Commented 3 years ago2021-01-28 18:22:45 UTC
in journal: :(Comment #103213
I come here from time to time too, it was my home community when I grew up on the internet. Nowadays I still have an uncompleted project for Source but my life requires much more attention these years than my teen passion for Valve games. Very rarely I come back to mapping again.
Commented 3 years ago2020-12-07 15:56:26 UTC
in vault item: Car Assault v1Comment #103125
Ohhhh I remember this game. I forgot the name, but I remember I received the CD of it to play it on my Pentium 2 when I was about 8 years old. It was only over the weekend, and the game only ran with the CD in. I was instantly obsessed with it but then lost it forever when I had to return the CD :(.
Commented 4 years ago2020-11-17 21:26:59 UTC
in vault item: TWHL Tower 2Comment #103045
One of those things that just keep on giving on each replay. There's so much to be inspired from, and even some slick levels with incredible attention to details. It took me 3 hours to play it, it would take me a week to give a reasonable and fair review to each map, so I'm just gonna congratulate every mapper for the effort that went into this.
It was a short, sweet HL style and honestly a bit frustrating mission at times. In the first encounter (after switching off the fan) I was left fighting with the HECU at 8HP. Probably bad luck though. But before the last fight there were sufficient health recharges even though it wasn't as intense anymore. There are several areas that were dimly lit, and at first I thought there was a problem with my settings. My brightness and gamma settings were a bit above and I even switched off my room lights. I understand the dark atmosphere required there but it was probably overdone imo. After the first fight, in the lift I had to use noclip after 4 retries to hit that damn ladder and almost dying :)).
The architecture denotes a skill that has been mastered over the years of mapping. It's clean, coherent, pleasant to the eye. It feels like Black Mesa while still being something original. The texturing went hand in hand with the architecture, and it left my eyes satisfied. The ambience - not so much. There's a lack of dynamism (I know it's HL style gameplay we're talking, but we still have all kinds of opportunities as mappers). For example, I think the area under the bridge is a missed opportunity for something happening there - a black mesa metro line for example with a metro passing from time to time. Just my imagination :P. Lighting - overall good, but as mentioned before, there are few spots with very dim areas and I'm not sure this is actually the map or my settings/monitor. Gameplay - It's always hard for me to judge this one, because Half-Life is an old game and I don't want to be harsh to a mapper who spent time and effort on creating something nice. For the given context, I think the challenge was sufficiently good, but after finally "bridging the gap", the show was over - well, except for a pesky turret waiting at the end.
I totally understand everyone's procrastination - such as yours with The Core. Instead of doing my chores and preparing for the next week, my brain considers that this review is much more important of a task.
Commented 4 years ago2020-07-26 10:56:29 UTC
in journal: Welcoming a New FriendComment #102810
Cute dog! I was expecting something a bit bigger when you said it's a Shiba Inu mix, but then I remembered I always confuse that with the Akita Inu, which is a larger breed :)).
We contacted so many rescues and shelters that we started a spreadsheet to keep track of everything. For every pet that's up for adoption, more than a hundred families apply. The demand for pets is extremely high during the quarantine. I was losing hope when my friend and co-worker tipped me off about River. My friend volunteered at the rescue for more than a decade. Without a personal connection, we would still be waiting for a dog.
I'm sorry to say the situation is quite opposite where I live. There are dogs that live in the shelters for years before they're adopted. I myself couldn't take care for one due to the lack of space and inability to take it with me to work during the day, even though I'd like to take care of one.
Commented 4 years ago2020-06-26 22:00:52 UTC
in journal: Resin castingComment #102777
This strongly reminds me of a video I've seen some months ago: Plastic Injection Molding, by the Engineer Guy.
Congrats on your cast little bear. With a few refinements in your technique, you could open your own shop :)). Well, I don't know what I'm talking about, I've never tried this. I only messed around with some liquid resin about 6 years ago, inside my apartment. That was a mistake, the fumes are very powerful and the smell lasts for days until it cures.
Commented 4 years ago2020-05-21 10:12:06 UTC
in journal: #1Comment #102734
I come here to read and be inspired by the messengers that have long left this old chamber, who leave words of encouragement and for warming the soul of those who dare to explore the forgotten caverns of the internet.
"Do not despair, you will eventually find human contact again!"
