3DSciFi

Welcome back, everybody!

Please post whatever you've been up to lately in this thread.  We want to see!

Thanks,

Eric

What's up? Chris (formerly evil_genius_180) here. I'll upload some pics in a bit and show what I've been up to.

EXCELLENT!  Welcome back, Chris!  I'm EXTREMELY glad you're here!

Thank you for checking on the forum!  I can't wait to see what you post.

Eric

I haven't tried this, but I thought I should, just to see how it works.

Oh man, the insert image is for URL's only.  I've got to change that.

Attachments ARE allowed, you have to click on the attachments link at the bottom of the editor.  I've got to change the defaults.

Okay.  I've allowed up to 10 attachments per post.  Let's try one out.

Works!

This is what I've been up to today:

(https://evilgenius180.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/img_20190503_192415005.jpg?w=600) (https://evilgenius180.wordpress.com/2019/05/03/rebuilding-part-two/)

If you'd like to know more, just click on the image. :)

Quote from: scifidude79 on May 04, 2019, 02:17 amThis is what I've been up to today:

If you'd like to know more, just click on the image. :)

I read your blog.  Very cool!  I hope it works for you!

Thanks bro. It works so far, but time will tell. ;)

Meanwhile, I just typed a command to install Blender and Inkscape. :)

That's awesome!  I hope your new PC and the software all work well for you!

I almost forgot to mention, my computer parts shipped from Romulus.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romulus%2C_Michigan

Quote from: scifidude79 on May 05, 2019, 02:10 amI almost forgot to mention, my computer parts shipped from Romulus.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romulus%2C_Michigan (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romulus%2C_Michigan)

That's awesomely hysterical!  Nearby Remus, no doubt.

Look under "Communities."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheatland_Township%2C_Mecosta_County%2C_Michigan (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheatland_Township%2C_Mecosta_County%2C_Michigan)

According to Google Maps, it's about a 2.5 hour drive. ;)

That's awesome!

I watched that underrated cult classic Dune again yesterday. it had been over a decade since I last saw it. Something dawned upon me this last viewing: the spice is acid. It makes you trip balls and think you're super powered, you see things that aren't there and everyone who has it wants more. So, Frank Herbert created a universe full of drug addicts. :P

I got a ryzen system Chris and i love it.  Also have a evga card. Specs upon request 😛

Sure, go ahead and list them. I'm enough of a nerd that I love specs. :)

Now that's a very interesting interpretation!  I never thought of it that way.

I love to watch Dune every now and again.  I have the David Lynch version and I have the SciFi Channel version.  I enjoy them both.

I have neither, the Lynch version is on Prime, though. It's a shame that movie bombed originally, you know it took a lot of money to make.

There's a new version due out next year, but it's hard to say if it will be good. They've made some interesting casting choices, like Jason Mamoa as Duncan.

Quote from: scifidude79 on May 06, 2019, 09:08 amSure, go ahead and list them. I'm enough of a nerd that I love specs. :)

Ryzen 7 2700x, 16 gig Trident z @3200mhz, Evga RTX 2080ti FTW3, 512gb M.2 SSD(Main) 1tb Sata SSD(games and Apps) 4tb 7200rpm Sata mechanical (mass storage/video editing buffer)

Quote from: scifieric on May 06, 2019, 10:21 amNow that's a very interesting interpretation!  I never thought of it that way.

I love to watch Dune every now and again.  I have the David Lynch version and I have the SciFi Channel version.  I enjoy them both.

I used to have them both, but my divorce took care of that for me lol.  But it was on netflix this past month.  Only thing is getting my new love to stay awake during it.

Damn, that's a massively beefy system, Lee. Great stuff. :D

I've heard people say Dune (1984) is boring. I've never seen why. Though, some people also say it's hard to follow. I don't think so. I've never even read the book (I'm about to do something about that) and I can follow it just fine. But then, people said the first Mission: Impossible film with Tom Cruise was confusing. I've never found it to be so.

Its not so much that is boring, Jan can't keep awake if she stops moving for more then a few minutes lol. She fell asleep during the Conjuring :p

Ah, I have a similar issue when I watch movies on my day off. I can be watching the most exciting movie in my catalog, and that napping still happens. ;) I'll nod off several times, keep going back. This can go on for up to a half an hour. Then I'm fine and I can finish the movie.

I have that same issue on my days off as well, hasn't been much of an issue as of late since ive been recording builds for palace's youtube channel.

On a side note, Eric are you planning on migrating any of the old database over?

Lee asked me what I've been up to. Well, without hijacking his thread, I'll share here. As I shared on the other forum, lightsabers are a hobby of mine. I buy hilts from various smiths and do the electronics installs. Well, since last weekend was Star Wars Weekend (May the Fourth and Revenge of the Fifth) I decided to do one. Things didn't go as planned, as explained in the following video.

Note: this video contains strong language, R rated language. I was pissed by the turn of events laid out here. So, maybe don't watch it at work or when the kiddos are around without headphones. ;) Also, I reference a few things from another forum, but nothing that should be a big enough deal for you guys to get lost.

https://vimeo.com/334274486

(there doesn't seem to be embed codes for Vimeo here, but you guys can follow the link)

Quote from: Lee on May 06, 2019, 11:10 pmI have that same issue on my days off as well, hasn't been much of an issue as of late since ive been recording builds for palace's youtube channel.

On a side note, Eric are you planning on migrating any of the old database over?

Hello Lee, I am going to give it a try.

Chris, nice saber build!  I enjoy your videos.

Quote from: scifieric on May 07, 2019, 12:23 amChris, nice saber build!  I enjoy your videos.

Thanks Eric. :) Ironically, the green LED and Nano Biscotte sound board were originally for the Heretic anyway. They just took a longer path to get into that saber. ;)

I been having back pains last week, then on Thursday I it got really bad and struggled to do anything at work. on Friday I was layed up in Bed and missed out on the Bank Holiday weekend. :(
Today been the first day I have been able to get out of bed with out having to crawl on the floor and be in agonising pain. (Pain was so bad just sitting up made feel sick and about to black out. Going to the bathroom like that is a freaking nightmare.)


So with that I guess I have missed out on Eric Hack of the old site.
Also not being able to do much apart from sleep and watch TV/films, I have not been able to do any modelling or drawing. Now that I am able to stand, I need to keep moving otherwise my back will seize up. So I hope to be able to spend a little time doing something in a day or two.

Quote from: scifidude79 on May 07, 2019, 12:32 pmThanks Eric. :) Ironically, the green LED and Nano Biscotte sound board were originally for the Heretic anyway. They just took a longer path to get into that saber. ;)

Well, they took a heck of a journey!

And that was a good video!

Quote from: Freak on May 07, 2019, 11:20 pmI been having back pains last week, then on Thursday I it got really bad and struggled to do anything at work. on Friday I was layed up in Bed and missed out on the Bank Holiday weekend. :(
Today been the first day I have been able to get out of bed with out having to crawl on the floor and be in agonising pain. (Pain was so bad just sitting up made feel sick and about to black out. Going to the bathroom like that is a freaking nightmare.)


So with that I guess I have missed out on Eric Hack of the old site.
Also not being able to do much apart from sleep and watch TV/films, I have not been able to do any modelling or drawing. Now that I am able to stand, I need to keep moving otherwise my back will seize up. So I hope to be able to spend a little time doing something in a day or two.

Oh wow, I'm very sorry!  I too have suffered from back pain (ever since a minor fender-bender caused a herniated disk in my back!), so I hope you feel better and soon!

Yeah, the site was pretty much destroyed from a virus or hack.  I deleted a TON of files to get my provider to allow me back online.

Welcome back, and get feeling better!

Damn, Dean. Sorry to hear you've been in excruciating pain. Back pain is the worst. I too hope you're on the mend.

Thanks guys.
Slowly getting there. Hoping to get an appointment with the Doc for this afternoon, It a bitch to get one to see the GP, missed out on the morning appointments as the line was constantly engaged. So I am going to go in before they open up the afternoon booking to make sure I don't miss out again. I can sign myself off work for seven days, but after that you need to see the Doctor to do it for longer. If I can't see the Doctor today, I have to go in and do bugger all due to pain and leave early so I can start another seven day sign off. Sometime the NHS really sucks.


Any I have been able to finish another picture of "The Cars the Star" series I am doing.
This one not really detailed as I was trying something different. Also I can only sit in font of a Computer for short period of time before the pain gets to much. I'll post it later.

Wow!  I can only take off for up to three days.  After that, I need a physician's note.

Not that I've had the chance to take off any time for the last half year, but that's just me grumbling.  Get feeling better, Dean!

I can call in up to four days in six months without being fired. Clocking in late or out early also count towards attendance. They used to allow eight points (call ins) in six months, but people abused that. Though, in over three and a half years, I've called in twice, because I got majorly sick a couple months ago.

Goes to show how the laws on sickness is different in every country.

The laws in the UK and Europe are an employer has to let an employee self sign off for a week when they are sick. You don't need a doctor note. If your going to off for longer than a week then you need to get signed off by the Doctor and they will set how long you can be off depending on your ailment.

Because of this, all employment contracts in the UK will states how many days/ times you can go off sick with a self sign off in a year. It's normally something like 20 days. If you have more than that then HR/ Line Managers have to look at why your off so often and if there is a pattern to it.
If it turns out your faking it or there is a pattern to your sick leave then Disciplinary action will be taken.

Unfortunately for my company, the back pain I suffer from come from a injury that happened at work.
So there are accident reports on it and the company even help pay for me to see a cryoprator. It is something that flair up at least once a year. I can be off for a few days or a few week due to it.
But if it ever goes over the seven days or looking like that, I see the Doctor to sign me off.

Yeah, the United States has no national healthcare system, so the rules regarding call offs, etc. are set by companies, not by the government. People use and abuse the system, calling off just because the don't feel like going to work, so companies give you less time.

Of course, if you have to take an actual medical leave where I work, that can be arranged. They're not total barbarians.

It got nothing to do with the healthcare as each country with in Europe has their own.
It actually part of the law under employee rights.

This covers sickness, the minimum number of days leave you can have, Maternity / Paternity leave etc.

That's what I'm saying, though. We have no laws covering any of this. There are labor laws regarding how long you can work a person without giving them a break and lunch, but nothing about sick days, as far as I know. If there is a minimum, it's very low.

I spent some time working on (finishing) my Enterprise model...


I hope to take some more images in the near future.

Shaw see looking dam fine.

Quote from: Shaw on May 10, 2019, 01:41 amI spent some time working on (finishing) my Enterprise model...

I hope to take some more images in the near future.

Shaw, thanks for joining again, and thanks for sharing your SPECTACULAR images!

Your work is superior!

That looks awesome, Shaw. And, it's not just me who thinks so. I was at work when you posted that. I showed it to one of my coworkers on my phone, and he agrees. :)

I preordered this a little while ago:

www.amazon.com/Mothra-SteelBook-Blu-ray-Furanki-Sakai/dp/B07R553MFM

It'm not that big on steelbooks, but it's frakking Mothra on Blu-Ray. :) They need to do one of those for Rodan. It's cool watching monsters that would be later known for being Godzilla opponents (and occasional allies) in their original films. It's been many years since I last saw the original Mothra.

Quote from: scifidude79 on May 15, 2019, 11:30 pmI preordered this a little while ago:

www.amazon.com/Mothra-SteelBook-Blu-ray-Furanki-Sakai/dp/B07R553MFM

It'm not that big on steelbooks, but it's frakking Mothra on Blu-Ray. :) They need to do one of those for Rodan. It's cool watching monsters that would be later known for being Godzilla opponents (and occasional allies) in their original films. It's been many years since I last saw the original Mothra.

Wow!  That looks cool!

I really like the cover art, I'm guessing it's an old poster design for the movie.

Thanks for the encouragement guys!

Quote from: scifidude79 on May 10, 2019, 01:00 pmAnd, it's not just me who thinks so. I was at work when you posted that. I showed it to one of my coworkers on my phone, and he agrees. :)

That is great to know! All this effort will be worth it if people actually get to see it in person some day (right now the only one who has seen it in person is my wife).

I was able to take a handfull of photos of the finished model...


So is there going to be a physical models section, or does this qualify as 3D?

Yeah, that guy was even more impressed when he asked if you scratch built it and I said "yes." :)

That looks absolutely fantastic, Shaw. Your work is exceptional, right up there with the people who made physical models for movies and TV. Probably even better than some of those, because you didn't have to rush through the build to fit into a shooting schedule. A lot of time and love went into this build, and it shows.

I'd imagine there's eventually going to be a physical models section, Eric probably just needs to know what sections we'd like to see come back from the old forum. I know Freak mentioned a lack of a 2D art section and then Eric made it so shortly thereafter. I definitely wouldn't class this as 3D, even though it does exist in 3 dimensions. This definitely deserves to be recognized for what it is.

Shaw, I don't think it is possible to tell you how impressed I am with your work in general, and with this FANTASTIC model in particular.  And I write that with your shuttle craft next to my monitor!

I will happily create a Physical Model Section in a minute.  I would be proud if you were to put images of your work on display there.

Shaw, she a fine looking ship!
Still can't believe this is not a kit but a scratch build. I would not know where to start if I was to do that.

Not sure if this will work, but this was me last weekend...
(https://i.imgur.com/INMXdYj.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/HdIYkY2.jpg)

Great Looking Costume Oz.

That's awesome!

Thanks guys.

Was lots of fun, got to meet some cool people. My wife dressed up as Ahsoka Tano from Star Wars Rebels for the first time too.

Great Looking gear Carl. Did you make it yourself or pick it up somewhere?

Great stuff. :) I've always liked your Boba Fett costume, Ozy. That looks like a fun event.

well, I guess this is what happens when I don't visit the forums for a while

Quote from: Malach on May 18, 2019, 09:52 pmwell, I guess this is what happens when I don't visit the forums for a while

I visit every day. One day it's there, then it's not. Then, a few days later a new forum pops up with a thread from Eric explaining everything.

Quote from: Lee on May 18, 2019, 06:58 pmGreat Looking gear Carl. Did you make it yourself or pick it up somewhere?

Thanks, It's all home made.

Quote from: Malach on May 18, 2019, 09:52 pmwell, I guess this is what happens when I don't visit the forums for a while

Welcome back!

I tried importing my recent Enterprise model build (seen here (https://evilgenius180.wordpress.com/2019/02/24/enterprise-2019-part-7/)) into Blender, but it didn't work. ::)

From LW? try exporting to a universal file like FBX to blend. Though I dunno why blend wont open a lw file have not had one cave on me but I do not do a tonne of conversions.

If I had an installed version of Lightwave, that might be possible. However, my Windows installation was tied to that motherboard that pooped out. (damn OEM licenses) I tried installing LW2018 with WINE, which kicked back an error. I fixed that, but it still won't install the license file properly. It's probably because I can't get the Sentinel Protection Installer to run correctly. ::)

Blender **should** be able to import .lwo files natively.

And, even just trying to open the file in Lightwave on WINE results in a crash. ::)

So, I guess I'm starting over. Or, building something else.

Edit: I got it to load, after I changed from the default 4 view layout to a single view. But, I can't export it because the license won't work (it's tied to the Windows firewall, of all things) and "Discovery" mode won't allow me to export a file that large.

LWO though is as bad if not worse than say MAX in various "flavors of" A older release of blend might open it but who knows. I found more often old LWO if they open lack anything but the mesh itself.

Bites but 7your fairly fast so redoing it might be quicker than arguing with formats and import/export. Sucks about the win install. If you paid Id just AHEM it. Though I often AHEM things now after buying it to break the auto this auto that or mallware like crap they sneak in as security patches as the tools to AHEM it disable those services automatically so I do not have to spend 8 hours changing registry entries altering group policies and physically deleting DLLS and other msi files all over the place.

Dunno what the hell I am going to do when I have to buy new cpus. . . . I think intel has a old instructions version of the most recent chips so it will run win7. Refuse to deal with win 10 as long as it has that enforced keylogger, auto updates, and does shit with other hdw on the network as well as botnets using my services for their profiteering. RAGE lol

Sadly nothing I use works in anything but win, some have mac versions but mac is worse than win10. I can only see max exploding in linux, and I doubt any of my paint tools will run in it. Not seen anything that comes close to what I need. Just pseudo photo editors pretending to be art progs.

Yeah, redoing it is probably going to be faster. I don't really want to mess with Lightwave anymore, in Windows or in Linux. I was never that enthusiastic about LW2018, I was just trying to get my money's worth out of it. I guess I did that.

The Windows license came with a computer I bought at tax time last year. With the cost of the components and what I paid, the OEM license was essentially free. I'd never buy an OEM license outright. If I were to purchase Windows 10 again, it would be fully licensed. But, I don't really want to do that either.

The computer itself was a waste of money. A little over a year in (just past the warranty, of course) and it stopped booting right away each time. That means either the processor, RAM or mobo were going bad, making it best to just replace all three. The AMD graphics card doesn't work right in Linux. Once I booted it with the new system, I had weird lines all over the lower quarter of my screen. Installing the "Pro" AMD graphics driver was no help. So, out of everything that came in this $720 (sale price) computer, the case and its fans, the PSU and the hard drive are still in operation. I had to put in a brand new motherboard, CPU and RAM, and I put in a Nvidia GTX950 that I've had for over a year. It's a good system, but if I'd realized the original computer was going to be garbage, I'd have just built one instead of buying one prebuilt.

Intel keeps having security issues with their chips. Foil hats are claiming it's so they can force people to buy new CPUs. **shrugs** Doesn't bother me, I went with a Ryzen 5 this time around. As for stuff working with Win7, it's no longer supported by Microsoft, so I'm assuming hardware support will be dropping off too. It sucks for you, though, as I know you prefer 7.

Ugh. Schematics.

(https://evilgenius180.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/windowshot_2019-05-19_025617.png) (https://evilgenius180.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/windowshot_2019-05-19_025617.png)

(https://evilgenius180.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/windowshot_2019-05-19_025648.png) (https://evilgenius180.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/windowshot_2019-05-19_025648.png)

(https://evilgenius180.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/windowshot_2019-05-19_025704.png) (https://evilgenius180.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/windowshot_2019-05-19_025704.png)

The side view isn't an issue, and the length of the ship is consistent between the top and side (the images are at the same scale.) However, when I adjust the front view for the height, notice how the edges of the saucer go outside of the box. Needless to say, the box is the same size in each view. ::)

But, fortunately, I'm not building a Connie refit. These are just for size reference. Still, it's annoying, and a pretty common problem.

Yeah intel is the only way to retain anything NOT win10 for ms. AFAIK nothing AMD supports anything but win10. Intel at least is selling a cpu that has compatibility for win7/8 with all the newer IO. IE NVME newer pcie usb etc. I could suffer win8 as I run it on my media pc but win10 no way. Probably have to give 3d up if I have to move to linux.

I'm trying Blender one more time. But, if I don't like it this time, it's probably going to be game over for me as far as 3D.

So, I'm dorking around in Blender. Not much yet, but I'm trying to figure stuff out. It doesn't help that I keep trying to hit Lightwave shortcuts and I have to keep searching for the correct ones.

Anyway, it's the start of a 24th century cruiser. The size is the same as the Connie, that's why I was lining up Connie schematics. Not much yet, the secondary hull took a lot of planning and moving stuff before subdividing it.

Also, if you've never rendered with 12 threads, you haven't lived yet. ;D

I can't wait to see your TMP Enterprise!

Nice work on your cruiser!

If you want a project that turns out a star ship while learning in Blender, I know some idiot who did a whole series! ;)

Nice Start Chris.

Quote from: scifieric on May 19, 2019, 02:17 pmIf you want a project that turns out a star ship while learning in Blender, I know some idiot who did a whole series! ;)

O? who did that and where can I follow it? ;)

Quote from: scifieric on May 19, 2019, 02:17 pmI can't wait to see your TMP Enterprise!

I'm only using those schematics for size reference for the 24th century cruiser I'm building.

Quote from: scifieric on May 19, 2019, 02:17 pmIf you want a project that turns out a star ship while learning in Blender, I know some idiot who did a whole series! ;)

I've thought about doing that about 20 times now, but I'm trying to get away from the TOS era.

Well, I can't wait to see whatever you create!

I call this one "Entering Orbit".

Politely asking for suggestions.

Quote from: scifidude79 on May 19, 2019, 09:47 pmI've thought about doing that about 20 times now, but I'm trying to get away from the TOS era.

You can still do use it, just modify it for the ship your building as you go along.

Quote from: scifieric on May 20, 2019, 02:25 amI call this one "Entering Orbit".

Politely asking for suggestions.

That's a great looking Picture Eric.

Quote from: Freak on May 20, 2019, 07:08 amThat's a great looking Picture Eric.

Thank you, Dean!

Quote from: Freak on May 20, 2019, 07:08 amYou can still do use it, just modify it for the ship your building as you go along.

I could, but I don't think it would be helpful to my work flow. I remember how to build things in Blender, it's just a matter of remembering shortcuts. A quick web search gets me answers fast.

However, I definitely plan to tune in when I get to the part with the registry and materials. I'm interested in seeing how he applies the registries to the ships and to see how he gets such beautiful materials. Materials in Cyccles is still one of my weaker points. Modeling is essentially the same as Lightwave, only with minor differences.

Quote from: scifidude79 on May 20, 2019, 11:00 pmI could, but I don't think it would be helpful to my work flow. I remember how to build things in Blender, it's just a matter of remembering shortcuts. A quick web search gets me answers fast.

However, I definitely plan to tune in when I get to the part with the registry and materials. I'm interested in seeing how he applies the registries to the ships and to see how he gets such beautiful materials. Materials in Cyccles is still one of my weaker points. Modeling is essentially the same as Lightwave, only with minor differences.

Wow, thank you Chris!  That's very kind of you.

One of the things I do is make mixed materials.  For whatever reason, mixed materials seem to look a lot more real.

Another one for fun.  I still need to make a "real" TOS planet one of these days.

Looking good Eric.

Making a TOS planet, can't be that hard. You just drop the transpancy of the atmosphere and it colour.

That looks really good, Eric.

Quote from: Freak on May 21, 2019, 04:34 amLooking good Eric.

Making a TOS planet, can't be that hard. You just drop the transpancy of the atmosphere and it colour.

We'll see.  Thank you, Dean!

Quote from: scifidude79 on May 21, 2019, 04:45 amThat looks really good, Eric.

Thank you, Chris!  I appreciate the encouragement.

That looks really good Eric. Nice work

Quote from: Lee on May 21, 2019, 05:33 pmThat looks really good Eric. Nice work

Thank you, Lee!

Quote from: scifieric on May 21, 2019, 12:52 amOne of the things I do is make mixed materials.  For whatever reason, mixed materials seem to look a lot more real.

I set up some mixed materials before I rendered. A mix of gloss and diffuse, just a 50/50 mix. Gloss helps you identify any "weirdness" in your mesh. I have some ugly bits that show up in the 3D view, but I learned ages ago not to go by that. None of it shows up in the renders.

I plan to get back to work on the ship this weekend. Though, Shaw keeps posting pics of his TOS Enterprise that make me kind of want to build one. ;)

Quote from: scifidude79 on May 21, 2019, 11:21 pmI set up some mixed materials before I rendered. A mix of gloss and diffuse, just a 50/50 mix. Gloss helps you identify any "weirdness" in your mesh. I have some ugly bits that show up in the 3D view, but I learned ages ago not to go by that. None of it shows up in the renders.

I plan to get back to work on the ship this weekend. Though, Shaw keeps posting pics of his TOS Enterprise that make me kind of want to build one. ;)

Cool!

Man, Bill Gates is stepping it up. A few months ago, he e-mailed me offering a gift of $5 million. I didn't jump on that, though I don't know why. Now I get one offering me $10 million. I don't know how I could possibly pass this up. :P

Quote from: scifidude79 on May 24, 2019, 10:19 pmMan, Bill Gates is stepping it up. A few months ago, he e-mailed me offering a gift of $5 million. I didn't jump on that, though I don't know why. Now I get one offering me $10 million. I don't know how I could possibly pass this up. :P

Huh?  Bill NEVER sends me offers for money!

Quote from: scifieric on May 25, 2019, 12:54 amHuh?  Bill NEVER sends me offers for money!

I must be special, then. :D (or the scammers don't have your e-mail address)

Quote from: scifidude79 on May 24, 2019, 10:19 pmMan, Bill Gates is stepping it up. A few months ago, he e-mailed me offering a gift of $5 million. I didn't jump on that, though I don't know why. Now I get one offering me $10 million. I don't know how I could possibly pass this up. :P

If I where you, I'll wait until he triples that! ;)

Quote from: scifidude79 on May 25, 2019, 02:22 amI must be special, then. :D (or the scammers don't have your e-mail address)

LOL!  Well, I always knew you were special!

Quote from: Freak on May 25, 2019, 09:10 amIf I where you, I'll wait until he triples that! ;)

Now that sounds like a good idea!  LOL!

More dorking around. I'm not quite ready to call this a full fledged WIP yet, as I have a bad habit of working on something for 5 minutes and then stopping it 5 minutes later. I don't know where that tendency came from, but it seems to be a trend with me lately.

Anyway, I got the pylons where I want them. It took a few tries to get that shape exactly how I wanted it. The general idea is that they're a blend of Enterprise-A, Excelsior and Enterprise-C.

I can see the influences of each ship you mentioned.  Very cool!

And now we can get from one section of the ship to the other. I guess the things that make us go are next.

I am really liking the direction your going with this.
It looks like it from the era between TMP and TNG.

Nice work, Chris.  This is fun to watch!

Thanks guys. :)

How do you extrude and object along a path in Blender?

Quote from: scifidude79 on May 26, 2019, 10:17 pmHow do you extrude and object along a path in Blender?

This should do the trick!

Thanks, though you couldn't just tell me the name of the tool? I despise YouTube.

Oh, sorry.  I didn't know that!

Next time, I'll just name the tool, or share this PDF document!

Thanks Eric.

Yeah, I hate YouTube. It's nothing but advertising these days. Plus, so many videos are uploaded per day because of monetization, it's not even funny. And, Google is no good at filtering out crap that I say I don't like. This is true of both YouTube and Google News.

The other issue with videos upload to youtube is that they are filled with crap.
You do a search on how to do something that will only take a few min to explain but end having to sit though five minutes of the person just talking crap.

