Jul -- Posts by Surlent

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Posted on 08-29-10 01:06:06 PM, in Yoshi in SMW

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Blue, why anything else?

The game also seems to promote the blue one, as you don't need to go to Star Road 2. Get a green Yoshi, get wings from a question block and it turns into Blue Yoshi. I forgot if those wings also turn non-green Yoshi into a blue one as well, but afair the transformation only works on a Green Yoshi.
Also I think nobody wants the red one, as there are only three hard to aim fireballs and any shell in Yoshi's mouth is gone after spitting it out - of course you can still salvage that one coin by swallowing the shell, if you have like 99 coins and desparately need a 1UP (a big, big lie in SMW

).

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Posted on 09-01-10 05:19:38 PM, in I'm old.

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Many people on the internet share interests not common. They might be titled "nerds" or just dealt like outsiders if you didn't like just drinking or doing popular stuff, but not gaming or other activities which seemed to be like deprecated. Thankfully this changed with the internet.

There is a much broader acceptance and this should probe that there is actually nothing nerdy in this thing. Similar if you change froom school to university. Then you can do that what you actually want to study, school required you to take courses which you were not interested in. I am 29 years old, but don't feel old. At least my hair is still growing, unlike some of my friends there is no sign of alopecia. Two weeks ago I let cut 80 cm off off it, and taking a shower with hair cleaning at 22:00h/10:00pm is no problem anymore

But really, to get back on topic, you are NEVER to old to do something. Just kick your butt or let someone do this for yourself.

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Posted on 09-05-10 07:33:05 AM, in Your favourite video game character of all time (last edited by Surlent at 09-05-10 04:33 AM)

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The cute little pixelized character, which is in my signature for quite a while. And no, it's not the three pellets there.

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Posted on 09-06-10 06:34:45 AM, in What's your favorite brand of batteries?

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I rarely ever need batteries, but as these are only for remote controls or my radio clock (which doesn't synchronize anymore. It still runs fine, if you set the time manually), I just go with cheap ones.
If I needed more powerful ones, I would just stick with rechargeable ones.

Otherwise my MP3 player, as a potential device which needs power regularly, has an in-built rechargable battery. As it was not too expensive I don't blame it, when the life capacity is down some day. Then I'll simply either get a new battery or, better, simply buy a new MP3 player.

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Posted on 09-06-10 08:29:53 AM, in Computer won't boot without external drive present?

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Try a chkdsk /f in an administrator command line, which runs at the next restart. If you had problems with your internal hard disk before, I strongly recommend a backup before you run checkdisk, as there might be an (although tiny) chance something screws up, if there's damaged sectors on the disk. That startup isse sounds wierd, as inside the BIOS you can probably only set the order of boot devices. And I don't think there's something wrong as you boot from the internal HDD correctly.

You could try to temporarily disable USB inside the BIOS and see if Windows starts up fine without the drive attached. Could the computer has save some system data written onto the external drive, or wants to access some data which seems vital (but cannot red if said external drive is not connected)? I hardly think this should happen. You could also check the Event Log, maybe it spits out some error, look for critical errors, usually marked with a white X on red ground.
The last chance might be to backup important data, while trying a reinstall. If you experience problems anyway, it just ensures it no software but a hardware problem.

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Posted on 09-15-10 03:39:44 PM, in What 'social networks' do you use? (last edited by Surlent at 09-15-10 12:40 PM)

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Nothing. I am way more talkative when together with people directly. Although there IS an account on a big nation-wide university networking site I created shortly after I matriculated first, I logged in four or five times until now, and since 2007 or so I never signed in again. Maybe the account even got deleted, don't know.

I have to admit that certain networks using the web CAN help you in terms of good jobs. If someone knows you as a regular contact, this might really boost your chances to acquire a good position or job, though. But personally even inside online games (StarCraft II being the only game I own which is played online) I rarely chat too much. Nothing against Twitter, Facebook and so on, but I am afraid about information some people give out. Remember: The internet never forgets anything, if something ugly from your past comes up there, for instance.

