Commented 10 years ago2014-05-21 04:19:01 UTC
in journal: #8376Comment #48354
Laptop keyboards don't allow that. It's very easy to hit Esc instead of F1 or ` or even `, Delete or Insert instead of Backspace, and whatever random misstrokes depending on the random layouts made by laptop keyboard makers. Even with labels, sometimes I hit the power button instead of Esc (yeah that's a shitty design)
Commented 10 years ago2014-05-21 02:54:53 UTC
in journal: #8376Comment #48348
It's entirely possible to press all the keys on the keyboard without looking, including the symbols, the function keys, and even the "End" or arrow keys.
I do that at work every day. I admit that the accuracy is somewhat lower once I leave the home row, but overall, not looking is a lot faster. Every now and then, I press [F1] instead of [F2], but the time saving in the long run is worth the sporadic mistakes.
Commented 10 years ago2014-05-21 00:40:32 UTC
in journal: #8376Comment #48350
Your son is very lucky to have a dad like you!
Totally on my list to get one of these, and would like to try out the blank caps as well.. (or one of the cheaper mechanical gaming keyboards around $70)
Commented 10 years ago2014-05-20 22:15:28 UTC
in journal: #8376Comment #48349
I use the brown switch Das Keyboard at work, it's a very nice keyboard. At home I use blue switches at the moment, but I think I prefer the brown now, so I'll probably get the same model next time I need a new keyboard at home. As for keycaps, I prefer them to be left on. Touch typing is one thing, but programming is quite different. Also, I can't touch type numbers or the F1-12 keys.
Commented 10 years ago2014-05-20 20:35:25 UTC
in journal: #8376Comment #48356
Once you learn the key position and function you just practice to make that seem as every day something. You begin to feel where everything is so you don't need indicators any more.
Its like an synthesizer keyboard, there are no notes on it.
Commented 10 years ago2014-05-20 16:06:24 UTC
in journal: #8376Comment #48351
Wait, is that a blank keyboard? That's odd, never seen one before. What's that useful for? (I suspect not looking at it when typing, but it's not that... logical imo).
Commented 10 years ago2014-05-20 13:14:32 UTC
in journal: #8375Comment #50145
Yeah, to use HLLib from .NET you have to use P/Invoke, which can be quite annoying to deal with if you aren't familiar with lower-level C structures. HLLib includes a .NET wrapper that already does the P/Invoke bindings for you, but even then I found it annoying to use since it is a very procedural, C-oriented library. It maintains its own internal state which I found quite difficult to work with, and from my experience, it isn't thread safe, and you can't open two different files at the same time.
You should be able to use my loaders to do what you need, and from the looks of it, the WAD loader is pretty standalone so you could probably use it without having to make a lot of modifications. The license is LGPL, which means you need to open source any changes you make to the code if you publish an app that uses it (but not your entire app if you don't want to).
My loader currently doesn't support loading mipmaps (I've been meaning to add support for it), but it will load the high-resolution texture data without any problems. If you want to do some additional processing related to transparency, take a look at this method (however it is currently slightly wrong and will change before the next version of Sledge comes out).
Commented 10 years ago2014-05-20 12:10:52 UTC
in journal: #8375Comment #50142
Thnx, pengy.
Yeah, I've always wanted to make a wad viewer, just for fun and practice purposes, so I tried using the HLLib libraries by referencing these in my project. It did'nt work, Visual Studio complained that these dll's are not .NET assemblies and therefor cannot be referenced. It's bacause HLLib is written in C, not .NET, right? I believe you can reference C libs by referencing them in pure code. Too much of a hassle to me.
So with your loaders (WadPackage.cs) I should be able to come up with some sort of wad viewer, right? I prefer to use your loaders over HLLib...
Commented 10 years ago2014-05-16 17:09:51 UTC
in vault item: AltdelComment #20588
I gotta say Archie, you've outdone yourself with this 2014 revamp of your classic. I haven't had a decent length game on it yet but it seems to retain the crazy fast paced action in the hallways with the conventional firearms , as well as the contrasting open combat in the main arena with the RPG, Crossbow and Gauss. Extremely well done, especially for 4 days work.
However, the light bridges. I guess you need to get murdered or something... yeah...
