Topic, i know you cant on PC but i was wondering about the PS4. I know there is a single player mode but im asking about the actual no internet situation.

I saw in an old tweet that the PS4 version doesn't have always-online DRM, but I just want to make sure that's still accurate. Can current players confirm that you can play the game normally without an internet connection in singleplayer?

I know those who play brawhalla on steam can just set the steam to offline mode, but is it possible to play without internet connection on ps4?

My internet was down for a couple minutes. Had to restart my router. But in the mean time the game wouldn't start and said it waits to connect. I don't even wanna play online. Just offline with AI companions. If it only starts with internet connectivity then this is bullshit.

I'm a long time Madden/NCAA player but I'm currently still in the PS2/PS3 era. With the new story mode coming up this year I was thinking about making the jump to PS4. The problem is that I live on a university campus and the internet won't connect to gaming systems. So before I bought the system I wanted to ask you guys and see if Madden 17 is currently playable without an internet connection.

*Updated Feb 3 2021* (I also update the list with new potential problems/tests as I find them)
Edit: Feb 3rd 2021: Sony released firmware Version 20.02-02.50.00 today. I've only done one test so far, but it seems to have solved the "Green Screen of Death" for me SO FAR... I'll update when I have more.
My PS5 has the rest mode problem/bug. [Edit] I've solved it partially for me. See test 7 and beyond below
If you don't know what the rest mode bug is, basically, you put your PS5 into rest mode, and then at some point, your orange light will go out, and you won't be able to power on with your controller. You have to press the power button on the console, it beeps, but doesn't actually turn on, and then you can use your controller or the power button again to turn the system on. It will complain that you unplugged the PS5 (even though you didn't) and it will often want to do a repair to the storage. - Is this happening to you? Or do you have some other version of this? I'd love to hear the variations... (if there are any). I'd also love to hear if you have the exact same problem.
Edit: It now seems to me that there are a few different causes to the rest mode bug. One solution will not fix it for everyone, but if you can identify which type of rest mode bug you have, we may be able to come up with a solution for the most common types. I'm going to start listing them with specific names and descriptions here. I have the first two listed below.
​
[Edit:] Types of rest mode bug:

• USB-A rest mode bug: Seems to be solved by either not using any of your USB ports, or using the USB-C port specifically. This bug tends to manifest overnight or during an extended period of time while the system is in rest mode (similar to what is described at the beginning of this post) - This alone will not solve the green screen of death. You may have both, like me.
• Green Screen of death (Suspending games): This is also a rest mode bug, but it usually manifests when you're suspending a game or when you're waking a suspended game. It can usually be avoided by fully closing your game and WAITING for a minute or two before putting your PS5 into rest mode. This is just a crazy hunch of mine that I cannot prove and I don't have any evidence of it so far, but I feel like this green screen is associated with HDR, resolution settings, or both. I have not been able to test this yet.
• WiFi / Network rest mode bug: Seems to be associated with WiFi... possibly even WiFi6 Specifically, or network instability, or automatic DHCP settings perhaps. I don't have this problem, but I also have a straight ethernet connection to my router with no switches or hubs between the two, so maybe ethernet is less likely to have this problem, or I'm just lucky not to have this issue.
• Several other fringe cases exist, but I'm not seeing a pattern or common thread to them yet. I'll update with more bullets here as we learn more.

Okay, so now that I've described the problem I'm talking about, I've been trying to figure out why it happens. Or at least how to avoid it while still using rest mode. Rest mode is handy for keeping your games up to date and allowing remote play to wake your system, so even if you aren't using it to suspend games, it can be helpful.
There are a lot of theories out there about why it happens:

• Its tied to HDMI-CEC where your TV is sending a signal to turn off your PS5 while its in rest mode, and that's causing the bug. - Tested, for me, didn't make a difference
• It's tied to having external storage plugged in - This has multiple things to test:
  • In your settings, do you have it set to "Always" power your USB Ports? Or "3 hours" or "Off". The theory here is that the power to the external drive shuts off and causes the problem. This doesn't seem to make a difference for me.
    • Which USB port are you using? - There are two high speed USB-A ports in the back, a high speed USB-C port in the front, and a slower speed USB-A Port in the front. Which port are you using? Does using a different port make any difference? I've seen at one person claim the USB-C port fixed their problem. TESTED THE FRONT USB-C AND IT SEEMS TO BE WORKING SO FAR (SEE TEST 5 BELOW)
  • Some people claim formatting your external drive with your computer or using the PS5 to format it for media, and then formatting it back to the game storage set up fixed the issue. I haven't tested this yet
  • Some people claim its the TYPE of drive that causes the problem. HDD vs SDD... Many people claim the Samsung T7 SSD works great without rest mode problems. I bought one to test this. for me, it did not solve the issue until I moved it to the USB-C port.
  • Some people have a theory that corrupted games or games transferred from the PS4 can cause this. On both my HDD and SSD I deleted everything and downloaded all the games fresh to test. It did not solve the issue.
  • Theory: If playing a game installed on external, shut it down, wait a while, and THEN put it into rest mode. (doing it too fast causes the crash) - I've actually seen this, and I think it does make a difference for the Green Screen of Death.
  • Theory: if the drive draws too much power in rest mode it crashes the PS5... to test you'd need to try a drive that has separate power (not using the USB port to power it)
  • Leave the external storage disconnected (don't plug it in) - DOING THIS KEEPS THE REST MODE BUG FROM HAPPENING FOR ME SO FAR (but doesn't help with Green screen of death for me)
• Theory: its caused by a corrupted PS5 firmware:
  • Tests:
    • Rebuild databases using safe mode - didn't solve for me
    • Download official firmware from Sony's website and install firmware from a USB Stick - didn't solve for me
    • Factory reset PS5 - didn't solve for me
• Theory: It's caused by game updates.
  • Some people have noted that their system will crash if it tries to update a game while in rest mode or even multitasking while playing a game. Might be worth testing with automatic updates disabled to see if it helps.
• Theory: A few people mentioned that network problems may be to blame
  • Potential tests:
    • Wired VS Ethernet
    • Eliminate hubs/switches and plug in directly for wired connections
    • Unplug ethernet and disable wifi or shut off router at night to see what happens
    • Assign ip address and other network settings manually instead of automatically

I'm in the process of doing extensive tests to figure this problem out since my system has it. Its slow going due to needing to test things overnight each time...
Test 1: Sometimes crashes immediately

• Game running
• External HDD Connected via back USB-A (2Tb Seagate)
• Features available in standby: ALL ON (Always on USB ports, Internet available, etc)
• HDMI CEC Disabled

Test 2: Typically fails sometime overnight

• Game closed
• External HDD Connected via back USB-A (2Tb Seagate)
• Features available in standby: ALL ON (Always on USB ports, Internet available, etc)
• HDMI CEC Disabled

Test 3: Typically fails sometime overnight

• Game closed
• External SSD Connected via back USB-A (2Tb Samsung T7)
• Features available in standby: ALL ON (Always on USB ports, Internet available, etc)
• HDMI CEC Disabled

Test 4: No Rest Mode Failures so far

• Game closed
• External SSD NOT CONNECTED (ejected safely and cord disconnected)
• Features available in standby: ALL ON (Always on USB ports, Internet available, etc)
• HDMI CEC Disabled

Test 5 (Jan 15-16, 2021): No Rest Mode Failures so far!

• Game closed
• External SSD CONNECTED via FRONT USB-C (2Tb Samsung T7)
• Features available in standby: ALL ON (Always on USB ports, Internet available, etc)
• HDMI CEC Disabled
• So, it's only one night of data, but Test 5 shows the most promise so far. It's the first scenario that works with the drive attached so far. I'm going to test having the usb ports turn off next. I can see that the drive has power due to its light and I would prefer to have it off when the system is resting, but I don't know how that works with game updates, so maybe its not a good idea. I'm going to test it anyway.

Test 6 (Jan 18, 2021): No Rest Mode Failures so far!

• Game closed
• External SSD CONNECTED via FRONT USB-C (2Tb Samsung T7)
• Features available in rest mode:
  • USB power: Always off
  • Internet: Always connected
  • Wakeable: Yes
  • Time till rest mode: Don't automatically put into rest mode
• HDMI CEC Disabled
• Seems to be working. I've gone two overnight periods without a crash and usually it would crash by now. I also tried suspending a game with everything else the same and it did a green TV crash where it fails during the pulse phase and the TV Screen turns solid green for a few seconds. So I still can't suspend games, but as far as I can tell, rest mode is working well otherwise with this scenario. It seems that switching from the back USB-A ports to the front USB-C port can make a real difference in the success rate for some reason. It doesn't make a ton of sense, but thats just what the data is showing so far (in my case).

Test 7 (Jan 19-20, 2021): No Rest Mode Failures so far!

• Game closed
• External SSD CONNECTED via FRONT USB-C (2Tb Samsung T7)
• Features available in rest mode:
  • USB power: Always off
  • Internet: Always connected
  • Wakeable: Yes
  • Time till rest mode: Don't automatically put into rest mode
• HDMI CEC (Device link): ENABLED
• HDMI HDCP: ENABLED
• Basically this is the same as Test 6 but with the HDMI stuff re-enabled. So far, this seems to support the USB-A to USB-C scenario as the solution for my particular instance.

Test 8 (Jan 22, 2021): No Rest Mode Failures so far!

• Game closed
• External SSD CONNECTED via FRONT USB-C (2Tb Samsung T7)
• Features available in rest mode:
  • USB power: Always off
  • Internet: Always connected
  • Wakeable: Yes
  • Time till rest mode: Don't automatically put into rest mode
• HDMI CEC (Device link): ENABLED
• HDMI HDCP: ENABLED
• ACTIVELY DOWNLOADING SEVERAL UPDATES for both internal and external storage when put into rest mode - Worked fine
• Its looking more and more like my particular situation has been almost entirely corrected by moving the SSD to the front USB-C. So far, every test has indicated that this fixed the problem with one exception: I still cannot suspend games. If I attempt to suspend a game, I'll get the green screen of death where the TV turns green during the phase where the system is pulsing its light (working through to rest mode). Iv'e seen the screen flash green like that briefly when various devices are activating HDR, and I suspect it may actually have something to do with it. If I get ambitious, I might try deactivating HDR from a system level and see if it makes suspending games work. I feel like there is more risk of game save corruption with this green screen bug, so I'll have to think about what I'm doing before I jump in on that one.
• Update Jan 31, 2021: I'm still on the test 8 setup. Its working great as long as I don't suspend a game, or put it into rest mode too quickly after closing a game. If I suspend a game or put it into rest mode quickly, I get the Green Screen Of Death.
• Update Feb 3, 2021: Sony Released Firmware version 20.02-02.50.00 today. During my lunch break, I booted up miles morales and suspended the game successfully. It went into rest mode without the Green Screen of Death, and appears to be in rest mode without problem. I'm going to let it sit suspended until tonight and I'll try bringing it out of suspension to see how it does. I'd really love to know if any of you are seeing improvements with the rest mode bug with the new firmware.

​
Original post continued below:
----------------------------
Obviously, I'd like to be able to keep my external drive connected, so I'll probably keep doing some tests involving external drives being connected.
I'm going to try to test a few more things
I'll probably try testing the USB-C connection in the front next.
Have any of you had the rest mode problem and solved it? Was it using one of the theories above? Or was it something else? Are there any other solutions you've heard of working? Let me know and I'll add them to the list.
Also, if any of you have tried any of these things, please share what did or didn't work for you so I can compile the results together.
Thanks for your time.

Stardew Valley 1.5 is now available on console (Switch, PS4, and Xbox One) and on PC (Windows, macOS, and Linux)!
Feel free to ask here if you have questions about the update. Remember to use >!spoiler here!< to mark spoilers (it'll appear like spoiler here). Please be aware that thread titles cannot be hidden by a spoiler tag and must be kept spoiler-free.

About the update

• What changed in 1.5? Stardew Valley 1.5 adds split-screen multiplayer and lots of new content. For more info (including on console), see...
  
