VN Ren'Py Being a DIK [v0.11.1] [DrPinkCake]

[ename144]

Another nice write up but the only thing that I would consider "good" is the fact that it relatively close to a release. If it is a December release it will still be nine months for a single episode to be playable. At the current rate the second half of the game will likely be in development for close to a decade. That's a ridiculously long time for one game, I think.

For me personally, the extended dev times of the updates won't be worth it. I'm in these things for the stories but to me it looks like DPC's mind set has switches to quantity over quality. I wont know until I play it of course but the outlook for this is grim in my book.

It's all relative; I had been worried we'd be staring down the barrel of a January release the way DPC kept upping the targets. This time he actually reduced the animation targets slightly (with only a minor increase in statics). That's a good sign in my book, even if the rosy scenario (a late November release) is still well short of ideal.

As for the long development cycles, they honestly don't bother me as long as I have faith that a) the work will eventually be finished, and b) I'll enjoy the end result. I not worried that DPC will abandon the game before finishing Episode 9, so that's not an issue. But the way Episode 8 ended makes me extremely nervous about whether I'm going to like Episode 9.

My fear is that Season 3 is going to be a grueling slog where DPC pulls out every trick in the book to avoid advancing the relationship we supposedly just started until Season 4. IMHO we already had too much of that in Season 2. I'm not up for waiting another 3-4 years before we get to the good bits; I'll just put the game on the backburner until Season 4 is underway. But it's entirely possible my read is wrong and DPC does intend to flesh out the various branches, in which case I'll be happy to follow the news as we go.

Sadly, we've now spent nearly a year in limbo with no clear idea of where Episode 9 (and thus Season 3 as a whole) is headed, which has not made me a happy camper. So I'll take any indication this particular dev cycle is nearing an end as a good sign.

 

[nyrek]

You are a cruel person, you want me to remember this scene and cry

no, I want you to imagine you can tell that asshole
LISTEN HERE, UPDATE EVERY 4 MONTHS OR I GO HODOR ON YOUR ASS

 

[Geralt From Rivia]

no, I want you to imagine you can tell that asshole
LISTEN HERE, UPDATE EVERY 4 MONTHS OR I GO HODOR ON YOUR ASS

I will say that 6 months, that is, twice a year will be ok, I understand the level of this game and how it rises above other VN. 9 months is too long, with all due respect to his work. Not because "I'm tired of waiting", but because the release of the third season will then take too long and the game turns into a long-term construction. Like GTA VI

 

[ename144]

I cant choose the Absinthe in the table why ?

As nyrek suggested, you need to get the bottle of Absinthe from Lily's desk before you can mix drinks with it.

Once you have the bottle it should be an option.

 

[Ilhares]

The power consumption of 8 4090s alone is absurd, not to speak about the initial investment which is also huge even if he sells all the 3090s at a decent price. I hope he does it but I won't hold my breath waiting for it to happen.

90.
The 40XX series gives a big performance boost,
but I hope he doesn't think of improving the graphics again and adding Ray-tracing to animations, for example.
As someone who understands a little about electrics: 4090s will consume a lot of electricity.

While it's true they do have a slightly higher max TDP, the hardware requirements for the 4090 are the same as a 3090FE card. If he's got his stuff set up to handle 8 machines already, he's going to be fine even if he replaces all the cards. Yank the old, drop in the new, update your drivers, and off you go.

As far as the "investment cost", he's bringing in at least $10,000 USD/month (assuming bare minimums for pledges). Let's assume for whatever reason he's got an exceptionally expensive monthly cost of living (due to electricity usage) and call that 1500/mo. Okay, that brings our minimum down to 8500. The Zotac 4090 Trinity is going for roughly (allowing for Euro to USD conversion) $1,940 each.

Granted, I don't know his income taxation rate, but regardless of what it is, I would wager he's got a fair amount of money banked up to cover emergencies or other 'needs' (like future hardware replacement). Let's round the cost up to an even $2,000 each. If he's truly using 8 machines full-time, that's a $16,000 upgrade cost, which absolutely sounds painful, but that still falls under 2 months worth of income for him (at minimum) after you've already deducted estimated living expenses.

In the US, that would be $16k of business expense writeoffs, on top of whatever he got in credit for the 3090s, which he can now sell to recoup some money. He could probably offload them for $1,000 each and watch them disappear over night, just to get the junk out of his home/workspace, and in the big picture, it has barely made a dent in his net profits, and now he can produce a hell of a lot more. Maybe he'll only start with 4 cards, and do some in-house side-by-side becnhmarking, to decide if he can instead scale-down how many computers he's using at once because of the performance gains.