A beacon of light, if I might, is what I leave here in my journey to other points of space. But its light slowly perishes. Ye stranger who comes here, put your hands around it and warm it again!
Commented 4 years ago2020-05-20 10:51:30 UTC
in journal: Cobalt 5 days agoComment #102725
Thanks . The way the PC is positioned right now makes them a bit annoying at night. I've put super low effort into actually buying components with RGBs on them, it's just that almost every component these days has a light slapped to it. I have to see if I can modify the AMD's cooler RGBs to set it to something orange, and the GPU too, to have a blue-orange Portal-ish theme.
Commented 4 years ago2020-04-07 21:51:44 UTC
in journal: Some plans for 2020 uwuComment #102654
You're really admirable. I wish I had done as much as you do at your age. For me it's quite weird when I realize that I begin learning more and more from people younger than me. In a way it confirms me that the world won't stop and knowledge keeps passing on.
Hope you can pass well over this event. It must be really shitty especially if you cared about him, but even if not, probably a weird experience knowing the ephemerality of life can hit so close. Take care man.
Commented 4 years ago2020-04-07 21:35:28 UTC
in journal: I modded my robovacComment #102651
Thank you for the boost of confidence.
Well the wind speed, wind vane and rain gauge came as a kit I bought from here. I know it originally from sparkfun (if you search a bit they have a more "complete" solution based on micro::bit - it's more beginner friendly and faster to set up, I had to actually investigate how it works and compute some values for it). At the time the kit wasn't available at any shop in my country and I could hardly find it even on European sites. It was the most costly of the assembly. Other sensors are not as expensive. I can find a DHT22 for example, which is used for temperature&humidity, at around 6$-7$. An alternative DHT11, which is less accurate, is dirt cheap at around 2$.
The pole is metallic and made from 2 pieces (telescopic). I actually found an old pipe that was used in heating around the backyard that I reconditioned and painted white. The "base" in which the pole is "planted" was already there. So this cost nothing. Where I've put this I also had to invest in internet equipment like a router, UPS etc.
I never thought about maintaining a BOM file so I'd have to estimate it at about 400$ until now. But if you already have the infrastructure in place and some other materials (internet connection, a roof maybe where to put this on a tripod with a weight etc., have some resistors and wires and whatnot every hobbyist has lying around at home), this shouldn't cost more than 100$.
Didn't really think of the price in the long term. Having something to do can be fun at times, it's a mood erector.
Commented 4 years ago2020-04-07 08:44:39 UTC
in journal: I modded my robovacComment #102645
@Archie: Nice flying vacuum. This could be used to wireless dry-clean and style your hair without any shampoo. Eco friendly and Greta-approved!
@zeeba-G: nice man! I think I saw your kickstarter before. Right now I'm "isolated" and happen to be near a river, but I live in Europe. Last time I went fishing was maybe 12 or 13 years ago, when my rod got stuck in a tree branch and it broke. Decided fishing is not for me (well, fishing is quite an art to learn and dedicate time to honestly). This rodless thing seems like a fun thing to carry around. I think it should be in any survival kit :D.
@Urby: What was that mod called? The care? The cart? The corn? The crane? Gee man, I just can't remember. Hope you have time to finish it though, can't wait to play it!
As for me... not much. Unfortunately (or fortunately?), even though we're in quarantine and we have to stay at home, I still do home office and honestly it sucks a bit, seems like the 8 hours I'd spend at the office gets spread out to 10-11 at home :\. Sucks my mood to do anything...
I should work on finishing a project I started in December 2018, which I worked on a bit more during the summer of 2019. I've erected (I like this verb) a small weather station with temperature/humidity/pressure/windspeed/wind-direction/raingauge sensors. It's not much, it's based around an ESP8266 chip and it's all custom code but I plan on changing that in the future and base it more on community driven libraries - I have to draw schematics to remember what wires are go where and the code becomes technical debt after a while.
The wind blows and it stands erected
The things I want to work on it are:
better data availability (due to a bug I have to reset it every now and then else it won't transmit data); find a way to store data locally or to a personal repository and reduce dependency on the current cloud store (thingspeak - although thingspeak provides nice graphs and is what I use to consult the data on my phone)
create an interface for it
add more sensors (light, UV, lightning strike, PM2.5 PM10 etc.)