  • PC announcement (spoiler-free summary);
  • PC release notes (detailed list including spoilers).
• How do I download the update? The game should update automatically, though it may take a few hours to reach everyone on console. You can force an update check like this:
  
  • PC: restart Steam or GOG Galaxy.
  • PS4: highlight the game on your home screen, press Options on your controller, and select Check for Update.
  • Switch: highlight the game, press +, select Software Update and then Via the Internet.
  • Xbox: go to "My Apps & Games", select the game, click the "more options" button, then select "Manage game & add-ons" and "updates".
• Do I need a new save? Nope, older saves will update automatically and all new content is available without starting a new save, with some small exceptions:
  
  • If you want to use the new Beach Farm it's easier to start a new save. (On PC you can migrate an older save with save editing and temporary mods.)
  • When creating a new save, you can now set advanced options like randomized community center bundles. You can't enable these for an existing save without modding or save editing.
• How does split-screen work? Split-screen multiplayer is a new feature in 1.5 which lets multiple people to play together on one device. You can have up to four players total (including both split-screen and remote players).
  To enable split-screen mode:
  
  1. Make sure you have an empty cabin for each player who'll join (see multiplayer on the wiki).
  2. Plug in a controller to your computeconsole for each extra player.
  3. Load the save in-game.
  4. Open the in-game menu and choose the Options tab.
  5. Scroll down to the Multiplayer section and choose Start Local Co-op.
  6. Press start on the connected controller.
• When will 1.5 release on mobile? There's no announced release date for mobile yet, but they're working on it.
  
• Was there a change to the Stone Owl and Strange Capsule? Yes, in 1.5 the odds of these items appearing on the farm is much more likely. You can learn more about them on the wiki, see the Stone Owl and Strange Capsule pages there. According to CA, the prior odds for these two items appearing was a bug.
  

Known issues

• Why don't I see the game in the EU PlayStation Store? The game was removed temporarily and they're working to restore it. See this Twitter thread for a summary of what happened:
  

  [...] it's going to be a little while, still, before Stardew returns to the store. [...]
  When the game was originally submitted for PEGI rating, several years ago, the existence of simulated gambling wasn't disclosed. So the game was erroneously rated at PEGI 7. That's been fixed and it's now correctly rated at PEGI 12. However, the game files on Playstation still refer to PEGI 7. The only way to fix it is to do a complete re-submission. And that means going through lotcheck, QA, etc. even though the only change is the rating. But that's just how it works.
  

  The latest update in February 2021 says it should return to the store very soon if no other issues come up during certification.
  

Bug reports

On PC, make sure it's not a mod issue first (see modding FAQs below).
On console (or if you've checked that it’s not a mod issue on PC), please report bugs in the official forums! See the forum's bug report guidelines for what to include when reporting an issue.

Modding FAQs (PC only)

See the announcement thread on SMAPI for FAQs and help!

1.11 UPDATE NEW FEATURES ZOMBIES HAS SPLIT SCREEN OFFLINE NOW!

1.11 update news

-Zombies now allows 2 player split-screen in offline, you can add a controller as well as start/boot the match fine, however the same issues persist with offline split-screen, visual/menu glitches/bugs just like the normal multiplayer split-screen
-Multiplayer offline split-screen is working again, it seems to have all the same issues it had prior to the 1.09 update where it got broken, rough menus, class selection not working in certain scenarios, I've also found Nuketown 84 in split-screen will crash every time it loads into the match...etc etc.
- RAID and PINES map are available offline now
-Prop hunt is available offline now, however no bot support.
​

1.10 update - literally nothing added for offline

1.09 update - literally nothing added for offline

KNOWN MAJOR OFFLINE ISSUES/BUGS all present in latest 1.08 'season one' version (tested on PS4/PS5) Please read these as it may answer some questions instead of posting a comment.

*NEW BUG/GLITCH as of V.08\*
- V1.08 you can no longer play split-screen offline, when adding player 2, it will attempt to add player 2 and just fail each time....
- when playing split-screen multiplayer (versus) player 2 can do create-a-class but only edit the main weapon, they can not edit any attachments
- when playing split-screen multiplayer (versus) often player 2 can not select a class when starting the match at all.
​
- offline zombies has no option for split-screen or adding a controller when playing offline period (unsure if this is a glitch or the fact zombies has no split-screen option offline at all
- online zombies, has the option to add a second player for split-screen, but even when you do this the game won't launch and will often come up with a error stating this mode has exceeded the maximum amount of players, (unsure if ths is a glitch or the fact zombies isn't supposed to be split-screen at all)
- Search and Destroy and VIP Escort modes, do not support offline bots at all
- the maps Armada and Crossroads do not support offline bots at all currently for any mode
- the maps Armada and Crossroads have a small variant for normal modes, however when playing VIP escort mode only, you get the full expanded large scale combined arms map (with vehicles) however again no offline bot support, unsure if this is a glitch or not.
- various interface/menu bugs within the menus/lobbys
- multiple instances of glitches when playing in split-screen, gunsights missing/notloading, hands dissappearing etc etc.
- multiple settings not working, loadout restrictions settings completely broken and not working right, guns misnamed, M82 is called the XM4 etc and turning off or enabling what is supposed to be the M82 turns off both or enables both the M82 and XM4, really broken.
- I have to do more testing but I've had two instances on PS5 where my campaign save will dissappear completely after playing split-screen multiplayer.
- unsure if a glitch or designed this way.
If you find any bugs/issues or fixes that I haven't do let me know in the comments or flick me a PM, Finding new stuff every time I play it.
I'll endeavour to keep this guide updated over the next couple of months, do be with me as I can't update EXACTLY on time every time a new update comes out..
All testing done with the PS4 and PS5 version of the game (v1.03) (now updated to V1.07)
I have updated the game now to V1.05, I can confirm nothing has changed for offline with this update, what is down below is still current including no OFFLINE split-screen option for Zombies and the Crossroads/Armada maps still do not support bots.
I now have the PS4 as well as the PS5 version of the game, It's exactly the same, nothing additional, no extra bots/maps/modes/features, exactly the same issues, exactly the same stuff.
Some people are asking about the Dualsense for it, it's neat, the guns all feel slightly different, so the resistive triggers have different 'pulls' for different weapons, big LMGs the aiming trigger is a slow steady pull where as a pistol is very lightweight and barely any resistance, the vibration stuff, pretty standard, although again every gun feels a little different, nothing mind blowing, but neat feature. Astros Playroom on the other hand is amazing for the dualsense.
All testing done on PS4 Pro and PS5, running in an offline environment, no internet on the console, boot from cold startup, booting up Black Ops Cold War OFFLINE and playing OFFLINE.
This guide is aimed at people who enjoy the offline part of Call of Duty (yes there are people like us) If you play online thats fine, no need to make a stupid comment like "why are you playing offline in 2020 what a loser etc etc"
I've done this for several years, this guide is for fans of offline play and aimed to get CORRECT information to people who need it

FAQ Starts here

What do you mean when you use the word OFFLINE?
To clear up any confusion as many people seem to confuse the terms OFFLINE and LOCAL PLAY, these are two VERY different things.
If I use the word OFFLINE in this guide at any point, I mean OFFLINE, no internet on the console, no WiFi, no Ethernet, Console as well as game has been cold booted with NO INTERNET WHATSOEVER.
Can you play Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War OFFLINE without an internet connection?
Yes once your game is at version 1.03 (latest current version at time of release) You can play the game fully offline.
Like Modern Warfare 2019, the game is quite large (100.4GB for PS4 at of time of writing) It also like Modern Wafare 2019 is divided into PACKS
The Base game has the following PACKS, which you need to have installed if you want to play every mode available.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Single Player LicenseCall of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Multiplayer License
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Zombies License
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War - Campaign 1
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War - Campaign 2
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War - Campaign 3
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War - Multiplayer Base Install
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War - Zombies Base Install
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War - Dead Ops Arcade Pack
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Content 1 - 6 License (1 file for each) ( I believe this is just DLC stuff)
The console versions like WWII, Black Ops 4 and Modern Warfare 2019 will work OFFLINE after patching/updating, the PC version however due to Battlenet is ONLINE ONLY, even for Campaign/offline bots.
Can you install and play Black Ops Cold War from the disc without installing any updates/patches?
No you can not, like Call of Duty WWII, Black Ops 4, and Modern Warfare 2019 before it, the physical copies of the game do not contain all the files nor can you play the full experience OFFLINE via the disc only, you can only play a few multiplayer maps vs bots, thats it.
*A MANDATORY INSTALLATION/UPDATE IS REQUIRED FIRST\*
Can you play the Campaign OFFLINE?
Yes as mentioned before, as long as you have updated your game to the minimum version of 1.03 (latest current release) the games campaign will be playable OFFLINE.
Can you play the multiplayer (versus) OFFLINE?
Yes as mentioned before, as long as you have updated your game to the minimum version of 1.03 (latest current release) the games multiplayer will be playable OFFLINE.
Can you play the Zombies mode OFFLINE?
Yes as mentioned before, as long as you have updated your game to the minimum version of 1.03 (latest current release) the games multiplayer will be playable OFFLINE.
**Can you play the Zombies Onslaught mode OFFLINE? (exclusive to PS4/PS5 for 1 year)**yes
Is there Split-screen support in mutliplayer versus?
Versus Multiplayer has 2 players split-screen per console maximum
Is there split-screen support in Zombies?
EDIT: Version 1.11 has finally added the ability to play zombies OFFLINE split-screen, however its still rough, but it does work.
Is there co-op campaign or split-screen campaign?
Campaign is single player only.
​
What does the aspect ratio for split-screen look like? Is there any 'black bars' on the sides?
Split-screen for multiplayer versus has both Vertical and Horizontal options.
Horizontal split-screen (TOP and BOTTOM) has black bars on the left and right.Vertical split-screen (LEFT and RIGHT) has black bars on the top and bottom.
Is there OFFLINE LAN support, (2 or more systems connected offline for multiplayer) ?
You can play 2 players PER CONSOLE in multiplayer versus. Zombies is ONE PER CONSOLE currently, LAN is broken though unless you go online and download temporary hotfixes, so basically you need all consoles to be online, connected to servers, get hotfixes (so every game/console is on the same version and then it will work) this is the exact same issue Modern Warfare has. Its stupid. true proper OFFLINE LAN play is pretty much broken in the last two CODs.

OFFLINE BOT SUPPORT

Is there offline bot (AI Enemies/teammates) support?Which modes support them?How many Bots per mode?
Yes there are offline bots
you can have a total of 12 players in each core game mode, so if playing SOLO, you can have 11 bots.
I can confirm if playing split-screen you can still have 11 bots in the game total.Previous versions of the game only supported 7 bots in TDM and FFA game modes, this was fixed in V1.07. all modes support 11 bots.
you can not add bots to the Crossroads or Armada maps at all.
VIP Escort and Search and Destroy game modes do not support offline bots.
Can you make assymetrical/uneven teams?
Yes, however you can't go over the maximum of 6 players per each team,
So you can't for example do a team death match with you on one team vs 11 bots on the other team.
6 v 6 max
How many players can play each mode? (assume bots means players too here)
2 REAL players in split-screen and up to 11 bots (6 players/bots per team)
Edit: I didn't notice before as I mainly play objective modes not FFA or Team Deathmatch,
If you play Free-for-all or Team Deathmatch the bots cap at 7, not 11
What difficulties are there for the bots?
Recruit, Regular, Hardened, Veteran
are there loadout restrictions and can we force the bots to use certain loadouts?
There is an option for loadout restrictions in the menu, however It dosen't affect bots, you can turn off custom classes but sadly there again is no option to set what the DEFAULT classes are (like how Modern Warfare Remastered allows)
Right now the restrictions screen is VERY broken, half of the weapons are sharing the same name, for example the M82 Sniper rifle is incorrectly labelled as the XM4 (assault rifle) I turned off EVERYTHING but the M82 but it has the XM4 enabled (as its obviously broken) I have turned off everything but the XM4 and there are still weapons that are accessible.
So hard one to test right now, It's restricting some weapons but I can only tell from the player side no the bot side, Patches are needed to test this feature properly.
are there friendly/teammate bots for Zombies mode?
No there are no friendly AI/teammates/bots in Zombies mode.
What are the bots like, and how do they play?
I've had a quick go (I'll update this more later) but they feel like how they did in MW 2019.

