Journals
24 i am today.
I was the runner in the triathlon relay team this morning. The team consists of three pediatricians--myself included.
Since it was the second year that I was participating, I knew when to get there and where to wait for my teammate. The team also did much better this year. We don't have the official result yet, but the person before me arrived much earlier than last year. I am in much better shape this year, since I am already training for a half-marathon later this month. I also have the advantage of knowing the course well so I was expecting the big hills that were up ahead.
I ran all the way through, including the 40 degree incline that stopped a lot of runners cold. I flew past many runner when I was going downhill, and I knew when to start sprinting and give it all I got.
After I finished, I had some snacks at the Kaiser ESPN VIP area. The assistant medical director also did the triathlon by himself. In fact, when I ran past him, I didn't see him at all because I was so focused. Despite his effort at getting my attention, I kept running.
I found out that the LA Convention Center was hosting the World Cyber Game tournament. Too bad that I only had three bucks on me for the rail fare. Otherwise, I would have spent the ten dollar admission and watched the Counter-Strike championship tournament live.
On the way back, all the people on the bus were asking me about the race and how I did. I felt like a mini-celebrity for a while.
Since it was the second year that I was participating, I knew when to get there and where to wait for my teammate. The team also did much better this year. We don't have the official result yet, but the person before me arrived much earlier than last year. I am in much better shape this year, since I am already training for a half-marathon later this month. I also have the advantage of knowing the course well so I was expecting the big hills that were up ahead.
I ran all the way through, including the 40 degree incline that stopped a lot of runners cold. I flew past many runner when I was going downhill, and I knew when to start sprinting and give it all I got.
After I finished, I had some snacks at the Kaiser ESPN VIP area. The assistant medical director also did the triathlon by himself. In fact, when I ran past him, I didn't see him at all because I was so focused. Despite his effort at getting my attention, I kept running.
I found out that the LA Convention Center was hosting the World Cyber Game tournament. Too bad that I only had three bucks on me for the rail fare. Otherwise, I would have spent the ten dollar admission and watched the Counter-Strike championship tournament live.
On the way back, all the people on the bus were asking me about the race and how I did. I felt like a mini-celebrity for a while.
I just played BOOM, that so-called "greatest modification ever made" and "fail troll mod" over at moddb. It is made by Russians.
If you go over to their moddb page, you can see how much the moddb community is in an uproar over this mod. Alot of people have banded together to form an anti boom club even, and about 70-80% of the mod comments are negative in some way. After playing this mod (taking me way longer than I wanted because theres NO DAM AUTOSAVES), I have concluded that though the mod is of sub-par quality, I have definitely seen worse maps than these, and I find some areas very boldly crafted (not necessarily player-friendly.)
First let's discuss the new models to get those out of the way. I'll talk about mapping later. So, the models, there's a few, and most are very bad reskins done with MS Paint. Just looking at their banner at moddb and you can see what I mean by this. There's some combine soldiers, but they're the buggy models used in ag3nt-x's invasion 105, so that was kinda annoying. The alien slaves, though pretty cool looking, are semi-broken. They cannot do their charge lightning attacks. That's right, all alien slaves will attempt to melee you on sight. Pathetic.
This mod features another problem never before seen by me in half-life modding history: the re-painted headcrabs and zombies have very long idle sounds, which I guess crowds up the sound channels, so that if I ask barney to follow me, he just says "yeah" (or nothing at all). Okay.
Gameplay is very, very imbalanced. In the beginning and middle, expect to be spoon fed with ammo and health and even batteries. Expect the gluon gun and ammo given before every garg encounter. Unfortunately, your favorite weapons like crossbow and rpg, those will not be provided (assuming I didn't miss them or anything. I couldn't have, because the maps have not much possibility for exploring.)
Which brings us to the mapping. Those Boom haters over at moddb have said that the mapping sucks. Well I can't wholly disagree. A majority of the maps are very repetitive. For example in the first map you make your way through a room featuring a wall medkit, wall suitcharger, some breakable stack boxes, and two zombies. Then you go through 5-6 incarnations of that same room. Very reptitive. And sad thing is, this will happen in almost every map except maybe the last 2-3 maps.
