Buddahriffic

@Buddahriffic@lemmy.world

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Steam Deck lead reveals Valve is funding ARM compatibility of Windows games “to expand PC gaming” and release “ultraportables” in the future⁩ ⁨⁨13⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:

  Yeah, a lot of programs will likely run fine. The common issues will be solved. But the subtle ones will be frustrating. Plus I worry about a situation where apps target x64 and run on ARM but aren’t supported on ARM, kinda like what we’ve got with games on linux right now.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Steam Deck lead reveals Valve is funding ARM compatibility of Windows games “to expand PC gaming” and release “ultraportables” in the future⁩ ⁨⁨14⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago⁩:

  This problem is far more difficult to solve than x64 windows apps running on x64 linux.

  While x64 and ARM are both turing complete and thus anything one can do, the other can also do, there can be subtle differences to the way they do them.

  Like one I’m aware of is the atomicity of loading memory using a co-processor register, which is required for accessing thread local storage, and introduces a subtle race condition if someone uses user mode multithreading (which can be way faster than kernel mode multithreading) without handling the case where they get preempted between moving that register’s value and doing the load, and end up running on a different kernel thread when they get back (because you need one kernel thread per core). That thread would end up with the pointer for another thread’s thread local storage, which tends to break things pretty badly.

  That’s just one that I’m aware of. There’s probably tons of other subtle differences that mean you can’t just have a map of “x in x64 means y in ARM” and use that to generate a compatible binary. It would probably run, but it would have bugs that the original doesn’t that are only seen in rare edge cases.

  Not that I want to discourage this effort, but this is a problem an order of magnitude or two more difficult than the one proton solved, which was essentially just a bunch of wrappers that convert one API or OS behaviour to another equivalent one.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨New tech pulls lithium from dead batteries cheaper than you can buy it⁩ ⁨⁨3⁩ ⁨days⁩ ago⁩:

  As long as the cost is lower than mining it from the ground, I think other gaps can be overcome, especially where batteries already have their own logistic waste path. Though I guess it also depends on scale required to get that cost. If it’s something that can be set up at any waste facility, sourcing might be close to “free”, as in it might just require a redirection of what’s currently done. I don’t think it even needs to be cheaper than mined lithium, since there’s other costs associated with that, like environmental.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Steam Machine – Powerful Enough?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  I don’t think that’s a special feature these days. My Linux desktop has a suspend shut down mode and though I usually close down whatever I’m playing, I believe there have been a few times where I’ve forgotten that I had a game still running minimized but it resumed fine and the game was still running fine.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Steam Machine – Powerful Enough?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago⁩:

  The funny thing is, those power bricks you plug into the AC outlet convert that back to DC and various voltages (including 12v).

  I’ve wondered for a while if we’ll start seeing more DC input electronics designed for setups like yours because there’s efficiency losses for both the DC -> AC step and the AC -> DC step.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨'This is definitely my last TwitchCon': High-profile streamer Emiru was assaulted at the event, even as streamers have been sounding the alarm about stalkers and harassment⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  On brand for much of the corporate world.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨'This is definitely my last TwitchCon': High-profile streamer Emiru was assaulted at the event, even as streamers have been sounding the alarm about stalkers and harassment⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  There’s at least one individual inside the company that was involved in that decision. They should all have liability here, as individuals.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨'This is definitely my last TwitchCon': High-profile streamer Emiru was assaulted at the event, even as streamers have been sounding the alarm about stalkers and harassment⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨month⁩ ago⁩:

  I used to occasionally watch the all MXC channel. Brings me back to 2002.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Subnautica 2 will have a bigger map and a silent protagonist, say devs⁩ ⁨⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I can understand it for the Cyclops. I love it in the first game but it’s a massive ship that needs a lot of space to maneuver, especially if creatures bumping into it can move it in ways it doesn’t normally steer while you’re driving it. Designing a game for the cyclops to get to the end means there needs to be a large path all the way to the end, or multiple large paths if you want to avoid that main path being linear.

