Bright Souls: a dark misadventure

Turns out that the skeletons were quite helpful, they taught me how to use my falchion properly, not a very talkative bunch though. Aside from that Frog’s guidance allowed me to make short work of the Minotaur, after that I had a chat to somebody who was delusional about the sun, but he gave me the white soapstone with which to summon allies, so it’s all good. I looted some wraith’s trousers, more like a miniskirt really, and about eight helmets. Not planning to hide my smile though.

And without much more ado I have removed the flaming skull of a skeletal pyromancer and taken a short cutscene to visit Mr Snuggly. Where I traded the warm and soft burning brain for a ghost ring. And now I am only half the person I used to be. Incidentally the cutscenes are great, really impressive, yet not a jarring separation from the rest of the world.

Thus with the help of Mr Snuggly’s ghost ring I was able to pass by the last of the skeletal Arabs to reach the Black Knights Axe. Unfortunately my zombie strength hasn’t matured enough to wield this woeful wounder.

Finally the falchion flourishes finish, I’ve found a bow with which to pierce the red drakes tail, it’s got nothing on my Warbow of yore but, with sixteen arrows, the job has been done. So now though I have a small arse hidden under my skirt the tip of the drakes tail is far more damaging than everything else I’ve got. (*spelling* that should have been arsenal…)

Damaging the denizens of the depths from a distance depends on the diminishing durability of my dark drake sword, I don’t know what happens once weapon is wrecked, I should test this on one of my less rare and boring blunt instruments or possibly crumpled cut-up clothes.

I got a substantial bug and wasn’t able to progress much after this. After a slow, struggle to re-install and confirming my credentials to access the nexus I got things back up and running. Then with some tweaking under the hood the dll’s began behaving and hopefully it will be smooth sailing from here on out.


~~~

So now that things are running again, off to the forest with my drakish sword. Though a cleaver sounds nice I probably need help getting there. But the forrest was never fully explored by Frog and there is a rumor of some nifty claws. So now I am a Hunter of Forrests, look, ther's one, let me at it.

Whoops...
I shouldn't have back stabbed the guy in the middle of the field. I had snuck around him to talk to the cat and get her ring (incidentally much less impressive than I expected). The solution was to go all the way up to the top tower, wail away on some stone men and pay some indulgences. Then all the way back down again to have another chat with said Cat.


Frog really missed out on this forest, there are some great fauna here.

 Soon after his I took the back entrance to the fire swamp in search of rodents of unusual size.On the way through the valley of the shadow of drakes I *crawled* past something that looked scary enough to avoid. It may be sleeping, it may be dead, it may be a trap, I didn't get close enough to find out. Despite the temptation of a few bright souls.

Down the bottom of the fire swamp I was able to acquire some claws, these I like. More so because the came from the Cat Convents (off duty) Captain. Though I could potentially pounce like a pussy if I pilfered his pockets, I probably shouldn't. Last time I killed a kitten whilst wearing this royal ring it exploded. KAA BLAAAAAAMMM!!!!  Never kill the kittens lest you raise the ire of the Cat Lord.

Well, while cool the weapons are rather weaker than the bashing the tip of the drakes tail into the ground. So back I go to the catacombs, in the search of a Giant Dwarf.

I think maybe hid beard was bony? or perhaps that's all the clothes he feels he needs?
shrug
Oh well despite being rather grumpy and reminding me of minecraft he was rather helpful.



 
 So I now have some bleeding flaming claws of steel, functionally similar to the falchion I found first. Actually looking back now I feel more like shredder than a cat. For example in the last one I lost a Samurai duel to a bald Knight.

Musings on a replacement car #9

My main issue is: I want music to listen to while in car.
But there are problems…
Losing radio stations,
Radio stations without music.
I have ~12CD’s and have listened to them enough times.
I have lots of music available on my PC though
PC music generally is not in MP2 format, so I don’t want to burn CD’s

Possible solutions:

Phone music via adaptor
Sam forgot to lend me his but I could have a power cable to phone and leave it in the centre console, then from the audio out go to a device that transmits a radio signal to the stereo. Apparently there is a bit of loss in quality and I’d have to look for the phone to change tracks.
This is the cheapest solution (other than doing nothing)

Stereo upgrade:
Costs ~$300 for all the peripheral bits like a connection to the steering wheel
Then ~$300 for the actual unit
Don’t want video playback
Happy using phone as GPS with google maps
Need USB Aux (+iphone compatibility for allies and associates)
Touchscreen may be nice, still use my phone for GPS/google navigation
Bluetooth for alternative phone input? Then I can still play music from phone
USB in centre console? For also charging things.
