Journals
Hey howdy folks!
Haven't been here for a while...kinda feels like when you visit your old primary school and you're looking through classrooms. You're either thinking "Oh, the memories!" or "Glad I'm not here anymore!". Too mean? WHO KNOWS.
So, what's been happenin'? I'm asking you guys that question because I totally want to know. Well, not really, but feel free to comment away. As for me, many things have happened! Many, many things! I'm working as a graphic/ web designer now and I've got a huge backlog of different projects up my sleeve that need to be completed. One that'll be completed soon(ish) is my website redesign! Want to see it? Sure! In a sec!
Haven't been here for a while...kinda feels like when you visit your old primary school and you're looking through classrooms. You're either thinking "Oh, the memories!" or "Glad I'm not here anymore!". Too mean? WHO KNOWS.
So, what's been happenin'? I'm asking you guys that question because I totally want to know. Well, not really, but feel free to comment away. As for me, many things have happened! Many, many things! I'm working as a graphic/ web designer now and I've got a huge backlog of different projects up my sleeve that need to be completed. One that'll be completed soon(ish) is my website redesign! Want to see it? Sure! In a sec!
_>
So today we went up to the cottage to open it up, get the dock back where it's supposed to be (but the water level was too low, so we just tied it up nearby) and get water flowing in the pipes.
The thing I hate about the cottage is all the bugs- and the repellent didn't work too well. So, I've devised the JeffMOD Bug Repellent Rating System, or JBRRS. Here's the breakdown of the levels or effectiveness:
100% Effective: Experimental repellent issued to US soldiers in the Civil War of Minnesota. Of 2143.
Fairly Effective: Good for yard work for an extended period of time. If you don't mind the taste of bugs. RARE ITEM
Semi-Effective: You will experience blood loss, but it won't be fatal if you're only out for under 3 hours.
Barely Effective: Users may experience fatal or near fatal blood loss. COMMON ITEM
Non-Effective: Users may become the next Jimmy Hoffa, In terms of visibility.
The thing I hate about the cottage is all the bugs- and the repellent didn't work too well. So, I've devised the JeffMOD Bug Repellent Rating System, or JBRRS. Here's the breakdown of the levels or effectiveness:
100% Effective: Experimental repellent issued to US soldiers in the Civil War of Minnesota. Of 2143.
Fairly Effective: Good for yard work for an extended period of time. If you don't mind the taste of bugs. RARE ITEM
Semi-Effective: You will experience blood loss, but it won't be fatal if you're only out for under 3 hours.
Barely Effective: Users may experience fatal or near fatal blood loss. COMMON ITEM
Non-Effective: Users may become the next Jimmy Hoffa, In terms of visibility.
I just saw a video on youtube that made me sad...
Warning! This video is also a little disturbing. It made me sad and furious. Those teenagers should be in a correction school(or even jail, or just be punished) for what they did.
Very sad video, about some fucktards beating a dog to death
I can't believe we have such humans in our world...
[EDIT] Also, here's something interesting: Humanthesizer
Warning! This video is also a little disturbing. It made me sad and furious. Those teenagers should be in a correction school(or even jail, or just be punished) for what they did.
Very sad video, about some fucktards beating a dog to death
I can't believe we have such humans in our world...
[EDIT] Also, here's something interesting: Humanthesizer
I just got out the dll file, to see the crap I coded. And wow, crap it is. Maybe I should start with crowbar clones instead of gun clones. Atleast there is no ammo to worry about.
I played a mod, that you might have heard of, but not likely. It is called Pillars of Pain. Allow me to tell you of this mod's unique gameplay that sets it apart from most other mods.
Do you remember playing call of duty? Gameplay consists typically of trying to get across enemy groups in entrenched positions. Well this mod, pillars of pain, is a watered-down amateur version thereof. What I mean by this, is that the monstermaker entity is not programmed to turn off when you are standing next to it. Can you imagine.
The setting is extremely new. Rooftops, construction like areas, and strange alien temples/islands are where you will die in. The gameplay for all these brand new locations is monstermakers spawning things over and over. Therefore chances of your survival is as low as planck's constant.
I have told you all about the game. If you want it, please don't. Just take my word for it.