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Posted on 09-20-10 08:43:46 AM, in When you get a new computer (last edited by Surlent at 09-20-10 05:54 AM)

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0.) Have driver CDs ready. For Windows XP and above, this is pretty much not neccessary anymore, if you exclude using SATA drives with XP, which sometimes requires you to have a floppy installed in your machine.
1.) Install Windows, in case of Windows XP having a slipstreamed version with the SP3 included - or I get it to install from a CD or USB, BEFORE I connect the to the internet the first time.
2.) Install or update system drivers.
3.) Set some options in the Control Panel
4.) Running Windows Update
5.) Getting or installing the following applications first:
- Mozilla Firefox
- Mozilla Thunderbird, configuring it to not delete mails from the server if I have to use POP3 instead of IMAP. So I don't lose important stuff if the hard drive fails some day.
- Antivirus, like AntiVir or avast! Free
- Microsoft Office 2007 (I familiarized with the ribbon interface, it is not that bad actually - just sucks if you run a netbook or low-resolution screen without too much height)
- Set swap file to fixed size

That's pretty much the most important things I need first. Although I run Windows 7 x64, I am really satisfied with it.

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Posted on 10-01-10 09:04:46 PM, in Team Fortress 2 - Balanced Update

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Basic troubleshooting for video errors:

- Do you have another video card for testing purposes? This might be the quickest way to check if it's the video card or something else.

- Video drivers are up to date?

- Does your video card overheat too much, if under pressure (I really don't know how much resources TF2 uses, especially if many people are on the screen at the same time)? Try running a monitoring tool while playing the game (before the computer locks up and/or reboots), I can recommend GPU-Z for instance, it uses like no resources and shows the temperature on the "Sensors tab". Alien Swarm is known to heat up certain video cards. You could also open up the case and carefully remove any dust. Just make sure to to unplug your machine and fixate the fans, if you plan to use a vacuum cleaner. Creating current by induction using extremely fast rotating fans could theoretically destroy your motherboard otherwise.

- Is the video card's RAM faulty? You could try running something like FurMark. Always watch the temperatures; if you get artifacts, there might be something bad like defective VRAM.

- Check your Event Log, it might show critical errors, although it may not be too reliable, if the computer freezes before it can submit an error message to it. Just check for regular and critical errors at the timestamps, when your computer freezes.

You also might consider checking your system memory using memtest86+ for several hours straight. But these graphical glitches seem to be issues from the video card. On the other hand remote diagnosis might be impossible.

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Posted on 10-12-10 08:23:39 AM, in Cheat at Starcraft 2 single player and get banned

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The EULA clearly states that the modification of the game's files is not allowed. Source:
http://us.blizzard.com/en-us/company/about/termsofuse.html

[...] You agree that you will not, under any circumstances: [...]

[...] modify or cause to be modified any files that are a part of any Game or the Service in any way not expressly authorized by Blizzard; [...]

They do not tell you specifically that you may not cheat in multiplayer only. They even have a thread that changing the hotkeys by editing those MPQ files, using and external editor, files may suspect you to them (as Warden scans your RAM and maybe the file integrity as well, dunno about this), although they do not want to ban these players - but still advise not to change anything internal, what cannot be done easily by editing a configuration file for that purpose. That is, in case of SC", a Variables.txt, which is found in the user's folder within the Windows' AppData/SC2 entry.
On the other hand I agree with you, that someone cheating in the single player campaign should NOT be banned immediately. The main problem lies within the fact that, be honest people, nobody ever reads the full license agreement, probably younger players who did not care about copyrights especially. That is a reason I think Blizzard could pop up a small window upon every bigger patch, stating something like "Do not modify the game client using cheats or 'hacks', as this will get your SC2 character banned temporarily or even permanently.", so that people will understand the thing: Blizzard controls the game, you cannot sell a used game, as the really valuable thing is the key of course. The Collector's Edition is an exception due to the goodies, but you still cannot use the game ever again in such a case, if your account got suspended.

I think Blizzard put in some cheats for the single player campaign, but that obviously disables the Achievements from then on I think. You probably have to begin a new campaign to earn those again - but Blizzard will tell you then "You wanna cheat in the campaign? C'mon, you CAN use cheat codes, they're here!".

