Sign in

Why485

@why485.bsky.social
971 followers 217 following 2K posts

Former modder turned washed up former gamedev. This is not a serious account. Do not follow me here for gamedev hot takes or progressposting.

PostsRepliesMedia
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 13h
Here we go, my take on the X2 Rolling Demo. I wrote a ton in the description if you want to learn more about why it's so annoying and difficult to even record a good version of this demo and why my version isn't "perfect" either, but I do think it's better than every other version I could find.
youtube.com
X2 The Threat Benchmark / Rolling Demo (Music Restored)
YouTube video by Why485
050
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 13h
My computer stopped booting. It turns out it was because while mucking around in the BIOS trying to underclock it to record the X2 demo (and play a tiny bit of IWAR2), I accidentally OVERclocked it to ~9GHz. Turns out setting the CPU Ratio to 90 does not mean 90% base clock rate!
030
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
The other major problem is that on my PC, the demo runs slightly too fast, so some music and audio cues are even more off than they were in the original demo. It's not like, terrible, but it is kind of annoying. I ran it on my mini-PC as a sanity test, and the cues do seem more correct there.
010
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
If you try to play the benchmark on the Steam version of the game, you won't have music, which is CRITICAL to this whole thing! To restore the music, you need to download the original rolling demo release from 2003. Copy the soundtrack mp3s from there, to Steam's X2 soundtrack folder.
The demo download website from Egosoft's glorious Web 1.0 website. 
https://egosoft.com/download/x2/demos_en.php
130
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
It's been bugging me that there isn't a great version of the X2 rolling demo up on YouTube and it's been a heck of a rabbit hole finding out why. Anyway, look how GREAT this looks! Look at those stencil shadows! The X games aren't exactly good, but I love them anyway. Just incredible vibes.
1110
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
star wars lore is fnaf for old millenials
080
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
This makes more sense than you probably thought, given I was living in Chicago while Michael Jordan was huge.
010
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
I sometimes say is "He ate his Wheaties" or "Didn't eat his Wheaties" and I don't know why I say that or where I got it from. Like, obviously it's a cereal, so I have to assume it was an old commercial or something? I really have no idea.
140
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
The fighter has weak thrusters because it's optimized for atmosphere and so doesn't need strong thrusters. The spaceship is a big brick with huge thrusters so even though it's heavier, it's much faster and more nimble in every aspect.
020
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Worked on this some more, and it kind of turned into a Controlled Burn 2. The ship and plane both fly and handle so differently planetside versus in space, but more importantly I ended up adding landing gear because I couldn't help myself and I feel like I've solved every problem I set out to.
1150
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
This has driven me crazy for many years. When you create a new object in Blender, or apply an operation, when would you EVER not want to see the window that lets you see and adjust parameters? If you need to hide it 0.01% of the time sure, but why in the world does it DEFAULT to closed?
2140
Reposted by Why485
hcnone | WISHLIST Endless Monday In Progress @hcnone.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Art Block
Penny from hit indie game Endless Monday: Dreams and Deadlines
81275146
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Yeah going through these lists was a reminder of just how dire the space sim genre was in the 00s. It wasn't until Star Citizen and Elite Dangerous kickstarted (pun intended) a sort of second flight sim renaissance in the mid 2010s that we started to see them again.
110
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Yeah, Robotech Battlecry should be on there, especially because the Japanese Macross game is there. It's really cool and very good looking.
youtube.com
The Super Dimension Fortress Macross ... (PS2) Gameplay
YouTube video by 10min Gameplay
120
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Out of curiosity I searched for every space sim that was released on the PS2, and you can fit every game classified with "space flight" on the PS2 on one page.
List of 18 games
Silpheed The Lost Planet
Star Wars Starfighter
Star Wars Jedi Starfighter
Mace Griffin Bounty Hunter
Cho Jiku Yosai Macross
Beyond Good and Evil
Battlestar Galactica
Star Trek Shattered Universe
Galaxy Angle Moonlit Lovers
Star Wars Battlefront
Dora the Explorer Journey to the Purple Planet
