Wild Garlic in Kingdom Come: Deliverance

 

I was searching for herbs in Kingdom Come: Deliverance when I found this little patch of Wild Garlic or Jack-in-the-Hedge. This isn't the same plant as bulb garlic, but the leaves have a garlicky taste. We're too late in the year though - once the flowers have blossomed, in late spring, the leaves become bitter.

This isn't a herb you can collect in the game. This is literally just generic forest foliage for background detail. They've used a real plant and put it in a fairly appropriate location - near water - for absolutely no reason except detail and accuracy.

That is ridiculous.

I might be the first person to ever notice or care about this.

You can buy garlic in the game, and the illustration for it is Wild Garlic leaves rather than bulb garlic, so the implication is that the peasants have been collecting this earlier in the month, when it was still good.

Jewish Screenshots from The Forgotten City

 

 

I like to collect Jewish (and Jew-ish) screenshots from games. This is Ulpius. Guess where he's from?

 

 

Sometimes, Ulpius quotes the Talmud!

I made an LED display for numbers in Factorio

Factorio is a ridiculously addictive game in which, having crash-landed on an alien planet, you start mining ore and building machines until you can build a rocket and leave. Amongst the items you can build are various components of logic circuits. Long story short, you can write programs with them.

 

I'm trying to build a smart train system (i.e., one which uses circuit logic to determine when/where a train is needed and send it there), and that involves a timer. I wanted to make a nice display for that timer. Specifically, I want to display the digits of the minutes and seconds with lights, like on a calculator.

 

Step 1 is to make a clock. For my test clock, I set an Arithmetic Combinator to calculate T (for time, or tick) plus 1, and output the new value of T. The output is then fed into a Decider combinator. The Decider outputs the input value of T as long as T does not equal 300, and is linked back into the Arithmetic Combinator.

 

This means T will count upwards for 10 seconds of real time, and then the Decider Combinator will send '0' instead of 300 and the count will start over. To see how many actual seconds have passed, the output of the Arithmetic combinator is fed into a second Arithmetic Combinator which divides T by 30 and outputs S (for 'seconds').

The 'tick rate' of Factorio is 60 per second. In other words, if you fed that first Combinator directly into itself, T would increase by 60 per second. But, I've fed my count through two combinators. Half the ticks are going into having the Decider Combinator check if we've met the limit or not. With this system, T only actually increases by 30 per second, hence 300 recorded ticks equalling 10 seconds.

 

(The alternative is to put T=1 on a Constant combinator, and feed that into the Decider. Attach the output back to the Constant Combinator, creating a loop. Have the Decider output the input value of T as long as T does not equal whatever you want to count up to, and then divide the output by 60 to see the value in seconds. This kind of clock will start counting at 1 instead of 0, which is very unlikely to matter).

Once you have a clock, it's time to work on the display. With a 3x5 light display, there are three options for how to do the numbers, based on whether you put '1' on the left, in the middle, or on the right.

 

I started building this with '1' on the right because, tbh, it did not occur to me to do anything else. On reflection, 1 in the middle has a lot to recommend it, and might be simpler. On the other hand, I already figured out most of 1-on-the right, so I'm sticking with it.

 

Lights can only be enabed or disabled by a single condition. That condition can be "if anything is equal to/less than/more than" a variable or a constant, but it can't be an 'And' or an 'Or' condition. So, I need to use more combinators to turn my S signal into whatever it is I want the lights to respond to. I want to use as few combinators as possible to do this.

I did quite a bit of experimenting with modulo, but the easiest way I found - which I think Dosh Doddington also relies on in this video - is by multiplying.

You will need the following combination of combinators:

For testing, you can also use a Constant Combinator with S set to whatever digit you want to see in place of the clock. You can also attach the LEDs to the input of another Arithmetic or Decider combinator. If you hover over it, it will display the inputs the LEDs are receiving.

The basic logic was to find values that, when multiplied by S, would have the same values for all the numbers I wanted a specific light to turn off for, but with that value not appearing for any other number. I could then set the light to turn off if everything did not equal that value. In human-speak, that's equivalent to if anything = x.

 

 

 I used the above settings for each light.

 

Always On

The Decider Combinator is what lets the always-on lights work. When S is 0, it emits the colour at input value, so there are never zero inputs. This also means the colour is continuous; if you use a different symbol, the lights will be uncoloured when S is 0. If you want to use a different colour, remember to change it in both the Constant and the Decider.

Off for 1

S*S=1 when S=1, so this light is enabled only when S does not equal 1.

Off for 2

SxS=4 when S=2, so this light is enabled only when S does not equal 4.

 

Off for 0, 1, 7

The colour is set to 70, so, when S=0, a value of 70 is emitted. Since we're multiplying S by everything, 70 blue is also emitted at S=1. Now we need something that equals 70 when S=7. That's the White 10 is for. At S=10, White = 70 and this light goes off.

Off for 1, 4, 7

1400 Iron Ore is emitted at 1, 4x350 Iron Plates are emitted when S=4, and 7x200 Steel are emitted when S=7. This light is only enabled as long as nothing = 1400, so it switches off at 1, 4, and 7. 

 

I initially tried 140, but 2x70 Blue appears when S=2, so this light was turning off for 2 as well, which we don't want. I just multiplied everything by 10 to stop them overlapping.

 

Off for 1, 7

Copper is at 490, so S*Copper=490 when S=1. S*Blue=490 when S=7. 

 

Off for 1, 4

S*S=16 whenS=4. Fish is set to 16, so S*Fish=16 when S=1.

Off for 5, 6

Water is set to 20, so S*Water=120 when S=60. Oil is set to 24, so S*Oil=120 when S=5.

