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.