How to install custom League of Legends skins
Too fashion-forward to allow your League of Legends champions to get caught wearing the same ‘ol attire day after day? Start the new year with a fresh look! In this Protip, Josh demonstrates how to find and install custom League of Legends skins to make your champions the best-dressed little warriors on the block. Check out the introduction above, and watch Josh’s complete instructions in the consecutive videos, as well as a rundown of the PC Gamer US office favorites…
Skyrim ENBSeries mod boosts visuals, version one out now
Do you remember this impressive Deus Ex: Human Revolution mod? It was built by Boris Vorontsov, author of the ENBSeries graphical mods which also formed the basis of the spectacular ICEnhancer mod for Grand Theft Auto 4. He’s just released the first version of one for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. You can download it now from Skyrim Nexus.
Skyrim Mods: the 20 best so far
Skyrim mods incoming! It’s now been two weeks since the game was released, and there’s been and explosion of modding activity. Skyrim was already an amazing looking game, but with just a handful of these mods it can look even better. Not to mention a whole host of bug fixes, stability improvements, interface tweaks and gameplay enhancements.
Once again we’ve rounded up the best, prettiest, most useful and funniest mods to enhance your Skyrim experience. Check inside for the full list.
Skyrim map mod provides in-game street views
We’ve been keeping a close eye on Skyrim Nexus for our Skyrim Mods post, but this one impressed us so much it deserves its own post. Not so much a mod as a set of tweaks, Map in full 3D shows you how to modify the game’s ini file to make it possible to zoom the in game map right down to the ground. The result is essentially a free camera mode that lets you roam anywhere in the world. It’s like the google street view team was let loose in the frozen north.
We’ll be adding this to our list of Skyrim mods in the next update. In the meantime, if you want some cool locations to explore with it, why not try our Skyrim tourist guide?
The 11 best Skyrim mods so far
Skyrim is a wonderful game. It’s so good that Tom gave it 94% in our Skyrim review, but as good as Bethesda games are, they’re always a little bit better once they’re modded. Amazingly, despite the fact that the game has only been out for a few days, there are already over a hundred mods on Skyrim Nexus. We’ve rounded up the best of the first wave – they’re not game-changers, but some of these are worth taking a look at.
We’re planning to regularly update this page as more mods come out. New mods will be added and old ones will either be updated or fall by the wayside.
The 25 best Minecraft mods
Minecraft has the best modding community in the world. Despite no official mod tools being released, players are constantly expanding and adding an astonishing amount of new content.
We’ve tracked down the very best Minecraft mods to transform your game into something extra-amazing. This list combines the up to date mods from our previous installments and ten new ones into a list of the top 25 Minecraft mods the internet has to offer.
Lord of the Rings Last Days mod released for Mount and Blade, looks amazing
The Lord of the Rings Last Days of Middle Earth mod for the original Mount and Blade has been released after five years of work. The mod lets you fight and command all the factions of Middle Earth, no less, with some top notch custom armour sets, new textures and new locations designed to bring Middle Earth to Tale World’s medieval rags to riches pillaging sim. Find out more and see some fantastic screenshots of the mod below.
The 10 best Dead Island mods
Despite being slightly broken on release, Dead Island has scored legions of fans who enjoy nothing more than slaughtering zombies in its open-world island. We liked it. Thanks to a Halloween tie-in sale it’s currently sitting at number five in the Steam charts, and it’s already got an impressive number of mods for such a recent game.
This is partly due to it being fairly simple to mod, and partly due to bits of it not working on release. Open up its PAK files in WinRAR, then tweak certain settings with notepad to your undead heart’s content. This simplicity has resulted in mods which do everything from make zombies’ heads come off every time you hit them, to changing the game to make it more like Crysis.
Blizzard Arcade to arrive with StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm
The Blizzard Arcade will arrive alongside the release of the StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm, Blizzard have just announced at a Blizzcon panel. The Arcade will act as a hub for user-made mods and games created using StarCraft 2′s extensive mod tools. The Arcade will be available to everyone who owns StarCraft 2, not just Heart of the Swarm players.
Games available in the Blizzard Arcade will be free to begin with, but Blizzard plan to let mod makers charge for their games in future. The Arcade will be available from the front page, and take players to a central screen showing the most popular mods of the moment. A five star rating system and user reviews will help the best games rise to the top, and “what’s hot” sections will give players quick access to the most popular games on the service. The mods will use StarCraft 2′s matchmaking system to put players together.
The editor will also be improved, with debugging improvements, a cutscene editor, and custom UI editing tools.
Stalker 2 could use online only DRM
GSC are currently considering using online-only DRM as a possible anti-piracy solution for Stalker 2, according to an interview with Ukrainian website KP spotted by Kokaku. GSC said:
“Protection from piracy? Part of the content will be located on the server and downloaded as the game progresses. Permanent internet access is required. Text information, code and quests will be loaded through that connection.”
