After the Crisis

A little something I saw quite a while ago (this post was left as a draft for some reason), thought it would be great to show everyone:

(click on image to view full-size)

SEED

Rey Za Burrel's Blaze Zaku Phantom

My most detailed model to-date.

T'ang

Tips 'n Tricks: Left 4 Dead

If you've noticed that your Left 4 Dead has an annoying static-ity sound whenever the playback sound for fire is rolling, here's what to type into the console: "snd_rebuildaudiocache". You will be brought to a loading screen where the game takes approximately 5 mins to rebuild the audio cache. After the loading screen disappears, the problem will likely be fixed.

This pervasive annoyance has been present ever since I updated to version 1.0.1.3. It forces me to turn down the volume since the crackling static sound envelopes all other sounds. As such, I have to rely on my two eyes to aid me in slaying the waves of infected people. Believe me, this is particularly disadvantageous in the presence of a Witch. In fact I've been waiting for a fix for weeks now, and finally, I now have it.

Also, here's a bunch of other console commands to play as the infected (without humans controlling any of the survivors). This is predominately practical if you want to brush up some of your infected skills (as did I) or if you simply want to hunt down the survivors alone.

"sv_cheats 1
sb_all_bot_team 1
sb_unstick 0
vs_max_team_switches 99
mp_gamemode versus"

After entering the above lines of code, press the change team key to switch to the infected team. A word of caution: I've tried it and do note that the AI controlled survivors can fly through the levels pretty swiftly. So it's probably best if you increase the game's difficulty. However, they can get stuck pretty often. For instance, they don't seem to be able to activate switches. Also, they can foolishly get stuck scaling a ladder when an infected is already on the ladder above them. If this happens, you can rejoin the survivors team, get the obstacle out of their path, then quickly swap back to the infected team.

For a complete list of console commands, visit http://left4dead.wikia.com/wiki/Complete_list_of_console_commands.

After months of playing, Left 4 Dead is still fun :D
T'ang

Falcon Guard

I have successfully installed MechWarrior 2 on Windows XP last week. Gosh, the process sure was wearisome. I tried quite a few methods but none of them seemed to work, save for the last one. I'll get to what method I used later.

Memories rushed back as soon as I launched my first instant action mission in eons. I have completed the Jade Falcon Clan's campaign in a mere 2 days. Though gratifying at first, the game soon lost it's re-play value, partly due to odd anomalies that appeared. But before I go on, let me show you some screenshots of an in-game session to prove that the game mostly does work:

external view of the Timber Wolf Mech

with "image enhancement" engaged

cockpit view

What made the installation process so depressing is that I couldn't find a method that appealed to my version of MechWarrior 2. You see, there are close to 36 versions of MechWarrior 2 that have been produced to date (not to mention two separate DOS and Windows versions), and not all versions share the same installation methodology on XP. My version is pretty rare as mine came bundled with the Microsoft SideWinder Pro joystick. It would seem rational to assume that most gamers bought or will buy the retail copy MechWarrior 2, and only a handful acquire the game through a joystick bundle. As such, most installation guides were only appropriate for retail versions. Providentially, I managed to decipher that mine was a non-retail Windows Pentium edition, and I found a installation guide just for it. If anyone's interested, here's the link to the guide I used.

the disc of a MechWarrior 2 version similar to mine
(Credit: Mech2.org)

Now, to the oddities. Perhaps the most infuriating problem is that some of the missiles fired from Mechs explode upon their departure from the rocket pods, thus inflicting self-damage. This is particularly maddening as before you can complete a mission, chances are you have already blown yourself to bits. This forces you to use Mechs that do not include missiles as part of its arsenal. I'm afraid this leaves you with very few Mechs. Strangely (and fortunately), the Timber Wolf Mech does not suffer from this eccentricity. I soon got tired piloting the same few Mechs over and over again. I read up on mech2.org, a site dedicated to MechWarrior 2, that this quirk is a result of the game being run on too advanced systems. Running the game on modern computers causes the frame rate to peak so high that it causes missiles to explode instantaneously upon their launch. Weird, huh. I've heard of games not functioning optimally due to incapable systems, but also on over-capable ones too?

