Comments

Commented 2 years ago2021-10-08 21:36:46 UTC in journal: Having played Half Life Alyx... Comment #103749
I've only watched the walkthrough, my major gripes with the game is that you pretty much get fast tracked through the first part. It's known that a lot of the beginning portion of the game was cut, but I'm a sucker for long intro's :D
And ugh... Xen crap, again? Not that its bad, but I personally despise the Xen infestation in that game.

Anyway, I assume you used the Index? If so have you tried supporting your hand with the other arm while aiming? Does that help?
Commented 3 years ago2020-07-07 11:24:22 UTC in vault item: seedee's Half-Life Compilation Tools Comment #102787
Any chance to get Linux binaries or source code?
This comment was made on an article that has been deleted.
This comment was made on an article that has been deleted.
Commented 5 years ago2019-01-01 19:45:08 UTC in journal: It's 2019! Get those Christmas hats outta here Comment #101703
I was just about to suggest the same thing :D
Commented 5 years ago2018-12-10 17:12:08 UTC in journal: A Very Quakey Christmas Comment #101680
Good to see Q's mapping community still alive and kicking, those levels mmm...
Commented 5 years ago2018-12-10 15:11:58 UTC in journal: IBM AT Comment #101679
Especially the keyboard :)
Commented 5 years ago2018-12-03 06:23:24 UTC in journal: Christmas Avatars (Chrivatars) Comment #101660
I miss the kittens :(
Commented 5 years ago2018-12-02 10:22:49 UTC in journal: Christmas Avatars (Chrivatars) Comment #101655
Very well.
This comment was made on an article that has been deleted.
This comment was made on an article that has been deleted.
This comment was made on an article that has been deleted.
Commented 5 years ago2018-07-30 06:20:24 UTC in journal: #8908 Comment #101404
Whoa, thanks torekk :)

Yeah pouet was something what I was looking for also reminds me of a similar site I once used but since went away also purple :D

Yeah the move from desktop to mobile is the biggest factor sites like these don't exist anymore, mobile just doesn't have the screen space to display all the bloat.
Commented 5 years ago2018-06-02 07:38:32 UTC in news: Welcome to TWHL4! Comment #101197
I must be dreaming
Commented 5 years ago2018-05-17 19:35:02 UTC in journal: Father of 3DS Max Comment #68538
I wonder how long that took them to render :)
Commented 5 years ago2018-05-12 17:20:35 UTC in journal: #8934 Comment #44164
Fuel?
Commented 5 years ago2018-04-24 18:27:08 UTC in journal: #8930 Comment #48491
All I could find is that its something to do with Portal.

Did not see anything Valve related myself tho.
Commented 6 years ago2018-03-16 07:37:26 UTC in journal: #8922 Comment #63008
I keep seeing people complaining that every other forced update is a systemwide update that will reset everything as if it were a fresh install and they have to set everything up again.
I don't know where you heard that, there used to be updates that reset some privacy settings, not sure if those are still around.

Iv'e come to understand that forced updates are a necessary evil, you can turn them off pretty easily if you wish though.
Commented 6 years ago2018-03-15 19:34:21 UTC in journal: #8922 Comment #63007
It will run, it might fuss about it, but I'm sure there are workarounds.

I was one of those "Never switching to W10" advocates, until I got myself a new machine. At first I considered Linux, but I was quite dependent on Windows (Photoshop etc...). Also been on W10 at work for a while so that pushed me to it.

Things I like:
  • Not needing to install any drivers is an absolute godsend, well done M$ on that part.
Things I dislike:
  • Some functions have been moved from the Control Panel to "Settings", the menu itself is poorly done. Not everything can be done with using the Settings menu and vice versa, but you don't have to use it often.
  • The start menu, its been improved since the first versions of W10 and its gotten better and will probably be just fine for new users. However if you still prefer the W7 start menu ClassicShell works just fine :)
  • Some bloatware is preinstalled such as mini games and some useless apps, removable through the Settings menu, not the Control Panel.
  • Potential privacy concerns, but if you're on the internet you gave that up years ago. There are apps that can help with this if you feel the need.
Aero is gone and windows are square again similar to W8.1.