  Though on the other hand, they could put the cyclops in the game as a red herring where anyone who builds one ends up leaving it near the surface because it turns out to be impractical. I think it would fit the style of the game where you’re exploring an unknown area. Some resources could prove to be less useful than hoped for.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Can the Steam Deck play AAA games in 2025? (spoiler alert : mostly do)⁩ ⁨⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Is there a playability list for AAA games that shows which ones are worth playing?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Infinity Nikki on Steam works on Steam Deck LCD, but not OLED Deck or Desktop Linux⁩ ⁨⁨7⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Anti cheat notification on the store page is effectively an anti buy for me.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Library⁩ ⁨⁨9⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  Like a new gaming PC!

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Almost a third of developers think generative AI is a negative for the games industry, says new survey⁩ ⁨⁨10⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago⁩:

  I think there’s also potential for more organic and dynamic NPC interactions. Perhaps even an AI GM type thing, which would allow players to use information they shouldn’t yet know without just ruining the game because if the main mystery is solved in act 1, the GM could just make a new plot.

  Not that I think we’re anywhere close to an AI that could do that well, but it’s just a matter of time (assuming things don’t collapse entirely before that, which is unfortunately looking more likely than reaching the tech singularity… Or fortunately, since I’m not sure how humanity will continue after tech makes all of the work we can do redundant, as sweet as it could be for entertainment).

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨When the Steam Deck was still just an idea, Valve says some staff were like, "I just want that for me" and "the point wasn't even to make a product out of it"⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  And it’s why I hate capitalism as a consumer.

  “People need an incentive to invent things!”

  Well, if that incentive is making money instead of making a great thing, it’s probably not going to be a great thing. Great things make money.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Amazon plans to give Alexa an AI overhaul — and a monthly subscription price⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  If there was any reason to believe they wouldn’t be selling data anyways, making it a paid thing would make it seem more trustworthy, at least. If it’s free, then you have to assume it’s generating profit through other means.

  Though even if that means of profit is from people using it to make Amazon orders, I still don’t trust it because most of the time when I do order something on Amazon, I need to look through a bunch of sketchy results to find one that looks trustworthy. I wouldn’t trust a voice assistant to pick a better option, in fact I wouldn’t be surprised if the voice assistant is specifically designed to select inventory they have more trouble moving.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Sims contender Life By You gets delayed once again, this time indefinitely⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  I think there’s enough food examples of games that waited and were successful and games that didn’t wait and did poorly that releasing the game before it’s ready isn’t a great way to recover funds.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨EA SPORTS WRC will be adding EA anticheat, game will not playable any more. On ProtonDB game is rated Platinum⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  Woah, really? I had just noticed that the play button is replaced by an update button when there’s one pending and was a bit frustrated because my gap between playing paradox game sessions is long enough that it usually says my last save might not work.

  How is it for figuring out which version you need to go back to? Like would it be enough to use a file timestamp to match it to the version you would have used at that time?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  Some of those Hades hours were from me. Just have two achievements left but one of them will require skilling up a bit.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Customers say Meta’s ad-buying AI blows through budgets in a matter of hours⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  Especially one that controls how much money you are sending to the people that made the AI.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Despite Microsoft's push, Windows 11 and Edge see decreases in user share⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  I used litestep (I think that was the name) to do that back in the 00s on Windows XP.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Despite Microsoft's push, Windows 11 and Edge see decreases in user share⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  That’s just a reason to switch away from Windows 10, not a reason to switch to Windows 11. Though you can still use an OS after it’s been sunsetted. Some people still use Windows XP.

  I’ve got a Linux iso ready to be tested, a willingness to try out some other options, and an intent to pick one of those without even bothering with windows 11. I’ve only heard negative or neutral things about it (other than the multiple desktops mentioned in another comment, though that isn’t unique to Windows 11). Up to this point, I’ve not even been willing to entertain considering windows 11, but now I’m willing to at least hear the pitch. Is there anything other than inertia that makes people want to use Windows 11?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Despite Microsoft's push, Windows 11 and Edge see decreases in user share⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  What is specifically meant by “multiple desktops”? Like just a button to move windows around to act like virtual screens? Or is there more to it than that?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Despite Microsoft's push, Windows 11 and Edge see decreases in user share⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  Just out of curiosity, and admittedly without much intention of changing my mind regardless of the answer, but is there any compelling reason to switch to Windows 11? Some features or benefits that in any way make it a better experience than 10 (even if the overall experience isn’t better for other reasons)?

