It is a three-game rotation now for me.

Neverwinter Nights: Shadows of Undrentide - I completed the main campaign a few days ago and then started up this expansion. Even though it isn't a continuation of the main story, I used the same character as she was automatically exported upon the main campaign's completion. She is really powerful compared to everything else, so it is nice to mow down everything for a change.

Dusk - What I've played so far has been fantastic! It nails that old-school FPS vibe. The setting has a bit of that OG Quake atmosphere and feel, and a soundtrack like DOOM and Quake 2 onward. (I believe the composer, Andrew Hulshult, did the Quake: Champions soundtrack when I looked him up yesterday.)

AMID EVIL - This is from the same guys who did Dusk. I only played one level so far, but I really like what I have experienced so far. But I'm probably going to focus more on finishing Dusk before going back to this game.

Knowing beforehand I'm not thrilled with any of our three major Railroad/Train Simulator games, I decided to take advantage of Steam's Summer Sale and buy Trainz 2019. Even bought two super cheap DLC (also on sale) to go along with it. For good and/or ill the game pretty much meets my expectations. Graphics are OK but nowhere near what I think a brand-new AAA title should be in 2019. (Graphically, my choice would be Train Sim World, but it offers absolutely no steam era/train content. An automatic disqualification for me.) In some, certainly not all, aspects modded Transport Fever bests it graphically. On the plus side, I've not yet noticed the objectionable performance issues many complain of. And of course it fills a void that TpF can't, allowing me to pilot steam locos rather than just follow along, much as I enjoy that.

The DLC I've played most was created for TANE (Trainz 2019's predecessor) but sold as TRS2019 DLC. It shows. Graphics are fairly basic but acceptable. At least one visual effect doesn't work, though this causes no harm to game-play other than the obvious. I failed my first session attempt due what I consider unnecessarily harsh stoppage requirements at a turntable. I'll take that into account next time I tackle that session. This afternoon's session went appreciably better. I completed it at any rate. Was awarded only one of five stars, which surprised me in that I've no idea what it dinged me on other than a few extremely minor speeding violations.

Not a lot to report game-wise. Couldn't figure out how to maneuver to lean out the locomotive cab side-opening in TRS19 cab-view mode, but posting my dilemma on its Steam Discussion Forum soon remedied that. Am re-riding the same route/session I rode yesterday, the one that earned me all of one star. I doubt I'll do much if any better this time round. Gotta admit I'm enjoying the game a bit more than anticipated. I'll likely never consider this an all-time favorite, but as mentioned earlier it does somewhat fill a void TpF can't.

Layers of Fear,
Amnesia TDD,
Enderal,
Gonna be starting on Observer soon...

...and possibly an old friend...

Castlevania Symphony of the Night on the Xbox. Ah I love this game .

Ooooo a Khajiit needs to get that on PS4!

I played Hellblade a few months ago and it was the single most emotional experience of my video games experience.

Bought another TRS19 DLC while its dirt cheap. Wasn't expecting much from this one. To my surprise, it's not bad at all...as these things go. Replayed the session that awarded me only one out of five stars first time round. Not only did I remain at one star this time, but my numeric score was roughly one-hundred points lower. Go figure. I'm likely getting dinged for failures I'm too new to know I'm committing.

As for the new purchase, its chief draw (for me) is that its route is 393m long! I'm past the point in my life where I could hope to polish off a route that long in one marathon sitting. Luckily, the game allows us to save sessions in progress.

Monkeyed around a bit in Transport Fever, detailing track-side scenery between a tunnel opening and nearby river. Ended my stay riding several trains.

Played nine games of Solitile, three sessions of three game each. Won two game of session three, zilch the others. It comes to me I've played Solitile 29-plus years now! Gotta admit that I don't often return to it these days. But when I do I enjoy it as much as ever.

I played that last year, and was blown away. The storytelling and characterization were just absolutely outstanding. I really felt like I was Senua. For me it was hands down the best game of that year. One of the best I have ever played.