This is the neatest solution.

Tablet:
HDMI out with HD and audio (for watching anime on the TV)
Audio out to connect to car AUX inputs, L+R (thus augmenting the current stereo)
WIFI: to then share with phone in the car and be able to run Google navigator whilst driving.
In car would require cable to Stereo + power + holder on dash. All looking untidy.
LINUX: To use steam on the TV?
Probably no chance it could run SAM3 or TF2, but FTL, Osmosis and League of Legends will apparently run (on win8).
Possibly use as a mousepad on my main PC? Since mice are becoming old school.
May be a place to install all my humble bundle games?
What would be the sound quality loss in using the cable as opposed to an inbuilt stereo?
GPS functionality? To replace phone and run Sportypal, for bushwalking and things?
Bluetooth for a real keyboard?
Seems though that with linux + steam my android apps wont work. On the other hand other than google maps / navigator it shouldn’t make much difference. After all the primary use of the tablet would be car stereo/HTPC.
Dual booting doesn’t sound pleasant.
This also solves my HTPC issues, so long as it runs VLC. (and based off the above I can justify a $650 budget)
Could be cool to turn up at a friends place, unplug my car stereo for the FWOTD in LOL, with a wireless keyboard and mouse. Then connecting it to the TV to rewatch Dr Horrible’s Sing-along Blog.

I wonder… a while back I was considering 2-way UHF radios for when road tripping. If my phone is sharing internet wirelessly, how far would the signal reach? To the car behind me maybe?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So a linux tablet sounds dodgy with dual booting and the normal linux tweaks that are required to make it usable.
And if I want to run steam I need something that can run win8 (the tablets with the hardware of a notebook)
But does android allow:
1080p FullHD HDMI + sound output?
USB connection for extra HDD, preferably USB3.0
Multiple video formats and switching between audio/subtitle tracks? Yes, with VLC (Beta)
<5second boot time, allowing me to start the tunes at the same time I start my car?
Possibly from Sam’s experience I would listen to radio around town and only bother with the tablet for long trips, like to briz or bilo.

Cheap Chinese knockoffs seem like a good idea
What is NVIDIA's TegraZone?

Big rubber mat for under bike. Decided on an op-shop blanket instead. now stored on the half tyre under the boot.
Bucket like floormats $40, fit well enough for the frount. the cheap ones I got are now in the back.

Custom fitted seatcovers may take 2 days and cost $400
Alternatively check allcarstuff.com.au as per bec’s suggestion
Also considering the paint protection and rust electronic device.

Dark Souls errors on startup

Currently not resolved, but working (i turned it off and on again)

For no apparent reason a week since last playing the game nolonger launches instead I get:

"loading of specified dinput wrapper failed with error 998: Invalid access to memory location"

Well its nothing wrong with my RAM.
Some forums suggest reinstalling .NetFix, I think thats pointless
Reinstall game, well I'd lose my saves

Hrm, steam wont validate the game files, thats a bit more of a clue.

• July 26th, 2013, 08:46
• Using DSFIX
• use the vs2010 r732 version of the dll
• rename the x360ce 'Dinput8.dll' to '_Dinput8.dll' and add it to the DarkSouls /Data/ folder
• set # Dinput dll chaining as follows in DSFIX
• # Dinput dll chaining
• # if you want to use another dinput8.dll wrapper together
• # with DSfix, rename it (e.g. "dinputwrapper.dll") and put the new name here
• dinput8dllWrapper _dinput8.dll
• # dsmfix.dllNot Using DSFIX
• Drop the Dinput8.dll file into the /Data/ folder without any renaming.
• I'm not answering this again.

Wow that actually worked.
I found:
O:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Dark Souls Prepare to Die Edition\DATA\DINPUT8.dll

Then I opened the game and it functions. But now the mouse is visible and all the mods that made the game playable are bypassed.


Changed both DATA.exe and DARKSOULS.exe to XP compatability mode and run as admin.
Went back to O:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\Dark Souls Prepare to Die Edition\REDIST
and rerun the Dxsetup.exe and GFWL setup

Now I get the error:

"loading of specified dinput wrapper failed with error 126: The specified module could not be found"

blarg, just spent another hour not playing this game and im ready for bed but its not fixed
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Reinstalled everything to start from scratch
forum post on nexus

suppose I should mention I also occasionally get
"loading of specified dinput wrapper failed with error 1114: A Dynamic link library (DLL) initialisation routine failed."
