Next game after Black Mesa

 I haven't mentioned this before (I believe), but after I finish my Black Mesa playthrough, I will most likely start on Hades. It seems like a good game, and my friends love it. I have the developer's older games (Bastion, Transistor), but I never played Transistor, and I didn't finish Bastion. I liked what I played for Bastion, but I got preoccupied with other things at the time and never got back to it (much like a lot of my other stuff lol). The plan is that I'll see Hades through. Probably won't 100% it like I won't 100% Black Mesa though.

Stream Ideas

 Given what is happening, I have been contemplating of streaming to Youtube over twitch. I don't know if that will increase viewers or what.. I can make twitch affiliate, but only thing I need is the constant engagement apparently. I meet every other criteria.

That being said, I don't know what other things to stream. I have some ideas, since I don't want to be just WoW - I never planned on streaming just one game exclusively. Duelyst was an exception though. I was thinking of old school games, or maybe niche stuff, but would people even know? I feel like it is a catch-22 situation... Stream a popular game that I like, and it might get lost in the sea of streams. Stream a lesser popular game that I like, then it still might get that many views because of the lesser popularity.

In the end, it boils down to my feelings and what I want to stream at that point. Just wish there were more avenues to try and grow as a channel / streamer. Like I mentioned, I might stream more older/niche stuff and see how it goes. Just have to narrow down my options.

Mobile Games!

 I recently started to do some Let's Plays on Android games. I released one, Lily's Garden, and I have another one lined up. I generally want to focus on heavily advertised ones, but I might branch out. Don't really want to go too far into the trash end, because that would probably be encroaching Vinesauce territory and they are great at what they do.

Cyberpunk has been getting patches, but I don't know if they made it so OBS would be usable yet. Obviously not everyone is having the issues, or that they have a 30xx card or something like that. I know that there are plenty of bugs and issues, and not just from the PC side of things. It's beginning to look like a No Man's Sky or a Fallout 76 type of launch as well with the reports I've been seeing.

Cyberpunk and things

 So recently, Cyberpunk 2077 released and I planned on making multiple videos on the game and slot those in between my normal schedule so there would be a let's play video every day. Logistically, I think it could have worked out, but due to the nature of the game, I don't think I can.

The game is fun and interesting, but there are a few bugs / optimization issues - though I don't know if the latter is due to my card or the game (I currently use a 2060).

Playing it on my own, I can run the game just fine on high to ultra settings. However, I can't get a steady 60fps when OBS is running, even when I change the settings to low. No idea why, even when OBS isn't recording or anything. Just when it's running, the game drops in framerate for me.

There is also a weird bug with mirrors in the game. Normally they work fine and do what mirrors do. However when I try to record my gameplay footage, the recorded version bugs out and shows both my viewpoint and the viewpoint from the mirror, with the latter flickering. The odd part about this, is that on the monitor with the actual gameplay, it looks fine - it doesn't show the flickering or the second viewpoint that OBS has for some reason.

With that said, I'll probably go back to my normal schedule of uploading every other day. At least until they release an optimization patch so the game won't freak out when OBS is running, or if by chance I upgrade to a 30xx card. Don't know which will come first since I basically upgraded my PC not too long ago and don't really want to do that again in such a short timeframe.

Thinking of changing my upload schedule

 This was something that I felt recently, and with Cyberpunk coming out soon (as of this post), I really want to start uploading let's plays daily instead of every other day. This plus the amount of stuff that I really want to try to record (like mobile games and stuff). I just don't know if I will have the time, since I can only really record during the weekends due to work. I believe I tried it before while I was working and I just eventually got burnt out more or less and then gotten into the groove of releasing every other day, since that seemed right. Maybe with the additional days off due to Christmas and New Years, I can try to get more in, and I might try more this coming weekend. Who knows? If it happens it happens I guess. At the very least I will still stick with every other day. If I do more, then that's just a bonus.