I've been thinking about adding a radiation sensor just for the lulz for some time now. Unfortunately an off-the-shelf solution is very expensive(though probably calibrated). It would have been great now with the Chernobyl forest fires going on these days - probably the radiation will minimally increase anyway because this is I think about 1000km away, but fun to detect.
Well, I should probably have made a journal post. Probably will at some point. Too lazy now.
Commented 4 years ago2020-03-28 09:08:09 UTC
in journal: CoronavirusComment #102605
I've been in quarantine for 2 weeks now. Where I live, we need a "statement on your own responsibility" that the thing you go out of your house for is justified. Ex: groceries, a short phyisical activity around your home etc. Initially this was imposed by our government only between 10PM-6AM, but people just didn't realize the gravity of the situation and gov realized it had to impose stricter rules and enforce them with the police and military.
I'm doing fine myself, I just fear for my parents who are more vulnerable than me. I'm working from home. Otherwise, I just feel like taking a break from all this imaginary rat race. It's really nice for a change. Eh, maybe I'm a little sad for all the gym progress I've had these months that's going to be lost. I'm trying to compensate with the little I can do in-house.
Happy birthday! Scrolling this on my work monitor made me chuckle. Fun fact: you heart beats about 1 billion times by the time you're 27. Don't quote me on the fact.
'PenguinBoy' said:No but really it's: Pornography = XXX with three eyes = III XXXIII = 33 in Roman numerals
'Bruce' said:twhl is beginning to invent the most advanced numeral system in the universe, someone needs to patent it before big companies borrow it to encrypt stuff
I splattered my screen with coke.
Urby, how did you have this idea? Was it a showerthought or a shitthought?
Commented 5 years ago2019-08-04 10:28:32 UTC
in journal: It's the thingComment #102194
Rimrook said:TWHL is the only place I know that does this. I love how it has evolved over the decades.
I accidentally stumbled upon a comment on Interlopers by Jman: I think what I don't like the most about the modern internet/modding scene is that communities are so impersonal, stuff like Reddit and Twitter I never really notice the same screen names and build up my friends list like I did with these types of forums.
This sums up pretty well what's happening globally. Communities used to be really tight-knit in the past I guess. I wonder if the facebookification of the internet is correlated with higher degrees of depression.
This comment was made on an article that has been deleted.
Very rarely I come back to mapping again.
It took me 3 hours to play it, it would take me a week to give a reasonable and fair review to each map, so I'm just gonna congratulate every mapper for the effort that went into this.
Texturing — 10
Ambience — 8
Lighting — 9
Gameplay — 8
After the first fight, in the lift I had to use noclip after 4 retries to hit that damn ladder and almost dying :)).
The architecture denotes a skill that has been mastered over the years of mapping. It's clean, coherent, pleasant to the eye. It feels like Black Mesa while still being something original.
The texturing went hand in hand with the architecture, and it left my eyes satisfied.
The ambience - not so much. There's a lack of dynamism (I know it's HL style gameplay we're talking, but we still have all kinds of opportunities as mappers). For example, I think the area under the bridge is a missed opportunity for something happening there - a black mesa metro line for example with a metro passing from time to time. Just my imagination :P.
Lighting - overall good, but as mentioned before, there are few spots with very dim areas and I'm not sure this is actually the map or my settings/monitor.
Gameplay - It's always hard for me to judge this one, because Half-Life is an old game and I don't want to be harsh to a mapper who spent time and effort on creating something nice. For the given context, I think the challenge was sufficiently good, but after finally "bridging the gap", the show was over - well, except for a pesky turret waiting at the end.
I totally understand everyone's procrastination - such as yours with The Core. Instead of doing my chores and preparing for the next week, my brain considers that this review is much more important of a task.
Happy birthday!
Congrats on your cast little bear. With a few refinements in your technique, you could open your own shop :)). Well, I don't know what I'm talking about, I've never tried this. I only messed around with some liquid resin about 6 years ago, inside my apartment. That was a mistake, the fumes are very powerful and the smell lasts for days until it cures.
"Do not despair, you will eventually find human contact again!"
A beacon of light, if I might, is what I leave here in my journey to other points of space. But its light slowly perishes. Ye stranger who comes here, put your hands around it and warm it again!
Congrats, TWHL! May you continue to be a great community :D.