Off for 1, 2, 3, 7

Various power poles at 12, 24, 48, and 84 = 84 when S is 1, 2, 3, or 7.  

 

Off for 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9

I used the letter symbols for 3780, 1260, 945, 540, and 420, which create 3780 when S is 1, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 9.

I picked 3780 because that's when you get when you multiple 1, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 9 together, and whatever number you use needs to be divisible by all of those. 

Blueprint String

Attach the clock/counter to the Constant with green wire.

Once you have seconds, you can use %60 to get how many seconds through the minute you are, and then use /10 and %10 to get the tens/units of that number. If you're counting over a minute, divide your total secons by 60, and use /10 and %10 on that number to gets 10 and units. You can then line up the digits and attach them in the right order.

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

Ghost on the Shore: Ending Guide

Intro

This game has four possible endings, and which one you get depends on two factors:

• The relationship between Josh and Riley.
• What happens in the final scene.

 

Relationship

The relationship can be high or low. Towards the end, you can tell which it is by how Riley responds to a memory in which Josh is hit. If she tells him he shouldn't have said what he said, their relationship is low. If she defends him, it's high.

As you go through the game, try to choose options in which Riley is either nice or mean to Josh, depending on which set of endings you're going for. Generally, talking about Pixie leads to a good outcome. If you feel like a conversation went badly, either exit to the menu before the game autosaves or restore one of the automatic back-ups, as below.

 

Final Scene

There are two potential outcomes to the final scene. For Riley to survive, you need to choose the following:

• I'm in the water.
• You have to listen to me.
• I need to get out of the water
• I need air.
• Help me!
• You're going to kill me.

If you choose those options, Josh should realise what's happening and intervene. If not, he won't realise until it's too late.

Restoring Saves

To see another ending, restore your most recent back-up and play through the final scene again to obtain a different outcome.

• Your save files are located in %USERPROFILE% \AppData\LocalLow\like Charlie\Ghost On The Shore if you're on Windows.
• Your current save is in the folder that's named with a long number, and it's called save_V2_0.dat.
• The last couple of saves will be named save_v2_0[YYYY-MM-DD_HH-MM-SS].bak.
• To restore one of the older saves, just rename it and change the file extension.

If you want to keep one of those older saves for a while, just create a new folder and copy the .bak files into it.

You'll need at least two playthroughs, as changing the relationship between Josh and Riley will take a bit longer. I don't know exactly how long - restoring a save from the middle of the game might be sufficient.

Later Alligator - Puzzle Pieces and Family Members

• On starting a new game, I don't think you can pick up any jigsaw pieces before you get to the arcade.
• This guide is accurate as of 7th April 2024.

Fun District

John Johnny's (Hotel) (6 Puzzle Pieces, 2 Family Members)

Puzzle Pieces

• Immediately after helping Pat unlock his room at 10am, you'll be returned to the hotel lobby. At this point, you can find a puzzle piece at Pat's vacated table.
• In the stack of cups on the bar counter.
• In the chandelier.
• Speak to Nervous Derry in the lobby when Pat calls you to the hotel at 4pm, before going up to Pat's room.
• You'll receive one puzzle piece automatically after helping Pat at 4pm.
• After guiding Pat through the halls of the hotel, there's a puzzle piece on the dessert that appears.

Family Members

• Pat, automatically, during your first playthrough.
• Nervous Derry. Speak to him at the bar at 4pm.

 

Outside (6 Puzzle Pieces, 2 Family Members)

Puzzle Pieces

• On the click up and down sign.
• On the Brodega sign.
• On the flower sign, right under the John Johnnies Hotel sign. You'll need to click and drag your way up the area to see it.
• At night, speak to Sleazarius multiple times.
• At night, check the mailbox.
• At night, speak to Fifthwilliam the Fourth four times. He's hiding on the balcony.

Family Members

• Slick Mickey (Three Card Mickey)
• Lovely Maria (Family History Mystery). You don't need to put all the pictures into place to complete the game, that's just for you.
  

Adelaide's Arcade (5 Puzzle Pieces, 2 Family Members)

Puzzle Pieces

• On the skeeball machine in the back.
• On the controls for Vampire Punter D.
• Speak to Artie multiple times. He's hiding behind the curtain on the left.
• Inside the claw machine, during Round 3 of Claw School (see below).
• Beat The Ol' Pinny B. Speak to Joanie to play (see below).

Family Members

• Joanie (The Ol' Pinny B). Score over 15,000 points for the Pinball Lizard achievement.
• I struggled a lot with this. If you get over 5000 points, quit out with Alt+F4 or you won't be able to play again that day. You can nudge the machine by pressing B which might get you a few extra buttons if you can get the ball to hit the points bells things a few times.
   
• Sweet Geraldine (Claw School). You can get the We're Best Friends! achievement by picking up both the Baman and Piderman figurines in the final round.

Trolley (1 Puzzle Piece, 2 Family Members)

Puzzle Piece

• Click on the trolley map above the door.

Family Members

• Baby-Faced Constance (Older Maid). She will randomly appear when you ride the Trolley around town. You may need to have beaten Nanna Rue at Old Maid first.
  
• Good Ole Clancy (A Streetcar Maimed his Flier). He's in the engine room, which you can access after meeting Old Constance. There are three puzzles to complete, once you've found enough jigsaw pieces for each one. The first unlocks District 9, the second gives you his photo, and the third is just for fun.
  

