Wednesday, November 28, 2012

New Oil


Why a SSD?
Well it seemed cheap.
I never install things on the C:\\ on purpose, so the size didn’t matter
This vid was impressive
I was thinking of an <80GB HDD but didn’t see one to buy.
Whirlpool recommended it
I should replace my PC in ~7 years so I probably wont hit the read/write limit, and with only the OS on it I wont care (much) if it gets wiped.

Why 8GB of RAM?
Win7 recommended 8GB
Whirlpool recommended 8GB
Ubuntu can use all of it
More is probably better?
My old XP box couldn’t use all the 4GB it had installed, so I planned to swap 2GB it to the new PC, to total ten. But I cant because it isn’t DDR3 memory.
I suppose maybe Pov-Ray will make use of it?

I also took particular care with the case, as I wanted an on button that would work. I nearly bought a miniATX case for the tiny novelty of it. I knew I didn’t want a big box, If I go that way I intend to make it out of wood, so I settled on a squarish one with a simple flat design.
The rest was fairly straight forward to decide, I may put in a wireless card later (could have used it on the first day) I pretty much followed the whirlpool guide and what was available on Umart. In the end this is the package I came up with


I bought BYO with my first paycheck from Bundy Sugar, making it ~5yo. For the last 2 years I have been putting off upgrading it because I don’t like windows. And I haven’t reformatted it because I only have the XP CD without service packs and it takes a whole weekend to reinstall everything I use.
Small things have been annoying me for a while and after a couple of conversations at work I decided to get something new. Possibly I could have upgraded the motherboard to fix my sound card issues and replaced the box so that it would reliably turn on. But I’m the only person left in Technomancers Sojourn with an XP OS and I have the slowest PC and those upgrades would only make it more reliable, not more competitive. With this PC I shouldn’t have to wait for loading screens in GW2 anymore.

For the time being I’ll keep BYO as a spare/server, but when I know I have everything I’ll probably install Ubuntu and thus make it like new. I haven’t even installed any games yet and I’ve already checked out WineDB to see if LOL and GW2 are linux compatible yet. Win7 annoys me when it asks “are you sure you want to do this?” and when I tried to rotate the screen it took me three goes, you would think it could tell if a resolution was compatible or not without my help. I also did the thing again where instead of making a hidden folder visible I accidentally hid the directory that that folder was in.




> ITEMs to Order :
> Intel Core i5 3470 LGA1155 CPU 3.2Ghz 6Mb Cache Ivy Bridge
> ASRock B75-PRO3-M B75 4xDDR3 3xSATA3 PCIex16 GBL 4xUSB3.0 HDMI D-Sub
> DVI-D mATX
> Kingston 8G(2x4G) DDR3 1600MHz CL9 HyperX
> Seagate SATA3 2TB 7200RPM Barracuda 64mb Cache
> Samsung 128GB SSD 830 Series - SATA III 6Gbs, 2xnm Toggle DDR NAND,
> 3-Core ARMv9 MCX Controller
> Sapphire HD7870 OC 2G 256Bit GDDR5 PCIE3.0 DVI HDMI 2*MiniDSP
> SilverStone Temjin series TJ08E Black mATX Cas USB3
> Antec VP-550P 550W Strictly PSU
> Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit OEM(Microsoft OEM
> Terms&condition apply)
>
> TOTAL : $$1128


[Update 23/01/2015]
Doubling the RAM is still the only upgrade I've done.

So my graphics card is the first part to play up, occasionally it would not show any display when booting my PC. Apparently this was a common error in Germany and the fix was to flash the GPU BIOS once you can get the card to initialise properly. But I didn’t get it flash properly. Contacted support and they recommended I buy a new card because it was old. While ATI cards are usually more effective use of funds I’ve found the NVIDIA support to be much more helpful. I don’t think I’ve had a game actually make this graphics card work hard either, so I suppose its time to downgrade.Umart wouldn’t let me login and their menu system is very hard to navigate now. What a wanted was a “NVIDIA” “not overclocked” “2GB RAM” for “$100-$200” Since two years has passed I thought the 7870 equivalents would be in this price range, but it seems we are waiting on new games still to push the cards.While it is still overclocked unfortunately, I settled on the “$190 MSI GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB” but it has a three year warranty and so I suppose it is more stable than the Radeon Sapphire that it is replacing. I will miss the miniDP connections, but it seems I can still run three monitors over 2xDVI, HDMI.

Back in the good old days…

People think the golden age of youth was the best time of their life. That’s just to excuse themselves from making the world a better place now. Don’t point out what’s wrong with the world today unless you are prepared to attempt to fix it.

I also think people should change what they cannot accept and accept what they cannot change and thus I have no right to complain about anything. ~~I felt the need for a short post.

Business card for Technomancers Sojourn Inc


I like the concept of the QR code, people we spam can google out name the old fashioned way, or scan the QR code to access our website. From that they can contact us and we can easily remember the webpage.

I like the blocky font that Sam found, it looks clean and precise and matches he QR Code.

I like the color RGB<0,1,0> as it reminds me of the old monochrome game consoles. Black background fits with this and whitespace to wright on.

We need our name in some form “Technomancers Sojourn Inc.”. As for what we do “E-Sport” covers most things nicely, Also our incorporated association number makes it feel a bit more official to me, although I have not seen anybody else use that number for anything.