Yeah, people want to make a career out of it, so they babble about everything because they think it will increase their views and the money they're going to make. Then there are the ones who have to remind you in every video that they have a Patreon page. ::)

I made my first GitHub commit / repo
https://github.com/Prime-Eight/cautious-guacamole

I felt I had to because in order to learn how Godot does networking I converted one of tier 2D (MIT Lic) demos to 3D . made a few assets quickly using Godot's shapes, and a rock.obj . LOL

mostly for as research and prep for my other game projects.

the w10 64bit exe can be found here if you don't wanna build the game in Godot yourself from the repo.
http://xerotolabs.com/downloads/3D_BM_BIN.zip

I can get back to working on Nutbuster 2D and the 3D version. ( that's the squirrel flying a quad )

Quote from: Freak on May 27, 2019, 06:04 amThe other issue with videos upload to youtube is that they are filled with crap.
You do a search on how to do something that will only take a few min to explain but end having to sit though five minutes of the person just talking crap.

I'm so guilty of that. LOL

wont let me edit my post yet ?  ?  ..

I can get back to working on Nutbuster 2D and the 3D version. ( that's the squirrel flying a quad )
the 2d runs on w10, and android 9..ish . ( have to support gles3 on your hardware for it to run )
to run on android you have to enable non-store files. I don't have the $ to set up the android store thing yet. Mac computer is working bug mac phone won't be for some time. it's all very pre-alpha. LOl

if anyone wants to play the PC version or try the droid version let me know.

test edit

Quote from: Prime_8 on Jun 08, 2019, 06:28 pmI made my first GitHub commit / repo
https://github.com/Prime-Eight/cautious-guacamole

I felt I had to because in order to learn how Godot does networking I converted one of tier 2D (MIT Lic) demos to 3D . made a few assets quickly using Godot's shapes, and a rock.obj . LOL

mostly for as research and prep for my other game projects.

the w10 64bit exe can be found here if you don't wanna build the game in Godot yourself from the repo.
http://xerotolabs.com/downloads/3D_BM_BIN.zip

I can get back to working on Nutbuster 2D and the 3D version. ( that's the squirrel flying a quad )

Quote from: Prime_8 on Jun 08, 2019, 06:29 pm

Quote from: Freak on May 27, 2019, 06:04 amThe other issue with videos upload to youtube is that they are filled with crap.
You do a search on how to do something that will only take a few min to explain but end having to sit though five minutes of the person just talking crap.

I'm so guilty of that. LOL

Quote from: Prime_8 on Jun 08, 2019, 06:36 pmwont let me edit my post yet ?  ?  ..

I can get back to working on Nutbuster 2D and the 3D version. ( that's the squirrel flying a quad )
the 2d runs on w10, and android 9..ish . ( have to support gles3 on your hardware for it to run )
to run on android you have to enable non-store files. I don't have the $ to set up the android store thing yet. Mac computer is working bug mac phone won't be for some time. it's all very pre-alpha. LOl

if anyone wants to play the PC version or try the droid version let me know.

Oh, I thought we could all edit our own posts.  Hm.

I'm always interested in trying your games!  (Windows if possible!)

Quote from: Prime_8 on Jun 08, 2019, 06:36 pmwont let me edit my post yet ?  ?  ..

You should be able to. It's the pencil icon next to the trash can in the bottom right of the post.

yeah I think it was min post count lock or something, ie must make more than 4 posts or such ..  cuz I can now.

Also, I went with phpBB, holy hell there's like a million permissions and stuff for everything.

Oh and the w10 64 bit  pre-alpha of Nutbuster2d

EXE here  ( arrow keys steer left and right, the more nuts you get the faster you go. rocks at the edges hurt you, and green trees hurt you. that's it for now . PS highest score verified on mobile 28 nuts)
NutBuster 2D W10 64bit (pre Alpha , things will change ) (http://xerotolabs.com/downloads/NB/Nutbuster2d_w64.zip)

Scott, that is an incredible game!  I could become addicted to such a game!  The reason I didn't ask for the Android version is that I'm afraid I might play it at work if it was on my phone.

Nice job!

Not sci-fi but hopefully interesting anyway. Over the last while I have been working on developing a technical illustratrion capability. It would be close to my dream job to do this professionally and maybe something I could do freelance. This is a project I started a long time ago and dusted off last week to finish. Its a late 40's British experimental aircraft, the De Havilland 108 Swallow. Came close to supersonic, however all three that were built crashed, killing the pilot in each case. The attached cutaway is the only refrence I had apart from external photos.

(https://i.imgur.com/svy6Y3y.jpg)

(https://i.imgur.com/rwmjgDL.jpg)

Very Cool.
The front end reminds me of the Vulcan.

(http://fc05.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2012/241/e/b/avro_vulcan_by_hawkeye2011-d5cu8n4.jpg)

Love that plane.

That's really cool, Smallworld.

Wow, Smallworld!  That's awesome!

Thanks guys!   ;D

I never saw the Vulcan likeness before Dean, but you are right. It must have been an amazing time to be in the aircraft industry or just an aircraft fan, every month some new space age creation taking to the sky.

There are a couple of flaws in this image but I have re-rendered all the parts and fixed it now, just need to recomposit.

The next high detail cutaway I want to finish is a 1927 racing floatplane, hopefullu in the next couple of weeks.

Yeah it was a great time, lots of innovations that came out of the Second World War was making it way into public life which lead to more innovations.
Then the space race happened and even more innovation came out of it.

The current problem is that the world does not have a goals to race towards so more innovations can come out of it.
If the world governments could agree on healing the planet and stop polluting it, we could get some really great innovations form that. Once that goal had been achieved we could look to the stars again and start to colonise our own system, leading to even more innovations and form the innovations that had come out of stopping pollution could also help with setting up those colony's.

Well just got my shipment of calendars so I guess one can release the imagery as amazon always spoils the images even if they are low rez. I have not opened one yet but so far looking at the back it looks to be a good one this year. not so sure about my image but heh.

preorder link with images. I have to prep mine so maybe in a few hours.

https://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Ships-Line-Calendar/dp/0789336332/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Ships+of+the+line+2020&qid=1560382226&s=gateway&sr=8-1

amazon zoom has a pretty good peek. One thing lately they use a digital image vs a scan anymore so some of the colors are not representative, the one thing I always worry about in explosions etc they look great graded in photoshit but once printed they always lack impact unless your using really high grade paper and really super white paper.

I think Mat Cunningham's image is worth the 10$ in itself.

From what I can see in the small images on my phone, yours looks great.

some great Pic in this year STOL, I really like your and the one with the probe form STIV:TVH

Well, my store manager decided he was going to do our schedules. (assistant managera directly over us normally do them.) He did two weeks and had things all screwed up. It's fixed for next week, but I get a three day weekend this week. I don't have to be back at work until Sunday night. :)

Naturally, I took vacation time for the day I'm missing, so no hit to the ol' paycheck for this happy accident.

Quote from: scifieric on Jun 09, 2019, 01:07 pmScott, that is an incredible game!  I could become addicted to such a game!  The reason I didn't ask for the Android version is that I'm afraid I might play it at work if it was on my phone.

Nice job!

haha well, it can be arranged it much better on phone.

droid apk
you have to download it someplace on your phone and give it permission to run
http://xerotolabs.com/downloads/nutbuster2d_20190511.apk
so far it seems to work on newer Android smartphones.
some may have to let their celly use non-store apps then give it 1-time permission to instal lthis app.
I'm not sure how far back in droid os that works. Pie seems to be fine in all cases as it has per-app permissions for downloaded .apk's

Excellent!  I've got it and I want to play with it this weekend!

Thanks Scott.  I appreciate it!

So, the world of custom lightsabers is an interesting one, always evolving. A guy I know in the saber world likes a newer type pf board called a Proffie, and he apparently no longer likes other boards. So, I bought a board off of him by NEC called the Igniter 3. It's NEC's top of the line board. I decided last night it was time to install that because I got my chassis in the mail from Shapeways. Here's the board and chassis next to the saber:

(https://evilgenius180.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/img_20190615_015349739.jpg)

That hilt is made using Saberforge's Adaptive Saber Parts (ASP) system, where you choose an emitter, switch section, body and pommel and put together a hilt. I soldered in a regular 18650 battery and my recharge port (never done one of those) wires for my switches and my speaker. Everything was going well. Then I soldered in the LED. This was the result:

video link (https://www.dropbox.com/s/nqwocs55f73bq43/VID_20190616_032136644.mp4)

Needless to say, I was pissed. I poured over my solder connections, looked at config files, nothing. Well, a little bit ago, I looked at the wiring diagram again and found out what the problem was. There were some pads that had to be bridged. Intentionally bridging stuff always throws me off, as the tendency is to avoid that. But, it works now:

video link (https://www.dropbox.com/s/55n9245a7d2c6xe/VID_20190616_185118746.mp4)

So, that was an interesting experience. Now that I figured that out, all I have to do is put it in the hilt and wire up my switches. But, that's for later as I have to go to work. So, the moral of the story is, never stop learning, kids. ;)

Nice Saber, at least you got the issue sorted out.

Nicely done, Chris!  I don't think I would ever have figured that out.

Thanks guys. If I hadn't figured it out, the guy who sold me the board could've helped me. He told me the front breaks away in case you need to put it somewhere else in the saber. I didn't know that about this board.

That saber is turning out to be a real pain in the ass. So, I got it assembled and working, but the blade is dim as hell.

(https://evilgenius180.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/img_20190617_094610019.jpg)

LEDs get blown out in pics, but you can see how much dimmer the saber on the left (the new one) is than the one on the right is. They're both running the green die in the LED. It's the same brand of LED, the same brand and type of battery. Neither battery is fully charged. The blades are different kinds, but there's not that much of a difference between them. Inserting the kill key and then hooking up a battery pack to just the LED solder points leads to a much brighter blade:

(https://evilgenius180.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/img_20190617_094704335.jpg)

I was literally just holding wires hooked up to a battery pack to the LED solder points. As you can see, it's much brighter and less overpowered by the other saber. I have to go through config files on the board's SD card to try and figure out what's wrong with it.

Other than that, there are some other things I don't like about the board. I stepped out of my comfort zone on this one, and this is the type of thing that can happen when you do that.

First, I'm impressed you got it working.

Second, I have faith that you will solve the problems, if they can be solved.

And third, light sabers are just flat out cool.

I don't know, I have to dig into the configuration files and see what's wrong. If I can figure it out, that is. I'm not familiar with this board, the manual doesn't lay out the settings like Plecter Labs does. And, finding help online with NEC boards is turning into a crap shoot.

Yeah, lightsabers are cool. The one on the right is by a company called Illuminated Saber. I put it together a while back with the same type of LED, a Plecter Labs Prizm 5.1 and my usual battery and speaker set up.

 don't know the specs on that LED , but running a led directly to a battery without a way to control current can burn the LED out. if it has some type of on-chip power control it no issue, like some of the old 12v stuff.

if the driver on the board is weak, then you will see the same sort of thing, either way directly drives an unregulated current source into just a LED can degrade them.( they start to get dim ) Its heat that is the enemy . and a led directly on battery on its own is a dead short if it is hooked in the direction that lets lit light up. there is a small drop in voltage the is a fixed amount for the led. LEDs have an ideal voltage a milliamperage, and the driver on the board has to be capable of controlling it.
 
same thing for my laser diodes. the same exact thing actually just laser diodes are also sensitive to static until soldered into a circuit.

in perfect LED world, you have a constant current variable voltage driver.
so you have battery voltage  - the  LED drop  - the driver drop.

Is the blade/diffuser the same ?

it would be interesting if both LED's are the same. to disconnect 1 leg of the good led and measure its forward voltage. ( the put it back OC )
you could compare the two .  if they are the same the forward voltage should match +-3%
if the dull one is the same, the driver on the other unit wants a LED with a lower forward voltage.

Quote from: Prime_8 on Jun 18, 2019, 06:37 amit would be interesting if both LED's are the same. to disconnect 1 leg of the good led and measure its forward voltage. ( the put it back OC )
you could compare the two .  if they are the same the forward voltage should match +-3%
if the dull one is the same, the driver on the other unit wants a LED with a lower forward voltage.

Scott, dude, you never cease to amaze me!

The LEDs are the same make/type, they're from a 5 pack that I bought on Ebay. So, they have the same forward voltage. The LED I put in the new saber has been used before, it is a solid LED. Without swapping the LED to another one, which would be the best way to tell, I'm assuming it's the board. I don't have another LED to test, beyond the one with the nonworking red diode or pulling one out of another saber. Though, I can easily test the LED itself without the board.

I'm regulating the current with a resistor. It's the same type being used in the other saber. It's been calculated using Ohm's law to be correct for the battery and LED. The lithium ion batteries I use also have protection circuits built in to prevent surges. The battery will shut itself off before it sends a power surge through anything. The LED is also on a copper and aluminum heat sink to keep heat down.

There's a whole hobby built around this with parts made specifically for it to prolong the life of components and make sure they're compatible. I buy most of my stuff from The Custom Saber Shop, as it's some of the best stuff to use for sabers.

I've built probably a couple dozen sabers, (conservative estimate) and I've never had an issue like this with LED brightness. The LED I'm using is the type suggested in the manual for the board to use in this type of setup.

The blade and diffuser aren't the same, but switching the new saber to the same type of blade as the other was no help. (first thing I tried)

Well, I can rule out the LED. I'm always up for testing stuff, and I do appreciate the feedback and suggestion, Scott.

So, to test this. I temporarily wired up the LED into a different saber. (no worries, this one is getting redone anyway) For a proper test, I wired up both the green and blue diodes, and set the board on the other saber to a full green and blue mix. I charged both batteries, both are Trustfire 18650 Li-Ion batteries. I put in identical Ultrasabers Ultraedge thin walled blades and the results speak for themselves:

(https://evilgenius180.files.wordpress.com/2019/06/img_20190618_091913759_hdr.jpg)

Both blades are identically lit. So, the LED is fine. It could be the board, it could be the battery. To be honest, I don't know. My next step is to wire the guts of the saber up fully outside of a saber and mess around with it. I can wire it up with my usual battery setup, with an 18650 holder, and take a look at it. To test the illumination, I simply need to shine the LED down a blade. ;)

hmm, with the dim one when it running can you check voltage getting to the led.
i would suspect the driver on that board is buggerd or underrated.
its not the correct dimming from overvoltage, and it doesn't look like overcurrent. It's possible the FET/transistor in the driver is duff or some hwo a wrong spec  SMD component got in place.
i have a batch of 32bit MCU's that were sold in bulk because they were 'defective'  when i saw the defect as  unstable comes and resets, i knew the china-fab had the wrong cap or resistor.
the funny thing was i was thinking of getting some daughter boards and making a custom sabre brain.
~ i made a custom RGB driver and controller app for my PC instead at the time. LOL

i did this instead LOl , just using a 8 bit AVR. my STM 32 bit ones can do way more, some have wifi and run web servers :
https://youtu.be/-9zGY5V2_iE
running here https://youtu.be/mrvqC4krXd0

Yeah, I'm thinking the driver on the board is definitely FUBAR. According to every config file I can find, the LED should be running at 100% brightness. That's not 100%. The guy who sold me the board said he used a few of those and they were super bright. This one must be a bad one.

I don't have a voltage tester, but I can pick one up at work.

it might be as simple as a bad fet but that could be near impossible to replace depending what type of SMD type the use.

Honestly, that board is sitting in a box being ignored right now. I may do some testing with it this weekend, but if it doesn't work it'll just get trashed. I lack the skill, patience and desire to start trying to replace tiny tiny components on a board that's about the size of two US quarters sitting side-by-side.

that's where you find the input to the  old fet, rip the old fet off with good side cutters or such ( smd solder
is pretty weak )

figure out the signal wire or that fet and sun it to a bigger external one dead bug style.

but if your really nut you go with a dual-core esp32 SOC with wifi and the ability to do persistence of vision effects. LOL
https://youtu.be/z_qktNDjznQ

Bitluni has some crazy projects

pic is a frame of the video you can see it uses POV to render Vader head

I just like sabers that light up and play sounds. In fact, not all of mine even do the latter.

I installed one this morning, while I was waiting for the USPS to deliver my laptop.

video link (https://www.dropbox.com/s/74w7fwgcecgxfg3/VID_20190621_104308150.mp4)

That's just a sneak peek. Now, I didn't totally wire up the board this morning, that was one I did a while back and had in one of my Saberfoge "Apprentice" sabers. Apprentice tier sabers start at $75 and are less fancy than the $149+ "Elite" sabers. However, I just got an Elite in the mail yesterday, so I decided that it need the Prizm sound board, so I did the swap. It's got a Tri CREE XP-E2 in red, green, royal blue and the Prizm sound board. I loaded up the default config files, so it just has the default fonts and color profiles for now. I'll be tweaking that as time permits.

That a cool Saber and look much better than the one I have seen that you can get form Galaxy edge.

Cool saber!

Quote from: Freak on Jun 22, 2019, 02:47 pmThat a cool Saber and look much better than the one I have seen that you can get form Galaxy edge.

The ones at Galaxy's Edge are cheap. I know people are balking at the prices, but in the world of nice sabers, $200 for a metal hilt, light and sound is actually cheap.

I have over $300 into that one that I posted the cellphone video of. Hell, the hilt alone was $149. The soundboard was $115. The LED was $20.50. That's not including the heat sink, which was an additional $9.50, then I had to buy the optic too. The chassis was $20, which is actually pretty cheap for a 3D printed chassis. That's $314 right there. Then there's all the cheap stuff, like the switches, speaker and battery. Add in shipping and I'm at at least $350. The blade was one I had on hand, but that's about an additional $29, because it's an Ultrasabers thin walled standard size (that one is 32 inches) blade. Now, if I bought that saber from Saberforge fully loaded with color changing, which is called their Hero tier, it's $598. So, the $350+ I have in it isn't that bad, since I have most or all of the functions of their Hero tier. And, bear in mind that some people consider Saberforge cheap because they mass produce sabers with parts manufactured in China, so they're not as expensive as some saber smiths. One off customs can go into the thousands of dollars.

So, yeah, cheap stuff at the Disney park. But, that's all to be taken in with a trip there, hotel stay, admission to the park, food, other souvenirs and other expenses. I guess some people are dropping $25,000 on droids at the park, so it's not like the sabers are that expensive.

way cool.  the thing I would want is the prism, I got the light and power supply, hell I even have a 9DOF  module that could track my hand motion.


TBH I do have  Starwars merch "light Dagger", its a mini sabre that is about 5 inches long that held candy in a Vader head attached to the other end. I bought it at a movie. not a smart idea movie place. selling bright  mini sabres in a theatre

Damn, it's bad enough when some tool just "has to" turn on their phone screen in front of you. Having sabers in there has to be worse.

it wa skinda cool cause it was SW themed event .  amd almost al behaved pretty quick .  once it was clear teh stupid adds and trailers were over.


Also 2 kids had some soudn fonts on a drumpad app on thhier fones and were talking in droid sounds across the theatre and reacting to the adds and trailers, was pretty funny in the end.

in case some of you have not seen the tool that is JSplacemnet ..  you need to check it out for making greebles. it generates 8k textures



The full-size pit of this is in my side projects thread.


https://windmillart.net/?p=jsplacement

it makes 8k file s that are like 10MB and more.  so this grey one is just a lil one I shrunk down.

i  use them in blender on a plane, that has been sliced 100 times and then a 3x subdiv modifier

the blender scene is 6.5+million tris

Scott, that is actually pretty awesome!

Have you guys seen this?
Someone has built DS9 out of Lego and it is freaking Huge.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5ghRnUc4Lg&list=WL&index=49&t=0s

cool

I have to say, THAT is an impressive model!

This one was a lot of fun:

video link (https://www.dropbox.com/s/3qgdehi8no1qgxw/VID_20190629_085116103.mp4)

That's a Saberforge Acolyte, the first Saberforge hilt I ever received. Not the first I ordered, as the other one was backordered, so this one got here first. I originally had a Plecter Labs Pico Crumble V1 Light Side sound board in it. It's an inexpensive board with color changing. The V1 only had one sound font with simple sound and 6 colors, and the LED I had in there was a cheaper one. I didn't have the electronics on a chassis, so it developed a wiring issue and has sat empty for a while.

The new install is a Pic Crumble V2.5, with lots of great upgrades. It still has one sound font, but it has more sounds. It has 15 colors and some other great functional upgrades. I installed it with a Tri Cree XP-E2 LED, which is one of the brightest on the market.

Though, once again, I had space issues with a Saberforge hilt. This time the chassis was too long for the saber I was going to put this in, that's why it wound up in the Acolyte. But, the Acolyte is a great hilt. It's got a 32" Saberforge Infinity Edge blade in it and it's lots of fun to swing around. Plus, I really like color changing. :)

you know you're making me want to build one now. FFS

Quote from: Prime_8 on Jun 29, 2019, 02:15 pmyou know you're making me want to build one now. FFS

You're not the only one!  LOL!

Very cool, Chris!

Excellent. Soon you will all join the Dark Side. (or the Light Side, whatever floats your boat)

Quote from: scifidude79 on Jun 29, 2019, 09:49 pmExcellent. Soon you will all join the Dark Side. (or the Light Side, whatever floats your boat)

LOL!  "Quicker, easier, more SEDUCTIVE!"

my old  sig was " Mesh Smith "  so proly teh dark side. LOL

Sweet I could change the theme of my Inkscape to dark!
Now I don't burn my eyes out!

HOW >
https://logosbynick.com/inkscape-92-dark-theme-windows/

trying to use it to have a go at making the HUD / UI in  SVG format

LOL

Excellent work, Scott!  Keep going!

Wow, I haven't used Inkscape in a non GTK+ environment in ages, I didn't realize it was so bright. I may need to apply that theme thing too.

i think teh theme is already eas for those on linux. but yeah on w10 , its way to bright . all my apps are charcoal or dimmer

So on Sunday Robert M Burnett was talking about corporation taking over franchise like Trek and Wars on his youtube channel.
Yesterday I watch it on the way into work. When I had a few mins, I replyed to him which was posted up on his Website here  (https://theburnettwork.net/why-do-the-studios-do-the-things-they-do/).

He also ready it out on his Podcast Last night. you can see that here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yp1Njo6uJjo&t=5929s). My letter get read out around the 1 hour 20 min mark.
However Rob bunched my Surname, but I am use to it. He was closer to how it normal pronounced than most do. ;) 

Quote from: Freak on Jul 02, 2019, 07:01 amSo on Sunday Robert M Burnett was talking about corporation taking over franchise like Trek and Wars on his youtube channel.
Yesterday I watch it on the way into work. When I had a few mins, I replyed to him which was posted up on his Website here  (https://theburnettwork.net/why-do-the-studios-do-the-things-they-do/).

He also ready it out on his Podcast Last night. you can see that here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yp1Njo6uJjo&t=5929s). My letter get read out around the 1 hour 20 min mark.
However Rob bunched my Surname, but I am use to it. He was closer to how it normal pronounced than most do. ;) 

Interesting stuff, Dean!

um just saw this now :
https://youtu.be/bAM2dEEulBk


Also saw the kidney doc today. He says my 31% kidney function has come back to 45% , and that if it came back that far in a few months the loss most likely was due to poison or allergic reaction  of some level . and that if and he expects it to have come back to a similar level in nov to the high 50s or 60s even. If so he only needs to see me once a year. He said the bug that took my hearing out 2 years ago may have done systemic damage that is still healing. I could have been as simple as a toxic reaction to it or even the antibiotics they gave me to clear the ear infection.

That's great news about your kidney function returning, Scott.

hells yeah, I was not looking forward to dialysis of any sort. Hell iwa s more worried about the biopsy that would have been done in no improvement was found.

Loss of mobility for me stops our house in its tracks. Heather was a PCA and blew her back out. she had 3 disks fused, and now they are looking at doing and another set higher up in her back. she legally can't work, because she is uninsurable. if I become immobilized be become fuked LOL, even small days of being offline can screw us up.

so yeah now if only my right ear would work again.  I miss it in somany way you would not even think. who knew ears were for more than hearing and blend, but eye motion and tracking.

That's great News Scott. Let hope it improves even more.

Quote from: Prime_8 on Jul 03, 2019, 12:34 amAlso saw the kidney doc today. He says my 31% kidney function has come back to 45% , and that if it came back that far in a few months the loss most likely was due to poison or allergic reaction  of some level . and that if and he expects it to have come back to a similar level in nov to the high 50s or 60s even. If so he only needs to see me once a year. He said the bug that took my hearing out 2 years ago may have done systemic damage that is still healing. I could have been as simple as a toxic reaction to it or even the antibiotics they gave me to clear the ear infection.

Oh my god, Scott!  I know you've had some serious health problems over the last few years, but poisoning never even entered my mind!  Good lord.  I hope you do recover.  I've met a lot of people that I think the world not only COULD do without, but would probably be BETTER OFF without.  You're NOT one of them.  The world is better with you in place, and I hope that you CONTINUE to recover.  Feel better and get well, my friend.

its funny Blood pressure can do all the same damage even the ear ( very rare )
Nephrologist tinks poisoning of some form ( some alergic reactions to meds count for kidneys as poisoning ), but was afraid it was damage from high blood pressure like my WML was.

I do seem to feel better every week now. Mor energy, cold and flu not included. LOL. the weather swings here are hard on old joints. but that's normal but makes me feel bad for Heather and her back.

Well then, my friend, I not only wish for your good health, but for Heather as well.

Oh joy off to the new Costco here ( biggest in the country right now). I think it's only been open a week or so.  the old location closed, it was 5 min away, now its 25 min. ugh

I just love Costco ( not), but its the best price when the whole family goes together. we meet up and split up the loot hahaha

They built a Costco near where I work. I've never been in it. Though, to be fair, I work at Walmart. So, if I want to save money...

LOL yeah haha I could see that. I prefer the new wall marts her . they finally started to make the ones that have food in them, huge grocery store


Happy 4th

Yeah, I've heard from other online friends that Walmarts in Canada are more sparse and have less stuff than the ones here. (the one I work at is a 15 minute drive from two others) It's nice to know you're getting some Supercenters.

What's really odd is when they convert an older smaller Walmart into a Supercenter. You wind up with a Walmart that's oddly small, yet tries to have all of the stuff that a big Supercenter has. With the one I work in, they added onto the building to add the grocery section. You can tell where they did it because the ceiling is higher and has bare rafters, the other part of the store has ceiling tiles.

yeah, here they either large grocery stores or not.

So, I'm working on excising Google from my life. I set up an e-mail address with another provider and I've been changing the e-mail at various sites. Should I be worried that my bank had less verification processes than some of the sites I shop on? :-\

Quote from: scifidude79 on Jul 06, 2019, 03:08 amSo, I'm working on excising Google from my life. I set up an e-mail address with another provider and I've been changing the e-mail at various sites. Should I be worried that my bank had less verification processes than some of the sites I shop on? :-\

Sadly, that's a very interesting question.

