Over On The Horizon

Ok, Horizon Zero Dawn came out today on the PC, and based on my Promptapalooza post this morning, I need to work on perseverance. So…I am dedicating myself to persevere to get through the game no matter how long it takes, how difficult it is, or how many obstacles are placed in my path. In any case, here are a few of the challenges I ran into on my first day…

Getting Past The Crash

Horizon Zero Dawn came out today, and I was able to take some time to join up with Aloy and start exploring her world again. I was met with a few problems, but for the most part, the port from console to PC seems to have worked, at least for me.

The first thing I did after I pre-downloaded the game was to check the FAQ. They recommended a certain driver level for my NVidia card, so I went to the GForce Experience and made sure I was up to date. If there’s anything I’ve learned over the years, it’s that if a driver update is recommended, don’t fight it, just do it.

The first problem I had, though, was that when I fired up the game – even with the updated driver – I was met with a black screen. A black screen with an inconsistently blinking cursor. I could move the cursor with the mouse, so things were not frozen, but I could not see anything. Alt-Tabbing out of the game allowed me to see that something was there – actually, I could see the menu selection options, I just couldn’t see them when I focused on the game.

Interweb to the rescue!

I found a reference to a black screen when starting the game, and the recommendation was to Alt-Enter to change from windowed mode to full screen. That did it! I could see things and make the display adjustments that allowed me to get going. Since that change, no more black screens.

The second issue happened about 20 minutes into the game – about 5 minutes after I finally got control of Aloy. I was cruising along in a cave filled with data log messages and holograms, and as I moved from one section to another, the game crashed. Nothing major, no freeze, but a dialog came up telling me the game crashed and had to shut down. I immediately started back up to see if that would clear things…and everything was fine. I was able to cruise through about an hour of the game without any further issues.

So I think I’d say I’m happy with how things have turned out. I’ve been in plenty of games on the first day where things were a catastrophe – sometimes with weeks or months of problems. So far, Horizon Zero Dawn has worked out pretty well.

Promptapalooza Prompt Day 8

Today is also day 8 of Blaugust, or rather it is the eighth day that we are posting a prompt for Promptapalooza. Yup, this year, Belghast over at Tales of the Aggronaut has suggested a different format…we’re gonna be posting writing prompts each day to get things rolling and to see the different perspectives on various topics in gaming, pop-culture, media, and fandoms.

The prompt for today (which I’ll tackle tomorrow – AND which is my turn to be the focus of Promptapalooza) is:

If you had a mascot to represent you, what would it be?

I’m hoping to put on my thinking cap tonight as I sleep to figure out what to say.

In any case, tomorrow (the 9th day of Blaugust if you’re keeping score) the Promptapaloozaing heads over to Princess in a Castle where Endalia puts forth her thoughts for consideration and prompting.

It’s a Wrap

Where has all my time gone? I wanted to post about the latest Star Trek I just watched and the next issue of Thor: God of Thunder, but the day has just ran away from me. I’ll get around to those things soon enough, but as it is, I’m glad I was able to get into Horizon Zero Dawn and start my adventure. I’m not gonna push myself to go quickly through the game because as usual, I prefer to take my time, but I am gonna dedicate myself to go all the way with this game.

It just may take some time.

Ramble 2020.03.27 | Over On The Horizon