A logo would be nice but I couldn’t think of one I like, the medical snake around a broadsword is a possibility but how other than t&S does that relate to who we are?
This is also a nice picture, possibly we could use a small imitation of the map of the internet? It may not work in monochrome though. Logo’s should be easily recognizable, even as just a silhouette. Probably no more than four colours, and possible to print clearly on a high speed printing press. I had a go creating something like that here.

The space that we use to personalize our cards with name and contact details should have some form of heading I feel. But you can always wright on the back of the card too.

Username:
Password:

Name
email

sudo-u (runs command as the following user)
sudo-H (sets the home directory)

C:\\
MSD (CD.. or VER or format /V)

possible netmap logo

Another pov-ray code


#include "colors.inc"
#include "finish.inc"
#include "math.inc"

/*Triganometry - need to write this somewhere
cosd() co-sine measured in degrees
f_sqr() a function to square a number
sqrt(A) Returns the value whose square is A.

Hypotenuse_Length = sqrt(x_axis_length*x_axis_length + y_axis_length*y_axis_length)

cosd(Angle) = adjacent_Length/Hypotenuse_Length


*/


global_settings { ambient_light rgb<1, 1, 1> }

/*
//background
plane
{
    z,+0.1
    pigment {rgb <0,0,0>}
    //either black or colorless
}
*/

//area of interest is
//    0.0 < x < 100
//    0.0 < y < -100
//    5.0 < z < -5.0
// bit this needs to be slightly expanded for a neat boarder

//eye centered aboce the shapes, although they are 3D ther should be no traces of that.
camera
{
    location <50,-50,-150>
    look_at <50,-50,0>
}
//I'm cheating with the illumination and placing a light where the camera is
//in this way I dont have to worry about shadows at all and should get clean colors.
light_source { <-11,0,-10> <0,0,1>}
light_source { <11,21,-10> <1,0,0>}
light_source { <-50,-50,-150> <1,1,1>}// same as camera location

/*
background     Black
web         yellow
PC        Cyan
hub        Blue
router        red

each color to fade into the next, so the connection from the router to the hub will
transition through magenta.

each nexus should appear to glow in its colour due to radiosity

then of the 8 simple computer colors only green and white are missing.
*/


//WWW also the boarder
cylinder //left
{
    <0,0,0>,
    <0,-100,0>,
    2
    pigment{
    gradient y
    frequency 0.01
    color_map {
        [0.0 color rgb <1,1,0> ]
        [1.0 color rgb <1,1,0> ]
    }
    //rotate z*90
    }
        //rotate z*45
}

cylinder//bottom
{
    <0,-100,0>,
    <66,-100,0>,
    2
    pigment{
    gradient z
    color_map {
        [0.0 color rgb <1,1,0> ]
        [1.0 color rgb <1,1,0> ]
    }
    }
}
cylinder//top
{
    <0,0,0>,
    <100,0,0>,
    2
    pigment{
    gradient z
    color_map {
        [0.0 color rgb <1,1,0> ]
        [1.0 color rgb <1,1,0> ]
    }
}
}
cylinder//right
{
    <100,0,0>,
    <100,-66,0>,
    2
    pigment{
    gradient z
    color_map {
        [0.0 color rgb <1,1,0> ]
        [1.0 color rgb <1,1,0> ]
    }
}
}

//router red
//4 port + Internet
//72° rotation
//<20,20,0>7
cone
{
    <0,0,0>, 2 //net
    <0,-100,0>,2 //router
    //first created along the y axis
    pigment{
    gradient y      //color changes from the bottom of the shape to the top
    frequency 0.01  //% of 100, because the shape is 100 units long on the y axis
    color_map
    {
        [0.0 color rgb <1,0,0> ]
        [1.0 color rgb <1,1,0> ]// the actual change in color
    }
        }
        scale y*.3  //shortenning the shape to what I want while maintainingthe color gradient
        rotate z*45 //rotating the bottom end to where it ends up
}
cone
{
    <0,0,0>, 2//hub8
    <0,-100,0>,2 //router
    pigment{
    gradient y
    frequency 0.01
    color_map
    {
        [0.0 color rgb <0,0,1> ]
        [0.5 color rgb <1,0,1> ]//dunno if this is really nessesary, possibly keeps things brighter
        [1.0 color rgb <1,0,0> ]
    }
    }
        scale y*0.6
        rotate z*9.5
        translate <20,-20,0>
}
cone
{
    <0,0,0>, 2.1//hub12
    <0,-100,0>,2 //router
    pigment{
    gradient y
    frequency 0.01
    color_map
    {
        [0.0 color rgb <0,0,1> ]
        [0.5 color rgb <1,0,1> ]
        [1.0 color rgb <1,0,0> ]
    }
    }
        scale y*0.7          //needs longer + trigonometry
        rotate z*56
        translate <20,-20,0>
}
cone
{
    <0,0,0>, 2//PC
    <0,-100,0>,2 //router
    pigment{
            gradient y
            frequency 0.01
            color_map
            {
                [0.0 color rgb <0,1,1> ]
                [1.0 color rgb <1,0,0> ]
            }
    }
        scale y*0.6
        rotate z*100
        translate <20,-20,0>
}
cone
{
    <0,0,0>, 2//PC
    <0,-100,0>,2 //router
    pigment{
            gradient y
            frequency 0.01
            color_map
            {
                [0.0 color rgb <0,1,1> ]
                [1.0 color rgb <1,0,0> ]
            }
    }
        scale y*0.6
        rotate z*80
        translate <20,-20,0>
}

