but give it till the end of level 2 you might find you enjoy it.

Game Review: Agarest: Generations of War

Title: Agarest: Generations of War
Classification: Tactical JRPG
Developer: Ghostlight
Publisher: Ghostlight
Release: Oct 3, 2013 (PC Release)
Similar Games: Fire Emblem, FF Tactics, Onimusha Tactics
Co-Op?: No

Description:

"
At the dawn of time, a terrible war raged between the forces of good and evil, ending in the destruction of the world of Agarest. After their victory, the Gods of Light unified the decaying bodies of the Gods of Darkness and created a new world.

Now, the forces of darkness are awakening once again…

• Choose the path of Darkness or Light through a truly epic story, spanning multiple generations
• Battle hundreds of different creatures using an array of character abilities, in a compelling and innovative turn-based combat system
• Build your ultimate army of warriors and master Extra Skills, Special Arts and Over Kills to defeat colossal enemies!
• Unite with your chosen heroine and use the “Soul Breed” system to shape the fate of the next generation of heroes
"

Summary:

I'll add on to this as I play more but for right now:

Pros:

• Japanese Voice Overs! 
• Interesting take on Tactics Battle Systems 
• Great Music

Cons:

• I really just want to play this on the Vita
• Graphics is weak for a PC game (totally understandable on a mobile platform)

Verdict: 

Pick it up if you ever liked Tactical RPGs... For those that were digging the generation thing from Fire Emblem this is probably for you! 

Skyrim Dawnguard 3rd Person Crossbow Animation Not Working

So a huge amount of disappointment today when I discovered my game seemed to glitch when I tried to fire the crossbow in 3rd person. Super lame.

At first I was really mad at Bethesda for making it so glitchy, but then I realized it is only really glitchy because of all my freaking mods.

To get it to work I ended following the steps here: http://skyrimforums.org/threads/dawnguard-crossbow-glitch.13637/

1) FNIS (RE-)INSTALLATION fix (should work in most cases):
- remove data/meshes/actors/character/behaviors/mt_behavior.hkx
- (re-)install Fore's New Idles in Skyrim - FNIS. Make sure GenerateFNISforUsers.exe is run
FNIS will overwrite the most common cause of animation glitches (due to old defaultmale.hkx, and defaultfemale.hkx)

2) BEHAVIOR CLEAN-UP:
delete the following files, or move them to a different folder:
- data/meshes/actors/character/*.hkx
- data/meshes/actors/character/behaviors/*.hkx
- data/meshes/actors/character/characters/defaultmale.hkx 
- data/meshes/actors/character/characters female/defaultfemale.hkx
Now of course all animation mods which need behavior files need to be re-installed

Now it works just fine and I am having a great time with it.

Play Arts Kai Tomb Raider Single Player Model Conversion

So I recently was suckered into purchasing the Play Arts Kai Tomb Raider Figure. This is the same one that comes with the collectors edition. Honestly, it is an awesome figure, but while I was in the store, I noticed the WIDE range in Quality of the figures.

The main differences I noticed was:

1. On the forearm, some figures have uneven plastic, where the arm must have been broken off from the mold.
2. The dirt looks like it is painted on free hand with a brush so almost every figure is slightly different. 

I went through all the boxes of Tomb Raiders until I found the one I was most pleased with in quality.

I really liked the figure, however, the one thing that bothered me was they seem to have painted the figure based on the multiplayer Lara. Shes great and alll, but the Lara I know is the poor college kid that got thrown into the action, she got cut, hurt, and really beat up.

I don't suck at the game by any means, but the Lara I grew to like really got freaking messed up and injured. The figure I bought, wasn't my Lara from the game. Well... Since I am a miniature painter in my free time, I whipped out my paints to fix it.

The first thing that needed to happen was that intense stomach wound where [SPOILER] Lara gets impaled at the beginning of the game. 

The next thing was, my bandage on her right arm was VERY poorly painted. I repainted it, and added some blood on it because [SPOILER] She get shot in the arm! 

I also added a bunch of scrap marks after a screenshot I had in game

Here is another view of her stomach wound, arm scrapes, and wounds on her upper chest

And can't forget the wound in her back that came from the impalement! 

Another view of my more messed up Lara. I also added some extra dirt painting to make her more dirty because lets face it, in the game she gets so filthy you wouldn't want to come within 10 feet of her! 

Review: Greed Black Border

Okay here is the quick an ugly for this game.

I was looking for a co op game to play with a friend and in the steam store I stumbled on Greed Black Border for $4.99

Initially, it seems like Torchlight, but in space. In reality it is actually a much poorer game. The first problem when starting the game in co op is you might notice there are no servers to join when you click multilayer. After a quick search I discovered you could link up using GameRanger. Thank Goodness.

My main gripe with this game is that the intro level is super long. I spent two hours wondering around and I only made it to the command center.

You collect currency but no storekeeper is in sight for a long time.

Even though there is different armor and guns, the gun pretty much is the SAME it never changes, and the armor only slightly varies in color.

Also there seem to be a hardcore repetition of enemies. Do not be tricked, this is NOT on the same tier as Titan Quest, Torchlight, Sacred or Diablo II. Honestly, you could probably miss out on it. Cool concept but in the end I feel this game fails to live up to its full potential as an Action RPG.

Its a good thing at $5 it wasn't a costly mistake. Kind of like trying a bad band of beer at the bar.

Games For Windows Live Options Grayed Out

If All of a sudden the following options on Games For Windows Live are Greyed out:

1. Invite to Private Chat
2. Invite to Game
3. Send Message

This means that your settings were probably changed. My LG Quantum Did this to me....

to fix it:

• Sign on to Xbox.com
• Click on Online Safety Settings
• Change "Voice and Text" To Friends only