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Messages - Deozaan [ switch to compact view ]

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151
Community Giveaways / Bundle Leftovers: Humble Bundle 2K Megahits
« on: September 22, 2022, 02:52 AM »
I got the Humble 2K Megahits Bundle (which ended already), and there are a few games in it that I don't want. I'm willing to give the keys to any long-time member of DonationCoder who wants them.

  • BioShock: The Collection
  • Duke Nukem Forever Collection
  • Mafia: Definitive Edition
  • The Golf Club 2019 featuring PGA TOUR
  • WWE 2K Battlegrounds + Ultimate Brawlers Pass DLC

152
DC Gamer Club / Re: Valve Announces Steam Deck: A Handheld PC
« on: September 19, 2022, 10:46 AM »
By the way, Vampire Survivors 1.0 will be releasing soon, meaning the game will be coming out of Early Access. In preparation for that, it's also going to be getting a price increase in the coming days.

I've already gotten over 13 hours of fun out the game, and I expect I will probably at least double that, if not triple or more. Not bad for only $3.

153
DC Gamer Club / Re: Valve Announces Steam Deck: A Handheld PC
« on: September 19, 2022, 03:33 AM »
I haven't played HoloCure, but I've been definitely been enjoying Vampire Survivors, Nomad Survival, and Boneraiser Minions since first getting into the genre. There's something really fun/satisfying about playing them and discovering/unlocking new stuff. :D 🤓

154
DC Gamer Club / Re: Valve Announces Steam Deck: A Handheld PC
« on: September 18, 2022, 03:29 PM »
Again, this is slightly off topic, but for more gameplay videos of horde survival games, including one that's completely free, here's a Let's Play channel called PlayFrame showing off Vampire Survivors and HoloCure.


Vampire Survivors - I am addicted now


HoloCure - Welcome to VTube Survivors

155
Community Giveaways / Re: Fanatical Summer Mystery Bundle Leftovers
« on: September 17, 2022, 04:04 PM »
I just heard back from my family member, who wasn't interested in the offerings. So now My Little Prince - a Jigsaw Puzzle Tale is also up for grabs if any long-time member of DC is interested.

156
DC Gamer Club / Re: Valve Announces Steam Deck: A Handheld PC
« on: September 16, 2022, 08:43 PM »
Valve have been very gracious about their warranty, repairing or replacing units even if the customer opened it up. If I run into an issue that requires me to send it back for replacement/repair under warranty, I can just open it up again and put the 64 GB drive back inside.

157
DC Gamer Club / Re: Valve Announces Steam Deck: A Handheld PC
« on: September 14, 2022, 10:50 PM »
I had no intention of opening up the Deck, but the 64 GB storage was just too restrictive and I felt more and more that it had to be done. With some trepidation I followed this video guide and found that it was a piece of cake in hindsight.



Now that I've done it, I almost regret paying so much for the 512 GB Deck, when I could have just gotten another 64 GB model, a 512 GB SSD, and a matte screen protector and had a device on par with the 512 GB Deck while paying about $200 less. (Which I could spend on accessories!)

158
Agreed. Looks like very interesting technology. :Thmbsup:

159
DC Gamer Club / Re: Valve Announces Steam Deck: A Handheld PC
« on: September 14, 2022, 04:09 PM »
I just finished installing the new drive and flashed the OS. Just booting into Steam OS literally as I begin typing this. I'm not sure if it really is the same OEM drive as my 512 GB Deck because they report slightly different sizes.

The newly upgraded Deck reports a maximum of 463.4 GB from the Storage menu, whereas my original 512 GB Deck reports a maximum of 465.3 GB. Even so, that's close enough for me! Now I can scavenge the 256GB microSD card I had put into what was the 64 GB Deck and use it for even more storage on mine. 🤓 Though, with it being slower, I'll have to remember to put only smaller things on it, such as ROMS or small indie games, or personal documents/project files from Desktop Mode.

