Journals
5 mods that people need to stop making
The 'Horror' Mod
Dark hallways, small quantities of weapons and ammo, cheap scare tactics. There are so many so called "horror" mods already out there and very few of them actually manage to pull it off. Far too many people are using darkness as a scare tactic, whereas for the most part, it is just annoying and disorienting.
The Zombie Mod
They Hunger did it well. They Hunger 2 and 3 got old fast. Every other zombie mod since then has been dire. Zombies are all well and good but there is little variety in the combat throughout. Slow shambling enemies make for slow shambling mods.
The engine upgrade / downgrade mod
Black Mesa looked incredible back in the day but now the level design is starting to show its age before the mod has even been released. Then there are the ones that go for the opposite approach. Take a new game and remake in for the old engine. The word 'downgrade' is rarely a good thing and more often than not implies that the 'latest' version is not stable enough to work with. HL2 works fine on it's current 7 year old. HL2 would not work fine on an engine that is 7 years older than that.
The Halo cross over mod
Nobody wants to play Halo in the Half-Life engine. Nobody wants to play Halo in the C&C Generals engine. Nobody wants to play Halo in the Homeworld engine. Nobody wants to play Halo on the GTA:San Andreas engine. This doesn't just apply to Halo, but it's certainly the most common culprit.
The "realism" mod
Mods that claim to bring realism to a game never EVER do. Real world weapons? That's a model pack. Better textures? That's a texture pack. Updated sounds? I... I have no idea what the hell that is, but it is not a mod. A true realism mod would make bullet impacts inflict more damage, resulting in instant death or bleed-outs. Health kits would be removed and instead, wounds would need to be tended to by a doctor / surgeon. Fall damage would result in broken / sprained limbs, reducing speed and inflicting pain damage the more you move around. All of this would make most games impossible. HL1 for example, Freeman would not be able to enter the test chamber because his suit is lacking a helmet. If he did, as soon as the experiment starts, he would drop dead of radiation poisoning.
There are probably more, but these are the main culprits...
tl;dr?
Don't FUCKING post then.
The 'Horror' Mod
Dark hallways, small quantities of weapons and ammo, cheap scare tactics. There are so many so called "horror" mods already out there and very few of them actually manage to pull it off. Far too many people are using darkness as a scare tactic, whereas for the most part, it is just annoying and disorienting.
The Zombie Mod
They Hunger did it well. They Hunger 2 and 3 got old fast. Every other zombie mod since then has been dire. Zombies are all well and good but there is little variety in the combat throughout. Slow shambling enemies make for slow shambling mods.
The engine upgrade / downgrade mod
Black Mesa looked incredible back in the day but now the level design is starting to show its age before the mod has even been released. Then there are the ones that go for the opposite approach. Take a new game and remake in for the old engine. The word 'downgrade' is rarely a good thing and more often than not implies that the 'latest' version is not stable enough to work with. HL2 works fine on it's current 7 year old. HL2 would not work fine on an engine that is 7 years older than that.
The Halo cross over mod
Nobody wants to play Halo in the Half-Life engine. Nobody wants to play Halo in the C&C Generals engine. Nobody wants to play Halo in the Homeworld engine. Nobody wants to play Halo on the GTA:San Andreas engine. This doesn't just apply to Halo, but it's certainly the most common culprit.
The "realism" mod
Mods that claim to bring realism to a game never EVER do. Real world weapons? That's a model pack. Better textures? That's a texture pack. Updated sounds? I... I have no idea what the hell that is, but it is not a mod. A true realism mod would make bullet impacts inflict more damage, resulting in instant death or bleed-outs. Health kits would be removed and instead, wounds would need to be tended to by a doctor / surgeon. Fall damage would result in broken / sprained limbs, reducing speed and inflicting pain damage the more you move around. All of this would make most games impossible. HL1 for example, Freeman would not be able to enter the test chamber because his suit is lacking a helmet. If he did, as soon as the experiment starts, he would drop dead of radiation poisoning.
There are probably more, but these are the main culprits...
tl;dr?
Don't FUCKING post then.
Arduino is great!
I learned how to make a led blink, then I applied the procedure for more leds to flash them rapidly. It was like Christmas lights on steroids.
Then I made a RGB led change colour when selecting a color channel with a button and adjusting it with a potentiometer.
Today I made an EMF detector. No phantoms though :)). The most intense EMF I detected was near the TV. It was cool to let the detector near a cellphone, and when calling that cellphone the LED started blinking.