//hub blue
//8 port
//45°
//<30,-80,0>, 15L
#declare hub8ports =
cone
{
    <0,0,0>, 1
    <0,-100,0>, 2
    pigment{
    gradient y
    frequency 0.01
    color_map {
        [0.0 color rgb <0,1,1> ]
        [1.0 color rgb <0,0,1> ]
    }
    }
    scale y*.15
}

#declare Count = 0;

#declare hub8 =
union
{
    #while (Count < 360)
    object {hub8ports rotate z*Count }
    #declare Count=Count +45;
    #end
    rotate z*9.3
}
object
{
        hub8
        translate <30,-80,0>
        //rotate z*10
}


//hub blue
//12 port
//30°
//<80,-60,0>, 10L
#declare hub12ports =
cone
{
    <0,0,0>, 1
    <0,-100,0>, 2
    pigment{
    gradient y
    frequency 0.01
    color_map {
        [0.0 color rgb <0,1,1> ]
        [1.0 color rgb <0,0,1> ]
    }
    }
        scale y*0.15
        rotate z*27.6
}

#declare Count = 0;
#declare hub12 =
union
{
    #while (Count < 360)
    object {hub12ports rotate z*Count }
    #declare Count=Count +30;
    #end
}
object
{
        hub12
    translate <80,-60,0>
}


// create a sphere shape to smoth the edges
#declare node =
sphere {
  <0, 0, 0> // center of sphere <X Y Z>
  2.0       // radius of sphere
  // scale <1,2,1> // <= Note: Spheres can become ellipses by uneven scaling
    pigment {rgb <1,1,0>}
}
object
{
       node
}
object
{
       node
    translate <0,-100,0>
}
object
{
       node
    translate <100,0,0>
}

/*
I wonder if I should turn this into a movie? It would be nice to make an animated CVG rather than a GIF
Since I decided against using green because we use it everywhere else the color transitions would be:
r-y-c-b-m ->back to red
Internet-router-hubs-PCs-nothing ->back to internet
this way everything should gently blend into the next colour and it should look like a rainbow moving from the internet to the PCs

Although programming this would almost require me to start from scratch.
*/






Tuesday, November 27, 2012

a seven dimensional work in progress

As a direct rezult of a FB update here is my unfinished POV-Ray code,
like with no spell checking or anything:



/*
while in the begining I thought to add this to wikipedia as a wasy to describe multidimensional space
I was actually more interested in researching which diods would best correspont to the human eye.
The ones that emmittid photons at the wavelength that our cone photoreceptors can most easely convert into electerical energy for interpretation by the brain.

You see I'm a chemist and the most fun thing about chemistry is the funky colours, particularly the organometalic coordination complexes.

but in the end this document became programming practice, particularly for my comments. And when I realised that I tried to make the program more effecient too.




*/



//~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
//Above: intro
//Below: initial setup
//~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~




#include "colors.inc"
#include "math.inc"
#include "colors.inc"
#include "textures.inc"
#include "shapes.inc"
#include "metals.inc"
#include "glass.inc"
#include "woods.inc"

//for a box centered on the origen
#declare corner1x = 0;
#declare corner1y = 0;
#declare corner1z = 0;
#declare corner2x = 0;
#declare corner2y = 0;
#declare corner2z = 0;

//Initial_Frame = 1
//Final_Frame = 60 //create 60 frames for a gif, 1200 for final
// Time needs to run from 1 to 60 seconds
// then I can repeate the images twice to show 2 cycles in the time dimension
//for testing purposes only. when this works check trigometry, then use time to make a movie.
#declare Time = 30.0;
//45=0, 35=0.25 0/30/60=0.5, 5/25=0.75, 15=1
//rsine = gsine = bsine = xsine = ysine = zsine = 0.5*sin(0.10472*(Time +0))+0.5


#if (1)    //initially I was commenting out parts of code but then I realised an if     statement with a boolian toggle would be quicker.

    //clock moves from 0-1, so multiply by 60 to get the new range.
    //Final_Frame = 6;        //generates number of frames, less is faster more is     smoother
    #declare Time = 100*clock; //I really dont know how to et the FPS, maybe thats in a diferent program?
    //Cyclic_Animation= On;    //this means that ot wont end on the same fram that     it starts with, making animation loops easier
    //may need to install redShark again to render this.
#else
    //the clock is not setup so only one frame will be rendered
#end


//timeless testing
#declare rsine =0.5; //for red
#declare gsine =0.5; //for green
#declare bsine =0.5; //for blue
#declare xsine =0; //for the x axis
#declare ysine =0; //for the y axis
#declare zsine =0; //for the z axis
/*
being the first place I declare these variables I should explain
all the dimensional translations are based on a sine waveform
and all should stay within the bounds of 0-1, thus rsine = xsine = 1 would make
the red color dimension 100% and move the x axis as far away from the origen as possible.
*/


//~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
//above: initial setup
//Below: camera, lighting, simple static shape. The begining of the scene
//~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


camera {
   location <1, 1, -1>
 //  direction <0, 0,  2.25>
 //  right x*1.33
   look_at <0,0,1>
}

//lighting
//light_source{ <2.0,0.5,0.5> color White Jitter = 0}
light_source{ <0.5,0.5,-0.5> color White }
light_source{ <1,1,-1> color White }
//light_source{ <2.0,2.0,-1.0> color White Jitter = 0 }
//need to turn jitter off because it is unhelpfull for animated sequences

