MINERVA - read-only archives

The grubs go "squeak" and the flashlight lasts longer. Anything else?

It comes in an Orange Box!

I'm wondering about the lack of cardboard and shiny discs. Having bought the lot on Steam, do I genuinely miss the dust gathering objects or is it merely the lack of Christmassy excitement at receiving (buying) a box and unwrapping it? Anyway, my better half is glad that I don't bring home new boxes to put on shelves.

Again as I said, the achievements bug me.


[edit: typo]

What's your major beef with the achievements?
They gave me additional objectives to work towards, apart from making it across each map. I actually looked at them after reading your post and realized it was too late to squish all the grubs in the mine.
I also find them funnier than the Sin Episodes system.

I dunno, it just seems kinda lame they don't actually DO anything, they just put them in because of the xbox360 release (consoles are ruining pc gaming IMO)

[edit: typos]

Microsoft is ruining it. They are pushing developers to make their games compatible with Vista/Xbox LIVE, hence the inclusion of achievements.

How to get rid of the Achievements button in Ep2 main UI?

1. Download and install GCFScape.
2. In GCScape, steamapps\episodic 2007 shared.gcf
3. Browse to root\episodic\resource\GameMenu.res
4. Extract GameMenu.res
5. Open GameMenu.res and comment out the Achievements button lines:



6. Save GameMenu.res in


The Achievements system will be running in the background, but you won't be able to access it from the main UI. It's a small consolation for those who don't like to know whether they killed all the dirty little squeaking grubs in the mines and who think that the Achievements system is the application of a philosophy which should be limited only to consoles.

Now, I'll go squish a few more grubs, if you don't mind.

Do you mean compatibility on a philosophical/branding/"we got a similar feature" level?

I honestly don't see why the Achievements system would ruin EP2 or any other solo game. I remember end-of-level scores in Tomb Raider where the game would indicate how many kits I picked up and how many secrets I missed.

AFAIR, that end-of-level-screen showing time taken, secrets missed and monster kill percentage actually goes back in Ego-Shooter History all the way to Wolfenstein 3d.

However, showing these achievements right after you got them, in the course of the level, can interfere with immersion, since you're reminded that you are playing a game.

I have to agree with MedO. It does decrease the immersion to have those popping up throughout the game. Plus, I would have appreciated an easy way to turn off the Achievements system so that those who want to play without them would have the option of doing so without having to hack Ep. 2 or something. I don't think I would mind the end-of-level stats as much, but I still think that it intrudes on the experience. Viewing the stats out of game would be better in my opinion. Honestly though, who really cares if you squashed all of the grubs or not...not me. But that's just me. I guess the achievements might contribute to replay value but I would want to play the first time through without them.

@locworks: does your "hack" just make the menu option disappear from the main menu or does that disable the in-game notifications too?

The current version makes only the menu option disappear. I'm looking for a gentle way to disable it in-game.

Doing an sv_cheats 1 in the console disables the acquiring of achievements - even if you don't have any actual cheats going.

Alternatively, play with commentary mode enabled - you don't get the achievements, but you do have the even-more-immersion-breaking commentary whatsits floating around in key areas. Perhaps plead to Valve to have achievements enabled in such a situation? The game seems the same as before, and there doesn't appear to be any god-mode or anything running...

Now that's more like the solution I was looking for. I don't need to remove it entirely from the main menu, just from gameplay, should I desire.

Although, if you are playing in commentary mode, the immersion is broken anyway so why be precluded then?...Start the petition! :)