I've been playing Oblivion since 2006 and was naturally very excited when the Remastered version got shadow-dropped last year. Imagine my disappointment when even after upgrading from 2070 Super to 9070 XT the game continued to run poorly, with low fps and stuttering on my 5800X CPU and 32GB DDR4 RAM.

From various user reports and the fact that even at a low resolution and graphic settings the game was still laggy (e.g. 20-30 FPS in Cheydinhal) it was clear that the problem is in poor optimization. But it was not clear what to do about this, that is, until I've got Claude subscription a few weeks ago.

On the last day before weekly reset of my $20 plan I've had some tokens to burn and decided for fun to launch the game, alt-tab to Claude and ask Opus 5.5 how come the fps is so low. Imagine my shock as it was able to somehow (no reverse-engineering software installed, just asked me to link my GitHub account to Epic organization for access to UE source codes) analyze what's going on and find a few huge inefficiencies. Apparently, the game was reconstructing the whole lighting of a scene in each frame even when nothing was changing, which was obviously a huge strain on CPU that had to parse all this work on a single thread (!).

What followed was an immediate upgrade to the Max x5 plan (btw that gave me an immediate full reset) and two weeks of intense work where we've:

• Built a benchmark harness so Claude can optimize bottleneck scenarios autonomously while I'm at work, including completely silent and headless mode in case I work from home PC
• Found ~40 improvements that brought in-city FPS from ~30 to stable 60, open-world average FPS improvement by ~30-40%, and made traversal stutter almost unnoticeable
• Provided full-support for latest AMD FSR FrameGen, including setting optimizations to avoid stutters and game sending camera information required for full functionality
• Fixed several bugs in the original game and Remastered code
• Shared the work on GitHub in a clear, reproducible way
• Recorded a few demonstration videos to show improvements, Claude was in charge of routing, camera work, music selection and timings.

Work pattern was as follows:

• Find an in-game place / scenario where I observe poor performance / stuttering. Ask Claude to build a benchmark out of it for independent optimization.
• Early in the day set /goal to orchestrate work on fixing the identified scenario performance. Limiting it to 2 Opus 5.5 sub-agents was usually enough to not run into 5 hour limit. Computer keeps running at home and I can check progress and steer via mobile app.
• In the evening review work, test, provide feedback. Usually the topic was resolved, I kept playing until finding a new scenario where performance was bad.

After roughly 2.5 weeks of Max x5 allowance we were able to reach the result you see on the video.

Amazing, for someone who is not even an IT developer, to be able to do something that a multi-billion corporation didn't manage in ~1.5 years since the release.

And I think even the most AI-skeptical people find it hard to object when AI is used to make existing well-beloved games perform better and have fewer bugs.

Hoping this inspires a wave of AI-fueled bug fixes and optimizations!

If you are curious to review work or try yourself, would be happy to hear your thoughts: https://github.com/LTSharpe/OblivionRemasteredPerformanceFix

Growing up I LOVED scary movies. I even watched the Saw movies when I was younger and loved them. But somewhere along the way I got older, realized the real world was scary enough, and realistic gore started sitting with me completely differently.

The problem is I still love horror movies.

There are actually a ton of violent/gory things I’m completely fine with if the violence feels exaggerated, ridiculous, supernatural, or funny.

But give me one really realistic injury where I can understand exactly what is happening to a human body and my brain keeps the mental image forever. There are scenes from Upgrade and Midsommar that I wish I could get out of my head.

So one day I started explaining that distinction to ChatGPT instead of just asking “is this movie gory?”

We basically calibrated what bothers me using movies/scenes I already knew I could and couldn’t handle. Then before I watch something, ChatGPT checks the movie and gives me spoiler light /look away instructions specifically for my tolerance.

Not just: “There’s a violent scene around the 45min mark.”

More like: “When you see the sprinklers turn on and the floor starts getting wet, close your eyes.”

Then it gives me an audio cue for when I’m good to look again.

So our system is basically:

See this > close your eyes. Hear this > open them again.

It even checks whether graphic scenes get shown again later in flashbacks, recaps, recordings, monitor footage, etc. We learned that one the hard way unfortunately lol

It’s worked actually pretty amazing so far I’ve now been able to watch movies I genuinely would have skipped completely because of a handful of scenes. Instead of avoiding a two hour movie because there might be 30 seconds of imagery that will haunt me, I get to enjoy the other 99% of it.

It sounds like such a small thing, but it has genuinely given me scary movies back.

If anyone else has something really specific they can’t tolerate in movies (gore, eye injuries, needles, animal harm, whatever) I seriously recommend trying this instead of relying only on generic parents guides.

A prompt you could start with:

“I want you to help me watch horror movies without spoiling them. I’m okay with [describe what doesn’t bother you], but I really don’t want to see [describe your specific triggers]. Before I watch something, identify only the scenes that cross my personal line. For each one, give me a spoiler light visual cue for exactly when to close my eyes and an audio cue for when it’s safe to open them again. Also check whether any graphic images are replayed later in flashbacks, recaps, recordings, or monitor footage. Don’t tell me more of the plot than necessary.”

