Disabling the introductory videos in Elder Scrolls Online

In order to disable the two company/introductory videos in Elder Scrolls Online (ESO), you only need to switch one preference in the ESO's user settings file: The file name is

• C:\Users\Documents\Elder Scrolls Online\liveeu\usersettings.txt

The preference you need to set is

• SkipPregameVideos=1

Beyond Earth: Extended Trade Route Duration

One of the more annoying features in Beyond Earth is that you have to "renew" your trade routes every 25 turns. What sounds reasonable in the first place, becomes very, very tedious when your number of cities and trade routes are growing in the mid- and endgame. To help with this situation you can modify the length of trade routes via the configuration that comes with Beyond Earth:

• Editing .xml file 
• Go to the installation folder of Beyond Earth, e.g. SteamApps\common\Sid Meier's Civilization Beyond Earth
• Open subfolder assets\Gameplay\XML
• Locate the GlobalDefines.xml with a text editor.
• Find the string TRADE_ROUTE_BASE_TURN_DURATION and replace the value by one that suits your needs, e.g.
•         <!--International Trade-->
          <Row Name="TRADE_ROUTE_BASE_TURN_DURATION">
              <Value>40</Value>
          </Row>
• Save the file and close the text editor.

Afterwards you can start the game, and you'll see any new trade routes will have that extended duration.

XCOM: Removing the Intro Videos

To remove the annoying intro videos for XCOM: Enemy Unknown, you need to edit the configuration file "XcomEngine.ini", which is located in the directory "My Documents\My Games\XCOM - Enemy Unknown\XComGame\Config".

1. Stop XCOM 
2. Open the file XcomEngine.ini with any text editor,
3. Search for the four lines starting with "StartupMovies", and remove them from the file
StartupMovies=Logo_2KFiraxis
StartupMovies=UE3TechLogo
StartupMovies=LogoLegal_PCConsole
StartupMovies=1280x720_Black
4. Save the file

Any subsequent start ofXCOM should now immediately go to the start screen.

The Next Great Thing?

System Shock 2: No Respawn

"Look at you, hacker. A pathetic creature of meat and bone. Panting and sweating as you run through my corridors. How can you challenge a perfect immortal machine?"

Perhaps my favourite quote from a computer game.

Just bought System Shock (from 1999!) on Steam. Time to remember some settings which makes the game more enjoyable to me. For all settings check the(?) System Shock page.

• Monster Spawning:
  If you've killed everything in a given area, and you wait around long enough, you'll notice that more monsters are spawned to keep you busy. To minimize respawning, use the configuration variable:
  
• no_spawn
System Shock 2's ecologies look at how many monsters are in a given area. If a defined minimum number of monsters are present, there is a chance that a new monster will spawn. The variable:
• lower_spawn_min n
reduces the defined minimum monster count on all ecologies by n.

• raise_spawn_rand n
lowers the chance of a monster randomly spawning by changing the random chance from 1/i to 1/(i+n).
• Gun degradation
  The config variable:
  • gun_degrade_rate
  is a multiplier for the rate at which your weapons degrade. For example, to completely eliminate weapon degradation & breakage, set the value to 0. To tone it down, set it somewhere between 1 and 0.

Reaper of Souls

I didn't like Diablo III very much, but Blizzard is still the king of making the best render videos for computer games.

Eureka!

Deus Ex 3

After lying for more than 6 months on my desk, I finally played and finished Deus Ex 3 two days ago.

.. Like a Girl

Battlefield 3 Offline Mode

Start the offline mode by clicking the gearwheel symbol on the upper right side of the start menu. In the resulting pop-menu you can switch to "offline mode". This way you do not need to connect to Battlelog and can start the single player campaign directly.

Addicted to Looting

After one of my friends pointed me to Borderlands, an RPG/First Person Shooter, from 2009, I became seriously attached to this game. But see the review by IGN for yourself:

The Dream

There's no portal like the next

What a wonderful game is this (like it's predecessor):

Crysis 2 -- Change Language

You cannot change the language within in Crysis 2, but by modifying the system configuration file it's quite easy to do. Make sure the game is not up and running, then do the following:

• Go to the directory where Crysis 2 is installed, e.g. "C:\Program Files\Crysis 2\".
• Open the file "system.cfg" using a text editor (like notepad or the like).
• Go the line (near the end of the file) with which contains the string "g_language".
• Change the settings by changing the language name, e.g. from "g_language = English" to "g_language = German" or vice versa.
• Save the file.
• Restart the game. The changes should be visible immediately.

Skyrim

This one game I am really waiting for in 2011. Designated release date is 11/11/11.

Dark Elves

Until I encountered several times the vicuious (and rather annoying) death bug, I rather enjoyed playing "Blood Bowl Legendary Edition" .. and especially coaching the Dark Elves team. Go Witch Elves Go!

The Mechanist vs. AntAntagonizer

As witnessed in Fallout 3: Mexican Standoff in Canterbury Commons:

The Mechanist vs. AntAntagonizer

P.S.: The screenshot is quite large (~6 MByte).

StarCraft Reenactment

In the light of the upcoming "StarCraft 2" and after an acquaintance told me that he had played the original "StarCraft" (from 1998!) again, I followed his example and installed & played the orginal game once more. Not entirely surprising, it is still -- after 9 years -- fun to play.

Crysis, Crysis

On the last weekend I have downloaded and played the 1.8 GByte demo of "Crysis", an ego-shooter and successor of "Far Cry" made by german developer "Crytek".

Although due the limited resource my current computer is offering, I was only able to play it with the details set to low, but even then the game was spectuluarly good. The nano suit is as well adjustable as the guns you are using, the graphics are amazing, the AI seems to be quite clever, the environment (houses, trees, cars) is fully deformable.

This game, although (or just because) it has a USK-18 rating, is a must-have for an adult player, and is likely the reason for me to get a new computer with reasonable graphics card and CPU. My current computer is now 2.5+ years old and so it's time for an upgrade anyhow.

War, War Never Changes

I have been waiting for Fallout 3 for a looong time. Being an avid fan of the first two parts by Black Isle Studio (may the company rest in peace), I was somewhat excited when the news surfaced that Bethesda Softworks acquired the rights to develop a sequel to the series. Although information is pretty scarce, and the teaser movie is pretty non-descriptive, the promotional artwork on the Bethesda website looks quite promising.

Let's just hope the Bethesda guys do not make the game as generic as the last of the Elder Scrolls series, Oblivion, was, and preserve the unique setting and distinct black humor of this game.