Create-a-Class/Loadouts/Customisation

Is there an offline progression system? or is everything unlocked for offline play?
There is no offline progression system, everything is unlocked from the start, all attachments, gear, weapons etc is available offline from the start
What about customisation/camos etc?
Yes you can apply camos, change reticles offline, it looks like everything is unlocked here
What is available in offline create-a-class?
A ton, I'll add a video in the comments later with a showcase of everything, it's comparable to how MW was at launch.
How many custom classes can you have? can you save/rename them?
You can have 5 custom classes per player offline, yes you can rename/save them.
What Operators are available offline?
All launch Operators are available offline
NATO:
Mil-Sim:
HunterSong
Operators:
ParkAdlerBakerSimsWoods
Warsaw Pact
Mil-Sim:
VargasPowers
Operators:
PortnovaBeckGarciaStone

Multiplayer VERSUS

​
What game modes are available offline?
Team DeathmatchFree-For-AllSearch & DestoryDominationHardpointControlVIP Escort
What about the Larger Combined Arms modes?
Although the maps like Crossroads (which was the big snowy map in the beta with snowmobiles etc) are here, these are not the combined arms versions, these are smaller cut down versions of these maps, you can only do 6 v 6 in offline.
Is there a realism mode? or Hardcore Mode?
No realism mode, there is no hardcore 'mode' like MW2019, however there are Hardcore versions of TDM, FFA, SND, and DOM.
What multiplayer maps are available?
ArmadaCartelCheckmateCrossroadsGarrisonMiamiMoscowSatelliteNuketown 84 (added for offline in update V1.07)
What interesting custom game settings are there? anything different/new?
Nothing out of the ordinary, all pretty standard fare at launch.
Can I save custom game modes OFFLINE?
Yes you can save them.

Zombies

Is everything unlocked for create-a-class?
Yes, everything is unlocked, it's the same weapon selection from multiplayer versus, however you get 1 weapon, not 2, and a field upgrade which are zombies themed special powers.
Is there settings like in Black Ops 4, where you could adjust zombies/custom game settings?
Sadly no, it seems very scaled back more like the normal zombies modes from the older Black Ops games.
What modes are available for zombies offline?
Round based (standard zombies)Dead Ops arcade 3 (top down twin-stick shooter mini game mode)Onslaught (PS4/PS5 Exclusive for 1 year)
What maps/scenarios are available for offline zombies?
Round based (standard zombies)
Die Maschine
**Dead Ops Arcade 3 (mini game)**Rise of the Mamaback
Onslaught
Moscow (same as the multiplayer Moscow map....just with zombies)
What is onslaught mode anyway?
so its basically a VIP escort thing, you have a floating orb, that has a protective cirlce around it, you need to stay in the circle to live, zombies come at you, you shoot em, orb moves to a new location, rinse and repeat. Neat but you aren't missing much if you are a PC/Xbox player.

About a month and a half ago i was extremely Salty with my experience with fighting games and after i saw a video parading how fighting games are great i couldn't help but to write a post here trying to explain my frustrations...
(Link to the first part: Fighting games can be the worst sometimes and bring the worst out of me (WARNING: Mountains of salt ahead))
It ended up getting more responses than i ever expected. Since some people took their time to give me advice, i feel like i kinda owed a follow-up to the situation.
Here is what happened after i posted that, the advices that i followed, and my general experience.
Thanks to my clumsiness, i accidentaly cut my finger soon after the time i first posted here, it was nothing serious but that stopped the momentum i had playing the game (Dragon Ball FighterZ).
But after it healed i decided to follow some advice i've gotten in the previous post.
First of all, i bought an Internet cable to connect to the PS4, i know this sounds extremely obvious to most of you but at the time i didn't know since i almost never play online games and didn't know i could connect it to a PS4. And yes, that definitely helps with the lag...or so do i hope? It's hard to tell because i don't know how much the lag is on my inthernet or in others peoples wi-fi. But with a cable, i believe i am doing everything i can to minimize lag, but i still often get those 13+ frames of delay matches, those are not fun.
Regardless, thank you to those who gave me such advice.
Another advice i took to heart was using the d-pad instead of the thumbstick, again, i know to some of you that sounds obvious but i really didn't knew. It did take a while to get used to them but i definitely feel like i have much less missed inputs, so thanks to all who advised me on that.
I also looked up a guide on DBFZ and i took my time to train a combo with GokuSSJ wich seems to be a universal combo. I also discovered the Boot Camp and there is a TON of info there! I went through ALL of it but there is no way i'll be able too keep all of that in mind, especially during a match. I KNOW i should press down Heavy when someone goes for a dragon rush but my fingers are not reacting properly yet.
Also i finished the story mode, it has a nice idea but the execution is really bad and makes the whole story feel like a drag.
I'm still having doubts if it is worthwhile to keep playing though, i feel my motivation waning a bit, The game can be a bit fun if you know what you are doing, but those microfrustration i mentioned in the previous post are ever present and sapping wathever fun i have with the game.
Another thing i noticed is that i really need an extrinsic motivation to keep playing if the intrinsic part is not enough. I don't care about cosmetics, but that is the only thing the game rewards you with (ranks, skins, avatars, stickers, etc...). And this sucks, because i feel there is nothing to get better for, the game is not intrinsically fun for me to improve on it for improvement sake....i think? Or maybe i just haven't learned enough about the game yet...
I unlocked all the characters i could without paying anything (Goku blue, Vegeta blue and Android 21) and after that, there wasn't much to look forward to...
If the game at least had ending cards or some kind of special reward for beating arcade mode with different characters i might have had a fun objective to chase while learning a bit more about each character but the game doesn't have even that...
The one Hurrah of fun i had most recently with the game was the party battles, banding together with other people with the common objective to take down a big bad guy was really fun (minus the connection issues and the limited communication the game has).
I've played 50 hours, i don't know how much that is in terms of fighting games, if it is anough to say "i gave that game a fair chance" since despite that, there are still characters i haven't touched. Out of 142 matches i won 60. Some matches where fun, but most of the times my losses felt really salty and my vtories felt hollow, like they didn't count or not satisfying enouhg to compensate the feeling of a loss... I don't know if that speaks poorly of my emotial imaturity.
The feeling of "is this as fun as it gets or is there a thing that i'll learn that will make the game much better for me?" Has not left nor been answered, so i guess this is the status quo i feel with the game as a whole.
I tried to get my friend and my brother to play with me but they don't have much time... i feel like i have to go easy on them and when i win i feel guilty (not sure why). i'm definitely not the type of person that gets a kick out of making other people feeling salty, because i know that feeling too well.
I feel like i'm at a stalemate with this genre, or at least with this game. i'm not ready to say "I'M DONE WITH FIGHTING GAMES" but i'm not raring to go back and play them either. Perhaps another time or another game...
Regardless, i apreciate all the help people here gave me (despite some of the comments stinging a little bit XD)

So I had some time today to take a look at Cyberpunk on GeForce Now (Founders) vs Stadia. I have two monitors (LG 4K) identical set up side by side so it was easy to compare without video capture. I had this FOMO about not having the BEST version of Cyberpunk. Minus a RTX 3090, since that isn’t an option.
I used to be a huge PC gamer up until about 3 years ago. Life changes and I no longer had time to sit in front of a computer for hours playing games. Plus I’d prefer to play on a TV just for the convenience. Personal preference though since I know many people have great PC setups.
Originally I was just going to play the game on my PS4 base console until I could find a PS5. But the terrible reviews drove me to Stadia, plus the free bundle was well worth it. I figured it if sucked I’d still use the CCU.
I’ve been wanted to see an unbiased comparison of the two streaming services for awhile. But it can be hard to see differences via YouTube. I didn’t know about GeForce Now until after the game released.
I’ve been checking out comparisons on YouTube and reading comments. Everyone seems to point out that the game looks better on GeForce Now. I can agree with this, BUT it really wasn’t significantly different at all. Like very hard to tell. Stadia Performance mode is noticeable. But I was comparing in Visual mode.
Stadia’s version I ran over WiFi CCU roughly 400MBps and my Mac Mini running GeForce Now was hardwired same internet speed but more consistent connection. Normally I play through CCU wired.
Motion Blur and Depth of Field were disabled.
I played each until you exited your apartment for the first time and talked with Jackie, plus drove around and viewed the city for about an hour. The lighting is better on GeForce Now due to RayTracing, but Stadia looks comparable which was crazy, this is most likely due to HDR via CCU. Jackie’s hair was better on GeForce Now but his necklace looks significantly better on Stadia. It’s hard to explain but the detail was very compatible, but a tad smoother look on Stadia. Jackie’s face on GeForce now had a little more “wear” on it.
It ran smoother on Stadia even over WiFi. Normally I have my CCU hardwired, so it’s even better that way. I thought this was weird, but with setting tweaks on GeForce Now I could get a similar frame rate. There was still a lot of drops with pixel count on GeForce Now that was very noticeable.
Graphically it was hard to tell between the two. They both looked good. The one area that GeForce Now shined was the density of NPC and vehicles. Other than that.....they were both very good.
Now since it’s streaming, your connection to the server can play a huge part in performance. It’s possible that Nvidia’s servers were not as close to me, or were more congested when I was playing. There are so many variables that’s can’t be seen or compared.
If you’ve been debating between the two options you truly can’t go wrong. Graphics were tough to see the difference. And performance can vary based on your personal connection. For me Stadia ran much smoother and that was even over Wi-Fi.
If you’re invested in PC gaming GeForce Now is awesome and the cloud saves via Steam work really well. This is the way I’d go if I still was heavy into PC gaming since everything would be linked to the same ecosystem. This would be important to me. I’ll still use my Founders subscription since I wanted to play some older PC games I own via Steam, but did get refunded for Cyberpunk.
The convenience of Stadia would be my personal choice though. I invested in 3 CCU so I can play almost anywhere in my house, plus Stadia application is less troublesome on iOS. Many of the games from GeForce were zoomed in too far where I had to lower the pixel count way down. Cyberpunk did not have this issue though, so I’d assume this is going to be based on the specific game, not a GeForce Now issue directly.
Hope this may have help ease anyone’s mind about their Stadia choice!
Lastly, if you do own Stadia, check out Sekiro! I originally played on my XBox One X (love the game) and I must say it runs much better on Stadia. 60 FPS was noticeable difference with the same graphic quality!

