PC Building Simulator

[Alefroth]

How meta!

I'm surprised something like this hasn't come out before. It looks like it could be appealing.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/6210 ... Simulator/

[jztemple2]

I've had this on my wishlist for awhile, having seen notice of it on a Rock, Paper, Shotgun "Premature Evaluation" article. I'm not sure how much of a game can be made out of the concept, but if it has rather high fidelity it might be something fun to fiddle with. Having just nervously upgraded a video card, the first time in several years that I've gone inside my rig's case, I think it might be fun to have something like this.

Anyone take the plunge yet?

[NickAragua]

Does it feature a video card displaying "artifacts" on the screen, and then when you go to take a look if it's seated properly and turn the computer on again, one of the capacitors emits a PIFF and a cloud of smoke comes out?

[jztemple2]

Not sure about that, but I was poking around the game's Steam site and on the discussion page and it does seem like the fidelity is pretty amazing. One guy post a question about how he had installed a new processor and it just plain did not work. There were already a couple of replies about how he must have overclocked settings in his BIOS which fried the processor right on start up. Another thread was arguing about CPU voltage settings for performance versus reliability. These threads read like something you'd see on a hardware discussion site, which is a testament I guess to the detail in the game.

So far my favorite item is this Steam guide, BSOD Guide (OC Update) with the subtitle "Don't know what a certain Blue Screen means? Check out this guide, it may help you out!". And check out one of the accompanying images:

[NickAragua]

I'm still amused by how "meta" it is.

Next, we'll have a game about playing video games.

[jztemple2]

I'm weak, I went ahead and bought this .

There is a campaign, you inherit a PC repair business from your uncle, who not only leaves you with no money but "borrows" fifteen bucks for gas. After that it is somewhat like Car Mechanic Simulator, you get emails with work orders, order parts, and repair.

[jztemple2]

I've put in four hours so far and it's pretty fun. The campaign works well, similar to the Car Mechanic Simulator series. I'm just starting to reach the point where the repair orders I'm getting are no longer only "replace A with B", now I'm seeing more "My rig doesn't work, why?" challenges, like the one below where I'm asked to "Upgrade CPU" but it's up to me to figure out what constitutes enough of an upgrade to keep the customer happy, although there are some tools to help.

[ColdSteel]

I've had this on my wishlist a while. Is it detailed/authentic enough to where you could use it to learn how to build a PC? I'd like to practice doing that virtually via something like this without worrying about ruining hundreds of dollars in parts by screwing up while learning. How realistic is it?

[jztemple2]

I've had this on my wishlist a while. Is it detailed/authentic enough to where you could use it to learn how to build a PC? I'd like to practice doing that virtually via something like this without worrying about ruining hundreds of dollars in parts by screwing up while learning. How realistic is it?

As far as the parts you would assemble it is pretty good. It doesn't go into cable routing at all, that is done automatically and sometimes the cables just cut right though other pieces, but of course it is early access so that might be fixed. As far as matching up the right components, I haven't gotten far enough into it to see if they take that into account.

There's a thread in the game's discussion forum that addresses this in greater detail: Can you use this game to learn to build computers irl?

[ColdSteel]

There's a thread in the game's discussion forum that addresses this in greater detail

Awesome. Thanks!

[jztemple2]

One of the little touches that make the game more than just doing jobs in a workshop are the emails. Some are requesting work, some are follow ups, some are just chatty updates from former clients. Below is part of an email from someone requesting an HDD upgrade

[jztemple2]

Reached the sixth level, of how many I don't know, and now I'm in the big time... someone wants me to build them a computer!

[jztemple2]

Haven't posted about this in a while, but there has been an update and a new DLC released, PC Building Simulator Update v1.2 - Swapping peripherals, a remade workshop and a whole lot more is live now!

Hello PC Builders,

The team has been busy making a lot of changes to PC Building Simulator in order to be able to add the ability to swap peripherals such as keyboards and mice along with improving other various bits and pieces (some more visible than others) to make the game a bit more polished.

Lot’s to get through, so let's get right to the update!