Additionally, the blue pixels mysteriously changes to white after a few minutes of gameplay. Though this isn't much of a hindrance.

I know that I am lucky enough to get the supposedly Windows 95/98-only game working on XP and I'm just nitpicking on minor glitches. Still, no matter how unlikely it would seem, it will make my day if these hiccups be mended one day.

T'ang

Huzzah!

Wow I think I just hit the jackpot:

The difference is enough that the longer 9600 GSO card requires a single 6-pin PCIe power plug, while the very short Radeon HD 4670 doesn't require any external power. This may be a critical factor—much of the market for sub-$100 graphics cards are users buying cards at retail to boost up Dell/HP/whatever systems with integrated graphics or an old low-end card, and they often don't have a power supply with a PCIe power adaptor on it. Nobody wants to buy a new power supply to run a sub-$100 graphics card...

... This is a great upgrade card for those with older or slower computers and smaller 19" monitors. (I do have a 19 inch monitor for my old Dell)

--From an article on ExtremeTech.com

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29 April update: I've been doing some research on viable upgrades for the graphics card on my old computer. Assuming that the Nvidia 6800 doesn't require a 6 pin PCIe connector, I have dug up 4 video cards that extracts their power directly from the PCIe bus (i.e. not requiring any power connector). Note that I have only considered ATI's cards only as I don't think I wanna get Nvidia's.

1. HD 4670
2. HD 4650
3. HD 4550
4. HD 4350

These cards are ideal since they have a small form-factor and have a really miniscule power draw. Most importantly, they are most probably within reach of my budget. The HD 4350 is likely not gonna be chosen since it offers really sub-par performance. It's hardly an upgrade from my 6800. I'm currently leaning towards the model on the top of the list (also the most expensive of the bunch, heh).

The ATI Radeon HD 4670: my fav pick at the moment

(image from http://www.extremetech.com/image_popup/0,,iid=216877&aID=231871&sID=1017,00.asp)

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Yeah! Fall term exams are over; hello 4 month long vacation, here I come! Man, this is by far the longest holiday I will and possibly, ever experience. Gosh, I've got approximately 2 weeks left to enjoy the Canadian summer till I vacate the premises :D

I better start packing, and soon. But till then, I've still got to extract my 2 lower wisdom teeth, ouch. And it's happening this Friday at 10:45 hours local time.

I've been playing lots of Left 4 Dead recently (in fact, I was already playing before the exams ended. Well, at least moderately). It really is quite addictive. Once a match is over, I keep telling myself, "OK, one last game." And not surprisingly, I'll do the same once that game is over.

Anyway, I've been looking over some Left 4 Dead videos on YouTube and I came across this parody. Dam, it's the funniest thing I've seen in months! Have a look yourself, though you will only find to amusing if you've played the game.



I've also been pondering on upgrading my white Dell Dimension desktop in Singapore. For starters, I will be upgrading the RAM. 1GB of 533 MHz DDR2 memory (in a 2x512MB configuration) sure isn't sufficient as far as current standards are concerned. Though I'm not sure whether I should install 2 additional 512MB sticks, 2 additional 1GB sticks, or remove the old ones completely and install 2 fresh 2GB sticks. Also, I've been thinking on upgrading the graphics on that machine. But the problem is that I'm skeptical on whether the power supply is beefy enough for today's video cards. I'm guessing that it doesn't even have a 6 pin PCIe connector, which is rudimentary for video cards nowadays. And of course, if I really upgrade the graphics, I can't ignore the fact that the new graphics card will be severely bottlenecked by the aging Pentium D processor. Well, I'll see to that once I get back to S'pore.

Man, a 4 month holiday really is long, ain't it?
T'ang

Last Post from the Editor

Dear loyal reader,

It has been a fun and engaging year bringing you technology related articles. However, I regret to inform you that through a corporate e-mail message, Google Inc. has made a request to acquire my blog's domain name, "techfrontiers.blogspot.com" for a lump sum of US$1,000. I had earlier decisively agreed with the terms of contract. As such, I'm bringing you this last post as my final milestone as a blogger.