Hello Everyone!
Just wanted to give some input into Stadia's gameplay as of today in my opinion.
To give a little intro. I'm not a pro player nor I own any other consoles aside from a SNES and a Anbernic RG-350 although I have played Ps1 and 2. this should tell you a bit about my taste in games and how ignorant I am about newer consoles (Xbox, ps4 & 5, and others)
I decided to buy the Stadia simply because I wanted to play Cyberpunk and racing games with my brother. we had been thinking about a PS5 but as we all know... they don't exist lol
so we googled a few options in terms of gaming and came across Stadia. we bought and we loved it!!! but after a few weeks of play and learning about it, I have a few notes I would like to share and also hopefully some of you can help as well.
This is all my own opinion so feel free to disagree/agree.
THINGS I LIKE🙂:
CONTROLLER: the Stadia controller OMG!!! it feels amazing, the weight distribution and size fits perfectly. And I really enjoy the clicking noises, they sound precise and not mushy.
EASINESS OF USE: the installation of the whole thing is simple and fast.. the app is really easy to use and its pretty much straight forward. (notes on this under things I don't like as well)
MULTI LOCATION PLAY: Its all wireless, which to me is actually really cool as I can simply take my controller anywhere and play on the go.
COST: the cost of the whole thing is a no brainer. compared to $400-500 for an actual console.(more on this under things I don't like) Stadia pro ($10 extra monthly) is really good if you are definitely putting more time on this platform as you get access to multiple free titles and 4k if available I believe.
LAGGING/GLITCHES OR POOR CONNECTION: I have experience 0 lag when playing even thought this is a 100% cloud gaming. (I do have fast internet and I also have an ethernet connection to it) compared to SNES and Anbernic, the graphics are amazing (I know I know lol)
FAMILY SHARE: there is family share!! which means I can share my games with someone else and they can play it without buying the actual game.
STORAGE: Unlimited free storage space from games!
GAMEPLAY: Games are smooth and quick. The controller is quick and responsive there are no loading screens!!!! at least from what I have seen Achievements!! This is a guilty pleasure as I get really excited to see achievements unlocked. I guess it gives me a sense of playing in a regular console. There's a free tier of games and Stadia's library is only getting bigger which means more games under the free tier. Streaming, and although I haven't used it I can see the potential specially for YouTube monetary gains or simply to showcase your gameplay. Online free play!
There is a lot more I cold go into such as State share, but I'm not too familiar it so I won't speak on it
THINGS I DONT LIKE👿:
I definitely dislike that after a year, there are multiple AAA titles missing such as Fortnite and COD but I assume they will be available in the near future.
MULTIPLAYER: my brother and I bought Stadia mainly to play together. Whether it's split screen, online, or multiplayer... This has proven to be very difficult in certain games.. we spend almost 30 mins trying to figure out how to multiplayer DBZ With no luck. We were able to play a few other titles together but very limited and I hope this changes....
APP: The chat app is POINTLESS!!!! It's like texting but with extra steps.(Unless there's an online keyboard I'm not using) NO SEARCH BAR!!!!! Like seriously..... That's like Instagram without pictures 🤦🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️ I'm not even sure what the reasoning behind it is... (IOS APP) Seems a bit dumb....Stadia needs to have a native app on the TV ( I believe it's in the works) Simply because everything you do on Stadia has to fall on the phone at some point. which is annoying because I don't see the reason behind having to go back to your phone for messaging, adding games, settings etc, when I could easily do this directly from my TV... I guess the reasoning behind it in my opinion is that your phone is essentially the console or an extension of the "cloud console" it just seems weird.
COMMUNITY: The Stadia community is still bare compared to renown consoles but I have a feeling that it will grow eventually making online player games more entertaining.
CONTENT: I think this will change and has been changing but Stadia needs to add more games faster to start competing with the big consoles. there is a lot of work to do before this platform can be taken more serious.
IT COULD GET PRICEY.... Soo this one could definitely be subject to each individual.... In my case it seems odd that you have to buy the game at retail price.. but it's cloud gaming so you technically do not own it... If you want 4k and a couple of monthly free titles then you need to pay $10 monthly for pro. And that's not including pre-orders and add … Again this one is subject to each individual...
SIDE NOTES AND PERSONAL OVERVIEW:
To end this lengthy P.O.V discussion LOL I want to add that Stadia has definitely filled a gap of free time I previously had. And I enjoy playing the available titles such as cyberpunk, ff, and Hitman and the new additions of exclusive games and smaller titles is definitely welcomed
For the average player looking for a time pass that does not want to drop a huge amount of money, or simply wants to play casually, I think the Stadia is a great choice.. I think Google is definitely adding improvement and I think Stadia is starting to be taken more seriously by not only players but also 3rd party gaming companies...but as I stated before, I think Stadia needs to move quickly or it will fall behind Luna and other cloud gaming services.
For whoever is reading. Please correct me if there is outdated/incorrect information or if you want to add additional information.
Thank you for reading!

(Solved!!)
Hi everyone, first post on here, I’ll try to be as thorough as I can because it’s a bit of a weird one. Long post incoming!!
I live in an apartment where my ISP’s jack is wired in to a cabinet in the front closet near the front door, so I can’t use Ethernet cables directly from the router to my devices. So I’ve tried power line adaptors. My tv and PlayStation are far back in the apartment, so I suspect the power socket near them is not on the same circuitry as that connected to the router.
I plugged a power line adaptor in near the PlayStation (there’s only one outlet that’s close enough to it, and connected it to the PlayStation with an Ethernet cable. On the speed test on the PS4, I only got 450kbps/500kbps for download and upload, which is definitely not useable. (my internet should be 600mbps, more than enough)
I’ve tested the power line adapters on other electrical sockets and they do work in the sockets closest to the router, so it doesn’t seem to be an issue with the adapters.
Nothing else is plugged into the outlets with the power line adapter
So from all this, here’s what I would love some help with:

• are there any alternatives for me to get a proper wired connection to my PS5 WITHOUT moving the router or PlayStation? There are no other sockets in any convenient places near the PS4 and TV (my apartment is designed weirdly trust me)
• I need the connection to be wired so my connection doesn’t drop or slow mid game
• Is the only solution to get a super long Ethernet cable and run it through walls?

Thank you all for your advice. I’d really appreciate it :)
Edit: I’ve gone with MoCA and it works like a dream! Thanks to all who suggested it

Hello Stadians,
First post here. I joined the cult not long ago after extensive research and since my post on red flag deals about Stadia has gained much traction, I decided to post it here for future Stadians or people who might be interested. Information is spread out across many sources, so I am trying to bring all current cloud services together into one giant post. If you want to spread the message to people who are on the fence, please use this post as you like, you are free to share this. Please correct me if I got anything wrong since I am still new to the game. Here goes :
PART #1 :
Stadia is still very new to a lot of people but have gained quite a bit of attention recently due to Google freely handing out hardware. However, it is still largely misunderstood.
Unlike what many people think there it's either one or the other, Stadia is so versatile that it can complement anything (ps5, xbox, pc, mobile gaming). It doesn't have to be one or the other. You can sub, or you can just buy a game and play it whenever and wherever you want as long as you have a stable Internet connection.
The most important thing is to test it out for FREE. Go on your chrome browser, log in with your gmail account, and click on Destiny 2. No downloads, no load times, no patches, no wait times, no hidden fees, no hardware requirements, just play it for free indefinitely on any toaster computer you are running as long as you have a stable connection.
Like it ? Then don't be afraid to buy some games during their sales if they are cheaper on Stadia than other platforms. You will be able to play is as long as you have an stable Internet connection.
Don't listen to people who says Stadia is going away like some of Google's retired products. If anything, it's expanding and the future of gaming is streaming. Say goodbye to overpriced hardwares that expire or games that don't run properly on newer hardwares. Say goodbye to having to buy the same game on xbox, pc, mobile. Say goodbye to load times, storage limits, hardware problems like the ps4 pro making absurb noise.
Don't listen to people wo says Stadia has awful lag - they either have a bad connection or only tested Stadia at launch. With a good reliable connection with at least 35mbps download, there is absolutely no way the input lag will bother you unless you do competitive gaming. Everyone has their own experience with Stadia and best is to try it out yourself and not listen to people - it's free anyway with zero hurdles.
Don't listen to people claiming Stadia has a very limited library. Stadia launched roughly 1 year ago compared to xbox / steam / ps who have been there for ages. Obviously, you won't have the same library. Stadia is about to lock in 400+ games this year alone and more to come. Library size shouldn't matter since you do not have to pay or commit to anything. If you don't like what Stadia has to offer right now, just set it aside - you aren't losing out or anything. Your hardware is not going to expire, you aren't paying a dime to have a Stadia account, you have zero commitment necessary.
I hope this sums up the debate and why everyone should at least give Stadia a chance and try it out on your browser right now and experience the future of gaming. Zero commitment needed.
​
PART #2 : This is the part where I try to summarize each available streaming service and compare it to Stadia as of today.
PS Remote Play, which has pretty much been given up by Sony because they want to focus on PS5 hardware, is basically a service that allows you to connect to your own hardware to play games you own on your PS4 / PS5. You have the same limitations than your current hardware. Therefore, if your game only runs on 30FPS on PS4, it will only run 30FPS remotely. Your hardware will also eventually expire as new games get developed that require more juice. Last time I checked, remote play on PS4 Pro is capped at 720p. Since the connection has to jump through 2 loops (from your PS to Internet, and from the Internet back to your device), you will definitely feel a latency while streaming your games. Stadia is running off of a dedicated hardware and servers straight to the device you're streaming on, while the PS4/5 remote play has no server and uses your hardware.
PS Now is a service you need to pay either 12.99$ CAD a month or commit to $79.99 CAD for a whole year (20% off during BF sale, good value). It has its own dedicated servers so latency should be better. However, as of now, games are still being streamed at 720p only, and hopefully 1080p soon. A plus side is the access to a bigger library, potentially bigger than what xbox game pass ultimate has to offer. You can also download PS4/5 games to play offline unlike Stadia where a stable connection is required at all times. However, you need an online check every 7 days and the offline service only works on your PS4/5 hardware. if you use this service, some games can leave the platform on a rotation basis (about 10 out of 800 games available) and you don't own any games unless you buy them on the PS store. If your subscription expires, you'll lose access to the downloaded games and any DLC associated with it. As noted by redditors here, you do get plenty of time to finish the game and a notice ahead of time before rotation begins.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate cost 16.99$ CAD a month and provides the best library of games on a rotation basis, and is now combined with xbox gold meaning you can claim free games every month that you can keep as long as you are subbed, like Stadia Pro. The game selection is arguably better than PS Now, and is much more varied than Stadia. The biggest downside is that Game Pass Ultimate only offers 720p streaming as of now and I have noticed many more players reporting latency issues with Game Pass compared to Stadia. Just like PS now, Game Pass Ultimate is like a rental service where you don't get to keep any games unless you keep paying a fee. The difference with Stadia is that your money is exchanged for games you can keep with regular Stadia. You keep the games you bought and they do offer some free to play games like Destiny 2 and more to come eventually. However, free version of Stadia is capped at 1080p 60fps with stereo sound.
Geforce Now from Nvidia costs 6.49$ CAD a month to play, or offered free but you are limited to 1-hour sessions only, which is quite stressful in my opinion. It basically uses your steam games library and allows you to stream them using their cloud servers. If you have a big library of steam games, I can see a good reason to use Geforce Now. However, their cloud servers are much much smaller than Google (obviously). For new games, you have to wait for them to become available on the service if the game requires different specs, since Nvidia has to make Steam games compatible with their service first. Due to their small servers, 2 years after their launch, they have yet announced support for 4k streaming and yet to have their own exclusives. This is only a good option if you have a huge amount of steam games and want to access those games outside of your PC.
Luna offers game streaming for 7.99$ CAD (note that this is their entry price, and I will guarantee you this price will get a bump once their service is more widely known) . They have a bigger game library than Stadia but a lot of players claim that their games aren't as quality (filled with indie games and less AAA titles). However, Stadia has much better latency because Amazon servers are more tailored towards enterprise usage rather than customer. Another downside to Luna is that it doesn't offer a free service compared to Stadia, but time will tell.
To me, the main selling point for Stadia is this : no commitment required.
With other services, you either have to pay to use their service or buy their hardware, or both. A paywall is the highest obstacle to a new user base and Google knows that. No other services would allow you to create a free account, go on your chrome browser, and play Destiny 2 (other free games will be announced soon) right away without any hardware check. You can play Destiny 2 on a toaster computer, a TV with a Chromecast Ultra dongle and all you need is keyboard + mouse, or any controller you can find. Stadia can accommodate those with little to no interest to build a 1,000 $ CAD PC to keep up with current games (to eventually expire and have to upgrade again) and Stadia doesn't require you to buy consoles, have console hardwares expire, compatibility issues with previous games, update games, run out of storage room.
All you need to ask yourself is : do you want to play this game or not ?
You are not pressured to finish a game before it rotates out.
You are not forced to pay to play - you buy and own.
You don't have to think about compatibility issues nor hardware issues.
If Stadia manages to secure more AAA and exclusive titles, they will be an even more fearful competitor to other game streaming services.
Cloud gaming is still very young but it is the future. We don't know when it will happen, but one day, it will be the Netflix of gaming.
​
2020-11-26 EDIT : Thank you so much for all the feedback guys, I stand corrected on many points you guys put forward and I appreciate the time you put to read through my wall of text.
EDIT 2 : Updated PS Now to include 10 games out of 800 that gets rotated out and library size potentially bigger than xbox's.
EDIT 3 : correction on stadia servers vs amazon luna's