I have no problem opening up a desktop PC or even a laptop, but I was pretty intimidated about opening up the Deck. I did have a little bit of trouble because I don't have a "professional" screwdriver/repair kit with all the accompanying tools. The first screwdriver I tried was too pointy for the shallow notches of the screws and didn't always catch, so I couldn't spin it. The next screwdriver I tried worked better but the bit was too large to fit into the deeper holes. Then I got out my "precision/jeweler" screwdriver set, but they're tiny little things I can never get a good enough grip on to apply torque with any real force. So I had to use some pliers to grip the precision screwdriver while forcing it down into the screw-hole and finally loosened everything up enough to get all the requisite screws out.

Then the next hard part was separating the back of the plastic shell from the front. I don't have a spudger so I grabbed a LEGO separator tool which did the trick, but I noticed after the fact that it did ever-so-slightly damage the plastic of the Deck at the location where I first stuck it in. But it's so slight that I doubt anyone else who uses the Deck would ever notice. Then, to separate the shell on the outside of the triggers, I had to push the LEGO tool down the crevice near the trigger and the seam between the front and back of the shell and twist/pry it slightly to get it to separate enough to insert a flathead screwdriver (because I didn't have anything else to use as a spudger) to gently pry it apart the rest of the way. Once I got it started like that I was able to use the LEGO tool to finish going around the sides and bottom of the device up to the other trigger, which required the same trick as before, though with less force. The whole thing would definitely be easier if you have a nice electronic device repair kit with decent screwdrivers and a couple of spudgers.

Once I got it open it was pretty smooth sailing, with the only other hiccup being that the 64 GB drive had a little metallic sleeve around it for some kind of shielding. The 512 GB drive is slightly thicker than the 64GB drive so I couldn't get the shield on without loosening it a little bit. That just involved pulling back the adhesive, putting the drive in the shield, and then re-adhering the shield back together. Then I put everything back together and flashed the OS and it's good to go. All in less than an hour even with my minor setbacks. In fact, it took me almost as long to write this post as it did to actually change out the drive and boot the Deck back into Steam OS. 😅

In short, even though I was intimidated at the prospect of opening it up, I feel it wasn't that big of a deal now that I've done it and I would have no problem opening it up again if necessary.

Now, what to do with the spare 64 GB EMMC module I have? I wish I had a more modern computer with a few empty M.2 slots I could put it in. . .

160
DC Gamer Club / Re: Valve Announces Steam Deck: A Handheld PC
« on: September 14, 2022, 02:30 PM »
I'm really tempted to get this Kingston 512 GB M.2 2230 SSD for $51. It's supposedly the OEM drive that Valve use in the 512 GB Deck, according to a random person on Reddit. If true, that would put the 64 GB Deck on par with the 512 GB Deck, minus the laser-etched screen, and for $200 less than the 512 GB Deck cost. That's an expensive screen. . .

Pre-post edit: After making the realization of what I wrote in those last two sentences, I was convinced to get it. 🤓 I came back to update this post saying I'd bought it and realized I hadn't even submitted it yet. :D

The drive arrived. I'm not sure if counterfeit (lower capacity than advertised) NVMe drives is a thing like it is with USB/microSD drives, so I used f3 (Fight Flash Fraud, or Fight Fake Flash) to test it and it appears to be the full capacity. Now I'm going to watch a video or two on how to properly take apart the Deck to access the internal storage and replace it and re-flash the OS and all that.

Well, in any case, it will be interesting to see your progress  ;D :Thmbsup:

EDIT: Just don't be this guy

https://www.reddit.c...280_nvme_to_my_deck/

What the smurf? :o

161
This probably isn't the kind of answer you're looking for, but I usually use #1 or something similar when I listen to music. I'm not really an audiophile and don't pay much attention to having high quality hardware. Even so, I don't use any of the music streaming services, such as Spotify or YouTube Music. I don't like the idea of "renting" music through a subscription service. If I like something enough, I'll make sure I get a copy of it for "local" play.

What I do is I rip all my CDs to FLAC or just buy digital music in FLAC format (usually from Bandcamp) in the first place. Then I either play it from my computer, or use Plex to stream it from my computer to another device, such as the TV or my phone (with connected Bluetooth speaker/earphones).