Later, speaking to Rock Paper Shotgun, GSC clarified that this was only one of many possibilities, saying:
“The idea of implementing DRM came in as a possible anti-piracy solution. You know the severe level of commercial piracy we have here in ex-USSR region. This said however, there is no firm decision to go for DRM with S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 as of now. Be assured, we do realize how uncomfortable this solution is for the players, so we’ll continue looking for most effective, yet acceptable for all, way of protecting the game by the time of its release.”
Deus Ex: Human Revolution ENB mod augments visuals. Lighting improved. Fist-chisels shinier
Deus Ex: Human Revolution’s dark, golden cityscapes are a beautiful place to wander around fist-chiseling people at the best of times, but the ENBSeries mod adds an extra sheen of cyber-loveliness for those running the game on an Nvidia card. The golden filter is toned down, colours are richer and the lighting tech is kicked up a notch or two. Even Human Revolution’s corridors are moodier, smokier places with this mod installed.
Your framerate will take a certain hit, but it’s worth an install if you’re curious to see what Human Revolution could look like with every graphical setting maxed out. If you’re running Deus Ex on a monster rig, you might just be able to play through the entire game at a reasonable frame rate. This is only the first version, too. We’re can’t wait to see what else can be done to boost the Human Revolution engine.
The tiny file can be downloaded for free from the ENBSeries site. To install, simply unzip the contents of the downloaded folder into the Deus Ex: Human Revolution directory that holds your Deus Ex: Human Revolution .exe file. I’ve hopped into a few saved games with and without the mod to grab some before and after pics, which you’ll find below. Unmodded images are first in the sequence.
Deus Ex Unreal Revolution mod brings Human Revolution to Deus Ex 1
We recently posted the video above as part of one of our end of day links posts. We thought it was just a clever parody of the new Deus Ex, complete with comedy wrist-chisel take downs, yellow object outlines and a sly dig at Human Revolution’s extensive web of pre-order bonuses. Now we learn from RPS that the video was in fact a trailer for a full Deus Ex mod, which is out now.
The mod gives JC some Adam Jensen style five o’clock shadow and a pair of AR goggles. Activating these casts the world in a black and gold sheen and outlines objects. The mod also adds iron sights to the assault rifle and fit JC with a pair of arm blades. You can download the mod now from ModDB. You’ll need to install a custom DirectX 10 or OpenGL renderer first.
Diablo 3 game director: mod support would “add a couple of years” development time
Speaking with Jay Wilson at Gamescom, we’ve already heard bad news for anyone with poor internet connections and thrifty habits, though plenty of good ones for people who want to head online with friends and crack skulls until the cows come home. But what about tweaking and adding your own stamp to the game with a few mods? You’re out of luck, at least officially…
“None of the Diablo games have ever supported mods and primarily because being able to do modding along with high fidelity art that is also randomly generated is a really, really big challenge. And when we started the project we went ‘Well, if we’re going to do mods, we’re going to add a couple of years onto the product.’”
Minecraft Pokémon mod, a blocky peek at you
Another day, another amazing Minecraft mod. This one finally does when Nintendidn’t and turns Pokémon into the free-roaming, critter subjugating adventure players of the series have been waiting to see for years, admittedly without the ‘battles’ part as yet. For now, you can convert your spare stone into a Pokedex and set of Pokeballs, capture and name some creatures, and wander around dreaming of the day you’ll be able to respond to a Creeper with a confident cry of “Charizard, I choose you!”
You can download the mod from the Minecraft forums.
Saturday Crapshoot: The Nameless Mod
Every week, Richard Cobbett rolls the dice to bring you an obscure slice of gaming history, from lost gems to weapons grade atrocities. This week, prepare to enter a world where fandom carries a gun, everyone gets to rock cool trenchcoats, and you’re never alone with a spork.
With the exception of Invisible War, the great shame of Deus Ex’s legacy is that almost nobody’s ever really tried to beat it. Vampire: Bloodlines got the closest, E.Y.E: Divine Cybermancy… uh… exists. A few others have taken on board individual ideas, like offering stealthy options, or giving you a sack of gadgets. Nothing however has that same hook of being dropped into a world with a bag of tricks, and invited to make your own way through it. Will Human Revolution finally be the successor we’re all longing for? “Hopefully!” I say, in the shifty tone of one who finished it about two weeks ago, but isn’t allowed to give away any actual details for another week or so. Still, I remember it like it was yesterday.
Unless you follow the mod scene though, it’s likely that you’ve not played one of the best things to come from Deus Ex, and one of the best single-player mods in general. Meet The Nameless Mod, one of the coolest attempts to recreate the original magic, and a fine adventure in its own right. What better way to whet your appetite for the official sequel? Team Fortress 2 weapons? Bah! Prepare to enter Forum City, where conspiracy and intrigue aren’t simply life and death. They’re Serious Business…
