Yeah, that definitely sounds like something that I’d love to sink a bunch of time into. On to the wishlist it goes!

Oh, now that looks interesting! Immediately wishlisted.

Thanks for letting me know about that!

That’s that procedurally generated detective game, right?

I really need to try it because it seems right up my alley. From what I understand, it can get pretty intricate when it comes to the detective work which seems really interesting.

Got some stuff in my cart, but need to play some demos first before I hit the “buy” button. Surprisingly quite a few games I’m interested in have one available, which is nice.

In the meantime, I’ve started Case of the Golden Idol because I loved Return of the Obra Dinn and I know it’s highly recommended for fans of that.

Don’t know if I’m really feeling this as much, though. I’ll carry on, of course, because I still enjoy the detective puzzle aspect. But it isn’t drawing me in the way Obra Dinn did for some reason.

I remember first trying the original when I was like 11 or something.

At the time, I didn’t really understand much beyond “shooty shooty” when it came to games with guns (it would be shortly after this that I’d find stealth games and have that passion ignited), so I was given guns, used them how I usually did at the time and proceeded to get obliterated in the first level and gave up.

A few years later, after I’d gotten into stealth games, my love affair with immersive sims began.

Along with playing the Thief series, I went back to give Deus Ex a try and it all just clicked. I think it and Thief II were instrumental in cementing my love for the genre.

After playing and enjoying the first one, I played them all over the next few years and Mankind Divided is probably my second favourite after the original. Loved every moment.

Then fucking Square Enix does their bullshit, and then fucking Embracer ruined it for good.

All in all, I love Deus Ex and I’m super glad I found myself getting into stealth games and immersive sims, otherwise I would have missed out on it so many other of my favourite gaming experiences, Deus Ex being one of them.

What’s weird is that it’s like the only Looking Glass/Ion Storm/Eidos Montréal immersive sim franchise that doesn’t have a clear spiritual successor. For System Shock we got not only BioShock, but Prey (2017) as well. For Thief, we got Dishonored. For Ultima, we got Arx Fatalis/Libertatis (and early Elder Scrolls to a very lesser extent).

But for Deus Ex, we’ve got… I don’t know, Cyberpunk 2077, maybe? But the whole open world thing doesn’t really fit in with the usual gameplay loop of Deus Ex. There are a fair amount of great cyberpunk games, but none seem to really scratch that immersive sim itch. I guess Prey is pretty close as well (in addition to its System Shock influences), if you consider some of the body/power upgrades, but it’s not all that similar thematically.

I’d love for someone to come around and pull a Thanos by just going, “fine, I’ll do it myself”. If the franchise is dead, maybe now there’s more motivation for that, since, before a few months ago, we were still clinging to what little hope remained for the third Adam Jensen game. Or maybe someone already has and I’ve missed it.

Was getting all set up for another playthrough of New Vegas, mods and all (even made my own, though I ditched it last minute), and then I realised, “Wait, why am I doing this? I don’t actually feel like playing this at all right now, even with the new mods.”

So, now I’ve downloaded some stuff in my backlog, but don’t know if I’ll play any of it at the moment because I’m kind of burned out a little.

Not exactly playing, but learning my way around the GECK to create a few personal radio stations for New Vegas. I’ve learned how to do most of it, I just now need to sort the audio files and add them. Too cold to sit at my desk and finish this, so I’ll do all that later.

(Before anyone says “why not just use the mod that lets you add your own music files”, it’s because I need separate radio stations with unique names that I can switch between, each with their own chronological order, rather than one giant one which basically works by saying “random bullshit go”.)

Kernels shouldn’t be a problem if you have the backports repo enabled (you can enable it during install, otherwise add it to your sources.list).

You do first have to specify that you want the kernel from backports (or set up APT pinning preferences), but after that, it’ll keep that specific package updated whenever you run sudo apt upgrade and there’s a newer version.

If you installed the generic Linux image on installation (usually the default, I believe), the quick way to upgrade is basically just:

sudo apt install -t bookworm-backports linux-image-amd64

It should be noted that backports is not Sid or Testing, it’s stuff built specifically for current Stable that people might need newer versions of for various reasons (e.g. hardware, limited feature updates that don’t affect the base system, some development libraries, etc.), so it’s quite small in the amount of unique packages it has. Like, you can get newer LibreOffice packages, but you’re not going to get Plasma 6 or whatever.

Right now, the kernel is on 6.7 in backports, while Stable is on 6.1 and Sid is on 6.8. So you’ll get them a tiny bit later, but that’s in terms of days/weeks, rather than, you know, the usual two-ish years (not counting security updates).

Side note: if you want all this enabled by default, Spiral Linux is just straight up Debian Stable with a bunch of firmware packages preinstalled for easier installation on a variety of hardware and the kernel is updated via backports by default, so you could give that a shot as well.

It’s not like “a distro based on Debian”, it is Debian, but set up with conveniences for modern desktop users and also sets up btrfs + apt snapshotting by default, similar to OpenSUSE Tumbleweed’s process.