I'd consider moving to #3 with a Raspberry Pi or NUC in the future (without the DAC because I don't care about having the best audio quality). The reason I'd go for a dedicated computer is because like you said, I need to leave my desktop PC running anytime I want to access my music (or videos) through Plex. And it would be more convenient and efficient to have a small, low-powered 5-30W device tucked away in a corner somewhere, running 24/7 than having my 500W desktop PC running constantly.

162
DC Gamer Club / Re: Valve Announces Steam Deck: A Handheld PC
« on: September 12, 2022, 02:35 AM »
I see people installing larger drives in their deck- I'm just not comfortable enough to do that, so looking for other ways around it.

Ditto. But I think it's likely that the storage limitations, especially of the 64 GB Deck, will lead to frustrations and eventually end up with me opening it up to replace the internal storage with a larger drive.

I am so glad I didn't skimp when I got the deck. Even 256 seems paltry now that I have it in hand.

I'm really tempted to get this Kingston 512 GB M.2 2230 SSD for $51. It's supposedly the OEM drive that Valve use in the 512 GB Deck, according to a random person on Reddit. If true, that would put the 64 GB Deck on par with the 512 GB Deck, minus the laser-etched screen, and for $200 less than the 512 GB Deck cost. That's an expensive screen. . .

Pre-post edit: After making the realization of what I wrote in those last two sentences, I was convinced to get it. 🤓 I came back to update this post saying I'd bought it and realized I hadn't even submitted it yet. :D

163
DC Gamer Club / Re: Valve Announces Steam Deck: A Handheld PC
« on: September 11, 2022, 07:04 PM »
I decided it was more important (and less expensive) to get this JSAUX Docking Station which has 3x USB-A 3.0, 4K@60Hz HDMI 2.0, Gigabit LAN, and a 100W PD USB-C port.

The JSAUX Dock finally arrived yesterday. I connected a keyboard and mouse and another display to the Deck. I played a bit of Factorio, because while the game runs fine on the Deck, I feel it's just not the same without a mouse and keyboard. I haven't done a lot with the dock to put it through its paces. I still need to connect it to a 4K TV and the ethernet, and maybe connect an external storage.

I noticed that my external display would rarely go blank for a few seconds, as if the signal was lost. It happened a few times throughout the day. I hope it's not a faulty dock, but I'm pretty sure none of the other hardware is faulty. I typically use the same display as a secondary monitor for my desktop PC and I haven't seen it do this before. I suppose it could be a software issue. Maybe the Deck is trying to do something weird. I'll have to experiment with other displays, cables, and my other hub in various configurations to see if I can single out the problem.

I've had the JSAUX dock connected to my TV for a couple of weeks now, with ethernet connected, too.

I'm still experiencing occasional video or audio dropouts, and this is with a different display and using a different HDMI cable and even a different Steam Deck than what I used when I first experienced the issue. So I think either the JSAUX dock is faulty or it's working as designed and it's just a low quality product.

Another strange thing I've noticed, this time with the ethernet port, is that the power light is always on and the activity light is constantly blinking, even when there's nothing else (except the power cord) connected to the dock. What is doing the communicating, and with whom is it communicating? I don't know enough about how to monitor incoming and outgoing traffic to/from the dock, but it does give me some privacy and security concerns. What kind of chips are inside the dock? Is it phoning home with telemetry? Does it have a built-in keylogger? Did JSAUX create a botnet with their docks using unsuspecting Steam Deck owners? In this day and age with tiny microcontrollers and SoCs, who knows what kind of nefarious things could be going on inside the outer shell of the dock.

Here's the step-by-step breakdown of what's going on:

When I first connect the power cable to the JSAUX dock, with nothing else connected to any of the ports, the power and activity lights will flash once very briefly and then go and stay dark. If I then plug in an ethernet cable, the power light immediately comes on and remains steadily lit, and the activity light starts blinking and doesn't stop. If I disconnect the ethernet cable, the lights will go dark and stay dark. In short: with only the power and ethernet cables connected to the JSAUX dock, the network activity light blinks continuously, whether or not anything else is connected to the dock.