Alligator Memorial Park (4 Puzzle Pieces, 5 Family Members)

Puzzle Piece

• Fountain.
• Tip of the gazebo.
• Bridge.
• Eat-mergency sign.
• Speak to Theresa (on the bench in front of Two Ton Tony) until she hands it over. For me, that only happened the second time I exhausted her dialogue.

Family Members

• Skids Valentino (Hide and Sheesh). You won't see your lives being lost during the game.
• Gentle Lorenzo (Flappy Bro).
• Two Ton Tony (Manic Pixie Dream Grill).
• Giovanni (Hooked on Tonics).
• Tin Lizzy (Unmix the Pix).You can obtain the Solid Snake achievement in round 3 if the photo of Aidan in his stone form appears. I think it's luck-based whether it does or not, and I think you may have had to have lost Aidan's minigame in this playthrough for it to appear.

Downtown

Outside (5 Puzzle Pieces, 7 Family Members)

Puzzle Pieces

• Click on the eye in the 'Nana Pine's' sign. 
• Dumpster in front of Nana Pine's antiques.
• Window in the top right.
• Complete Make My Wife, Please for Papouli without skipping.
• Speak to Sleepy Pants, in the car. You'll need to exhaust his dialogue on two occasions.
  

Family Members

• Papouli (Make My Wife, Please). This is a sliding puzzle game. You can take as much time and as many moves as you like, though the game will offer to let you skip. With these puzzles, I generally put them together row-by-row, from top to bottom. Once a row is in place, I picture it as a little train, with carriages that have to follow each other. When you need to move a piece out of the way, move the whole train as one and then move it back. This may not be the quickest or most efficient method, but it works.
• Mona the Snipper (Smells Like Zine Spirit). You need to put Mona's 'zine together in such a way that the three topics - social issues, indie comics, and K-pop - are evenly covered. Dad's photo is received automatically with Mona's.
• Denise, Maurice, Patrice, and Luis (Barbershop Upset).

Antique Shop (4 Puzzle Pieces, 4 Family Members)

Puzzle Pieces

• Safe in the top left.
• Cash register.
• Crossed swords above Nana Rue.
• Matryoshka dolls, to the right of the screen.

Family Members

• Nana Rue (Old Maid). This is entirely luck-based.
• The Black Widow (The Bargain of Earthly Defrights). You need to find the ghost through the planchette and then stay on him. Her suspicion raises when the planchette isn't on him and lowers when it is. You'll also receive The White Widower's photo automatically.
• Diamond Alice (Flours of Annoy). She's hopping around the bottom of the screen. Her minigame is very forgiving.

Back Room (3 Puzzle Pieces, 1 Family Member)

Puzzle Pieces

• On the phone.
• On the mirror.
• On the lampshade.

Family Members

• Click on the baby monitor on the shelves for Angelface (Watch a Totally Normal Baby). You receive the Love that Baby achievement if you complete the minigame without letting any ghosts through.
• This was the most difficult achievement for me. To practice multiple times in a row, you'll need to shut the game down when you lose or win but with a ghost having gotten through. Use Alt+F4, then open it up and have another go.
   

Unsavoury Part of Town

Outside (3 Puzzle Pieces, 3 Family Members)

Puzzle Pieces

• Very Adult Bar sign.
• Rubbish in the alleyway.
• Drain in the road.

Family Members

• Prince and Princess Valentino (Divine Twinteritance). The twins will tell you whether they like the item or not and you can switch your choices as much as you like.
• Aidan (Meditation Infestation). To get the achievement associated with this (AHH THE BEES! THE BEES ARE IN MY EYES--) stay on the screen with the stone form of Aidan after losing. Flies, bees, and butterflies will keep appearing, and you'll have eight bees on screen in 2-3 minutes. To get the other achievement, Solid Snake, play Tin Lizzie's minigame after losing this one, and stop on the photo of Aidan and Lizzie in the third round.
  

Very Adult Bar (4 Puzzle Pieces, 3 Family Members)

Puzzle Pieces

• Exit sign.
• Bar stool.
• Left toilet door.
• "Sippy Cups" sign above the toilets.

Family Members

• Tall Jared (Ghost in the Cell). If you click on the video app six times, you'll get the Screen Time achievement.
• The Knife (Mack that Knife). You'll receive the Sotenbori Memorial achievement if you choose the best options, i.e., the ones that make little hearts appear. If you want a hint, he likes flowers. If you just want the answers, they're: 
• Botanical Garden
• Flowers
• Somewhere Cool
• Shiny Scales
• Carnival Games
• Bobby Blue Eyes (Knife to Meet You).

Girls, Girls, Girls (3 Puzzle Pieces)

• One automatically, on entry.
• On the clock.
• Speak to Sal three times.

District 9 (3 Puzzle Piece, 2 Family Members)

Puzzle Piece

• Inside the train cabin.
• Read the note on the floor.
• Barrier at the end of the track.

Family Members

• Gary the Nose (Artist's Ally). If you struggle, there's a guide here.
  
• Big Mama (Oldest Maid).

Later Alligator - Hotel Map

 Scare points are in red. Light blue is my suggested route.

 

 

I bought way too many games in the Steam sale

 Way, way too many.

 

I really Vampire Survivors, probably because I have ADHD and it's a dopamine factory. It's not too bad though - I recognised its addictive properties and used Cold Turkey Blocker to prevent me from playing it for more than 90 minutes per day. Plus, there is a sense of progression and achievement. On every run, even if it's unsuccessful, you can probably unlock at least one new thing that will make later runs easier or more interesting. There's a clear end goal, which is what I want from stupidly addictive games.

 

I played Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice on a friend's recommendation and because it was reduced to £2.49, which is less than I would pay for a cup of coffee. I finished it in one weekend, once I'd looked up how to turn the motion blur off and stopped vomiting. 