I would say it is. I Bank with HSBC, (Hong Kong, Sangha Banks Consortium. They use to be British Midland Bank before they became HSBC) The number of hoops I have to jump though for verification processes can be tedious but I least I know it secure. Well as secure anything can be on the net.

here is a test to see if you should stop using an online service. it very easy and quick.

if it fails you need to stop making use if whatever service it is if you can't afford that info they may have become public.

select password recovery or "I forgot my password"
If it does not make you make a new one to reset your password and get access, and instead offers you questions or tasks, and then promptly displays your old password as it currently is FAIL.
big bad FAIL. whatever service that is, is totally possible for you real password to be found.
 modern and most basic sites cant ever show you your password because they don't keep it, just a hash of it.

2nd way to detect a failure. assumin part 1 passes

if when you change the password, try only 1 letter diff, having passed the first test, you notice in the  rules or warnings about quality it says your password is "too similar to a previous password "
that is a FAIL, it means although they never show you your current password, It means they are still keeping your real password text someplace. BIG FAT FAIL ( this can be worse as it can show your password inclination and help them guess your other passwords at other sites/accounts)

Note ! it is ok for it to say you have used that password in the past. because they may have just kept the hashes of them.
but not the "It too similar", that's only for local admin accounts and such on LANs and such.

Yeah, I logged in, went to my account settings, changed my password and was like, "that was it?" Though, to be fair, I did have to do a further verification process for a thing actually involving money transferal. Also, the bank doesn't use the e-mail addy as my login, I have a login ID and password, it just sends me notifications and stuff to my e-mail. Many of the stores (IE: Amazon) with more verification just to change the e-mail use the e-mail addy to log in, instead of a separate login ID. That was probably a factor. With that kind of thing, someone just needs to know your e-mail addy and guess your password to long in. With a separate login ID, there's a further bit of information they need to know.

I'm on my way home from work, riding a bus as usual. The bus number is 1031. I think this is an omen and it means I need to watch some Star Trek: Discovery when I get home. ;)

lol
numerology FTW!

Yeah, it's not actually a bad idea to watch season 1 again anyway, as I plan to watch season 2 in the near future.

Meanwhile...

I love Sub-D, but it takes so long to setup before you have the results you want. I still need to do the bottom of the top/back part before I can freeze the Sub-D on that part. (the saucer already got its Sub-D frozen yesterday)

Also, why did I only find out this morning that this is a thing?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_vs_Transformers

ha ha .

Also in that shot, it almost looks like ship/shuttle if the small end is the nose.

Well, eventually it's going to have pylons and nacelles, so you'll definitely be able to tell the correct orientation. ;)

I try not to use Sub-D, always a lot of clean up even after the prep work.
But your saucer looks great.

I tried just box modeling the saucer and using edge rounding, but that junction where the saucer flares out on the sides was a massive issue. I realized it wasn't going to look how I wanted it to, but I knew I could get there with Sub-D.

I do have a lot of poly reduction to do before I can do the edge and rear details I have planned.

Quote from: scifidude79 on Jul 08, 2019, 11:25 pmAlso, why did I only find out this morning that this is a thing?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_vs_Transformers

The model looks good!

And I thought everyone knew about that and the Planet of the Apes crossover!

I always love the "I thought everyone knew about that" thinking. (you're not the first person I've gotten that from today) Yes, everyone on the planet except for me knew about that. ::)

I don't follow comics. I only found out last night at work that IDW started doing several crossovers at some point. To be honest, I forgot/didn't know that IDW still even had the license to make Star Trek comics. What basically drew me to this one (aside form the blending of two of my favorite franchises) was the Filmation and G1 Transformers styling of it all. Though, the story was pretty fun too.

Quote from: scifidude79 on Jul 09, 2019, 10:59 pmI always love the "I thought everyone knew about that" thinking. (you're not the first person I've gotten that from today) Yes, everyone on the planet except for me knew about that. ::)

Yeah, I'm sorry.  I am obviously capable of "magical" thinking!  Whatever I see and read and experience is OBVIOUSLY what EVERYONE experiences!  LOL!  I know how patently absurd that thought is, but still, it persists.  Sorry man.

I'm glad you found something fun.

It's not that big of a deal, you're just the second person I know online who thought I knew about it already. If I'd known about it, I'd have made a big deal about it sooner. ;)

I bought the Trek/Planet of the Apes one last night. They also have a Transformers and Ghostbusters crossover that's out now and a couple Ghostbusters and TMNT ones that are a few years old.

Hey, pretty cool!  Tell us what you think of the comics!

Fun fact: I was watching the excellent TAS Episode The Time Trap the other day, and a Klingon commander that's in that episode is the one that's in the Star Trek/Transformers crossover. The main Klingon is Kor, but there's another D7 that hails the Enterprise after Kor's ship falls into The Time Trap, that's commanded by a Klingon named Kuri. (voiced by George Takei trying to not sound like himself) Anyway, Commander Kuri is the same Klingon who sides with the Decepticons in the comic. :)

---

And now, back to this thing. I redid the secondary hull, box modeled this time. However, I'm still not sure I like it, so I'm thinking of just scrapping this idea for now.

crazy crossover for sure.


I was supposed to code unit commands. so fighting could be given but got sidetracked on shader toy site and working on replacement water shader code.
https://www.shadertoy.com/playlist/featured

and saw some inspiration for making the waves better

Looks good, dude. :)

I bought a Star Trek and Green Lantern crossover earlier. Unfortunately, it's JJ Trek, but the possibilities were too fun to pass up. ;)

Quote from: scifidude79 on Jul 13, 2019, 10:21 pmFun fact: I was watching the excellent TAS Episode The Time Trap the other day, and a Klingon commander that's in that episode is the one that's in the Star Trek/Transformers crossover. The main Klingon is Kor, but there's another D7 that hails the Enterprise after Kor's ship falls into The Time Trap, that's commanded by a Klingon named Kuri. (voiced by George Takei trying to not sound like himself) Anyway, Commander Kuri is the same Klingon who sides with the Decepticons in the comic. :)

---

And now, back to this thing. I redid the secondary hull, box modeled this time. However, I'm still not sure I like it, so I'm thinking of just scrapping this idea for now.

Oooo!  I didn't know about Kuri being in the comic!  I may have to buy it.  Did you get the physical comic or the Comixology version, or perhaps the Kindle version?

Whatever you do in the end, I'm sure will be cool to look at!

Quote from: Prime_8 on Jul 14, 2019, 06:40 amcrazy crossover for sure.


I was supposed to code unit commands. so fighting could be given but got sidetracked on shader toy site and working on replacement water shader code.
https://www.shadertoy.com/playlist/featured

and saw some inspiration for making the waves better

Scott, it BOGGLES my mind that you code shaders.  Out-freaking-standing!

Quote from: scifieric on Jul 14, 2019, 01:58 pmOooo!  I didn't know about Kuri being in the comic!  I may have to buy it.  Did you get the physical comic or the Comixology version, or perhaps the Kindle version?

Yeah, I was thinking the name was familiar. Then, out of the blue, I decided to watch that episode and had an "ah ha!" moment. ;) I have the Kindle version, which is the same as the Comixology version.

Sweet!  I've seen references to this on two boards today, so that's the universe telling me to buy it.  Thanks!

Shit, I could have told you to buy it. ;) They really did a great job of not only blending the universes, but also of being respectful of the specific versions they were adapting. It wouldn't have fit to have had the look of TAS and G1 Transformers, but to have the characters act like they do in the newer movies.

I already grabbed a copy!

Did I tell you I also grabbed the Trek/Green Lantern crossover? It's done in JJ Trek style, but that's OK. I've read some of the IDW JJ Trek stuff, and I like it better than the actual movies. Besides, it was $5 for the Kindle.

Also, it has the JJ Trek version of General Chang in it.

Got back from Silverstone yesterday, what a fun weekend that was.
Like him or hate him, there is no denying it. Lewis Hamilton is one of the greatest drivers of all time.
He now only has two records to break, The most races won by a single driver and three more Championship. (the other records that he has not broken are down to age.)

But it was not all fun and games. I dropped my phone maybe a foot onto a gravel floor. The phone has a screen protector on it, but it did F'all in protecting it, even though it got a grantee. The screen now got a major chip in it, but still working as it was only the glass that broke not the display. I had a look to see how much it cost to repair and it a bloody Joke. £229.99 from Samsung or buy the part on E-bay for £25 and do it myself but void the warranty. (broken screen are not cover by the warranty.)

Anyway to finish off on a light note. I got all the Panelling done on the bottom of my saucer for the refit Ent.
Will start cut in windows today, and them move onto the impulse engines at which point I'll have something to show.

It's good to hear you had a good time at the race. That sucks about the phone, though. With those devices, it's all about how they fall and what hits where. A screen protector won't help with a sharp object impacting the screen, unfortunately. They mostly help against scratches, no matter what claims they make.

Yeah, that's why I put my phones inside something like a Rhino or Otter covers.  They cover the whole phone in either metal or rubber.  I dropped my phone yesterday (I was tired) on a ceramic floor and nothing happened.

Sorry about your phone, Dean.  I'm glad you had a good time otherwise.

I had an OtterBox Defender for my iPhone SE. It was OK, but too damn bulky. Most shock absorber cases will protect from drops, but it sounds like he dropped it just wrong on an uneven surface. There's not much you can do about that. The OtterBox screen protector might have helped, but maybe not even then.

Yeah apart from the phone, it was a great weekend.

As for the phone, yeah it got a drop cover, which will absorb the impact.
But it does not cover the screen. The screen protector I put on it is meant to be able to take an impact as well. They did a detonation with hitting a phone with it on with a hammer and using a screwdriver all over the screen with a hammer hit that and it did no damage they even let you have a go to prove that they are not hitting it lightly, yet on mine it stone does the damage. go figure!

Wow, sorry Dean!

Yeah, it sounds like a bad case of Murphy's Law.

Yeah I been having that lately and they normal come in three.
I think I had all three, (Back going out a few weeks back. The Break Lights on the car not working due to the switch on the break paddle dying from ware and tear and Now the Phone.)

yikes i hop the armour screen for Heathers now phone comes.  I usually order temperd glass screen armour.

I have her old s7 edge a dit has fully rounded edges like bent screen and all so getting tempered glass for that was a chore so I bought 5 in all.  I'm on the 4rth one.  the rest of the case is one of tho composite jobbies, soft inner and hard outer shell. otherwise, the phone is glass front and back. LOl and so is her new phone. lol

Scot I have the S5 with temperd glass screen protector, Went though two of them but the phone screen was never damaged and still going. (gave it to one of my kids to use.)

I got the S8 but due to the phone case, the temperd glass screen protector would keep popping of due to the edge screen.
So I went without and screen still going. (again gave it to one of the kids to use.)


I am now using the S10 got a case where the temperd glass screen protector would fit with out popping off and I get the damage. Like Chris said Sod's Law.

Anyway I decided to bit the bullet and pay Samsung to repair the screen. They will come out to the house to do it so no need to send it off for repair. (only reason I have decided to do it is because I only had the phone just over a month and I am on a three year contract so won't be able to upgrade in that time, without a huge pay-out.)

off-topic again here but yeah Heather decide to go with LG7 One. it has pue no OEM messed with Android OS. So I got the teh S7 edge. when we looked at it nothing above the s7 edge was really an improvement for her use. LOL
I mean heck it has more power than one of my desktops. Install Linux on it and us it as a server later maybe. LOL. mind-blowing the power the's pocket PC's have. Heck, it runs Linux as an app and pretty dang well.
https://complete-linux-installer.apk.cafe/samsung/galaxy-s7-edge
^^ one way.
The irony, the Droid kernel is Linux

also after some very well behaved net testing for the RTS, I decided I can now make more units.
started on a sub. Other than gross hull shape and some markings that might never bee seen by most, not much left on this one. LOL
I do have to blend in the missile hatches.
reminds me to have to code basic torpedos and missiles classes now
it not modelled of any real sub directly, the same idea as the ships so far. Whatever seem cool as I go.

The sub looks great.

Fun story: when I tried Blender way back in 2005-ish, I tried making a submarine. It didn't go well. ;)

Cool!  Submarines!

Very cool Sub.

now I gotta make the thing work too. LOL

Quote from: Prime_8 on Jul 23, 2019, 03:42 pmnow I gotta make the thing work too. LOL

;D Yep!  Your own special problem! LOL!

well kinda trying to sew its guts in tonight. LOL :P
It probably won't be able to submerge for a while.

I want to get missiles working before I worry about that . LOL 
That's because a torpedo is kinda just a special missile. LOL

A torpedo is a horizontal water based missile. ;)

Go, Scott, go!

Quote from: scifidude79 on Jul 26, 2019, 12:04 amA torpedo is a horizontal water based missile. ;)

yep as far as code is concerned. LOL

Really, as far as how they work too. I know it's really more complex than that, but not a whole lot.

funny thing is there is a hyper-cav missile, it flys underwater by creating a gas shell between it and the water, and 'flys' at stupid fast speed.

. Well, I got my game missiles working. Big ones anyhow.
small ones will probably be some type of particle system. I want to have spod that shoots all squirrely like the ones in anime movies do.

hmm also was thinking about doing circular crescent explosion images.

I don't really know much about missiles or torpedoes. All of my military training focused on small arms. The only missile training I ever had was shoulder launched Javelin missiles. Those are used to take out tanks.

YUCK Firefox ESR 68 YUCK YUCK ugh. Did not pay attention enough to see 52 had to be dled from a archive. All the spyware and bullshit man spent 3 hours now restoring my settings and other sundries and now some stuff is all whack as it is sthings altered by Classic Theme Restorer which no longer works and GODDAMn whats with this divorced tabs crap???? and damned ugly menu system YUCK!! All cause fing google thinks my old stable ff42 is out of date making me view crap versions of services like gmail. Update to 43 and that was hell couldnt scroll halfway down amazon search result before it would HANG forever. . . . 3 days of the system not going to sleep cause FF just hangs. So I update and eugh.

Sigh.
So now Im looking at websites in a ugly skinned ui. all this fucking mac looking white with black text. Vs using the areo translucent which is so much easier on the eyes. Then again I fucking have hated android since they brought all this battery sapping black on white shit. I mean it is the worst for battery eyes at night and in the daytime means it is all washed out unless you carry a blackout sac everywhere to put on your head to see anything.

can you say I am triggered atm.

More rage tabs are hiorribly FAT and TALL for tiny text in them and so short you cannot tell wtf they are. I am surte there are havcks but because of the stupidity of changing things for claimed security none of the add ons exist anymore to centralize all these changes. not everyone wants to spend 5 hours finding and coding hacks into a fucking css file or db files. SO now I wate free time coding shit to get my tabs where they should be on the windows and to find if I can rid myself of this shit white border crap or at least invert to a win3.11 era black frame.



R A G E

lol
thought to use one of the forks but as with opensource shit it is the "my way or the highway" "it works here" sorts of faggotry or worse slow updates fixes or shitloads of bugs that never get fixed because coder doesnt use it that way. Also targeting by undesireables of late. So far i guess I will keep this 68 crap dunno wtf the point of ESR is on anything past 52. . . . . . . . Just sick of shit not workingt just because someone decides it wonr load vs it acually being broken. Gmail in the form it is now works as far back as FF2X.XXX I have installs that old that work fine before they just arbitralily decided it wouldnt work. BULLSHIT


So I am off to create a chrome.css file and see what I can fuck up. If ther eis anything you guys know that needs doing in this spyware version of a browser let me know
I so far have altered about:config
telemetry shit
pocket
book whatever that was.

What I want to do is remove the stupid dots in the addressbar as everything they show is useless to me.
cease all searching in the address bar, hate the ugly as fuq look of it as well as data that it sources from. I just want it to do like in ff40 just show if I type say AMA itll complete the url and suggest just amazon.com vs a shiload of related and unrelated garbage.
make theme areo (though I see a while theme system now so maybe one of those will work)
adjust deadspaces all over, exp around tabs as I can get 2 lines of text for all the buffer or guyttter they supply.
customize the 3 bar menu loads of useless crap in there and tonnes of more useful crap burried in shitty menus.
I know not all of it is doable but eh.

Oh also if it still is as annoying as in the past in playing youtube netflix or amazonprime the blah blah slide ins saying you made this fullscreen crap. It might have the same fixes as 40X but I have not tried as of yet.

Well got rid of the dark tabs though that didnt bother me but ugh bookmarks were a paint until I found a icon to use now. but the code for tabs on bottom, just is ugly. I had to try 4 examples of code many are a fucking mess. but almost all broke things badly. Like odd transparent blocks all over huge white space all over.
So far this is what I have and it is like 70 lines or more of code! And it is formatted like hell too.


Other thing that pisses me off is a lack of a proper exit path for FF 64bit produces like 20instances in taskmanager. So if you close all tabs FF arbitralily chooses what whindow of multiple windows to save and restore. Always the wrong one too. Vs restoring them all. I used to use session restorer but apparently that is defunc now. That or this shit version of FF cannot interface with the old UI it had. As all I can do is SEE the add on and not adjust settings as there is no toolbar as it was. New one lacks access.

(https://madkoifish.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/ff68fuckry-01.jpg)

SO anyhow right now I got a huge clear ugly titlebar? above everything. I would like to have the url and search in that clear bar with tabs below. So it isnt wasting vertical space displaying a fucking empty space with just the OS min full and close buttons!!!
Also need to find a way to restore multiple windows on exit vs thait random BS where I have to remember to bookmark all open windows. before closing or somehow magicly rember to just before FF decides to crash. . looked at current addons and some look iffy.
Oh and also UGLY shirt tabs prefer to have them 2X wide or just to hide X ammount of tabs. I know somewher ein that code are settings for height width etc. but man.

used code found here:
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1245826?page=2

there was multiple instance of code here but many are posted in such a way it was impossible to tell waht was code or comments. More idiots who think everyone is born knowing code.
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1248277?page=3
most of the ones there I tried broke more than fixed.

More I look at this the more I am just going to revert and live with the aborted tabs. I do not get why the hell you want them up there. But the smaller the ui impact the better.

Visual goal
(https://madkoifish.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/ff-goal.jpg)
Also have a tonne of right click menu items I want divorced like all the device crap. I have no want nor need to unify my phone to my desktop. Reason I do not use my phone email as gmail is constantly getting hacked. No need to have some SE asian or east eu shiteater fucking with my contacts and what not.

Yeah, the Firefox UI gets dumber and dumber with each UI revision. I was pissed when they switched to what they have now. I have to do too much post install adding, moving, removing and changing stuff to make it look how I want it.

Like you said, too much wanting to integrate shit with your phone and desktop. I used Safari on my iPhone, so that's a worthless feature. Windows isn't any better. There's the stupid thing to pair your Android phone with Windows that you can't get rid of. I don't have an Android phone that I use! At least let me remove the useless app! (and don't even get me started on Google)

I wish we could just use the browser part of Seamonkey. It's got a lovely Netscape 7 look to it. ;) But, I don't want the integrated mail and news shit. Though, each FF UI change has me thinking about going back to it. It's compatible with FF plugins too.

Also, would it be possible to have a "Like" button on posts here? I really like that over at SFM and a couple other places.

Oh nuts I just copied all this crap into my chrome dir and got this.
(https://madkoifish.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/ff68fuckry-02.jpg)

Thing is there's no fucking docu about what you do with this shit I thought I had to cmp this shit one line at a time into that css file but on a fluke I just dumped the whole repository (dled the zip) into the chrome dir after realizing some other thread about people asking how to update it. I mean common basic thing is how to utilize the stuff.

anyhow now to figure out what to turn on off and how to eliminate that stupid button shove the junk up and get nice simple buttons back and keep it to titlebar and tabs bar only. >_> Oh and get rid of the color crayon icons.
2am now so mostly a whole day lost cause of this shit.

Oh and man that stupid loading bar on this site is worse in the new FF. Shows up any time i hover over content or pause in typing. things like buttons that light up it shows up. and it is so fast there is no way to tag it to block it. Blocked the dumb spinny auto draft save thing as it is really broke in this ver of FF as it just constantly spins and never goes away.
||3dscifi.com/3dscifi.com/eric/Themes/Lunarfall_v0.6.4/images/loading_sm.gif$image
Just need to nab that NOW LOADING . . . . . .  heh.

Seen people doing a translucent backdrop on everything in FF heck the repository has images showing this.

maybe this helsp others? Im probably just being way too obtuse about this. lol.
EDIT

another thing I just noticed is gone the 3 horz bar thing that is the replacement for the edit row. lol also not much room to click on to be able to move windows. FFFFFFF (well it is missing cause it is in the FF button ugly thing. DERP

also found another bug here, Click edit on my post and it rolls me all the way up to the top of the page ve keeping me on my post and opening the editor to edit it.

darn it almost got that loading display thing it sorta hung there so editing again to see if I can zap it.

One thing to note if you do what I am doing make sure to copy the raw content for the css at least for the 2 userChrome files in the classic folder. The ones in the zip are a fucking runon mess of letter vomit. The ones on the github page are nicely formatted so you can pick out the stuff you need to see.
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Aris-t2/CustomCSSforFx/master/classic/userChrome.css

basicly you go about removing the /* call out tags on the files you want activated. And DAMN I wish I had that teacup or whatever text editor I used in the 90s that highlighted the code. like the url below
https://github.com/Aris-t2/CustomCSSforFx/blob/master/classic/userChrome.css

site below has info on it as well
https://www.ghacks.net/2017/11/13/customize-firefox-57-with-css/

and yes when you dl the zip from here by clockting the green button you copy the contents of the classic folder to your created Chrome folder in your user profile.
https://github.com/Aris-t2/CustomCSSforFx

now to screw around for another 4 hours. . . . . sigh. Dunno why no one can create a ui for this. lol choose the looks desire in a sandbox and click apply and it saves the appropriate links in the @import or at least a previs of each script to know what to stack. >_>

Getting there, need to get muh hamburger (3 bar thing) to the right get rid of X on tabs unless it is active tab and get rid of the ugly lock icon (default is a padlock that looks like a yellow ninja) and be rid of the 3 dots and other junk maybe tone down the text on the tabs though I could do without areo on the tabs as well. Wish I could minimize the gutters but eh. Also really REALLY want flat icons vs that chicklet but the names of this crap it could be there but dunno pFFT. I mean Hamburger, sheesh. Kinda want to find a burger pic to use instead.

(https://madkoifish.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/ff68fuckry-03.jpg)
NOW next trick is altering how Youtube looks EUGH. its like kiddy icons all over and everything is out of order. Hide is 4 lines down now vs first line etc. Kinda wierd how the client dictates how youturd appears.

More bugs with site though constantly getting
Your session timed out while posting. Please try to re-submit your message.
think the session timeout needs to be like 24hrs vs 10min.


Oh yeah, to get tabs like how I have them I turned on
@import "./css/tabs/tabs_below_navigation_toolbar_fx68.css"; /**/ /* <-- tabs not on top - Fx68+ - Windows/Linux */
AND
@import "./css/tabs/tabs_below_navigation_toolbar_higher_navbar_positon_with_appbutton_icon_only_fx65.css"; /**/  /* <--- EXPERIMENTAL */
at the same time. likely depend on which ver your on and apprently stuid as it seems linux or mac. why it cant be the same but :shrug

Well, 6:50am and I think I am done with this. Some small things like killing check home for updates stuff that I have to write policies for to disable it. Think I ripped all the telemetry crap and all the crap that is not going to a webpage doing things there and going elsewhere. It is like NERO all over again. A fucking optical burning software with delusions of grandeur. Lets be a codec bomb and install 300useless broken codecs, lets be a music editor remuxer video encoder editor image creator etc phone, car, plane, boat, tv and whatever the fuck else. . . . . . .

Sigh. Also pissed spell check keeps turning OFF.

Anyhow visually, it is good except that ugly tabs icon and the need for a history button cause FF in thier stupidity decided to burry the history uinder a menu and multiple levels of shit and it then does not work right if it was a closed window with multiple tabs, it only opens the active tab of that set! With the icon I can work it like the old menu history dropdown. Also bookmarks ahve to be that stupid star. I was able to get the main menu back but it was in it's own toolbar eating vertical room. I also have not been able to find how ot eliminate the deadspace to the far left and right of the windows. Next to the history icon and near the "hamburger" It helps for click and move space so I didnt bother looking too hard. . . . . anyhow hopefully fucking GOOGLE does not decide anything not chrome is broke and needs to be shunted to 2002 and the fucking ugly gmail interface of that era.
(https://madkoifish.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/teh-fuck-google.jpg)

ANYHOW GOOD RIDDANCE 32bit Firefox. Hello 20 instances of 64bit eating up 4gigs+ of ram. All while Max chews up 15gigs and argues about it. Think I need a new stick, sadly nothing out there will match my existing timings.

(https://madkoifish.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/ff68esr-mkfed.png)
if anyone wants any of the files I altered for this crap let me know. I will figure out how to pack em up. Such a waste of a day and night and most of the next day as I will sleep it away now. . . . .

Quote from: scifidude79 on Jul 27, 2019, 09:17 amAlso, would it be possible to have a "Like" button on posts here? I really like that over at SFM and a couple other places.

I will look into that as I enjoy it as well.

You're putting way more effort into this thing than I would, MKF. I basically turn on the menu bar up top, get rid of the stupid empty space to the left and right of my address bar, put the search bar up top and get rid of useless crap like that pocket thing. I can't get rid of everything I don't like, such as the (redundant) menu thing to the far right or the 3 dots you mentioned in the address bar, so I live with those annoyances.

Those css scriptsa are able to be rid of all of those things you mentioned. I have to say that is one thing i like about win10 is the super flat window look. I would probably peicemeal the hacks as the default set up would alter the look in places, like the tabs with that bar and some of the kaboom sfx animation when you open a new tab and it loads. I think disabling the hamburger and the dots in the location bar can be done in about:config. The retarded Star icon is just a rightclick fix. If it worked like in android and just bookmarked it in the root bookmarks area it would be fine but it is worse than the old way to bookmark as you still have that menu and it defaults to some really stupid location. (saves to library vs bookmarks so dunno where the fuck that is but in the classic bookmarks dropdown it is in "other" bookmarks which is bloody annoying as it is a pop up menu.

I still have not found a way to restore classic bookmark style pre v56. ATM I have to right click the tab and bookmark that way and deal with the stupid default location each time I restart FF.

The real biggies are to rip out the backgroupd updates and botnet stuff and the telemetry as well as ripping out snippets pocket and that book thing. Default ff quantum reports keystrokes all urls and how it was visited IE click bookmark types searched etc. Some claim it also reports what you dl/ul file type and names.

I found when I did rip pout a lot of things it does work a lot faster. I still wont use it for my streaming pc or the leech pc but here I think it is stable enough and doesnt do too many stupid things.