Hey all, I'm sure by now you've heard of the upgrades Genshin Impact receives upon upgrading to the Playstation 5 (4k, 60fps, etc). If you're on the fence about upgrading, or just curious about how the new system affects gameplay, I thought I'd give a detailed rundown of my observations from yesterday and today.
I'll go down the list of noteworthy observations, things I feel did/did not change significantly, etc. Ask me anything if it hasn't been covered below.
PS4 to PS5 Data Transfer:
The data transfer was overall painless. Genshin is not a particularly large game, even with the 1.1 addition. For normal games, the PS4-to-PS5 transfer requires you having your PS4 and PS5 on at the same time, but because Genshin is digital-only, you can simply download it straight from your Playstation library.
With a wired connection and "nothing special" Internet, it took me about 10 minutes. Genshin Impact will download everything it needs in a short session at the Login cinematic, similar to logging in every day. No special actions required.
Graphics/FPS:
Night and Day. While not all PS5 upgrades are noticeable, this one makes Genshin look and feel very different, in a very good way.
If you've watched PC streamers playing this game, I'm sure you'll've been jealous of the "smoothness" of their game at one time or another. Well, now you have it. A consistent, lag-free 60fps makes this game look and feel as incredible as it should. No more spamming "Character Change" or hitting the same mushroom six times before you actually pick it up.
Movement, input, and graphics all feel updated, smoother, and more like a modern game should. You'll genuinely feel like you're moving faster (you might actually be, considering input lag) as you traverse the world, both outside and in dungeons.
PS5 Load Times
I'll go over a few different "load" times here because, if you play on PS4, you know Genshin has a shit-ton of load times. Here's a general breakdown of my experience.
Starting the Game: This one is... faster, but still not fast. I was a little worried at first, because this still takes a longer-than-expected time to load in. Given the PS5's bravado about faster load-times, this one isn't all that impressive. However, it is still faster than previously, down by a good 10-15 seconds or so. We all know how long this is, so that makes a big difference.
Menus: This is now instant, and I'm not using that word lightly. If you play on PS5, you know how frustrating it can be to roll through menus and constantly get caught on something, or double-click through to the wrong setup. Everything is, in a word, instant. This is by far one of the best upgrades.
Changing characters is no longer a chore. Grabbing food is immediate. You don't need to load your Adventurer's Handbook for 2 hours between pages! Instant, instant, instant. It's lovely. You'll love it.
Teleportation: Like loading into the game, I was a little disappointed in this one. Yes, it is faster than PS4, but not by much. Ala Breath of the Wild and Horizon: Zero Dawn, the farther away from a point, the longer it takes to teleport there. And while you definitely shave off 5-10 seconds, it is not all that noticeable. Faster travel, but not the "fast travel" I was hoping the PS5 would be capable of.
Co-Op: Despite my previous point, I am glad to report that Co-Op is now lightning-quick. You will no longer need to be the person who pre-copies a message like "Need another invite plz" and "Sorry, PS4 loads slow, inv again" before your daily runs. You'll now be the guy waiting on everyone else. Congratulations! Quip away.
Seriously, it is vastly superior. I regularly outpaced everyone else in load-times coming into the host's world, and was (for once) not the person everyone is waiting on at the bottom of the stairs. If you play on PS4, you know that doesn't feel great. If you play on PC, you know how annoying it is. PS5 bypasses all that with exceptional Co-Op connection and load times, both in-domain and entering/leaving the host's world.
Domains will go much, much faster for you. And you don't have to stare at "You've been kicked" for 40 seconds straight. That one always hurt.
Overall Performance/Lag:
Without doubling up too much on what I said regarding 60fps, overall performance feels much better. You very rarely lag during high-intensity elemental reactions anymore, which can take some getting used to. I haven't yet, even when mixing 4 elements in Anemo MC's Swirl, so that's saying something.
It feels easier to time dodges and swap characters, and movement/actions feel much smoother and react more quickly to your input. It's how the game should have been before... but we'll take what we can get.
Conclusion:
While some load times are less impressive than you might think, the overall game gets a massive boost in performance and feel. It will, as stated above, feel like a different game when you first open it. 60fps is incredible, and the improved inventory and movement will take your "30 minutes of Dailies, Resin, and log-off" gameplay to a solid "20 minutes of Dailies, Resin, and log-off."
...Just kidding. But seriously, I wouldn't break the piggy bank for Genshin Impact alone, but if you plan to continue utilizing your Playstation library and want the bonuses I've detailed above to apply to a host of other games you may own, I highly recommend making the switch. It's a significant quality and quality-of-life improvement game-wise. This is my first-person experience with the new system, so you can get an idea of what is/isn't a worthwhile upgrade for you.
Hope this helps answer some of your "200-damage-per-second burning" questions.