 

If you have the same problem, you need to go into the game files  and add the following to the scalability.ini file:

[SystemSettings]
r.MotionBlurQuality=0

 

 

I feel a little bit guilty about that, because the documentary on the making of the game (included with it, watchable from the main menu) went into great detail about the effort they'd made to create an authentic experience from a specific viewpoint, and the motion blur was part of that. On the other hand, I really enjoy not vomiting.

 

Minami Lane is a fun little puzzle game, though I found it had minimum replay value once you'd finished the first five levels. I'd like it if they added a daily or weekly challenge feature. There is a sandbox mode with no goals, but I don't find that motivating.

 

I played Before I Forget, which is a fairly short (just over one hour) game about living with dementia. I enjoyed it, but (minor spoilers), I don't think it needed to have that twist at the end, about the husband. I kind of get that it highlighted how her memories had her remembering the world in a totally different state to what it currently was, but it felt a bit cheap.

I got Imposter Factory and A Bird Story, both part of the series that began with To the Moon. I didn't enjoy A Bird Story as much as the main games, but I didn't expect to. The store page warns you that it's more of an artistic experience than a game, which is why I waited until it was reduced to 84p. Imposter Factory is a bit more like the main series, though it comes at the story from a new angle. I'm about halfway through and I'm finding it's dragging a bit.

 

I finally finished Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective. I first played it as an iPhone game way back around 2011 or 2012. I think it came out on the Nintendo DS first. Back then, I only played the first two chapters, because, if I recall correctly, you had to purchase each chapter seperately. It was £16.48, which wasn't a big reduction, but I really wanted to play it and I've waited long enough.

I also just - as in, a few minutes ago - finished playing No Case Should Remain Unsolved. I cried my eyes out. It is brilliant. My Steam review reads:

It is to my sincere regret that I can only play this game for the first time once.

In gameplay terms, it's a lot like the book Cain's Jawbone - you're putting together the narrative by figuring out who said what when. There are also a few other mechanics which couldn't work in a book. It's easier than Cain's Jawbone because of the interface, and because it wasn't written in the 1930s by the maniac who invented cryptic crosswords.

 

No Case Should Remain Unsolved wasn't on sale. It cost £5.89 for 2.7 hours of gameplay, which is £2.18 per hour. I usually aim for under 50p per hour as a rule of thumb (based on how much books cost vs how long they take to read) but this was worth it. Plus, I'll probably play it again when I've managed to forget some of the plot.

Later Alligator - Achievement Guide

  Intro

• None of the achievements in this game are permanently missable.
• There are three endings to the game, and you'll unlock them one after the other as you meet more alligators and find more puzzle pieces across multiple playthroughs. They build on one another, rather than being contradictory, so there's no risk of missing anything.

Anytime Achievements

Check Your Watch

Click on the watch symbol in the lower left corner of the screen.

Try, Try Again

Start a second playthrough.

Achievements Linked to Specific Minigames

Pinball Lizard

Linked to Joanie's minigame. She's in Adelaide's Arcade in the Fun District area, where the hotel is. Score over 15,000 points at The Ol' Pinny B. This is predominantly luck-based.

We're Best Friends

Linked to Sweet Geraldine's minigame. She's She's also in Adelaide's Arcade, in the Fun District. Pick up both Baman and Piderman during the final round of Claw School. You can also grab a puzzle piece from the machine during this round.

Screen Time

Linked to Tall Jared's minigame. He's in the Very Adult Bar in the Unsavoury Part of Town. Click on his video app six times.

AHH THE BEES! THE BEES ARE IN MY EYES--

This is linked to Aidan's minigame. He's in the alleyway in the Unsavoury Part of Town. To get the achievement, you'll need to have 8 hornets on screen. The easiest way to do this is as described here - lose the minigame, then stay on the screen for a few minutes and let the hornets build up until the achievement pops.

Sotenbori Memorial

Linked to The Knife's minigame. He's in the Very Adult Bar in the Unsavoury part of town. You'll need to complete Mack that Knife with perfect answers, i.e., the ones that make little hearts appear. If you want a hint, he likes flowers. If you just want the answers, they're: Botanical Garden, Flowers, Somewhere Cool, Shiny Scales, Carnival Games.

Love That Baby

Linked to Angelface's minigame. You can access her by clicking on the baby monitor in the backroom of the Antique Shop Downtown. Don't let any ghosts reach her.

Linked to Multiple Family Members/Minigames

Solid Snake

Having turned Aidan to stone, i.e., failed at his minigame, you can see a photo of him in this form in round 3 of Tin Lizzy's minigame. Aidan is in the Unsavoury Part of Town, Tin Lizzy is in Alligator Memorial Park. You need to turn Aidan to stone and then play Tin Lizzy's minigame in the same playthrough.

Card Shark

You'll need to play all the card related games in one playthrough. These minigames are connected to Slick Mickey (Fun District, outside the hotel), Constance (on the Trolley, by luck), Nana Rue (Antique Shop, Downtown), and Big Mama (District 9).

The Trolley Problem

To obtain this achievement, you need to find all 48 puzzle pieces. You'll then need to put them together with Clancy, on the tram.

When You're Here, You're Family

You'll need to meet every family member and beat their minigame so they appear in the final scene.

Endings

Try, Try Again

Start a second playthrough.

Save Pat

See the final ending.

Little Goody Two Shoes

General

• I wrote this guide before the December 15th 2023 release of version 1.1.2. That patch put more items into the game, fixed a scenario that made the game unwinnable, and gave you more hints about the puzzles, but it shouldn't have changed how the endings are achieved.
  