Worst so far now is the levels of stupid I have to do to get the download menu to display and to work the history like how it was on 43. I could be picky and complain about the icons I HAVE to have.

Id love to have the menu (file edit etc) but I couldnt find a way to arrange it so it was in the same area as the search/launch bar(url bar) It doe smake me think something is wrong with FF when I first look at it as it is missing.
Ohj and getting auto spellcheck vs correct spelling as you type which I hate as it often places words it THINKS your typing and you speak jibberish instead. Like those annoying sites with history searches so if you typed something wrong it keeps forcing that typo search instead of the corrected one.

I've never had FF try to replace words for me. It just underlines what it thinks are mistakes. Though, I've found common words that I can find in a dictionary that are underlined by the FF spellchecker.

As I said, I'm 1 or 2 more UI changes from switching to something else. The problem is finding something else I like.

I definitely turn off all the "phoning home" BS, I don't even allow websites access to my location. They don't need to know. I even turn off the ability to use my camera and microphone on my desktop, and I have neither. It's just the principle, that sites have that kind of access by default, that bothers me. If any of this ever becomes non voluntary, that's another reason I'll ditch FF.

oh man those drafts spent 30min deleting that crap. Does not help I cannot go in select all and delete but have to delete wait for the animations wait for the pop up then click enter. X50
-_-

Addendum to the above FF rage
to remove those stupid copyright text along with the https certification IE stuff left of the padlock so github is GITHUB SCE or some such shit. Some sites it is super long. Below code rips this off the info, but still allows you to see that info by clicking on the "circlei" It causes it to slide out when hovered over. Suppose if you remove the hover line behind */ itll not roll out.


/* Site Identity Button, EV: hide label */
#identity-box #identity-icon-labels {display:none !important}
#identity-box:hover #identity-icon-labels {display:-moz-box !important}
This one blocks all those stupid icons showing hdw and other stuff you deny a site. Some places this is like 9 icons of crap
#blocked-permissions-container {display: none !important;}
this removes all this clutter and IT IS STILL available in the circle i icon.

why none of this is a about:config or more so a custom option in settings or customize.
example of these icons.
(https://user-media-prod-cdn.itsre-sumo.mozilla.net/uploads/images/2016-12-14-15-31-13-f1ad02.png)

this post probably created 5 more drafts. . . . . .

So, I watched the extended cut of TNG "The Measure of a Man." I never knew this cut existed. When I initially got my TNG Blu-Rays, I blazed through the first season, then stopped right before that episode. So, since I was watching it, I decided to watch that version. It was the original cut of the episode, which was too long for airing with commercials (57 minutes.) Usually, cuts like that aren't kept, but Melinda M. Snodgrass, the episode's writer, was given a copy on VHS, which she loaned to the people doing the Blu-Ray to use in reconstructing that cut of the episode. Anyway, it has a lot more character moments, including more explanation of Data's possible sentience, a scene reinforcing his and Geordi's friendship and a scene showing how much of a dick Commander Maddox really is. It's got a lot more than that, but those were some of the highlights. Much of that stuff was cut due to time as it wasn't necessary to the core of the episode. (which really is one of the best TNG episodes)

One of the more interesting bits (to me) is a discussion between Picard and Admiral Nakamura after they beam aboard the Enterprise. They're discussing how long it's been since they last saw each other, and Nakamura reminisces that it was right after Ensign Picard was assigned to the "old Reliant." Nakamura was a lieutenant then who hated surprise inspections by admirals. (he likes them better as an admiral) The name drop Reliant is the interesting part to me. Had that been left in, there would have been canon evidence that at least a second ship named Reliant was built after Star Trek II. And, calling it the "old" Reliant hints that there may even be a newer Reliant. Anyway, I found that an interesting name drop, obviously put in the episode by Snodgrass as a call back to the ship from ST2.

Wow, all very cool!

I heard there was a few extended cut of episodes that was never aired at full length, I did not know the Blu-ray collection had them.
I might have to pick that up.

As the for the Reliant, well it not unheard off, for navy's in the real world to reuse ships names.
A prime example would be the Enterprise. But you also got the HMS Campbeltown. The Original was given to the Royal Navy has part of 50 destroyers to help with the Second World War effort by the US before they had entered the war.
She was later used in The St Nazaire Raid where she was destroyed. You can read about the original ship here. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Campbeltown_(I42))
In 1989 a Second HMS Campbeltown was commission and Decommissioned in 2011. Rumour had it the name will be used again in the next generation of frigate.

So it would make sence for Starfleet to do it as well.
And to back this up, there have been three version off The USS Defiant seen in Trek. A Connie Class seen in TOS and two Defiant Class seen in DS9.

Well, we know Starfleet reuses ship names too. The Defiant, Saratoga, Intrepid and Enterprise are four that immediately come to mind. It was just interesting that the Reliant was mentioned.

I know the US Navy has even gone as far as to have ships of the same name in service simultaneously.

The Measure of a Man is the only episode I've found so far with an extended cut on the Blu-Rays. They were only able to reconstruct the episode due to Melinda M. Snodgrass having a VHS copy to use as a guide. It's an even better episode with the extra and extended scenes.

wow, the only copy left was on a VHS. lol

Yeah, of the completed episode. They likely still had the masters with the rest of the filmed footage. When they were doing the Blu-Ray project, they had to re-scan the masters and put the episodes back together. They re-composited effects shots, and replaced what needed replaced. In most cases, they were able to use original filmed assets. However, some stuff (like the planets and crystalline entity) were early CGI and needed to be completely replaced. They also had to redo a few of the ship shots as they were missing some of those. They also did some other stuff just because they could, like added window lights to the 2 foot Enterprise model used for forced perspective shots and warp transitions. It was really an ambitious project, but it worked because the series was filmed on 35mm film, so that it could be re-scanned at higher resolution later. They thought ahead with that show. The resulting episodes look like they should. Authentic, but higher detail.

Quote from: MadKoifish on Jul 28, 2019, 08:23 amthis post probably created 5 more drafts. . . . . .

The drafts are pissing me off too. When it saves the draft, it (sometimes) momentarily takes my cursor out of the text box. I'm usually in the middle of typing when it does this. It's really annoying.

The bad part is, there's a thing under your profile settings, Look and Layout, with a check box to automatically save drafts. I have that unchecked, and it still automatically saves them.

Shockingly I only have one in the drafts since and it is one of those I typed it and though nah fuq it. Still attempting to nab that damned NOW LOADING thing as if you hover over any changeable thing in the forum it rolls out and rolls in fuking annoying as hell.

Worse is this soft does not retain everything on host like vanilla, it relies on precoded chinks and crap from go9oglapis so I cannot as a end user block scripts or alter things in a henpeck way. SFM has the damned drafts system too and if you leave a window open with a bit of typed stuff it'll keep pinging and uploading whatever is in that field. EG, using your BW.

Yeah, I've noticed that about SFM. It will even retain typed text across different devices. I don't like that.

forgot to add the line that I blocked at SFM
https://forums.scifi-meshes.com/js/library/jquery.autosize.min.js
oops the autosave is this one
https://forums.scifi-meshes.com/applications/vanilla/js/autosave.js
I forget the autosave. and bugger I missed a good chance to block that loading bar. . . every time I am not waiting for it it sits there for ages. Anytime I am waiting for it it comes and goes in 1/8th a sec!

Well, another butt suck for this new "QUANTUM" bs firefox, cookies manager+ is one of those where the dev just quit. So now I have no cookie manager as all of them require this stupid containers tab so YET more annoying crap in the context menus and elsewhere as it loads all these stupid options for "container" tabs. Again diverging more types of browsing sessions vs just flat out disabling all the reasons they need private and not containers for all this other crap.
-_- sigh.

I am guessing they altered something so these "tools" need to run in these annoyances that now if I want them I have to go around and rip the crap I do not want that they use does not impact my daily use of the tool. I already find the private window/tab context menus etc annoying. It is like the stupid "take a screenshot" WHY when pcs have had print screen for the last 30 odd years.

You know what I hate about this time of year?
The Kids on my freaking modelling PC. I come home from work and want to do a little bit of work on my refit Connie before having to cook dinner. Only to find them sitting there playing Roblox with their freaking friends. I would kick them off if their friends where not round. Arrr

The other thing bugs the hell out me, is that I have told my son don't put Roblox on that computer as it slows it up.
I don't know what the hell it leaving behind, but every machine that it been on had to be rebuilt as it became to slow to use. I would remove the software and put a password on it so they can't use that machine. But the wife has over ruled me on it, as they need it for school. No they freaking don't 1, they are not in school until September and 2. They got their own laptops. But Roblox slowed them up so much they can't use it. Arrr... Drives me freaking nuts!

Just create your own account with admin and give the kids a restricted account. if your wife has issue with it make her pay for repairs or rebuild rates at a local repair shop. Kids need to learn responsibility and rules and consequences if their actions.
beyond being labled the poopoohead who craps on the kids fun. . . there is a deeper reason to not let them have admin access. It can ruin your life. If they install the oh so trendy game that SHOCK exposes your bank info or worse your identity you can find yourself responsible for hundreds of thousands in illegal loans, not to mention bank cards filled up with porn purchases and drained of assets.

Now this game likely is installing snoopware and crapware like updaters and trackers/lowlevel botnets. Just check the run and runonce areas of the registry and look at all startups and "services" Likely one of those areas or multiples will scoop up the crap that is slowing the pc.

Also more fodder, if it slows a system to a crawl it means it is using the gpu and cpu, which in the end is using power, and larger electric bills.

ATM most shops charge between 100~200usd for a reinstall and hdw check.

Final looking the game name up there is "ADULT" rooms and other issues surrounding it that make it not so kid friendly. Add in in game purchases. It is also targeted by trojans and other malicious installers. Most of which do as I mentioned above.

Unfortunately your kids and wife are not my own. All I can say is the dangers of a open admin pc in a hose where kids can do anything and a wife that is denying an adult in the house from as much control.

Rebuild and repairs are not the problem, I can do that myself.
As for bank details and the likes. I don't have it on a computer unless it one that never goes on the net, which I don't have so all paperwork and going into branches to sort banking stuff out. It safer that way, May not be convent but it safer.

It just that Fing game.

Three words: power on password. Unless it's on all the time, then just set the auto screen lock.

No, the point is to drive home your time is important. So take your work out of the equation and let her see what that work is WORTH.

So you do not pay bills online? do not buy anything online? do not verify or do any payment cash moving online? if so that must be a struggle. I had to give that up in 2008.

Damn straight your off time is precious. You work hard to provide for your family, but you also want to enjoy the fruits of your labor, such as a nice computer for your modeling hobby. I'm not going to tell you how to parent, I wouldn't do that and I'm not one anyway, but it's your house and you have the right to lay down some rules regarding your stuff and expect them to be followed. Just my two cents.

I'm glad I live with adults and they know not to touch my computers. Though, they have their own anyway.

Quote from: MadKoifish on Jul 31, 2019, 10:31 pmSo you do not pay bills online? do not buy anything online? do not verify or do any payment cash moving online? if so that must be a struggle. I had to give that up in 2008.

Nope to most of the above. Bills are not paid on-line. We get the company to send out a letter for a direct debt to be set up, which is then sent back. (though they are slowly moving away from that.) Money Transfer I don't do, if I need to I go to the bank. (there is one round the corner from work.) For our Subscription to Netflix, I called them up and set up a Direct Debit over the phone. It's not fully Sucre as someone could be listening in. Not likely but possible.

As for buying on line. Most of it from Amazon. To get around putting my card details in. I get Amazon gift cards and top up my account that way. I also do the same for the Playstation store. But that only to extend PS Plus subscription. You can pick up the gift cards in all supermarkets here. You can even buy Visa gift cards that most UK online retailers accept.

Ah lots of that has gone the way of the dodo here. Often if you do phone payment via letter billing your within a few days of late fees etc. Most cash cards here retain a percentage fee or use fee. For me I try to use a internet account only and transfer cash, but then again I do not allow a open vector to risk these actions. Here at least direct bank transfer leaves the account on someone elses server, another risk I would rather not take. Easier to halt charge or reverse charge it it is on the debit card or charge card vs direct bank transaction. Reason I wont touch pay pal anymore as they want direct access to the account.

Still does not lessen the fact you run the risk of exposing whatever is on those computers by allowing kids or anyone free reign to install whatever. If memory serves UK law dictates whatever happens on your internet connection is your responsibility, so if turns into a bot net and causes monetary damage etc your liable.

Not 3d but i managed to BAN that bloody LOADING I think through the console

3dscifi.com###ajax_in_progress string that needs blocking.
part of the code,
<div id="ajax_in_progress" style="/*! display: none; */" gh4em4c="">Loading...</div>
dunno why I didn't think to look in the console before lol.

Has seriously sped up any editing as it is instant now vs a wait.

wht the hell did they even put it in.

Hmm, I'm gonna have to look into SMF when I nuke and pave my forums see if it can't be removed in the forum sources.

The software uses a lot of googleapis resource. Hence I cannot just block the autodraft feature. Well so far I have not found a way or spent much time on it as of yet.

Playing with a new toy. Some of the things it should have it does not like per key lighting BOO
But it has 4layers, as I work it it has a base layer a FN layer which is a HOLD FN layer meaning it cannot toggle. but layers 2 and 3 will so least it'll work for Clip studio and 3ds max. Also what I thought was 12 long macros (48 char) 12 short(24char) were 24 total per layer is really just 24 for all layers. And at least I can set the leds to light a fixed color per layer. I expected this to light the layer toggle button X color.

Anyhow it is a real mess thinking how I want to set it up. I originally got this as that express key remote for my cintiq was just pissing me off as I used it it would de focus my work to a pop up for battery warning when the battery was fully charged or connected with the wire. Wacom just jerked itself until I gave up. Saying newersoft will help when it has been how many years now and the shit is still not fixed. All they needed to do is take my suggestion to have a way to toggle all the damned nags off or on. EXP as the POS has massive issues communicating what the battery is doing or what the remote is doing IE connected or not connected charging or not charging. Also that damned thing has no way to disable sleep or the timer for sleep. These are basic things WACOM. Sheesh.

So 59usd alter Im messing with this mini KB thing. I got it over others as it is just wide enough to sit on the wacom bezel. I do hope a peel and stick magnet will be enough to hold it on the metal under the cintiqs glass. If not I could buy some rare earths and mill and glue em into the case of the minipad as it is just stacked acryl or some sort of plastic lol.
That or get some sheet silicone and stick it on that's pretty grippy too.

Some pics of the thing. I added some DSA keys (they are flat so any direction works vs OEM or Cherry profiles) I should have remembered to order some other DSA in other colors or got some of those ones with the clear caps that you stick paper in for lables. lol
It came with all the 1u keys on a standard Keyboard in a ugly broken font doubleshot PBT I think, and a mess of blank whites in ABS as well as a 2u for the enter. I plan to use 1u DSA on all of it as the enter will likely be ctrl.

Also since I run a coolermaser RGB board the lock keys kinda suck, they override the colors and well as I use PBT solid doubleshots the light is pretty dim in the leak through on the letters. SO this mini pad has lock leds in it for scroll lock num lock and caps. I can set it to light up (white only as it is a separate led) or flash when pressed always on or function as led displays for fn2 fn3 locks I have not looked at those much yet to figure it out.

tempted to get some special keys printed with the clipstudio and 3dsmax icon on as it is easier to have those toggle keys persistent across layers.

(https://madkoifish.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/koolertron-kb-01.jpg)
how I have it now.
(https://madkoifish.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/koolertron-kb-02.jpg)
I got the reeds as I figured click click might drive others insane exp when painting as some keys are hit a lot in any given period.

Also anyone looking at KBs avoid Cherry atm all the new stuff is really scratchy. My Coolermaster pro whatever it is is pretty gritty vs my older coolermaster with the same switches only it has black housings (no leds) These little koolertyrons sadly only come in otemu. The larger ones sport kaih and gateron I think both clones but known to make some good switches. The Otemus in this thing are not bad I got reds so it is just smooth. They have a slight stem wobble but with DSA caps there is not as much leverage to wobble as the cap face is really close to the stem unlike cherry or OEM profiles or worse SA.

Either way, I dunno how much something like this is of use for 3d vs painting where the KB is harder to get to but eh gonna give it a try and see. Might help my sloppy posture heh and maybe help me set up a sit stand layout easier as this little board would be much easier to find a spot for than a full board.

That's pretty cool. Though, as you said, I'm not sure how much use it would be for some things. I take it you can configure the keys for different inputs.

When it comes to peripherals, I keep it pretty simple. A basic Logitech K120 wired keyboard, and B100 wired mouse. The keyboard was $10 7 years ago, and the mouse I got for $7 back in April. I spend more money on game controllers than any other peripheral. ;) Even my speakers were only $20, purchased at the Walmart I work at a couple weeks ago.

yup when it comes ot interfaces I want something that feels nice. Always hated membrane KBS funny ligi made some of the worst (though those are from 2004 or so) Sported those dell membranes with the sound controls for a long while but the pad printed keys all scrape off and start looking ass. That and the feel of fingernails hitting those painted letters puts me off.

Mice I hold on to them like uh a cat lol play with em till they are just a carboard shell with rice in. . . . lol I am left handed so instantly 80% of mice are shit for me. So I found the old 505 logi wireless as wires drove me up the damned wall when modeling. Also no one at the time made a lazor mouse worth a damned in wired mode. I do not twitch game so I hav eno need for instant action or past human sensory lag in mice. I do have issue though all the rubber crap goes off in time. Took longer on the mice than other things but I fucking hate Soft touch crap. It all goes gummy and gross in time. My samsung tablet with that fake leather back, it is a peely gummy mess now My roo case for that tablet is no better. My MD player from the 90s thing will stick to a desk so hard itll lift the desk up and ruins anything ti touches with oil stains! waste of 900usd. (yes early adoption, at that time like 2yrs prior to US release)

And yes this thing is mostly to replace a shitty battery operated touch device for the cintiq. Advantage it has mech keys and universal stems so I can buy aftermarket parts for it. LEDs were a meh but the ability to show layer mode in the leds helps a lot ves just smashing keys to see what mode it is in >_>


Speakers heh Im pretty stickler on those but am only running creative units that cost 50usd I think but have at lest 2 drivers without foam surrounds and tweeters. But they are like 9yrs old now? Other set I have had since 96? HOWEVER I do not live with roommates or in a condo/apartment atm so I rarely have to mind the NOISE. Heck I got the creatives cause they DO have a bass and treble knobs on them so I can alter it on the fly vs screwing with a foobar plugin EQ which all software based controls suck. (same for software color correction on lcds)

so yeah Im picky. :P

This keypad thing though would help shorten keystrokes. So in max you have a lot of ctrl alt key type hotkeys you can shorten ti a single key on this thing. It would also be good for a user who forgets hotkeys or just has no nack for them. I was never one to remember them well just a few I use a lot. And if I do not use the app for a long time forget it. It is like cheat codes in RTS games. lol. Have to keep referring to them.

NOW if you have a fully programmable KEyboard, this key toy is probably useless as you could reassign all the F keys etc to work in the same way. Only advantage I see is this things ability to have 12 programs 48characters long and 12 at 24char long. Most prog keyboards max is 12.

I see it more use for video editing music and graphics. But the 3d realm it might help for annoyingly long hotkey codes or a string of keyed events you want to script to a button. So say making windows just turn that into a single button press and it will inset, extrude, bevel, inset, extrude, extrude, bevel, bevel all in one key. (no I have not tried as I have to find all those hotkey shortcuts for that as max lacks a list of defaults)

anyhow here is the link for it. they have various versions even a 9key unit. As well as the old units with many more buttons.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RM1TBR8/?coliid=I360WD3KFYJ4VP&colid=1WXF1WKYZOVZU&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it&th=1


Oh also I found that there is some software you can hook up multiple usb anything keyboards and remap them to do other things just need to run the software. So that mmight be a cheaper solution for those who do not need to balance it on a display.

Heh, I'm that guy who will use the keyboard and mouse that come with the computer until they die. I do have a Logitech M510 wireless mouse, but I get pissy when the batteries start dying and the mouse gets fluttery and/or misses clicks.

https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Wireless-Computer-Mouse-Side/dp/B006JRIDHK/ref=mp_s_a_1_4

That pisses me off more than any wires when I'm doing CGI or gaming. I went back to wired game controllers for the same reason. There's nothing like being in the middle of a fight in a game and your mouse or controller turns off.

The speakers are Black Web, which are a Walmart brand. (it's our computer gaming peripheral brand.) I used a pair of Logitech S120s for years, but the right one is failing. So, I went to Walmart for a new pair, only to find out we don't carry them in stores anymore. I picked up a pair of S150s thinking they were just an upgraded version. Nope. They use USB audio, which is shit. The volume would go up and down without me touching the control. A friend at work suggested the Black Web speakers because they use the 3.5mm jack. So far, so good.

That's a cool mini keyboard for sure. That actually might be pretty cool for gaming, so thanks for the link. :)

I wouldn't have touched that mouse myself as it has right hand crap on it that would interfere with my usage of it. That unit is a optical mouse and those are known to eat batteries. I only get the laser mice as they are less temperamental on surface and sip the AAs power. I use my pc every day for at least 8hrs and change batteries maybe once every 6 mo. When they go it just stops working. No stutters no wonky clicks. I did though have one with a failing omron switch in it as it wore out. (mouse was from 2003?) 

For me the wires kept me form doing micro movements with verts or making cuts that needed to be parallel etc. It is enough of a annoyance in my daily use it was just not acceptable. Add in the gamerfuck attitude in most pc hdw now and your getting chords that are stiffer thicker and much more annoying than a logi cord from the 90s. It did take a lot for me to abandon the old logi mice. But once those 505s came out with the laser sensor I did not look back. No more jittery responce on the media pc as I moused on my lap or a table or couch arm. No more chords getting stuck inder the monitor stand or knocking over sodas or mugs. It was like the day I got my first logi optical mouse, gone went those mice with balls, no more cleaning hand wax off their balls or little wheely things inside or plucking lint and hairs out of em.

 I did try a gameras laser chord mouse as my old 505s were passing on to the mouse heaven but that lasted all of a few months before that got tossed into my PC repair box. I tried it as it had a higher DPI sensor in a attempt to allow me to move my hand more for less movement on screen but it never panned out right and the cord again would hook up on things or weight the mouse in a way it causes inconsistent movements in my modeling.

I currently use 525s. The micro click flywheel center wheel suck balls though taken mine apart a lot to stiffen the clicker in it. Shockingly they are 19usd at amazon too used to be the 505 were like 69usd. I should get a few more at that price.

As for cheapo keyboards I would kill those things in months. The amount of cash I spent replacing membrane crap was more in one year than my first mech cost me some 6yrs ago? Hell some of those boards were not cheap either. I got a quickfire mech board for 120usd I think 5 or 6yrs ago and it still looks like new. It still works and in someways is better than the newer board I got as old membranes shorted out or lost keys or just got gross.

Speakers yeah USB speakers are shit. Ones I use on this pc are Creative T20s wanted the t40s but the extra driver made then too tall as space on my desk is tight. Maybe USB is ok for those using those DA converter amps to power loudspeakers or studio monitors. They also are wired with standard RCA connectors so left is not permanently attached to right. So as always wires are too short I can extend it with a patch cable. (doing so with them now) I probably wont ever replace em unless they break or I notice a loss in reproduction. Usually takes about 20yrs of nonstop use to wear out tweeters and that is usually what goes first unless the whoofers are using foam surrounds.

Well damn moving to a newer FF did nothing for the ram usage. Just seems to be worse than before, what you do not see is the amounts are jumping on all of those up and down by a few hundred megs. Meaning it is just running cycles over and over on my ram.
(https://madkoifish.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/wtf-ff.png)
sigh whatever happened to elegance and economy? It is liek OHH people gots 32gigs of ramz lets use it all with slipshot coding.

I have two tabs open in Firefox, it's using 600.1 MB of memory and only shows up on the task manager once.

When I used that 510, I'd forget those thumb buttons were there most of the time. Yeah, definitely not a left handed mouse. Another thing you probably wouldn't like on that one is the rubbery sides. I have yet to encounter a corded mouse with a really thick cord, but that sounds terrible. Heh, the old ball mice. Now, that's taking it back a bit. ;) I always hated having to periodically clean the wheels.

I saw that 525 on Amazon earlier, as you get results besides what you searched for on there, but I didn't click on it. It looks pretty cool. I see a lot of complaints about that scroll wheel that you don't like, so it looks like it's an issue. But then, people complain about the noise the wheel on the $7 mouse I have makes. But, that's because people just like to complain. I mean, it's under $10, deal with it or get something more expensive. :P

Whatever you do, don't ever by a VicTsing mouse, even though Amazon pushes them hard. But, that's because Amazon is the only website besides VicTsing's own website to carry them. I tried one of their mice once, it was one of those mice with the button for different dpi settings, to make the pointer "smoother." Yeah, right. no setting made that pointer smooth. It was utter crap. So, after that experience I went back to Logitech. Funnily enough, I was tired of killing Logitech mice every few months, that was why I tried that brand. After that experience, I figured replacing Logitech mice every few months was the lesser evil. In fact, I probably have 3 or 4 Logitech wireless mice laying around, from before my decision to return to the corded days. But, they're handy for laptops.

Well they put fake paracord on em or use stiff wires etc. Less thought in them than in the past. Today with the silicone tech and of micro filament wire, hell the crod on the koolertron keypad thing is of soft flexible nature good for a mouse except the shape which is like a sword a squashed diamond.

I would never look at or approach a china named mouse. Seen how well those hold up. That and anything below 19usd just screams, broke in 2 weeks, or broke in the box! lol. Also mice I am picky about so I have to hold one first. Those Steelseries mice the ambi versions look good until you see one and realize the size is like for someone with a 12" palm. (middle fingertip to base of hand) They are HUGE.

Also what you cannot see is the 525 is much smaller least in length than that 510, it was what I disliked most about that mouse (did look at them a while back like 08?) Also disliked the captured clicker arms, Had one like that that would hang up on the frame all the time. Also I think it is the way I hold a mouse. (melted hand over mouse) lol

Yeah the flywheel scroll wheel is something that is a fad in the last 6yrs a lot of the gamer mice have this feature for those snowflake fucks who cant effort to scroll normally and want to spin the wheel to scroll down a page etc. For me it means max can zoom in or out or things move when I lift the mouse to move as simple placing of the mouse on the table causes it to jump in stock form.

