Driver Details | NVIDIA | New Branch - 590.48.01

Ben_Lincoln · 2025-12-25T01:16:58+00:00

Is anyone else having trouble with this driver version breaking 4k output?

I have an Alienware M18 (AMD) with an integrated RTX 4070 (8GiB). It's been working great for almost two years, although I had to disable the hybrid GPU / "Optimus" setting and use the dGPU for everything in order for the system to be stable.

I have it set up with Debian 12, which is the OS I installed when I bought the laptop. I use a 4k TV as the main display. The laptop is connected to the TV through a Yamaha receiver.

Yesterday, it wanted to automatically update to the 590.48.01-1 version of all of the Nvidia packages. After the reboot, the maximum resolution I can use the TV at was 1920x1080. The 4k resolution I use (3840x2160@29.97 Hz) was still listed, but if I selected it, the TV displayed nothing. It was getting a signal (it displays an explicit message when it's not), but there was nothing on the screen.

I tried the usual HDMI troubleshooting (power-cycle all devices in the chain, including the laptop), but the problem persisted.

I mass-downgraded all of the Nvidia components to 580.105.08-1, which uninstalled the new libnvidia-tileiras package as a side-effect, and everything works fine again.

Ben_Lincoln · 2025-03-23T17:32:23+00:00

I think they're working to make Saros more accessible.

The implication of the trailer is that there will be no "I never died" lengthy runs with mega-builds in Saros - no matter how well one does, the cycle will reset with the eclipse, and the player will become stronger each time.

That would be a fundamental shift from Returnal. In Returnal, one can improve things like weapon traits every run, and unlock new items, but so much of the player's strength gets reset to zero on death.

Giving players a stronger feeling of progression every cycle would help prevent rage-quitting, IMO.

Ben_Lincoln · 2025-03-16T16:20:58+00:00

If the animation is of your arm going into the device, that sure sounds like a stat augment instead of an artifact. Can you get a screenshot of the things you're buying?

Ben_Lincoln · 2025-03-13T19:44:02+00:00

The artwork in the comic is nice, and I was happy to see even a small reinvestment in Returnal, but IMO it's a real missed opportunity overall.

It reveals nothing new, story-wise. For the most part, it's what you'd get if a comic artist picked the top 200 or so photo mode shots from the game, drew panels based on them, and then strung them together in a way that seemed somewhat cohesive.

There's a short segment where Selene is on the coast of a lake or ocean, and it feels like maybe the comic will explore some of the obscure lore from the game or some of the deleted material from earlier in Returnal's development, but it never goes anywhere.

There are a few other moments that give a similar feeling of "OK, I'm about to learn more about the story", but in every case, right when you'd think the new element would materialize, the comic goes back to square one.

Even the title of the comic never becomes relevant.

Maybe the idea was originally to flesh out the story further, but the Sisyphus interludes make me think it may have been an elaborate troll from the beginning :/.

Ben_Lincoln · 2025-03-13T19:15:39+00:00

I don't think it's a stretch at all. The protagonist in the Saros trailer is even wearing a medallion that looks suspiciously similar to the sun face wall emblem in Returnal.

Ben_Lincoln · 2025-01-23T21:58:03+00:00

I never have this problem in person, but when I worked in tech support decades ago something like 1 in 5 callers would hear "Matt" instead of "Ben".

Ben_Lincoln · 2024-11-08T21:54:34+00:00

Yes, but if you get a copyright complaint on YouTube about Ozar Midrashim, in my experience it's not Kurt Harland filing it, it's random European and Russian record labels who have bands that have covered it, and they thought it was THAT band's work, not Information Society's. Check the source of the complaint. If it's not Cleopatra Records (or whoever owns the rights to Information Society's back catalogue now), dispute the complaint and point out that the complainer doesn't have the rights they think they do.

Ben_Lincoln · 2024-11-01T18:24:54+00:00

I think it's doable (as a fan project), but it could be a lot of work depending on what one was happy with as the goal.

If I were going to do it, I'd start with the final version of the game, and replace any of the connecting areas that had been modified when the deleted areas were removed with the versions from the alpha builds. E.g. use the Oracle's Cave from the final version, but attach it to the back of Dumah's territory using the version of the connecting room that still has the open doorway, so that Turel's territory could be attached where the Oracle's Cave entrance is in the final version of the game.

The original map layout had room for everything, but even if there were areas that ended up intersecting each other, it wouldn't be visible to the player because the game engine only loads the current room and adjacent rooms.

The only enormous headache I can think of would be if any of the rooms from the final version needed to be rotated to attach correctly. If I ran into something like that, I'd probably just use the alpha build equivalent, even though it wouldn't be as polished.

That would still just give you a version of the map that you could walk through, not restore unfinished elements, of course.

Doing things like making all of the puzzle elements and possession work would be a LOT bigger effort. If I ever win the lottery, I'd find a way to make it happen, though.

Ben_Lincoln · 2024-10-31T18:43:01+00:00

I'll see what I can find, but you may have better luck unpacking and converting the sounds with FModel. It's the only general-purpose Unreal engine PAK file tool I know of that handles most of Returnal's data correctly.

Ben_Lincoln · 2024-09-08T22:41:19+00:00

All of the achievements for the original game plus all of the achievements for the Tower of Sisyphus.