By comparison, when I connect the power cable to the dockTech 7-in-1 hub with nothing else connected to any of the ports, the power and activity lights briefly flash a few times and then go dark and stay dark. If I then plug in an ethernet cable, the lights remain dark. If I plug in the Deck (while it is powered off), the lights remain dark. Once I turn on the Deck the lights start flickering occasionally as if it's trying to perform a handshake with my router. By the time the Deck has booted up to the user selection screen (or straight into Gaming Mode if you don't have multiple users), the power light has come on and remains steadily lit, and the activity light starts blinking as expected to indicate network activity. If I disconnect the ethernet cable, the lights will go dark and stay dark. If I reconnect the ethernet cable, the lights come on again as expected. If I disconnect the hub from the Deck, the lights go dark and remain dark. Or if I leave the Deck connected to the hub and power it (the Deck) off, the lights go dark and remain dark. In short: there is no indicated network activity except when I would expect there to be network activity.

164
DC Gamer Club / Re: Valve Announces Steam Deck: A Handheld PC
« on: September 11, 2022, 02:10 AM »
This isn't exactly specific to the Deck, but I don't think I would have discovered this if it weren't for the Deck.

Lately I've been really enjoying a new-ish genre of games I would call "Horde Survival" games. Both on Deck and on my desktop PC.

The game that popularized the genre is called Vampire Survivors. For some reason they (usually) all tend to look horrible and have ugly UIs, which is why I took one look at Vampire Survivors a few months ago and said, "Nope! Not for me!" But then I actually saw a video of the gameplay of one of them, called Boneraiser Minions, and I thought it looked kind of fun.

They're kind of like twin-stick shooters, except you (usually) only control the movement of your character, and if an attack can be aimed it is (usually) just aimed in the direction your character is facing/moving. Hordes of enemies attack you from all sides, and your attacks/skills are (usually) automatically cast. You collect XP from your fallen foes and when you have enough XP to level up you get a random selection of skills to acquire or upgrade. And with that, you move around trying to stay alive long enough to defeat the waves of enemies and the boss(es).

Also, they are (usually) only $2-$4 each, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to find out if it was fun. And well, like I said, I've had a lot of fun. I've gotten several hours worth of fun from the 3 I've tried, and I think there's still many hours more fun left in them.

This is the video that finally got me to try them out, featuring Boneraiser Minions:



The same day I saw that video I bought both Boneraiser Minions and Vampire Survivors.

And then just two days ago I was perusing Fanatical's bundles when I saw that another game in the same genre, called Nomad Survival, was in the Killer Bundle 23. I felt the other games in the bundle looked interesting enough, so I got 6 games for $3.50, which is just $0.50 more than Nomad Survival alone would cost. (Incidentally, that was also the same time I got the Summer Mystery Bundle I posted about.)

Anyway, I've been really enjoying Nomad Survival as well, though I'm finding it initially much easier than the others. As in, I actually beat the first stage (which takes 30+ minutes) on my first (and second, and third) try. Whereas in the other two games I usually died within the first few minutes on my first try and had to buy several upgrades and try a few/several times before finally succeeding. But Nomad Survivors allows you to set modifiers to increase the difficulty, which also increases the rewards you receive. So I'm not too concerned about it being too easy, since I can always just make it harder if I want to.

TL;DR: I think Vampire Survivors and other "horde survival" games are pretty fun, and if you dismissed them out-of-hand like I did just because they're ugly, I highly suggest you give them a try. For $2-4 each, there's not much at risk. And if you buy one and find that you really hate it you can always refund the game if you play it for less than 2 hours.

165
LibRedirect - A web extension that redirects YouTube, Twitter, Instagram... requests to alternative privacy friendly frontends and backends.

As someone who has a Twitter account, but still usually wants to view/follow accounts/tweets without having to be logged in, I really like Nitter as an alternative! :up:

166
Community Giveaways / Re: Fanatical Summer Mystery Bundle Leftovers
« on: September 10, 2022, 09:01 AM »
If no-one has requested it, can I request Allen Breed 3, please?

