Other Commentary
Posts that aren't specifically related to games
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Shell script to copy addon files off my Steam Deck
After all the primary housekeeping I did in Desktop Mode on my new Steam Deck, there was one more problem I wanted to solve: a better way to copy the SavedVariables directory files off the Deck and into the equivalent folder on my MacBook.
For those of you who don’t play Elder Scrolls Online, or who do play but don’t play with addons, the SavedVariables directory is one of the directories underneath ESO’s standard install location. On my Mac, ESO gets plunked into the Documents directory, so it’s very easy to find. In that directory is a subdirectory called “live”, and underneath that is “SavedVariables”.
The SavedVariables directory is where a bunch of user-specific stuff gets saved for how you’ve configured your game. Including any specific setups you’ve done for any addons you’re running.
Since I typically play on Steam Deck the majority of the time but also semi-regularly play on computer, I wanted a way to keep the SavedVariables directories in both places in sync.
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Additional housekeeping on the new Steam Deck
One more post I want to make about the new Steam Deck I’ve acquired: what I’m setting up on it besides the actual games. Because I am the kind of nerd who digs into the Desktop mode on this thing, to take advantage of it being a handheld computer in addition to a gaming console.
Here are the goals I wanted to accomplish on it:
- Making it possible to access the device from my computer, both via the command line and via a VNC connection
- Making it accessible not only by an IP address assigned to it from our house DHCP server, but also via its hostname
- Making arrangements to have any installations I did persist through the next time Valve does an OS update on it
- Implementing a backup solution, to account for the same critical files I pulled off of its predecessor
Deets on what I’ve done tonight behind the fold.
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Getting up and running on the new Steam Deck
As I reported in my previous post, I got a surprise new Steam Deck when my original one decided its battery was going to turn into a spicy danger pillow! So over the last day or so, I’ve been working on setting up the new device with all the games and playthroughs I had active on the previous one.
This post is about that, and about my overall impressions of this new Deck in general. It’s an OLED model, and yeah, there are some distinct differences between it and its predecessor.
This is not going to be a full review post. If you want an in-depth review of the OLED Steam Deck, there are plenty to choose from all over the web. As I’m a regular follower of Ars Technica, I’ll commend their review in particular to you.
What I want to talk about here instead are my overall personal impressions, what I’ve noticed so far that’s different from my original Deck, and what I had to do to get all my previous games and playthroughs back up and running.
Deets behind the fold. This’ll be a long post.
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The Saga of My Surprise Steam Deck Replacement
Those of you who follow me on social media will have seen me posting about this already, but for the sake of my blog and for future reference, I’m documenting this here too.
Saga of how my Steam Deck’s battery started puffing up–and how I got a surprise new Deck–behind the fold!
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One more ActivityPub test
This is to confirm that I still see a tag on the ActivityPub feed even if I don’t include the ap_hashtag code in my custom settings.
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Solstheim is broken in Anniversary Edition on Nintendo Switch
I was going to hold on a post like this until the end of Kendis’ playthrough, even though I’ve been seeing increasing problems running the AE on my Switch. But as of taking her to Solstheim in her run, I’ve discovered that there are game-breaking bugs in the Solstheim content. And that’s vexing enough that it’s finally kicked me over into definitively not recommending the AE on the Switch right now.
Details behind the fold.
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Setting up VNC and sshd on my Steam Deck
So as I think I’ve mentioned before on this blog, whenever I want to do any serious rearranging of my mods on my Steam Deck, it’s awkward to do so directly on the Deck.
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Interrupting my playthrough posts for this important note
Today on Mastodon I saw news going around of videos documenting how a particular employee of Zenimax/Bethesda received some extremely toxic, transphobic treatment, and was basically railroaded into resigning.
If you’ve been following this blog at all, you know how much love and time I’ve been throwing into Elder Scrolls games since 2021. So believe me when I say that I was extremely disappointed to see this word going around.
More behind the fold.
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Spoiler-free short review of the Forgotten City mod
When I put out a call for what mods were recommended for a modded Skyrim run, one of the strongest recs I got was for one called The Forgotten City. This thing got a Writer’s Guild award for the strength of its plot, and the team that created it went pro and turned the overall plot structure into a standalone game, even.
I can now say that I’ve run this mod in Harrow’s run, and I enjoyed it immensely. I had a couple of small quibbles with it, but these were minor quibbles indeed. So if you’re in a position to run mods on Skyrim, I do highly recommend you consider checking this out.
I’ll be going into depth about my experiences with the mod in Harrow’s next full post. But by definition, that post will be chock full of spoilers. If you think you might want to run this mod at all, you might want to skip that post until you do.
In this post, I will limit myself to spoiler-free commentary, just enough to offer up a few tidbits and let you decide if you think the mod sounds like fun to you.
Deets (again, spoiler-free) behind the fold.
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Bailing on Survival Mode in Kendis’ playthrough
Calling it at level 32 of Kendis’ run: I am officially bailing on Survival Mode.
What did it for me: a few things.
First: reaching the part of the College of Winterhold plot where you get back with the news of where the Staff of Magnus is, only to witness Ancano taking over the Eye, and causing the death of the Arch-Mage. You have to run down into the town to save it from an outbreak of magic anomalies.
Here’s the problem with that in Survival Mode: Winterhold’s climate is fucking brutal. Every single time I’ve set foot in the town in this mode, the air has been either “frigid” or “treacherously cold”.
And this time, running down there to try to kill the anomalies, I rapidly proceeded from “Chilly” to “Very Cold” to “Freezing” to “Numb”. And I actively got frostbite. I had to run into the inn to prevent myself from dying from exposure to the elements, which meant I didn’t even get to help kill the last few anomalies. Lydia, Faralda, and Arniel did.
(And also Meeko, though Meeko, noble hound, did not survive the fight. RIP Meeko!)
As the player character, I am supposed to be the one leading the charge to kill attacking beasties. It’s just not fun to have to hide in the inn instead, lest I fucking freeze to death. Particularly when I am the only character impacted by the weather at all.
And when the College of Winterhold is one of my very favorite parts of the game, it kicks a lot of the fun out of it for me if I have to run the risk of frostbite or freezing to death while doing anything at the college. 🙁
Second: related to previous, it doesn’t help that a huge swath of the map is considered “freezing” territory. And if you want to get anywhere in those portions of the map, you have to go overland through them. I can take a carriage to Winterhold, which only mitigates and does not solve the problem–because I can’t take a carriage out again. Winterhold has no carriage. I have to ride out or walk out.
Which means if I want to get anywhere at all in those parts of the map and not freeze to death, I have to haul camping supplies with me. Five or six sets of them. And camping supply sets are heavy.
Which is a pain in the ass when your carry weight has been nerfed.
Third: Speaking of carry weight getting nerfed, as anybody who regularly follows this blog knows, I get chronically overloaded in any Skyrim playthrough, never mind Survival Mode. Now, if it was just a question of my carry weight alone being nerfed, I wouldn’t necessarily mind that so much. I kind of like having to think harder about which things I do and do not want to bring out of a dungeon.
But when I combine that with not being able to fast travel out of a dungeon, and in at least a couple of cases having to slog back while overloaded to wherever I left my horse… yeah. That got tiresome.
So, that mode’s off now. Kendis’ run will continue without it.
I’m a little disappointed by this, really. I feel like I should have held to the challenge! But on the other hand, if it stopped being fun, I also feel like I’m justified in just not frigging doing it.
I will have to consider in a future modded playthrough if I can replicate the parts of Survival Mode that I like, and try that. For now, though, Kendis will return to a more standard run.