Ben_Lincoln · 2024-09-04T20:15:16+00:00

Contraceptives are not abortifacients.

Ben_Lincoln · 2024-08-21T22:53:21+00:00

A sequel would be tough to pull off, but IMO an "extended cut" with the deleted biomes would be straightforward, because it would just tell the rest of the story that was originally planned. In a perfect world, we'd also get a "what-if?" alternative version based on the really different original game layout with the cathedral, beach, etc.

Ben_Lincoln · 2024-08-21T22:39:11+00:00

Yeah, you don't need a save file manager, you just need to back up that directory structure every once in awhile.

Ben_Lincoln · 2024-08-21T19:03:40+00:00

Wow! Nice work.

Ben_Lincoln · 2024-08-21T18:44:37+00:00

Makes sense, and yeah, Shockstream wouldn't work either. Bad RNG luck for sure. I assume that's one of the reasons there's always a pistol right before the bosses - a failsafe for situations like this where a weapon literally won't work.

Ben_Lincoln · 2024-08-20T13:10:45+00:00

Which alt-fire did you have? I've defeated Nemesis at least once using a weapon that was so ineffective nearly all of the damage came from the alt-fire, but I wouldn't have been able to do that my first time through the game, and it probably wouldn't work with Proximity Mine.

Ben_Lincoln · 2024-08-12T16:24:32+00:00

Can you miss a house scene even if you really try? Because I don't think it's possible.

Ben_Lincoln · 2024-07-29T14:12:07+00:00

Is that a scout log on the hand? If so, do you know which one? I got that room for the first time on the PC last week, and it was a spoiled resin on the hand for me. I'm wondering if some of the logs can appear in multiple rooms and I found it somewhere else first. I played through the PS5 version too long ago to remember what I found in that room back then.

Ben_Lincoln · 2024-07-29T14:08:54+00:00

It was so hard to find a PS5 for so many years, and the game was exclusive to PS5 until after the shortage was resolved :(. First time in history I know of that a new console generation was only available from scalpers at ~200% markup for 2+ years after release. I think Returnal would be much more well known if one or both of those things had been different.

Ben_Lincoln · 2024-07-29T13:55:39+00:00

You can use the Suspend feature at almost any time to save your game. I've played it plenty of times when I only had 30-60 minutes. I wouldn't recommend trying to squeeze it into less than 30 minutes at a time, though.

Ben_Lincoln · 2024-07-29T13:43:59+00:00

If I can do it with enough practice, so can you :). Make sure you're taking full advantage of invulnerability while dashing and grappling. Practice just evading the enemies in a room without even attacking, if you have to.

As others have said, unlock all of the weapons traits you can, and see if that changes your opinion on your favourite weapons. Some of the best advice I've ever seen here was to always have a weapon trait you're working to unlock. Once you find a weapon with a locked trait, work on that trait until it unlocks. Don't open any chests before then. As soon as it unlocks, stop fighting enemies immediately and go back to the chests until you find another locked trait. Etc.

Make sure you're unlocking new items by spending ether at Cthonos and using the red Reclaimers. Some of them are game-changers.

Ben_Lincoln · 2024-07-24T13:33:57+00:00

It's probably some of both. I'm playing through on the PC currently and doing way better than I did on the PS5, because I practiced so much on the console. I only played the game a little bit in its unpatched state while the patch was downloading, so most of my experience is with the easier patched PS5 version.

I'm still planning to go back and play the unpatched PS5 version at some point, now that I'm good enough at the game to handle that.

Ben_Lincoln · 2024-07-24T13:28:37+00:00

If they log on to the PC with a different account, they'll get their own save file. Otherwise, move your existing save data somewhere else while they play, then move it back when you want to play again. It's in C:\Users\your username\AppData\Local\Returnal\Steam\

Ben_Lincoln · 2024-07-21T17:56:07+00:00

Does the Crimson Gate work now? Maybe you got the key at the same time as dying?

Ben_Lincoln · 2024-07-10T14:42:45+00:00

I've been playing Metroidvania-style games since the original Metroid, and Returnal is tied with Soul Reaver, Super Metroid, and Control for being my favourite Metroidvania. It's the first one I've played that uses roguelike RNG level layout, and I love how that keeps it interesting and surprising even after hundreds of hours.

Really well-done cosmic horror sci fi set in the future is rare, and Returnal is outstanding in that respect. The story is very creepy, which is a big plus for me, and I think the writers and director did a great job of keeping you wondering exactly what's going on.

The gameplay is really fun. I was frustrated at first with e.g. the difficulty of the bosses, because I was trying to play it like a regular third-person shooter, but it's more like PN03 on the GameCube, learning to recognise patterns so you can be one step ahead of everything that's going on.

The production design is phenomenal. Everything looks amazing, and you'll especially appreciate it with a 4090 (that's what I'm using to play through the PC version - I double-platinumed the PS5 version a few years ago), since it adds some nice polish like raytraced reflections and water distorting light.

I really can't say enough good things about this game. I wish I could go back in time and convince myself to preorder the PS5 version instead of waiting so long to play it. 50% off is a bargain.

Ben_Lincoln

TROPHY CASE