// Uncomment the area lights only if you've got lots of time.
#declare Dist=80.0;
light_source {< -50, 25, -50> color White
     fade_distance Dist fade_power 2
//   area_light <-40, 0, -40>, <40, 0, 40>, 3, 3
//   adaptive 1
   jitter
}
sky_sphere {
    pigment {
        gradient y
        color_map {
            [0, 1  color Gray50 color Gray80]
        }
    }
}


//axis gridlines should lay embedded in the planes
//This is what I played with to make the textures work and to hose where the image would be
//in relation to the camera and lights for example.
//generally I find the first object the most callengin to make visable
cylinder { <0,0,0>, <1,0,0>, 0.101 texture { T_Glass4 } interior {I_Glass caustics 1} }
cylinder { <0,0,0>, <0,1,0>, 0.101 pigment{ White }}
cylinder { <0,0,0>, <0,0,1>, 0.101
        texture { T_Wood10
            finish { specular 0.5 roughness 0.005 ambient 0.35 }
            translate x*1
            rotate <30, 10, 20>
        }
 }

//~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
//above: camera, lighting, simple static shape. The begining of the scene
//Below: trigonimetry calculations
//~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~





//Simple sine formula
// All dimensions move the same
//Amplitude * Sin( Frequency * (time + Phase)) + Range
#declare xamplitude = 0.5;
#declare xfrequency = pi/30;
#declare xphase = 0;
#declare yamplitude = 0.5;
#declare yfrequency = pi/30;
#declare yphase = 0;
#declare zamplitude = 0.5;
#declare zfrequency = pi/30;
#declare zphase = 0;
#declare ramplitude = 0.5;
#declare rfrequency = pi/30;
#declare rphase = 0;
#declare gamplitude = 0.5;
#declare gfrequency = pi/30;
#declare gphase = 0;
#declare bamplitude = 0.5;
#declare bfrequency = pi/30;
#declare bphase = 0;


//calculating it out

#declare rsine = ramplitude * sin( rfrequency * ( Time + rphase))+0.5;
#declare gsine = gamplitude * sin( gfrequency * ( Time + gphase))+0.5;
#declare bsine = bamplitude * sin( bfrequency * ( Time + bphase))+0.5;
#declare xsine = xamplitude * sin( xfrequency * ( Time + xphase))+0.5;
#declare ysine = yamplitude * sin( yfrequency * ( Time + yphase))+0.5;
#declare zsine = zamplitude * sin( zfrequency * ( Time + zphase))+0.5;

/*
below I have six different scenarios where each dimension moves different to the others
they only change the parts required for the pocture, otherwise they are the same as the simple sine above.
To change what is rendered uncomment one of the blocks, edit the number below

*/

#declare Graph_adjustment = 4;

#if (Graph_adjustment = 1)
//1    Amplitude modulation
#declare xamplitude = 0.5/6;
#declare yamplitude = 0.5/6*2;
#declare zamplitude = 0.5/6*3;
#declare ramplitude = 0.5/6*4;
#declare gamplitude = 0.5/6*5;
#declare bamplitude = 0.5;

#else #if (Graph_adjustment = 2)

//2    frequency modulation (Repeatable cycle)
#declare rfrequency = PI()/30;
#declare gfrequency = PI()/30*5;
#declare bfrequency = PI()/30*3;
#declare xfrequency = PI()/30*6;
#declare yfrequency = PI()/30*2;
#declare zfrequency = PI()/30*4;

#else #if (Graph_adjustment = 3)

//3    frequency modulation (smaller Hz)
#declare rfrequency = PI()/30*2;
#declare gfrequency = PI()/30;
#declare bfrequency = PI()/20;
#declare xfrequency = PI()/30*2+PI()/20;
#declare yfrequency = PI()/20*2;
#declare zfrequency = PI()/30+PI()/20;

#else #if (Graph_adjustment = 4)

//4    Phase modulation (uniform distortion)
#declare rphase = 10;
#declare gphase = 50;
#declare bphase = 30;
#declare xphase = 60;
#declare yphase = 20;
#declare zphase = 40;

#else #if (Graph_adjustment = 5)

//5    Phase modulation (heilical distortion)
#declare rphase = 0;
#declare gphase = 6;
#declare bphase = 12;
#declare xphase = 18;
#declare yphase = 24;
#declare zphase = 30;

#else #if (Graph_adjustment = 6)

//6    ~~~~~Really complex
/*
I practiced these in an excell document to see what each line looks like
the simple x,y image was easy to follow even with 6 lines ontop of eachother
I picked some equations from above that I shought would be visible and also
repeatable, starting and ending at 50%, with no sharp movements.
*/
#declare ramplitude = 0.4;
#declare rfrequency = pi/15;
#declare rphase = 10;
#declare gamplitude = 0.4;
#declare gfrequency = pi/30;
#declare gphase = 40;
#declare bamplitude = 0.5;
#declare bfrequency = pi/15;
#declare bphase = 40;

#declare rsine = ramplitude * sin( rfrequency * ( Time + rphase))+0.5;
#declare gsine = gamplitude * sin( gfrequency * ( Time + gphase))+0.5;
#declare bsine = bamplitude * sin( bfrequency * ( Time + bphase))+0.5;

//x average of small + simple
#declare xsine = ((0.1 * sin( pi/3  * ( Time + 1))+0.5)+xamplitude * sin( xfrequency * ( Time + xphase))+0.5 )/2 ;
//y average of 0.21Hz + simple
#declare ysine = ((0.5 * sin( pi/15 * ( Time + 0))+0.5)+yamplitude * sin( yfrequency * ( Time + yphase))+0.5 )/2 ;
//z average of x and y
#declare zsine = (xsine + ysine)/2 ;
//*/
//~~~~~end of really complex