I played a mod, that you might have heard of, but not likely. It is called Pillars of Pain. Allow me to tell you of this mod's unique gameplay that sets it apart from most other mods.
Do you remember playing call of duty? Gameplay consists typically of trying to get across enemy groups in entrenched positions. Well this mod, pillars of pain, is a watered-down amateur version thereof. What I mean by this, is that the monstermaker entity is not programmed to turn off when you are standing next to it. Can you imagine.
The setting is extremely new. Rooftops, construction like areas, and strange alien temples/islands are where you will die in. The gameplay for all these brand new locations is monstermakers spawning things over and over. Therefore chances of your survival is as low as planck's constant.
I have told you all about the game. If you want it, please don't. Just take my word for it.
So I just read the latest news on ign. Apparently Activision Blizzard and Bungie have teamed up and signed a deal for 10 years. I wonder what those two are planning. What are your taughts on this?
Just bought GTA4(7,5 euro). Oh man, I've been waiting for this for ages(yes I played it before, but it's a much better feeling when you're legal).
Go get it! Fast!! Only 3 hours remaining for the 75% off!
[EDIT]
Oh, passed the 5000th login milestone !
Go get it! Fast!! Only 3 hours remaining for the 75% off!
[EDIT]
Oh, passed the 5000th login milestone !
Anyone hear of 'Sniper; Ghost Warrior'? It lloks grand, can't wait until its released!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0k2326R6qU
Discuss it here, what are your thoughts? Interested, not interested, whats your story?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0k2326R6qU
Discuss it here, what are your thoughts? Interested, not interested, whats your story?
Today, I have reached two decades old, because its that time of year again when everyone tells me it's my birthday...again...seriously! How many more times do I have to go through the same ritual? 
Before I talk about the next best mod I ever played, I should inform you I posted a forum topic about how to start coding, trying to get some help. If you post your answer here instead I wouldn't mind it.
Ok, now, everyone knows that mods tend to come in zips or rars, but more professional ones come in exe's, those installers that everyone loves (like how they overwrite files without telling you and such.) I am going to discuss one of those professional mods, this one also coming to us as an exe installer. The name is "Project VIP", scroll down for the link, which you know is in blue underlined text.
Get this, you are part of a one-member special forces team assigned to infiltrate a high rise office building and rescue a VIP whom you never meet. There are high definition weapons and soldiers, which of course is a plus for everyone here. The soldiers also sport black op attire, which is appropriate for their role as terrorists. But the highlight of this mod is the map design. You spend about one quarter of the game in air ducts, and there is a very annoying trend of floors and ducts crumbling at your feet (sometimes doing you fifty or so damage!) Be careful.
At one point you must use a c4 to blow up an elevator door, which is a standard gameplay tactic in today's FPS games. What's non-standard, however, is the stripping of your weapons immediately before confronting the final scene. Lemme tell you: in the final scene (which essentially amounts to a boss), you are stripped of weapons and teleported to the rooftop of the high rise building, where you need to fumble around in the dark for the crowbar near you. In the distance are four (4) soldiers, two mp5 and two shotgun, about to escape in their little helicopter. You must defeat all four using the crowbar you may or may not have found. Don't you think this is fitting as a "boss"? Go ahead, try it! No quicksaving, now.
I love how after the four guys are down, the screen fades saying you rescued the VIP and finished the mission. But where and who is the VIP..?
http://www.pcosmos.ca/mods-hl/downloads/?mod=projectVIP Link so that everybody can enjoy this experience. And remember, no quicksaving.
---------Something completely different---
I just played a game called tiberum dawn or something. In this game, you command little troops and build bases to destroy enemy bases. Sounds like warcraft ii.
You assume to role of some commander in an organization called the fraternity of nodd or something. Not too sure. This group is strange. It trains troops out of giant hand statues and every single vehicle has to be delivered via passenger airplane. The plane couldn't possibly to smart enough to carry a platoon, no, just one single bike or one tank. Totally unbalanced.
Remember when I said you build bases? Well, no. I'm stuck on a mission where you are started out with two groups on opposite corners of the map, one consisting of a large platoon of vehicles and the other made up of troops, engineers and a commander. There is a GDI base at the top right corner guarded by guard towers. The bottom, where my tank platoons are, is choked by a flipping gunboat patrolling the river. The reason I can't succeed here is because my infantry and engineers continually get wiped out by the upper GDI base which sends mammoth tanks at me, and there's no way I can hold them off for too long. So I give up.