PM incoming.

167
DC Gamer Club / Re: Valve Announces Steam Deck: A Handheld PC
« on: September 10, 2022, 12:09 AM »
So now that I've had to flash a Deck twice and both times I've had to look longer than I'd like for the recovery image download and instructions, I figure this would be a good place to leave a link to them.

Steam Deck Recovery Instructions:
https://help.steampo.../1B71-EDF2-EB6D-2BB3

Some keywords to help locate this post when doing a search:
Steam Deck Flash SteamOS ROM Image Recovery


168
Community Giveaways / Fanatical Summer Mystery Bundle Leftovers
« on: September 09, 2022, 03:04 PM »
I've recently become a fan of Fanatical's frequent Build Your Own Bundles which often start at $1 per game but go down in price from there the more you add to your bundle. Most of the games in the bundles are the kind of games that I probably wouldn't look at twice at their normal price, but for $1 or less I've found a few gems I've enjoyed playing.

Anyway, I also keep seeing their Mystery Bundles which are, as the name suggests, mystery "grab bags" where you don't know what you're getting until you've already paid for them. They're also priced starting at $1 but cheaper per game the more you add to the bundle. I'm generally pretty risk-averse and don't like the idea of gambling, so I wasn't too keen on it, but I guess I fell for it anyway. I decided to make a purchase of 10 games for $7 to see the general quality of games I could be getting from their Mystery Bundles.

The results:
  • 4 games that look somewhat interesting to me
    • 1 of which was in Early Access and then "released" in an incomplete state when the developer had a family crisis and couldn't continue working on the game.
  • 6 games I have no interest in
    • 1 of which I think a family member might enjoy, so I'm holding the key in reserve until I hear back from them
    • 1 of which I already own (probably from a Humble Bundle) which I've never played (because I'm not really interested)

That's 4 games I'm keeping for myself, 1 game that might potentially go to a family member, and 5 6 games I have keys for that I will never use. 4 out of 10 isn't too bad, I suppose, but really there was only one game that I immediately thought, "Ooh! That looks interesting. I'll keep that!" All the others were more like, "I guess that might be worth trying..." In short: I won't be buying a Mystery Bundle again.

So if any long-time member of the forum would like any of these games, I'm willing to DM the Steam key to you.


And if anyone is curious about the ones I kept:



169
DC Gamer Club / Re: Valve Announces Steam Deck: A Handheld PC
« on: September 08, 2022, 08:22 PM »
The 3D print is finished and in my hands! I was not expecting it today. :)

I don't know if this is the norm, but there's a very thin layer about 1 cm wide around the perimeter of the print that I guess I need to break or cut off somehow before I can use it. Otherwise it is too large to fit in the case as shown in the video.

Lifesaver Corner.jpg Lifesaver Angled.jpg

So I'll work on removing that and probably post a picture or at least report back on how well it works soon-ish.

EDIT: It works!

Lifesaver Working.jpg


In other news, I think I might be in trouble. A few days ago when I was trying to figure out how to mount the SMB share I kept changing the password to be something easier and easier because I was tired of typing it so much during my failed testing. And now I've come back to it and everything I try for the password fails. So I think I may need to re-flash the Deck to recover access to the root account. :-[ :(

170
DC Gamer Club / Re: Valve Announces Steam Deck: A Handheld PC
« on: September 08, 2022, 05:40 PM »
I just found out last night that my local library will do 3D prints for me for inexpensively (~$1 per 20 grams of filament), so I've asked them to make a Lifesaver for me. Once I get an idea of how long it takes and the quality of the print, I will probably ask them to print more things.

Hopefully I can also get them to print the power cord / microSD card case inserts for me. But they limit how much filament you can use on your prints and I think that case might use too much filament. But hopefully they aren't entirely strict on the limitations and I'll be able to work out an exception for a print or two.

171
DC Gamer Club / Re: Valve Announces Steam Deck: A Handheld PC
« on: September 08, 2022, 12:06 AM »
I don't (hopefully) see myself getting anything but one more 1TB card.

