The Mind Of OverlordTomala
Gaming

Modding Palworld!

It was inevitable, but we broke into modding territory in Palworld. We’ve mostly done some tweaking to make some off the survival mechanics less annoying. Items no longer need to be repaired after long use, carry weight is no longer a problem… and off course some model/clothing replacements here and there.

We did have to remove a couple of mods that caused the game to crash directly to desktop, but after we deleted a couple mods it was smooth sailing for the rest of the night. Out of all the mods we looked through I really enjoy Photo Mode. I kept asking myself why this game didn’t have one, given that it’s an Unreal Engine game. Then when we explored the terrain a little deeper I understood why.

We found caves that lead to the outside of the world, trees floating where they shouldn’t and other atrocities beyond the 4th wall. It’s moments like those that reminded us that this is still an Early Access title. Even with the glitches we are still having fun though!

Food/Drink

Taking Cooking To New Horizons

It’s been awhile since I’ve made a cooking post, hasn’t it? Last spring I pre-ordered the Official Horizon Cookbook as a nice birthday present to myself, and now I finally broke it out and made a nice breakfast with it! They have a recipe in the book called Ruby Sunrise, which is basically a Shakashuka recipe.

Poached eggs in a tomato sauce with onions, bell peppers and warm seasonings. This particular recipe called for anchovy paste, which to me just tastes like salt. Instead I swapped out for a chipotle paste I have on hand. Not only does it have enough salt, it also gave it a smoky taste that paired well with the paprika.

To make it a little more filling I made some quinoa, and served the tomatoey goodness atop a bed of it with some sourdough slices on the side. The best part was that I made enough leftovers for tomorrow! I might have to make this a reoccurring weekend breakfast. I’m always a fan of eggs and tomatoes in one form or another.

Gaming

Tom(ala) Catting Around

Melon I Kan Haz

I’ve been playing Little Kitty, Big City and thinking to myself this masterpiece is missing a Photo Mode. Then tonight I unlocked it in a side quest! Also got a large selection of achievements while exploring tonight – only 19 more and that’ll be it. Still have much to find, items to break, and so many other cat things to do. :3

Site Related

The Great Maketh Over

After sleeping on it last night, or attempting to sleep rather… I ended up having enough inspiration to tackle the blog. After looking through what felt like endless corporate type templates I decided to go back and look at the selection from Cryout Creations. I’ve used their templates for years, and had to part away from the old template after it hadn’t been updated in over a year. The good news is they finally updated all of their templates within the last couple of months! Which means fewer security issues and an Overlord giving their site a makeover.

It still needs some fine tuning in a couple places, but I think I’ll keep this one for awhile. Or at least until I find a template that doesn’t look like it’s for an e-commerce or business site. It feels like those are the majority of WordPress templates these days.

All in an Overlord's day

Branching Out!

I’ve decided on a whim to check out Bluesky. I’ll still post over on Mastodon, but I figured I’d give it a go since it seems fairly similar. It’s currently federated just like the fediverse, and you can even bridge your Bluesky account to Mastodon. But for now I figure I’ll keep and use both, just to see how things work. Mastodon has people there that I follow that aren’t on Bluesky, and vice versa.

Next I’ll have to see about showcasing my profile to my blog, like what I already do with Mastodon. That will have to wait for a night when I have free time to work on the blog. I still need to rethink the site layout in general… among other things.

Gaming / Technology

Is There a Steam Controller 2 In The Works?

If this is real I will buy it on day fucking one!

The original Steam Controller, which has been defunct now for half a decade, had a rocky history. Well, perhaps not so much rocky as controversial, it having a plethora of diehard fanboys and fangirls but also more than a smattering of detractors, including our very own hardware overlord Dave James. Now—someone shield Dave’s ears—there’s talk of a second iteration already being in mass production.

As an owner of the original Steam Controller I would love to see a refresh of this amazing controller! It’s the only controller that to this day I still play for 99% of my couch gaming exploits, and as someone who also has a Steam Deck I would enjoy seeing the advancements from that added onto a new controller. The Steam Deck allows gyro use not only via the touchpads but ALSO the thumbsticks, which have been great for FPS gaming. Adding two more grip buttons to the back is great too, the grip buttons on the Steam Deck are one of the reasons I have a hard time playing on other controllers. Plus, as much as I love the Steam Controller I would love a proper D-Pad, like they have on the Steam Deck.

If the rumors turn out to be true I’ll be happy to pre-order one. I pre-ordered the original Steam Controller with no regrets, and my OG Steam Deck has proven to get just as much use if not moreso.

BRING! IT! ON!

Gaming

The Rain Won’t Stop Me From Having a Good Time

We’ve been having to endure quite a storm tonight. One moment I was playing Horizon Zero Dawn and enjoying a friend’s livestream, and the next moment I was sitting in darkness. The power flickered enough that I decided to retire from my desktop for the evening, and spend it on my more portable devices. Actually did a bit of gaming on my laptop tonight! I installed the Castlevania Dominus Collection and played it for a few. It runs well, which isn’t a big surprise. I already knew it would run under Linux since I toyed with it a bit on my Steam Deck.

Now I can say that I’ve played a Nintendo DS game for the first time! AND IT WAS LEGAL!!! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! The multiple screens take a bit of getting used to, but for the most part it handles like any other newer Castlevania game. I actually like having the map on the screen while exploring, that way I don’t have to constantly open the map to see where I’m going every other room. I’ll write a more meaningful post for it on another night when I’ve played through more of it to write something more of substance.

Back to a little more playing before bed. :v

Gaming

The Powers Of Jesus & Dracula

My adventures through the Castlevania universe continue! I suppose I could have finished off Harmony of Dissonance tonight, but instead I advanced through Aria of Sorrow. Soma’s moveset takes a little getting used to, especially when I’m used to dashing around as Juste. Soma plays a bit slower, but he does have some interesting powers. Tonight I learned how to walk on water, slide on my ass and a few other abilities. My next boss battle will be with Death, he kicked my ass one too many times tonight which tells me it’s time to take a break. At least I polished off two other boss battles! Plus I can rest easy knowing I’ve covered a good chunk of the map.

Hobbies / Open Threads

Sunday Night Open Thread

Spent some time refining a bit of animation tonight while watching Yutram Stream Control to my second monitor. I’ve slowed down a bit on video production. I don’t want to get too into it since I do have plans to upgrade the system. I still need to order some NVMe drives, but I’m waiting to see if the prices go any lower before Cyber Monday. If not I’ll swoop in and make my purchase.

Then at the end of the night I decided to wander around for a bit in Yakuza Kiwami 2. Actually completed a couple of quests despite forgetting half of what I needed to accomplish. Too many games, etc, etc.

Gaming

Welcome To The Machine

We played one of the newer Quake campaigns tonight, and I have to admit that despite the bugs there is a certain beauty within Quake’s official and final campaign; Dimension of the Machine. We’re back on the hunt for runes, but at least one of the portals we took lead us to a place that isn’t totally boxed in and dark. It’s rare to find a level that looks like a nice sunny day, or as close to a nice sunny day as the game will allow. I kinda want to play this in the older versions of Quake to see how it compares. It feels out of place and yet at home at the same time. They also cram a bunch of enemies into each level, there were many deaths, both us and them.

There were only two realms remaining for us to traverse before opening the gates to the final battle, but it grew too late for us to finish. At least we can look forward to another evening where we are guaranteed to never be bored. 😉