ROG Ally

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Socoder -> Hardware and Technology -> ROG Ally
Tue, 19 Nov 2024, 03:36
Jayenkai	ROG Ally Ooopsie!!! For most of the year I've been waiting for the Switch 2 to arrive. Thinking "Should I just buy a SteamDeck?" but then carrying on waiting for that bloody Switch 2 announcement. Over the past couple of weeks I've been pondering if I should spend the "waiting for that Switch 2" cash on a MacMini M4, but I barely use the old 2015 MacMini for anything more than a storage device, and that has a 1Tb HD, so dropping to a 256Gb SSD will be quite the downgrade. .. And the £300 sits there, still waiting. And Xmas is coming, and god knows there's naff all else going on.. "Should I just buy a SteamDeck?" I found myself wondering, this morning. So I checked in on the status of SteamDeck, and it's still Linux driven. Now, don't get me wrong, I've nothing against Linux driven stuff, but if you look through the compatibility list.. It's very much based on modern games, and realistically, if I'm getting myself a modern gaming system, I'd still be playing the same early-2000's era games I've been playing this whole time. Half Life 2 being one of those, especially with all the 20th anniversary stuff going on. It's like the world wants me to be able to play Windows games, all of a sudden. And it sure would be good to have a Windows machine, especially if I can hook up a bluetooth keyboard and get Blitz/Max/Monkey going on there. Right?! So I'm still sitting here looking at the SteamDeck reading up on how much of a kerfuffle it can be to get Windows running on it, when I start reading about the ROG Ally. Nice and fast, large resolution, easy to hook up to the telly if I need to, and can even do bits of PC VR should I want to hook it up to the Quest3. And then I read more and more and more, and then I check Amazon, and it's currently down to £399 on Early Black Friday Deals, and I'm... .. checking that bank balance.. ... Yep, the Switch2's £300's still there. The ROG Ally will be here tomorrow, snow depending! -=-=- ''Load, Next List!''
Tue, 19 Nov 2024, 10:01
cyangames	Not heard of the ROG Ally before, keen to hear how it works for you though! https://rog.asus.com/uk/gaming-handhelds/rog-ally/rog-ally-2023/spec/ That sounds a bit good that! -=-=- Web / Game Dev, occasionally finishes off coding games also!
Tue, 19 Nov 2024, 11:19
spinal	I don't remember it being much of a problem getting windows on the steam deck. Something like, download the steam deck restore tool thingy, partition the drive, reinstall steam os on the smaller partition, then install windows on the other partition. Tip, install windows 10 and while it's unregistered, perform the free update to 11, which also registers it for free! -=-=- Check out my excellent homepage!
Tue, 19 Nov 2024, 13:39
Jayenkai	I dunno. I think I've gotten far too lazy lately. I was chatting to CyanGames about how rubbish my GBAsp's screen is, and have looked into "it's easy, just use these 100 screwdrivers!" tutorials to switching that out, and I'm like.. ... "Yeah, ok.!!" We'll see how I cope with it, tomorrow. And we'll be getting a JSE Optimisationalism4 score, too \o/yeay\o/ (Though knowing how Amazon deliveries are around here, that might not be until after about 6pm) -=-=- ''Load, Next List!''
Wed, 20 Nov 2024, 00:08
cyangames	Ohh, I'll have to run the JSE Optimisationalism 4 on my puter tonight! -=-=- Web / Game Dev, occasionally finishes off coding games also!
Wed, 20 Nov 2024, 05:59
Jayenkai	Initial thoughts (whilst doing the first charge and setting up Windows) 1.oh Lordy, let there be an option to turn those RGBs off!! 2. The thing comes with a cardboard dock, how lovely, but the charge point is at the top, so you get a ruddy great big wire sticking out the top. tsk -=-=- ''Load, Next List!''
Wed, 20 Nov 2024, 06:08
Jayenkai	Aaah, Windows... -=-=- ''Load, Next List!''
Wed, 20 Nov 2024, 06:56
Jayenkai	Current status, downloading Half Life 2, GTA IV and Audiosurf via Steam on the Ally, whilst the Mac is copying a bunch of music onto a MicroSD card so that I can enjoy Audiosurf properly -=-=- ''Load, Next List!''