Ok, now, everyone knows that mods tend to come in zips or rars, but more professional ones come in exe's, those installers that everyone loves (like how they overwrite files without telling you and such.) I am going to discuss one of those professional mods, this one also coming to us as an exe installer. The name is "Project VIP", scroll down for the link, which you know is in blue underlined text.
Get this, you are part of a one-member special forces team assigned to infiltrate a high rise office building and rescue a VIP whom you never meet. There are high definition weapons and soldiers, which of course is a plus for everyone here. The soldiers also sport black op attire, which is appropriate for their role as terrorists. But the highlight of this mod is the map design. You spend about one quarter of the game in air ducts, and there is a very annoying trend of floors and ducts crumbling at your feet (sometimes doing you fifty or so damage!) Be careful.
At one point you must use a c4 to blow up an elevator door, which is a standard gameplay tactic in today's FPS games. What's non-standard, however, is the stripping of your weapons immediately before confronting the final scene. Lemme tell you: in the final scene (which essentially amounts to a boss), you are stripped of weapons and teleported to the rooftop of the high rise building, where you need to fumble around in the dark for the crowbar near you. In the distance are four (4) soldiers, two mp5 and two shotgun, about to escape in their little helicopter. You must defeat all four using the crowbar you may or may not have found. Don't you think this is fitting as a "boss"? Go ahead, try it! No quicksaving, now.
I love how after the four guys are down, the screen fades saying you rescued the VIP and finished the mission. But where and who is the VIP..?
http://www.pcosmos.ca/mods-hl/downloads/?mod=projectVIP Link so that everybody can enjoy this experience. And remember, no quicksaving.
---------Something completely different---
I just played a game called tiberum dawn or something. In this game, you command little troops and build bases to destroy enemy bases. Sounds like warcraft ii.
You assume to role of some commander in an organization called the fraternity of nodd or something. Not too sure. This group is strange. It trains troops out of giant hand statues and every single vehicle has to be delivered via passenger airplane. The plane couldn't possibly to smart enough to carry a platoon, no, just one single bike or one tank. Totally unbalanced.
Remember when I said you build bases? Well, no. I'm stuck on a mission where you are started out with two groups on opposite corners of the map, one consisting of a large platoon of vehicles and the other made up of troops, engineers and a commander. There is a GDI base at the top right corner guarded by guard towers. The bottom, where my tank platoons are, is choked by a flipping gunboat patrolling the river. The reason I can't succeed here is because my infantry and engineers continually get wiped out by the upper GDI base which sends mammoth tanks at me, and there's no way I can hold them off for too long. So I give up.
Today the Canon Pixma MP270 was delivered to me. I'm happy now! Yay!
Transport was free. Double yay!
So now I'm going to scan some handwriting :D.
Btw, here's a video I've found about the printer:
Full Review by some guy...
And another one, just showing it in action.
Print Job(don't get naughty on this). => it sounds funny :D.
Transport was free. Double yay!
So now I'm going to scan some handwriting :D.
Btw, here's a video I've found about the printer:
Full Review by some guy...
And another one, just showing it in action.
Print Job(don't get naughty on this). => it sounds funny :D.
The perfect clock: A theoretical approach
For those that showed interest in my previous journal.
Warning: Long post ahoy!
As I have commented in a previous journal, for several years already I wanted to make a digital clock with a PIC microcontroller and I never really got around to actually build it. Not because I didn't know how, just because I was lazy or didn't have the time. Last year at uni, while not paying attention to maths class (should have, but instead I did this) I spent my afternoons trying to at least think how the assembly code would be. I will later look up the code I've already written and include it here. This is what I have observed, and I hope others will find it useful.
Ever since I had to program one in school, one of the most elemental flaws in a simple clock design is error propagation - which might not matter when the clock is only a decorative item in projects that don't live more than a couple of minutes inside the lab, but is kind of an important issue if what you're making is a clock that will (hopefully) stay for years on that shelf in plain sight. And dammit you want it decently accurate.
Here I shall describe a simple setup that should run (at least) on either a PIC 16F84 or a PIC 16F877 (tested on those, should run on other 16F- models as well).