• This guide should help you get all the achievements and see all the endings. I haven't explained how to get through the dungeons because the developers have provided a full guide for that here.
• I've noted where to find items in town or from the Golden Maidens/townsfolk, but not every item you can find in the dungeons. 
• You'll be able to get most of the achievements in one playthrough. You'll need two playthroughs to get all of them because maxing out your relationship with one person isn't compatible with keeping all three relationships high enough to see all the endings.
• Except for on Monday, Muffy will be be spying on you from a random place in town when she demands food. There's an achievement for successfully bribing her all week.
• Successfully bribing Muffy lowers suspicion. If you have to do a second playthrough anyway, try not bribing her to make it easier to die from high suspicion.
• If you miss two dates in a row with either Freya, Lebkuchen, or Rozenmarine, that girl will no longer be available. To see all the endings in one playthrough, you'll need to alternate your dates so no one is neglected.
• You should receive a heart piece on each date. If you don't, reload and choose to answer the question differently. If you have 5 heart pieces with someone, you'll receive a symbol of her affection which can be used to obtain specific endings. You'll need 4 heart pieces by Friday to achieve the 5th on Saturday.

Saturday

Evening

• Grapes on the grapevine path.
• When your objective is to go to bed, go outside and check the tree stump in front of the house for Golden Girl 1 (Old Kerchief).

Sunday

Morning

• Arrange a date with Rozenmarine.
• Pretzel behind Gretel's house.
• Speak to Lebkuchen for a pretzel.
• Pick up the Mysterious Note in the church.
• Speak to Freya for Ointment.

Afternoon

• Dorothea near the inn will ask you to find Muffy, who is just outside town. Return to Dorothea for an ointment.
• This is your earliest opportunity to act on the contents of the mysterious note. Check the cave entrance just north of the crossroads. 
• Date with Freya or Lebkuchen.

Dusk

• Date with Rozenmarine.

Evening

• Two Bread from Lebkuchen.
• Golden Girl 2 outside of the house north of the entrance of town.
• Golden Girl 3 on the path towards the woods.
• After dinner, Muffy will ask for Bread.

Witching Hour

• Golden Girl 4 (Grapes) in the lower left corner of the first room.

Monday

Morning

• Arrange a date with Lebkuchen in the Church, Freya near the Inn, and Rozenmarine, at home.
• Mrs Odilie has a task. Speak to her in the back alleys, then to Mr Wilhelm near the stables. Return to Mrs Odilie for Grape Juice.
• Toy Horse by the windmill.

Dusk

• Muffy will ask for a pretzel.
• Date with Freya, Lebkuchen, or Rozenmarine.

Evening

• Golden Girl 5 (St Walpurga's Oil) near the well.
• Two Bread from Lebkuchen.
• Golden Girl 6 in Elise's garden before having dinner with Rozenmarine.

Witching Hour

• Golden Girl 7 in the first area. Examine the dress after drawing the butterflies away.
• Golden Girl 8  (Fancy Kerchief) on the left side of the maze.
• Golden Girl 9 (Leather Bag) in an alcove on the left of the tunnels.

Tuesday

Morning

• Muffy will demand grape juice.
• This is your first opportunity to continue following the mysterious note. Go to the old windmill north of the creek.
  Date with Rozenmarine.

Afternoon

• Date with Lebkuchen or Freya

Evening

• Mrs Brunhilde, by the well, has a request. Speak to Mrs Loreley near the inn then return to Mrs Brunhilde for St Walpurga's Oil.

Dusk

• Golden Girl 10 (Silk Purse) at the top of the church clocktower.
• Two Bread from Lebkuchen.

Witching Hour

• Golden Girl 11 (Ointment) left of the trees with birds hiding in them.
• After placing the ring and using the left, Golden Girl 12 is on the right.
• After speaking to Rozenmarine, go right and down for Golden Girl 13 (Hearty Soup). You need to go through the little building.
• After opening the three doors with the crow slates, Golden Girl 14 is on the right.

Wednesday 

Morning

• Ludwig, in the back alleys has a task. Speak to Flynn in the stables and return to Ludwig for a Spiced Wurst.
• Talk to Wilhelm and Eugen near the stables.
• Date with Rozenmarine.

Afternoon

• Muffy will demand a Lebkuchen.
• Speak to Guido and Finn outside the windmill.
• Date with Lebkuchen.

Evening

• Date with Freya.

Dusk

• Golden Girl 15 (Apple Strudel) near the windmill.
• Two Bread from Lebkuchen.

Witching Hour

• In the first area with enemies, Golden Girl 16 (Pearl Rosary) is on the left.
• Collect the mosaic tiles and solve the sliding picture puzzle. In the next area, you'll be able to enter a house where Golden Girl 17 will appear after some conversation/exploration.
• On returning to town, speak to Mr Eugen for the windmill key. You can now enter to create a key item you'll need to unlock some of the endings.

Thursday

Morning

• This is your first chance to use the Fish Key at the village well.
Date with Lebkuchen.

Afternoon

• Mechtilde in the square has a task. Talk to Ariane near the inn then return to Mechtilde for a Silk Purse.
• Muffy will demand some Hearty Soup.
• Date with Freya or Rozenmarine.

Evening

• Golden Girl 18 in the church.

Witching Hour

• Use your first Porcelain Knife on the brambles to the north. Golden Girl 19 is in there.
• When Elise wakes up near a statue and a savepoint, Golden Girl 20 is to the left.
• In the moon puzzle area, Golden Girl 21 is in the southwest. You'll need to cut through some brambles.
• Golden Girl 22 is to the very far left in the new moon section.