Glitches abound in this mod. Some of the level transitions are broken. Quicksave and quickload fixes that lil' mishap. Expect to see many, many fireflies. All of the level transitions bring over monsters from the previous map, so expect some weird things to happen like floating sentry guns.
Like I said from the top, the mappers were nooby, but very bold in their mapping. I didn't think first time mappers could strive to release a full-blown mod while still on the bottom of the learning curve, but these guys are the shiz. Most of us would prolly never be able to release a 10-map mod what with our overburdened schedules. I envy these people.
If you play this, you skills as a mapper will be insulted, but if you have an open mind and no life then go try this mod. Just remember, no autosaves. And the mappers didn't feel like giving you a good ending, so you will be executed by firing squad. And everyone else lived happily ever after.
If you go over to their moddb page, you can see how much the moddb community is in an uproar over this mod. Alot of people have banded together to form an anti boom club even, and about 70-80% of the mod comments are negative in some way. After playing this mod (taking me way longer than I wanted because theres NO DAM AUTOSAVES), I have concluded that though the mod is of sub-par quality, I have definitely seen worse maps than these, and I find some areas very boldly crafted (not necessarily player-friendly.)
First let's discuss the new models to get those out of the way. I'll talk about mapping later. So, the models, there's a few, and most are very bad reskins done with MS Paint. Just looking at their banner at moddb and you can see what I mean by this. There's some combine soldiers, but they're the buggy models used in ag3nt-x's invasion 105, so that was kinda annoying. The alien slaves, though pretty cool looking, are semi-broken. They cannot do their charge lightning attacks. That's right, all alien slaves will attempt to melee you on sight. Pathetic.
This mod features another problem never before seen by me in half-life modding history: the re-painted headcrabs and zombies have very long idle sounds, which I guess crowds up the sound channels, so that if I ask barney to follow me, he just says "yeah" (or nothing at all). Okay.
Gameplay is very, very imbalanced. In the beginning and middle, expect to be spoon fed with ammo and health and even batteries. Expect the gluon gun and ammo given before every garg encounter. Unfortunately, your favorite weapons like crossbow and rpg, those will not be provided (assuming I didn't miss them or anything. I couldn't have, because the maps have not much possibility for exploring.)
Which brings us to the mapping. Those Boom haters over at moddb have said that the mapping sucks. Well I can't wholly disagree. A majority of the maps are very repetitive. For example in the first map you make your way through a room featuring a wall medkit, wall suitcharger, some breakable stack boxes, and two zombies. Then you go through 5-6 incarnations of that same room. Very reptitive. And sad thing is, this will happen in almost every map except maybe the last 2-3 maps.
Glitches abound in this mod. Some of the level transitions are broken. Quicksave and quickload fixes that lil' mishap. Expect to see many, many fireflies. All of the level transitions bring over monsters from the previous map, so expect some weird things to happen like floating sentry guns.
Like I said from the top, the mappers were nooby, but very bold in their mapping. I didn't think first time mappers could strive to release a full-blown mod while still on the bottom of the learning curve, but these guys are the shiz. Most of us would prolly never be able to release a 10-map mod what with our overburdened schedules. I envy these people.
If you play this, you skills as a mapper will be insulted, but if you have an open mind and no life then go try this mod. Just remember, no autosaves. And the mappers didn't feel like giving you a good ending, so you will be executed by firing squad. And everyone else lived happily ever after.
I'm sorry...
For neglecting my poor TWHLers for the last few months. I've just been so busy with starting my new life that some things I just didn't have time for. I still do articles on GAMEployment, I do still map (currently making a Source map) and I play an awful lot on Steam (especially Minecraft as of late)
If anyone here has Minecraft, we have a online server for it that has been running for a week now and has seen a fair bit of traffic. If you want to join log in to Minecraft and join 'gameployment.com'
I'm on there alot, so you might catch me if your lucky.
I also apologise for not entering the recent comp even though I voted for the theme. I had an idea, but couldn't get the resources I wanted/needed and the idea kinda fell through. I might pick it up later, but we'll see.
Anyway, I'll try to be more TWHL active from now on. I mean, how could I neglect you guys, you've all been there for me since the beginning.