World of Warcraft - This Ain't Mine temporary fix

So there is this issue where the intro Shadowlands quest is interfering with some of the quests for Battle For Azeroth (at least for the Horde side). The only solution that I know of is to abandon the Shadowlands quest and that would make the NPC/quest stuff appear. The bad thing is that the Shadowlands quest will auto accept after a few seconds so you have to do things in chunks... I recorded a video showing this, and made a twitch clip showing me doing the quests, and boy they were annoying to do. Otherwise it would have been fine.

It's been a little over a month since my last post, so I feel like updating this a little.

Using the live2d avatar is going well I think! I'm enjoying using it and I like that additional layer on the video, when before it has been just the gameplay with my voice. Still not really using it during live streams though - there seems to be a sync issue, but I haven't checked if it's because of audacity, obs, or Facerig. I fix it when I'm editing so it doesn't show on my videos, but I don't know if it will effect the way I stream.

Other than that, I have been recording Black Mesa. Enjoying the game and it's been interesting to see the differences between that and the original. Only thing annoying are the updates. If you update the game, you can't use a save from the previous version. This means that I would have to replay the level up to where I save last (in one case, it was near the end of one level). Not a huge annoyance, but still one.

As for life, just working as usual. Stopped closing at night, so I get home about 15 minutes earlier than I would have if I were closing. A few Kickstarter stuff arrived as well - a few board games. The pile of board games I haven't played with people has been slowly increasing due to the covid stuff lol. Hopefully I'll be able to play these games with my friends eventually.

There have been some other things annoying me from time to time, but maybe I'll talk about it during the airing of grievances (Seinfeld reference)

Finally got a live2d avatar!

The commission I had for a Live2d avatar for facerig is finally done! I wanted to get it done many times but things just weren't right one way or another. The first video that uses it will be up probably on Wednesday, 10/14. Since I just started using it, there might be a period where I adjust the size and tinker with the Facerig settings. As of now there are no plans to use it while recording the racing videos I do. I might incorporate them in my Twitch streams sooner rather than later, but for now it will primarily be in my videos.

This is where I had it done: https://kisakommissions.carrd.co/

I really liked how it turned out!

Packages upon packages

 So I went a little splurge happy during the Gundam Online Expo and I understimated the sizes of the boxes of the gundams I preordered lol..

On another note, I upgraded my mic (I hope) to the HyperX Quadcast.. I am hoping it will be better than the cheap XLR mic that came with the desktop mic stand, but I don't really have the time to test it until the weekend. It feels better and it's larger than my current mic so there's that.

I also have a commission in progress for a Live2D avatar in facerig!

Nevermind that previous post

 So apparently there is 1440p still. It just takes a while for it to appear.

On another note, I changed my twitch handle to match my youtube - streamlining and all that.

It's: https://www.twitch.tv/andyplaysallnight

I also learned that affiliate is invite based... Hopefully I'll do well enough to get it since I'm trying to do some more streaming since I got into WoW.

I also have a Live2D avatar for FaceRig in the works! I've been meaning to get this for 1-2 years but I just never had the right opportunity.

Apparently there's no more 1440p option

 For the past few days I noticed that the videos I uploaded reverted back to the lesser codec on youtube. Even though the videos I uploaded were 1440p, the highest option I was able to choose when it is available for viewing was 1080p. Don't know if they will bring back that option for the lesser known creators, but that was just a thing that happened randomly... It was going fine for a while too.

 So it's been about 2 weeks since I've been trying the 1440p and it seems to be better, quality wise. Encoding has been taking a little longer, and the file sizes are larger due to the increased resolution but I think the increased quality is worth it. Only thing now is that my racing rig needs a better way to record voice, and that the monitor it uses is lower than 1080p i think, so I think it shows through in those videos maybe.

Thinking of streaming some more other than Borderlands 3, but not quite sure. Tried Fall Guys but that game is slowing grating on me lol. Still fun, but sometimes it's just frustrating.

Changing uploads a little.

 Schedule is going to be the same.

I am going to try to record in 1440p. I feel like with my hardware, I could do it without lag or stuttering. I'm testing the waters with it on my Friday the 13th videos, since I can't really record anything else during the week.

I might try upscaling the videos I already recorded to 1440p, though I don't know how much of a quality improvement those will be.