Also, my computer has been upgraded. Woohoo!

In fact, it’s not really the same computer any more. The only things from my old computer are my HD (with all my precious porn files) and my expensive^[1] Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 ti graphics card (GPU).

Everything else : case, motherboard (ASRock A520M-HDV) , RAM (32 gig DDR4) , CPU (Ryzen 7 5080x3D), and cooler (ARCTIC something), is brand new and that is a pretty good feeling.

I guess for a reclusive shut-in like me, it’s a rite of renewal of sorts.

I haven’t had a chance to really put my new hardware to the test. That will probably have to wait till I get a chance to buy a brand new AAA game, and those tend to be around $60-$80, so… not any time real soon. 🙂

Still, I tried to do the next best thing : re-install Baldur’s Gate 3 and see what it’s like to play it when it’s actually running properly.

The fact that some wonderful person recently made a sex mod for it is purely coincidental, I swear.

But nothing is ever simple or easy, is it? I downloaded the game (which went faster than before, by a lot) and now it crashes instantly when I try to run it.

Well I guess I should be grateful that at least it’s not leading me on before dumping me and hard crashing my entire computer like before.

This pisses me off in particular because it was BG3 and the many, many issues I was having while playing it that inspired me to finally get around to upgrading my machine in the first place.

But all is far from lost. I have many tricks to make the fucking thing work that I learned while getting it to run on my previous machine. I will bend it to my will, I swear.

Yesterday’s upgrading was a bit of an adventure. Mostly for spuug, as installing practically everything into the new case was a bit tricky, but also for me because even when all the hardware was installed, included my old HD and GPU, the damned thing did not want to boot up properly.

So then we ended up tackling this technical issue together. And you know what? That felt good. I think that is the closest I have ever come to working in IT. 😉

I think we made a good team. He has the knowledge and expertise. I have an aggressively analytical and incisive mind.

Eventually, we figure out that the problem was a file called asio.sys that only worked on my previous motherboard and crashed on the new one.

We found our way to using a command prompt to find and get to the damned file and rename it, and behold, the frigging thing worked.

Then there was a bunch of downloading drivers for the various bits and pieces, and now my system works more or less the same as it did before the upgrade.

So voila, we have fought our way back to where we started. We’re at net zero, baby!

If I can’t get BG3 working, I will have to scroll through my list of Steam games to find something else that might benefit from the extra oomph.

But mostly, it’s a relief to know that I am good to go on whatever the new hotness is for at least a couple of years.

More after the break.

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And now, a dilemma

Though not a very serious one.

I got Baldur’s Gate 3 working, Did the same thing as I did before : bypassed the game’s stupid launcher and ran it straight from the executables in its Steam directory.

Works just fine that. And the launcher is useless, so nothing is lost.

The dilemma is as follows : now that I have BG3, what’s to become of my game of Dragon Age 2?

That’s the game I’ve actually been playing for the last month or so, and I am quite close to finishing it (I think), so it would be a shame if I gafiated from in in favour of the new (ish) shiny, BG3.

This problem is further complicated by the fact that I am stuck on a REALLY hard fight in Dragon Age 2, and thus the temptation to be a total decadent and fuck up to play another game is strong.

But then I will end up never finishing DA2, and I hate that. I am still kicking myself for never finishing Final Fantasy 7, and that was decades ago.

But that last fight against Sephiroth is so long and you have to go through the same number of his forms over and over every time you lose to him and that shit defeats me.

I hate repetition.
I hate repetition.
I HATE REPETITION.

Anyhow, so I am going to do my best to alternate between the games. I doubt DA2 will run any different with the new hardware, but god damn it, I am going to get past that really tough fight and finish the fucking thing.

Even if I have to take a massive wound to my pride and lower the difficulty level in order to do it.

But boy, do I want to avoid that! That would not only wound my pride, but it would also feel like cheating, and I would hate that too.

So I will keep trying until I find a way to kill all those god damned Shades that start coming at me out of nowhere.

If I can eliminate them, then I can probably handle the Pride Demon that tags along with them. Single enemies, even very powerful ones, are way easier to handle than the big gangs of low level enemies.

Oh right. One further complication. MAJOR SPOILER ALERT.

Here at the end of the game, my boyfriend Anders betrays me. Turns out he was using me all along so he could commit a major act of magical terrorism that kills a whole lot of people and turns everyone else against all mages.

And I am a mage. God dammit.

That is also a factor in not wanting to play. My just and merciful nature precludes my just straight up killing him for his massive act of unspeakable violence, but the pain of his betrayal still lingers with me.

I really feel like I took him into my heart, and he then stabbed me in it.

Pretty heavy stakes for a fantasy RPG, n’est-ce pas?

I will talk to you nice people again tomorrow.