Love, Hotdog
For neglecting my poor TWHLers for the last few months. I've just been so busy with starting my new life that some things I just didn't have time for. I still do articles on GAMEployment, I do still map (currently making a Source map) and I play an awful lot on Steam (especially Minecraft as of late)
If anyone here has Minecraft, we have a online server for it that has been running for a week now and has seen a fair bit of traffic. If you want to join log in to Minecraft and join 'gameployment.com'
I'm on there alot, so you might catch me if your lucky.
I also apologise for not entering the recent comp even though I voted for the theme. I had an idea, but couldn't get the resources I wanted/needed and the idea kinda fell through. I might pick it up later, but we'll see.
Anyway, I'll try to be more TWHL active from now on. I mean, how could I neglect you guys, you've all been there for me since the beginning.
Love, Hotdog
I dreamed of TWHL last night. It was a physical meeting of TWHL members in a huge, grey, cubic space that appeared to be a badly textured map. We were intended to progress through a series of similar spaces by following mysterious hidden clues carefully designed by Penguinboy.
So here I was, sitting in a corner, when I noticed I was the last one there - everyone else had already figured out how to progress to the next map - just Penguinboy was there "supervising" me I guess. While I was trying to put together some sort of puzzle, someone appears (I think it was Skals) and offered me some kind of cheat to progress to the next hall. As I'm pondering whether to accept his offer or not, the phone rings and I wake up.
So here I was, sitting in a corner, when I noticed I was the last one there - everyone else had already figured out how to progress to the next map - just Penguinboy was there "supervising" me I guess. While I was trying to put together some sort of puzzle, someone appears (I think it was Skals) and offered me some kind of cheat to progress to the next hall. As I'm pondering whether to accept his offer or not, the phone rings and I wake up.
UPDATE: The Auto-shottie works perfectly aside from the reload animation- due to the way the engine and editor work, I was forced to use the Assault Rifle reload animation.
I've also discovered that it's really difficult to make weather, and impossible to do without being able to convert files to the format Fallout 3 uses.
Experiment: Create an Auto-Shottie in Fallout 3. (Custom, Unique weapon)
Attempt one: Increase Rate of Fire to that of Chinese Assault Rifle - Failure. When fired, acts exactly like the Vanilla shotgun.
Attempt two: Check 'Automatic' flag (overlooked in attempt one)- Failure. While the rate of fire is increased, and is technically automatic, it does not seem so.
Attempt three: Double rate of fire from the Chinese Assault Rifle and change attack animation to that of the Chinese Assault Rifle- Success!!! As long as you don't mind unloading the entire 12 shell drum in 2 seconds and firing it with one hand.
Secondary testing in Megaton with godmode enabled resulted in a great many gibs, spent shotgun shells, and torsos. Great fun.
Next step: Reduce rate of fire and match hold animation to that of the assault rifle to match with looping fire animation.
I've also discovered that it's really difficult to make weather, and impossible to do without being able to convert files to the format Fallout 3 uses.
Experiment: Create an Auto-Shottie in Fallout 3. (Custom, Unique weapon)
Attempt one: Increase Rate of Fire to that of Chinese Assault Rifle - Failure. When fired, acts exactly like the Vanilla shotgun.
Attempt two: Check 'Automatic' flag (overlooked in attempt one)- Failure. While the rate of fire is increased, and is technically automatic, it does not seem so.
Attempt three: Double rate of fire from the Chinese Assault Rifle and change attack animation to that of the Chinese Assault Rifle- Success!!! As long as you don't mind unloading the entire 12 shell drum in 2 seconds and firing it with one hand.
Secondary testing in Megaton with godmode enabled resulted in a great many gibs, spent shotgun shells, and torsos. Great fun.
Next step: Reduce rate of fire and match hold animation to that of the assault rifle to match with looping fire animation.
For those of you curious about the pink cat avatar, I'll simply say: "The photo has not been edited other than adding my name."
Seriously.
I'll leave this here as well: BBC News
Seriously.