The way the PC is positioned right now makes them a bit annoying at night. I've put super low effort into actually buying components with RGBs on them, it's just that almost every component these days has a light slapped to it. I have to see if I can modify the AMD's cooler RGBs to set it to something orange, and the GPU too, to have a blue-orange Portal-ish theme.
What did you graduate from?
Take care man.
Well the wind speed, wind vane and rain gauge came as a kit I bought from here. I know it originally from sparkfun (if you search a bit they have a more "complete" solution based on micro::bit - it's more beginner friendly and faster to set up, I had to actually investigate how it works and compute some values for it).
At the time the kit wasn't available at any shop in my country and I could hardly find it even on European sites. It was the most costly of the assembly.
Other sensors are not as expensive. I can find a DHT22 for example, which is used for temperature&humidity, at around 6$-7$. An alternative DHT11, which is less accurate, is dirt cheap at around 2$.
The pole is metallic and made from 2 pieces (telescopic). I actually found an old pipe that was used in heating around the backyard that I reconditioned and painted white. The "base" in which the pole is "planted" was already there. So this cost nothing.
Where I've put this I also had to invest in internet equipment like a router, UPS etc.
I never thought about maintaining a BOM file so I'd have to estimate it at about 400$ until now. But if you already have the infrastructure in place and some other materials (internet connection, a roof maybe where to put this on a tripod with a weight etc., have some resistors and wires and whatnot every hobbyist has lying around at home), this shouldn't cost more than 100$.
Didn't really think of the price in the long term. Having something to do can be fun at times, it's a mood erector.
@zeeba-G: nice man! I think I saw your kickstarter before. Right now I'm "isolated" and happen to be near a river, but I live in Europe. Last time I went fishing was maybe 12 or 13 years ago, when my rod got stuck in a tree branch and it broke. Decided fishing is not for me (well, fishing is quite an art to learn and dedicate time to honestly). This rodless thing seems like a fun thing to carry around. I think it should be in any survival kit :D.
@Urby: What was that mod called? The care? The cart? The corn? The crane? Gee man, I just can't remember. Hope you have time to finish it though, can't wait to play it!
As for me... not much. Unfortunately (or fortunately?), even though we're in quarantine and we have to stay at home, I still do home office and honestly it sucks a bit, seems like the 8 hours I'd spend at the office gets spread out to 10-11 at home :\. Sucks my mood to do anything...
I should work on finishing a project I started in December 2018, which I worked on a bit more during the summer of 2019. I've erected (I like this verb) a small weather station with temperature/humidity/pressure/windspeed/wind-direction/raingauge sensors. It's not much, it's based around an ESP8266 chip and it's all custom code but I plan on changing that in the future and base it more on community driven libraries - I have to draw schematics to remember what wires are go where and the code becomes technical debt after a while.
- better data availability (due to a bug I have to reset it every now and then else it won't transmit data); find a way to store data locally or to a personal repository and reduce dependency on the current cloud store (thingspeak - although thingspeak provides nice graphs and is what I use to consult the data on my phone)
- create an interface for it
- add more sensors (light, UV, lightning strike, PM2.5 PM10 etc.)
I've been thinking about adding a radiation sensor just for the lulz for some time now. Unfortunately an off-the-shelf solution is very expensive(though probably calibrated). It would have been great now with the Chernobyl forest fires going on these days - probably the radiation will minimally increase anyway because this is I think about 1000km away, but fun to detect.Well, I should probably have made a journal post. Probably will at some point. Too lazy now.
I'm doing fine myself, I just fear for my parents who are more vulnerable than me. I'm working from home. Otherwise, I just feel like taking a break from all this imaginary rat race. It's really nice for a change. Eh, maybe I'm a little sad for all the gym progress I've had these months that's going to be lost. I'm trying to compensate with the little I can do in-house.
Happy birtday Admer!
Fun fact: you heart beats about 1 billion times by the time you're 27. Don't quote me on the fact.
the nerve some guys have to come here after weeks to wish you a happy birthday, amirite?
Urby, how did you have this idea? Was it a showerthought or a shitthought?
I think what I don't like the most about the modern internet/modding scene is that communities are so impersonal, stuff like Reddit and Twitter I never really notice the same screen names and build up my friends list like I did with these types of forums.
This sums up pretty well what's happening globally. Communities used to be really tight-knit in the past I guess.
I wonder if the facebookification of the internet is correlated with higher degrees of depression.
Have a fun time!
I was absolutely destroyed the next day.