#else //nothing here so the variables are never changed from the simple sine at the begining
#end #end #end #end #end #end// need an end here for each of the if statements

//protected untill the manual formula is not nesescary
//this uses time and will take ~60 times longer to generate
//The new location
#declare rsine = ramplitude * sin( rfrequency * ( Time + rphase))+0.5;
#declare gsine = gamplitude * sin( gfrequency * ( Time + gphase))+0.5;
#declare bsine = bamplitude * sin( bfrequency * ( Time + bphase))+0.5;
#declare xsine = xamplitude * sin( xfrequency * ( Time + xphase))+0.5;
#declare ysine = yamplitude * sin( yfrequency * ( Time + yphase))+0.5;
#declare zsine = zamplitude * sin( zfrequency * ( Time + zphase))+0.5;


//~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
//Above: trigonimetry calculations
//Below: assembelling the dimensional cube
//~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



//finally the focus of all this code
//this is the cube, rather than phasing the color and transllating an object
//each frame will render a new cube in a new location.
//thus it is easier to color but I'll rely on the FPS to pretend it is mooving.
#declare  corner1x = xsine - 0.15;
#declare  corner1y = ysine - 0.15;
#declare  corner1z = zsine - 0.15;
#declare  corner2x = xsine + 0.15;
#declare  corner2y = ysine + 0.15;
#declare  corner2z = zsine + 0.15;

//by making this a light source I dont have to worry about any radiosity effects
//I dont want the cubes color to be effected by the background.
light_source
{ <0,0,0> rgb <rsine, gsine,bsine>
  looks_like
  {

        box {    <corner1x,corner1y,corner1z>,
            <corner2x,corner2y,corner2z>
            texture {pigment{rgb <rsine, gsine,bsine>} }
        }
        finish { ambient 1 }
  }
}


//far corner box
// was a simple test to get the box to work at all
/*
box {
        <-0.5,-0.5,-0.5>
        <0.5,0.5,0.5>
    texture {pigment{Grey}}
    scale 0.2
    translate <1,1,1>
}
*/



//~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
//Above: assembelling the dimensional cube
//Below: background and RGB phase trasition
//~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


//background
//will try fading in and out to show the color witout being a pastell
//hopefully then scaling the z plane from pure blue to totally black
plane {x,0 texture {pigment{rgb <rsine,0,0> } }}
plane {y,0 texture {pigment{rgb <0,gsine,0> } }}
plane {z,1 texture {pigment{rgb <0,0,bsine> } }}
//other than that I could put slider bars somewhere


Thursday, November 22, 2012

[SOLVED] xinput1_3.dll is missing

so I have a new PC now and am slowly getting my games onto it. Some I can copy, I'll backup and transfer most of my steam library but some I think will be easier to redownload.

HAWKEN wouldnt run, apparently XINPUT1_3.dll is missing

I wont download dll files from the net, and didnt think reinstalling the game immidiatly would help.

so I installed MWO, same thing.

Still havent backed up a steam game to try that, so I attempted to reinstall Dx11. Not helpfull at all

found the file on my old XPPC and added it to the same location in my Win7 box.

3 of the locations I found didnt exist, possibly I need to install "microsoft XNA Game Studio" (that where I found it) but I cant install that if I dont have "visual studio 2010" or "visual C# 2010 Expres" getting less likely that I need this but it was probably on my old PC for a reason.

Now I have a different error, actually the text is all the same exept for the file it is talking about, now D3DCompiler43.dll is missing
On the other hand now MWO does nothing.

Ok for missing this file the internet still reccomends updating DX11, well windows says I cant. so I'll just go for another SDK I suppose.

Hrm, after downloading the SDK and begining to restore some games to steam I tried MWO and it just loaded without any issues? Maybe it is like Age of Empires Online where it works after you try 5 times in a row?

HAWKEN still doesnt work though.

the DX SDK install failed 2x and suggested I close all my other programs. Apparently if I have more recent redistributable packages then I cannot install the basic one.

well that didnt sound like fun so I restarted my PC and played a round of MWO, now HAWKEN works too.


So the solution was either attempting to install the Dx SDK and XNA Game studio or ....
... Have you tried turning it of and on again?

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Car troubles, one thing leading to another

Well this is becoming a bit of a saga so I thought I would wright it down.

First, when I got my car one of the keys was missing the button, so I couldn’t unlock it remotely, thus it became my spare.

Every so often my can does nothing when I turn the ignition, putting it into neutral or back into park usually fixed this in one go.

Sometime this year the idle seemed a bit off, particularly when accelerating. But it was only mildly annoying.

Sometime after that my key nolonger remotely unlocked my car. (apparently this is a sign that the battey is flat and if you don’t fix it soon you cannot start the cat without leaving the key in the ignition for 40min)



Four sojourns ago (1st Oct I think), when last Byron came I dropped him off at his house then my car wouldn’t start. It also sounded really ill when attempting to start. But the following morning when I returned to my car with mum it started as soon as we decided to call RACQ. Then at work that Friday I got Dave Foster to chech the battery and that appeared fine, regardless of if the lights were on or not. Of the two dozen times we started it maybe three or four times the engine didn’t go.



For the next two weeks the car started most of the time and I decided to wait for the next service that was due in nov to get it all checked.



Then prior to the following sojourn I went to collect Josh and my car really died, this time the battery was defiantly flat and jumpstarting the car got it to work. So I went and bought a new battery prior to driving to the beach.