One way or another, I expect he'll be looking to replace every 3090 card he's using, either in all in the machines, or in the machines he intends to keep, before dismantling/repurposing the other ones. Unless he takes it a step further and decides to build all-new workstations from the ground up with better processors and such as well, but that's a bit extreme when your GPU is doing all the heavy lifting.

 

[Geralt From Rivia]

While it's true they do have a slightly higher max TDP, the hardware requirements for the 4090 are the same as a 3090FE card. If he's got his stuff set up to handle 8 machines already, he's going to be fine even if he replaces all the cards. Yank the old, drop in the new, update your drivers, and off you go.

As far as the "investment cost", he's bringing in at least $10,000 USD/month (assuming bare minimums for pledges). Let's assume for whatever reason he's got an exceptionally expensive monthly cost of living (due to electricity usage) and call that 1500/mo. Okay, that brings our minimum down to 8500. The Zotac 4090 Trinity is going for roughly (allowing for Euro to USD conversion) $1,940 each.

Granted, I don't know his income taxation rate, but regardless of what it is, I would wager he's got a fair amount of money banked up to cover emergencies or other 'needs' (like future hardware replacement). Let's round the cost up to an even $2,000 each. If he's truly using 8 machines full-time, that's a $16,000 upgrade cost, which absolutely sounds painful, but that still falls under 2 months worth of income for him (at minimum) after you've already deducted estimated living expenses.

In the US, that would be $16k of business expense writeoffs, on top of whatever he got in credit for the 3090s, which he can now sell to recoup some money. He could probably offload them for $1,000 each and watch them disappear over night, just to get the junk out of his home/workspace, and in the big picture, it has barely made a dent in his net profits, and now he can produce a hell of a lot more. Maybe he'll only start with 4 cards, and do some in-house side-by-side becnhmarking, to decide if he can instead scale-down how many computers he's using at once because of the performance gains.

One way or another, I expect he'll be looking to replace every 3090 card he's using, either in all in the machines, or in the machines he intends to keep, before dismantling/repurposing the other ones. Unless he takes it a step further and decides to build all-new workstations from the ground up with better processors and such as well, but that's a bit extreme when your GPU is doing all the heavy lifting.

I generally consider replacing the CPU to be pointless, especially if it has the penultimate generation of top-end Ryzen / Core. In each generation of new CPUs, we get only a small increase in performance, Moore's law is dead, and even more so, as you said, the main work is done by GPUs. It would be an extra expense for no purpose.
I still have the old Haswell gen Core i5, it's only 4/4 and it handles most tasks, even modern games.

 

[exazubi]

Hi guys. I have a question. I've already used the search function. But somehow I'm too stupid to find the right search terms. In the past the minigames didn't work properly in the compressed version. At least in the class tests, the pictures were often not displayed correctly and you got stuck. Has this error been fixed in the meantime?

As awesome as the game is, it just keeps getting bigger. And it's gradually becoming a real hard drive eater. The compressed version would help there.

 

[always86]

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So, turns out i misread the animations total last week and infact the average hadn't improved over the last few weeks. (I'd counted posed as rendered). That means teh average is holding at about 7.3 rendered per week. That means rendering complete sometime between the 16th and 23rd of December. Which could very well push release to December 30th or even January 6th. In Episode 8 he did manage an a 12.8 average by the time he hit the final episode count. Obviously this could bring things forward but, I don't see any reason to presume DPC is suddenly going to nearly double his weekly animation average.

 

[Hahn1900]

Bummer... just read the status report, looks like Release will be 2023. Thats a hard one... i really thaught he can deliver late november or at least early december... but with this animation count left, he will need at least two months from now to finish it... grmpf. 8 weeks for the animations left, add another two weeks for everything else before the actual release... and we are late january or early february, thats a real bummer...

 

[Geralt From Rivia]

So, turns out i misread the animations total last week and infact the average hadn't improved over the last few weeks. (I'd counted posed as rendered). That means teh average is holding at about 7.3 rendered per week. That means rendering complete sometime between the 16th and 23rd of December. Which could very well push release to December 30th or even January 6th. In Episode 8 he did manage an a 12.8 average by the time he hit the final episode count. Obviously this could bring things forward but, I don't see any reason to presume DPC is suddenly going to nearly double his weekly animation average.

Last week there were 230 animations, now 240 are ready. 10 per week is more than average, but not enough to finish the game quickly, for example before the end of November.

 

[Ilhares]

I generally consider replacing the CPU to be pointless, especially if it has the penultimate generation of top-end Ryzen / Core. In each generation of new CPUs, we get only a small increase in performance, Moore's law is dead, and even more so, as you said, the main work is done by GPUs. It would be an extra expense for no purpose.
I still have the old Haswell gen Core i5, it's only 4/4 and it handles most tasks, even modern games.