Spent most of my gaming day thus far in TRS19, Cornish Mainline 1930s, one of the DLC provided with the UK Edition of the game I purchased. Drove its various passenger routes/sessions. I think this might be my overall favorite of the DLCs I've tested. Well, in some aspects. All of 'em have their pluses and minuses. I enjoy its track-side scenery despite some floating objects, too many floaters for a game of the caliber (and price), but not enough to spoil things. Also, unlike at least one DLC in my possession, in Cornish Mainline road vehicles are static displays rather than moving objects. To the plus, gates attached to British style Level (Street) Crossings actually open/close as and when they should. One route/session seems on the short side to me, but I suppose that's realistic in this particular case. There are longer routes to compensate. (The passenger route I just finished is over an hour long.) To be fair, even the short passenger route provides more travel time than the routes I create in Transport Fever.

Here's NV3's short release video for the DLC. They must've really tweaked graphics setting to get the quality seen here. Mine certainly doesn't look this good.

Monday evening addendum:
Am putzing around in a newly generated HUGE Transport Fever map. Not having much success. You'd think after all this time I'd learn something about successful railway route design, but no.

Broke down and bought one final TSR19 DLC before Steam Summer Sale ends tomorrow. It's an older DLC originally created for T:ANE, made to work with TSR19. Didn't cost much, thank goodness. Graphics are rather unsophisticated compared to TRS19 specific DLC, but passable. Either this is the first DLC route I've played that makes a big deal about arriving by or before an exact time, or the first in which I was so far behind schedule it flagged me for it. I'm not complaining, just surprised.

Been sprucing up and 'filming' my map's Hartlepool goods delivery run for an upcoming TpF Scenic Excursions episode. Much more needs to be done to make the route presentable start to finish, but enough scenic detail is in place to get by. I'm in no great rush to edit and upload the results. Nor do I have any great enthusiasm to do so.

Unsubscribed to four YouTube gaming channels I've not watched in years, one of them my very first YT subscription. The only gaming series I watch these days without fail is GrandT's ongoing Transport Fever 600 Town Mildlands Map, two episodes per week. I subscribe to another TpF centric YouTuber, Colonel Failure, but haven't watched him much recently.

Speaking of which, here's Colonel Failure's recent video on the upcoming Transport Fever 2.

Wednesday Evening Addendum:
In Trainz 2019 I attempted my first "Flying Scotsman" run. Gah! I'm not used to piloting so powerful a steam loco. Was cruising along at 74mph. Saw my first stop some distance away. Began slowing at what I assumed was a reasonably safe rate. To cut to the chase, I overshot the station so much the entire train was past the platforms and still not come to a full stop. I threw in the towel at that point.

In TpF I added a third train to my Coal Mine to Chestam Steel Mill line.

Khajiit started a new play through of Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Saki is still playing world of Warcraft.

After my last incident with guild, i got let go. Sucked, but whatever. Just moved back to where I was before I was in that guild. Getting more things done as well, higher ranking dungeons and better raid progression.

Eh. Not terribly bad. Just hoping I have a better track record with these guys.

Been playing Transport Fever hot-and-heavy these past some days. Nuked a good fourth of Hartlepool to increase its Railway Passenger Station from four to eight tracks. Don't need those extra tracks at the moment, but might in the future. Besides, that area was an eyesore prior to nuking. Game A.I. has partially rebuilt the area, but it's not (yet?) as populated as it was.

Nuked a small amount of Bebington to increase tracks leading to its Railway Passenger Station from two to four. Should have done so long ago.

Smoothed a few bumpy railway junctions.

Am thinking to rename all cities to avoid folk assuming I'm trying to model a section of RL Britain, as some TpF players do. In this case, city names are simply what A.I. assigned during random map generation, nothing more.

Having redone a portion of scenery along my Coal Mine to Chesham Steel Mill short-line, I 'filmed' it for use as a Scenic Excursions episode. All clips are in place, transitions added. I now face my too-frequent nemesis, inability to come up with sufficient text narrative.

I suggest names like Dunwich, Innsmouth, Arkham, Kingsport, Lefferts Corners, etc...

Starlink and Mario X-com on the Switch.

My thought is to abolish true city names altogether and use a series of 'themed' names in their stead. Something trite most likely, but the jury's still out. There's every chance things will remain as they are. Changing city names will require me to also manually change the name of every train/tram/bus/truck route, every individual train, and many auxiliary sub-stations. We're talking hundreds and hundreds of changes.