Oh well... it's fun but the problem is that I'm short on some basic materials like transistors ( to isolate the logic circuit from controlling a motor for example). I have some transistors but they only support 100 mA. I need something above 500 mA for small DC motors or running a HDD disk.
I learned how to make a led blink, then I applied the procedure for more leds to flash them rapidly. It was like Christmas lights on steroids.
Then I made a RGB led change colour when selecting a color channel with a button and adjusting it with a potentiometer.
Today I made an EMF detector. No phantoms though :)). The most intense EMF I detected was near the TV. It was cool to let the detector near a cellphone, and when calling that cellphone the LED started blinking.
Oh well... it's fun but the problem is that I'm short on some basic materials like transistors ( to isolate the logic circuit from controlling a motor for example). I have some transistors but they only support 100 mA. I need something above 500 mA for small DC motors or running a HDD disk.
There was a crazy preacher guy on my train today. I think he was one of those crazy black Christians that want to exterminate white people? He was randomly shouting at every white person in the train, and then he started shouting at me, I have no idea what he was talking about, the only bit that I understood was "sex toys"? He was coming closer and closer to me and shouting at me randomly, but the train stopped at a station, and some like 70 year old man tried to get off, but the preacher was blocking the way (he was facing towards me and the older man was behind him asking him to let him pass). The man behind the preacher was constantly touching him and asking him to let him pass, and then the preacher just randomly shouted "THE MAN BEHIND ME SHOULD STOP TOUCHING ME" or something like that, and then he just flipped out, turned around, and pushed / threw the older man onto the floor, shouted, and angrily walked out of the train. D: The older man was okay but I didn't really want to say anything to the preacher, cause he had so much golden christian bling all across him, I wouldn't be surprised if he had a gun in there as well.
Birthday? Who's having a birthday? Me? What? Oh, yeah, that's right.
I've been rather depressed recently, so I haven't really payed attention to TWHL in the last three months. I'm feeling better than I have for a while though, might end up non depressed soon. Or at least I hope so.
On a lighter note I got laid in December. Now I have a girlfriend. Hooray!
On a lighter note I got laid in December. Now I have a girlfriend. Hooray!
SUP PEOPLES! Been awhile since I did one of these journals. I come around every now and then, dropping awkward messages into the chat, I'm on steam 24/7 if you ever wanna say hi. Minton96 is my xbox live account if anyone has one. I don't map much anymore, been to focused on school and life, mainly trying to show people I'm not as big of an asshole as they think I am. You guys were great and some of you were helpful back when I mapped, even though I was shit at it. See you guys around.
Saw this about 5 minutes ago.
http://imgur.com/gallery/bFN1r
Idk how long it's been around, but it's pure genius.
http://imgur.com/gallery/bFN1r
Idk how long it's been around, but it's pure genius.
Dear TWHLers,
Have you heard about Qwiki?
It's basically Google+Wikipedia+Speech Engine. Remember how the people from Wall-E read info on their computers?
Qwiki is almost the same.
On another note, I just ordered an Arduino Starter Kit, with the new Arduino UNO. At last, I was waiting to buy one for over a year. I am very enthusiastic about it and I just can't wait!
Maybe one day I'll be able to construct one of these: 8x8x8 Led cube
Of course, until then I will be happy if I succeed with a 3x3x3 one as an 8x8x8 needs 512 leds...
World of programmable microchips, here I come !!
Have you heard about Qwiki?
It's basically Google+Wikipedia+Speech Engine. Remember how the people from Wall-E read info on their computers?
Qwiki is almost the same.
On another note, I just ordered an Arduino Starter Kit, with the new Arduino UNO. At last, I was waiting to buy one for over a year. I am very enthusiastic about it and I just can't wait!
Maybe one day I'll be able to construct one of these: 8x8x8 Led cube
Of course, until then I will be happy if I succeed with a 3x3x3 one as an 8x8x8 needs 512 leds...
World of programmable microchips, here I come !!
These "ramen" style meals offer a triple threat:
1. They are delicious(especially if you add some real chicken, green tabasco, and soy sauce)
2. They are dirt cheap, about $1 per package, plus even less if they're on sale.
3. Each serving proviedes roughly 1 million carbs.
If i keep buying/consuming these noodles, i'll be fatter than Jabba the Hutt by month's end.
I guess it doesn't really matter, since every type of food i like is high in carbs, but these are so cheap and good, it makes it really hard to not eat about 20 boxes a day...
'(
So anyone else excited about Skyrim?
I must admit it makes me want to play Oblivion again but I've played the shit out of it and know that I'll just get bored after an hour.