Galaxy Angle Eternal Lovers
Star Wars Battlefront II
Star Trek Encounters
Thunderbirds
Star Trek Conquest
Falcone Into the Maelstrom
2110
Reposted by Why485
hcnone | WISHLIST Endless Monday In Progress @hcnone.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Endless Monday: Dreams and Deadlines is heavily discounted for an autumn sale, on Steam and Nintendo eShop. Play it (or get it for your friends) before the sequel comes out!! also wishlist the sequel. steam: store.steampowered.com/app/2262610/... nintendo: www.nintendo.com/us/store/pro...
penny and whiskey from hit indie game endless monday: dreams and deadlines promoting the game for steam autumn sale.
penny: our game is on sale, miss whiskey! it costs less than a gallon of gas!
whiskey: what a good chance to play it before the sequel comes out, penn. instead of driving.
314034
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
That was the bravest, and my favorite part.
010
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
HAWX Assist Off Mode. No game has been brave enough to attempt this since.
1163
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Consider Wolfenstein Enemy Territory.
000
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
130
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Some controllers can hit the corners, but others can't.
290
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I've never seen this version of "CPU is too fast to play this old game" before. If your CPU runs at faster than ~4.29 GHz, something in Independence War 2 integer overflows and it thinks your CPU is actually super slow. This really sucks 😭
So what’s actually happening? the game tracks time using CPU cycles, and somewhere along the way, it casts the frequency into a uint32_t. When the frequency is too high, that value overflows, and the game ends up thinking the CPU is way slower than it actually is. That messes up the internal timing. As a result, the engine compresses too many physical and gameplay events into each tick. And because the CPU is still running fast, everything in-game goes into hyperspeed.
073
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
This is the golden ratio of off-road trucks.
3 view of the Warthog from Halo CE, i.e. the best version of the Warthog. It's been 30 years since this game came out and no game has even come close to making an offroad truck this good. Bungie did this on an Apple II with a box of Cheerios.
0112
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Wow.
010
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I've been busy most of the weekend with real life stuff, so I really only had like, half a day to mess with this, but I did manage to put together this quick little prototype. Spaceship falls like a rock, but can support itself with thrust. Spaceplane flies with wings and only needs thrust for VTOL.
0110
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Basically, let spaceplanes just fly like planes in atmosphere, with weak thrusters, but wings allow to fly fast and by pointing their nose. Meanwhile, "brick" spaceships awkwardly and slowly flounder around, having to rely on thrusters that are less effective in atmosphere to fight gravity and drag.
150
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
It's been a bugbear of mine for many years that in every space sim that allows atmospheric flight under gravity, it never looks or feels good, often just as a consequence of the physics involved. "Fixing" this is something I've wanted to try for years, and have teased at, but never committed to it.
180
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
15-10-5, the Golden Ratio of the F-16's measurements.
050
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
CAT SCREAMING YAMERO
000
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
While the HD mod is still the easiest way to get a "modern" version of Freelancer running, and does include fixes to the planetscapes and various cutscenes to support widescreen better, I think it goes too far with the AI upscaled textures.
moddb.com
Freelancer: HD Edition mod
Freelancer: HD Edition is a mod that aims to improve every aspect of the game Freelancer while keeping the look and feel as close to vanilla as possible.
010
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
My Freelancer "Definitive Edition" mod list. I.e. if I was put in charge of doing a Freelancer re-release, this is what I would do.
Freelancer introEarly mission in Freelancer with the burning prison liner.Planet Manhattan with the inventory screen open.Landing at California Minor in a Startracker
180
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
1. Freelancer Combined Patch for bugfixes and QOL (for players and modders) 2. flplusplus to push out the LODs and FX draw distances, the only visual upgrade I think FL needs 3. dgVoodoo to add MSAA 4. Tiny mod I made to remove wing trails and add the player engine trails back (personal taste thing)
flplusplus.ini configs for lod draw distance multipliers