Wed, 20 Nov 2024, 09:12
Jayenkai	All the three important games have been tested. Audiosurf is as gorgeous as ever. Having the music on the MicroSD is great, and it's as fast as ever! I'm playing it at 1920x1080, with full "premium" graphical fidelity, and it flows fantastically. Yes, yes, yes!!! Half Life 2 Just as silky smooth, also at full hd with as many options as I can be arsed to fiddle with. The menu setup is a bit broken, so I'll have to play with options. Toggling on Steam's Big Picture might help, but right now the menu is tiny half-visible text on a light grey background, and the "mouse" moves at 100 miles an hour, and the touchscreen is, for some reason, only working as a left-click. So you need to use the thumbstick to zoom it towards a tiny tiny checkbox, then tap the screen. It's very unintuitive, and I'm not sure why.. I'll try Big Picture mode, later. Hopefully that solves the issues. GTAIV God damn, the amount of pissing about with signing up to rockstar you have to do to run the bloody thing... I think my Windows install is already crying out for relief!!! But the game itself (once you reach it!) runs nice and silky smooth. More tests to come, but I've already had to pop it on charge. Rather than having a permanent new plug in the room, I've opted to try plugging it into the iPad's USBc connector. We'll see how well that does at charging it. If not, guess it's another plug. Nnngh... \|update\| Appears to be charging from that, happily, at a rate of about 10% in 20 minutes. \|update\| -=-=- ''Load, Next List!''
Wed, 20 Nov 2024, 16:17
Jayenkai	My Scart to USB Encoder dongle won't work on Macs. Works fine on the ROG Ally, though Play Video (Audio's a little out of sync, mind) -=-=- ''Load, Next List!''
Thu, 21 Nov 2024, 02:51
Jayenkai	Had the thing up to 100% fully charged last night, so decided to try a "unplugged = how dead?" test. Woke up to find it down to 80%. Bloody Windows... In other news, switching to Big Screen mode on Steam causes Half Life 2's entire menu interface to transform into something infinitely more useable and visible. Highly recommended. Quite why they would go through the hassle of building an entirely new menu system, then NOT have it as the default, it beyond me. I tried emulation on it, last night, too, but RetroArch is the clunkiest, least user-friendly interface the world has ever seen. I thought it was just because it was "the stripped down menu for iOS" that caused it to be so shit on iOS, but no. That's how it actually looks. Who the hell thought that was a good UI!? I mean, seriously, who!?!? ugh.. Neither of these are the ROG Ally's fault, though, and other than the significant overnight drain, I'm quite happy with how it's coping so far. -=-=- ''Load, Next List!''
Thu, 21 Nov 2024, 08:04
Jayenkai	Still with the updates and installing and shit. This is what happens when you try to install UTClassic! -=-=- ''Load, Next List!''
Thu, 21 Nov 2024, 08:58
Jayenkai	UTClassic fails spectacularly, running at an approximate speed of 2fps or less. Really not sure what's up with that one. Hmmm. So, I figured I'd try Quake III Arena, and .. Oh dear, that went even worse. The version available on Xbox GamePass is actually the DOS version, so running it resulted in. A) A Dos window flickered open. B) The game went fullscreen C) The gamepad didn't work D) The onscreen keyboard wouldn't pop up E) No keyboard.. What do I do? F) Gave up trying, hard rebooted the device. Oh, the fun of Windows!! -=-=- ''Load, Next List!''
Thu, 21 Nov 2024, 12:27
spinal	This is Windows 11 chrome on steam deck. Don't know if it's good or not. -=-=- Check out my excellent homepage!
Thu, 21 Nov 2024, 17:43
Jayenkai	Had my first play of a Fallout game, today. Went for Fallout 4, though all the Fallouts are available. (The RogAlly came with 3 months of GamePass Ultimate, which I HAVE to remember to cancel in 2.5 months time!!) Got out of the vault onto the land above, and saved there. Maybe about an hour's worth of gameplay. That was fun. Man, it's great to be able to play a game of that quality in my hands like that -=-=- ''Load, Next List!''
Thu, 21 Nov 2024, 23:52
therevillsgames	With the hard reset issue you had, can you plug in an USB keyboard or something to do alt ctl delete?
Fri, 22 Nov 2024, 01:00
Jayenkai	> Reveal 🔎 I don't have any!!! I threw out all my keyboards before the move. I've got a little Bluetooth keyboard that came with a "Android Tester" Samsung Tablet about 5 years ago, and have tried to get that to pair with it, but can't seem to figure out how to put the keyboard into pairing mode. Suggestions are welcome. .. there should also still be a Pokémon Typing Keyboard somewhere, but damned if I can find it. -=-=- ''Load, Next List!''