I still sometimes think to join the recreation crowd and use a specialized map theoretically representing an area within some RL nation. (These are usually offered in reduced scale due to game/performance limitations.) If I do so, cities will of course bear real names and physical relationships with one another.

Otherwise, I've done little in TpF beyond trading in Canadian National Mikados for British locos on my Coal Mine to Chesham Steel Mill train line. This renders my to-be-uploaded SRA episode obsolete, in that it features the Mikados in action. Not gonna stop me from uploading the episode as-is. It remains, after all, an accurate representation of the line when 'filmed.'

Just when you thought It was safe to go back in the water, I emerge from the depths with a new Transport Fever Scenic Excursions episode. This time round we revisit a short-line coal delivery run between Eastleigh Mine Complex and Chesham Steel Mill. The run was first documented episode six. It has since received significant but not total scenic renovation. A third train has been added. I debated switching the line's 'Canadian National' Mikado steam locos for British motive power, but didn't do so until after 'filming.'

This new episode seems less afflicted with YT compression degradation than is my norm. Likely due to the train traveling at a decently slow speed much of the time.

To kill time awaiting the vid to upload and process, I edited and rendered an ultra short supplemental episode. I'll hold off posting until maybe Mon/Tues? We shall see.

I'm playing Marvel's Ultimate Alliance 3 on the Switch, playing as the most important character IN THE GAME.

A brief supplement to Scenic Excursions ep22 is available for view. It spotlights JK's GWR 2-6-2T 5100 series Prairie Tank steam locos on the Chesham Steel Mill Ore Delivery (ultra) short-line, only this time their fine sound-set is heard in all its glory. At the end it announces the Coal Line's conversion to British steam, in this case Gr1m's LB & SCR K-class 2-6-0 locos, two per train, the second at train rear, reversed. This occurred too late for inclusion in motion footage, so it represented by two still images and YouTube thumbnail:

Transport Fever Scenic Excursions ep22B - Ore for the Mill

Just bought DOOM (2016) last night on sale for less than $7 as well as the last 2 Fallout 4 DLCs that I did not have (Contraptions and Wasteland). Finally get to try out the last bit of settlement stuff for Fallout 4.

AND THEN, IT IS TIME FOR KILLING DEMONS.

I'm playing:
Starlink.
Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
Doom 3.
Warframe.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses.
and Ys 8.

Oh, reeeeeally? Well the, might I inquire where thoust are at the moment?

I just got started, I'm at the Mars City Underground just prier to Hell breaking loose. Honestly I like this game more then Doom 201X though that was still a good game.

It's not a bad survivor/horror game, but as I've said many times the weapons are pure crap and not worthy an iD game. Honestly, the Duke Nukem 3D weapons are way better and that game is from the mid '90s.

Only issue I have with the Switch version of Doom 3 is that's it the BFG edition which adds more ammo and places the flashlight on your armor and not an actual flashlight that could be use as a club. The BFG edition makes Doom 3 more of a shooter then an survival/horror like it originally was.

Uploaded a new TpF Scenic Excursions episode overnight. We ride a freight train delivering Goods from a factory near Chesham to Hartlepool Railway Freight Station, then return with supplies for the the Factory and surrounding communities. We've not traveled this Line before, though part of it is familiar from ep16. Scenery is a mix of styles old/simple to new/elaborate:

Transport Fever Scenic Excursions ep23 - Goods for Hartlepool

This might be my last episode for some time, as I've again run out of train lines worth adding scenery to. We shall see.

Yesterday and today I did something I'd all but given up on...extend Eppings - Kidderminister Railway Passenger Service to Chesham. Its two trains are expanded with additional coaches. (It is doubtful those coaches will ever fill. I could likely have left those trains their original size, but what the heck.) Surprisingly, I needed to bulldoze only around eight Kidderminster buildings to make room for the railway tunnel allowing the extension of exist. I also reduced Kidderminster Passenger Station from three terminals to two. An identical two-terminal elevated station is in place at Chesham, to terminate the line. A faux train line extends from the new Chesham Station to map edge, not that far away. I'll almost certainly not 'film' the new Line, as landscaping it will be a Herculean endeavor. I'm not ever sure where to start on that beast.