The following Monday 22nd, after an uneventful canoeing trip to Bucca, I took my car to ultratune for a service and to get the key looked at, as well as the isolator in the gear lever. They couldn’t start the car at all. The following day I gave them the spare key, this time they could move the car and did the service. They also replaced the batteries and still couldn’t get the remote to work.

Apparently replacing the batteries in the remote is pointless because it breaks the waterproof seal.



So the remote still didn’t work but using the spare key reliably started the car. So I went to Biloela on the 27th with confidence. On the 29th though, as I was driving up to Nangandie station on the way home my car started to squeak. Seemed it didn’t really like the rough road. Dad was visiting the following weekend and we decided it may be the suspension or the exhaust. Incidentally also found out I have no tire spanner and that there are locking nuts on the mags.



So on Monday the 5th I took my car to enterprise street exhaust and booked it in for the following day. After watching the Melbourne Cup they we decided the squeak was probably the exhaust, which required replacing anyway. This was the first time in ~8 years that I replaced it. So I was back the following day for that. In replacing the exhaust we found that the mounting for the “panarm rod” was bent and cracked and this is the source of the movement and squeak. Apparently a rather large car crash must have caused this and it had been like this for a while, that being more than ten years, a pothole and dust appears to have made the movement squeaky.



On the 8th then I got a new key for my car, one where the remote actually works, but it doesn’t always turn in the ignition, I gather I have to wear it in. Then went to enterprise street exhaust for the 4th day that week to get the panarm mount fixed, as soon as the car was on the hoist the mechanic asked if I had just filled up. After a bit of investigation we found the breather line for the fuel tank was completely perished and broken.



So now I need to use up all my fuel, so that the tank is nearly empty so that the fuel lines can be replaced so that my car don’t explode when it gets re-welded. The squeak is just annoying, everything else I really need to fix to have a reliable efficient car: a working key (to start the car), new battery, exhaust without rust and fuel lines that don’t leak.
And I didnt even mention the rust.


~~~~

So in the end it took half a day but my car nolonger squeeks. This last little bit cost:
$100 for Labor
$20 for fuel lines
$5 for weld

~~~~
and now on the 17/02/13 all the water leaked out of the radiator, time for a new car methinks.

Kiteboarding: begining to stand up



21 october

Got out to test my board which arrived on Friday but there was hardly enough wind to fly the kite. First off I went to Elliot heads but northerlies just don’t make much wind there, was a lovey beach day though.

Archies beach was much more wintry, but the water was warm and so we had to navigate around the swimmers. I reckon ive got the hang of driving the kite with one hand now. This weekend the forecast finally has something other than a 10-15knot northerly all weekend. But I’m planning to visit dad in Biloela instead.

24 October

The call went out that there was enough leftover wind from the day before to try kiting before biblestudy. I had just had a haircut so I could test that out at the same time.

There was enough wing that I struggled merely standing still. Tony more than me would have benefited from a smaller kite, he hast as much ballast as me. Decided that we need to try the board in the Elliot before the ocean, but I did put it to good use in holding down the kite whilst setting up and packing up.



27 October

Went to bilo thinking of surfing on lake callied, but it was all muddy and sticky and not enough wind, so I went for a sail on dads cat instead.

12 November

Looked like a nice beach day so went to Elliot heads at Eduard’s suggestion. It was an easterly at 15-20knotts and I’m not so scared of that wind now. Also the tide was still rising but pretty full. It seems that tacking and holding my body like a board was not a good way to prepare to lean to stand up. The better way to learn standing was to fly downwind really fast with my top half out of the water. Because that is what it felt like when I eventually got to stand up for a decent amount of time.

So yeah I had one big run with the board. I was going along the shore, slowly getting closer to it. The waves (`20cm high) I didn’t want o catch because that would have made the run shorter. I didn’t have enough room to tack. Where the river bends and I would have had heaps of room again I didn’t want to go, so I jumped off the board ad flew the kite high. It gave me a lot of speed but when I landed on the beach I was able to stop moving fairly quickly. The dismount was a bit scary.

I was able to get quite a bit of speed but I kept the kite doing figure eights right on the edge of the wind envelope so that I coul go slow. It was a balancing act of going fast enough to keep upright but not going down wind much and thus running out of water.

Just need to get Tony to have a go now and get a photo of myself.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

I finded this today

CREATIVE WRITING 1 (WRIT19015) TERM 1, 2008

ASSIGNMENT ONE                             First Draft
WORD LIMIT                              words
AURTHOR                                Ben Graham
STUDENT ID                                S00051551
COURSE COORDINATOR                        Dr Lynda Hawryluk
DUE DATE                                2/5/08



Proposal for that which will be written.

A tale about a journey to a destination and the complications along the way. Similar to the Japanese "journey to the west" or the Greek "odyssey of homer" and "Jason and his agronaughts".

Setting is to be a hole in the ground, similar to the game of nethack. Lots of caverns and monsters living in them. Also there will be a few narky people that the main characters must converse with to proceed.

The premise is that two warring kingdoms have sent their representatives to obtain an object that is guarded at the bottom of a cavern. Each of the two kingdoms are very different and follow contrasting philosophies that pervade every part of their culture.

Materialist’s girl Liza Kalitina
Value matter, collecting it and analyzing it. Living in luxury with an abundance of everything, these people value life and are by nature pacifists. They realize that it is harder to create, than to destroy.
They only believe hard facts and what can be physically (scientifically) proven. They are experts on physiology and understand that when they have an empty stomach chemical impulses are sent to the brain telling the body to eat.