#this seems to be the same as my main error

"loading of specified dinput wrapper failed with error 126: The specified module could not be found."
#seems I get this when the name of the wrapper is wrong or just absent.

"The program can't start because MSVCR110.dll is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem."
#From trying different wrappers in SDfix.ini, found the file in "C:\Program Files\Logitech" and copied it to the game directory, what could go wrong after all.

"loading of specified dinput wrapper failed with error 193: %1 is not a valid Win32 application."
#looks like half of a reference ended up in a bit of code somewhere.

I cant honestly say I have done anything other than add MSVCR110.dll to the DATA folder. The game is once again running with DSfix, and DSMfix. All these errors now seem to be isolated to the inclusion of DSCfix but I think I can live without that one. Though both Josh and Nicole seem to be fine.

I'm leaving this post here as unresolved to come back to if I have further issues.

Musings on a replacement car #8

I want music to listen to while in car.

But there are problems…

• Losing radio stations,
• Radio stations without music.
• I have ~12CD’s and have listened to them enough times.
• I have lots of music available on my PC though
• PC music generally is not in MP2 format, so I don’t want to burn CD’s

Possible solutions:

Phone music via adaptor:Sam forgot to lend me his but I could have a power cable to phone and leave it in the centre console, then from the audio out go to a device that transmits a radio signal to the stereo. Apparently there is a bit of loss in quality and I’d have to look for the phone to change tracks.
This is the cheapest solution (other than doing nothing)

Stereo upgrade:Costs ~$300 for all the peripheral bits like a connection to the steering wheel
Then ~$300 for the actual unit
Don’t want video playback
Happy using phone as GPS with google maps
Need USB Aux (+iphone compatibility for allies and associates)
Touchscreen may be nice, still use my phone for GPS/google navigation
Bluetooth for alternative phone input? Then I can still play music from phone
USB in centre console? For also charging things.
This is the neatest solution.

Tablet:HDMI out with HD and audio (for watching anime on the TV)
Audio out to connect to car AUX inputs, L+R (thus augmenting the current stereo)
WIFI: to then share with phone in the car and be able to run Google navigator whilst driving.
In car would require cable to Stereo + power + holder on dash. All looking untidy.
LINUX: To use steam on the TV?
Probably no chance it could run SAM3 or TF2, but FTL, Osmosis and League of Legends will apparently run (on win8).
Possibly use as a mousepad on my main PC? Since mice are becoming old school.
May be a place to install all my humble bundle games?
What would be the sound quality loss in using the cable as opposed to an inbuilt stereo?
GPS functionality? To replace phone and run Sportypal, for bushwalking and things?
Bluetooth for a real keyboard?
Seems though that with linux + steam my android apps wont work. On the other hand other than google maps / navigator it shouldn’t make much difference. After all the primary use of the tablet would be car stereo/HTPC.
Dual booting doesn’t sound pleasant.
This also solves my HTPC issues, so long as it runs VLC. (and based off the above I can justify a $650 budget)
Could be cool to turn up at a friends place, unplug my car stereo for the FWOTD in LOL, with a wireless keyboard and mouse. Then connecting it to the TV to rewatch Dr Horrible’s Sing-along Blog.

I wonder… a while back I was considering 2-way UHF radios for when road tripping. If my phone is sharing internet wirelessly, how far would the signal reach? To the car behind me maybe?

Hair today ... tomorrow

Apparently I looked a little like the paddle pop lion and needed a haircut. Well I've been told to cut my hair for a long time. But just now found out that google has the paddle pop lion looking a lot more manly than what I remember.

I also could have gone for a Qui Gon Jinn ponytail.

And I thought of Sara S. and how she said she would never be surprised by something I did.

Though I still couldnt find the motivation to do something about my hair. On thursday I was thinking of how people raised money for shameless things and I came accros the perfect idea.

I bet you $20 I'll colour my hair Cyan.

I feel a bit sorry for the colours Cyan and Magenta, they hardly ever ger used. Red, Black Yellow, Green, White, Blue and even grey are much more popular. Though I cant imagine the fallout from magenta hair.

Then thinking of fallout. What will I say when people ask me why my hair is cyan? Well I suppose the reply must be..