Friday

Morning

• Muffy will demand Apple Strudel.
• Date with Lebkuchen.

Afternoon

• Date with Freya or Rozenmarine.

Dusk

• Bernhard has a task, near the well. Speak to Wilhelm in the church, then return to Bernard for a Hearty Soup.

Evening

• Golden Girl 23 near the stables.
• Golden Girl 24 outside the cave north of the crossroads.

Witching Hour

• Golden Girl 25 south of the first save point.
• When you return home, examine the jar of fireflies next to Elise's bed.

Saturday

Afternoon

• This is your only opportunity to finish following the mysterious notes. Go through the now-open door in the church.

Endings

From here, you can get several endings depending on which companion you take with you, whether you place the right items in your basket, and whether you decide to go through with the deal (one ending for each companion if you back out after placing all three items, another if you back out at the last minute).

1. Complete the deal with Rozenmarine as your companion.
2. Complete the deal with Freya as your companion.
3. Complete the deal with Lebkuchen as your companion.
4. Follow the mysterious notes to the end.
5. Back out of the deal after placing your offerings with Rozenmarine as your companion.
6. Back out of the deal after placing your offerings with Freya as your companion.
7. Back out of the deal after placing your offerings with Lebkuchen as your companion.
8. Take Rozenmarine as your companion and place the third offering incorrectly.
9. Take Freya or Lebkuchen as your companion and place the third offering incorrectly.
10. Place the first two offerings incorrectly.

Achievements

Of the 40 achievements:

• 13 are received automatically, at specific plot points. (13/40)
• 12 are ending related. (25/40)
• 10 for observing each of the endings listed above.
• 1 more for having seen all of them. 
• There's another achievement for expressing regret at the last minute in ending 1, 2 or 3.
• 2 relate to Golden Maidens. (27/40)
• 1 for finding one Golden Maiden.
• 1 for finding all 25 and triggering a scene by clicking on the jar of fireflies.
• 1 for giving Muffy what she wants all week. (28/40)
• 4 are work/tiffle related. (32/40)
• 1 for bringing Rozenmarine to work.
• 1 for getting S-rank on all jobs. Bringing Rozenmarine will make this easier, so it will turning your framerate down a bit. Other than that, it's just practice. You can play the minigames over and over on Saturday if necessary. 
• 1 achievement if you don't bring Rozenmarine to work and then successfully divert the villager's suspicions at the end of the day. 
• 1 for spending 500 tiffle. You can farm tiffle on Saturday if you haven't achieved this by then. 
• 4 for dying from hunger, sanity loss, low health, or high suspicion. (36/40)
• 3 are for relationships. (39/40)
• 1 for achieving one heart with someone.
• 1 for five hearts.
• 1 for seven hearts. This will require a second playthrough - if you want to see all the endings, you'll need four hearts with each girl by Friday, and I don't think you can achieve that while not missing a date with any one of them. 
• 1 for achieving all the other achievements. (40/40)

Horizon Zero Dawn: Text Datapoint (Quests) 34

 This datapoint is a little bit glitchy. The map changes after your first visit.

It's in here. You'll enter the facility automatically during the Deep Secrets of the Earth story mission, or you can re-enter it from this entrance later.

Text Datapoint (Quests) 34 is in the office. The area it's sitting on is damaged after the mission, which makes this one glitchy.

If it's not here, reload and run back. If you're lucky, it will spawn. If not, try shutting the entire game down and restarting. It's annoying, but it should load in eventually.

Horizon Zero Dawn: Audio Datapoint 40

 

I had trouble finding this one, so here you go.

Audio Datapoints 34-46 (if I recall correctly) are in this facility. You'll enter it automatically during the Deep Secrets of the Earth story mission, or you can re-enter it from this entrance later.

Datapoint 40 is easy to miss because it's on an upper level, unlike the others. To reach it, you'll need to find a ladder. If you stand at the entrance to the next room and look back and to the right, you'll be able to see it.

Climb up, jump around the three pins to the right, and let Aloy drop onto the upper level. Turn around and you should see it at the end of the path.

Boyfriend Dungeon

There was a lot about this game that I liked. It was, overall, a cute, quirky, fun game that was quite quick to finish. But, there was also something about it that bothered me, and it took me a while to put my finger on what it was.

First, I need to describe the game. You - a player-insert character with a fully customisable name and appearance - are spending the summer in Verona, California, with your cousin. Yes, this is a Romeo + Juliet reference. You haven't had much dating experience, so this is going to be your hot girl/guy/enby summer. Also, some humans in this world can turn into weapons and you can date them.

Basically, this is a romantic visual novel/dungeon crawler. Like I said, it's quite fun to play. But...none of the datable characters really appealed to me. They were all very 'meh.' I don't care about them, I don't particularly want my character to date them, I don't think they're cute. This is entirely a matter of taste, and someone else might feel very differently.

This does, however, lead me to the other problem which is, this game doesn't really care what you, the player, thinks. Despite positing the main character as being a self-insert, the game assigns them opinions and character traits. Don't want the dagger to kiss you? Tough, she's going to, and your characters reactions will range from 'happy' to 'super happy.' Don't particularly care if the talwar breaks up with you? No, you're wrong, you're heartbroken and your only dialogue choices will reflect that. Want a platonic relationship with the estoc? You don't have to agree to sleep with him, but the game still insists on treating him as a potential romantic partner which is, quite frankly, incredibly surreal placed next to the plot regarding an unwanted admirer. Oh that guy's creepy persistence is a problem but this guy is fine?