Commented 10 years ago2014-05-15 12:52:26 UTC
in journal: #8375Comment #50144
I recently wrote loaders for PAK, VPK, WAD, and VTF (not published yet), and there's also one for MDL (only partially supports Source models). There are references on the internet for all these formats (VDC is good for Source stuff, Google trawling for Goldsource stuff), and in some cases you can look at the header files from the GS/Source SDK (for example, studiomdl includes the header files for model objects in both GS and Source). For RMF, I saved a bunch of minor changes in Hammer into different RMFs and poked around in a hex editor until I found the format. I published the format specification as well, which I used in the JavaScript loader using a nifty JS library called jBinary. My hex editor of choice is 010 Editor because it has an amazing binary templating feature which is incredibly useful for figuring out binary formats. VMF is an incredibly simple format (and not binary!), so prefer that if you can.
If you don't want to poke around with binary formats yourself, HLLib supports WAD, PAK, and BSP, as well as VPK. It has .NET bindings that you can use, though they can be a bit difficult to use. I recently moved away from HLLib because it would have caused me headaches if I ever ported to Linux. You can also use the Sledge binaries and use the loaders directly out of that.
Commented 10 years ago2014-05-15 12:32:51 UTC
in journal: #8375Comment #50141
Cool stuff.
But what if you want to work with binary files such as wad, pak, spr, mdl, bsp and whatnot? How does one know how to read and write such files? Where do you even begin?
Commented 10 years ago2014-05-14 21:58:26 UTC
in vault item: AltdelComment #20586
Lovely map. Plays very well. What I really dig are the lights and lens flares. Effin' gorgeous.
The one thing I don't like are the light bridges. I don't think it fits in this map as it is the only unrealistic object in the map. I don't have a problem with unrealistic map features, but in this case I think you should get rid of them.
TJB went through the 2^x journals >.>
Hidden TWHL Fact #4
TWHL records all.
Do I know you?
I do that at work every day. I admit that the accuracy is somewhat lower once I leave the home row, but overall, not looking is a lot faster. Every now and then, I press [F1] instead of [F2], but the time saving in the long run is worth the sporadic mistakes.
Totally on my list to get one of these, and would like to try out the blank caps as well.. (or one of the cheaper mechanical gaming keyboards around $70)
You begin to feel where everything is so you don't need indicators any more.
Its like an synthesizer keyboard, there are no notes on it.
I had my first computer( a Pentium 2) when I was 6. Nobody forced me to learn to type fast. It was a natural process :).
It builds good typing habit, and allows extremely fast typing.
What's that useful for? (I suspect not looking at it when typing, but it's not that... logical imo).
I hope in future i will be able to afford one of those 1ns mechanical keyboards
You should be able to use my loaders to do what you need, and from the looks of it, the WAD loader is pretty standalone so you could probably use it without having to make a lot of modifications. The license is LGPL, which means you need to open source any changes you make to the code if you publish an app that uses it (but not your entire app if you don't want to).
My loader currently doesn't support loading mipmaps (I've been meaning to add support for it), but it will load the high-resolution texture data without any problems. If you want to do some additional processing related to transparency, take a look at this method (however it is currently slightly wrong and will change before the next version of Sledge comes out).
Yeah, I've always wanted to make a wad viewer, just for fun and practice purposes, so I tried using the HLLib libraries by referencing these in my project. It did'nt work, Visual Studio complained that these dll's are not .NET assemblies and therefor cannot be referenced. It's bacause HLLib is written in C, not .NET, right? I believe you can reference C libs by referencing them in pure code. Too much of a hassle to me.
So with your loaders (WadPackage.cs) I should be able to come up with some sort of wad viewer, right? I prefer to use your loaders over HLLib...
However, the light bridges. I guess you need to get murdered or something... yeah...
(I jest, I'm fine with them being there.)
If you don't want to poke around with binary formats yourself, HLLib supports WAD, PAK, and BSP, as well as VPK. It has .NET bindings that you can use, though they can be a bit difficult to use. I recently moved away from HLLib because it would have caused me headaches if I ever ported to Linux. You can also use the Sledge binaries and use the loaders directly out of that.
Hopefully that helps!
But what if you want to work with binary files such as wad, pak, spr, mdl, bsp and whatnot? How does one know how to read and write such files? Where do you even begin?
The one thing I don't like are the light bridges. I don't think it fits in this map as it is the only unrealistic object in the map. I don't have a problem with unrealistic map features, but in this case I think you should get rid of them.
I have C++, JS and C# books(never opened!) at home, and this might be just the kick in the pants i need to dust them off
Tha JS loader is awesome! Only weird thing is i can't seem to turn around a full 360 degrees. Cool map too BTW!