Updates used to be annoying, but since the introduction of active hours they don't bother me anymore. However SAVE YOUR WORK if you don't turn your pc off at night.

Iv'e grown to like it myself, even if at first it was stupid and annoying and on some degree it might still be, but you get used to it. And the fact that it still is constantly updated with new features is cool.
Commented 6 years ago2018-03-08 20:14:50 UTC in journal: #8919 Comment #62996
If you want to test a drive in linux try Badblocks - https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/badblocks

Careful with the -w option.

Yeah if you got a error in the MBR you probably already know about it :)
Commented 6 years ago2018-03-08 08:02:54 UTC in journal: #8919 Comment #62995
There is a simpler way with GParted where it just copies everything, flags included. Can't tell of the top of my head now though.

If you are gonna go the DD way and especially if you have HDD's involved set some dd flags to avoid the eventual read errors that will occur.

Example:
dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb conv=sync,noerror

Sync - if a read error is encountered due to bad blocks it will pad the empty space with zeroes instead of truncating and leaving inconsistencies.

Noerror - won't quit if an error is encountered.

Depending on the age of the hard drive there will be some errors (bad blocks) and unless its spitting them out like crazy can be safely ignored.
Commented 6 years ago2018-02-11 08:32:23 UTC in journal: #8908 Comment #60155
Well to make my point, there were amazing designs just a few and far between. Those that were good were not restricted to having a mobile version and could go crazy with pixel thick attributes and so on.

Kind of hard to find something nice today. Don't get me wrong, today's web is cleaner than it ever was.
Commented 6 years ago2018-02-06 16:10:02 UTC in journal: #8910 Comment #51129
Oh iv'e been there a few (more than a few) times and still feel off when its time to talk cash.

From my experience when people get to know you a bit, meaning you did a few jobs here and there for free and they were satisfied with your work, they tend to ask (or offer) how much its going to be the next time. I don't see any problem working for free for some time to gain experience, however someone will definitely try to take advantage of you at some point you just have to know when to put your foot down and tell them. It usually happens to be these short notice jobs, though you can also charge them extra :) Remember time is money and if you are good at what you do don't do it for free.

That said, gauging how much to ask can be hard. Try to find out how much other people are asking/making for a given job and adjust accordingly.
Commented 6 years ago2017-07-23 11:05:16 UTC in journal: #8837 Comment #66635
Windows won't let you do things to the drive its booted off of. So linux or plug the drive into another Win machine and try there.
Commented 6 years ago2017-07-23 06:18:58 UTC in journal: #8837 Comment #66634
Oh you just potentially sacrificed your files to the devil.

Whatever you do don't delete the dynamic disk. I would suggest backing up everything you need and then reformatting accordingly.
There may be an option using Gparted on linux to restructure the partitions w/o losing data, but I never tried.
Commented 6 years ago2017-07-19 16:22:31 UTC in journal: #8831 Comment #61551
Ive heard somewhere that this phenomenon is referred to as "Mid development hell". Basically when you start you have all these ideas and the drive to actually implement them in reality, but after sometime the interest dies or you hit a very repetitive part (such as making levels for a game/mod) and thus stop working on it. Unless you are driven like crazy this probably affects most people, not much you can do about it either, just suck it up and keep going or find something interesting in the work you do. In the end when you do finish however the sense of achievement should persist into other projects and will make it easier (forming a habit i suppose?).
Commented 6 years ago2017-06-14 07:14:27 UTC in journal: #8818 Comment #62938
@DiscoStu: Its just a way of doing it, the imaging will take less time since you wont be using the drive to run Windows while you are copying data to the new one. Both ways are fine :)

I've had one or two hdd's fail over the course of 16 years or something. Nothing significant was lost. Iv'e did more damage by accidentally formatting... twice. Oh how I wish I had known how to restore deleted partitions back then :( so from then I started keeping every old HDD Iv'e ever used. Got like 5 in the drawer + a couple of SSD's just in case I need some old files.