I'm raising funds for a haircut.

So is it possible? will it really happen? Halfway is here.

So this morning I got the comment that I looked a bit lire Roranora Zoro

But then I went back for a touch up to make it less green. and spent the rest of the day socialising at a sojourn. You can tell its a Sojourn because we played Super Smash Bros. Melee on a gamecube emulator with a Rift and N64 controllers. But yeah, first pics of coloured hair.

Anoiki The Axe banished to Dark Souls

It seems I am undead. I don’t really know how I got here, it was the eve of my coronation as the Queen of all Calandria, I think I may have been assassinated. I certainly look dead, though I am in a prison so maybe bandits have kidnapped me again. But that doesn’t feel right either as I certainly wasn’t fully clothed beforehand but I am now.
Perplexing
So I’ve been her in this cell for longer than I care to recall. I don’t seem to need to eat or use the privy. There is probably something large pacing back and forth nearby. I found a little ring of fire on my skin, its behind my left shoulder, I wish I had a mirror to get a closer look at it. Since I have some cloth and a lot of time I’ve taken up sewing and made some stuffed animals out some of my clothes. More important than all this though I found a journal left by Frog. It seems that if I work really hard I can regain my humanity and escape this place. Apparently Frog is a dexterous pyromancer who dies a lot. But to die here only means becoming more zombie like, and if you don’t give up and lose home then you will be fine. Those who have given up and gone mad will leave behind bright souls that function as the economy of this world.
Musing and meditating
While I have been sitting here making stuffed animals I decided I wont be at all like Frog. After all I’ve also been called the OCD Healer. I’ll tackle problems head on, shieldless. With a castle as decrepit and warm as this I doubt I will find any ugg boots to wear. But I’m sure to find a meat cleaver or a big black axe to make me feel more at home. Frog’s Ring of Mist sounds nice, though she also mentions a vampiric ring which sounds better. I’m not familiar with these sorceries and pyromancy, so I think I’ll give that a miss. Back in Calandria we never had anything more mystical than rumours. It seems that as I become more human I will gain zombie like strength and abilities, but in the beginning Frog advises enchanting weapons with the power of the elements, she chose lightning I think Fire is more my style.
The plan
Once I escape my cell I’ll need to defeat a minotaur in order to find my friends. Then we can aid each other in our quest to regain our humanity and spread the Bikini & ugg boot trend. Once I find out where I actually am I may also try to return home for that coronation. Other than the goal of co-op trading humanity in order to use the magic box to nolonger grind. I think I’ll hunt skeletal sorcerer’s heads to trade with Mr Snuggly the Crow for a ghost ring. Next slay giant skeletons, seeking a giant skeletal sword. With that and Frog’s “running really fast” strategy I should be able to reach the dwarven skeleton in his forge and gain a firebrand. Hrm, I’m starting to see a theme here and it starts with “S”.

Well the notes from Frog certainly help, now I jest need some allies. This really is a dark world.

FTL: a review

 This game focuses heavily on scavenging parts off of defeated foes, just like Sai & Shin in Shippuuden. And as such it forces me to use strategies I don’t like. Normally I would focus on dexterity, being limber and agile, then attacking with high critical damage using some sort of cheese strategy. So that when I win I overkill, but I lose a lot as well.
That description kind of epitomises my gameplay in Dark Souls. Conversely my work with control charts for the NIR has taught be to be really conservative, never taking risks and only changing the bias by half the requested adjustment in case it suddenly swings back in the other direction. I suppose thinking about it Tsun Tsu is also very conservative, even to the extent of conserving his enemies forces, keeping them alive so that they may one day be allies.
Thus far my most effective strategy has been on the rock ship I renamed “Ion Boarder” because I use the 3 ion weapons to disable the enemy ships weapons and medbay (incidentally the shields as well) then sent two units over to reduce the ships crew. Thus the Drone ships with missiles were the greatest challenge. The flagship was actually a really easy (but long) battle, I boarded their weapon bays and disabled all its guns then eventually removed all the crew. After which I cycled through breaking all the bits except the oxygen supply. I haven’t been able to use the same strategy on any other ship because it requires too much luck in the shops. Also with the strategy of this ship it was a simple task to unlock the mantis ship.
I’d also advocate the use of a repair and anti boarding drone, because they persist between maps, and are thus a good investment for every ship.
All in all its been a decent game that has distracted me for a while and been worth writing this review of. It seems I’ve been on a definite masochistic bent lately with this, Dark Souls co-op with Josh and Rouge Legacy.