So you won't need one of these? ;)


172
  • if more than one file is selected, only one file opens

:-\ This surprised me because I was pretty sure selecting multiple files and pressing enter would open all of them. So I did a little testing of my own.

File Explorer in Windows 10 Version 21H2 OS Build 19044.1889.

  • If I select multiple files of the same type and press enter, they all open.
  • If I select multiple files of various types and press enter, whichever one I selected last might open, or none of them open.   
    • For example, if the last selected is a JPG it opens. If the last selected is a PDF it doesn't open.
    • I didn't test this extensively, but I suspect it may have more to do with the default app/program the filetype is set to be opened with than with the filetype itself.
  • If I select one file and one folder, whichever one I selected last opens.
  • If I select one file and a few folders, whichever one I selected last opens (either the file, or all the folders).
  • If I select a few folders, they all open.
  • If I select a lot of folders (~100), none of them open and I usually get an error saying "the parameter is not correct"
  • If I select a lot of folders and files (~200) and press enter, nothing happens.

So basically it appears to have no rhyme or reason.

173
DC Gamer Club / Re: Valve Announces Steam Deck: A Handheld PC
« on: September 06, 2022, 06:24 PM »
Now I'm thinking about getting another SD Card....

https://www.reddit.c...rd_swapping_storing/

That's clever, and cheap. But I still think this is a better solution, if you're using the default carrying case and you have access to a 3D printer:

Steam Deck USB-C Charger (USA Plug Only) Photo.png
Steam Deck USB-C Charger (USA Plug Only) Render.png

Here's something I found that may be useful if you have access to a 3D printer. It's a little carrying case for the power cord, and even includes a few microSD card slots. The 3D-printed case goes in the little cavity behind the elastic strap of the Deck Carrying Case.

https://www.thingive...se.com/thing:5356412

174
DC Gamer Club / Re: Valve Announces Steam Deck: A Handheld PC
« on: September 05, 2022, 01:05 PM »
Yeah. I have an Xbox 360 and an Xbox One controller, both of which I use for PC gaming. I've connected both to the Deck (via USB hub) and they both work flawlessly. I'm sure the newer models of Xbox controllers will also work just fine.

175
DC Gamer Club / Re: Valve Announces Steam Deck: A Handheld PC
« on: September 04, 2022, 08:41 PM »
This is the one on using a NAS. The actual post with the instructions can be found at https://www.reddit.c...44l/comment/il6xlti/

I finally got around to attempting this, but I got stuck pretty early on. I copied and pasted the first script and when I run it I get prompted for a password, but it will not accept the password I set using `passwd` so I'm not really sure what to do.

I got it working, sort of. No matter what I tried it wouldn't accept my password. So then I replaced the `kdesu -c` command which causes a GUI password prompt to pop up with regular old `sudo` and was able to create the directories and mount the SMB if I ran the script from Konsole. But I also had problems getting it to accept my Windows login details, so I actually couldn't mount the SMB until I changed the shared folder settings from Windows to allow anybody to access it, even if they didn't have a username and password.

Then I had the bright idea that I could try just sharing my Steam directory on my Windows PC instead of trying to share a separate folder and possibly duplicate some of the games being installed, so while I was messing around with that, I decided to try `kdesu` again and suddenly it started accepting my root password. No idea what changed with it, but now at least the Linux side of things is working as advertised in that post. I'm still not sure what I was doing wrong with my Windows username/password combo, but I suppose that will be for another day.

I've been trialing controllers for use with my steam deck, and the steel series I use on my desktop isn't working, so I got a Ps5 controller, and it's pretty good, though I'm getting some strange behaviors on certain games.

I tried an Ouya controller fairly early on and the mappings were all wrong. After that I tried a Nintendo Switch Online SNES Controller and it had similar issues where the mappings were incorrect. Since then there have been notes in the Steam Update Logs saying support for NSO controllers was added, but I just tested it and I'm still having trouble getting about half the buttons to register properly.

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