A few weeks ago, I received the news that my best and only friend had passed away.
It took me by complete surprise and am completely heartbroken about it. His name was Martin.
I don't really know why I'm telling part of my story here, I guess its so i have something written down that I can come back to in the future and reminisce. Or maybe even have someone who can relate or offer advice.
I've never really written anything and I'm not the best with words, so I'm sorry if it's uninteresting or if i ramble on a bit. I'm just going to write what comes to mind.
So the story begins. I am and have always been a bit shy and reserved (especially in high school). As apposed to Martin, who was more outgoing and funny.
We both met eachother in the first year of high school. We were friendly but weren't in the same classes or groups (he was with the skateboarders and I was with the wogs, however im caucasian and not a wog). We basically just caught the same bus to and from School as we lived close together.
Martin was an only child and his parents had divorced early in highschool. He was living with his father who had remarried and later had another child with his stepmom. He never got on with his stepmom and didn't have much to do with his brother at the time. I only met her once or twice. But from all accounts from Martin, she sounded like a nasty person.
For a bit of context his step mom is Chinese and is a psychologist (Martin is Caucasian). He had told me his stepmom had once blamed him for having a miscarriage because his computer games were too loud. I guess being a teenager put in that situation couldn't of been easy.
It wasn't until 16 where we started hang out more, we had both left school early. I guess our love of weed , skateboarding and gaming connected us along with the fact that his parents were never around for most of the day.
So it became a daily ritual of me and a few of my friends I hung out with from school gaming and getting high at his place. After a while I drifted from my high school group and started to hang out with just Martin. It was clear they were never really my true friends and they were just using us for weed and a place to smoke. Regardless of what we were doing it was great to just hang out with him.
Martin had a small group of friends from highschool who I had never really talked to. Eventually we started to hang out more as a group and just smoke and play games etc. We all got along fine, however I never connected to anyone as I did with martin.
Now it was around the time we were 18 when martin tried lsd. I wasn't really aware of psychedelics at the time and had no knowledge of them. The extent of my drug knowledge and use was just weed, pills and coke basically.
Just a bit of background too on our weed use.. Martin was a heavy smoker and would basically smoke an ounce every week. Martin had access to his fathers atm card and would withdraw upwards of $300 a week. (His father was well off and whether he knew or not he never mentioned it) So this was how he was able to afford it. I however have always had a job since I left school with no more than a few months of unemployed at a time. Martin worked at EB games for a few months as an after school casual, which turned into more shifts when he left school, but then one day they just suddenly stopped giving him shifts and that was it. I was a daily smoker too but like 1/4 of what he smoked because I couldn't afford it and had to hide it from my family, plus I had work commitments aswell.
So back to Martin taking LSD.. we were in a hotel room smoking up with a few of my old friends from high school and he had taken his dose around 8pm. I had to leave before he started tripping, as I had work the next morning.
Whatever happened that night it had a profound effect on him and it changed him. I guess looking back it was one of the keys that unlocked the doors for what would be a life of struggle and pain. So after his trip, he sort of became a little disconnected from reality and acted like he was above the rest of us, sort of like he knew more about life and the universe than any of us.
Anyway we all sort of had a falling out and lost contact. I started to hang out with this new group of friends without Martin present anymore. We would just hang out mostly smoking and just talking about random stuff. After a few months we all sort of started talking again, Martin seemed to be mostly back to normal.
Around this time Martin's father had sold his house and built a new home elsewhere, so Martin went to go live with his mother in a small unit not far from me. All I remember of those times, were how stress free and simple life seemed just spending everyday just hanging out, skateboarding, smoking , playing video games and whatever else.
His mum had her own mental health issues and her mind wasn't all there. She didn't care if we smoked in the house either.
So over the course we grew really close, i trusted him more than anyone and felt I could be my true self around him. Someone who never judged me. We had a great connection.
About this time, I had been reading alot about psychedelics and had become somewhat obsessed with wanting to experiment with them. We came across something called DMT, which just sounded insane. So we set about making our own. It was relatively easy and we managed to produce a largish amount.
I'll mention that a couple of guys from our group had started to get a bit weird and develop psychotic symptoms. I'm just going to say it is my firm belief that weed isn't the cause but simply the trigger for underlying mental conditions. Basically if you have an underlying condition like schizophrenia, weed is going to accelerate or trigger the conditon. If it wasnt there to begin with i feel there is very little chance of developing any serious mental issues due to marijuana.
One guy in our group just kind of disappeared one day after having a psychotic episode watching Benjamin button, it just fully fucked with his head for some reason. I heard he quit smoking and was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Just living day by day on medication and dealing with his issues.
One other guy still hung out with us but just didn't smoke as much. We tried to advice him against it and did our best to help.. regardless there were some bizarre moments.
One time about 5 of us were watching TV and talking about some advertisement that came on. Out of nowhere the guy just flipped out because he thought we were all somehow secretly talking shit about him. Or he would just smoke a bowl and just sit there with his head in his hands, like he was in deep thought about something, it would make us all pretty uneasy.
Anyway back to the Dmt.. we made it at one of our friends house when their parent's went away for a few days. When we tried it for the first time no one tripped, we all just got this intense body high, which I personally found to be super uncomfortable.
We had organised a few days trip to the snow where we would try the dmt again. We had done alot more research and learned about breaking through and how to do it. I went first, i was nervous af but I always felt i had a stable mind to handle whatever happens. So i packed it in the middle of some bud and slowly vaped it and held it in as long as I could then whilst heavily under the effects took another large hit.. I close my eyes and BAM! I was seeing things I never thought possible and even with my eyes closed it was as if I was seeing it as clear as anything like if my eyes were wide open. The geometrical shapes, formations and insane visuals just blew my mind. It lasted only 4 or 5 mins and when I came down , it was the ultimate euphoria with no negative side effects besides the harshness of the smoke.
Martin and a few others had their turn with similar experiences.
The guy who had those delusions of us all talking about him instead of about the ad on TV. Well he was there wanted to try it, and in hindsight we should of really done more stop it. He smoked it and just sat on the couch looking at the TV with his head in his hands. It was a pretty tense moment because we didn't know what was going on in his head at the time. When he came to, he just looked up at us all and ran straight for the front door and ran outside. One guy managed to run after him and get him to come back. He literally thought we were trying to kill him that night. It was a pretty uneasy night having a mentally unstable person just sit there on his bed, while were all laying down trying to sleep.
Over the course of the next year or so I would hang out at Martins almost every night after work. We smoked alot and I would shout him food and weed regularly because he wasn't working and just living of his Gov payments.
We would also smoke Dmt occasionally (over 30 times i would say). There were some real large doses that we would take, which would catapult you into another living and breathing dimension with all sorts of alien like architecture and entities that would interact with you.
Around the time I was 19 or 20 I had decided I needed to change my lifestyle as I was real overweight from eating pizza and junk food all the time and just smoking way too much.
I really wanted a girlfriend, something i hadn't had since i was 16 or so. I took a break and started to diet and exercise, at my most i weighed about 110kg and I got down to 74kg. I didn't see much of Martin at this time.
I don't know what lead up to this moment, but I was in the city by myself one night, i cant remember why..maybe i trying to pick up a girl at the club or something. Anyway I found myself at kings Cross looking for some drugs. Somehow I found myself with a point of coke and a random junkie chick who scored for me, offering to shoot me up if I shared with her.
And so I found myself in an alley with 2 random junkies that were shooting up Heroin. I always told myself I would never use a needle in my life.. but here I was. The rush was unlike anything I had experienced, it was awesome and I wanted more. However the biggest downside was the comedown from the high was extremely uncomfortable and unpleasant for me.
Anyway I figured I wouldn't meet anyone at a bar because for one I was too shy and second I didn't have anyone to go out with. So I put up a profile online... these were the days of MySpace before Facebook had lifted off and there was no tinder. I'd consider myself decent looking and had always had a girlfriend throughout most of highschool. I just let myself go once i left.
So not long after I came across a cute girl and we started talking, the online convos were really short and not the most interesting. Didnt really think anything was there, but one day out of nowhere she asked if I wanted to hang out and go drinking. So I thought whatever, why not.
Before I met her I had never really been into alcohol, I just didn't like the taste and the fact you had to consume a bit to get a buzz, where as with weed its instant and cost way less.
So our 1st outing was pretty uncomfortable, we didn't have a lot to talk about and she didn't seem too interested. But I guess due to the alcohol I spent the night at her place, we made out and that was it. I kept thinking about her and called her the next day to see if she wanted to go out again, she said ok. She was surprised I called her. It then turned into a weekly thing.
Around the same time i had gotten back into contact with Martin and had learned he was currently a patient at a mental health facility. He had a psychotic episode, where he went out into the street and threw some digital scales at a passing police car. I guess the psychedelics and heavy marijuana use along with a family history of mental illness (his mother had bipolar), finally took its toll on his mind. He spent the first few nights in a locked down psych ward where he told me he had smoked a joint with some other dude whilst inside.
Anyway he started living in one of the cottages on site with about 5 other people..in total there might of been around 6 cottages on the grounds. They were allowed to roam around a bit but had to be present for medication (which was given against his will) and dinner time, i believe the nurses also checked up every hour or so.
So I went to visit him a few times a week (no one else from our group did). It would become a ritual every Friday night, I would bring over some bud to smoke then head to the city to see this girl. Martin's curfew would be at 9 then I would catch the train to the city and would have to wait 3 or 4 hours until she finished work, so around 1am. She was a waitress who would finish at 11 or 12 at night and had to catch an hour ferry ride back to the city where she lived too. So we wouldn't really start our night till after 1am. Just going drinking, eating out or to the club with her and often with her work friends too.
It was an awesome time.. but in the background I was kind of struggling with an addiction to coke, shooting up a few times a week. Spending money i didn't have. Eventually I found myself 5k in debt.
The only reason I stopped.. and thank fuck too, was what had happened with this guy that I met whilst hanging out at the cottages. He had gotten out and called me to see if we could get some coke together. Unfortunately my contact was unavailable and we ended up scoring some speed instead of some random junkie. Went back to mine and this guy was having a hard time mixing it up, but didn't think much of it as i figured he had experience with speed. He went first and I second, as soon as I shot it up it felt like rocks and sand coursing through my veins and I thought fuck, is this it for me.. I thought I was going to die, luckily it subsided and I made a decision right there to never do it again. I never spoke to the guy ever again.
I hid it from the girl, she never knew at the time, though eventually I told her but downplayed it. The only person I told was Martin, I even introduced it to him and he had tried it a couple of times.
Looking back its crazy to think of that facility and what everyone got up to unbeknown to the staff. Some things that come to mind are the fact that he was in there against his will for mental health reasons and there he was smoking bongs inside his room, blowing smoke out the window. Or the time 3 or 4 of us shot up coke by the grounds. Basically some people were just getting high all the time.
Seeing the people inside that facility with real mental heath issues, really opened my eyes to the struggles that so many people are going through and in a system that is pretty broken. Just in his cottage alone there was a lady who was really nice persom and seemed normal enough but her personality could change in an instant and she would be yelling and banging on the doors. Another guy would pace up and down non stop for hours..never said a word either.
Then there was the drug induced cases, where one guy was having paranoid delusions, thinking someone was trying to kill him because he was fucked up on meth all the time. Who also just so happens to be the same guy i shot up the speed with. I remember this one young guy, who was very soft spoken and just looked like a shell of a person..he had walked in on his best friend after he hung himself in another room of the house they were at that night.
Looking back, we were so young and fearless.. I don't think I would have the balls these day's to hang out smoking weed at a mental health facility and pretending I was a patient if someone saw me.
Anyway i kept seeing this girl, things were going good. Until one day out of nowhere she said she didn't want to hang out anymore with no real explanation. I was pretty devastated. Though I didn't consider us girlfriend/boyfriend at this stage because we had never even talked about it. Still I had strong feelings for her and was a bit heartbroken. I cant remember exactly what happened next but she sent me a message soon after asking me to buy beer and come over. So i did and seemingly like that we were back hanging out. Not long after it was her birthday, and she was having a small party at her place. Was just her and some work friends, all having a fun time. Sometime in the night some guy was knocking on the door asking to see the girl I was with. Everyone just ignored it and I didn't think much of it. After a while we wanted to go to a bar just us 2. So we're just walking when some guy just appears out of nowhere. Guess he was pretty cut she was with me and tried to fight me. She diffused the situation and we left.
Come to learn that she had met him online before me and had hung out a few times. But she wasn't interested once she started to fall for me. So he basically started stalking her when she stopped talking to him. I didn't really care because when they met we weren't exactly a couple, we were just hanging out and having fun. I was kind of happy knowing she chose me.
So things were getting serious, and one night she told me she loved me, it took me by surprise because I didn't know exactly how she felt for me. But man, I was happy because I felt like i was in love with her too.
Not long after she asked me to move in with her and so i did. It was a share house with probably 7-8 people, most of whom worked together at the same resteraunt (they were all Thai, as is she). Then one day she told me all about how she was here on a student visa and they were going to cancel it because she wasn't attending classes. I didnt know what to do, I was so in love that I couldn't imagine loosing her and so I asked her if she wanted to get married and she said yes.
We got married at the registry with only my parent's present, it was real basic. We soon got kicked out of the place we were staying, and so we decided to move into my parents place.
We went to Thailand shortly after for a holiday and to meet her family. Just before I left Australia I went to the doctor who gave me some valium as I was dealing with aggresion and anger issues, I wouldn't be able to control myself at times.
I had put it down to the after affects of my coke use, as I had never been this way before.
The first night we had a pretty big fight, we were inside her friends apartment aswell. Whatever happened to me, I just lost complete control and the rage took over. There was a pair of scissors on the table which I grabbed and without thinking slashed my arm 4 times. When I calmed down a bit and looked at my arm and the damage I had done. My anger turned to a bit of panic and being in a foreign country, I pleaded to my wife to get me to hospital and told her she could leave me after if she wanted. She stuck by me, and that's why I love her.
I put it down to the valium and never took it again. I never had anything like it happen since and my anger issues are pretty much under control.
Martin had moved back into home with his mom, and we used to hang out regularly when my wife would be working at night. At one point we had a falling out over like $5. I was kinda pissed since i had shouted him hundreds over the years on buds, food etc and he was going after me for $5 . He even showed up at my doorstep one day starting shit. He later reached out and apologised. The next time I went and saw him, he had put on alot of weight and had recently lost his mother. He was now living alone.
Over the next few years it was definitely a rough time. Marrying at 21, living with my parents and just lack of life experience combined. There were fights, lying, drug use behind her back. She hated drugs and was against me using them. Eventually she always caught me out.
I was still smoking on and off with Martin and hanging out together. I think it was around the time we were 28 when Martin decided to call it quits on smoking weed completly because it was messing up his body and mind. He had taken long breaks before but this was permanent.
My parent's had sold our home and divorced. So my wife and I had started renting. As much as i hated living at home with my wife and parents, it allowed us to travel overseas every year and save up enough for a house deposit.
So anyway now instead of smoking with Martin we would have a few drinks at his place or head to the local pub for some drinks and a game of pool. Probably hang out 3 to 4 times a month.
Just before I turned 29 my wife got pregnant and we decided to move state and buy a house, as Sydney was too expensive for us. We lasted less than a year.. it was a tough time, i got a transfer through work and it was a horrible experience working in this new environment. Topped with a newborn, money issues and lack of seeing my family.. i was stressed and turned to marijuana to escape after i had promised my wife i wouldn't. Of course she caught me and it wasn't good.. i was so close to loosing them for good.
Ultimately we decided that we would sell our place and try a for life in Thailand. Moved back to Sydney to my mum's place to try and save a bit more money.
Saw Martin every so often, as my time was real limited. He seemed to be doing a little better, he had started a casual job at a pizza shop, his first job in over 10 years. It was good for him to get out of the house, mixing with people. Unfortunately the pizza place went out of business after just a few months.
We would chat and play games online on our ps4s whenever I had some spare time. Loved to play Battlefield, been playing together since the days of Battlefield Vietnam back on pc.
Finally moved to Thailand in October 2019, whilst my wife was pregnant with my second child.
I saw Martin just before i left and it was sad to be moving so far away from my only friend.
So were living in Thailand with my wife's family, we ended up building a small home on her spare land.
Then Covid happened..our business wasn't producing any income and we ended up clearing though most of our savings..but regardless it was a mostly happy time since i got to spend every day with my family.
We had no choice but to come back to Australia.. it wasnt what we thought it was, life wasn't easy and stress free. Our dreams of living a simpler life, having our own business and being more self sustained. Thing's weren't like when we first went to Thailand 10 years ago. Everything had gotten expensive , less and less friendly and alot more rude people around. Money is everything in Thailand, and pretty much decides how you are treated as a person in society. Still, there are many things I love about Thailand.
We arrived back late June 2020, moved with mum again and just spent time settling in and looking for a place to rent.
I never told martin my plans of coming back to Sydney, I wanted it to be a surprise.
The last time I messeged him was on the 7th June , I just said what's been happening?
He replied on the 11th with "in hospital man sucks"
I replied "shit what happened"
No response, i just figured he didn't have internet access or something.
So I sent him another message on the 14th saying "well best of luck anyway, hope its nothing serious".
he replied "cheers man, nah just mental hospital. How you doing man?"
I replied "not too bad, hope you can get out of hospital soon"
He replied "cheers man"
That was our last contact.
It was pretty simple and short, which wasn't like him.
I sent him a message on the 25th August on facebook just to say hey and that, I didn't get a reply. Tried his PSN account with nothing.. i messaged a friend on his Facebook who i knew he spoke to occasionally.. he hadn't heard from him in a while either. I thought well he just hasn't recharged his phone credit, he might still be in the mental hospital.
I called around a few places with nothing. I went and buzzed his home 3 days in a row with no answer.. i was like wtf where was he... did something happen to him? I left a note in his mail box for whoever reads it to contact me because I was trying to reach Martin for a while.
I'll never forget the moment I got that call on Saturday afternoon, I knew that voice anywhere, it was martin's father.. my heart immediately sank, I knew what news was coming.
He said i found your note, im sorry but ive got some bad news, Martin had passed away on the 27th of August. He had been admitted to the hospital one night when he started to feel dizzy and was throwing up. They ran some tests and it came back to be brain cancer. The conversation is kind of a blur but he moved into his fathers home and spent the remainder of his life with his family. Im sure deep down he loved his father and brother, even though they had a strained relationship. He had said Martin had lost his memory and the passwords to his laptop and phone, so he was unable to contact any of his friends. He mentioned he would send some photos of Martin if I wanted to see them.
Fuck man it hit me so hard, I've never lost somebody I've cared about before. It was an intense set of emotions. From sadness to anger and regret.
I was real angry, how could the world take him like this..he was only 32, he didn't deserve it. Did he know how much I cared about him.. why didn't I make more effort to talk to him and just contact him more often to check in on him. Why didn't I go to his house earlier and put that note in.. I might of been able to see or talk to him before it was too late. Just so many things going through my head, from the memories we shared to the memories we can no longer create together.
I took his father up on his offer to send some photos of Martin's last few months. He sent a few photos with a message. Its hard to look at the photos, Martin had lost so much weight and was real skinny. His father had said he became ill on the 15th April, when he came to live with them until August when he went into palliative care at hospital. He received the best of care and did not suffer any pain. He died on the 27th August from brain cancer (Grade 4).
Thinking of how he told me he was in a mental hospital on the 11th June, after which he would of already known his diagnosis. I was like fuck man, I wish you had of told me. But I don't blame him at all, I mean how do you deal with your own mortality. Ultimately would it of made any difference?.. I don't know.
He was living a life of loneliness, struggling with his mind and the demons within. A troubled life..I just wish life was better for him. But i think for the most part he was glad to be here. If I had to say one thing Martin ever wanted to do in life was to make music. He was heavily into underground hip hop, his favourite artist was Aesop Rock. He tried making a few beats and spitting some rhymes. But I guess he struggled with motivation and just missed that spark. Most of all to me, he had been a part of my life for as long i can remember.. more than half of it. We have told each other stuff nobody else knows. Been through so much together over the years.
I cant believe you never got to play the last of us 2 or even got to see what the playstation 5 looked like.. no more battlefield or late night chats. We were so excited about the ps5 coming, and now I'd be lucky to even afford one. With the ps5 literally a week away, it hits home even harder, I feel like it's just not the same if we can't enjoy it together.
It seems like this time last year I had it all, and in a year I've lost everything but my family. What took us 10 years to save is gone, my best friend is gone. Everything I had.
Last time I had help by staying with my parents, no kids, and my youth. Now this time around I'm already -20k that I had to borrow from my father to help me out, I had told him wouldn't need to use it, but i had no choice. He doesn't have much money to live off by, so I can't just not pay him back. I don't know how will I ever recover from this, I have no education or skills.
I feel like I've come to a point in my life where it just seems like I'm just wasting away. I have my family who is everything to me, even though my marriage isn't always the best. My 3 year old son who is my world, just so smart, funny and a real personality but also extremely active and naughty. My 7 month son who i love, but is super difficult and hard work. Somehow I'm just not as patient as I used to be and get annoyed at him all the time. I would never hurt him but it makes it hard to like him and I hate myself for it. I know he's just a baby and once this stage ends, things will be alot different hopefully.
It just feels like I'm a looser and failing at life. I look around me and all I see are families with nice homes, jobs and cars. And all I want to do is be able to provide that for my family. So that they have a place to call home and build the future they deserve. Make the kind of memories that can only be made in a home.
But how can I ever achieve that with my current situation and house prices are insane. I guess I have to accept that..but thinking about how sudden Martin lost his life, made me think of my own and what if that was me. My family would be left with nothing and my children without a father.
Right now all I care about is trying to make the best life for my children. Make sure they have a comfortable and loving upbringing, good education and a solid family relationship. Not make the same mistakes I did , by not following any clear path in life and working lower paying jobs.
Not putting effort into maintaining my own relationship's with my parents and brothers. I rarely speak to my father and never had a good relationship. I won't let that happen to my children.
So right now I've set a goal to work on my health and lack of energy. Enjoy my time with the family. These two kids sure are alot of work.
Beginning in the new year I'll start looking for work and keep on chugging along, trying to make it work for us. I'll be honest being 20k under and having a car in Thailand that I have to make monthly payments on for the next 6 years is an extremely depressing and demotivating thought.
On top of that i put on a fair bit of weight being out of work for a year and being not as active as I was. I started my diet at 103kg and I'm down to 88, I want to loose 10kg more. I want to make it a life goal to get back into skating and relearn the basics, a few flip tricks, grinding and ollieing simple stuff. I always had a love of skateboarding, which I shared with Martin and I want to pass that on to my sons and be able to skate around together.
I tried to get back on the board and I'm pretty hopeless, i can barely Ollie and lack confidence. I guess being a bit overweight and the fact my body doesn't work like when I was younger. I'm hoping that loosing a bit more weight will make it alot easier to move around and commit to the tricks.
I'm sick of living a life of fighting my addictions and constant procrastination. Its always been either food, drugs, alcohol, porn.. just something. I just hope I can do something before it's too late.
I just miss you so much Martin. I hope you made peace. I will always remember the days we spent together. I feel like ive lost a piece of myself.
I love you my brother.
P.S. Fuck cancer man.
EDIT: Wow, thankyou guys for the awards, I didn't think many people would actually read my post. Thankyou to all of you for taking the time to read it, I know it was pretty long. I'm very humbled by all your comments and well wishes. Sending my love back to you all.