Now, I don't have a problem with playing a character who is an actual character. Tbh, I kind of miss it. Most of the games I've been playing recently are self-inserts. But if you're going to give me an actual character to play, don't pretend they're me. Let them just be who they are. Otherwise, I'm just going to feel the incongruity of having words put in my mouth when none of the dialogue choices are things I'd actually want to say.

As far as I can tell, nothing in this game requires that your character be a sweet ingenue, so stop forcing me to be one. If you want to specifically tell a story about a sweet ingenue, fine, but be open that that's what you're doing and that the character is a specific character and not whoever the player wants them to be.

I got this game in the Pride Humble Bundle, along with several others, so it worked out as costing £1.67. I played it for 13.8 hours, and I can't say I wouldn't recommend it, especially at that price. What you get out of it will depend on how closely your opinions align with the developers. Someone who's taste or personality is more similar to the lead character probably won't feel the dissonance that I felt.

I Built a New PC!

 Any regular readers - do I have those? Or just people who google for specific guides? - will know that I bought my PC in 2013 and that's why The Sims 3 looks like that. I've now built a new one. Well, almost new. 

It all started with The Forgotten City, a time-travel adventure a la Sexy Brutale, Elsinore, and Groundhog Day. Your character gets transported almost 2000 years back in time to a Roman city which lives under the threat of The Golden Rule.

Not that one.

The Golden Rule is thou must not cause harm to others, including stealing, injuring, or threatening to kill them. If anyone breaks the rule, everyone in the city will be turned into golden statues. This has happened at least once before, since the city is full of said statues already. Your job - should you choose to accept it rather than continue in infinite loops - is to figure out who will break the rule and stop them, so the day you keep repeating doesn't end with everyone dying.

It was a great game and I was obsessed with it for about a fortnight. After that, I was still obsessed with it, but I'd completed it several times - just to see if I could do it any faster, or with no deaths at all, or in a shorter time - and had all the achievements. It was then that I remembered that The Forgotten City began life as a Skyrim mod, an extra questline/area added by a member of the community. So, if I wanted to play the game again but the first time, that was the way to do it.

I wasn't sure if I was going to like Skyrim. I'm not generally into action games and first person games make me motion sick. So I bought it for the cheapest possible price, by buying an old CD code (since the original version is disabled on Steam). 

Turns out, I love Skyrim. It's like The Sims 3 but with one person and they kill dragons. It has all the roleplaying that I like and it didn't even make me motion sick. When it went on sale, I bought the special edition with all the DLC, since that was cheaper than buying the DLC for the old version and I've now been playing it for a few months. I've reached the point of Skyrim where half the game is adding mods then trouble-shooting the mods you just added to see if your save will still load.

Skyrim was originally released in 2011, so my PC could handle it, but mods were pushing it. I'm starting a graduate scheme in September, which will mean more money coming in. Those things together made now seem like a good time to upgrade, since I'll have two months with nothing to do but play.

I started by using UserBenchMark to see how my PC was doing. It turns out, my little integrated graphics card was performing better than 99% of its sisters, that is, the same graphics card installed in different machines. Unfortunately, that card was only getting about 3% of the performance of newer cards, and it wasn't the best since it's just the one that's installed in my i5-4440, that is the CPU that came installed in my PC. That was the obvious upgrade. I also wanted to get a solid state drive, or SSD, which is faster than my old hard-drive, and some new RAM.

I used PCPartPicker to pick out some pieces that would match. I ended up needing a new pc case - did you know graphics cards are huge? - and a new motherboard. I first got a second-hand Nvidia GTE 1060 which was £125 second-hand. I starting writing this post about 9 months ago and that one kept breaking down, so I've since replaced it with an AMD RX 580 which is working a lot better. That was £100 second-hand.

I first upgraded the RAM to 8gb of Patriot Viper DDR3, then to 16gb. Since the 16gb is also Patriot Viper DDR3, after installing it, I put the 8gb into the other two slots, and they all seem to be working together. It's probably not working as well as if I'd somehow bought one pack of 24gb RAM, but it's working better than 16gb by itself, so I'll take it. The 16gb cost around £40, and the 8GB was £25. For context, you're ideally supposed to buy all your ram sticks in one package, because then all the sticks will have been tested to make sure they work smoothly together. If you don't do that, using the same brand increases your chances of them being compatible. Or so I've read. Go on and correct me if I'm wrong.

I can't remember what my old motherboard was, but now it's a second-hand Gigabyte GA-B85M-D3H which is working great. That was £30 on eBay. I don't remember if I strictly needed to replace it, or if I just wanted to. The case was also about £30. I also needed a new power supply, which was £25.

That's about as far as I can go with that, since I didn't want to buy a new CPU. At some point, I'll need to buy a new CPU, which will mean buying a new motherboard, which will mean buying new RAM. That's because, a few generations after the i5, the way the core connects to the motherboard changed. The i5-4440 has an 1150 socket, so it can only be attached to motherboards with that same connector. The RAM connectors also changed. Upgraded motherboards tend to accept DDR4 RAM, not DDR3.

I upgraded my hard drive to a Crucial MX500 1TB solid state drive, which cost just shy of £80. I did also need a new SATA cable, which was about £12. I still have my old hard drive in there. I use it to store Steam games that don't suffer from being on the slower drive. In theory, I can still plug in the CD drive from my original PC, but it won't fit into the case, so I need to leave the cables sticking out through one of the air holes if I want to do that and kind of balance the CD drive next to it.

Anyway, this whole thing was much, much easier and cheaper than I expected it to be. The first round of upgrades came to around £330, which is about what I paid for the PC back in 2013, and the second round was another £140. There were some tricky moments, but nothing I couldn't get past with a YouTube tutorial. 