Trainz wise, I drove a freight service session. I managed to fail three times! First two times I was unsure about signaling and made wrong guesses. Third time, at the very end, I needed to back the train onto a siding and uncouple the engine/tender. During the process I realized I didn't know how to move the camera to train rear. While trying to figure that out the train backed too far, derailing. Ended up saving the session right before the backup, exiting, practicing Tutorial 1 until I understood the proper camera movement, then relaunch the session and finish up no sweat.

Dusk has been completed! If you like old-school first-person shooters, particularly the original Quake, I highly recommend this game. Fantastic atmosphere along with the great gameplay. Awesome soundtrack too.

Here are the games that are now in the rotation.

AMID EVIL - Made by the same guys who made Dusk, I believe. But it has a magic, medieval style to it instead of dark and gothic. Only played the first level a couple months ago to make sure it ran well.

Elder Scrolls Online - Having not played the game since January 2018, there is a ton of content that is left to be done, even disregarding the newer DLCs that I don't have. Just jumped back into it last week.

Venetica - An interesting-looking action-RPG set in long-ago Venice, the setting is a nice change for me. Played a couple hours the other day, and so far I like it.

Besides a super long session of TpF this morning, I've been experimenting with modded Daggerfall Unity. To my surprise, my current save-file from classic DF loads without issue and runs like a charm. It's not without trade-offs, however. My character's Daggerfall City home is gone. Well, the building's there. He no longer owns it. Nor is his vast store of goods to be found there. I didn't relish him being a pauper, but this is mitigated somewhat in that his bank account still exists. He holds rank in all organizations he should, with proper reputation. His quest log is bare, however. I've no idea if his progress toward completing the main quest is still valid. (Basically, he's only one quest away from finishing. Or should be.)

One glitch encountered thus far; while exploring the house that was his home, he got stuck between a bed and wall. Had to reload the save to fix it. There's a function in classic DF to correct that. Didn't work in Unity. (Or I've forgotten its KEY, but don't think so.)

Unity mods installed thus far are all graphics/cosmetic improvement. At first, I didn't see them as beneficial. They're starting to grow on me. Some I like quite a lot. Some improved sound/music files are nice too. Am still looking for certain mods mentioned on YouTube but not found (so far) at Workshop.

ADDENDUM: Hmmmm. I begin to wonder if I confused the 'get unstuck' key for the 'transport to different dungeon points' key? Gonna have to investigate.

Been playing a good bit of Daggerfall Unity. Details on that are moved to the appropriate forum/thread.

Transport Fever wise, I've been putzing around. Mostly adding scenic detail along several train routes near Goodstown Factory and Chesham Steel Mill. Transformed a section of track with unnecessary rising then falling slope into a more or less level 'cut.' Am nowhere near having a route polished enough to 'film' as a Scenic Excursions episode.

I at last drummed up courage to reattempt Trainz 2019 Flying Scotsman session. Boy is it LONG, a great plus in my book. Sadly, I don't know exactly how long, as the session clock didn't read amount of time played. My guess is 3 - 3 1/2hrs. Unlike my brief first attempt, I completed the drive without incident. Was likely over cautious when executing station slowdowns/stops. Better safe than sorry!

This isn't one of the better scenically detailed TRS2019 sessions. I'm pretty sure it's a carryover from TANE or earlier. Wish they'd do a better job 'updating' these older sessions when sold as TSR 2019 DLC. But hey, it cost me $0.89US during Steam Summer Sale. At that price it easily justifies its existence. And scenery isn't bad, just dated. I'd dearly love to be able to create routes that long in Transport Fever! Speaking of which...

TpF wise, I'm slightly revising scenery along the passenger route ridden SRA episode 13. The line was recently extended to Chesham. That stretch of new track lacks scenery except a bit near Chesham. Not sure I'll tackle that project any time soon, if ever. We shall see.

Just attempted a TRS19 session that ended in failure before it really began. My first tasks were to prepare my train before hitting the road....errrr, tracks. Needed to do some 'shunting' work. Put wagons together in the proper order. I tend to confine myself to passenger runs in TRS19, so am not yet overly comfortable with freight unless instructions are crystal clear. They weren't, or so I felt. It soon became obvious I was hosed. I suppose I could have made a learning experience of it and tried to undo the damage. Decided to throw in the towel and start afresh later today or maybe tomorrow.