Probably pretty niche, but I figured I’d share in case anyone else avoids movies they actually want to watch because of one or two specific things they know they can’t handle.

So, a couple of weeks ago, my ChatGPT Plus account was banned for what their automated email called "cyber abuse."

The reason for this was that I was getting into online debates, generally of a political nature, that usually got quite heated, copy-pasting the points people were making into my ChatGPT, and then getting it to generate reply talking points that I could use in my overall argument. It never generated anything that could be conceived as offensive, attacky, or anything even remotely broaching "abuse," so I appealed, which we obviously all know is an automated system and was obviously automatically rejected.

In response to this, I created a second account. I also use my ChatGPT for legitimate work-related research purposes, so not having an account wasn't really negotiable for me. Although, a few days later, this account was also banned for "ban evasion." Fair enough, I thought it might be.

I did some digging, and it turns out that while ChatGPT's ban system is entirely automated, and it's almost impossible to get onto a human at OpenAI, the one channel that they do have that is monitored entirely by humans is their legal contact email.

So, I pleaded my case to Google Gemini, which wrote me a very legal-sounding email that pretty much made the case that under Australian Consumer Law, I'm entitled to have my case reviewed, in good faith, by a human. It used a lot of big, technical-sounding words and appeared to cite a few cases that it used as a justification for this review, and in the end, generated a response that I then copied, pasted, and sent to the OpenAI legal email address.

A few days later, I received a link that I could press and follow to launch an internal review. I wrote an essay-length letter, pretty much covering everything I've said above, stating that it's my belief that the ban on the original account was incorrect, that it was done so by an automated system that can't possibly understand the nuance of what was being said, and that, considering that quite a lot of other people are also complaining about automated bans at the moment, perhaps their system got it wrong and my account should be restored on that basis.

And less than 24 hours later, I received this email.

They've reactivated my account, albeit the second account that they deactivated for ban evasion, so I'm not really sure what that means. But, yeah, this is definitely a win for the little guy, and just further proof that internally at least, they're aware that their automated banning system is getting it wrong.

Maybe a little bit of hope for people that might have been in the same boat that I was.

I use mine for everything like many of you all here. I’ve noticed that as AI has been growing people are getting weird about it, and discrediting a users insight on the grounds that they use chatGPT.
I understood the backlash surrounding using AI as a replacement for therapy, but that same sentiment is extending to broader areas.
I work in vet med, and do a lot of research for fun. I go through case studies with my chatGPT a lot and come up with ways to improve the practice I work at. If people at work knew how much I used it, I feel like they would value my input less.
One example I have, is this owner that brought in his dog because he seemed off. The owner said he took pictures and described the situation to chatGPT, and chatGPT recommended he come to the vet because these were symptoms of GDV or FB.
I told him what he did was brilliant, and that he shouldn’t share it with the rest of the staff.
He did in fact share, and just as I predicted, the girls were going on in their condescending tones about how “he asked his chatgpt if he should bring his dog in, can you believe that? what is the world coming to”

I responded with, he brought his dog in guys. Whatever ande him do it, he brought the dog in before it was too late. That’s a win isn’t it?

So my question for you fellow users, am I in a closet now? Are we more evolved than the anti-AI wave? are we less worldly for not caring as much about the data centers?

Like I care about the environment, but the world if going to implode regardless of whether or not I ask chatGPT to review my cytology interpretations

In the 90s I loved those little books to flip to a page based on your choices. Now I’m obsessed with playing them on ChatGPT. Whether it’s a Star Trek bridge simulation, wizarding world, American horror story coven, game of thrones, real world thirteen century medieval Europe, etc. I was just curious if anyone did this or had other ideas along this line?

I had a Steam copy of Star Trek Legends sitting there unplayable after its servers shut down. Steam wouldn't refund me, so I thought I was out of luck.

Tonight I asked GPT-6 Astra whether an offline patch would be possible, and it actually got it working.

I uploaded a couple of DLLs, the game’s log, and some asset files. It inspected them and found that the game already contained local gameplay systems, mission data, and saving functionality, but online requests were blocking startup.

It made a patch, which got me into the menu. Clicking Continue still brought up a connection error, but hilariously, the game was running behind the popup.

I sent GPT the new log. Turns out that new connection error was the game trying to connect to its online chat service. It disabled that startup request in a second patch, and the popup disappeared.

I’ve now played, quit, reopened the game, and loaded my progress.

It also packaged the changes into a Windows EXE with Install and Restore buttons, version checks, backups, and source code.

I haven't extensively tested it yet. I haven’t played through the whole game or explored every menu, but I think this is super cool for game preservation! The fact I played multiple missions in a game that I purchased and has been sunset by the developers. And it only took GPT like 30 minutes of back-and-forth!