When wiring the thing together, make sure it's switched off and look out for static electricity. Don't wear anything fluffy, don't work on a carpet, and remember to earth yourself by touching something metal before touching your PC. The trickiest bit was resetting the motherboard by purposefully connected two pins with a metal screwdriver, and that was mostly because I'd read so many warnings about static electricity that purposefully causing electricity to arc through the motherboard seemed daunting. It worked though. Don't do that unless your specific motherboard needs it. Mine did because it was second-hand and the previous owner had set a password on it.

Skyrim is now running smoothly with 300+ mods, so that's what I'll be doing for the foreseeable future.

Switch Pro Controller Shoulder Buttons Won't Work for Death Stranding on Steam

 Death Stranding has some finicky controls, and it's impossible to play unless you're able to use the trigger buttons to steady yourself. Unfortunately, there's an issue with trigger buttons being completely unrecognised if you're playing with a Nintendo Switch Pro Controller via Steam.

To fix it, right click on the game in your library and go to manage controller. It should be using the official layout, as shown below.

Click on edit layout, and then on 'triggers' in the list on the left.

Here's the problem. The game knows the left and right shoulder buttons are supposed to be the left and right triggers, but this layout isn't telling it how to do that. Click on 'add command' and then on 'mouse' along the top.

Set both the 'right trigger' options to right mouse click, and both the 'left trigger' options to left mouse click. You're telling the controller that, when you press those shoulder buttons, the game should do whatever it would do if you clicked the left and right mouse buttons. Which is what you want, since those are set to the trigger buttons.

Voila. Go ahead and transport those corpses to incinerators. It's a lot less unpleasant when you're not falling over at every step.

Edit: Unfortunately, I have so far not found a solution for vehicles, so I'm having to reluctantly switch to using the keyboard when driving.

Skyrim Invisible NPC Body

I've just had an issue with Skyrim that google didn't know the answer to. One of my NPCs - Rumarin from interesting NPCs - had an invisible body. Usually, this issue is due to an armour mesh being broken, so the solution would be to reinstall any armour mods and verify the game files in Steam. That wasn't the problem I had. Rumarin was invisible in both the thieves armour, which showed fine for other characters, and in no armour.

The problem I had, it turned out, was that somehow, the NPC had been set to "invisible race." The fix was to open the console (tilde key,~, below the esc key), highlight the NPC - either click on them or type "prid <ref ID>" - then type "setrace <race>", in this case, "HighElf."

Sims 3: Zodiac Challenge - Chapter 5, The Dragon(s)

 

Hialeah has been working on her ice sculptures. This is Richard in werewolf form.

Bunny is a very proud mother. And grandmother.

Remy finally achieves his lifetime goal of mastering the bass guitar, drums, guitar, and keyboards! Annoyingly, it was only when I was literally halfway through the final skill point that I realised I'd never bought him the faster skills learning thing.

Alarmed by hearing that a change may have affected his descendant, Remy heads to the future.

Fortunately, Tory is fine. Remy swears he will protect him and make sure he exists. Especially when he finds out that Tory inherited his skill with music.

Tory believes he is Hialeah's descendant. That has been bothering Remy, but now he thinks he knows what it means. So he goes to see Lola Belle, Hialeah's on-again, off-again girlfriend. They've been struggling because Lola Belle refuses to publicly commit to Hialeah or acknowledge her as a girlfriend...so how about if she and Remy have a baby together? It will be a Locklear, almost like having Hialeah's child. And Remy will have a descendant, who can be Tory's ancestor.

Lola is enthusiastic. She explains she can't marry Hialeah, since her fans would never accept her as a lesbian. But a baby...

Since they have incompatible orientations (i.e., they are both gay) they use artificial insemination, by which I mean, I used pregnancy cheats.

Back home, Remy starts by telling Hialeah about Tory.

"...and, much like a conductor, I have arranged events."

"I mean, you know how important it is to protect family, right?"

"I knew you'd understand! Lola Belle and I are having a baby."

Hialeah does not agree that this is brilliant plan.

The argument goes on for a while. Since they are siblings, they do refrain from calling each other's mother a llama, but Remy does bring up the vampire thing. "YOU got your immortality by sucking blood! I just want to keep Tory alive!"

"You've always thought you were smarter than me, but what ideas did you have?"

"Well, I hope you're happy."

"Yes! I AM happy that Tory will be healthy!"

Hialeah declares Remy her nemesis and storms off. She's going to move to another city and start a new life, because that's what she does when traumatic things happen. Only, this time, she's not taking her brothers.

Remember that I'm combining two zodiac challenges to guide my generations here. The guidelines for the dragon for this challenge are:

Your home life was too perfect! You now feel the need to act out and explore all your options.

• Have Hot Headed trait
• Have at least one good friend and one enemy (can be siblings)
• Date two people before falling in love
• Have one child

For Hialeah, her enemy is Remy. Her good friend is Richard.

She's dated Lola Belle and also her university girlfriend.

She doesn't have a child.

Richard is also a dragon, since he's 12 years younger than Hialeah, and because dragon is my own sign, so I decided to have two. 

His enemy is his ex, Hannah. His good friend is his sister, Hialeah.

He has two children so far, Guilherme and Sakura, but he's not the heir, so having twins isn't a problem.

He's accomplished his lifetime wish of earning three degrees.

So, Hialeah needs to fall in love and have a child. She also needs to accomplish her lifetime wish. It's currently to get good ratings on 100 architecture jobs, but I knew from the beginning that that would change. She just hasn't yet discovered what it will change to.