I just hope no innocent people got banned. That would be REALLY bad, but it is extremely hard to find innocent players, as nearly all hackers and cheaters will deny they used something like a map hack of course. How to distinguish the innocent players from map hackers?

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Posted on 10-19-10 09:01:56 PM, in Cheat at Starcraft 2 single player and get banned

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Actually altering game files usually is not allowed, due to copyright and the EULA. Me as a customer could even question this, as I cannot check these terms before I open up the package and/or install the game (meaning I cannot return the game then). You could read it beforehand on the web, but is this really required? Even if most people don't read the licences anyway?
Many people still tamper with those MPQ fuiles, not only for cracking games or something similar, but also changing some things, in a positive way. Think the "bug-hell" Gothic III at release, where fans made patches to make the game playable, as it didn't run too well on most machines. Other people don't hack for cheating, but to change the in-build hotkeys. If I'm not mistaken, those people got not banned, although Blizzard strongly advised against changing anything in those internal files, as they might be suspected (but don't want to exclude those people just for this hotkey thing, though).
The main problem lies in the fact that you probably cannot play the campaign anymore. I don't know if offline mode still will be activated or if they even banned the players using that offline mode, as you need to re-authenticate every 30 games to play offline normally (this is really BS, I have to admit - meaning the vast majority has permanent internet connection doesn't mean everyone else has).
Blizzard actually did a smart thing with that achievement system for themselves. Even if you don't care about them (it does absolutely nothing besides displaying some more or less fancy score, no purpose other than showing how much time you put into SC2), you cannot deactivate them except purposely using an in-game cheat or that offline mode, it is like killing two birds with one stone for Blizzard:
First, they provide you a reason to be online even in single player mode, and second they have something in their hands as evidence, because these achievements are obviously saved on their servers. Now you alter the game client, Warden suspects you in that thing -> ban hammer in many cases, as it seems to be you cheated to get those achievements, even this was not the main purpose of cheating the single player campaign. You can also open up the campaign maps in the editor normally, after clicking away a spoiler warning once. So maybe you just could alter the map in the editor and play it as a separate custom map four yourself, I don't know actually.

I don't want to defend Blizzard, but on the one hand it is understandable they don't allow modifying their game client. You also know they have control over your account (I know this sucks), also that you might have a deal with the devil in this respect, just for playing SC2. And as you HAVE to register it using your battle.net account first, why not staying online anyway? Plus you get those achievements, if you play the campaign normally (if you like numbers rising) ...
If that "offline mode" allowed you to play without re-authentication, it could have been better, but otherwise they probably don't want make pirating too easy - although I think those will be able to play single player without problems

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Posted on 10-24-10 02:56:16 PM, in Newspapers

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When I'm going to work for two shifts a day, I usually buy one. It is nice to have when using bus and metro, and in the spare time I can fill out the crossword at least in parts at work. If I only work one shift (four hours) I usually don't buy one, as I have free information at home, using the internet. In these cases buying a newspaper would just be wasted money, as more or less thrown away half-read. Of course I don't read everything, I don't have shares for instance

Also I will preferring the print medium over electronic magazines when travelling from A to B routinely. Amazon Kindle, iPad or what these are called yet failed to impress me until now, though.

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Posted on 11-18-10 07:05:52 PM, in What is the rarest game you own

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I only have two games which could be considered slightly 'rare', but can be gotten off eBay and similar pages easily:

- Tactics Ogre JP for SFC. Runs perfectly on my PAL SNES, using an Action Replay I.
By the way, the sound is a LOT better on this system than in the later PS1 port. The latter should only be played if gotten cheap, or you cannot read Japanese (or at least Katakana), but the loading times and butchered music suck.
- Rudora no Hihou, again for SFC. Also works, but I need to replace the save battery, still too lazy and lacking the proper equipment to do this

Both games are not that expensive, I think you could get each one for maybe 20-40 dollars.

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Posted on 11-19-10 05:45:18 PM, in What is the rarest game you own

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In Europe, SMAS was advertised as having SMB1, 2, 3 and the Lost Levels aka SMB2j. So no SMW in it. Really never saw that cartridge here, what is the opposite to the posts written above.
So it might be a difference between regions, that some countries got the version with Super Mario World and some not?