It depends what he's got, but in general, yes, you're right. It really depends on the tasks at hand. For instance, for most of my gaming, my Ryzen 9 3900X is absolutely beastly, it runs like a solid champ. When it comes to something like Star Citizen, though, I'd be better off with a 5600 3D or whatever it is. It can't be clocked up as well as my chip, and doesn't have the raw computational output, but that huge cache drastically boosts performance over most standard chips.

Most games, not unlike what we all play here, are quite adequately run on much older hardware. My last desktop was an i7-7700k, the one before that (which I gave to my housemate) is an i7-970. Six cores, 48GB of DD3 in triple-channel mode. The base clocks are lower, but despite that, it is still a beast of a processor. Very few programs that we run on our machines are really running into significant hardware bottlenecks. Prior to AMD pushing out the Ryzen 2 series, despite many revisions in their CPU lineups, processor improvements had been practically dormant for a decade.

Given a choice, though, I would absolutely still do all the rendering with a machine that was at least no more than 4 years old on the CPU/mobo architecture if I had a choice, and that's where DPC is at right now. He's got a choice. As long as the new GPUs don't need better than what he's got (PCIe 4.0, for instance) then I suspect he'll be just fine doing only GPU upgrades for his rendering work.

If they come out with a significant memory architecture change/boost, that would be cool. Anything that speeds up the moving of the data is a good thing, but it also needs to be cost effective and semi-practical. I don't expect anyone, gamer or developer, with any sense to pay 3x the cost for only a 10% conditional improvement.


But since we won't see the new episode until next year now, I guess we'll see what DPC gets himself for Christmas.

 

[jjoron95]

date release of ep 9

 

[Geralt From Rivia]

It depends what he's got, but in general, yes, you're right. It really depends on the tasks at hand. For instance, for most of my gaming, my Ryzen 9 3900X is absolutely beastly, it runs like a solid champ. When it comes to something like Star Citizen, though, I'd be better off with a 5600 3D or whatever it is. It can't be clocked up as well as my chip, and doesn't have the raw computational output, but that huge cache drastically boosts performance over most standard chips.

Most games, not unlike what we all play here, are quite adequately run on much older hardware. My last desktop was an i7-7700k, the one before that (which I gave to my housemate) is an i7-970. Six cores, 48GB of DD3 in triple-channel mode. The base clocks are lower, but despite that, it is still a beast of a processor. Very few programs that we run on our machines are really running into significant hardware bottlenecks. Prior to AMD pushing out the Ryzen 2 series, despite many revisions in their CPU lineups, processor improvements had been practically dormant for a decade.

Given a choice, though, I would absolutely still do all the rendering with a machine that was at least no more than 4 years old on the CPU/mobo architecture if I had a choice, and that's where DPC is at right now. He's got a choice. As long as the new GPUs don't need better than what he's got (PCIe 4.0, for instance) then I suspect he'll be just fine doing only GPU upgrades for his rendering work.

If they come out with a significant memory architecture change/boost, that would be cool. Anything that speeds up the moving of the data is a good thing, but it also needs to be cost effective and semi-practical. I don't expect anyone, gamer or developer, with any sense to pay 3x the cost for only a 10% conditional improvement.


But since we won't see the new episode until next year now, I guess we'll see what DPC gets himself for Christmas.

I even envy you a little, your CPU will be enough for you for many years to come. Ryzens are just a bomb, I myself planned a major update, but some circumstances decided for me.
Or maybe it’s not worth it, I don’t need huge capacities, and modern AAA games turn into a dump that needs to be dug up to find a nugget there.
As for the game. I think we are expecting a release in December, not next year. At the current speed of animation processing, he needs 8 weeks to complete the processing. 240 done, 280 posed, and up to 40 more he'll add. A total of 320. If there is a little less, well, we will get it earlier, but it is already clear that the DPC will not add a larger number. A week ago I predicted a release window of late November - early January 2023 and now I can be sure that this window has narrowed down to December. Unless force majeure occurs.
Of course, if the remaining animations are easy, then we can wait for a miracle and get the game at the end of November, but this is already unlikely. But I think we'll get our Christmas present.

 

[hakuna-matata]

date release of ep 9

It came out last week

 

[Lightaces]

Wait... what?

View attachment 2100044

Did Tommy killed Heather or died this bastard? I prefer the last option. He's a selfish dumbfuck and I'm sure he did this Cathy thing. I really hope this is not only some decoration to the halloween party.