Idealist’s boy Arkady Nikolaevich Kirsanov
Value thought and consciousness, they collect information and enjoy verbal debates. They see their bodies as merely a vessel through which their knowledge can be exhibited. They only look after their human bodies to the extent required for survival. Believing in magic and in everything mystical. They believe that they are only hungry when they imagine that it is so.

Side Character Imp
Used implicature in all conversations. that is never answers a question directly but implies the answer through his response. Also uses a lot of words with 'imp' in them.

Side Character wise man in a hole
"well all the mountains were taken!"




View
I think that for the intro I will have it in first person with the speaker bagging out the other main character saying "Right, now that's over with you can get lost. I'm not going to babysit you, this will be hard enough to do without you interfering." Then, after the first scene the story will degenerate into a third person view.














##speaker is a klutz. other person speaks in old English and worries a lot
+______________________________________________________________+

"Right, now that's over with you can get lost. I'm not going to babysit you, this will be hard enough to do without you interfering." Now that all that palaver was over I was keen to get started, that is, this is where my story begins.
    So, here I am. Strolling down the middle of a long dark ally, down into the colon of the earth, my mission to save life as we know it. And all I can hear is this puncy whining from that idiot behind me. I cannot fathom why the higher ups would deem it necessary to tolerate such a dweeb. Probably some sort of diplomatic thing.
...
Can't get through a door until the doors guardians are defeated. But they first need to find the guardians to kill them. Gives rise to an argument about what happens after you die, the afterlife and such.
...

Turning the corner down yet another dark tunnel they were assaulted by a sudden noise through the darkness, breaking the monotony of their footsteps.
"Erm..." came a rather high pitched voice. "Excuse me."
Silence.
"Heelo? ... Will you bee my friend?"
"Who goes there" Shouted Liza "Be ye friend or foe?" as the echoes reverberated down the tunnel Arkady replied. "Don't be so uptight, you obviously didn't hear him say he wants to be your friend."
"Show thine self then"
"Down heer on the ground"
Liza was startled to see a pink rock try to right itself. It was smooth and shaped as a raindrop although it was nearly knee height. Promptly the creature fell over, landing on a withering mass of similar looking vines. "What manner of creature are thee?" she queried reaching towards the strange creature.
"Don't touch it," yelled Arkady, pulling Liza away, "that is a cephalopod. They are sea dwelling parasites that devour people from the inside out"
"Hmph. Thee and thou mythical 'sea full of water.' We are sure it is harmless."
"Actually he is right." Intruded the cephalopod. "I am actually a sepiida. But I don't want to eat you. If you are prejudiced then I will stay here."
"Why doest thee wish to be our friend then?"
"I left the sea to travel the world. But it is rather slow traveling on land with these." Waving his tentacles about in the air.
"So you just want someone to carry you?"
"And to share with. It is incredibly boring traveling by myself with nobody to talk to."
"Nothing doing. I don't trust you at all."
"How canst thee be so cruel." stated Liza picking up the creature. "What is thy name little fellow?"
"You fool, don't let it touch you." Yelled Arkady knocking it out of her hands.
"What does thee care. A minute ago thee saith thee never wish to see me again."
"Guilt is a fate worse than death. I will not allow you to die due to my negligence. If we must take it I will put it on my hat. That way it will not be able to eat us and it will be able to see where we are going." With that Arkaby dropped his Akubra on the ground.
"Thank you. My name is Cooch Windgrass." Flopping himself into the middle of his hat and wrapping his tentacles around it as they changed colour to match the hatband. Within seconds he looked like a ten gallon hat. The only give away that he was there at all was the W shaped eyes on each side of the hat.
"That be amazing Cooch." Exclaimed Liza picking up the hat and plonking it unceremoniously upon Arkaby's scruffy hair.
This resulted in quite a peculiar expression on Arkaby's face. Not quite sure what to do about a man eating monster hiding on his head he tried to change the topic. "So, in anybody hungry?"
Now Liza was surprised and flicked her eyes between Cooch, Arkady and back.
"I mean I have some chocolate bars in my pocket." he hastily added. And gingerly reached into his pocket, trying not to tilt hit head any or than was absolutely necessary. At this Liza burst out laughing. With a grim expression Arkady opened one of the chocolates.
"Why thank you, much obliged." Said Cooch reaching down with a tentacle, taking the chocolate from Arkady hand and swallowing it whole. As he did so all the blood drained from Arkady's face and he stared at the now empty wrapper. Setting Liza into fits of laughter.

...
##Complication 1
The bridge is broken and they need to get across
But there’s no wood so...
They need to find wood for the builder to build bridge.
But the builder is hungry and won’t stop fishing so...
They need to find bait for his rod.
But he is a hopeless fisherman so...
They need to find lunch for the builder.
But it will take a week to finish fixing so...
They go the long way around.

...
#when they find imp on the other side of the bridge they talk for a bit and he introduces himself as the Grand Monarch of the unknown states of existence. Arkady replies that this title is too long and will call him Imp. Liza interjects "That be the shorthand for Emperor not Monarch."
"I was referring to him saying imp more often than is necessary." Arkady replied, slightly surprised. "But how did you know such an obscure title?"
"Thus is how I refer to Emperor J.. Never mind, I revealed too much." Liza hastened to compose herself and started marching down the tunnel. "Come along Imp we shant wait for the short legs. Thee must come if thee shalt come. The goal may wait for us but our home shall not remain unchanged.