So, tomorrow is Little Nightmares 2 release and I wanted to do let's play on it. And today I have decided to test recording on PS4. I connected YouTube account to PS4, set up recording settings, switched on game, started streaming to YT (successfully, with facecam), started recording gameplay on PS4 using SHARE button.
So, the video that was streamed to YT, it was fine, there were game sound, my voice, my face and no problems.
So I went to check recorded video in the gallery, and there were gameplay video with my voice, but WITHOUT my face... And, that's strange, Thumbnail in my PS4 gallery HAS PiP, but when I play this video, there is no PiP... It seems that SHARE recording works only with game video, game audio, my voice, but NO camera video.
I am looking for any help, any advice, I've already checked all the possible setting in PS4, but with no success.
Thanks in advance! 👍
Edit 1: I forgot to mention, I want to have a copy, that is already on my PS4 in case there will be bad internet connection, or something goes wrong, and I know that I can download my stream from YT and montage it later

I own a PS4 and a Switch, and the last time I looked into Stadia, I was disappointed to find they still hadn't worked around the whole iOS thing. So I've been happy enough playing on PS4 and Switch at home, and Switch away from home. But always had the issues of storage management and slow loading/downloading/installing on the PS4, and not having my favourite games on the Switch.
Last week I found out Stadia is finally available for iOS so I thought I'd try out a couple of games - Destiny and the Immortals demo. Both played fine at work on my lunch break although not as smooth as I'd like. But played smoothly enough at home and at my girlfriends. I immediately went on a spending spree the moment the Ubisoft sale started - lucky timing! I'm a big Ubisoft fan, and my favourite game last year (that really helped me through furlough here in the UK) was AC Origins. I am yet to start Odyssey but bought that too, along with GR Breakpoint, Division 2, Watchdogs 2, ESO, and Hitman on Pro trial among several others. I've realised I have quickly become an addict! It's so exhilarating knowing I can buy a game and not worry about storage anymore, and can play it immediately! Being an advocate of streaming and digital purchases, this is what I'm used to with movies and tv shows already, and now I have the same service with gaming. Not only that, my favourite games too. Unlike with the Switch (great as it is), I can finally play Division, GR and AC Origins away from home on my iPad. Yes, I've tried PS Remote Play, and that's good too to be fair. And it was a toss up between committing to Stadia or just sticking with that. But yesterday I connected to my PS4 at work and loaded The Division - omg the loading time was horrendous! I was immediately getting impatient, and before the game even started, I quit out of PS4 Remote Play and put Division 2 on Stadia, and was playing within a minute. That was the final decision maker for me.
I'm amazed that in the short space of a week, I have gone from being all set to buy a PS5 and struggling to get one along with the millions of others around the world, to not even wanting to bother anymore. All those poor people wanting their console, and I realise I don't even need one. The pure ease of use - buying a game and immediately being able to play it, having access to dozens of games when ever you like without having to manage storage beforehand, faster frame rates and better graphics than the PS4 along with much quicker load times, access to all my favourite games away from home as well as in the home, all makes this a no brainer.
Negatives I can see so far:

1. No access to save files. While this usually won't be an issue, games such as AC Unity don't give any management of saves within the game itself. You can't delete a save, and can't create a new save or create a new game. You can replay missions, but basically this means on Stadia AC Unity cannot be replayed from scratch after the first time. On console you'd simply delete the save file to do so. I have sent feedback for this.
2. No way to hide titles in your library. What if you Claim a Pro title and don't like it? You can't remove or hide from your library so it sits there at the bottom of your list. Also, as stated I tried Immortals demo. I have now bought the game while it is on sale. Trouble is, I still have the demo listed in my library as well as the full game. I can't hide or remove the demo! How silly is that? I contacted support and they just said send feedback, so once again I have done.
3. Not enough games to tempt friends over. I have all but one of the games I love to play on Stadia, thanks to Ubisoft. But there are plenty of titles still missing. There's no way my daughters will be tempted as there is no GTA or Fortnite. I'm also missing the first The Division game.
4. I think there needs to be an option to limit frame rate to 30 for areas where your internet isn't good enough for 60, just like they have a limit setting for resolution. Again feedback sent.

Otherwise, I'm loving Stadia, and for the most part it's everything I want it to be. Good luck to those still after a PS5 - screw the scalpers!
[edited to amend point 3]

What is this guide for?

Playing Split screen / Couch Co-op multiplayer Nintendo Switch games with your friends over the internet using a Capture Card, Titan One, and Parsec.
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So this guide exists, and I will be using it as a base for this guide.
However, while following it I ran into several problems, and the guide misses an absolutely crucial step that is not mentioned anywhere, but is super simple, and I spent hours trying to fix before finding the solution buried deep within google search results.
It is also worth mentioning the Titan One's limitation of only allowing one extra player to join you over parsec. For more than +1 you need to use the Titan Two, but I will not be writing this guide for that purpose, as I do not own a Titan Two.
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Let's get started

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Host's Hardware Requirements:

• Nintendo Switch
• Windows 10 PC capable of running Parsec
• Elgato HD 60 Pro or other Low Latency passthrough capture card. I highly recommend a PCI-e slotted card, NOT a USB connected external device.
• Titan One (Titan Two also works, but the process may differ slightly, this guide is specifically for Titan One)
• HDMI headless dongle if you do not wish to plug the output into a TV/Monitor to play lagless on the hosts end.
• Reliable internet connection with at least 10mbps upload.

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Host's Software Requirements:

• Parsec
• Elgato Game Capture HD or whatever software your capture card uses
• Titan One GTuner Pro Software
• MaxAim DI Plug in for GTuner (You can download this inside GTuner Pro with the built in plugin manager.)
• Parsec controller bundle drivers (Restart required after install)

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Client's Hardware/Software Requirements:

• Windows PC, Mac, Linux or Raspberry Pi3
• an HID compliant controller connected (Xbox360, Xbox One, PS4, etc)
• Parsec

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Host's Hardware Setup

1. Plug powered on Nintendo switch into dock
2. Plug Switch HDMI Cable into In port of Capture Card
3. Plug HDMI headless dongle into the OUT port, or HDMI to a TV/Monitor
4. Plug Mini B USB cable into Titan One, and the standard USB end into the PC
5. Plug Titan Adaptor into the side USB port of the Switch Dock
6. (Optional) Plug a controller into your PC to make a later step a bit more simple

Host's Software Setup

1. Run Parsec and create an account/Login on both the Host and Client PCs
2. Open GTuner Pro as Administrator and update both your software and firmware under Tools !! DO NOT UNPLUG YOUR TITAN ONE OR INTERUPT THE PROCESS DURING THE FIRMWARE UPDATE !!
3. Navigate to Tools > Options > Device tab and change the Output Protocol to Nintendo Switch
4. Go to Plugins > Plugin Manager and install MaxAim DI (a common issue here is for GTuner Pro to lock up during the download/install. If this happens to you, close GTuner via task manager and try again.)
5. Open Plugins > MaxAim DI
6. Layout Options > turn off Lock Editing
7. In the Layout dropdown select System Remapping (Xbox360)
8. If you have a local controller plugged in, go to Direct Input > DI settings and select your controller in the dropdown. Press some buttons to ensure that the gamepad is being read
9. Proceed to map the buttons in MaxAim DI by right clicking each button space and selecting Direct Input catch if you have a local controller, or Direct Input List otherwise. Mapped controller reference here
10. Open the Device Monitor and confirm your button presses output to the corresponding switch controls. If your client is connected to you with parsec, their button inputs should also register here
11. The device monitor does not need to remain open, but the MaxAim DI window and GTuner Pro must
12. On the Nintendo Switch, navigate to System Settings > Controllers and Sensors and turn on Pro Controller Wired Communication. This is essential.