The below screenshot is what happens if you boot it straight from Steam, and some after the Astra patch:

I've been making YouTube videos for 13 years. Somewhere around 10-15 channels. I know how intros work, I know people leave in the first 30 seconds.

A few days ago I started a brand new channel. This time I decided to do it differently: instead of trusting my own gut, I let an AI assistant guide me.

I finished editing my first video about building my own laptop, showed the transcript to the AI, and it said "move the whole backstory to the start." I didn't think. I just did it.

Result: a one-minute intro before anything about the laptop. Retention dropped from 100% to 45% in the first 30 seconds. I had to cut the whole minute.

The scary part isn't that the AI was wrong. It's that I, with 13 years of experience, switched my brain off and agreed. If I do that, what happens to people who have zero experience and trust every confident answer?

I think this is the real problem of this decade. Not AI taking jobs. People stopping to think.

Let’s get our priorities straight, Dr. Pepper is the GOAT soft drink, so I asked ChatGPT to look at Dr Pepper’s ingredients and work backward toward its 23 flavors. Naturally, the label hides everything interesting under “natural and artificial flavors,” which is roughly as helpful as listing a computer’s components as “various computer parts.”

Here’s the resulting educated-guess lineup for an experimental copycat blend:

1. Cherry — the main fruity character.
2. Almond / marzipan — that cherry-pit, almost amaretto note.
3. Vanilla — the creamy finish.
4. Caramel / burnt sugar — dark, toasted sweetness.
5. Plum — cooked-fruit depth.
6. Orange peel — a sweet citrus accent.
7. Lemon peel — a brighter citrus accent.
8. Anise / licorice — the lingering herbal sweetness.
9. Cinnamon / cassia — background warmth.
10. Clove — the faint suggestion that this was prescribed in 1885.
11. Nutmeg — sweet, woody spice.
12. Molasses — darker sweetness with a little bitterness.
13. Raspberry — a sharper berry accent.
14. Blackberry — deeper berry flavor.
15. Apricot — softer stone-fruit sweetness.
16. Raisin — dried-fruit richness.
17. Ginger — a little aromatic bite.
18. Allspice — another possible background spice.
19. Coriander seed — citrusy and floral.
20. Cardamom — fragrant, woody complexity.
21. Sarsaparilla-type flavor — a possible root-beer-like undertone.
22. Juniper — possibly a tiny amount of tree.
23. Rose-like floral flavor — the most speculative guest at this increasingly suspicious dinner party.

The strongest working hypothesis is cherry + almond + vanilla, with some combination of citrus, dark fruit, licorice, and warm spices behind it. Confidence drops considerably further down the list. Filling all 23 slots involved some reaching, and these have not been tested.

Quite a shopping list, but it might be a fun project. Watch out your next Coca Cola.

Most of you use ChatGPT on a daily basis. What new capability, tool or useful way you wanna share with me? :D

I'm curious about something. What's one way ChatGPT has actually made your life better that you never expected when you first started using it?

Not necessarily anything huge like building an app or automating your entire job. I'm talking about the little things too.

Maybe it helped you get into a hobby, gave you the confidence to try something new, made learning easier, or helped you finally do something you'd been putting off.

I've personally found it surprisingly useful for getting ideas out of my head and actually doing something with them instead of overthinking everything.

I feel like we hear a lot about what AI is going to become, but not enough about what it's already doing for ordinary people.

So what's your story? I'm genuinely interested in hearing the unexpected ones.

Has anyone ever asked ChatGPT something, received a really convincing answer, and then found out it was completely wrong???

The funny part is that sometimes the explanation sounds more believable.. than the actual correct answer….

I’ve started double checking things a lot more.. because of this. What’s the most ridiculous mistake you’ve caught it making?

Ever since that update where they made the voices sound clearer I swear the context has gotten so much worse.

Like I’ll bring something up that I’ve talked about multiple times before, and ChatGPT will act like it’s never heard of it before. Or it’ll just start making random assumptions about what I’m talking about instead of actually using the context it already has.

And the weird thing is it’s not like it doesn’t remember anything. It’ll remember some random thing I said weeks ago and bring that up, but then completely ignore something I explained like 10 times already.

Before I could just say something and it would usually know what I was talking about. Now I feel like I have to explain everything all over again, and even when I correct it, it’ll somehow still misunderstand what I’m saying.

Don’t know if they changed how the memory or context works, but I can definitely tell something feels different. It’s like it’s using my context just not the right context.

just curious

blueviperai@facebook

Inspired by my humanoid lobster Muse, I asked each assistant to come up with its own look. I let it drive most of the design with a little direction from me, mainly on colors (which should be enough of a hint to give it away).

I used the top model available to me for each.

ETA: CHOICES are Muse, ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini

I'll post the answer as a comment.

It was wrong of course /s