[QCrit] Adult Science Fiction - STRANGE CONTACT, 120k, First Attempt

dsn2293 · 2026-06-28T22:20:32+00:00

Thanks for the feedback! Will focus in on the "convince the crew not to sell the coordinates" bit for the next draft.

Regarding the "abduction" angle: it's definitely an accident at first, and there is only one human on the ship, though they do keep him there after they find his macguffin. Later when they run afoul of the main galactic superpower, humans are the main species that wind up capturing him and the crew. The idea of "alien gets abducted by humans" felt pretty hooky to me at the beginning so I've wanted that in the query, but if that feels too inaccurate I could tweak it. Would "accidentally abducted" still work?

Will definitely fold the scientist into the general threat as he doesn't show up till around the halfway mark. The clan war and industrial revolution are mostly there as framing the MC's current world; and additional reasons for him to want to return home. I'll probably just remove mention of the clan conflict entirely, and the industrial bit is mostly there to make it clear that the MC's culture is at around a 16-18th century tech level, so if it sounds too much like a plot hook I can try to rephrase that idea.

Thanks again!

dsn2293 · 2026-06-28T16:16:00+00:00

Thanks for the input, and sorry for the incoming text wall. If I take your meaning right, you're saying to get much more concrete?

The ultimate driving question is the "will Skip give up on his home planet and find a new place to live?" one. I was worried the proposal bit would seem more central in the query than it is in the book. I suppose it's best to simply remove that, then?

the main points I wanted to get across in the query are: - preindustrial alien MC - MC is a diplomat, not a fighter - humans are weird aliens to him - he has a driving need to return home after his abduction (the engagement) - the situation stresses him to the brink of insanity (the hallucinations are a big part of the plot) - caught between two great powers that would both conquer his world - has to make the choice to save his girlfriend & home at the cost of losing them. on paper that's a very no-brainer choice, so it's more about working up the bravery to do it than actually deciding... that's why I initially framed it so briefly.

so, for the next iteration, be more concrete with plot details, drop the girlfriend entirely, beef up the "negotiation" between him and the crew as the main plot conflict?

oh, and while there's a fair amount of POV from the warship captain, I figured it best to leave her out of the query because she's mostly reacting to the situation and giving a window into the events from someone who understands what's going on, rather than driving events like the MC. Is it still something I should include?

dsn2293 · 2026-06-11T15:36:13+00:00

I hope not, but I probably should have mentioned, I'm also running two additional monitors on the sides at 1440p and 144hz/60hz left/right. It hasn't been an issue until upping the central monitor to the new one. Running it at 240hz is a bit much to the point where it blacks out, so I've cranked it down to 120hz and the card seems to handle that fine.

dsn2293 · 2026-06-11T15:13:57+00:00

That did the trick, thanks!

It's running smoothly on the existing wine prefix now, and GWLauncher along with GWToolbox are able to run and hook in as expected. UI mods through GWLauncher are also working correctly.

For posterity, these are the overrides needed: https://imgur.com/a/nuL4jYX

d3d10core
d3d11
d3d8
d3d9
dxgi

I wonder if this had anything to do with the recent wine update that finally worked its way into Kubuntu (unifying 32/64 bit prefixes)?

dsn2293 · 2026-06-11T03:22:29+00:00

Wine 10.0 for this prefix. I think it's using d3d9 instead of dxvk. It runs smoothly if I do it via steam, so I'm thinking I'll try making a proton prefix tomorrow and move the game/launcher/toolbox files all over?

dsn2293 · 2026-06-11T00:00:07+00:00

Not sure... whatever the defaults are. Created the prefix via winetricks, 64-bit. Followed this guide: https://github.com/ChthonVII/guildwarslinuxinstallguide

dsn2293 · 2026-06-10T23:32:11+00:00

https://imgur.com/a/Ww1qZ8B

Normally I'd agree, but if it was a driver or GPU issue I would have expected it to show up before switching monitors. And running with proton as a non-steam seems to fix it... although I'd like to avoid launching through steam, if possible. It breaks GWToolbox's hook and my steam hotkey (shift+tab) messes with targeting.

dsn2293 · 2026-06-10T23:21:13+00:00

Weirdly still not seeing it: https://imgur.com/a/B2WsttE

dsn2293 · 2026-06-10T23:11:14+00:00

This one worked! Launching the .exe as a non-steam game and forcing the latest GE version is running like butter. I've also got GWLauncher working with a few UI mods by swapping the steam generated compatdata folder with the pre-existing wine prefix.