This microprocessor should be running on a 4MHz crystal oscillator, to achieve the simple number of 1MIPS (1Million instructions in 1 second). That's just mine, do your own calculations for other oscillator frequencies.
The basic design can't be simpler. First we need to enable timer-based hardware interrupts, by setting INTCON to 1X1XX000. Then the Prescaler has to be set to 1:128 by setting OPTION_REG to 00000110, to scale down those interrupts to a longer, more practical interval. This should leave us with an interrupt every 8192 oscillator cycles. Which at 1MHz last 1 microsecond each, so 8192 cycles should last us 8.192 milliseconds between interrupts.
Hardware-based timer interrupts are obviously periodical. If they are fired every 8.192ms, you count enough interrupts and you should be close enough to a full second, right? Not quite, because 8.192ms x 122 = 999.424ms. That's almost one second. Almost. If you just increment the seconds-count register after 122 interrupts, your clock will be 1 second ahead for every about 14 minutes. Doesn't sound so good now, eh?
Well, you could find out how many seconds does it take to be one full second ahead, and substract one second at that point. Fine, that would WORK. It's EASY. And it's the only solution I've ever found on the internet. But it's a horrible hack and it will look HORRIBLE if you happen to be looking at it at that time. But go ahead if you like, do that and stop reading here.
I'll keep going for those that want their seconds more uniformly spaced. What if we count 123 interrupts? Well, no. It turns out that we'd be off the other way: That's 1007.616ms. A larger error, with longer seconds - leading to the clock being 1 second behind every about 5 minutes of running. That's even worse.
So if we want our seconds more uniformly timed (and our clock not looking like it has a bug), we'll have to use a combination of 122 and 123 cycles. Now, counting 122 interrupts gets us 0.999424 seconds. If we add up enough of these "short" seconds, the leftover time should someday be enough that a "long" second (123 cycles) wouldn't be too noticed. It turns out that magic number is 13:
13 "short" seconds = 8.192ms x 122 interrupts x 13 = 12992.512ms = 12.992512 actual seconds
If at this point we make the next second a "long" second (of 1.007616 actual seconds), our 14 seconds will last exactly 14.000128 actual seconds. That's much better, we have actually trimmed the error to about a four-millionth. But it is still not good enough for me.
At this point we can repeat the above process. We have a cycle of 14.000128 seconds. We could check how many of these are needed to be able to easily substract the leftover error. Notice it happens to end in 128, which is a power of 2 and thus easier to add up. So if we count 64 of these 14000.128ms cycles, it adds up to 896008.192ms (that's a lot of seconds). If only we could trim those 8.192ms off the 64th cycle...
Wait a minute, don't the timer interrupts last 8.192ms? And remember that for every 13 "short" seconds, the 14th happened to be 8.192ms longer? I think we're lucky. Here, we make the first 63 14-second cycles "normal", and the 64th has to be purely 14 122-interrupt seconds. What does this mean? Well, this:
(8.192ms x 122i x 13 + 8.192ms x 123i) x 63 + 8.192ms x 122i x 14 = 896000ms
(Green="short" second, Red="Long" second)
Cue the sunshine, because what we have here, gentlemen, is 896 perfectly rounded seconds - or 14 minutes and 56 seconds.
Now we can rejoice watching others' sub-perfect, sloppy, whole-second-substracting clocks while enjoying our beautifully smooth clocks with perfect cycles of 14:56.
With this, we have successfully removed the software error in the time calculations, leaving only the time shift caused by (possible) manufactural imperfections in the oscillator crystal.
Now you take care of date-keeping and Daylight Savings Time.
For those that showed interest in my previous journal.
Warning: Long post ahoy!
As I have commented in a previous journal, for several years already I wanted to make a digital clock with a PIC microcontroller and I never really got around to actually build it. Not because I didn't know how, just because I was lazy or didn't have the time. Last year at uni, while not paying attention to maths class (should have, but instead I did this) I spent my afternoons trying to at least think how the assembly code would be. I will later look up the code I've already written and include it here. This is what I have observed, and I hope others will find it useful.