A new TpF Scenic Excursions episode hits the fan. Rather than blabber on about it, I refer you to the video's YouTube description for non-juicy details:

Transport Fever Scenic Excursions ep24 - Steel for Goodstown Factory

TRS19 wise, I again failed the freight mission reported on several days ago. Got further along this time, only to crash and burn at the train's first official stop. Speaking of which, here's a video of someone attempting the session who fares better than me. (He does, however, make a few minor mistakes along the way.) TRS19's graphical strengths and weaknesses are on display. The sessions itself is visually one of best I own. Though obviously not modern state-of-the-art, it looks plenty good enough to pass muster. My main visual gripes are that, for whatever reason, road vehicles are static rather than move. Not a lease breaker by any means, but why? I've sessions where they DO move (when appropriate). Oddest, at least one airplane is seen frozen in air. But again, overall I'm quite pleased with visuals. TSW does it better, but as stated before, total lack of steam content rules it out for me.

I noticed that the barrier does not drop across the road until after the train had already started across it! I am pretty sure that is not OSHA approved...

Yeah, that bugs me too. Oddly, I've a vague memory of TpF crossing 'gates' functioning more realistically (lowering sooner) early on. I first attributed the change (if change it is) to my utilization of Camera Views Add-on for all train rides and videos post SRA ep10. I now notice late drops in third-person static camera segments, which don't utilize the mod. Might dig up some of my ancient TpF vid captures (predating YouTube episodes) and see if my memory is playing tricks on me.

Addendum:
BTW, during video text narration I experience a brain-fart and refer to the train locomotive as a Stanier 'Black 5.' It is a 'Stanier 8F, as the mod's creator reminds me. (Both are included in the download.) The episode's YouTube description now refers to the correct loco. Can't do anything about video text narrative at this stage. Well, of course I could, but that ain't gonna happen. No way. LOL

Another TpF Scenic Excursions episode was uploaded overnight. We deliver fuel from Eastleigh Refinery to Hartlepool, then return. I wish YT compression were kinder to it, but it is what it is:

Transport Fever Scenic Excursions ep25 - Fuel for Hartlepool

Besides TpF, I'm still slugging away at modded Daggerfall Unity, and occasional Trainz 2019 sessions.

One small criticism. In that era, any goods train would have a brake van as the last wagon, in case of coupling breakage. A fuel tanker consist would also normally have a non-tank wagon marshaled first behind a steam loco, as a firebreak.

However, I can't find any reference to these regs on the internet. They're just memories from talking to my neighbor 50 years ago. He worked for British Railways Southern Region, and knew that I was into railway models, so trains were a common interest.

Interesting bit about the buffer wagon between loco/tender and first tank wagon. I'd not picked up on that before. Yeah, I'm pretty sure brake vans were once (but no more) required on all British freight trains. Few of my trains sport them. The reason; they're almost all too darn short, a fault of inept railway network (tracks) implementation and over-short freight station lengths. Were I to sacrifice a product carrying wagon for a brake van, their often already inadequate amount of cargo would be reduced even further. I occasionally think to rectify this situation, but it'd mean nuking large portions of the map to bare earth and more or less starting afresh. I don't have the guts to do so. Not yet at any rate.

If memory serves, one of the few trains with brake van is briefly grimpsed as we exit Goodstown Factory episode 24. (But don't quote me.) Also, I believe the train we rode episode 20 acquired a one not long ago.

World of Warcraft Classic launched Tuesday. Been playing that casually. Level 17 now.

Raids have already been cleared. Guild from a private server took world first and the big esports organisation Method thought they'd have it. Lol.

Fired up Mashinky for the first time in forever. A number of trains went screwy during some update between now and back when I played hot-and-heavy. They ignore their pathing and get into all sorts of trouble as a result. I corrected some of them, thankfully without losing a single train.

Other than that I did nothing but ride the rails on a few select passenger trains.

Be nice to combine the best features of Mashinky with Transport Fever. Hopefully TpF2 will make inroads in that regard.