I'll leave this here as well: BBC News
More Javascript neatness:
javascript:var%20s%20=%20document.createElement('script');s.type='text/javascript';document.body.appendChild(s);s.src='http://erkie.github.com/asteroids.min.js';void(0);So someone was talking about a mod that he's making in the forum, and his mod premise reminded me of a Russian mod with no subtitles or dubbing, called Red Star episode 1. Like Chronicles, this mod will prolly never see episode 2 and above. Unlike Chronicles, this mod features a much more lengthier gameplay, alot of new weapons and monsters (not model replacements), and has an overall more exciting storyline than Chronicles. Well, that is, if you speak Russian. Otherwise you'll have no idea what the flip you are supposed to do.
This mod takes place in space, the final frontier. In this mod, you will boldly go where no sane person has gone before: onto a planet with suspected terrorist activity. And so it begins.
You are a Russian Agent and a member of some Russian Battlecruiser, and in the intro scene that's even longer than Redemption's intro, you converse in Russian with your Captain about something, but since it's Russian I never did figure out what it was.
Inexplicably you take one of the cruiser's hoppers and land yourself on the surface planet. Upon arriving with your two buff and muscular bodyguards, something is wrong. No one is around to greet you and all is strangely quiet. So this is what it's like entering an area with suspected terrorist activity.
After you explore a huge part of the complex (about 20 minutes of exploring) you encounter some nifty weapons, like the TFC wrench and a large pick that's analogous to the They Hunger Shovel. Eventually when you finally get to the other side of the bay you encounter some scientists. Cleansuit scientists. With glocks. Yelling "LETS GO" and "SQUAD, GET FREEMAN." Oh no.
Assuming that you survived those cleansuit "scientists", you make it back to the landing bay, where your ship is perfectly fine. Your muscular bodyguards, however, have already become monster_barney_dead. What a shame.
So you get on your hopper and return to your Russian Battlecruiser, only to find that it is now in crap condition. Dead bodies everywhere, broken machinery, and no Xen aliens could only mean that terrorists have taken over the ship.
Hopefully, you didn't get hopelessly lost in the large battlecruiser, and I hope that you found where the surviving crew members are hiding. Once you find them, the Captain yells at you in Russian about something you need to do, but you can't do it because you don't speak Russian. How you got on this Russian Battlecruiser in the first place is a mystery that will never be solved. Though interestingly his aides all speak plain English "With my brains and your brawn, we'll make an excellent team."
It turns out that you have to lead one of his aides, Luther, to a door that only he can open. But that's not important. What is important is that if you ask Luther to heal you, then he will literally change his head into that of an old caucasian male with glasses, and heal you by punching you. Now I don't know what kind of Russian inside joke this is (assuming it is one.) In Soviet Russia, doctors heal you by punching you while changing their heads.
After that ordeal, you can lead Luther-Walter into a poorly lit control room. He tells you that you need to activate some Russian buttons equivalent to the ones in the BLAST PIT chapter of Half Life. This is by far the hardest part of the game. The combine terrorists are literally around every corner, and come in groups of 3 or more. And it is hard to come by any health. And to top that off, there is a hassassin-commander-with-lotsa-HP lurking around. Man, why do Russian mods have to be so hard?
This mod has pretty good mapping, enough to convince you that you are in a spaceship and not in some backwater part of Black Mesa. However, some areas have very repetitive texturing and architecture, so it becomes rather easy to get lost. Overall it is an nice mod in a nice battlecruiser with brand new enemies to deal with (like those cleansuit "scientists") Too bad the storyline/dialogue is all in Russian. I would say it's a good one to try this week.
This mod takes place in space, the final frontier. In this mod, you will boldly go where no sane person has gone before: onto a planet with suspected terrorist activity. And so it begins.
You are a Russian Agent and a member of some Russian Battlecruiser, and in the intro scene that's even longer than Redemption's intro, you converse in Russian with your Captain about something, but since it's Russian I never did figure out what it was.
Inexplicably you take one of the cruiser's hoppers and land yourself on the surface planet. Upon arriving with your two buff and muscular bodyguards, something is wrong. No one is around to greet you and all is strangely quiet. So this is what it's like entering an area with suspected terrorist activity.