Build v1.2 Highlights

Swapping Peripherals

Support for swapping peripherals is now live! In this update, we are kicking off with a wide range of Razer products which you can use to further customise your workbenches with. The items you can swap are:

Keyboards
Mice
Mouse Mats
Headsets



Please Note: Large (extended) mouse mats and headsets are currently only available to swap on your main office desk.
With this support now complete, we will add new peripherals in future updates.


Workshop Makeover

In order to enable the ability to swap more items on workbenches we had to make some major changes to the current environment we all know and love(??). So we decided this was a good opportunity to rebuild it to support these kinds of changes properly. The overall layout and design have been kept but various cosmetic and functional improvements have been made. For example, there is now an extra light switch near the door!



Brand New Razer Workshop DLC

In addition to the remade workshop, we have collaborated with Razer to create a brand-new workshop themed around all things Razer. This new space brings a fresh, open layout for you to run your PC business in and once purchased you will be able to switch between either workshop as much as you like in either Career or Free Build modes.

[jztemple2]

Just when you thought there wasn't going to be another post, here's something to talk about... PC Building Simulator 2 has been announced.

To be blunt, I thought making a game about building a PC was a terrible idea. Who wants to play a videogame about doing the same thing you just did in real life so you could play some videogames? But I was wrong: PC Building Simulator is actually quite good, and also very popular—popular enough that a sequel is coming to the Epic Game Store later this year.

PC Building Simulator 2 looks an awful lot like its predecessor, which is understandable—there are only so many ways you can build a PC, after all. But it promises a range of upgrades and improvements including more than 1,200 "true to life" individual PC parts at launch from more than 45 brands including Intel, AMD, Nvidia, and a range of boutique manufacturers, a 30 hour "career mode," more customization options, and a "deeper simulation" of the pretend PC running inside your real PC.

The new game is being developed by a different studio—UK-based Spiral House Ltd., rather than original developer Claudiu Kiss—and will be an Epic Games Store exclusive: Epic acquired original PC Building Simulator publisher The Irregular Corporation in 2021, as part of its acquisition of the Tonic Games Group. A release date hasn't been set but it's expected to be out later this year.

[Rumpy]

I loved this game. I actually found it quite educational, enough to the point that I feel I know way more than I originally going in, even though it's technically much simplified. I feel it's good enough to give you a rough estimate of what you could want.

But Boo on the sequel being an Epic Exclusive.

[jztemple2]

But Boo on the sequel being an Epic Exclusive.

Me too, but I've gotten a couple of games through them and it's been alright, although I missed the ability to post screenshots and a few other things. Of course now that I know there is going to be a PCBS2 I'm less inclined to pick up any of the DLC for the original game

[Rumpy]

The weird thing is that a PC Building Sim is already quite a small niche, that making it an exclusive would narrow down that even more. Yeah, I'm sure they got a lot of money for it, but..

[Kasey Chang]

The problem with PCBS is it doesn't really deal with airflow or cooling, or actual sizes of the parts for fitting items together in combos you never consider before. Like, how cool of a system can you build with a microITX board and a tiny case? Or an entirely passive cooling solution? You can stick the parts in, sure, but and you can pretend to do some RAM timing and overclocking, but cooling wasn't really simulated much. And the career mode is more about how to read the order and use only the parts specified.

[jztemple2]

Both good points. The career mode really got boring after a while, even more than Car Mechanic Simulator

Maybe in the next version they will beef up the career mode and add cooling physics as you suggest. Really, I'm not going to have to deal with Epic for what might be essentially PCBS 1.X

[Rumpy]

Oh yeah, airflow physics would be really interesting. Because one element of the BIOS that wasn't all that well implemented were the temps. The GPU temps were also non-existent. Which is weird because you have water-cooling, but it's all rather arbitrary.

[Alefroth]

What I think is wrong with it is that it doesn't simulate cutting your fingers on the unrolled edges of cheap cases.

[Rumpy]

Hah! Yes, and I'd like to see a bit more acknowledgement that some cases are much harder to get into and pull stuff out. They're not equal in that regard.

Also, one thing I could see much improvement in would be on the software side. The OS they had made was maybe a little too simplistic. It would be nice if you had to install drivers for the GPUs and for keyboards on the fancier ones.