Fri, 22 Nov 2024, 02:31
Jayenkai	Found it.. Had to scour Amazon for something a bit like it, then the reviews of that until I came across a clue. Hmmm. FN+C, huh...? Yep, that did it! The C key has a little symbol on it. Probably should've spotted that, but I was too busy analysing the Function keys. Fuxake, who makes "C" the Bluetooth Pairing key?! Why is it C?! (Connect, Jay.. Connect..) -=-=- ''Load, Next List!''
Fri, 22 Nov 2024, 09:23
Jayenkai	Wondered how well it could handle VR, today. It didn't handle it well!! Step one, have Steam installed. Step two, there's a separate SteamVR app. So you install that and run it. Then wait and wait... ... Then notice it's running in a teensy tiny window at the bottom of the screen behind the Steam window, and the teensy tiny window says it can't access the Meta app.. ... ... So, I have to install a Meta App too. Steam VR won't run without Meta App running, but also needs Steam app running, because, of course it does. So with 3 layers of shite running, I eventually got the SteamVR "home" running on the headset, and moving my head caused wobbly wobbly 15fps-or-so motion. And THEN you have to run the game on top of that.. Suffice to say, stick to the Quest3 on its own. I deleted a lot, today. ..oh yeah, and the Quest 3 was leeching battery from the ROG Ally, so if you DID want to do this, you'd need some sort of super-hub that connects the two devices together, whilst also powering them both.. good grief.. -=-=- ''Load, Next List!''
Fri, 22 Nov 2024, 13:58
therevillsgames	You could try direct wifi connection with your quest to steamvr. I use Virtual Desktop, but valve did release their own version on quest. And you don't need the meta app.
Fri, 22 Nov 2024, 15:32
Jayenkai	Hmm... :/ The SteamVR app was what suggested it needed the Meta app, and if I tried loading SteamVR without Meta running, it failed to connect. I didn't think to try out the Wifi connection. Anyhoo, once I'd given up trying, I went back to regular Steam to play some Puyo Puyo Tetris, and Steam failed to load. So, yeah, there's that.. I figured it was SteamVR/MetaVR related, so deleted both of those, and blammo, back to a working Steam again. It really is a great big chaotic mess! I think I should probably read up a bit on how others are making it work, and look into Virtual Desktop and whatnot. But what I did see really didn't fill me with hope. Honestly, if I could run VR stuff on my Mac, that's infinitely more powerful. Annoying as hell that I can't. They'll probably lock anything down to VisionOS only. -=-=- ''Load, Next List!''
Fri, 22 Nov 2024, 16:34
Jayenkai	: Download \| Suno Link Alternative version : Download \| Suno Link -=-=- ''Load, Next List!''
Sat, 23 Nov 2024, 08:38
Jayenkai	Right then. Gaming time. Decided to play Puyo Puyo Tetris on it. Has to be done. I need to rack up 1000 credits so I can buy the "PI PI PIIIiiIIiIiIiIIiI" alternate voice for O. I played for about an hour, and had 837 credits racked up, when... "Oh, you fucking think so, mi'lado. Sitting there playing games.. I don't think so...Time for ENFORCED FIRMWARE UPDATE..." No option, couldn't remove the dialogue, had to stop playing, plug it in, and wait for the firmware to update. God damnit.. Writing this while it updates, hoping to god it still works once it's done. -=-=- ''Load, Next List!''
Sat, 23 Nov 2024, 10:10
Jayenkai	Still works. Carried on gaming, reached 1000 credits, PiPiPiiiiii!!!! -=-=- ''Load, Next List!''
Sat, 23 Nov 2024, 15:54
therevillsgames	"SteamVR app was what suggested it needed the Meta app" Never seen that before :? Wonder if it's because I've never used a cable to connect the Quests to the PC... (only did it with the Rift). If you havent already bough Virtual Desktop, you could try Steam Link for free https://www.meta.com/en-gb/experiences/steam-link/5841245619310585/?srsltid=AfmBOopJlqA_S5LN3Cp8HXE6RQBZBlvcLuVYeBfHuLzpSE6RIMvATnyA I do have more success using Virtual Desktop though the last time I used it.