I remember the day when I was talking to Bryan regarding the creation of our blog. I jokingly said to him, "what if Google buys our blog one day?" I can't believe that it's really happening. The e-mail sent to both our e-mail addresses sometime last week shocked me beyond disbelief. I initially thought Google wanted our blog because of our content, but when I realised that it was actually after our blog's address name, I chuckled. Either way, I'm glad that I'm able to earn something with our blog. Looks like we picked a good name for our blog after all; cheers Bryan!

The e-mail sent to us was laden full with details concerning the transaction. However, I don't think I'm at liberty to discuss all of the terms openly. I do hope you understand.

As of April 14 2009, all operations on our personal blog will cease and all rights to the domain "techfrontiers.blogspot.com" will be reserved to Google Inc.

Once again, I sincerely apologise for any inconveniences or difficulties caused by this unexpected move.

Keep blogging alive,
T'ang


April fools. My next post will be arriving shortly,
T'ang

The Good Old Days

Just a quick update to refresh my blog's main page. Yes, I know I've never posted anything for over a month now already. My ultimate reason (or excuse) for my extended hiatus is largely because of my increased workload this school term. I think I'm starting to feel the strain of taking 6 courses concurrently.

OK. So, I've installed the latest Windows Live Messenger (Build 12 or something) just a couple of days ago. In short, it's atrocious. It has a gawky new interface, a substantially shriveled messaging space, a mediocre approach to displaying custom backgrounds, and worst of all, absolutely no support for sharing folders. Admittedly, I do use the sharing folders quite often. Also, I despise the way in which my contacts are labeled busy, away etc. I very much prefer the old style where Messenger simply displays a 'stop' sign or a clock, instead of assigning coloured boxes to my contacts. It's just more convenient to read symbols than coloured boxes. So just earlier today, I've reverted back to the good old Messenger 8.5. To everyone else who has not updated theirs, like many of my friends who have already done so, I strongly recommend that you do not.

Mech-nostalgia

I have also longed to play my favourite childhood game, MechWarrior 2, since last week. I remember when I was about 5 or so, the game which ran on Windows 95 was so enjoyable that even my dad used it as a pacifier to subdue my lust for going on a vacation to Sydney, Australia with the rest of my family. I guess I was too young to go on a lengthy holiday then, partly due to me leaking occasionally as I slept. But now, 13 years later, I can't seem to be able to run MechWarrior 2 on Vista or XP natively. I've heard about DOSBox, but I haven't got the time to try it yet. For those who have played the game before, here's the incredible opening scene to ring a bell:



T'ang


(image from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechwarrior_2)

Here Comes Another...

I recently discovered that my free copy of ZoneAlarm Pro (I'll explain later) was causing process problems on my pc. For one, it randomly 'hangs' certain processes, such as Firefox and uTorrent, rendering such programs unusable. Worse still, it prevents the processes from closing even through Windows Task Manager's Processes tab. As a result, even when I try to restart my system, I am unable to do so; Windows is not able to end these processes and thus won't shutdown. If that ain't bad enough, whenever I put my pc on standby, the monitor will enter power-saving mode but the cpu itself wouldn't power down. After a couple of minutes, my pc would blue-screen and restart itself.

Weird.

I never expected ZoneAlarm to be the culprit. Initially, I actually blamed other programs, such as Videora and a Firefox plug-in which I both installed not long ago. This problem is actually a known one. A probable solution involving a revert to the firewall's factory defaults was believed to be able to solve this pesky issue. As anticipated, the proposed 'solution' didn't work out for me.

My copy of ZoneAlarm Pro was freely available for download during CheckPoint's 15th Anniversary. I got the download link from PC Mag's site. So effectively, I got US$39.95 worth of software for free. I wonder if I'm applicable for a full refund now.

Since ZoneAlarm Pro's uninstall, I have never seen a hung process that prevented a shutdown. Hopefully this problem wouldn't repeat itself. However, my experience with my problem-plauged pc tells me otherwise.