I did mention it as a smaller, compact alternative, but I maybe wasn’t specific enough with regard to the scope of gameplay.

Probably should have specified that I meant Outer Worlds as an alternative to Starfield mainly for people interested in a game set in space with the familiar approach to worldbuilding that Bethesda and Obsidian seem to share a bit, and also because it’s not uncommon to hear either of them referred to (maybe a bit unfairly) as “Fallout, but in space”.

Then again, most people interested in that would probably already have played it by now (although lots of new Fallout fans this year, so maybe not).

I’m really surprised that neither of the 2019 “Outer” games with similar names showed up in any of your posts: The Outer Worlds and Outer Wilds.

Worlds because if we’re talking about Starfield, it’s something to consider as a smaller, more compact alternative (although I recently finished a playthrough and there’s actually very few comparisons to be made between the two), and Wilds because… well, it’s just straight up space archaeology that makes heavy use of travel and planet exploration. Also because it’s probably one of the most critically well-received space games.

Something else I wanna throw out there: Heaven’s Vault. Nice little narrative game which takes place in space and has quite a calming (even if completely unrealistic) method of space travel.

Thank you so much for introducing me to them! I wish I’d known about them sooner.

Some of this stuff is hilarious and the fact that they’ve been consistently doing this for so long is impressive.

I also love that he claimed it was a “hacker group” that added the code, and then it was “revealed” that he was “the leader” of the group.

The sheer creativity in fucking with people like that is admirable.

LOL, I actually went looking for more about this specific prank and it gets better. The “janitor” was fucking Reggie Watts and they played this tribute during their “presentation” while people were confusingly looking at these strange candles.

I really need to check out the rest of their work. I’m very glad I learned about this group today.

Lol, it’s actually pretty funny.

On June 14, 2007, the Yes Men acted during Canada’s largest oil conference in Calgary, Alberta, posing as ExxonMobil and National Petroleum Council (NPC) representatives. In front of more than 300 oilmen, the NPC was expected to deliver the long-awaited conclusions of a study commissioned by U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman. The NPC is headed by former ExxonMobil CEO Lee Raymond, who is also the chair of the study. When the Yes Men arrived at the conference they said that Lee Raymond (the promised speaker) was unable to make it due to a pressing situation with the president. The Yes Men then went on to give a presentation in place of Lee Raymond.

In the actual speech, the “NPC rep” announced that current U.S. and Canadian energy policies (notably the massive, carbon-intensive processing of Alberta’s oil sands, and the development of liquid coal) are increasing the chances of huge global calamities. But he reassured the audience that in the worst-case scenario, the oil industry could “keep fuel flowing” by transforming the billions of people who would die into oil.

The project, called Vivoleum, would work in perfect synergy with the continued expansion of fossil fuel production. The oilmen listened to the lecture with attention, and then lit “commemorative candles”. At this point, event security recognized the Yes Men and forced them off stage, and the ‘punchline’ — that the candles were made of Vivoleum obtained from the flesh of an “Exxon janitor” who died as a result of cleaning up a toxic spill — was not delivered to the audience, but only to reporters.

Love these kinds of protests. The fact that no one even bothered to verify anything and still listened without much resistance says a lot about these corpos. The candle thing is just the delicious cherry on top.

Or maybe I just don’t remember?

Lol, actually that’s on me. I was an idiot and confused AHK with Joy2Key for some reason.

However, I did find this on the AHK wiki, although it seems like Microsoft, as usual, makes things harder than they need to be:

For Xbox controller 2013 and newer (anything newer than the Xbox 360 controller), Joy1 to Joy32 hotkeys will only work if a window owned by the script is active, such as a message box, GUI, or the script’s main window. This limitation also applies to GetKeyState for Joy1 to Joy32 and JoyX, JoyY, JoyZ, JoyR, JoyU, JoyPOV (and possibly JoyV), but not for JoyName, JoyButtons, JoyAxes and JoyInfo. To detect those controller inputs for other active windows, use the XInput.ahk library.

Still, it’s worth a shot regardless. Seems like it does support gamepads but there might also be some tinkering required.

Ah, good ol’ Microsoft. Always finding ways to “surprise” us.

I know you can use AutoHotKey to map controller input as well, but I totally understand why you might not want to after that other mess happened (and I imagine you may have actually tried this already anyway).

Anyway, no prob. I’ll look around as well and if I come across anything, I’ll let you know.

In the meantime, I hope your search goes well!

Ah, sure.

Yeah, I get it. I hope my post wasn’t unnecessarily overwhelming or anything. Didn’t mean to be all “come to the light, Kodi has all you need”. I see now what you were getting at. Not that Kodi is missing those features, but that you want something simpler with those features.

I actually wanted something similar before I even bothered with Kodi. All I wanted was to maybe go through my files and play my videos with SMPlayer (I just prefer that over VLC).

Too many features can be unnecessary, so I get you.

Even for me, Kodi can sometimes be too much. My setup is so basic that it might as well be a glorified video player, but there are a few features I still use and the laptop isn’t for anything else, so no reason to use anything else at this point.