Tue, 26 Nov 2024, 04:22
Jayenkai	Fallout 4 Disclaimer : I know that Fallout 4 came out before Zelda : Breath of the Wild did. Disclaimer 2 : I might be in a slightly grumpy place, right now!!! It's been tough giving up on my Advent Calendar concept, failing to do >1,000,000 games in a year, and general not managing to get a lot done this year at all. -=-=- It's just text. There's text EVERYWHERE. Menus and Text, with a bit of walking between a few more screens full of text and menus. I do enjoy the aimless wandering, but .. Honestly, the amount of text going on in this game is silly. Am I playing a modern game (no, it's almost a decade old, now, Jay) or am I playing an 80s Text Adventure? The "vibes" run through the game really really well. It works as a style. It's fantastic, in fact. The little text display monitors are an intentional throwback, and the Pipboy (a little watch-like device that you use to do most inventory/stat stuff) is also stylised really well. But it's a lot of text. Surely could've done with a bit more iconography along the way. BOTW and No Man's Sky both have equally as baffling menus, but most of those are icon driven, or at least look pretty. Menu* I've said before that if I'm playing a game, let it just be a game. And let a book be a book, and a movie or TV series be that, too. If I'm settling down to play a Text Adventure, then that's a whole other kettle of fish, but a 3D first person shooter should really behave like a 3D first person shooter. Fallout 4 seems to want to be a story first and foremost. After the intro "learn to navigate" stuff is over, the game suddenly hand-holds you to the bunker, plays out a cutscene, but then it lets you loose. .. And, at this point, you're pretty much 100% free to do what you want. You can go where you want, ignore the story stuff.. You're done. You're in... You're free. Hurray! Text ...reading screen after screen of text. The story's still there, it's just mostly in reading-time. I found myself walking around picking everything up into what appears to be a limitless inventory.. And, that's when things started to break down for me. This is meant to be a survivalist game? Am I right in saying that? (This is my first experience of a Fallout game) Should "carrying twelve empty buckets" not have a vague amount of impact to my ability to run around like a crazed idiot? I mean, sure, I might be able to put all the other garbage INTO the twelve buckets, but at some point, those are gonna start weighing me down. "It's a game, Jay" Yes, but it's the type of game where that would've added to the game. I think.. Maybe.. Who knows. Apparently not me. .. But, no, no matter what it is I'm carrying, I can still "jump" to my regular height .. And by jump.. ...The second thing that broke me out of the game was .. What the heck is going on with that floaty jump!? Has the earth lost 80% of its gravity? Hit the jump button and wait for a good second or so before your character's back on land again. And the "jump up onto a rock" collision detection seems wonky as heck, too. You don't seem to be able to jump up to a high rock by holding forward and hitting jump. If you hit jump, wait for the character to be at the peak of his jump, THEN hit forward, you have a much higher probability of landing on the rock. It's like.. from a game-dev's mindset .. Moving towards the rock is causing the character to "bump" back a bit, to the point where, when they're "over" the rock, the bump-back is still bumping you back, so you miss the timing of getting onto the rock. Or at least, that's what I think is happening, here. I might be wrong. Anyhoo, the jumping took me out of it. Menu And then came the menu. I reached a bunch of little stations for crafting/cooking/etc. I hit the A button, and it opened a text based menu. A list of medicines or what-not (depending on which device you tap A on) with a list of ingredients required. This is the point when my head went "Nah..." Two years later, and Breath of the Wild had come out, and the cooking in that is ENTIRELY different. You take your up-to-5 ingredients, throw them into a cooking pot, give it a second, and then you're told if it was worth it. No Man's Sky works kinda like this, too. Put ingredients in, see what comes out. The fun is in seeing what you can come up with, the results of experimentation. Not in just tapping a button on a menu. And yet they're still both Menu driven. It's not like the Menus went away, they just feel more natural, and adventurous, and experimental, and .. FUN.. than having a list of pre-made recipes. That's WAY better, IMHO. In Fallout 4, you have a list of recipes, and "You will cook that recipe!!!!.. RAWR!!!" It doesn't feel "gamey" When you're walking around a large open 3D environment, and are suddenly stuck in a text based menu because .... shrugs I know, I know.. I'm being a whinging git, here. "This is just how it was, 10 years ago". I get that. But multiple times, I found these sorts of things were taking me out of the game, and once they all added up in my head, I gave up entirely. Fallout 4 : DELETE * Yes, I know it's set in the future, and I mentioned Throwback as if it's set in the past, but .. you know what I'm getting at!! It's a style! It's like saying "Wow, how futuristic is Star Wars"! Oh yeah, and I soft locked it 3 times, because there was an obstacle in front of the object I clicked on, and then the player character tried to move to the front of the object that I clicked on, but the obstacle blocked him, and then he kinda bumped into the obstacle, couldn't reach the object, tried to reach the object, bumped into the obstacle, etc, etc, repeatedly, with no way to cancel the requested object interaction, and it just got stuck there endlessly until I quit. ... Three different times in three different places, and I barely played it for what must've totalled about 5 or 6 hours of gameplay. -=-=- ''Load, Next List!''

Fallout 4