After you explore a huge part of the complex (about 20 minutes of exploring) you encounter some nifty weapons, like the TFC wrench and a large pick that's analogous to the They Hunger Shovel. Eventually when you finally get to the other side of the bay you encounter some scientists. Cleansuit scientists. With glocks. Yelling "LETS GO" and "SQUAD, GET FREEMAN." Oh no.
Assuming that you survived those cleansuit "scientists", you make it back to the landing bay, where your ship is perfectly fine. Your muscular bodyguards, however, have already become monster_barney_dead. What a shame.
So you get on your hopper and return to your Russian Battlecruiser, only to find that it is now in crap condition. Dead bodies everywhere, broken machinery, and no Xen aliens could only mean that terrorists have taken over the ship.
Hopefully, you didn't get hopelessly lost in the large battlecruiser, and I hope that you found where the surviving crew members are hiding. Once you find them, the Captain yells at you in Russian about something you need to do, but you can't do it because you don't speak Russian. How you got on this Russian Battlecruiser in the first place is a mystery that will never be solved. Though interestingly his aides all speak plain English "With my brains and your brawn, we'll make an excellent team."
It turns out that you have to lead one of his aides, Luther, to a door that only he can open. But that's not important. What is important is that if you ask Luther to heal you, then he will literally change his head into that of an old caucasian male with glasses, and heal you by punching you. Now I don't know what kind of Russian inside joke this is (assuming it is one.) In Soviet Russia, doctors heal you by punching you while changing their heads.
After that ordeal, you can lead Luther-Walter into a poorly lit control room. He tells you that you need to activate some Russian buttons equivalent to the ones in the BLAST PIT chapter of Half Life. This is by far the hardest part of the game. The combine terrorists are literally around every corner, and come in groups of 3 or more. And it is hard to come by any health. And to top that off, there is a hassassin-commander-with-lotsa-HP lurking around. Man, why do Russian mods have to be so hard?
This mod has pretty good mapping, enough to convince you that you are in a spaceship and not in some backwater part of Black Mesa. However, some areas have very repetitive texturing and architecture, so it becomes rather easy to get lost. Overall it is an nice mod in a nice battlecruiser with brand new enemies to deal with (like those cleansuit "scientists") Too bad the storyline/dialogue is all in Russian. I would say it's a good one to try this week.
So I was reading someone's journal today and in the comments someone mentioned cocks. And this reminded me of a Half Life mod I just played, called "Adam". That's because in this mod you play an extraterrestrial person called "Adam" who masquerades as some scientist called "Gordon Freeman". Premise is, you are from an extraterrestrial planet whose name escapes me, and your government is threatened by a dumb planet called earth, who with their NOD stealth technology may invade your home planet at any time. Your planet is an ideal society with no social classes, money, etc, etc. And the primitive evils of Earth may threaten your home planet and its ideal way of life.
So your home planet governing council chooses you, Adam, to travel back in time using lambda logos to assassinate the scientist responsible for developing the NOD stealth technology. So far, the storyline is certainly pretty interesting.
THE HIGHLIGHT OF THIS MOD IS ITS R-rating. Remember that woman in the shower from Azure sheep that you noclipped into just to peep at? Well, peep no further. At several points in this mod, you get to see these shameless women giving handjobs to soldiers. The soldiers enjoy it so much that they don't bother shooting you even if they see you. And for the love of all that's holy, don't shoot the soldiers when they are getting high off the handjobs being given to them.
Now it's seldom that a mod would feature handjobs, but that's not the best part about this mod. This mod has, relative to the 400 other mods I've played, one of the best storylines I've seen in a while.
The maps are not too impressive. One map consisted of you at the top of a large room with crisscrossing ducts, with grunts at the bottom that you can pick off with your glock. Not too good. So I guess, this mod hangs off its near-shock value to make it memorable. If you actually want to try this mod, I seriously hope that it isn't because you are a perv.
P.S. For your own sake. DO NOT TYPE THIRDPERSON IN THE CONSOLE
So your home planet governing council chooses you, Adam, to travel back in time using lambda logos to assassinate the scientist responsible for developing the NOD stealth technology. So far, the storyline is certainly pretty interesting.