So by pure accident I came across this new "German" mod that is meant to be a total conversion.
http://www.moddb.com/mods/nehrim-at-fates-edge
They have an english version but me thinks it's still German voices but with english subtitles. Either way I'm gonna try it, maybe you should too.
I must admit it makes me want to play Oblivion again but I've played the shit out of it and know that I'll just get bored after an hour.
So by pure accident I came across this new "German" mod that is meant to be a total conversion.
http://www.moddb.com/mods/nehrim-at-fates-edge
They have an english version but me thinks it's still German voices but with english subtitles. Either way I'm gonna try it, maybe you should too.
Is there any way I can port the original Half-Life, Opposing Force, and Blue Shift GUI's into the Steam versions? I personally liked the old ones a lot more than their Steam counterparts.
UDK is better than suicide...
this is probably the biggest kick but my ass has experienced since hammer source
in order to resize a brush the shit opens a window called geometry mode where i cant resize like in hammer all i have to do is select a vertex one by one then resize =_= besides the geometry window is completely uncomfortable i have to move it away each time i want to resize a cube
creating a simple primitive run my brain out of order i must click PPM on an icon then input values (x, y, z, wall thickness.....)
furthermore i cant move a cube.... i was taught that i have to click cubes countour then drag somewhere my selected cube but it doesnt work =_= i click a cube in 2d windows (yes i cant select in 3d UDKzorororo) then move my mouse over an icon named "Translation Mode" and click sucker unfortunately it works randomly
today i enjoy the sun
this is probably the biggest kick but my ass has experienced since hammer source
in order to resize a brush the shit opens a window called geometry mode where i cant resize like in hammer all i have to do is select a vertex one by one then resize =_= besides the geometry window is completely uncomfortable i have to move it away each time i want to resize a cube
creating a simple primitive run my brain out of order i must click PPM on an icon then input values (x, y, z, wall thickness.....)
furthermore i cant move a cube.... i was taught that i have to click cubes countour then drag somewhere my selected cube but it doesnt work =_= i click a cube in 2d windows (yes i cant select in 3d UDKzorororo) then move my mouse over an icon named "Translation Mode" and click sucker unfortunately it works randomly
today i enjoy the sun
So one day (today) I noticed that TWHL actually has secret spam threads for the amusement of its members. I think I'll post in it too.
This week we have a mod that is based on one of those spaced-themed shows that's all the rage these days. The mod is Stargate TC, a pretty professional looking mod that handily defeats Stargate SG-2, a competing mod along the same lines that features a tripmine which zooms your screen and turns it red for some reason.
The better one, Stargate TC, features a good bag of new weapons and challenging enemies for you to make friends with. Though I never watched stargate TV shows, I can still like this mod for all the features that abound. Here are some screenies of the mod that you can drool over before you rush for the download buttons. Pretty nice looking, aren't they?
If only this mod were finished.
Sorry to burst your anticipation, but the site seems dead since 2006. However, do try their demo, since it is still pretty decent. I would talk more about this but honestly I don't know anything about the Stargate franchise. I just hope that your RPG-7 skills are up to par (because laser-guides are for noobs.)
You may also consider playing the out-competed mod, Stargate SG-2. However, this mod is in the alpha stage and it is highly recommended that you NOT play it, theoretical statistics have shown that your mapping skills will exponentially plummet as a result of playing this mod.
(This piece discusses a comparison between two mods. Skipping to the bottom of journal and drawing conclusions from the final sentence is NOT recommended.)
This week we have a mod that is based on one of those spaced-themed shows that's all the rage these days. The mod is Stargate TC, a pretty professional looking mod that handily defeats Stargate SG-2, a competing mod along the same lines that features a tripmine which zooms your screen and turns it red for some reason.
The better one, Stargate TC, features a good bag of new weapons and challenging enemies for you to make friends with. Though I never watched stargate TV shows, I can still like this mod for all the features that abound. Here are some screenies of the mod that you can drool over before you rush for the download buttons. Pretty nice looking, aren't they?
If only this mod were finished.
Sorry to burst your anticipation, but the site seems dead since 2006. However, do try their demo, since it is still pretty decent. I would talk more about this but honestly I don't know anything about the Stargate franchise. I just hope that your RPG-7 skills are up to par (because laser-guides are for noobs.)
You may also consider playing the out-competed mod, Stargate SG-2. However, this mod is in the alpha stage and it is highly recommended that you NOT play it, theoretical statistics have shown that your mapping skills will exponentially plummet as a result of playing this mod.
(This piece discusses a comparison between two mods. Skipping to the bottom of journal and drawing conclusions from the final sentence is NOT recommended.)