TpF has gone stuttery on me. It happened around the time Win10 updated itself to v1903. But I can't be sure that's the cause. As you might recall, v1903 caused general issues with my Windows installation. While attempting a fix I updated both PC BIOS and nVidia Gforce graphics driver. Might be one of those, though reverting to an earlier graphics driver didn't help matters.

Evening Addendum:
Drove a TRS19 "Cornish Mainline & Branches" passenger session after supper. I swear I have driven every one of its passenger sessions at least one before today, yet had no memory of this one. Some of its track was familiar from the freight session I failed a couple of times a while back. And its final station is familiar as the start of another passenger session. It is a short passenger route by TRS19 standards, lasting only circa 32min. Was enjoyable none the less. Very fine, if basic, landscape scenic of a rustic nature the entire route. The train is powered by a 5100 series tank steam locomotive, which is, I believe, TRS19's take on the loco featured in my short TpF SRA 22B episode. Wish every TRS DLC were as graphically appealing as this one!

Messed around in Mashinky afterwards, again mainly riding various train routes.

Been something of a frustrating period gaming wise. My last Trainz2019 session ended in a crash to desktop mere seconds away from what would have been its conclusion. My last two Daggerfall Unity quests, one for royalty, one for a merchant, proved incompletable. In Mashinky, several trains that ran flawless for RL months have sudden gotten their pathing so messed up I've yet to figure out how to correct it, bringing the game to a standstill. As for Transport Fever, no snafus there. But...I'm currently at a loss as to how I want to 'scenic' several routes under consideration for Scenic Excursions episodes.

Relatedly, my favorite provider of YouTube Transport Fever content just announced his channel has gone belly-up due to seemingly unsolvable internet reliability issues. His two weekly TpF episodes have for some time been a highlight of my week. They will be missed.

A new version of Daggerfall Unity is available. I ought to download and install it today or tomorrow. We shall see.

In Transport Fever, I've been detailing small isolated sections of map. I'm a long way off from having any single railway route detailed enough to base a Scenic Excursion episode on. The way it's looking, it'll be a very time before a new episode appears. In the meantime, here's a pair of LS&SCR 'L' 4-6-4T steam locos, pulling a passenger train, entering Hartlepool Station:

Passenger Train entering Hartlepool Station

This is a newly available loco, available at the Workshop, modeled by 'Gr1m.' I'm a fan of tanks, and these look particularly fine. They are only temporarily assigned to the Bebington-Hartlepool line. I'd love to keep them there, but they top out at 60mph, 15mph below what the line's normal loco does. I've only a couple of passengers lines where 60mph is acceptable. Those use locos I don't intend to replace, leaving the LS&SCR with no permanent home.

Rode a couple of Cornish Mainline & Branches passenger routes in Trainz 2019.

Remain active in modded Daggerfall Unity.

Most of my friend group got Borderlands 3 Thursday night.

I haven't played as much of it as I would have liked because homework, but I like what I've seen so far. Characters from the first two cone back and they even brought in a couple from the Telltale game.

Playing Fire Emblem Fates/Birthright and Echoes on the 2DSXL.

Continue to get in one or two Daggerfall Unity sessions per day. Continue to add scenic detail along various Transport Fever train route, despite the game suddenly (about the time Win10 updated to 1903) becoming stuttery in ride-mode, bringing to a halt Scenic Excursion episodes. Occasionally drive Trainz 2019 sessions. (Those don't stutter.) That's the current extent of my active involvement in gaming.

Started a Skyrim playthrough. Not sure how far I'll get, as I'm playing something I've not done before... a thief. I'm afraid of pickpocketing because failure sucks, and I don't usually steal stuff.

Bare fisted khajiit. Might have to light armor it. I need the perks. Perk mod has unarmed bonuses in the light armor tree.

Gog.com is giving away Freespace 2 for free for the next two days. Go and download it now!

Ooo I might do that when I get home!

I'm back to Skyrim as well, with occasional glimpses to the Commonwealth. I'm returning to established characters, for now an idea of starting a completely new playthrough doesn't sound too appealing. I installed a mod The Brotherhood of Old, which expands the Dark Brotherhood questline once the vanilla one concludes, so I'll be staying in Skyrim for a while.