Ever since I had to program one in school, one of the most elemental flaws in a simple clock design is error propagation - which might not matter when the clock is only a decorative item in projects that don't live more than a couple of minutes inside the lab, but is kind of an important issue if what you're making is a clock that will (hopefully) stay for years on that shelf in plain sight. And dammit you want it decently accurate.
Here I shall describe a simple setup that should run (at least) on either a PIC 16F84 or a PIC 16F877 (tested on those, should run on other 16F- models as well).
This microprocessor should be running on a 4MHz crystal oscillator, to achieve the simple number of 1MIPS (1Million instructions in 1 second). That's just mine, do your own calculations for other oscillator frequencies.
The basic design can't be simpler. First we need to enable timer-based hardware interrupts, by setting INTCON to 1X1XX000. Then the Prescaler has to be set to 1:128 by setting OPTION_REG to 00000110, to scale down those interrupts to a longer, more practical interval. This should leave us with an interrupt every 8192 oscillator cycles. Which at 1MHz last 1 microsecond each, so 8192 cycles should last us 8.192 milliseconds between interrupts.
Hardware-based timer interrupts are obviously periodical. If they are fired every 8.192ms, you count enough interrupts and you should be close enough to a full second, right? Not quite, because 8.192ms x 122 = 999.424ms. That's almost one second. Almost. If you just increment the seconds-count register after 122 interrupts, your clock will be 1 second ahead for every about 14 minutes. Doesn't sound so good now, eh?
Well, you could find out how many seconds does it take to be one full second ahead, and substract one second at that point. Fine, that would WORK. It's EASY. And it's the only solution I've ever found on the internet. But it's a horrible hack and it will look HORRIBLE if you happen to be looking at it at that time. But go ahead if you like, do that and stop reading here.
I'll keep going for those that want their seconds more uniformly spaced. What if we count 123 interrupts? Well, no. It turns out that we'd be off the other way: That's 1007.616ms. A larger error, with longer seconds - leading to the clock being 1 second behind every about 5 minutes of running. That's even worse.
So if we want our seconds more uniformly timed (and our clock not looking like it has a bug), we'll have to use a combination of 122 and 123 cycles. Now, counting 122 interrupts gets us 0.999424 seconds. If we add up enough of these "short" seconds, the leftover time should someday be enough that a "long" second (123 cycles) wouldn't be too noticed. It turns out that magic number is 13:
13 "short" seconds = 8.192ms x 122 interrupts x 13 = 12992.512ms = 12.992512 actual seconds
If at this point we make the next second a "long" second (of 1.007616 actual seconds), our 14 seconds will last exactly 14.000128 actual seconds. That's much better, we have actually trimmed the error to about a four-millionth. But it is still not good enough for me.
At this point we can repeat the above process. We have a cycle of 14.000128 seconds. We could check how many of these are needed to be able to easily substract the leftover error. Notice it happens to end in 128, which is a power of 2 and thus easier to add up. So if we count 64 of these 14000.128ms cycles, it adds up to 896008.192ms (that's a lot of seconds). If only we could trim those 8.192ms off the 64th cycle...
Wait a minute, don't the timer interrupts last 8.192ms? And remember that for every 13 "short" seconds, the 14th happened to be 8.192ms longer? I think we're lucky. Here, we make the first 63 14-second cycles "normal", and the 64th has to be purely 14 122-interrupt seconds. What does this mean? Well, this:
(8.192ms x 122i x 13 + 8.192ms x 123i) x 63 + 8.192ms x 122i x 14 = 896000ms
(Green="short" second, Red="Long" second)
Cue the sunshine, because what we have here, gentlemen, is 896 perfectly rounded seconds - or 14 minutes and 56 seconds.
Now we can rejoice watching others' sub-perfect, sloppy, whole-second-substracting clocks while enjoying our beautifully smooth clocks with perfect cycles of 14:56.
With this, we have successfully removed the software error in the time calculations, leaving only the time shift caused by (possible) manufactural imperfections in the oscillator crystal.
Now you take care of date-keeping and Daylight Savings Time.
Big, big, big, big problem.
To graduate from my high school, seniors need to complete a culminating exhibition on the topic of their choice. So, because I already know something about it, I took the easy way out and did multiplayer design for the Source engine.