Odd I only replaced my old opticals when they got uh, cruddy and beyond hope of cleaning. Mostly those slippy pads would sort of uh go away someplace stuck on a sock or shoe. Damn I cannot even find them in a google search anymore lol. I bougt a mess of black ones at a pc shop ages ago for like 2$ each.
(https://www.picclickimg.com/d/l400/pict/192546824210_/Genuine-Logitech-M-BT58-Optical-Wheel-Mouse-USB.jpg)
they had really shitty feet little round hole punch sized pads that came off like on day 1 Heck the one still sealed in it's baggy in my back up repair box has them slightly coming off in the bag.

I have a mess of them and just starting FF up it is chewing ram. Sigh. I am running that 64bit ec-something 68. Some of it is likely ublock and abp as I had to use ABP on amazon as Ublock was causing fatal hangs. IE a script on amazon was targeting it to cause you to turn it off.

I actually saw a customer pic on Amazon with the 510 and 525 side by side. They were unhappy with the size difference.

I like a good solid scroll wheel myself, I hate stuff that's too sensitive.

I definitely learned my lesson on cheapo Chinese mice. I was lured in by the high rating.

I was running FF 68.01 64-bit on Win10 Home 64, with Ublock Origin and Disable HTML5 Autoplay as my active plugins when I was registering 600.1 MB RAM usage.

I think it is the forums and other high PHP loads. Try opening walmart or target and watch how things crawl.

Yeah the 505 and 525 are or were originally aimed at portable mice. The 510 was aimed at home use.

I do not think I have small hands for my typical US avg height but I find so much stuff too big. Game controllers mice etc. >_> Example that gamidas mouse was too tall in the palm area for me and too long past that so it was hard to push about with the fingers. I tend to mouse with my forearm against the table and move the mouse with the wrist and fingers.

Yeah Amazon is full of bullshit ratings. Ever since they allowed or set up that promo for review shit. People get free shit to review often they know shit nothing about the genra or product. Then add in spoofed reviews and ratings. If you dig around you'll find the same typos or same use of bad English from multiple accounts. So I have started reading all the bad reviews only.

I'm tall and I have big hands. I've always liked XBOX controllers for their larger size.

yup hated em for the same reasons 5' 11" so I was always a fan of the psx one everything was where it should be vs all those fudgy floaty analog sticks. Also types of gaming was more into ones that used a dpad and none were better short of a snes for the digital d pad. Well except maybe the Neogeo cd systems controllers.

(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Neo-Geo-CD-Controller-FR.jpg)
it ran on micro switches inside vs the spudgy nipples, and those were always the failing of many controllers as the material was very important nad many companies never clued to that fact and ended up making some utterly useless d pads. Sonys had a really stiff nipple with depth so you felt it depress and allowed those crazy combos. They also had a centering pole while many just had the pad as a siolid peice sitting on a + patterned rubber bit.

For classic style (D-Pad) controllers, I have an officially licensed Sega Genesis controller by Retro-Bit that has a USB plug. Sega entered into a partnership with Retro-Bit to make both Genesis and Saturn controllers, and they look and feel just like the originals. I bought one with the USB plug and another with the plug needed for the Genesis and compatible Genesis clones.

https://www.amazon.com/Retro-Bit-Official-Genesis-Controller-6-Button-Arcade/dp/B07NXX77V1

Analog sticks are good and in fact necessary for some games, but not for any classic style or classic games that weren't designed for that kind of input.

my fave old mouse was Logi Mx518 . corded. real soft chord.
I like higher dpi , as I can get away with minimal movements and somehow makes it easier to use even with my nerve damage. it was optical / laser mouse . all laser mice are also optical now.
both laser and optical mice use CMOS sensors to take 'picture' of the surface and return patten.

it comes down to the led or laser diode as the light source. non-laser or IR led is a simple surface return and is a very stable and reproducible per sample.     A laser is well, even the ones made for mice gonna have some drift, so the dpi of the CMOS should be higher. that's due to how the laser works and how it reacts with the surface as it can penetrate a small bit before reflecting. some laser mice can calibrate their intensity based on the quality of return( on the fly ). handy for low power situations. lasers allow for a lower power type of CMOS sensor to be used.

ir led optical mice are physically more precise in movement in all speed ranges if using the same CMOS sensor.
they only illuminate the surface of even fabric mouse pads or plastic-like special print pads.
the laser will actually have a diffraction a distortion in the returns from the non-hard surface like fabric. because of that the laser mouse can appear to jitter or be unstable if the dpi or the refresh of the CMOS is too low. Also why some mice have a calibration too in their app for a given surface.

I have helped people use old mice CMOS as cameras for DIY pick and place units.

anywho re mice: https://www.pcgamer.com/gaming-mouse-myths-busted/

as far a keyboard I use  a new-ish daily driver
Corsair K55 and my mouse is a Scimitar Pro  ( yeah both have RGB, that only serves to remind me what profile is running )
it has 6 dedicated macro key on left. It's membrane but I don't really mind it as much as I thought I would. It is a no ghosting fully non-blocking keyboard. I could press every key at once almost LOL

one curious thing is it has 2 sets of profiles, one set flashed to the device and one set when plugged into a  computer running iCUE. the mouse is the same way.
the mouse is a special case . my logi 518 spoiled me for switchable dpi at the mouse. for gaming or for other work, it made my f'ed nerves not a problem.
the Scimitar pro  has a set of dpi you can cycle through, but it also has a 'sniper' mode that when a button is held it goes to whatever dpi you set for 'sniper'. but ... buttons. it has a 12 button keypad for the thumb. LOL
and yeah i use em. I have not set up a blender profile ... yet but coding I have them set to a bunch of common things. so much so i have not set much into my keyboards macro keys.
though between the mouse and keyboard any key is re-mappable or able to be a whole macro.


I keep telling myself I'm gonna make my own gamepad ... but always end up just buying one.

I don't know, there are things I DIY, but a game controller isn't one I'd even consider. (see attached)

Depending on what kind of features and quality you're going for, you can get USB game controllers starting under $10 and going way up into the stratosphere in pricing. I personally find the XBOX 360 controllers (official ones) to be sturdy and comfortable, but the same could be said for Playstation controllers. I also like these:

https://www.walmart.com/ip/PowerA-Wired-Controller-for-Xbox-One-Blue-1508493-01/296542128

I have a blue one just like that, but it didn't have the cord, that I got for about $10 where I work. Naturally, the missing cord thing wasn't an issue for me. ;) We had a black one in our clearance/open box/damaged packaging section yesterday. If it's still there today, it may be coming home with me. I use the blue one for my XBOX One, but I wouldn't mind one for my computer too.

yeah i was thinking of a xbox one as well.

I have some old Xbox clone ones, they are ugh ok. GTAV has some poor code in it where if an xbox clone becomes unplugged the game wont recognise it if you plug it back in , however, something in the legit xbox controllers never has that issue. its stupid and lazy use of direct input i recon, possibly even on purpose if R* ever took some $$ form MS to keep it that way. most other games( i own and have encountered ) don't give a fig and actually handle devices properly. It's like 5 lines of code to 'fix' it . LOL

but one thought for a DIY was simply 3d print out a new chassis for an existing controller, but no real value in that rite now.

what i nee dis a device that with le don either side of my monitor can alert me to where sounds are coming from being single side deaf really screws up first-person games.

i think there are apps for hearing impaired but i have not found many and some won't work was games think they are cheating wear.

for now, im set to mono sound on the whole system.

Yeah, my XBOX 360 controllers are only the official ones. The white one I've had since before I had a 360, I bought it specifically for playing Windows games as I was tired of Logitech controllers not lasting very long. Then I started using that controller for the 360 because I was tired of the right stick "drifting" with the wireless controller that came with it. I don't have that issue with the wired controller. Then I bought another black official 360 controller for the Steam Machine, though I rarely use it. I played through Batman: Arkham Knight on my desktop using that controller, and I found I had an easier time controlling the Batmombile than I did when I played the game (not all the way through) on the PS4.

Quote from: Prime_8 on Aug 07, 2019, 11:01 pmfor now, im set to mono sound on the whole system.

That's what I was going to suggest.

Quote from: scifidude79 on Jul 30, 2019, 11:25 pmThe drafts are pissing me off too. When it saves the draft, it (sometimes) momentarily takes my cursor out of the text box. I'm usually in the middle of typing when it does this. It's really annoying.

This is still an issue and it's still annoying. SFM did that to me earlier too. If these damn sites are going to save drafts, it should be a process that's totally in the background.

SFM is a separate script so it is easily banned/blocked.
ublock code
forums.scifi-meshes.com https://forums.scifi-meshes.com/applications/vanilla/js/autosave.js script blockSFM is the easiest to fool with as everything is on the sigular host and is broken up in ways you can easily snoop about and change crap. I do ban the fontausome shit though. Loads of tracking crap from there.


And UGH used some dielectric (a type of silicone grease) on my spacebar and now it is too lubed. Hate rattly space bars.

What I hate about the xbox outside of the meathook size is the screwed up control placement. Sony at least kept that linear with the dpad above and analogs below. Overextending the thumb to that upper analog is ugh. Sega controllers were OK, I had at one time a huge box of OG controllers for the genesis got em for like 5$ 150 or so of them unopened. When I moved from Seattle I just left them in the attic. Shit is probably still up there.


Dunno what all the horseshit about IR and laser is about. Laser I find tracks on everything but glossy opaque surfaces. While the LED or IR mice will only work on a rough surface or a evenly patterned one Hence why early optical used a special pad with a HEX pattern on it (SUN MICRO). If it is a loose weave like pants or a couch they shit huge sticks of fits. As for all the jitter nonsense, I have had no issue with laser, optical will jitter all over or even do weird shit with lint,dust, and hair. I have used laser mice for over 16 years now and not experienced anything mentioned.
 Pick nits and semantics all you want in the industry OPTICAL refers to a visual light led while laser refers to an IR laser.

Worst experience I have had is with older wireless mice, if you have too many(same brand/make) the wireless signals will cause glitching. (older 505s before the unifying receiver) This is like on the same pad so a 8" circle. Occurred with 3+ mice. Not likely a situation for most out there.

Oh forgot the mention of IR led. I forgot the 525 is a "advanced" optical which is a IR led vs a proper laser. I do not notice much of a difference between them. Maybe less battery life.  if one would pick nits the laser has maybe 5mm lift vs the IR which is closer to 1 or 2 cm.

What one really needs is REPLACEMENT feet. Have to open the mouse to clean gunky wheels and all the YUCK they pick up but that means pulling feet. 525 is also gross in that regard as the feet are really rough like and do wear surfaces a lot more.

Looking at m325s (thinking these are the replacements for the older 315s) for my mum atm as she says the 525 is to large lol.

Ah man you can tell these 325s are women's mouse all the reviews are "cute" gush gush dawwww and in photos are all women's hands. Tempted to get one for myself too in some ghastly color, least then when I grab it unseen I know it is another systems mouse. Always grabbing the wrong mouse atm. All different colors but same shapes.

now time ot yank this failing hdd whatever # ADD is it has gone up from ABA through all sorts of hex(guessing) numbers over the last 3 days but it is red in crystal so welp time to rip it out before the 3rd pagefile on it causes a system hang. Fucking crypto miners have hdd prices like 2X or more the prices they should be at 150USD for a fucking 4tb meh rating drive. And what is all this bullshit marketing speil NAS, Surveillance. etc probably just slightly different firmwares to degrade em for these supposeave ratings and man would think 5400rmp and 5900rpm would have gone extinct by now. fucking 40mbps internal speeds sigh.

I have a black 325. Yes, it's tiny.

HDD has ADD
(https://madkoifish.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/hdd-add.png)
and yeah I should move to the plain version of the app. Keep forgetting to go dl it.

yeah you have no uncorrectable errors yet so your data is still 'ok' but that bugger might be on a fast path to the scrapper.

I have a job interview for a promotion today in 30 min. It's for my Boss's job. ( I'm not sure he knows about it )

He's retiring soon, anyhow but he has kinda done some stuff and gotten in a bit of trouble, so I think they might be gonna 'retire' him. He was supposed to retire 2 years ago. But yeah he's been ticking the client off.

I would say poor guy but he causes my wife and me lots of trouble over the last 3 years.

So in a few days, I should know the outcome.

Uh, got the job, the office called me in. asked if I could just come right away. Small interview with the  CEO and ops manager.  Done, I had the job.

They called me at times throughout the morning asking me questions, and that's when they wanted me to come in for an interview, but  They kinda had their mind made up last night but needed to get some answers on the record.

Congratulations, Scott. :D

Quote from: Prime_8 on Aug 13, 2019, 08:27 pmUh, got the job, the office called me in.

CONGRATULATIONS!  Well done, my friend.

Thanks, guys

I have to now fill my old position ,  and do a bunch of training and upping of certificate levels.
Oh and all by Friday 23rd. LOL

Quote from: Prime_8 on Aug 15, 2019, 04:26 amThanks, guys

I have to now fill my old position ,  and do a bunch of training and upping of certificate levels.
Oh and all by Friday 23rd. LOL

Oh man.  Sounds like you'll have your hands full.  Good luck!

yeah, I want the certs and stuff done while the old boss is still there so I can go off to a conference room or empty office and do the certs and stuff in the regular day. The civil servant one takes like 4 hours and some other security-related ones are the same, so almost a full workday just on certs.
If all goes to plan the is my last 3 night shifts, unless someone gets sick and I have to cover for them.

Even though you won't need it, good luck, my friend!

Luck I need now is filling my spot haha. I need FT guy now.

Quote from: Prime_8 on Aug 16, 2019, 06:41 amLuck I need now is filling my spot haha. I need FT guy now.

You can get it done!

What's FT? Full Time? Field Technician? Finger Twiddler? F***ing Tourist? (those are just a few off the top of my head)

^^ lol , FUlltime

I figured that was it. But, it never hurts to be sure.

day 1 of doing some stuff for a new position.   Doing the security clearance fingerprinting, was fine had a great first victim, er I mean subject, err I mean an employee. the form was done well, the guy was happy, and no one got covered in ink! ( any place they should not have) sorted. LOL

lil more of the same tomorrow, possibly some security tests to do.

It sounds like a lot of fun. ;)

lol yeah. ha ha

I have more fingerprints to take and systems to learn tomorrow. LOL

Wow!  A real Security gig!  Cool!

Ah, fingerprinting. Probably more fun for the person doing the fingerprinting than the one being fingerprinted. ;)

yeah, some of the systems I used to just use. I now have to know how to change and create things in.
 
Essential head fo security for a federal research facility. There are loads of lil' things, mainly forms.
Some things are so controlled, there are literally forms to use some forms. LOL

but most of it is just being personable with the public and doing what the client wants. It's rare up here to need to do the security thing beyond kicking self-entitled people who can't read out of a private lot.
I mean there a 2 huge signs and some small ones that say a private lot and such. But students and (worse) the parents think they are special and 'will only be a minute'. LOL, they never are.
" Don't you know who I am at this school?!?! " 
A: "sir, don't know who you are at the school, but you are about to get a ticket for parking in a private lot that has nothing to do with the university "
usually met with a blank stare a quick look around, " we are on campus ?"  .. nope you are on private property adjacent to the campus. The more $$$$ the more entitled they act.
last back to school season.
one parent  waiting for thier kid , was " i don't believe you, call the cops they will straighten you out " lol
A:" sir you don't wnat me to call the cops "
 they then were adamant I was wrong and it was not only university property but public.

the cops showed up at the guys' request who promptly wrote him a ticket 535$.
A: " I told you you dint want me to call them for you ."
no helping some people.

^ that's all really rare tho

Yeah, rich people are stupid. They act like the whole world revolves around them. Then their little entitleist kids are bad too. My second job was working in one of the dining facilities for a local expensive college. ($40k a year 19 years ago) The only kids who weren't spoiled little bastards were the ones going there on scholarships or grants. I was only there a few months.

well, save 2 online courses left to finish.  I'm the boss now.  The last one turned over his keys and pass card and stuff today.
In all, it was a good day.

Did you get the key to the executive crapper? That's probably the most important thing. ;)

Quote from: Prime_8 on Aug 23, 2019, 09:51 pmwell, save 2 online courses left to finish.  I'm the boss now.  The last one turned over his keys and pass card and stuff today.
In all, it was a good day.

Quote from: scifidude79 on Aug 23, 2019, 10:47 pmDid you get the key to the executive crapper? That's probably the most important thing. ;)

Congratulations Scott!

And scifidude79, hysterical!

Congrats Scott.

Well you guys I am sure noticed that I have been away for the last week. I took my family away for a holiday, the first one we had in two years. Could not afford to go overseas as we barely been able to save anything in the last two years. (each time we had a bit of cash put as side for a holiday something come up where we had to use it. Issue with the car that needs to be fixed etc.) So we opted to do a staycation and went down to the Devon coast for the week and stayed in a British Holiday Camp. If you ever saw the British TV show Hi Di Hi you get the idea.
The kids had a great time and that is what matters.

(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/62/b9/68/62b968d0b309614ab3282f9e82c23f95.jpg)

Anyway I am back and my refit Connie is calling.

Can't wait to see your further progress.  And I'm assuming that the image is from Hi Di Hi, and not a picture of you and your family at the British Holiday Camp ...

Glad to know you guys had fun, Dean. :)

Thanks Guys.

Eric, I was going to say that me in the middle on the left, but unfortunately he is a little on the white side. needs to have more of a permeant TAN. ;)
No that is the cast of the show, loved it in the 80's. They don't make it like that anymore.

ha! thats mad.

Yeah, a staycation is all that's in our future.


scifidude79, I have keys to every crapper in the building, haha.

doing/taking fingerprints is fun .. or as I like to call it 'arts n crafts' ( *extream sarcasm mode )

~ picking up the pieces from the crap the old boss just neglected because he knew he was going.

New toy:

(https://evilgenius180.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/img_0029.jpg)

Full details here:

https://evilgenius180.wordpress.com/2019/08/26/raspberry-pi/

scifidude79, that is very cool!

Quote from: scifieric on Aug 28, 2019, 09:01 pmscifidude79, that is very cool!

Thanks. It's pretty nice. Some systems (like the N64) still have to be emulated on something more powerful, but it works great for older systems.

Cool toy, how did you get it to accept a SD card that big?  I thought they tend to choke a little on the big ones.

Quote from: ozylot on Aug 29, 2019, 03:18 amCool toy, how did you get it to accept a SD card that big?  I thought they tend to choke a little on the big ones.

I didn't know that. Maybe that's why Retropie kept doing some weird stuff and taking forever to load. Recalbox handles the card like a champ. That's what I'm running because I like it better than Retropie.

https://www.anandtech.com/show/14804/amd-settlement

You guys think I can get one of those big $35 payouts?

(https://evilgenius180.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/system_summary.png)

Probably not, since I don't live in California. :P

By the way, I think most people need to be honest here and admit that they knew all along that it wasn't really an 8-core, it's just a hyper threaded 4-core. I mean, I sure did. It's still a good processor, though.

Quote from: scifidude79 on Aug 29, 2019, 06:35 amI didn't know that. Maybe that's why Retropie kept doing some weird stuff and taking forever to load. Recalbox handles the card like a champ. That's what I'm running because I like it better than Retropie.

Back when I first got one, I had a 64gb one that I couldn't seem to get working properly. Apparently if it's over 32gb it needs to be formatted differently before loading any software. I do remember reading somewhere that the larger cards on the pi suffer slowdown the bigger the capacity.

Quote from: ozylot on Aug 29, 2019, 12:43 pmBack when I first got one, I had a 64gb one that I couldn't seem to get working properly. Apparently if it's over 32gb it needs to be formatted differently before loading any software. I do remember reading somewhere that the larger cards on the pi suffer slowdown the bigger the capacity.

All I did was use balenaEtcher to put the OS on the card. That created its own partition scheme and formatted the partitions. It works, that's all that matters to me. :)

Quote from: scifidude79 on Aug 29, 2019, 01:04 pmAll I did was use balenaEtcher to put the OS on the card. That created its own partition scheme and formatted the partitions. It works, that's all that matters to me. :)

Fair enough, that is the important part anyway. ;)

I bought the 128 so that I could load it up with stuff like Playstation roms, which are much bigger than cartridge games. But, I can't even get those to launch. I may try Sega CD, though.

Hrm that AMD things reads like semantics. I mean are they not physical cores on a shared die hyperthreading is a virtual core, no hdw etc. Just 2 pathways in the same chip. Ah comments section comes in again with better explanation of the situation, nothing new there. . . . . . . . . Dunno I think the suit was a stupid one. Semantics and picking nits. They still were quite good for rendering what few multithread renderers that were available back then.

As for ability to qualify it reads as a calif court of law so youll be exempt. If anything it might prompt more sue happy tards into filing claims. And laywers with greed in their hearts to file those claims.

HAh those admin fees, it is like the breathing air fee the leaving skin cels fee, the giving off of odors fee.


Larger keyfobs use EXfat, dunno if that relates to SD cards but I had a hell of a time dealing with it when making installers or bootable fobs, and ones for my subaru usb port out of some cheapos I got. Avoided getting into Pi and other small devices. If I didnt have so many pcs laying about I probably would have a pile of those instead >_> The idea though of having one of those vs all the old consoles is great. I would def would want psx and n64 dreamcast emu.  Hell I found a Sega Saturn when tearing the front room apart. Do not htink I can even test it as I dunno if I have the cables to hook it up. Damned custom wire things. Reminds me how much the old psx was lauded for having RCA and Svhs ports. I think it might be one I was in the middle of switch modding, used to do a lot of that crap and soldering those jump chips in psx to play roms or JP releases.

Yeah, it was a stupid lawsuit. I'm pretty sure the kind that would only fly in California, as it seems you can sue anyone about anything in California. It is a hot debate over whether it's a true 8 core, as it's essentially four "split" cores, equaling 8. All I know is, I get 8 little squares when I'm rendering, which means it goes faster. It's also funny that the "six" and "quad" core chips using the exact same architecture weren't covered, only the "eight" core processors were in the suit.What it amounts to is some butthurt customers contacted a lawyer, who smelled a payday. While no single person represented in the lawsuit can claim more than $7500 in "damages," the lawyers are looking to get &3.63 million if they take the maximum 30%. So, we all know who is making money here.

You know I was joking about wanting a piece of that. What's $35? I can maybe buy some case fans or a CPU cooler with that. (and just qualify for free shipping on Walmart dot com) The last time I know of that something I bought was covered by one of these suits, it covered the floppy drive in my first computer, which never worked right. I think I could have claimed about $20, but I had to show proof of the computer in operation. It was a Windows 98 machine, and this was about 15 years ago. Needless to say, it wasn't worth the effort. Even if I was covered in this one, it wouldn't be worth it for such a little amount.

What you can format a drive to all depends on your software. Some formatters will insist on using EXFAT on a larger drive, others won't. I was using Gparted, which is an open source Linux formatting utility. It had no issue formatting the whole drive to FAT32. Really, insisting on EXFAT due to the drive/partition size is stupid anyway. FAT32's main limitation is on file size, as it can't take files of 4GB or larger. However, I can just as easily save a file between 4GB and 20-something GB on a 32GB drive as I can on a 128GB drive. So, that's an idiotic limitation. The size of the drive doesn't necessarily mean I'm going to save larger files, I may simply want to save more smaller files.

But, yes, I'm sure the formatter ozylot used insisted on EXFAT, which the Raspberry Pi doesn't like.

I also have a gaming rig hooked up to my TV for modern games, and I can fortunately do N64 and PS1 (and even PS2) emulation on that. Hell, I can even play my PS1/2 discs using my USB DVD-RW drive.

well was not the cpu only 85$ I mean 35$ of that is a big discount. >_> Hell even on a 350usd intel part getting that much off is well worth the effort.

I can see where people can see it as a 4 core or 8 core as it all bottlenecks down but it really isnt comparable to hyper threading or whatever it is AMD has now. As someone mentioned they did nothing to define a core means. Yeah I remember the floppy drive thing it was like suddenly none worked right or they failed or read anf failed by ruining the disc hence eating the data. Started in win98se when XP came out I think.

EXFAT makes no sense either way NTFS it. or Gpart etc. More so on fucking cards and fobs. If I remember correctly it is the foreester stereo that did not like the EXFAT. I tend to use fat32 or ntfs as it works with most of the junk I have IE dvd readers, bluray, stereo, cars, router, and one of the TVs. Efat meh usually breaks everything including the pc. Eyah one of the pcs said it wouldnt communicate at usb3 speeds due to the EXFAT format and thus will run at usb2 speeds. It is like why buy a usb3 fob to use it at usb2 speeds?????

ps 1n 2 games on pc I might be intrested in that have to go read up on that shit. I cannot find my component out for my blue psx and ps2 so I am suck with shitty rca or svhs (my ps2 is gen1) Hell that is if either even works anymore they been sitting in a drawer for the last 20yrs. hah.

Looking at tvs atm torn on all the formats now oled qled led etc and need that chroma 4 4 4. so it is AUGH looking at all these things that look the same. . and then I have to wonder if my 460 will do 4k output lol.

Oh yeah might not matter to most here but FRYS is going the way of the dodo. T_T been a institution for years since like 1992. Went in thinking the cryptominers sucked all the hdds out to find the store stripped and hardly anything in stock! SUCKS as it was the last brick and mortar shop to have hdds components and electronic bits like resistors caps etc. Solder not that shit leadfree tin stuff at homerepo. Was a great place to get deals in ext hdds keyfobs sdcards etc without being scammed by amazon shit gotten too many sdhc cards that were not what they were printed as IR 64gig cards that are really 4gig. (not 3rd party shit) Leaves best buy which is more like "worst fuck" People all act like they are being paid 4.50 a hr and well the place isn't best buy of 2004.

Yeah, I may upgrade that desktop to something faster, especially for rendering. That's where it really slows down.

UGHHHH looking at tvs as my old one from sheesh I dunno how long ago now 2005? is just getting dimmer.
I know I want 4.4.4 chroma and qled over oled (so no lgs)
I had considered a TCL? screen but once I saw multiples of them in various shops bestfuck, Target, wallyworld they just looked like crap.

Hoping to keep to the cheap end as I know or have a hunch my 460gtx card in the media pc wont have the right HDMI whatever to send the signal out. So I know at least 150 has to be spent on one of those, a 1660gtx maybe? or 1030, 550(AMD) that is if whatever tv has HDR.

Samsung QN65Q8FN FLAT 65" QLED 4K UHD 8 Series Smart TV 2018
looking at that but the pricing is high exp when reviews mention 1300usd. ATM it looks like amazon has it at 1600.

This tv is a example of the wtf things on it BIXBY yeah nice but I do not want a tv with ears. Dunno if anyone here has shopped or just kept up on these things but I dunno what to avoid or what to look for anymore really. Some ways I can bet 400usd of the tv is stuff I do not need or want. I just want the screen no speakers no computer or smart things shit. I mean wtf monitor your fridge????