Connecting and playing

1. Have the Client connect to the hosts PC via Parsec
2. Open Elgato Game Capture HD software, and ensure Live Mode is selected.
3. Ensure that GTuner Pro and MaxAim DI plugin are both open, and Direct Input is turned on in MaxAim DI. You may need to go to DI Settings and select the clients connected controller each time you open MaxAim DI or restart the parsec connection. Use the DI settings window and device manager in these programs to confirm the client's button inputs are being read.
4. on the nintendo switch go to Controllers > Change Grip/Order and attempt to connect the client's controller as either first or second player slot. It should appear as a Pro Controller.
5. Full screen Elgato and Enjoy!

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Bonus Tips

• If you'd like to use a voice chat program like discord, telegram, skype, etc. and you experience the game audio ducking whenever someone speaks, first try to disable attenuation in your voice chat program of choice. If that still does not fix the issue, follow the guide under "Use VB-Cable (Manual Fix)" on the hosts PC.
• If your client's button presses are registering in GTuner Pro's device monitor, but will not show up as a pro controller on the Nintendo Switch, double check that you turned on Pro Controller Wired Communication in the Nintendo Switch's system settings. This is absolutely necessary.
• You do not need to change the Virtual Gamepad Type setting in Parsec, even if the client is using a different controller such as DS4, etc.
• The Titan One only supports +1 player, even if you have multiple Titan One's. If you'd like more players to be able to join you for Local Co-Op, you need a Titan Two. However, I have read this will not work for Games such as mario party that force you to use single joycons, as of now there is no way to connect the client's controller as anything other than a pro controller.
• If you'd like to play lagless as the host, you can play on the output HDMI of the Capture card rather than in the capture card preview window, however that window will still need to be open for your client to see.

Hope this helps anyone else out there looking to play Local Co-Op Switch games with their friends over the internet!

So my ex cheated on me two years ago, tried to make it work. She ended up choosing the other guy. Tried to have some level of pride in the fact that I let her choose and the like. My thing was that eventually things would go south with this guy and she would be back.
Not the healthiest perspective but it wasn’t so much about being with her but more about how she was my best friend. I hold grudges for a while and have gone NC with my friends before for months at a time if it was really bad and pick things up like it was nothing.
With that being said my perspective has changed dude to my emotional and mental state being put through the ringer after the break up. Now that context is established, I bought my ex a PS4 after she graduated because I was super proud of her. I had recently converted her from an XBONE to P4 because she enjoyed more story driven games. So the P4 exclusives like Uncharted got her hooked on it.
If anything it was playing it with her on my P4 over the summer in 2018 that basically made me fall in love with her. But yeah,after our last heated conversation she deleted me off of all SM. Which was fine, I had deleted my SM anyways. I didn’t touch my P4 for months until after I got fired from my job two weeks later (2019 was my 2020) and realized that I still had her added... and she was still playing games.
So basically I was in a weird situation as I couldn’t imagine she kept me around because she cared too much and decided that she was just that big of an airhead that she didn’t even know how to work the damn console after months of having it.
I was somewhat flabbergasted as let’s be honest, “What to do when you have your Ex as a buddy on your game console after the breakup?” was not something you see on a dating forum. Plus, not gonna lie, taking in her personality it was somewhat adorable. I was almost relieved that she still was using my gift until it lowkey dawned on me that she was probably playing it with the other guy...
Shoved that sadness down and replaced it with pettiness and decided that I was gonna beat every game that she played 100% before she did. It was sometimes that I committed to. So much so that it lowkey made the pain go away for a while. I had always wondered if she would notice and part of me thought it was creepy to be chasing after her through video games.
I guess I wanted to keep the dream alive, that we were still friends. Talking to each other in the party chat. Complaining about the shit internet connection. Doing coop games together. It was a blast and I wanted to return to that emotionally.
...but after a while it felt hollow. Like “what am I even doing?” She cheated on me. This wasn’t some mutual break up... eventually I pushed my self to delete her. It wasn’t worth anymore. She wasn’t my friend anymore, she wasn’t my baby, or my puddin pop. She was just a chick who I bought a game console so we could make our relationship just a little bit stronger.
Regardless of if she was thinking of me as she played the same games we agree upon before everything went to shit. She still hurt me, she still didn’t apologize, she still left without saying goodbye, and she was still entertaining herself with my gifts as if I hadn’t even existed.
I deleted her last year.
I still play my PS4 from time to time. FF the remake was dope. More of a PC gamer though, despite not having time to game. Sometimes you gotta let go, you gotta let go for yourself.
They ain’t coming back, as much as you wish some quirky reason will bring you guys back together like in the movies, it won’t happen. At worst you gotta tell them to go fuck themselves mentally and best you wish them good.
I best thing I can say is that when the time comes she will be buying a PS5, not a XBOX. I think I’m happy that I made that difference.

Hey guys,
I've read several threads concerning Ps5’s 3D audio experience and the opinions diverged very widely. Since my personal experience has depended very much on the headphones/headsets used, I wanted to give a brief overview of my impressions here. I am not a so-called audiophile, but have a 5.0 (nubert383,413 and 313) surround system (no subwoofer due to neighbours underneath) and just enjoy good sound. First of all I would like to mention that English is not my mother tongue and I would therefore ask you to forgive me for grammatical errors. I would also like to mention that I only tested the sound and did not try the chat function during the tests.
I used the following headphones, partly in combination with a G6 DAC from Creative:
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1. Sony Pulse 3D headset
2. Steelseries 9
3. Sony WHL-600 wireless headphones (+G6)
4. Beyerdynamic DT-990 Pro (+G6)

(1) First i started with the 3D Puls from sony. Unfortunately, I expected a bit too much from a headset for € 100. The sound was just okay and I clearly heard the 3D audio in Spiderman miles moralis and demon souls. The helicopters over miles in spiderman mm and the dragon flying over my character in Demons souls are particularly memorable. Otherwise the 3D effect was quite good in general. I heard the noises in front of me, behind me, below and above me. Without the activated 3D audio option, the spatial perception was simply not available and, especially when turning the camera, I clearly noticed in comparison how the sound was partially „cut off“ (I don't know how to describe it better). After a while, however, the very flat sound, which was stronger with the 3D option on, got on my nerves. In addition, the sound of ps4 games was particularly poor and unbearable. I sold them.
(2) After browsing the internet a little, I decided to test the Stellseries 9, since a lot of people recommended them. In short, the sound was slightly better, but for 200 € it was just complete crap. Especially compared to the other headphones, that cost the same or much less, in my opinion this is totally a rip off. I have to say that they were very comfortable, but definitely not worth the price. The headset was also very quiet on the ps5 and the setting in the EQ on the PC didn't change the sound at all. So, i gave them back.
(3) I've got used to the wireless version of headphones and wanted to keep it that way. I also wanted to test wireless headphones in comparison to the previous headsets, so I bought the sony whl-600 for 200€. For the 3D audio, I wanted as little compression as possible and therefore wanted to pass the digital signal directly from the ps5 through to the headphones. Since the ps5 does not have an optical connection, I tried a G6 Dac (bought a used one for ~100€). Compared to the two previous headsets, the sound was great. The sound was much clearer and better resolved. I kept it for 3 weeks and was very happy with it.
(4) Since the tonal difference between the headsets (1) + (2) and the wireless headphones (3) was so great, I wanted to know whether there was still an improvement. In various forums, audiophiles were very strongly convinced that only wired headphones would bring good sound. In addition, these wired headphones should also be significantly cheaper than the wireless versions. So I bought a used DT-990er Pro from beyerdynamic on ebay and connected it to the ps5 via the G6. And what should I say? I was completely blown away. The sound is so pure, high-resolution, and I perceived tones both in music and in gaming that would otherwise simply go under. It's absolutely amazing. The 3D audio is so awesome now that I currently prefer to game with the headphones rather than using the Surrouns system. The only disadvantage is that I have to use a 10m long extension cable in order to be able to play on the sofa, so that the headphone cable is not constantly hanging in the middle of the room. But it is absolutely woth it.So I can recommend the combination with of a DAC with a good pair of wired headphones to everyone. If you buy both used, you get a total price of less than € 200 and you get an order of magnitude better sound than using headsets in the same price range.

Hi everyone, I figured I'd post my remote play journey for all to hear, maybe it can help anyone else who is still in love with their vita and wants remote play to be functional.
If you don't want to hear the long story... I daisy chained a WNDR 3700v4 Netgear router configured as an access point (go to advanced settings to make this change) to my current router setup and viola, my vita connected perfectly via the wifi signal it sent out. This is with ps4 connected via ethernet, remote play settings set to standard + high frame rate, and "Use Wi-Fi in Power Save Mode" turned off. Vita has ran with no frame drops for hours straight and very minimal input lag (I've been comfortably playing Borderlands 3). Prior to this I couldn't play for even 5 minutes without Vita dropping, and that was with me standing as close as 2 feet away from the wifi router.
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Now the narrative story for whoever has time. So I've been having trouble with having my vita play remote play nicely within my house wifi since I bought it brand new with the Borderlands 2 bundle, like 7 years ago? I don't even remember. And honestly, the remote play feature was one of the most intriguing features of the vita that I always wanted to use. I love handheld and the ability to play ps4 games handheld sounded so good. I'd always go back to it hoping one day that something changes or some new fix will be revealed to me. I've ALWAYS had issues with frame drops and eventually the vita just cuts out and loses connection. On top of that the response time always seemed really slow. There were times where it would work for a few minutes, but eventually the result would be the same. I tried everything, every tutorial, every router modification, even played around with router placement, channel scanning/changing, you name it. For the longest time I lived in apartments so I just relegated it to being in too congested of a network area that made the poor vita wifi cards impossible to connect to. I actually would have more luck with remote play when traveling and connecting to an internet connection to play that way, but still shoddy at best.
So I recently moved into a house with relatively few wifi routers close by (maybe 2-3 neighbors I can see SSID for). SAME ISSUE! So frustrated, I gave up and just shelved the vita. Then today I had an idea. To begin, my network setup is like this: Modem connects to router 1 which is in the front of the house, then a 25 ft ethernet cable connects to router 2 which is setup as an access point (on Netgear routers this is very easy to do, just a setting change under advanced settings). Essentially router 2 uses DHCP table from router 1 and simply extends the network. I actually have most of my stuff connected to router 2 since that is the more powerful wifi signal in the back of the house. Router 1 is a Nighthawk R7960P and router 2 is a Nighthawk R6900P (I should probably switch the two since router 1 is effectively "more powerful", but whatever -_-). Going back to my vita remote play, it would not sustain a good connection with either one of these routers, dropping frames constantly or eventually losing connection. I've had my old Netgear WNDR 3700v4 sitting in my closet for years by this point. Then it dawned on me that I could probably daisy chain another router to router 2 and see what happens. My guess was maybe if I had a router that had no congestion from other wifi connections that it would be able to run the remote play more effectively. So I connected all the cables and configured router 3 (the WNDR 3700v4) to run as an access point, and it totally connected fast and effectively. I played for 2 hours straight with no hickups while the wife was watching Netflix and family in the other room streaming other stuff. I was blown away. Never had I been able to run remote play so effectively. I was playing Borderlands 3 and it was actually super enjoyable (aside from the fact that the controls for BL3 on vita suck... a little customization fixed that). I have the L2/R2 grip which I got specifically for remote play but was never really able to use it because the connection was always so bad.
So yeah, after years and years of battling a good remote play setup, I think I've finally found a solution. Maybe a suggestion to consider for anyone that remote play has never worked well for. I'm guessing the reason this helped so much is because the router is literally only processing the wifi for the vita, so it has no other tasks to contend with. My other guess is that the wireless G connection on new routers (the two Nighthawks I have are much newer than this WNRD router) is very poorly made due to such few devices using that connection anymore. Our vita unfortunately never got equipped with better cards. I labeled my specific products here for illustration purposes, but I'm sure any old router would help this problem. Something to test if you're like me and have random old electronics just lying around your house or can spend $20 getting a used router on ebay or something.
Anyway, that's enough from me, thanks to anyone who made it this far for reading!