KK well since I wrote the above I have unlocked the mantis red cruiser. It’s not easy to progress with though. Seems every time I draw an automated ship battle I die, same with natural hazards. But when I win a ship battle I hardly get hit. If things go smoothly the ion missile disables their weapons and two mantis board their cockpit and remove all the crew. Other challenges are the Zoltan shield, rockmen, droids. But each of them I can usually prevail against (one at a time). It’s the AI ships that always kill me. The first bit of scrap goes to the teleporter and for extra energy, then one more personnel. After that I mostly save up for something interesting from the shops.
Rumour has it that the alternative mantis cruiser has a 4 person teleporter. I imagine that would make boarding ships much easier. Thus like Tomb Raider, once you have acquired the skill to do something particularly challenging then you get a buff that means your new skill is no longer required (Boarderlands2 has this as well).


Had a work call out and in the hour between batches I had a very good run. everything seemed to go well, including unlocking the stealth ship through a quest and gaining the Astronomically Low Odds achievement. I figured more dodge would be better than more shields.

With the 20 abandoned ships I left behind I had some pretty skilled operators, particularly Johnny.

Musings on a replacement car #7

So I have a new car now

Since starting to look around January I was able to save up $19k.
In that time I maybe saw three cars that fit my criteria (one I determined it) of:
USB stereo – to avoid annoying CD’s and lack of radio reception
Hatchback – to fit bike/swag/kiteboard
>=2.0l engine – because apparently less than that is not practical
Automatic – because I’m a lazy driver

Then I found one in Bundy that fit the bill, though it lacks USB and is an unfortunate burgundy (reddish) colour. I wasn’t patient enough to pass this opportunity up.
I possibly could have blogged about my dealings with Gordon at BMG, but the week was too busy. In brief…
20th aug, had fast internet again an checked it before going to the beach for a swim, found the car and emailed inquiry
22nd test drive
23rd had a chat to Wayne Dionysius because he recently bought a car, and organised with Geoff Sampson.
24th went for a second test drive with Geoff, enjoyed the car a bit more this time.
25th RACQ pre-purchase inspection, noted the car has damage to the rear bumper, not structural.
26th Agreed to sell my car for a mere $700, got the extra warranty for 1k (default 3 year, seemed pointless)
Net changeover of $17,000 because I wanted an even number.
-note the dealer said I was insured for 14 days but I went to RACQ straight away because it was simpler
30th collected car at lunchtime
Went to RACQ to transfer my insurance and found the car wasn’t insured on the drive from the dealership.
My insurance went up ~$100 per year and I changed the excess from $500 to $1000. But my membership went down because of the dealer warranty overlapping with the roadside assist.
Still not sure of the total on-road-costs, and need to see howlong a tank of fuel lasts.
31st Got some floormats and a dashcover, $70.

Still to come:
What’s involved in upgrading the stereo?
Test answering a phonecall with the Bluetooth thing
Anime seat covers, may need to order from Japan?
Considering getting a aeroplane compass, so that I can be retro and use a compass bearing to not get lost. A GPS requires electricity and a cheap compass points to things like the transmission, rather than north.
Incidentally a phone mount may be a decent Idea, can then use mine as a GPS, suppose I should look into the rules for that.
A CB Radio was also a possibility for next time I go on a road trip, enabling inter-car communication.
Seems I could get a power socket in the boot, but a car fridge would set me back a further thousand dollars.
Replacing the 18” unidirectional mags that have curb rash with some (considerably cheaper) higher profile tires. Possibly like those of a HOLDEN VE Series II OMEGA, because that seems to be what the police patrol cars usually are. I will be sacrificing apparent handling for better off-road performance and pothole protection. (Stud pattern is 5/114.3 dunno the profile I'd want.)
Should find the specifications manual too.
Does my Bike really fit?
Kiteboard fits across the back seats, otherwise they need to be down to fit it in lengthways.
May be able to get Cameron Middas to make a linoleum bucket thing for the boot to protect the car and contain bike grease/beach sand.

Still doesn’t look like Ben’s car. I really did know a lot about my old commodore and exactly how it handled and when to use the accelerator/brake. For example it felt like my commodore would launch up into the air when going 60kph east over the racecourse roundabout, while this car doesn’t even notice it. I haven’t yet got the confidence to drive in the curb three times when going past the 5-ways roundabout on the way to work.