Now I got a Raid mirror array, but still working on setting up a proper backup solution.
Commented 6 years ago2017-06-13 18:47:14 UTC in journal: #8818 Comment #62937
Try Macrium Reflect if you want to do it from Windows.
Or if you are more experienced boot up a live linux distro and use dd to clone the drive (be careful not to override your existing drive).

Oh you will need a usb to sata adapter or some other way to plug the second drive into the pc.
Commented 6 years ago2017-05-31 13:49:47 UTC in journal: Updates Comment #52982
I remember when I got my first SSD... even when I had it plugged into a SATA2 port and thus bottlenecking the drive it still blew me away with how everything fast was.

Now I have a terabyte m.2 drive and all my games are on there too (just for that extra 1-2 secs of loading time :D). You can never go back after getting one. And the write cycle is really a non issue imho, my first drive is still alive and kicking after 5 years of use.

Trust us you need that before anything else :)
Commented 6 years ago2017-05-31 10:29:03 UTC in journal: Updates Comment #52981
Throw in another 8gb of ram and an SSD and you're fine.
Its still a decent rig, you can upgrade to a 3000 series Intel CPU since they use the same socket (might warrant a BIOS update), but there are no real advantages unless you can get it cheap.

Anyway why aren't you getting an ssd already? I have Pentium 4's rocking those sweet flash storage devices :D there is no excuse not to have one now.
Commented 6 years ago2017-05-26 20:28:21 UTC in journal: #8810 Comment #68216
I think this journal should be a forum topic at this rate.
Just saying. You can now get back to what you were talking about.
Commented 6 years ago2017-05-17 19:05:50 UTC in journal: #8809 Comment #58561
GZ! All of those have rusted away in my country.
I was lucky enough to find a 93 Mazda 323 in perfect condition. I like old cars :)
Commented 6 years ago2017-05-15 20:38:07 UTC in journal: #8808 Comment #61741
Yeah AMD really got back in the game this generation, i have always been an Intel fanboy, but it seems that the tables are at least turning :)
Commented 6 years ago2017-05-15 16:51:39 UTC in journal: #8808 Comment #61740
It's comparable to the 7500 and way better in multicore performance if you use blender you will appreciate that. Though i have not done a ton of research on it since it is quite new.
Commented 6 years ago2017-05-15 14:23:50 UTC in journal: #8808 Comment #61739
AMD Ryzen 5 1500X - 200eu (4 cores 8 threads compared to i5's 4/4)
Asus B350M-A - 80eu

Food for thought if you decide to go the AMD route.

Why the DVD drive ?
Commented 6 years ago2017-05-15 12:54:51 UTC in journal: #8808 Comment #61738
Id go with Ryzen 5 + GTX1060 for your budget.
A 1060 is ~200eu, and i believe its the bare minimum for some "futureproof'ness" and a really good gaming experience now. I'm running one now with a 7700k (what an underkill compared that my rig was 10x the price of the 1060 :D ).

Anyway I recommend AMD now for budget builds because they have come back to screw Intel with low cost, high core count medium-end chips.
Commented 6 years ago2017-04-27 19:20:00 UTC in journal: #8803 Comment #67846
GZ! :)
Commented 6 years ago2017-04-27 19:06:07 UTC in journal: #8802 Comment #42425
Rimmey! :)
Commented 7 years ago2017-04-14 14:05:25 UTC in journal: #8796 Comment #66224
I never understood how they can be addictive, the smell is just horrible. No one in my immediate family is a smoker and iv'e tried some cigs before and usually take a puff once or twice per year, but get disgusted every time.
If they smelled good like lets say gasoline then yeah i would have smoked myself to death.

And as Jeff pointed out vaping is more like a "cool" statement now when cigs were when you were a teenager, depends on the country though.
Commented 7 years ago2017-04-14 07:40:27 UTC in journal: #8796 Comment #66223
Well you are inhaling a drug, that said and i'm just basing this purely from a logical sense is that when you smoke you inhale a plethora of other toxins such as carbon monoxide where as vaping has less? (again have not done any research)
Commented 7 years ago2017-04-12 09:00:50 UTC in journal: #8794 Comment #61532
Never thought it has any significance apart from that it was not the right way. But it looks so much better when you do put a space before a question mark, don't you agree ? :D
Commented 7 years ago2017-04-11 18:06:36 UTC in journal: #8794 Comment #61531
Useful skill to have :)
Commented 7 years ago2017-04-11 14:05:57 UTC in journal: #8793 Comment #49749
Would love to tune in, but i guess for us EU folk this is early morning something ?