Anyhow anyone know anything about this or have recommendations? I def do not want to spend over2k. I will basically use a pc on it and nothing else. Light emulation gaming and some old RTS games and maybe some old games. Mostly videos websurfing and music. Oh I might do what eg did and stick a Pi or some other device to it)

Oh the pc is a intel6600 16gigs ddr4 and a 460gtx and I forget a 600w psu maybe more, been moving those around a lot lately and win 8.1. (tried it out never reinstalled win7 due to a NVME drive)

lol what the fuuuuh
https://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-GV-N1030OC-2GI-Nvidia-GeForce-Graphics/dp/B07646VQ6T/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1SGSA73F28P42&keywords=1030+gt&qid=1567157390&s=gateway&sprefix=1030%2Caps%2C185&sr=8-1
why pay 80usd expert install on a 89usd card?!?!?!?!?!

Man amazon has some tard options to drill down. vram size memory type but no model type gpu type etc. I mean I have no interest in 1600usd gpus. FFFF and vram and memory type are useless as I do not care about those more the merrier if the price is right lol.

I know, I know I keep spamming amazon urls

https://www.amazon.com/GIGABYTE-GeForce-GV-N1030SL-2GL-Silent-Profile/dp/B072HRD3CY/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=nvidia+1030&qid=1567160808&refinements=p_n_feature_keywords_two_browse-bin%3A6147184011&rnid=6147177011&s=pc&sr=1-2


Scroll down past the customers who viewed this.. .past special offers, read the warning section. . . . .

I am leaning towards the AMD 550 or 560 as prices are a bit shit on these, should be in the 70usd range but whatever IS in stock are jacked up to 100~120usd and that much for a 1030 is stupid. Also 1030 is hdmi with a singlelink dvi, really? single link, this is 2019 how about hdmi and displayport and fuq the dvi port.

Heh, yeah, "expert installation" is a goddamn joke. You pay that much for what? Some turd shows up at your place and puts it into the PCI-E slot? Maybe installs some drivers? Is that worth $80? Nope.

For TVs, I'm not sure. I have a 43" Sanyo I bought at Walmart a couple years ago. It's pretty basic; 1080p, 3x HDMI, component/composite input, VGA. No apps, no camera or microphone to spy on me. That's about all I need in a TV. I have an MSI Radeon RTX 580 in my gaming desktop, which is plugged into one of the HDMI ports. The Pi is on another and, once I move some stuff around, the XBOX One is the only thing that will be on the other HDMI port. I'm going to put the XBOX 360 on the component and that's about it. Everything else is getting boxed up. I can run most older systems through emulators, and play 3 generations of XBOX games between the two consoles.

I'd definitely stay away from TCL, I think they're a cheapo brand. I've heard good things about Hisense TVs, and I don't think you can really go wrong with brands like Philips or Sharp. Whenever we run TVs on sale for Black Friday, those two brands sell like crazy. Others (like Element) don't. I also own an older Sharp Aquos, 32" 720p, and it's a good TV.

By the way, for emulation, I don't know if you know about The Emulator Zone:

https://www.emulator-zone.com/

It's a great resource for finding the best emulators for various systems.

Hisense is basically the same thing as TCL Chinese manu stuffing generic panels in a frame.

I really dislike the smart stuff but atm you cannot find a screen in any large size that does not have it. Heck I was lucky with that 32" I had in my room. But now anything 4k has junk in the trunk. Also heard that roku in the tcl is pretty crap. The Samsung I was looking at is sold out most places or pulled as the new crap is coming out in sept or nov. Which sucks as it means I missed by a few months massive price drops. Wally even had it but wont show last price as it is sold out. (hate that)
I think it is funny in the past importance was placed on the remote and connectors now it is just left to spec sheets and having to find a review or the manu site to even get a image of it. . . . ugh.

Other issue is my old surround amp wont pass 4k as it I do no teven think was a agreeedupon format when I bought the stupid thing. So I have to figure out how to get decodeable 7.1 etc to it from the pc heh. Forget if it has a toslink or composite as I do not  think the arc thing on the tv will work but then thats 2 hdmi cables in and out of the tv so heh. Also forgot the amp has all sorts of stupid onscreen crap too. Again HATE THAT. In a way I really HATE this surround amp period. Once sone ES lost its thing it seems all these things went the way of stupid. Like if I bitstream to it from the pc over hdmi itll lock out all surround settings and auto choose what it thinks is being sent. Works ok for most films but things like youturd anime etc with stereo I cannot do anything but left and right speakers which sounds pretty shit. Vs a phantom center or some other central option like voice freq to center or even muxing left and right into center. AUGHHH "shakling hands in air" My old amps I could just choose dolby surround and it would shunt a fake center channel for stereo.

Anyhow if I go with that 8n or whatever tv hopefully I can find it local vs amazon where I will probably have to order 3 or 4 as they break panes like mad using shit ups or those private couriers who drop shit and never knock. 2k tv on the porch in the 110f temps yeah. fuckwits.

Cool have to check the url my last foray into emu stuff was IRC servers and usenet. lol. Got a buttload of stuff for the dreamcast I never got around to getting up and running. I think I got as far as installing win CE on it and a web browser and played a few import games.

Dreamcast is one of the systems I want to get into emulating. I have fond memories of some of those games. In fact, anything Sega is on my list. I already have a bunch of Master System and Genesis (and some 32X) ROMs on my Pi, and that's just for starters. There's still Game Gear, Sega CD and Saturn to look at. It's too bad Sega over reached in the '90s and fizzled. Still, there's some good stuff out there.

If you plan to do Nintendo 64 at all, I highly recommend Project64. That's a kick ass emulator. Mupen64++ is good too. Though, if you get that one, be sure to grab the DL link from The Emulator Zone. Trying to go to their homepage to get the file the other day was a bunch of bullshit. I wound up with some crap I never wanted and had to purge it from my computer. I only grabbed Mupen because Goldeneye was glitching on Project64 on my gaming rig. But, that was a graphics error specific to that machine. It's a solid emulator.

Like I said, I really don't know on tne TV. Like you, I keep mine until they die, then worry about upgrading. I only bought the one I have now because the 32" Sharp was too small for the room. I watch a lot of Japanese Kaiju films, and I don't want to strain to read the subtitles.

I don't know why TVs these days have to have all those apps. Well, really I do. It's yet another platform to get ads in front of us. But, those apps are totally unnecessary. Roku sticks and boxes are really cheap. And, those of us with modern game consoles can put apps on them.

Sega was a bad arc of timing and hdw choices. It showed being first to market is not always smart. Best to time to release at or right after another brand say nintendo. This happened to that company as well. The hdw just was either too complex (architecture) or just too slow or limiting.
Issue of releasing between cycles is your competing with older hdw that has matured and been worked out with new hdw and code base that is new and unknown so it is harder to work. And in so doing as your matures the new crop is comming and you then gotta fight the hew stuff. And if you guessed wrong with the hdw choices it could be bad news.

There were other issues such as 3rd party and getting start up games out there on Sega and later Nintendo (latter leaned way too much on it's franchise to sell, still does)

Yeah golden eye is the one title Id want n64emu for over time I have forgotten most of the others. N64 was a pain to play fighters on etc.

Yeah I am more of a TV is a monitor guy. I could see though that having say amazon prime flix hulu and other stream soft in the tv but like all those toy features in the brd player I have they slowly become retarded or removed. The youtube on that thing only does like 480p or 340p if that mono audio pandora flopped as well as the other 2 things they had. Some of the tvs I do see buy into say the android market so anything android will run so over time the software will be maintained by the host vs the tv manu. A good thing until the os on the tv is too old.

I am guessing this is the "you do plan to buy a new one in 2 yrs anyhow dont you??" attitude.

I really loved the dreamcast mostly for it being the first to be able to send a signal to a pc monitor. Back in those days even a 600X480 rez signal looked sharper and "solid" compared to a TV. Even if it was a VGA analoge connection >_>
Then came the roms for it and fan apps and games. I do not really remember any one key game except maybe the one I had to buy it for "sega GT" as it was for a job. But it was unlocked out of the box and was so easy to fool with. I also liked the formfactor small as possible for the components inside. Sadly I again think I have lost all the cables and things over the years.

TV size is very much a matter of pixels and room size. Room the tv is in is 20X25 or so. So I am guessing a 65 might be right or just a tad large. The couch isnt on the back wall as my pc set up is there. And well I think 4k on a 55 might be a tad tight for pc use. IE navigating the menus without blowing up the UI into kiddy UI feel. Win8 has a real crap interface that is even more restricted than win7. Miss XP in some ways as you could easily adjust specific text fields and bits of the OS. Win8 atm has this fat window frame I just cannot get rid of. Drives me NUTS.

The whole 4k thing is annoying in some regards as I might need cables as well and the worry of power to push that even with 1080p video maximized over that span. I also want to upgrade my pc monitors in time had hoped to use this years SOTL to do that with a 32 4k (do not think a 27 is gonna be large enough for 4k) so I can return to a 2 monitor set up. Retire my 24s to other uses. And at that I dunno if my 770 can even do that rez on displayport and manage the 2560X1440 cintiq on hdmi. lol AUGH heh. EXP as replacing that card would be at least a 400usd+ job. a 2070 or something. That shit is so overpriced atm.

Yeah, Sega's problem was having one console to rule them all, the Genesis. With the 32X and Super Sega CD add-ons, the Genesis could run 16-bit games, as well as both 32-bit games and CD games. So, when they released the Saturn, nobody really gave a crap. They already had hundreds sank into the Genesis and various add-ons. Then there was the Dreamcast. Such a great console, so poor execution in its launch. By then, though, Sega was on its last leg, much like Atari when they released the Jaguar.

Nintendo has had a lot of issues over the years. Their 10NES lockout chip in the Western NES and their shitty licensing terms had developers pissy with them. They had horrid license terms for the NES. For the first five years, a game had to be an NES exclusive. There are also cartridge shortages, meaning even companies that got licenses weren't necessarily guaranteed to be able to release to the number of copies they wanted. That's also why some games (like Pac-Man) have both licensed and unlicensed releases for the NES. Of course, they went after practically every company that bypassed the 10NES lockout chip in any way and released unlicensed games. Then with the SNES, the restrictions were lifted and companies were happy to put their games on the system. But, they still remembered the crap they endured in the '80s. The Nintendo 64's library was decent, but limited by the hardware (especially the cartridges) and salty developers deciding they'd just rather not deal with them and they went to the newcomer, Sony. That's why the Playstation's library way outshines the N64. With the Gamecube, the decision to go with those stupid little discs again hurt them. Plus, the developers had yet another option in Microsoft. But, Nintendo stayed in the game by securing some exclusives, especially Star Wars games and their own brands, like Mario, Donkey Kong, Zelda and Starfox. Also, the Gamecube cost $100 less than the PS2 and XBOX. Coming in with motion control with the Wii was a good move, that and their prices got them some sales back. They needed novelty and prices at that point, though, as their hardware was no match for Sony or Microsoft's. The Wii U was a dud, but the Switch seems to be a hit. The ability to switch between console and portable appeals to a lot, plus they're about to release an all portable version. One place Nintendo has always shone is in handhelds. The Game Boy and its various descents, Game Boy Advanced, DS/3DS and Switch have all done well.

In terms of the "replace it every two years" thinking, that pisses me off. We've become a society of disposable tech, which is really bad. Our landfills are full of that stuff. Plus, I don't know about you, but I can't afford to buy TVs every couple years or so. The one I have now was purchased because of my huge discount I get for working Thanksgiving. 25% off makes buying a TV and a stand a great idea. ;) If not for where I work and that kind of deal, I'd probably still be rocking that 32-inch and just sitting closer to read my subtitles.

I ordered a new budget computer case earlier. I've been rocking this Antec 600 gaming case for my main desktop for years, but it's in rough shape. Plus, it's too complex and pain to keep dust free. So, I'm getting a more simple case. I also ordered 16GB more Corsair Vengeance RAM, the same kind of DDR4 that's in my gaming rig. I'll order a motherboard that's also the same model that's in that computer, and a Ryzen 7 2700 when I get paid next week. One thing I like about the Ryzen 3000s being out is that prices for the 2000s have gone down. Those are my main upgrades for the desktop. I never really noticed how much that FX-8120 bottlenecks doing renders until I did renders on my Ryzen 5 2600 and then switched back to the FX-8120. Now that I've seen Ryzen speed, I can't unsee it. ;)

Nintendo always sold on gimmicks in the US at least. Ad don guns gloves and that horrid 3d virtuaboy thing. So yeah protables were the way to go. Game cube only floated cause of kids and rep. I do not think much of anyone except hardcore gotta have it all guys got one back then. I worked int he industry all through the 90s. There wa smore to the US hatred of dev and people in the industry towards Nintendo USA. So much so that most people I worked with owned only import versions of it. As you mentioned it started with that lock out but over the years even Snes had stupidity in it from the US side of things like multiple molds to invalidate carts And that cart shortage was not just a limiting of sales but to price jack the hdw.
Each iteration they did things to tick the older fans off N64 I think was multiple layers of region lock, game cube yeah those minidiscs were a choke point and only reason they used them was to circumvent people from bootlegging the games or doing what many did with the dream-cast which was make their own soft. I also dropped nintendo after n64 due to how BETA the games were. Bugs that kept you from completing a game. That 3d super mario world was full of glitches and massive alpha stage bugs. Many of which were repeatable. Anyhow as mentioned and even you eluded to Nintendo have been floating on their franchises and past rep and kids. Switch sounds like it is a "about time" device something the others never put much bank into. But today with celphones many magnitudes stronger than most past consoles heh it is xbox and sony fumbling there. Though i did want a VITA or whatever that portable was in 2008ish but again that whole fucking hdw change lottery thing meant either a lw screen inability to load X software or external storage and so on. So after looking at it and seeing hiked up prices on older hdw because of this alteration bs I just gave up. And really Sony just is not what it was in the late 90s. Sony anything now means little in the world of high end. Maybe tvs are about it but I never even looked at one since 2000.

Sony I think fumbled with the PS2 a bit the hdw was ridiculously clunky and the drives were a bit meh. But mostly it was the constant revisions and changes to the hdw and the DRM. PSX had this but mostly for improvement of hdw not stopping end users from doing this or that.

It really comes down to that DRM crap is why I quit consoles. Got sick of the do I have the right flavor of HDW to alter it do I can play import games. Like sales of imports will harm domestic sales. Most of the imports were sales of games that never saw US release. PSX wasnt so bad as I got a blue unit sadly not the TANK version with the external power brick but that allowed me to play silly alpha roms I had. Psygnosis was known to put all sorts of devious things in the alpha and beta games like mario as a spawning baddie or nekkid girls and other things. (those revs probably have all rotted away by now)


Yeah well my current one is a sharp from 2005 so heh well maybe 2006 as I did have to wait ages for that JVC and it did not look that good and had some other issue and we swapped to the sharp. BUT that cost like 3600usd then. Prior to that was a old trinatron sony from oh crap 92 93? So yeah 10yrs or more. I mean now 36" tvs costing about 150usd it isnt so bad just a case of WTF do with when dead and well being cheap and LAZY. I think LAZY has more to do with it as I am comfortable with the old one. Anyhow other than that 32 I got for my bedroom to watch youturd and draw in bed when I am sick I pretty much skipped the whole 1080p generation of screens.

Most of the stuff is being of all things SHIPPED to asia and middle east where they strip them for the components and resources inside. The screens like phones have a unique metal that is mostly only in Africa so that is scrounged as well as metals like gold etc. BUT you consider something like 3billion phones are thrown out maybe more a year. Thats a lot of crap. I watched this BBC docu about trash and they dug up clothing that was like at macys just thrown out in masse and it was just damp, it looked like it was just made. But to think that clothing usable NEW clothing was thrown out in the box load just cause it was not in season or fashion when people are scrounging for clothes. It is just a whole WOT thing. I think they dated the clothing to the late 60s. Me hell I have clothes I bougt back in the days of DS9. 1994 lol.

LOL hahah yeah I kepe looking at ryzen but it has the same flaws in all new hdw. WIN10. . . .That and I cannot believe the costs of amd mobos over the intel stuff. That and a lack of ITX least back when I got the 6600 zsomething. I think ryzen had come out by then (r5?)and the boards were 20~30% more for less or didn't exist. Ram then was a joke like 50usd for 16gigs which I think is still half of what they charge now. It is those vidda cards and hdsds that are WTF. I know some day I will HAVE to upgrade. . . . . Might move the 4770k to the media slot and take the 6600 as a stop gap.

Cases well you likely know I am picky on those. heh. Had a lot of opinons on the populars prior to the large fan era. Had a lian li and a coolermaster before they went to shit (the ATC days) I would still be using those if not fo rthe 80mm fans only in them as you mentioned cleaning and what not is a PITA. I do miss the pull out trays though. I also hate all the tooless crap. Just plain ugly with bits of shit all over that generally does not work from day 1 or breaks off. Only tooless things I liked were thumb screws and those trays lian li had in many cases post oh 2008 or so. Drives were screwed into trays but they slid in on rubber knobby things and locked in with a single sliding mechanism. ATM the go out and get case would be a fractal anything or a Phanteks Evolv and maybe some of the corsairs. It would have to be either painted/powdercoated (smooth) or alum interior. No bare steel as that is the worst to clean and just is ugly. Really dislike those cases with a glass front panel right against the front fans too. Or DOORS. and a tiny intake at the bottom of the door. And for me no more mega cases. lol. Compact no waste space things with plenty of radiator mounting options. But yeah for that 100$ case corsair or fractal are some of the best, least in my opinion. Not a fan of NZXT wont touch thermaltake. Though really should be safe if you avoid the OEM chassis, get a case where the chassis is either brand specific or is made for that case itself.

MM that corsair 275r in white isnt bad looking though just looking at thumbs vs a full interior.

Cleanlines AVOID powder coat finished that are textured. My 600d is a BITCH to clean up.

oh my wall of words. . . sorry hah.

edit: UGH my lazor printer just crapped up on me. all black and messsy. sigh

I'm pretty much done with consoles myself, which is why I only plan to keep two hooked up. Even going back to the DOS era, computer games are better. Looking at a game like Star Trek: 25th Anniversary, a game that came out on NES, GameBoy and DOS. The DOS version looks like a '90s game, the other two look early '80s. Though, I don't fault the GameBoy version for being what it is, after all the GameBoy was the first 8-bit handheld. But, the NES version just doesn't hold up VS the DOS version. Going later into the '90s with games like Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire, you get such a better version with the Windows version. It's voice acted and got animated cut scenes. The N64 version has all text and SNES style still images as opposed to animation. Then there's games like Rogue Squadron 3D and Episode 1 Racer which, along with Shadows of the Empire, all have superior graphics. And, don't even get me started on the SNES versions of games like Doom and Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, both of which pale in comparison to the Windows versions, especially Starfleet Academy. And, all of these games are available for modern computers thanks to stores like Steam and GOG. GOG will even let you buy them DRM free, which I know is important to you and a lot of other people. Plus, there are just more games for the PC. These days, a lot of AAA games for the PC are just PS/XBOX ports, but you can get so many more indie games and exclusives for the PC than you can for any console. I'm looking forward to Steam's Autumn Sale to look at a strategy game I'm interested in. Strategy and sim games tend to suck on consoles.

So, yeah, the XBOX One S is as far as I'm going for consoles, and I use that more as a media center than anything else. Right now, I'm watching a tennis match on it via the Spectrum app. It's also my Blu-Ray player at present. By comparison, I find the PS4 to be lackluster to the XBOX One. One thing I can do with the XBOX that I can't do with the PS4 is use the aforementioned Spectrum app. When I was using Sling, it was the same story. Both will work with the XBOX but not the PS4. I think it's because the XBOX uses a stripped down version of Windows that these app makers find easier to program for, plus the XBOX One was designed more with multimedia in mind than the PS4 was. If I could go back 4 years, I'd have never bought the PS4, but you can't go back.

You're right about Nintendo and gimmicks. They were viewed as the "savior" of the video game industry after Atari crashed it in the early '80s. But, the NES itself was a gimmick. It was styled after a VCR, to mentally connect with that instead of a VG console, and was called an "Entertainment System." But, that gimmick itself was a pain in the ass. The pins on the console's cartridge port would slowly get bent, so that they wouldn't correctly connect with the cartridge. The cartridge then wouldn't be correctly read by the 10NES lockout chip, which would make it think you were running a bootleg game, and the game then wouldn't load. That was the biggest pain in that design. Then there are all of the controllers you need, even going to the newer stuff. The Wii needed a whole host of controllers to play all games, and it only came with that one nunchuck, requiring the player to purchase more controllers to play all games. As I understand it, even some Switch games require the "Pro" controller over the included Joycons. The Switch Pro controller costs more brand new than an XBOX One or PS4 controller. Of course, this leads one to wonder how that all portable Switch will handle those games.

For computer components, I'm pretty sold on Ryzen CPUs. But, not everyone is going to like them. As my friend at work who is into this stuff and I were discussing yesterday, it's just nice to see the CPU wars heating up again. This will push both companies to keep pushing their hardware.

For cases, I'm going for basics these days. This is the case I ordered:

https://www.amazon.com/Cougar-MX330-Acrylic-Transparent-Window/dp/B074RC5BWV

As I said, it's basic, but I don't need much. It looks like it has decent cable management and lots of fan ports, which is nice. I have a bunch of 120mm fans, so I can put those in. They're black, no LEDS, so the whole thing is going to have a nice stealthy look to it. :)

My gaming rig is a bit more flashy:

(https://evilgenius180.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/img_20190503_192415005.jpg)

(https://evilgenius180.files.wordpress.com/2019/05/img_20190503_185141242.jpg)

As you can see, it's got those 120s with the red rings and it also has some red trim around the acrylic front. That case is probably the best part of the whole damn computer. Though, I'm also still using the PSU, hard drive and GPU that came with it. Everything else had to be replaced a few months back.

This is the case I'm replacing:

(https://evilgenius180.files.wordpress.com/2019/04/img_20190421_182058722.jpg)

It's BIG. (and heavy) A decent sized ATX has extra room left over. Plus, you can see all the dust traps it's got. It also has no cable management:

(https://evilgenius180.files.wordpress.com/2019/04/img_20190421_182208119.jpg)

I'm just tired of it. Plus, it's got some pretty bad dents you can't even see in those pictures, mostly on the solid panel on the motherboard side of the case.

Quote from: MadKoifish on Aug 31, 2019, 12:42 amedit: UGH my lazor printer just crapped up on me. all black and messsy. sigh

UGH indeed. That sound terrible.

Playing Air Combat directly off of the PS1 CD using the ePSXe emulator on my gaming rig:

(https://evilgenius180.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/img_0032.jpg)

The beauty of it is, not only am I able to play in 1080p and enable some filters to make it look nicer, but I'm also using Xinput for my controller, so I can use analog sticks on games that don't support them through the PS1, like the game I'm playing in that picture. Air Combat came out before the Dual Shock controllers.

Yeah the laser printer was a downer as I was heading out to spend $$ on hdds and look at tvs. -_-
Looks like Im going to aim for the samsung q80r as the one I had was discontinued like 4 months ago. BAH
Reading the 400page manual it is nuts I could almost conciveably not use my media pc. It plays almost every file format supports multicannel UNICODE subs has a webbrowser and all sorts of wtf crap. And if it was not for the copywrong faggots in the US canada it would have recording timeshift etc features. Not that over air or cable sat stuff matters a hell of a lot to me anymore.

I have to see how it navigates a PC on ethernet, likely have to do a NAS software and select directories or just set up a storage drive on the router. BUT It has me thinking should I bother with the media pc anymore as the tv will have hulu apple air some other apple thing netflix amazon prime and a few others. There is some sort of app store but I have not found much info on that and some sort of on demand services as well. Likely have to sign up for a stupid samsung account. It even allows a mouse keyboard and game controllers that meet some standard I already forgot.

I do not like the idea of easy spending of $$$ on rentals but if it is a movie ot tv show one really wants to see heh. Thankfully the stupid talking google amazon and bixby thing is a opt in and you have to click a button to close a curcuit to activate the mic as it would drain the AAs on the remote.

Also sucks the UK version has a mono pole stand and comes with a full fledged remote full of buttons. lol More consume protection in the EU as some old fart likely saw one of those single button joypad remotes and had a ulcer and sued. Kinda bites the us gets a paired down version that costs a bit more. IE no recording no remote uglier feet etc. >_>
been looking to see what can be plugged into those USB ports. Like say a HUGE HDD, or fat arse fob or say a card reader or hub and a row of fobs! Likely says in the manual but it is slow going.

So only reason to use a pc now for me is CONTROLED exp with say youtube to avoid the heavily spam filled world. The flix app looks to just list stuff unlike flix on the browser which is constantly wasting your BW playing spam videos/previews while you browse. Left it on one day and found it transported over 13gigs of junk over my line.


I am shocked that Antec isnt all discolored and rusty. Not known anyone with a case from that brand to not have it go funk. LED I am more into rgb strips I can hide. I had tried led fans to use as ambient but always got frustrated as many that have them in the past wouldnt last or were to weak to light things so I always resorted to a light bar tape etc. ATM I have a strip of ikea leds in my case as I was to lazy and cheap to pay for PC branded stuff. And lazy to buy a strip of crap from amazon.
I do like some of the glass doo das as they doo look nice with a clean component set and lighting.

Image of my box or main work system,
(https://madkoifish.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/fugly.jpg?w=500)
not the best and it is really dirty there. Kinda got half through setting it up and gave up. Needs a proper floor and had always planned to do a loop in there. Also ugly arse esata cable run cause of more hdds fuqing up. . . . . been life for the last few years it seems.
Media pc
(https://bolidecascade.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/worstcaseever.jpg?w=500)
Has a slightly different arrangement but again plans that fell through as I really did not like any of the itx cases out there and really REALLY did not want to buy a ITX psu. Skinned the 460 cause I got tired of cleaning goopy dust off the vram. PNY was stolen for pagefile and work cache as it has a 980? NVME in it.
Leech box sorta. this one transitions a lot as I had 2 video card i nonce to push 3 monitors, then more hdds then sick of dust it cam out of the lancool and back into the 600d.

Crammed into a lancool case, love the hdd cages. HATE the fan mounts. HATE the mobnbo for the usb ports. Oh and HATE the ram as it HURTS to install it.
(https://bolidecascade.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/ailingpos.jpg?w=500)
Sitting in the 600D now due to needing to cram a gtx280 in there (11" card) for additional monitor connections and the need to run a single driver for both cards. . . ugh super power hog. Now I yanked the hot porker out for just the single 460. (yes I have 2)

(https://madkoifish.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/600d-leech-pc.jpg?w=500)

this is the one in a bookcase with a pile of ext hdds dvdrom and usb adapters with gutted bits all over connected to the usb ports. HAH. Even have a gutted ext hdd enclosure to work as a fan power hub to run fans on the ext hdds.
Also moved to that case cause of the hotswap hdd bays as I kept loosing old barracudas. (2tb 7200rpm drives) sadly those are rare and exp as fuck now. 4tb one is like 250usd now.