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨“Temporary” disk formatting UI from 1994 still lives on in Windows 11⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  Even since 10, they keep moving shit around. I’ll Google how to disable some stupid feature and then have to search through the results to figure out which one still applies.

  Also, anyone else notice that in the MS support threads, almost every single first response is useless and doesn’t even really address the specific question being asked but a very basic version of it? And then 50/50 whether a better reply comes in after the OP says they already tried that (and said so in their OP) or that the response has nothing to do with what they actually asked.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Overwatch 2 Season 10 will unlock all current heroes and make future additions free⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  I mean, from my perspective, I didn’t think they were worth giving money to before either of those. So probably a simpler reason to why that was your line and not sooner.

  And this isn’t meant to be aggressive or to say you didn’t do good enough soon enough or anything like that. The reasons were probably something like “hadn’t heard of what was going on with them” or “shit only met your threshold for side eye, not yet boycott up until then”. But whatever your reasons, there’s still people in that stage. And there’s also people that just don’t care about any of that.

  Also, never forget that there are people who see MTX in video games and get excited about all the cool things they can buy in this game. And there’s people who think women working in tech are fair targets for harassment (sexual or otherwise), that Hong Kong should have stfu and got back to work, that it’s fun to play Diablo on their phone (tbh this one was more a sign that they had lost touch than a real negative thing), that they replaced the old games with newer ones and newer = better, etc.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Which shows do you think ended too soon, or went on too long?⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  Too soons that I didn’t see listed when I looked through the thread:

  Dark Matter (I enjoyed this more than Firefly tbh)

  Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨'The Witcher 4 will channel the “freedom” of CDPR’s Cyberpunk 2077'⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  Yeah, the money they are putting in hyping the game would be better spent on development. Don’t talk about it to people who aren’t involved in making it, just do it. I much prefer the steam early access method where it you think you have a good idea, you release it early on for a cheaper price. Then you see how it does and receive player feedback and iterate from there.

  Too much hype can make a game seem worse by raising expectations too high.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What are some common everyday examples of this phenomenon? (see body)⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  I think traffic lights depend on the skill of the person setting them up. They’ve got a bunch of sensors (car waiting over magnetic sensor, visual sensor detects something other than road in magic area, pedestrian button pressed, time of day, timer since last transition, emergency vehicle override) as input and different intersection states as output.

  Someone could program a cycle to just ignore all of the sensors and run through the various states on a timer. Or they could make a more complex cycle loop that lengthens the main state at night, switches sooner if a sensor is triggered, and tries to be smart about it. Or you could go for an even more complex statistical model that not only takes sensor states into account but tries to predict those sensors for even more accuracy.

  My guess is that there’s great variance in both the skills of the person doing the programming and their managers and politicians/administrators calling the shots. And that variance in skill includes ones who don’t bother trying anything more complex than the defaults as well as those who do but aren’t good at it (eg: I’ve noticed that some intersections make their main cycle longer at night and don’t cycle unless someone is waiting but make them wait longer than they would during the day when night time means that interrupting the main cycle affects fewer people so they make people wait on the side streets for no good reason).

  And there’s also the question of persistence. If they need to be reprogrammed any time the power goes out, they might just go with the easier route if they can’t restore backups.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨What are some common everyday examples of this phenomenon? (see body)⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  I think I’ve only seen one elevator that didn’t do anything immediately after pressing the close door button.

• ⁨Comment⁩ on ⁨Steam dropping support for macOS Mojave and by extension 32-bit games⁩ ⁨⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago⁩:

  Stop fearmongering.

  ??