Correction its 4am for me :(
Commented 7 years ago2017-03-21 21:12:55 UTC in journal: #8787 Comment #62929
Ohh material, if you have a crappy lcd everything looks like "full bright"...
Commented 7 years ago2016-10-31 07:09:30 UTC in journal: #8766 Comment #58544
Had some hands on time with Vive and yes the image is quite pixelated, but after some time you stop noticing it, i think its due to the way the optics work that makes it hard to make a good clean image without distortion.
The controllers are great, sense of depth was as close to real life as it could have been. Played an indie dev game with a lot of physics elements so had a great chance to test the controllers.
Commented 7 years ago2016-10-20 08:03:58 UTC in journal: #8761 Comment #52942
Mobile VR is a thing and tbh is quite decent for what it can do.
GearVR with an S6 or was it an S7 (don't remember) produces about the same quality picture as the Rift Dk2, granted you are not going to play hardcore games on it, but for watching videos its more than decent, and the price is reasonable if you got the phone already.

360 video and 3D 360 video are different things, 360 is just a lot of cameras with their images stitched together to form a sphere, but i don't believe it produces a true 3D environment since its essentially 1 camera for 1 picture. To produce realistic 3D environments you need 2 viewpoints (2 cameras), in games that translates to rendering the same scene twice with some offset, that kills performance. Though now that VR is moving forward the underlying tech, namely stereoscopic 3D rendering is getting a facelift so to speak, with more advanced GPU's being able to render the scenes using different techniques rather than just putting a second viewpoint in, NVIDIA has something for this i believe.
Commented 7 years ago2016-10-19 12:39:47 UTC in journal: #8761 Comment #52941
@Strider Completely agree with you mate. I seriously doubt it's ever going to affect the gaming market in any meaningful way, because its really damn hard to make a good gaming experience for VR if even possible.

When the media keeps saying "It's going to be a big deal" 3D suddenly pops up in my mind and when it was a "big deal".
Commented 7 years ago2016-10-19 12:21:02 UTC in journal: #8761 Comment #52940
Had tried the Rift dk1 and dk2, both were pretty bad tbh, i could easily see the pixels of the screen which killed the immersiveness for me personally, "Screen Door" is not much of an issue for me, depends on personal preference i suppose.
Will probably try Vive in the next 2 weeks and see how that is better or worse than the Rift (as far as i know the Rift consumer version is very similar to dk2). PSVR is really not a thing in my mind, since it has inferior hardware that powers it, but to be fair i have not done any research on it.
There is a another HMD which looks promising - OSVR, with it being open source there is a lot of potential for new physical control options etc... And the screen is pretty good (so i was told).

If i were to get a HMD right now the Vive is a no brainer. The controllers and the ability to move around the room rather than sitting beats the Rift to pieces. But i don't have a spare 2k$ to throw for a new setup + the headpiece so that will have to wait :)
Commented 7 years ago2016-05-10 05:41:43 UTC in vault item: fy_alienation Comment #5475
Nicely shaded gray mmmm :)
Commented 7 years ago2016-05-10 05:39:34 UTC in journal: #8702 Comment #68017
Umm usually these bank plans for teenagers include a limited card i.e. local payments. So don't be surprised if PayPal won't accept your card, if so probably neither will Steam.
Don't know about you, but in our country you have to be of age to have a fully featured bank card be it credit or debit.

As far as conversion rates go PayPal will automatically convert any currency to EUR or USD upon purchase (depends on where you buy from), but not for free.
It might be wise to open a EUR bank account, yes banks let you open accounts in different currencies. Exchange rates in banks are usually better than PayPal's so you wont have to pay PayPal more for converting your cash.