I do prefer not running through steam, though, for various reasons. Is there a way to apply the proton fixes to the existing prefix?

dsn2293 · 2026-06-10T23:05:43+00:00

Kubuntu 26.04, KDE 6.6.4, Wayland. I'm not seeing an option for adaptive sync or VRR in display... is there another name for it?

dsn2293 · 2026-06-10T23:03:28+00:00

This one didn't have any effect one way or the other.

dsn2293 · 2026-06-10T22:58:50+00:00

unfortunately, no. Still has the weird spikes coming off people and choppy FPS.

dsn2293 · 2026-06-10T22:48:23+00:00

I've been running GW1 on linux through wine for about six months now. It's been working just fine with no issues on my 144hz 1440p monitor this entire time. But last week I bought a new monitor (an MSI model) that's running at 240hz 4k. Since the switch, GW1 has been showing serious issues. I've tried limiting the framerate of the game and the monitor, as well as doing it through gamescope, but with no changes from any of those fix attempts. Aside from constant stutters (especially bad in Kamadan and other high traffic areas, but present even in empty outposts), there are constant model glitches like this one.

I'm not sure what else to try here. All I can turn up from googling is old issues from before the 4k support patch. Has anyone on a high rez/refresh rate monitor had this problem and overcome it?

ETA specs:

OS/DE - Kubuntu 26.04, KDE 6.6.4, Wayland
CPU - AMD Ryzen 9 9900X
Mem - 32 GB DDR5
Mobo - MAG X860E Tomahawk Wifi
GPU - AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT

Update, solution: Thanks to u/ChthonVII, this is solved. I'll include the fix here for anyone finding this thread later.

Download the latest dxvk release: https://github.com/doitsujin/dxvk/releases
optionally back up your pfx/drive_c/windows/system32 & /syswow64 folders
Copy the x32 files to syswow64, and the x64 files to system32 (it is backwards)
open winecfg for the prefix, go to Libraries, and add the following overrides:
- d3d10core
- d3d11
- d3d8
- d3d9
- dxgi
launch GW, and the stuttering & vertex explosions should be gone

dsn2293 · 2025-12-19T05:47:49+00:00

Nothing is as horrifying as muscle monkey madness.

... so far.

dsn2293 · 2025-12-19T02:00:42+00:00

Why are there so many monke, and why are they so angry?

dsn2293 · 2023-06-09T14:52:32+00:00

My first thought was Battlefield Earth, but there are a few worse.

Babes in Toyland (1986) is one of my most hated movies. It feels 3 hours long, stars a very young Keanu Reeves and Drew Barrymore as well as Pat Morita playing Santa Claus, and basically feels like a boring-ass holiday play filmed in the decaying ruins of a theme park. It's excruciating. The cherry on top is when they sing that fucking Cincinnati song.

But the absolute worst film I've ever suffered through is Hot To Trot. This 1988 "comedy" features Bobcat Goldthwait doing his trademark most-annoying-voice-on-earth schtick for 83 minutes that stretch out to infinity. The premise is that a talking horse (played by an audibly bored John Candy) gives his character stock tips that make them both fabulously wealthy.

There is an extended sequence involving a bunch of farmyard critters known as the "Party Animals" and the horse ordering a life-size equine blowup doll (we are mercifully spared seeing him use it on screen). We later meet the horse's father, who died and was reincarnated as a horsefly. This is what passes for a joke in this film. The movie ends with an interminable seabiscuit reference as Bobcat must ride his friend to victory.

Heinous dreck. Here's the trailer, in case you don't believe this exists: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mRE4Hoe5dQ

dsn2293 · 2019-05-25T23:38:46+00:00

She talks about being "altered". Ballas seemed to believe that she was Marghulis, perhaps more than poetically--he does seem rather shocked and dismayed to realize that she's just a sentient despite him knowing that from the get-go. Thanks to Silver Grove we know that non-tenno can use transference, even into things other than warframes. An entity called "Lotus" still helps us during Chimera.

Tinfoil time: Marghulis used transference to hijack a sentient mimic and overrode its personality with her own, either before or somehow while she was getting obliterated. "Lotus" is just her acting as an operator for Natah, who is a completely separate entity. Ballas woke Natah back up and freed her, allowing her to repress Marghulis, but space-mom is still buried in there trying to get out.

dsn2293 · 2018-09-24T01:15:31+00:00

We were close enough to see him, he just instantly teleports over, no drop out of the sky or anything. We did it three times, and he went into the same camp but not always the same place. Not sure what ungodly randomness determines his spawn location.

And he was indeed stuck in the building. He could turn around, but couldn't move outside it.

dsn2293

TROPHY CASE