[flplusplus]
; Multiplier for maximum render distance and the distance at which LODs are switched.
; The maximum render distances are scaled from the float values which are specified at file offsets 213EC8 and 1C8910 in Freelancer.exe.
; Supports decimal values.
; 1 = use the default values (no scaling)
; 2 = Double render distance & LOD switch threshold
; 3.5 = 3.5x render distance & LOD switch threshold, etc.
; Adjusting asteroid_dist_scale may cause bad performance and other issues; try at your own risk.
lod_scale = 3
pbubble_scale = 10
character_detail_scale = 10
asteroid_dist_scale = 1
010
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
It's been many years since I last played through the game fully, so I'm looking forward to it! As for mods, I tried the HD Mod, but I think it goes too far. I always had my own mod as my take on a "definitive" version of the game, but this time I was able to find mods to do it for me.
110
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Maybe I should just finish the Freelancer playthrough I started earlier this year. I've had a hankering for a good space sim, but everything I've been trying lately has left me annoyed that it's not like Freelancer and there's an easy solution for that actually.
Blowing up Liberty Rogues in a very early game mission with the prison liner on fire.Startracker landing at California Minor
150
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
I guess while I'm talking space sims, I've been dabbling back in No Man's Sky and Elite, though neither have really grabbed me. No Man's Sky is still cool, and the new updates add some neat stuff. Elite is, basically the same game it always was. It's cool, but I never know what to do.
Space wreck in No Man's Sky.Hovering over a moon with a way too close, like "I'm surprised Elite even generated this" way too close, planet. Looks awesome though.A very goofy and not at all well built corvette in No Man's Sky, which is a new feature since I last played. Basically they added the ship building from Starfield to No Man's Sky.Flying away from a planet with a thin atmosphere in Elite.
1141
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Seeing that AI slop garbage next to insanely detailed and awesome models like the ships, or the cool little in-universe ads that feature renders of the game's ships and equipment only makes the AI slop even more baffling in its inclusion.
Ingame ads in the elevator for the noob ship and the mining drone that you start with. They feature just straight up renders of the actual equipment and text with fonts that each of the manufacturers use in their ingame promo material and write on their own ships and stuff with.Look at these engine bells like holy cow the ship models and their interiors are SO good.
030
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Said BIG asterisk: AI slop art. Which is CRAZY because this game obviously has some seriously talented 3D and 2D artists working on it. I don't know if it's "just placeholder" or what the story behind it is, but either way the art needs to be removed ASAP, or the game needs a Steam AI disclaimer.
Slop generated portrait of Neil Armstrong on what would otherwise be a cute little ingame museum kiosk type thing.
240
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
But yeah the art is incredible (with one, BIG asterisk), and it's surprisingly bug free considering the genuinely impressive scope and scale of what it's already doing. If you want a more detailed breakdown of my thoughts and impressions, I wrote something on the Steam forums about it.
HUD of the Bao looking at the sun while orbiting around the moon.I can't copy/paste the full thing, but you can visit it here: https://steamcommunity.com/app/3335140/discussions/0/564794068433915943/#c586186803158177971
010
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
It's fully Newtonian and 1:1 scale. Even going all the way back to Frontier Elite 2, I've never really liked this kind of setup because it just makes space feel empty, boring, and pointless, and while that's realistic, it's not what I'm looking for in a game. That's a me problem though.
Bao in orbit around the Moon.
210
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Got to try out Verse Project, which is best described as "I got annoyed at Star Citizen and Elite, so I made my own," and honestly it's really impressive, though obviously still very early because there's not much to do right now. It has walking around, already multiplayer, already has planets.
The freighter ship.Two ads for the noob equipment. The ship on the left is the noob ship, the mining drone on the right is given to you to make some money off the bat.Flying to the moon, of which your space station was in orbit of.Extracing regolith and ice from the moon.
150
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
I wonder if maybe the surge in desktop toy games and idle games is filling a Runescape shaped hole in a new generation.
070
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Reading this article felt like something that could have been played up for an episode of Unsolved Mysteries.
010
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
If you've never heard of AirQuake it really is an insane thing that I couldn't believe was real when I first saw it. It's a free mod and AFAIK you can plug it into any modern Quake 1 source port to mess around with. I've messed around with it and it almost feels like it was made by a time traveler.
youtube.com
AirQuake - All Maps
YouTube video by xStoneCold
1101
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
I have next to no familiarity with modding Quake though, which I feel like would be prerequisite to even attempting to hack something crazy into one of the Quake engines.
010
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
New dark fantasy: Making some kind of arcade flight sim or maybe something vaguely Halo shaped using one of the Quake engines. Air Quake, but like... bigger I guess.
AirQuake mod for Quake 1 featuring an A-10ish thing and really ahead of its time Halo controls for its vehicles.Fighter jet looking thing.The mod also had helicopters and tanks you could drive, along with turrets and what you would today call "creeps" in a MOBA.Tank from Airquake
1101
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
House of the Dying Sun is one of the best space sims of all time, but it's a very different kind of game and not the casual open world boring grindfest like I think I'm looking for. Everspace (the first one) was pretty good too. I didn't like the second one though because it was mostly menus.
010
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
No Man's Sky is not that because No Man's Sky is also riddled with a billion different mechanics and plates to spin. The closest thing to what I'm looking for is really just Freelancer.
060
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
So lately I've been wanting to play Elite, but every time I think about playing it, it's the same kind of time and effort and thinking investment that like, DCS has. There's just so much baggage with playing Elite. I want the Freelancer of Elite games, though I'm not really sure that's possible.
A station just above a planet's ring system. This is probably very rare! I remember there being some weird graphics glitches because of this.
280
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
This book was in fact written in 1988.
150
Why485 @why485.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Sometimes I feel like I dodged a bullet because of the first Destiny not coming out on PC.
010