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Posted on 11-25-10 04:28:41 PM, in Happy 20th birthday, Super Nintendo (last edited by Surlent at 11-25-10 01:31 PM)

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My PAL console still works, but although in about 20% the console just shows "nothing", just switch off and on, it runs file. Even all save files are still there.
Just checked, Lufia II still has its old saves, 97 hours, about about 40h of that time sunk into the Ancient Dungeon.

And, yes, happy birthday, SNES. At least this thing just worked, no need for firmware updates and such. Switch your console on -> play. But it would be unfair to diss any recent console, as these beautiful graphics just need to be loaded - and unless games come on SSDs (which probably will not drop considerably in price the next time), some loading still will be there.
But then there's games like Colin McRae: DiRT2, which mask these loading times pretty good.

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Posted on 12-05-10 05:16:51 PM, in AVG, WIN-7-64 Causing update loop.

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Operating systems are highly complex nowadays, but even when virus scanners actually need low-level access to those system files usually, mishaps like that still suck. Fales positives probably cannot be avoided, but maybe an anti-virus should just avoid critical system files for start-up first. On the other hand it is quite a lot to consider if you think how many different hardware components, software or drivers exist.

I also don't like how some products just present you a nifty, colourful interface, but lack important options or even have defaults which can be very hazardous. Think you are working on your paper for school, university or work, something infects it (along with dozens of other files), and having a default action with something like "Try to desinfect the document, else just delete it without asking the user first". Yes, there ARE backups which are urgent, but in the case of less-risky files it is bad. Many users don't configure their anti-viruses after installation or even don't get a chance to to this first, disabling heuristics temporarily and such, if the program immediately starts a full scan (nothing bad actually, as most users probably will never run a full scan or do this very rarely).
Still, I use avast! Free, and although I never had problems with it yet - something like that can happen any time. Sadly.

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Posted on 12-14-10 08:42:00 PM, in Blue Screens of Death

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If your system is set to save minidumps, which should be enabled by default, you can open those using Windows Debugging Tools. Sometimes it just may help, if it is some file not mentioned in the STOP code error itself. There is a good, easy and comprehensive tutorial for that below. Note that the symbol path setting obviously only needs to be done once, so every other time you just open up WinDbg, select File -> Open Mini Dump and select the .dmp file you want to load.
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/221510-crash-dumps-analyse-bugcheck-process.html

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Posted on 01-04-11 09:09:24 PM, in Game of the Year 2010

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Mass Effect 2.

Although the final battle was a little less epic than in the first game (imho) and having a smaller Citadel, but more friendly places in the game, ME2 had a lot of improvements over the first game.

And that M-920 Cain rocks. Kinda nice revenge if your enemies actually let you use that thing - long charging time, a hella lot of ammo for that one shot; but it is priceless to see entire boss hitpoint/shield bars depleting in one go

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Posted on 02-11-11 08:14:48 AM, in Firefox 4.0 (last edited by Surlent at 02-11-11 05:17 AM)

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It's a beta and not intended to work perfectly, altough even then it should not eat profile data. I hope it did not eat your old FF3 configuration. You sure it deleted or overwrote your profile; or did it just make a new one?
Usually, FF 4 uses your FF3 profile data, what explains why the system checks for incompatible add-ons every time you switch from FF3 to 4 and vice versa.

To be safe and to keep your stable FF3 data, after installation of FF4, do NOT run it yet, but instead:

1.) Close down Firefox if running, also its download window if open.
2.) Start up creating a new profile in Firefox 3 by typing the entire path to that firefox.exe (this runs the profile manager), put in a space and add the parameter

-p

If there are spaces in the file path, ensure to encase it in "", minus the parameter.

3.) Create a new profile. Check or do not check to launch the profile manager every time you launch either Firefox version.
4.) Start up FF4 beta, using your fresh profile.
5.) Profit. Remember to switch back, once you want to continue using FF3, to your old profile

I didn't try it out too much yet, although I installed beta 8 some time ago. As long as this literal ugly font bug is still present, I won't use it, it is really irritating. Also don't want to switch fonts etc.

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