Problem is, there's a ton of damn paperwork and I can't even start the project because I don't have a mentor. (Someone who basically checks off that my goals are good goals at the beginning and at the end checks off that I met them.) It's incredibly easy for them but I haven't managed to find a single person who can so this for me, it's maddening seeings how i only have barely over a month left to finish this project.
Do any of you know someone I could talk to? They have to be at least 21 and have something to do with game design. I'm knee-deep in crap right now, and I need all the help I can get.
To graduate from my high school, seniors need to complete a culminating exhibition on the topic of their choice. So, because I already know something about it, I took the easy way out and did multiplayer design for the Source engine.
Problem is, there's a ton of damn paperwork and I can't even start the project because I don't have a mentor. (Someone who basically checks off that my goals are good goals at the beginning and at the end checks off that I met them.) It's incredibly easy for them but I haven't managed to find a single person who can so this for me, it's maddening seeings how i only have barely over a month left to finish this project.
Do any of you know someone I could talk to? They have to be at least 21 and have something to do with game design. I'm knee-deep in crap right now, and I need all the help I can get.
So I got my new computer up and running yesterday. The only issues I have with it is that my Audigy isn't working properly with W7. I can't use sleep mode because when I start it up again the sound won't work.
Not much to do about it really, other than hope that creative releases a proper W7 64bit driver.
Other than that my computer runs perfectly. I'm very satisfied
Not much to do about it really, other than hope that creative releases a proper W7 64bit driver.
Other than that my computer runs perfectly. I'm very satisfied
You guys are going to think I'm fucked up, but here goes.
Deep breath
My dad calls and lets me know that I need to move back to Minnesota because there are more and better jobs there. To my research and resources its the same, or in fact less because of the lack of population density. Either way, I said no and really defended myself against him. He slipped up and mentioned he was under pressure. I drilled on him a bit and he confessed that my grandmother is trying to run the family again, primarily to get me to move up north away from my mom (grandma's youngest and unwanted daughter) to harm mom more than she already has. After laying the smackdown on dad because I'm tired of being between two divorced immature adults. I stood my ground the best I could until dad let me go. A few minutes later my grandma tells me she's sick and she has probably days left to live (true or not) and that I should dump my girlfriend, break my lease, sell my furniture, and move up north. I told her I was happy here and she responds with a nasty "I don't care." She's failing to understand that I am me and me likes it here. She can't control me like she can with my feeble father. She threatens me that my name will be removed from her will and I will lose thousands of dollars, and that she will give me nothing. I wanted to tell her to go fuck herself, but I didn't, probably should have. I just stated that I am staying and that's final.
TL;DR - Rimrook is a stone cold motherfucker.
Deep breath
My dad calls and lets me know that I need to move back to Minnesota because there are more and better jobs there. To my research and resources its the same, or in fact less because of the lack of population density. Either way, I said no and really defended myself against him. He slipped up and mentioned he was under pressure. I drilled on him a bit and he confessed that my grandmother is trying to run the family again, primarily to get me to move up north away from my mom (grandma's youngest and unwanted daughter) to harm mom more than she already has. After laying the smackdown on dad because I'm tired of being between two divorced immature adults. I stood my ground the best I could until dad let me go. A few minutes later my grandma tells me she's sick and she has probably days left to live (true or not) and that I should dump my girlfriend, break my lease, sell my furniture, and move up north. I told her I was happy here and she responds with a nasty "I don't care." She's failing to understand that I am me and me likes it here. She can't control me like she can with my feeble father. She threatens me that my name will be removed from her will and I will lose thousands of dollars, and that she will give me nothing. I wanted to tell her to go fuck herself, but I didn't, probably should have. I just stated that I am staying and that's final.
TL;DR - Rimrook is a stone cold motherfucker.
This is the most beautiful song you'll ever hear... you will cry :))
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShTm8MnUAjo
Just be patient and watch it from the beginning.
[EDIT] Just found out in my bookmarks an old archive with LOTS of hl prefabs:
http://www.atomicgamer.com/directory.php?id=1861
It seems you have to make an account for those download queues.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShTm8MnUAjo
Just be patient and watch it from the beginning.
[EDIT] Just found out in my bookmarks an old archive with LOTS of hl prefabs:
http://www.atomicgamer.com/directory.php?id=1861
It seems you have to make an account for those download queues.