Speaking of which cause of stupid price marketing I now have a book shaped 10tb external when I went to get a 8tb seagate ext. 10usd more and no wait. The 8tb WD was 189 vs the 10tb 159. . . . . sigh.

What sort of discount does wallyworld give to employees? I see the q80r there for 3usd less than bestbuy. Might consider getting part time work there just to get the discount lol then quit. HAH. Nah probably only get discount for fulltime and after a year and then maybe 15%.

Since Im posting pics here a zoe on led xmas lights. Had em on a bookcase in the dim dark dining room/hall and tossed em on the floor and she took over them. I think it was cause they di give off some heat.

(https://madkoifish.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/ebil-zoe.jpg?w=500)

heck these images really show how bad my s5 camera has gotten over the years as they slowly "DOWNGRADE" it. grainier more compression and general looking like arse.


Oh Nintendo was famicom in japan. Idea was to produce a IBM like device and target the family in the small 2LDK rentals in tokyo of the 80s. Hence superfamicom vs nes snes They had books software for word processing coding etc. Even early modem and business stock trading stuff. Clearly that went the way of old dogturds on a un-mown lawn.

It was odd today I was dreading going into best buy. But it was the best exp I have had in one for over a decade. Like last time I shopped for a tv >_> Partly as most of the current employees are EX frys staff vs the shitheads they had there prior who know shit anything bout the products being sold. One phone guy has insisted google updates the phones like apple. Uh no it is the provider any idiot who owns a android knows that.

Anyhow now need to shop for a printer as apparently we cannot do without one. And yeah the backside of the page printed looked like someone took a roller and rolled ink on it. And it is a color printer and it looks like a faded bad XEROX. . . O_o dunno what happened I mean last time I used it it was OK a bit messy as the rollers keep picking up gunk like someone printed envelopes in it and damaged the rollers. Waste of 450usd. I do not think at all that we got value out of that. Least the brother thing I looked at is 250usd. Prints were mehhish but all I needed to do was download some brother service on my phone and printed out some crap via wifi. vs only having a test page to sample it with. Either way not really interested in a printer just do not want any more inkjets in the house. And no more HPs. BLEAHHHHHHGHHHGHGHGHH
fuck. lol

HEY another wall of text lol now off to bed so I can watch my fucking muppets tomorrow, sadly only 10eps, or rather later today. O_o Then I can later watch em in 4k and cringe at the cgi parts. That Avengers looked like a damned cartoon on those oled screens. Just as bad on qled too.. . . guess the 720p spoiled me and dithered away some of the hokieness.

Cat trap 2000
(https://madkoifish.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/cattrap2000.jpg?w=500)
Works every time. Just a paper bag and some junky crappiest of cat food. Meowmix tender centers, something in that garbage drives spot mad.

For laughs some old pc stuff.

Workarea cir 2003.
(https://madkoifish.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/tomo-pc-setup-9-25-03.jpg?w=400)
cir 98 lol
(https://madkoifish.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/tomo-cir1998-02.jpg?w=400)

worst case int ever, raw razor metals. All those round holes were jagged razors.
(https://madkoifish.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/vidcard-02.jpg?w=400)

Mess, old crt died got new one it sucked and lasted 3yrs? POS
(https://madkoifish.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/mess.jpg?w=400)
I think that is that shitty BSG ship I made ages ago. 05? note the SUN crts hahah.

view into that ACTS case. ahead of the curve with leds. . . pff I think it was a cfl then.
(https://madkoifish.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/nf2ultra.jpg?w=400)
filename cables and the gpu should date this one lol.

wood.
(https://madkoifish.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/wood.jpg?w=400)
n/c
(https://madkoifish.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/linux-box.jpg?w=400)

The add banner on your wp site covers the titles of your articles.

the Lil' doodad that lets it close is/was not easy to sport for some time.

I have a pi-cade thing. was an iso with some 200 games and stuff as a Rpi image. I planned to make a nice box and all but meh i never finished it.  i forget what it was if it was retro pi or not .

Rpi make great media projects.

You've got some nice looking computers there.

I love those "back in time" pics. In '98, I was rocking a flat Compaq Presario, it was my first computer. Black Friday bundle deal at Circuit City. I always liked them better than Best Buy, mostly because of what you mentioned with the waterheads standing around not knowing shit about the products they're selling. It's nice to know you had a good experience. We never had Fry's in this area, in fact the only store we have like that is Best Buy. ::)

Yes, cats love any random paper or cardboard thrown on the floor. Our youngest was having a blast with some cardboard from a recent Amazon or Ebay order earlier.

Quote from: MadKoifish on Aug 31, 2019, 12:20 pmI am shocked that Antec isnt all discolored and rusty. Not known anyone with a case from that brand to not have it go funk. LED I am more into rgb strips I can hide. I had tried led fans to use as ambient but always got frustrated as many that have them in the past wouldnt last or were to weak to light things so I always resorted to a light bar tape etc. ATM I have a strip of ikea leds in my case as I was to lazy and cheap to pay for PC branded stuff. And lazy to buy a strip of crap from amazon.
I do like some of the glass doo das as they doo look nice with a clean component set and lighting.

Naw, the Antec is OK, just dusty and it definitely has some sharp metal bits. Plus, as I said, no cable management. Plus, who needs a case big enough for six 3.5" hard drives and three optical bays, plus that hot swap bay in front? I mean, it's a beast and I don't really need a beast.

That case I ordered has an optical bay, which is nice. I'll probably put an optical drive in, I've got a few of them laying around, plus the one that's in this tower now. If I do any lighting in the new case, it's going to probably be LED strips. We sell them at work. But, I don't think I really need it.

Quote from: MadKoifish on Aug 31, 2019, 12:20 pmWhat sort of discount does wallyworld give to employees? I see the q80r there for 3usd less than bestbuy. Might consider getting part time work there just to get the discount lol then quit. HAH. Nah probably only get discount for fulltime and after a year and then maybe 15%.

It's 10% on general merchandise, with some caveats. Obviously, no federally taxed stuff like booze, tobacco or guns and ammo. We save on groceries during November and December, but not the rest of the year. Though, some food stuff still has discounts. Also, no clearance, but that's a given. Part time/full time has nothing to do with getting your discount, but you don't get your card until you've been there 90 days. Then there's an additional 15% for working Thanksgiving, valid for only a couple days. It's a card you can scan at the register on top of your regular discount, for 25% off your entire purchase. They used to load it onto the discount cards, but idiots would buy a candy bar, swipe their card, and get the discount. So, they changed to the cards.

Usually, I just buy some groceries or something I want out of electronics with mine. I think last year I got some clothes and shoes, plus a DVD box set. (TMNT original cartoon complete series, if I remember correctly) 2017 was the big one, I bought a $300 TV and a $100 cabinet to put it on, got my 25% off and it was $300 total before tax. :)

Quote from: MadKoifish on Aug 31, 2019, 12:20 pmOh Nintendo was famicom in japan. Idea was to produce a IBM like device and target the family in the small 2LDK rentals in tokyo of the 80s. Hence superfamicom vs nes snes They had books software for word processing coding etc. Even early modem and business stock trading stuff. Clearly that went the way of old dogturds on a un-mown lawn.

Yeah, they were marketed as Family Computers over there. However, the marketing was different in the west due to Atari marketing their consoles as computers, and them being mostly to blame for the VG crash of 1982. Then, with the N64, Nintendo finally dropped the separate name business for its consoles.

love the wood and n/c case . LOl

my old rig and workstation pics are lost to many moves. Possibly the live din the of forums before the rebuild.

ugh my works space is freaking mess rite now and my lil modded case is jest left of the mess. Only thing fancy i did was remove the factory door and cut and set a bit of some hight scratch resistant acrylic to pannel I got from a local commercial sign/display case maker.

then I laser cut some white vinyl stickers and change them every now and then.
I suppose I should give it some love and get it all sorted again. LOL

See a mess.
LOL

Heh, my desk is a mess too.

Quote from: Prime_8 on Aug 31, 2019, 01:09 pmThe add banner on your wp site covers the titles of your articles.

You mean me? I don't have any issues, and I even disabled my ad blocker. Can you maybe post a screenshot?

Quote from: Prime_8 on Aug 31, 2019, 01:09 pmI have a pi-cade thing. was an iso with some 200 games and stuff as a Rpi image. I planned to make a nice box and all but meh i never finished it.  i forget what it was if it was retro pi or not .

Rpi make great media projects.

I have a few prebuilt ones, mostly from Retro-bit. But, it's hard to know what emulators are on those. The Super Retro-Cade is the better of the two. I think I loaded some extra Genesis, SNES and arcade roms on it to see what it could do and it's not bad. But, I got bored with it. Of course, you can also load RetroArch onto a NES or SNES classic.

I like my little Pi better anyway. It gives me more of a "hands on" feeling to have put it together and configured it myself. Also, I can use whatever controller I want with it. I have an officially licensed Retro-Bit Sega Genesis USB controller on it right now, since I'm not really playing games that need analog sticks.

Though, I did have a stupid moment earlier. I loaded my microSD card up with Atari 2600 roms and went to put it back in the unit. I missed the actual card slot, and I found out the hard way there's enough space to slip the microSD inside the case, but not in the card slot. I was about to take the thing apart to get it out when I had a brainstorm. I tipped the Pi around upside down so that the microSD card wound up in the lid, then tipped it so that it slid out of the little NES-style door. So, score another one for that handy door. :)

oh well I suppose the  RGB  and fans in the case running on my own control board and firmware and app. but I never finished the front panel replacement.

I kinda halted most of the ideas or lost interest when I went deaf in my right ear.

// it was on the word press page  for the lil Rpi . I'll grab one in a sec

grabbed a quick shot of it

LOl, the smallest case build/game system/thing I built that works. ( need upgrade to external paddles. It needs 2 trimpots for controllers. LOL )

Nice. They sell kits to make those PiCades, but it looks like you DIY'd yours.

As for the ad thing, I see what you mean now. That's Google for you. ::) Clicking on the white line on the little part that curves down at the bottom of the gray area should make it retract up to the top. But, seriously, crap like that is why I block ads. I don't like stuff blocking content I'm trying to see.

lol , the Lil pong is only an inch and half wide.
has a single 8-bit AVR as a brain. 128x64 OLED panel for display. lol

yeah oper i use has add block its fine. I'm testing opera GX because well I want to see if its metrics are any use and if it truly can cap its own CPU and ram use. of course, it has a freaking store built into it but so did the old one kinda. at least GX is just a raw game store. LOL


the screen is just a small OLED module.LOL

Man, that's tiny.

Teeny tiny it would be a blue blob for me unless I took my glasses off. FFF
Id vinyl cut all sorts of crap if I had one. But I could say the same for a 3d printer etc.

The spam advert is likely tied to the theme EG is using. It is a spam hoster I would host block entirely as it is known to let bad code through and for spamming NSFW content on inappropriate sites. IE kids blog having porn adverts or "slutty" greencard girls ready to marry.

Lol Circuit City. That place really went down hill in the early 2000s. Though when I was still in San jose the late 90s were not to kind on them. We also had Goodguys least in the SJ area so i went there more often than not for electronics and compusa and computercity lol damn. I look at the mid 2000s stuff and think damn. but yeah I look at the 93 one and thing that desk, so SO 90s. that rounded oak crap is SOOOOO 90s. Look closer and you see zip drives puwahahah and a rack of floppies T_T. Joke is I still have that computer and it still works. After that one I think 97 I moved to a huge scsi based machine stuffed in one of those gigantic inwin towers.

I'm trying to think of the last time I even did a major electronics purchase that wasn't either at Walmart or Amazon. That's kind of sad, when you think about it. (Note: a Raspberry Pi is not a major electronics purchase :P) Probably that refurbished laptop I got off of Ebay several months back would be the closest. Before that, probably my XBOX One that I bought directly from Microsoft last year. In fact, I was thinking recently that Amazon should stop being my go-to for practically everything, yet I can't find better prices or faster shipping anywhere. Of course, I buy a lot of stuff at Walmart due to the fact that I'm there five days a week. ;)

But yeah, talking about stores like Best Buy and Circuit City brings back memories. Hell, I remember when going to Radio Shack was like a wonderland to me. ;) Though, I also used to feel that way about Gamestop, before I realized they were overpriced whores.

Hm I wonder if it's just buried in the CSS

we fired Netflix for upping prices and lowering service vs what it was when i first got it and my first contract said they would never raise the price for OG users. LIES!*! hahah

so along comes amazon vide 2 montsh free for pay 1 month, so 3 months for the price Netflix used to be for 1 month, hell just to try rite.

Oh what's that amazon video is actually just amazon prime ... so anything I order that is prime compatible is free and actually fast getting here !?!? 
did I mention its the same price Netflix used to be was back in the day  8$ CAD.
I get an email telling me to use amazon music, also included all 1 price.

here's the freaking awesome bit ,  there is some stuff Heather worders every month, that I found cheaper on amazon fro amazon own warehouse. I can set it to auto-send(purchase) 3 ever 3 months and I get a liek 15% discount for that!.
oh and what used to be about 23$ cad in shipping is now free and is 2 to 3x faster than where we used to get it.

so by my simplton match amazon prime has saved us more than it costs every month vs how I use to do thinsg, and it has way more of the shows we like.

other shows we like are on a free streaming service called tubi It had all the ST movies on it last month ( https://tubitv.com/ ) << free has commercials as the regular old TV does.
but hey its free and it's on-demand free, not the midstream shit some services have ( that's, where they broadcast live like a live feed tv, would be so you cna miss stuf for join mid stream )

tubitv is my fave free one .

re chip n things.
this one is a ARM 32 bit MCU  ( STM32 )  while it has a USB port on the board and it has a few serial coms hardware pins on it, It don't know how to talk USB until it's told how. That what i have that CP2002  USB to UARD (serial) converter / flasher for programming it .

once i put the maple mini bootloader on it, it will boot into a mode that emulates an Arduino functionality. The onboard USB will work and you can even flash its own subprogram space with it then.

I think maybe this year i may buy a real ST-LINK programmer because of that one has the ability to spy/watch what the MCU is doing while the MCU is running normally outside of program mode.

So if you Know how to code in c/c++ ( or Arduino C ) and wann leave thr 8bit world  and move to 32bit  ARM Cortex
or buy em ready to rock as Arduino ready bootloader onboard >> example >>
https://www.amazon.ca/STM32duino-Blue-Pill-STM32F103C8T6-72MHz-Installed/dp/B07B2D4QKY

If you are old enough to remember BBC micro's or later Acorn computers, They became ARM, this is the legacy.
that one chip has about 4 times the computing power of some of the early NASA flight control computer altogether.

Arduinos are mostly 16MHz, STM32 is 72MHz and 64/128kB, you can set the memory format
the pic attached i one of mine, where I still use the flasher as its faster than the Arduino boot loader. The 2 yellow jumpers set the run and programming states.

oh nuts, re my laser it homebrew, it is an old flatbed scanner mixed with an old printer.

It cuts the vinyl shelf paper form the dollar store. so you can use it to be  a decal, or as a spray paint mask

Crappy old video but it's my homemade rig using my homemade firmware, and I push Gcode form an Inkscape plugin through and nice terminal that is a chrome plugin.

https://youtu.be/ASPj-kWiUAU

Cool!!

I have one of those STM32's as well, haven't played with it yet though. I had a project in mind, but I don't remember what it was now.

I'm thinking about getting back on Amazon Prime. I miss the two day shipping, and I was watching some stuff on streaming and listening to streaming music. It's $12.99 USD per month, but that's not bad at all with all you get. If I was still with Prime, the computer case and RAM I ordered Friday would have been here today. Instead, it hasn't shipped yet. Netflix is (at present) charging $12.99 USD per month for HD streaming, same price as Prime, but without any of the other Prime benefits.

Also, Netflix is on the decline. They're going in arrears with their Netflix originals, and a lot of studios are pulling their content to do their own streaming services. Losing Disney/Marvel was a crushing blow for them. Having Disney films first was a huge boon for them. Plus, Disney owns Hulu, which is getting bigger and bigger, and is about to launch Disney+ in a couple months. Raising prices isn't the answer to their financial woes. I read an article from Forbes a few months ago predicting that, in order to survive, Netflix will have to start showing ads. They claimed they never would, but they're missing out on a lot of ad revenue.

It's interesting how Netflix killed Blockbuster Video with their own DVD service back in the '90s, then they started pushing streaming really hard. (Redbox also didn't help Blockbuster any) But now, with streaming having taken off, they're in danger of being killed by other streaming services who are doing it better. I guess Qui-Gon Jinn was right, there's always a bigger fish. ;)

My Pi/Recalbox thing is progressing nicely. Downloading games takes time, but as it's free I'm not complaining. Whether or not it's legal is another matter, but many of these companies aren't even making money off of any of these games anymore. Hell, Atari survives in name only these days. It's been bought so many times that it's a shell of what it used to be. But, I still love Atari. I got Atari 5200 and 800 working this morning, though it's still finicky. Having the correct BIOS was the key on that one. ;) The Atari 5200 was our first console, so it's near and dear to my heart. (it was also partially responsible for the video game crash) I also did GameBoy and GameBoy Color over the weekend, all of that is added to my system. I tried PSP, but it was too advanced for the Pi, so it went on the gaming rig. I'm also doing Dreamcast on the gaming rig. :)

I'm debating whether I want to try XBOX emulation, or just hook my XBOX up with the Pound Technologies HDMI adapter I have. The original XBOX is an amazing machine for its time, it can run up to 1080i, which is really impressive by 2001 standards. It turns out a big chunk of my games aren't playable on the XBOX 360, and only a few are compatible with the XBOX One.

prime is 7.99  CAD because not all shows are allowed, they block Canada 

netflix went to 12CAD. it was 7.99 CAD when I first got it. They upded the price and lowered the number of simultaneous screens.

shame the w10 x-box mode just don't play your games now. bastards.

Technically Netflix has started ads, leats before I left, they started blaring previews as the header and BG screen on my roku app for my TV.
and they even put trailer style adds in front of some shows.

net flix posted a huge loss last month, huge.
they forked themselves when thy partnered with cable companies and started down the path of what they promised not to be .. a cable channel.

but they became part of cable packages here, as an option like a superstition.

not doing anything productive. 

I grabbed DiRT Rally while it was still free on the humble bundle. now it's like 8$

I also found a kingwin steam code for  2.50
I think people were selling their free keys. LOl

but as the pic shows, im not so good at it .:P

Wow!  That looks fairly realistic!

The XBOX thing for Win10 is worthless. I checked it out when I first got Win10. It's just for doing social stuff on XBOX, which I don't do. I don't even think it has the store.

I think there is a version of Prime that's $7.99 here, but it's streaming only. My guess is the pricing for Canada is because it's a smaller market.

Keep prime in mind, there is much of it that is pay for even with a prime membership. Almost all new tv is season pass so itll cost more than buying a bluray of the season (though many tv shows now never get a hardcopy release so sorta moot. As well a lot of content is behind a pay wall like cable. So to get diy like docs you have to sign up for the 15usd a mo "channel" then 599 for some other channel etc.

Shipping is not all what it is cracked to be as well took them 8 days to pack up in warehouse stuff and get it out to shipping.

I would suggest looking at that amazon credit card. Prime is free with it if I remember and it has percent payouts like the target card. Well target it is a additional 5% on everything purchased. Large purchases on the prime card earn cash credits kind of thing.

We have prime mostly for the shipping only. The streaming is all extra, the credit card well it is used for things other than amazon as almost all store creditcards are useable everywhere. Like the silly JCpenny card you can pay for clothing at sears or macys lol.

Anyhow if you good about paying off it is a good way to up credit numbers while adding another layer of obfuscating purchases. Learned the hard way to not use bank cards online, site was hacked and I paid for a lot of others fapping material. Only place it is a pain are those shitty chinese sites who want you on paypal to extend the period past most credit card fraud/no service back charging. BANGOOD etc.

Yeah netflix started wasting costumers bandwith with full 1080p previews running as a banner behind the browsing screen. It is the full hd bitrate to so if you leave flix open itll just keep eating the bandwidth up. Least in the US this is a issue as many people are already using up well past most providers limits per month.
I just started blocking the hell out of things on the site so only the browsing part remained. Most smart tvs with netflix block all of those additional load things. The issue is with flix is the expanding genera of MEH shows. THey have shown more intrest in shit like the alphabet soup channels cover like retarded celeb reality tv, and crap like it.
But if anything Amazon is the one to be most like a cable company with all the a lacarte crap and paywalls for "packages" "season passes" etc. IE pay to get in and pay some more to get all the good shite. Least netflix it was pay to get in and that is it.

The nasty I have heard it there might be SPONSORED content arriving on flix as your browsing.

Thing I found most annoying were all the notifications of bullshit things and additions to the service I could care less about light sports crap kids programming etc. Most of my exp with flix though is through Firefox. Never used a smart app or android app.

This is my second go-round with Prime. I cut it to see if the shipping was worse without it, it is. I usually got Prime packages in 1-3 days before.

I already started with the video on the bus ride to work. I was watching Stargate SG-1 on the way in. I've never actually seen any of the Stargate TV shows.

SG1, miss it should look at prime later to watch em again lol, sgi showtime ver scifi ver then atlants then that ship one I forget heh.

Man looking things up for the tv and very VERY sad. Sharp was sold to hisense whom in turn are ripping consumers with not real 4k, apparently not the 3***X2160 loads of allowed interference and horrible em radiation. Makes me want to check my smaller sharp for this crap. But phillips sharp and a lot of the others who were big names are not the parent company anymore and all are used by crappy manufacturers. Even sony isnt the same anymore with panels from samsung or LG. I mean Sony was a huge lcd manu at one time. (same for sharp)
So as suck as it is I have a choice of samsung, samsung, and well SAMSUNG. . . . wont touch oled so that voids some sony and LG screens I am not a big fan of visio (they get qleds from samsung) And well that leaves littl else as TCLs were just horrible in store. hell even best buy has em but they put them so they are not directly in sight of other tvs to try to hide how bad they are! lol.

I think I have been spoiled looking at these ZONE qled backlights too sadly sony has a crapo implementation so you see light blooming in the black bars on most movies as they use that ultrawide aspec common to old 70mm movies. TVs without the zones have a buttload of light leak in blacks. So i dunno. . . . guess it is the q80 or nothing as I cannot bring myself to spend on the q90 even though it has like 480dimminmg zones vs 95 in the q80 lol but the 700usd difference is ehhhhhhhhhhhhugghh. could get a phone laptop or a 4k 32" pc monitor with $$ left over! heh.

Anyhow kinda sad about how few brands are available once you ignore the rebrands or clones, loads of same thing clones too so many.

Prime yes itll ship once it leaves the warehouse in 3 days but often it will sit in warehouse for 8 days. AGAIN last order did this took a total of 12days to get a prime order to me.

Shit, even my regular free shipping orders from Amazon have been leaving the warehouse within a couple days. But, experiences will vary.

Yeah, I've always heard SG-1 was cool, but I've never watched the series before, just the movie. So, I'm definitely watching that on Prime.

That sucks about the TVs. Unfortunately, companies get sold and their stuff goes in the toilet. I remember when HP bought Compaq. That was a dark day, given that my first couple computers were Compaqs.

My Element TV has been good to me for the past 8 years, only thing wrong is the power button on the tv.. have to press it a few times to turn on and off.. other than that.. been quite reliable!

There's some rumor that MGM is talking to the guys that made SG1 about furthing the series.. but that was like 4-6 months ago i read that.. So we'll see!

I use the Netflix App on my Android Phone.
very easy to use, it does not use  a lot of band width when watching something and if you don't have the data you can DL to you phone before set off. (I watch a two episodes of Trek a day plus youtube and web surfing and never went over five Gigs a month.)
Though I don't watch anything on the phone I have not seen before. Better to watch that on a proper TV than a tiny phone screen. LOL

Amazon Prime deliver is pretty good here. Most thing you can get next day delivery, only stuff that is not is anything that is not in one of the UK warehouse and being shipped to the UK but you can get that in a less than a week. we even get delivery on a Sunday with Prime.

Chris your going to love SG1. There are even a few tonge-in-cheek nods to the movie. One of my Fav is the nod of the head that Kurt Russell, played O'Neill in the film.

valkyrie013 I heard the same rumours, but from what I am hearing it will not be broadcasted on TV and will be only for the Stargate Website Stargateworld or something like that, abit like Stargate: Origins mini series was last year.

Netflix has always been good at not using a lot of bandwidth, so is Prime. Also, both (on the US version, anyway) let you download stuff to your phone to take it mobile.

i don't know what prime does but as far as getting to my island it seems to break the laws of physics according to other shipping. not prime som eof my stuff can be 40 days for in-country shit.


prime has it down to like 10 days. some stuff has been a bit late out of the warehouse .. but so far has never been later the estimated date

prime is cheaper in Canada because some of US TV shows won't broadcast/stream here, and some don't meet CRTC guidelines. so that lesser listing == lesser cost LOL

but hey it has all I like and what it don't I get form tubi , or  Plex ( i have friends and family and we have linked our plex servers. lets us watch whatever is  in each others plex server )

but meh will see how it all goes.

I ordered some shoes yesterday. I found a pair I like that weren't in too hateful of a color scheme (they have multiple options for this kind) that claimed they could get here by today. By this morning, they hadn't shipped, so I figured I wouldn't get them today. Well, the shipping notification came in sometime after 1 in the afternoon and I got them a little after 5. I'm wearing them now.

Eh Amazon if you denote the cashback option (I think this was the one that was chosen) instead of shipping for prime means a long ass wait. 8 days of in warehouse.

Usually when the item shows up same day as it leave warehouse it is by carrier and is just buttholes slow being shown as leaving the warehouse. System is not set up for local deliveries.

Well ordered the tv today. Dunno how I will set it up lol as I have not ordered a wall mount, well a new one, old tv is like 80lbs and I just am not a huge fan of the existing mount. I have to also go find a AMD550 I think as the gt1030 sounds a bit meh. Just not been a fan of AMD drivers, starting with the spam while downloading/installing to the spam in the control software. BUT I need that hdmi2.1 and hdcp for 4k the hoopty 460gtx just wont do it. Heck I doubt my 770oc will do it. Worry that card wont even deliver 4k on a 32" monitor. It wil save me some watts to 160w to a 45w card lol. Gonna go hit up that emulation site EG linked earlier to hopefully get some of my old games up (also have to look for roms for some of them as I dunno what needs to rip some of the sony DRM shit) Also will have to shop some real controllers too. But will try some older RTS if I can get them into 4k. lol. Apparently the tv will do 120fps @ 1080p for hdmi2.0?