Screw this crap,
T'ang

Notes from the Lab

I've been learning programming using C through one of my courses this term. I initially thought that it would be a wearisome course. But right now, I actually find it quite fun (or maybe it's because it has only been the first few introductory classes). The course encompasses three, one hour lectures and a two hour lab class every week. However, the pre-lab exercises are pretty exhausting (the second took me a good 4-5 hours to complete), and there's a bothersome weekly quiz, not to mention both a written midterm and final examination! The tricky thing is that we will be required to write all the C algorithms for a given question, but we don't get a chance to test it out on a computer.

Here's a snapshot of what I've been doing this week:

(click to view full-size)

It's a really simple program created using Dev-C++ that converts a force in Newtons to pounds. I believe that I'll have to construct much more intricate programs sometime in the future.

I heard from a friend who took the course last term that the course gets progressively harder through the weeks, and that it gets real harsh near the end of the term. I certainly hope that it doesn't turn out to be the way he described it as, fingers crossed.

T'ang

Like Sound Through Water

I nearly thought my US$249.99 Ultimate Ears earphones was in need for an RMA request after I carelessly allowed a drop of water to collect on the internal components of an earpiece itself. Fortunately the water evaporated over time and the earpiece became usable once again.

Here's how it happened.

As usual on a weekly basis, I removed the silicon eartips of my earphones for a regular rinse under the faucet yesterday. Normally I would wait overnight till the eartips dried before reattaching them to the earpieces. But yesterday, I was feeling a little hasty as I wanted to use them right away. Well, I paid for that dearly.

I briefly rubbed the silicon eartips against my hand towel and connected them to the earpieces. Alarmingly, I discerned that my right earpiece's sound was noticeably louder and more profound than the left. Specifically, it was the high frequencies such as the clash of cymbals that seemed washed out. At first I thought that it was due to a lose cable connection, but after detaching and reattaching the cables, the result was merely the same. I removed the earpieces and shone them over a flashlight, and there lay the cause of the hindrance. It was a tiny water droplet residing inside the plastic canal of the left earpiece which routed sound waves from the armatures to the outside.

"Water + electrical components = recipe for destruction," I imagined.

The next logical step was to dry the earpiece of course. I placed the left earpiece face down above my computer fan as the heat and gentle air currents will help dry the earpiece out. After at least 6 hours, I tested the earphones again and alas, the sound came out crystal clear once again.

This is the short story of it though. I actually did much more than that, like using the ear-wax removal tool to be sure that there are no solid (or semi-solid) pieces of junk obstructing the canals :)

So, always remember kids: always be sure to dry your hands before you handle electronics. Well, that's one lesson I should've known years ago.

Phew,
T'ang

New Year's Post

2008. It has been a wild ride that’s for sure: 2008 was the year in which I moved to Canada; 2008 was the year in which I attended a high school; 2008 was the year in which I enrolled into a university; 2008 was the year in which I met the most Caucasians in my life; 2008 was the year in which I attempted to loose my Singlish accent and vocab; 2008 was the year in which I was finally freed from the ‘short-hair policy’ of Singapore; 2008 was the year in which inexpensive and good food was no longer accessible to me; 2008 was the year in which I got tired of English songs; 2008 was the year in which I was no longer required to wear uniforms, and the list goes on.

Now, onto my New Year’s resolutions.

I don’t think I'm a person who progresses through a list of aims and targets. I remember those days in primary and secondary school where our form teacher will force us to pen down a list of resolutions (especially our grades) on the first day of school every year. I would just write anything and everything I could think of and then chuck it aside, never to be revisited again. So, I’ll not be filling this area with phrases labeled 1,2,3 and so on. I guess my life is shaped by whatever that comes my way. Of course, there are the ‘standard’ goals of doing well in school, making new friends, staying healthy and sort. But I feel that these have come to a stage where I would say, are customary.

And so, I shall be meeting 2009 with a sense of optimism.

Bring it on!
T’ang