Most likely, Halloween party decorations. But there is a drug and prostitution ring going on.

 

[Ilhares]

I even envy you a little, your CPU will be enough for you for many years to come. Ryzens are just a bomb, I myself planned a major update, but some circumstances decided for me.

If it makes you feel any better, I also envy me a little, and it was just pure luck at the time.

Spoiler: Rambling about situation

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Or maybe it’s not worth it, I don’t need huge capacities, and modern AAA games turn into a dump that needs to be dug up to find a nugget there.

As for the game. I think we are expecting a release in December, not next year. At the current speed of animation processing, he needs 8 weeks to complete the processing. 240 done, 280 posed, and up to 40 more he'll add. A total of 320. If there is a little less, well, we will get it earlier, but it is already clear that the DPC will not add a larger number. A week ago I predicted a release window of late November - early January 2023 and now I can be sure that this window has narrowed down to December. Unless force majeure occurs.

I think you're an optimist, but I hope you're right about DPC's schedule. As for the AAA titles.. I don't ever pay for software until I've already tried a cracked copy in the wilds, I've been burned too many times by pre-order garbage releases and stores with a zero-returns policy on opened software. Fuck those guys. The only folks that get my money now are the ones who have provided a quality product first. Hell, that's why I own 2 legit copies of Stellaris and the expansions (Steam and GOG). Played that sucker for years, it was great, it was worth picking it up on both platforms.

VNs are in a special niche of software, though, in that we are (almost) all playing them as they're developed, rather than post-completion, so it's a lot easier to size them up early in the development stages to decide if it's worth it or not, whereas you've got Baldur's Gate 3, which has been in early access for the last 2 years, and at the rate they're going, it truly wouldn't surprise me to see BaDIK get finished first.

Spoiler: And then there's The Masquerade: Bloodlines 2 dumpster fire

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Okay, I'd better stop, I'm working myself up into angry rant territory..

THIS IS YOUR FAULT, DPC! I'm suffering withdrawals over here.

 

[BrockLanders]

Brothers!

Bare Witness just updated, Pale Carnations is about to, and there are many, many others worthy of distracting us on this website while we wait. Throw a few bucks at something that surprises you and relax a bit . A House In the Rift is fantastic so far. I am more than willing to be patient while Doc perfects this next chapter.

I'm looking forward to this Season as much as any of you but I want it to be thorough and unrushed.

I highly suggest everyone watch this film. Try to be patient. Imagine if the Sistine Chapel ceiling was nothing but renders of your best girl. Would you pope out on the Doc?

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[Lightaces]

Wonder if he splurges on the 40 - series cards from NIVIDIA and boosts this. Anyone know his current setup?

If he follows the same pattern as the last gen, he’ll likely upgrade his cards between episodes so as to not interrupt the game development, though he could certainly add new PC’s with the new cards.

Cost is not an issue. He makes more than enough to buy proper tools for his work, and they are absolutely tax deductible business expenses.

In the EU, 3600 watts is ~15 amps (220V, remember, if you are from North America). Now, I don’t know about Sweden, but in the USA we tend towards 100-200amp household services, and given the 120V/220v thing, I’d assume in the EU they tend towards 50-100 amps. So, as long as the circuits are run correctly (I.e., run off of 3-4 separate circuits), the power draw shouldn’t be an issue, though it’s gonna get expensive this winter!!! Thanks Putin! But again, given his success, I’d be surprised if the cost proves an issue. If it does, he could always rent time on a render farm somewhere with cheaper power, but it seems unlikely.

 

[Kamii312]

I have a question:
I have to download each season for themself or they're in a unique file
Srry for the broken english.

 

[Kassandara]

If he follows the same pattern as the last gen, he’ll likely upgrade his cards between episodes so as to not interrupt the game development, though he could certainly add new PC’s with the new cards.

Cost is not an issue. He makes more than enough to buy proper tools for his work, and they are absolutely tax deductible business expenses.

In the EU, 3600 watts is ~15 amps (220V, remember, if you are from North America). Now, I don’t know about Sweden, but in the USA we tend towards 100-200amp household services, and given the 120V/220v thing, I’d assume in the EU they tend towards 50-100 amps. So, as long as the circuits are run correctly (I.e., run off of 3-4 separate circuits), the power draw shouldn’t be an issue, though it’s gonna get expensive this winter!!! Thanks Putin! But again, given his success, I’d be surprised if the cost proves an issue. If it does, he could always rent time on a render farm somewhere with cheaper power, but it seems unlikely.

Btw 230V atleast here, I'd assume it's the same in Sweden. And hopefully electricity cost doesn't skyrocket as much as we thought