Now, this might sound like an odd idea, but have you looked into maybe trying to launch a video player via Steam’s Big Picture mode? I ask because you can set up your controller to work similarly to mouse and keyboard with Steam Input and then you can control the video with your Xbox controller.

You could probably make a custom layout and then map certain buttons to their respective keyboard shortcuts.

You then wouldn’t need to install or set up anything else, and it’ll allow you to use whatever media player you want.

I know this does add a bit more complexity for the initial starting up the player, but once everything’s mapped, you just launch it from Steam and watch your stuff (admittedly, you would need to open your files from within the media player, which could be annoying due to most standalone media players not really having their own “big picture” mode).

• fullscreen mode (dark mode / theme preferably, even if I would have to make it manually somehow)
• option to navigate my drive or external drive
• xbox controller support
• subtitles support

I’m a bit confused as to why Kodi isn’t working fine for you when it comes to all of this.

I use it on an old laptop specifically for media and all that stuff works perfectly for me, although, admittedly, I do sometimes find that Kodi can initially be somewhat unintuitive (I also had issues when I first set it up, and I think the official wiki is basically required reading at this point).

Either way, no idea why you’re finding issues with those features.

It should be fullscreen by default, but if it’s not, (I think?) there should be a fullscreen button somewhere in the top left of the home page if you’re using the default skin.

There are dozens of skins/themes you can install, some of which are pretty dark by default.

I personally disable the entire library scanning thing and just browse my external drive because I prefer doing that due to my own organisation of media.

Multiple controls are natively supported, including most game controllers like Xbox (provided the kernel has the drivers, and if you’re using Windows it absolutely does), and you can also use your smartphone/tablet as a remote control, if you’d like.

Fully supports most popular subtitle formats, as well.

The reason it’s messing with your files is because of the way sources can be set up. Don’t add anything to a specific “media library” and disable all media scraping add-ons.

You can just add your drive (or specific directory) as a basic source and browse it via Kodi’s native file manager that way. You’ll still get thumbnails and basic metadata info, but nothing else (which is perfect for me, personally).

I’m not at my machine right now, so I can’t really give instructions on that specifically, but for any other stuff, the rest of the Kodi wiki is fairly detailed.

Again, I also think it’s sometimes a bit unintuitive, but once you sort it out, it can just be left alone to do its thing and shouldn’t bother you with anything you don’t want. For me, I use it as a pretty basic media player, just using a few extra features here and there, but not really as a library management tool like most other people do.

I would install the backup add-on, though, so you don’t have to go through the whole setup again if you happen to lose the configuration or accidentally enable features you might not want.

It’s been a few years, so I’m replaying the Ace Attorney games and enjoying myself.

Ah, I responded to one of your comments in your other thread, but it’s more relevant here.

Debian has several live ISOs with the Calamares installer that most other distros use, so it’s as easy to install as any of those.

No need to use the more complicated setup. Boot up the live CD/USB and install like anything else.

If anything, the default install is filled with too many applications (at least the KDE one). Got all the office software, media players, a browser, and anything else that might be relevant. Even comes with a bunch of accessibility stuff like a screen reader preinstalled (but not configured).

Also, you can install Timeshift immediately and use it. Don’t know why that’s an issue. Yeah, it’s not preinstalled, but it’s super simple to install and run the first snapshot and have it do its thing in the background. (Actually, this goes for Fedora as well as several other distros which you’ve put in your recommendations, so it’s not unique to Debian or Ubuntu.)

Honestly, even as someone who uses Timeshift and Debian, I’ve needed to use it waaaaaaay less than I ever did on Kubuntu. I don’t know how someone who isn’t tinkering is going to break the system enough to need Timeshift, really.

I’m not even sure if someone unfamiliar with Linux and not interested in the inner workings will even really understand the purpose or how to use Timeshift either. There are Windows users who have no idea about System Restore or how to use it, which is the closest equivalent.

Also, it’s around two years between releases. Same as Ubuntu LTS, which Mint is based on (and Mint also has a Debian edition based on Debian Stable which they may move to at some point, if the burden of “fixing” Ubuntu becomes too much).

Its biggest problem for beginners is the upgrade process. Instead of just notifying you about a new release and offering to upgrade your whole system, it’s usually on you to follow the release cycle and change the relevant lines in your sources.list, which isn’t particularly user friendly.

So, I don’t know if you’re aware, but Debian has live CDs/USBs with the same Calamares installer that so many other distros use. Pick any of the eight different DE ISOs and the installation process is identical to that of… pretty much everything.

It’s all preconfigured (to the point where some might say there’s a bit of bloat) and there’s no need to go messing around with the more complicated stuff (although I’m not certain if it requires enabling the non-free repo separately or offers it on installation; that would be the only major issue).

My only problem with that installation method is that the default partition setup sticks with the traditional “half your RAM size” swap space, which I think is annoying. But if someone doesn’t know or care about what swap is, there’s no real problem with it.