...
As the tunnel opened up into another cavern Imp exclaimed of the rock formations "These rocks look like the teeth of some monstrous beast"
"Aye this place must be some sort of esoteric ritual chamber where they mutilate small creatures, much  like yourself Imp."
"Never fear Cooch, I will impose my will onto them. I will not allow them to impede your life forve in any way." Replied Imp as he inched towards Liza. Hugging her leg he peered from behind her, apprehensively peering into the darkness beyond the light of the torches.
"Actually Imp this is a fairly common rock formation, whence the passing of water reshapes sandstone caves. The ones on the roof are stalactites and the rocks on the floor are called stalagmites. See the drip forming on that one there." Pointing to a stalactite not far from where they stood.
With a look of relief Imp jumped up onto Liza’s shoulder, careful not to get tangled in her hair. Just as he sat down Cooch jerked from where he was resting on Arkady's hat. "Ssomething comess".
Imp stiffened in fear, grabbing a hold of Liza, his claws piercing into her neck causing her to gasp. At that very moment the Nihilist launched itself from the shadows of a stalagmite. Her three meter blade hissing through the air. This was the distraction she had been waiting for. Liza leapt backwards with Imp's grip tightening at each breath. The blade narrowly missed her but left a neat slash across her uniform, exposing her naval.
The Nihilist paused, her black shell glistening in the light of the fluro. With beady eyes flickering between the two humans she spoke, the gravelly voice scratched thorough the cavern.
"YOU WILL JOIN THE nothing. YOUR ABSENCE WILL MAKE nothing STRONGER."
A pool of black sweat slowly spread away from her kneeling form, like the steady march of time encompassing all in it's path.
The fluro flickered. The Nihilist leapt again at the gasping Liza, thrusting the sword toward her heart. The sword seeming to pull itself forwards in a relentless lust for destruction. This time Arkady dove between them, parrying the blade with the back of his hand. Their bodies collided sending them flying over Liza. Who was on the floor trying to pry the now petrifies Imp off of her throat.
Arkady and the Nihilist landed in a tangled heap at the base of a stalagmite. The Nihilist being the first to stand grabbed Arkady in her right hand and threw him into the darkness where he fell with a heart rending scream. She then sprinted back towards Liza. Stepping on Arkady's hat where it had fallen and Cooch who was still perched upon it.
By this time Liza had pried herself away from Imp. Who was standing between Liza and the Nihilist staring at the blood dripping from his claws. As the Nihilist approached Imp picked the sword up from where it had fallen.
The Nihilist saw Imp struggling to lift her sword too late to halt her advance. The last she heard was Imp's desperate scream as the sword slid through her shattering the shell plates as it exited her back.
The drip fell.

Liza rolled the corpse over to free Imp fro under its body and ran towards where Arkady could be heard moaning. She scooped up Cooch as she went. Imp scurried after her grabbing the lantern along the way. The light shivered across the cavern as he held it in his quivering palm. They found Arkady at the base of a stalagmite he had evidently landed on. The point had missed his heart but had severed most of his shoulder, leaving his left arm only attached by three ribs.
"It looks as though I'm about to be freed from this body of mine." Gasped Arkady. "Liza, you must not return home empty handed. Continue down with Imp." Cooch flopped off the hat and with a dusty slap landed on the floor as Arkady had a fit of coughing. "Cooch, before I die. Eat me."
"What?" Exclaimed Liza.
"It should be a truly unique experience. This is what life is for after all."
"There is another alternative." Said Cooch calmly as he dragged his crippled body up onto Arkady. "Liza pull him free of the stone."
Solemnly Liza dragged on Arkady's feet. With a cry he came free of the stalagmite. Immediately his arteries started gushing blood onto the cold stone floor. Quickly Cooch flipped his body into the gap in Arkady's chest. Then he flung his tentacles on either side of the wound, sealing off the blood flow with his body. "All of by species are able to regenerate limbs." Stated Cooch when he was done. "I can reroute my blood stream so that one heart pumps to your arm and one back. My third heart will supply my body with blood."
"You would sacrifice yourself to save me?" Gasped Arkady.
"Not quite. I also would have died from my wounds. Also you are the only friends I have ever had."
"You always have several answers to a question don’t you?"
"I always have three reasons for doing anything yes. But now we both need to rest to recover."
As Cooch finished speaking Arkady's ragged breath calmed to a steady pulse of in and out, leaving Imp and Liza staring on in wonder.


...
As they entered the chamber they stopped. It was. It was big. It was majestic. It was huge. It was awe inspiring. It was gigantic. It was fabulous. It was.
"Not the smallest cave I’ve seen."  Said Imp, as he climbed up Liza's leg onto her shoulder. "Well don't just stand there with your gapers mouthing, dinners getting cold"
"What?" said Arkady swiveling to face Imp.
"How canst thee dwell on nourishment (food) at a time like this, doth not the beauty of this place astoundeth you?" exclaimed Liza.
"Impervious stomach lining implies that I've been eaten. Which in turn impedes my immortality. For who would wish to spend eternity imprisoned?"

# cavern is lined with many precious gems of all colours which look to have been melted into plave. Liza notes that they cannot have cooled that way and must have been polished by something. They decide that it looks like a dragon has swallowed it's entire treasure horde then continue to make there way through to the other side. The story ends here as Arkady muses to himself "Two enter the colon of the earth, now four enter the colon of the dragon."