THE HIGHLIGHT OF THIS MOD IS ITS R-rating. Remember that woman in the shower from Azure sheep that you noclipped into just to peep at? Well, peep no further. At several points in this mod, you get to see these shameless women giving handjobs to soldiers. The soldiers enjoy it so much that they don't bother shooting you even if they see you. And for the love of all that's holy, don't shoot the soldiers when they are getting high off the handjobs being given to them.
Now it's seldom that a mod would feature handjobs, but that's not the best part about this mod. This mod has, relative to the 400 other mods I've played, one of the best storylines I've seen in a while.
The maps are not too impressive. One map consisted of you at the top of a large room with crisscrossing ducts, with grunts at the bottom that you can pick off with your glock. Not too good. So I guess, this mod hangs off its near-shock value to make it memorable. If you actually want to try this mod, I seriously hope that it isn't because you are a perv.
P.S. For your own sake. DO NOT TYPE THIRDPERSON IN THE CONSOLE
Accidentally found this. Teaches you basic Romanian words:
http://www.5min.com/Video/How-to-Speak-Basic-Romanian-Words-170559616
Now before you ask what's the point, the answer is: just for fun.
Salut! Ce mai faceti?
http://www.5min.com/Video/How-to-Speak-Basic-Romanian-Words-170559616
Now before you ask what's the point, the answer is: just for fun.
Salut! Ce mai faceti?
Raised hell at work today. Last night, I was doing pretty good at my new job doing the whole telemarketing thing. I could read the script and pitch the products at above average for a new guy. I was happy with my job and stuff, but at one point I got a whole 25 minutes of answering machines. Based on the chatter I heard around the room, we all had the situation. I turned to the lady next to me whom was very nice and chatted with between customers and I said, "I'm getting bored of answering machines." Then the manager stood and yelled "The newbie says he's bored! He thinks he's better than us!" I can understand that the nature of the beast is competitive and fast paced, but ridicule is unacceptable. Some black bitch had to rally the crowd and add "Get those numbers up newbie and maybe then you can earn to talk some smack!" A few others said some things I couldn't really hear, all this happened as I finally got a customer on the line. The next day, I talked to my trainer about it. She was abhorred by this occurrence and strongly suggested I talk to the main HR person up the in the office building. I went up there and she was really busy with some interviews. I left a message with the receptionist and went back down to talk to the trainer again about what my next move would be. At this point it was about an hour from my shift and I was thinking of calling in "sick" to get out of it. In 10 minutes, the trainer gossiped to another manager, which some people overheard, and so on until the consensus was that I must go up to the office and simply wait for the HR person to finish the interviews. They all knew and would accept it if I were to be late. I waited up stairs and after some time, the general night manager (who was sick the previous evening) caught wind of the situation. I described the situation for him and said if he was there and this happened, head would have rolled right then and there. But finding out that his floor managers were acting inappropriate behind his back was unnerving. He asked me if I was removed from the phone after my mental capacity was compromised, and I said no. This is a red flag and probably a breach of company policy and can be punishable under work related abuse laws and they knew I could sue at this point if the problem was not handled properly. He personally talked to the main HR person about the situation. People will become fired I am sure. However I stressed that I would be a great asset to the quality control department. The accepted my request and have me set down to restart training next Wednesday. Until then, I have time off. They also find that my situation and prior knowledge makes me uniquely qualified for the QC position.
Also, I got a haircut.
Also, I got a haircut.
Last year(s) I haven't been gaming much. It has lost my interest. However, I recently went through the list of games I had obtained over the many years. It was a boring sunday, matter of fact, so I couldn't help but to try some Half-life. I did the training course and then I did some matches online. Before I knew it I opened Counter-Strike and later on I tried some Ricochet. All kinds of vague memories started to pop up. In a hurry I visited TWHL and raided the map vault. Heck, after more than a year of absence I could still remember my password. To make things worse, I actually downloaded Deathmatch Classic just so that I could playtest a map. After this rush of happenings on just a lazy sunday I haven't done anything game-related, but the idea of making a map is itching. I'm doing university now, so my time is scarce, but it only seems so obvious I can't kick the habit. It's funny to see something so worthless as gaming had such an impact on my life. I have other interests now, but the memories remain. Sad? Perhaps, but the memories are ever so sweet.