Found out the tv can play MKV MP4, well a buttload of video containers and supports subs for most of them. It even apparently can see hdds on the network. Would have been cool if it had more USB ports as those are supported to for video stills and music. What rips is the UK models can record and timeshift! Again UK fighting for the consumer vs US fight for the business. Yeah it is encrypted but just stick whatever keyfob or hdd to it and go. Do not get me going on cell service and phone costs! Anyhow wanna see how the upscaler works on 1080p or lower capped stuff vs my pc player. MPC HT, and to a small VERY small extent VLC.


OH and THANK GOD my 32" 1080p beat that hisense sale of the sharp factory and name. 2014. So it isnt a EM radiation device sitting next to my head when I sleep. It isnt hacking the pentagon while I'm sleep modo, or running up my cell bill or making spam calls with my phone line.

Never saw a Element for sale around here but there were a tonne of tvs in racks at bestbutt I missed. Element is apparently a US business that builds in the US. I was mostly aiming at 65" so that may be why. I did eye a fake toshiba (another name not the real company anymore) and some others I never heard of but clearly Chinese with the silliness of the names. It is like looking at cheap & fake video cards on amazon.


EDIT: Ok looks like this 550 isnt a buttscraper card as I expected it to be. Anyone know the amd stuff much? say 550 vs 560 or R7, though it looks like most R7 stuff wont do the 4k hdr crap. (hdr is kinda a bonus I guess as I dunno how to manage hdr videos and streams on pc yet)

Ironically, despite my love of gaming, I don't really know a lot about video chipsets, especially not what will do 4k. I have an RX 580, but that's the first AMD graphics card I've ever had. The last time I had a Radeon, they were still ATI. In fact, this looks like it here:

https://www.amazon.com/MSI-256-bit-DirectX-Graphcis-Renewed/dp/B07K4248QT

Obviously, mine wasn't "renewed," (refurbished) but that looks like the right card. It came in a computer. But, as I said, I have no idea if it can do 4K.

As for Element, I didn't know they were a US company, that's cool. I looked at their site and the biggest I saw was 55", that would have kept them off your radar.

I guess you have a short time to figure out how you're mounting that TV. ;)

As for Amazon, it may vary by location. I know they have warehouses everywhere. I've never had a Prime package take that long to leave the warehouse. When it hits the carrier, it's on a rush, so it always goes fast unless the carrier messes up. I've had that more than issues with Amazon. But, experiences will vary. Prior to joining Prime, I did have packages wait to leave the warehouse so that they would hit the delivery window, not arrive sooner.

yeah I had a AMD/ATI 20something something I got for the tv system ages ago as NVIDIA had not audio over HDMI. That card a passively cooled thing with a MASSIVE heatsink with floaty fins just ran HOT and the software well MEH. Exp prior was redeon AIW cards from ages past. EG 32mb video ram type shit. lol.

Yeah a 580 I think might be overkill for a media pc. THEN AGAIN
https://www.amazon.com/XFX-Radeon-1386MHz-Graphics-RX-580P8DFD6/dp/B06Y66K3XD/ref=sr_1_1?fst=as%3Aoff&qid=1567771874&refinements=p_n_feature_keywords_five_browse-bin%3A8259091011&rnid=6147185011&s=pc&sr=1-1
179usd. . . .

At most I would try some older RTS games. I hate twitch games and FPS. Cannot stand any online games either so it is like RON, AOM T, AOE 3, and that one with the V2/3 nukes and b2 bombers, but I think it is a XP only title. (well cannot play it unless I re-buy a updated ver of it from GOG or STEAM.)
I originaly was looking at the 1030 but it is a bit meh and crypto miners still have the nvidia shit high as a 1030 is like 120usd. A 550 starts around 89usd and quickly go to 140~150usd which is where the 560s start showing up. Really like to keep it at 90usd but options are not many brands I would trust. BIOSTAR, ASROCK, XFX,That and I have to make sure not to get the ddr3 or whatever version but the gddr5. AMAZON so sucks for this no way to sort by model and if I search and sort by price it gives me a billion cards NOT what I searched. IE 220s 1030s that 580 etc.

WELL SHOOT
https://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-11266-04-20G-Radeon-Backplate-Graphics/dp/B06ZY21842/ref=sr_1_4?fst=as%3Aoff&qid=1567771874&refinements=p_n_feature_keywords_five_browse-bin%3A8259091011&rnid=6147185011&s=pc&sr=1-4
guess I have to see if those do hdr 4k. OK they do but man BUTT UGLY, can o spray paint I thinks. EXP as the 550s quickly go to 110usd.

So uh yeah I might end up with a better gpu than planned. . . . always, it is planned by them . . .


the bastards.

GRR what you do to get less junk amazon urls? And ones that parse as urls. FFF

For RTS games, any of those cards should work. Your 4K video playback would probably make the card work more than an old RTS. By the way, I love old RTS games. :)

Quote from: MadKoifish on Sep 06, 2019, 12:19 pmGRR what you do to get less junk amazon urls? And ones that parse as urls. FFF

I just delete stuff. This is the only part you need:

https://www.amazon.com/XFX-Radeon-1386MHz-Graphics-RX-580P8DFD6/dp/B06Y66K3XD

After that was a string of bullshit that always starts with /ref=. Then a bunch of stuff pertaining to search strings, if the url came from another site, etc. and so forth. It's nothing that needs to be in the link. I don't know why Amazon had to have all of that shit in their URLs by default, probably to do with how their bots process the link or something. (telemetry, etc.)

https://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-11266-04-20G-Radeon-Backplate-Graphics/dp/B06ZY21842

Oh yeah, here's my graphics card without being renewed:

https://www.amazon.com/MSI-RX-580-ARMOR-4G/dp/B06XZZ93FQ

It's a shame it only has 4 out of 5 stars, it's a really nice card. I tested it when I first got the computer and it played Final Fantasy 15 for Windows on nice settings. I also played through the Windows release of Batman: Arkham Knight on that card. That port of that game was so bad when they first released it that they actually pulled it from Steam to fix it, then re-released it. I saw a bunch of people bitching that their Nvidia cards were having trouble with both FF15 and Arkham Knight, but that RX 580 handled both like a champ.

So, yeah, I can definitely recommend that chipset from AMD, but I just don't know about 4K video. Both my TV and computer monitor are 1080p.

Yeah the 4k was a defacto now. I just want to run at 1to 1 and well as it has it lol. So only real reason I am getting a new one is I want that HDR and 4k output ability. That is if I even use it. Also the tv has freesync, sadly not th new one. Though I have hear nvidia has cards now using it, or was suppose to.


Stars is gamers, there is a 8gig card of the 580 so some will mark it down. I think the 570 does this too a 4gig and 8 gig version. I do not think i would need the latter as I do not play games needing it, least do not plan to on the tv, but seems a lot of people are into doing that.

Anyhow it looks like a 570 might be in my perview as they range in the 120~160usd where a 550 is more in the 110~150, sounds really dumb. Only real benefit of the lower class card is power usage. But I guess going from a tv from 2006 to one from 2019 should make a massive difference.

I kinda had a change in mid of the wall mount as I really do not need a expanding from the wall thing just to access usb and hdmi ports, not like I will pivot the tv left or right much for any reason. So I might laze out and use the old one rated for 300lbs lol. It literately is a 30lb chunk of steel bolted to the house. And I just really do not trust the default legs at all one something this big. 58X32 roughly.

That sapphire card kinda calls to me it is 112usd at newegg. The media pc is already ugly so what will a bleah wtf backplate do for it that is any worse than the bodgy 2003 era clear plexi case doesn't uglify already. lol I do need to find a case ort make something some day.  Oh I guess that is a detractor is a 550 is usualy small and shorter than the itx mobo. . . . . anyhow we will see.

So, the fucknuts at Amazon sent me hanging file folders instead of a Ryzen 5 processor. How the hell do you confuse the two?

wait in a search or actual delivery???

I have the file folders sitting right here. I have to take them to Kohl's so that they can be returned to Amazon, then I have to wait to get my actual processor.

Oh god, some expensive folders. Happens when you have just numbers on boxes with no pricing to stop theft at warehouse etc. Guy just pulls numbered items down. Just have one guy just too tired or uncaring to verify numbers. . . . and file folders! Though I doubt that as I would think they would have barcodes or a Qcode thing to scan in etc. so yeah damn.

They are probably just desperate to ship some of those.

The other possibility is that someone else went to open their box with the folders only to find my Ryzen 5 2600 inside. Either way, I'm pissed. Tonight was the night I was going to upgrade this beast from the FX-8120 to that Ryzen. But, now it's not happening, unless I pull the Ryzen out of my gaming rig. It's the exact same processor. I have everything else I need to put the computer together.

Quote from: scifidude79 on Sep 06, 2019, 11:04 pmTonight was the night I was going to upgrade this beast from the FX-8120 to that Ryzen.

I'm sorry, my friend.  That's too bad.  I hope you get it soon!

Thanks Eric. I still may pull the processor out of my gaming rig. It's the same model of processor. I'd rather have my daily use computer all upgraded than have the gaming rig working. I can always game on a console or my Pi.

Since this is the first time this particular issue has happened in the seven years I've had that Amazon account and issues are few and far between, I'm willing to overlook this, provided there aren't any issues with the return. I've already dropped the package off at Kohl's, so it's on its way. I just hope they send out my processor tomorrow.

Quote from: scifidude79 on Sep 07, 2019, 01:17 amI still may pull the processor out of my gaming rig.

Well, that took longer and was more of a chore than expected. I wound up cannibalizing more of the gaming rig than I thought I would. It turns out, the power supply I had for my old desktop wasn't such a good fit for this setup. The issue is the connector for the CPU. The PSU I was trying to put in there has two connectors, an 8 pin and an older 4 pin. The 8 pin is higher up on the cable, so it doesn't reach as far. I couldn't reach the CPU plug with the 8 pin connector, which is what I need. So, I grabbed the power supply out of the gaming rig. While I was at it, I snagged the RAM too, I can always get more for the gaming rig. So, I have 32GB DDR4 in my desktop. I presently have 5 120mm fans in the case. Two in front, two up top and one in back. Then there's also the CPU fan, PSU fan and two graphics card fans, and this thing still hardly makes any noise. Even doing a CGI render isn't making the fans start being loud, like they were on that FX-8120.

The other thing that took a while was routing my cables through the side of the case. I thought I was going to not be able to reach the front audio connector, but it wound up working OK after I routed the cable down around my power supply.

Here are a couple test renders I did just to see how it was doing. I've only rendered in Lightwave with this processor before, not Blender. The full ship shots were taking about 15 minutes with the FX-8120, this one took just over 5 minutes. The closeup on the engineering hull was over 7 minutes, that same render took closer to 20 minutes with the old setup.

Cool sucks it crippled your plans though. Gonna need to get a new psu for one of the machines I am guessing. Something I need to recheck on my media pc is if the psu has that 8pin gpu line. I think it might only have the 2 6pins on it. YUCK. Do not want another psu in the house. Have one cannibalized for a fake car battery for old stereos and testing amps but I have heard of guys hacking them for the higher end battery chargers but since lipo life it isnt as huge of a thing to zap packs with high voltage. The render times sound great. I need 32gigs keep running out every 15min. Prices kinda still suck for ram.

Lucky whom ever got the cpu if that is the case. wonder if they will honor up? Likely will as it is probably some person who wouldnt have a clue what a ryzen is let alone how to use it. I mean hanging file folders. . . .

TV is arriving tomorrow afternoon that will be fun. Just 55lbs, but in a weird shape. Curious to see how it will meld with the phones as it has that samsung connected things stuff. Hear the note10+ pen works on the tvs too but I will have to see. Be nice if I can slave a old phone or tablet as a remote. Hoping that ARC or whatever it is allows the tv to control the hdmi vol.

I was shopping new PSUs. Then I decided to do a search, and it turns out they do make these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07K842JQ2

So, I ordered those. If I can just add an extension to the older PSU and make the 8 pin connector "stretch" to where I need it to go, problem solved. Though, I do need to switch them back because only one has an 8 pin PCI-E connector, which is what that Radeon card needs.

Funny you mention RAM prices, that 2x 8GB kit I ordered last week went up $10. I'm glad I ordered when I did. I found an 8GB stick of DDR4 at 2400 MHz that I can use for the gaming rig until I get something better. It came out of that computer when I replaced the mobo, CPU and RAM a few months ago.

I don't know if anyone got that CPU, or if someone at the warehouse just messed up and sent the wrong item. The replacement is due tomorrow. As long as that's correct and they don't try any shit like claiming they sent me the CPU in the first place instead of the file folders, we're cool. Otherwise, I'm going to have to rethink buying from Amazon in the future.

It's cool that your TV will be arriving. It's also cool how light today's big flat screens are. What do you mean by weird shape? Is it one of those curved deals?

Nice work all around, Chris.  It sounds like your rig is enviable!  I'm glad the rendering is faster for you now.  Excellent.

Its just a flat bit of 58X32 vs say a 55lb box. Easier to pick up that box.

OPhh man you can tell I was beat last night, totally forgot about extensions! The lol of those is they are mostly for people with Ketchup and mustard cables to hide the originals behind the case wall. I have a few on old cases for the mobo power leads I have a few that are super stiff and stress the plugs. Extensions are super soft, least the ones I got. Raidmax I think from (CRY) Frys as they were on discount.

Yeah, hiding the cables behind means you have to have even more length, especially for that one. Since the CPU power connector is at the top of the board, you have to route it all the way up and over the top of the board. That requires a long cable, and not all CPU power cables are that long, though they're usually long. Just skimming through the reviews, most people are doing exactly what I want to do, using it to extend a CPU connector that's too short. 4.7 out of 5 stars with 18 reviews isn't bad at all.

Though, looking at 500W PSUs, even the higher rated ones seemed to have a lot of failures. Or, at least those were the "top rated" reviews. In one I was looking at (a Thermaltake) several reviews mentioned it turning off under heavy load, which sounds like a cooling issue. That's pretty sad right there. Looking at reviews like that was what made me think of extension cables, so that I can us a PSU that I know works.

It depends my most expensive psu is the one that I had most issue with a 850w from a while back
All the others have room it all depends on the case and layout.


And well uh BIG TV IS BIG

And while setting things up neighbors tree falls over just missing his car like by a inch. Branches were stuck in the rack and stuff. WOOOORRRRRRKKK BOOOM crashhh lol. First though was fuck those trees in the other neighbors yard on my cars! but it was 2 doors down. Got pics but need to figure out how to get them to the pc Phone is usbc on both ends.

Thermaltake I wouldnt touch them.
Corsair PC power and a fair few others fractals are rebrands that are good. Thermaltake is generally bottom bin. Seasonic are good on the higher end ones look for black cables and removable ones. Avoid the ones with wires coming out of the psu with seasonic as those are OEM cheapos.

I also wonder what the people were running when they had the issues. I run a pretty basic system with a mobo, CPU, one or two drives, graphics card and some fans. That's all that draws power.

Like I said, I was just starting to look when I thought about the extensions. So, the Thermaltake was literally the first one I saw. It was sorted by "featured," and I've found that components that are "featured" are usually crap because the store selling them wants to get rid of them. Though, after resorting by average customer review, a Seasonic came up first. 4.7/5 stars with about 2500 reviews. Not that I plan to buy it, but that's what came up. A lot of EVGA and Corsair in the top rated ones. Though, even with top rated ones, you see where a lot of them "blew up" peoples' computers. It really makes me wonder if people are pushing them too hard and maybe don't have adequate airflow. I take airflow very seriously and make sure all of my components can "breathe." Of course, that's also Amazon, people act like it's a damn social media site and mark reviews has helpful because they agree with them. ::)

The one I've had for years that works great is a Rosewill. I'd imagine it had its share of failure reviews back in the day too. I just know it works for me. It has two fans, which is really nice. Knowing me, it was probably around $50 or so back in 2012. I don't go for the super expensive ones, those and the super cheapos are usually the ones with the worst ratings.

Yes, 65" TVs are BIG. ;) We sell them were I work.

Most people are likely shorting wires getting them hung up in the case putting screws in or just plain bad luck, bad anything in a psu often leads to smoke or other things. I had way way back in the late 90s a drive bay fanset that fried my internal scsi zip drive and scsi cdrw drive. It caused a short in the rail and blew the other devices on that rail.

Most I have had were dodgy fans, on cheapos were cap hum or squeal.

Rosewill is hit or miss. Sometines they source antec (those are usually the junkers) and seasonic. Really many are just re-brands. NZXT Fractal, EVGA are all re-brands. Often of the same units. Antec was a pick the top 3 in the line up only, been that way since 97 or so. FIrst PSU was a oem Antec.

Yeah tvs, lol spent the entire day screaming at the amp I have as getting it to read spdif was a nightmare. Apparently that is the only output on most of these tvs now. EXP when you got all that content trapped in the tv, the "apps" open up a huge mess of streaming freebies and the typical usual ones. Ran a tonne of youtube 4k things a few for the cats, a HUGE fishtank. But 65 I think meh 55s are common cakes now and you look at em and think meh ok 65 is avrage, well avrage on a wall 100ft wide lol. You get fooled by those 75s 81s and 90s and think mehy 65 small.

Watched a ep of panty and stocking on first set up and oh god motion smoothing etc was on so lol. Was nuts. Sadly a lot of the brd mkvs I have error the tv and there is no sign of network devices in any connection so that option is probably nixed for US. It has no issue browsing usb sticks and hdds. NO issue detecting HDR off videos on those.

Real stink is getting the 5.1 6.1 7.1 stuff off the pc to the tv then to the amp. Loads of it just reads PCM and does a meh decoding job. (part of why most people abandoned spdif (no dts and a few other THX specs) SO, in the future a new preamp or decoder is in the cards. I have hated this amp since the day it came home so good riddance. I just worry how SHIT modern ones are if that one was so crap itself. I mean to just test a pair of rca patch cables for my sub preamp was a string of pulling teeth and fooling with onscreen settings. (FING PIONEER) I mean this thing only has one speaker hook up option for center. My previous 3 sony units had 2 terminals for bi amping or using multiple centers. So with that I found a dead spdif cable. ODD. So now I have a 12ft one running 3ft. HAH

Bit meh was having to go out and buy 45,, m8 screws. Old tv was m3 and like 15mm lol A TV 2times thicker and only 41" diag used tiny arse screws, weighs about 80lbs. 65 was 55lbs but the awkward size was hard for me, only 5'11" so my arm span is poor and I have really bad shoulders now.
Anyhow it is up, might have to see how I can maybe find a device that is networked but can hook to the tv via a usb cable or use YUCK wifi casting to play my in home videos cause PC input disables all the motion soothers and blur correction. Does help some of the meh anime out there and well I guess at 4k some of the stutter in video is more noticeable. I do not think copying 13gigs or 19gigs to a usb keyfob is productive. About as annoying as putting a bluray in the player. . . . . update watch fixed adverts on a 30usd disc etc.

Local dimming is OK but it really murders your eyes at times as bright shit is BRIGHT. and it gets funky when your browsing menus and jumping around in aps as a lot of the stuff has it's own settings. Like the pc has a really muted tone I set up Cause the win8 ui is so fucking full of WHITE it eats my eyes. But when I go to settings pages they have a default setting for backlight brightness etc and YEAOWCH. hah.
Either case tonnes of freeish programming on this. Even ep 1 of Good Eats the return. season 13 and 14 are free stream too. Video is maybe 1080i or 720p, some of the strange channels like one for australian RC shows (radiocontrol) looks like 240p lol. It is probably 480 but is so compressed it is a laugh.

What sucks is most of these apps if I used a common ISP would be well totally and completely free. So if I had COX or verizon etc cooking hgtv diy food um and a few others sci dsc would all be free. GRANTED most are so shit now. HGTV and TLC are way up there. Looked at the programs and saw shit nothing I would watch. And those were the shit back in the 90s. HGTV had joanne libler and old OLD this old house DIY had all sorts of WTF stuff like how to shoot on a SLR how to wire a radio, build pcs etc on it. TLC had well LEARNING shite on. heh. Now it is house flippers fatties whining about their fat etc.
So yeah. fun fun.


OH one thing that I was mad at really mad was hulu. Only pay for apparently on the tv. I had hoped to just sign up for the spam filled funfest and well have it as a option for silly tv stuff. But no plans start like at 8.99usd. -_-. Might get netfucks back but it is like 13usd now and a lot of shit is moving to amazon paywall channels.

Oh my I did it a gain.
WALL OF WORDS
WALLOFWORDS!!!111one
uh yeah.
TV though really has me deciding a 570 is the win. Gonna get me some games to play on that shite too lol. I see my wallpapers spread out on that screen and thing DAYEUM.
Gotta set up a marvel weekend and watch all the films in one go.

Yeah, I guess it's been a while since you last had Hulu, it's all paid now, even the ad based service. It's really just better to pay for ad free, it's only a few dollars more.

I'm not sure I'd trust a handful of M3 screws to hold up a TV that heavy. But, it obviously worked.

It sounds like you're having all kinds of fun with your new setup. ;)

As for PSUs, I may have lucked out with that Rosewill. Though, it's also only a 400W. Less power equals less heat, plus it has the two fans. **shrugs** I don't know. Looking at components, you know how any of them can have issues. Sometimes, it's incompetent users, other times it's just luck of the draw. Though, anything with hundreds or thousands of reviews and an average rating of over 4 out of 5 can't be all bad. That's why I look at the reviews.

Opps, m6 and m8 on the screws, dunno how I got a 3 in there  :o
Rosewill is a random thing. Like some of the early Rosewill mechs were ducky and corsair. It is just newegg rebrand name, and yeah I think top line psu then were 600 or so. Maybe a few higher ones. Not many pcs now that need anything more than 600. If anything a server loaded with hdds needs more than a dual gpu system for gaming. Well, IMHO those always needed more for a psu as someone who had 8~12hdds in a case at any one time in the past.

Hulu was a idea while it was free and full of adverts, hulu only shows are meh. Rather pay for Flix instead. The hulu app sadly cannot be yanked but it was removed from the "HOME" bar. Wish I could make that crap smaller too, least so you could be watching something while you mess about on the bottom. Oh well. Everything outside of the TV panel itself is extras.

if you want to drive 4K, and you will because your renders will look insane, you want the card with the bigger V ram buffer.

keep in mind a 4k rez requires 1 GB just to store the single buffer and that doesn't include flipping, or Trippel buffering.  if you can get fast 8GB card get one, and should you see it has GDDR 4 !! walk away very quickly.

Buddu in Philly has been running one of these for a few months: https://www.amazon.ca/PowerColor-580-DisplayPort-AXRX-8GBD5-3DHDV2/dp/B0711QH8ZS

I have a GTX 1050ti , that I have done wel on silicon quality as it natural boosts itself into the 1700's solid and stable.

I could run still image and video as in movies ta 4K ( 7680x4320 ) max rez, but it won't run much game-wise or 3d wise Ie blende or anything using 3D at the same time.

my 2K tv looks wicked if I hook it up as a 3rd monitor but games really bust the lil' 1050ti hard.
I game in 1080p mode.

now nothing stops you running in 1080p for game son your 4K display when you game, it will look good a sit is a natural multiple.

If I run 1080p to my tv it still looks insane. it 54inch 2K only, but it looks good.  Also, some tv's natural resolution is not a perfect monitor resolution. for whatever freaking reason in monitor mode you will see 2 columns of unused pixels. I forget the  old math that TV'
s got more it's been 20+ years since I gave a shit.(AKA, was my job to know ) 
anyhow at 4k you can't even see that 2-pixel column but your video card may see it as a resolution available. that's all fine but some games hate that.

Ug back to my original point higher DPI /Rez and colour depth of a display the more rame a single frame buffer will use 2d or in 3d mode. 4k  + gamin = enthusiast-level GPU, 4k and media and simple games just needs (fast gddr5 or betetr) ram for smooth video.

this is for the media pc not my work rig. I was thinking of 1080 for games not rts as the tv has freesync and 120fps for 1080p. Suppose to have 120 on a firmware sometime this year but I doubt I will spend on a gpu that strong, 60 is good enough for movies and tv given most is 23.3

I do not play most of the games others do no morpgs no FPS shooters. Maybe the only ones that would do anything enough to need power are racing and I sorta dropped out of those when it req all the expensive gear to utilize the games well.

7680x4320 is in tv language 8k, they do not even master movies in that yet. No real plans to from what I hear either. Least not in the fx business end.

I loath the term 4k/2k but it is easier to refer to that than 2160p Cause real 4k in camera lingo is 4096X2160.
And yeah avoiding the cripple versions of the cards as AMD seem to have at least 2 to 3 variants. Dunno why. 550 has a ddr3 version vs the gddr5.

Truth be the media pc might be pushing more youturd videos than anything outside of anime and film. It is mostly due to how awkward the tv app is (add in I cannot shape suggestions etc so my account fills with shit fail vids or count down vids or trump shit) And uh SPAM!! 4k spam too lol.
ATM I do not have the cable or a proper card to output the hdr 4k shit. So it is just 1080p and I think the tv is using the upscaler on it too. cause 1080p on a 65 cannot be as smooth as I am seeing. EXP as 1080p on a 27 drives me NUTS.

I had looked at the 1030 early on cause it was suppose to have freesync (least I read about nvidia) and sip power. Wanting to lower my standby and on power usage. But the card was just stupid prices, AMD is as well but kinda in the opposite. As atm I am looking at 130usd 570 over a 140usd 550. . . . .

It is a thought to run at some odd ball rez if I do anything outside rts games on it. Say a controller game. If this upscaler is as good as they say it might be acceptable, that is if the tv supports it as hdmi has a nack of enforcing only allowed rez over native etc. All those late model 720 screens for example are 1366X765 but hdmi always enforces the basics and you have to run analog to get the panels NATIVE rez. I have to look up the rez charts again on the tv it is like 4 pages in the pdf manual. Anyhow a 180usd+ card is a bit out of the range of spending. EXP on a 6600 cpou z170mobo

I was considering this one as it is pushing just past the spending limit (well the feels of not wanting to blow too much on a HTPC)
https://www.amazon.com/PowerColor-Dragon-Radeon-8GBD5-3DHD-OC/dp/B079DTJJ2V/
But the size is ehhhh. Would like to keep footprint down. Hence that funky color sapphire card.

Oh reminds me I need to replace almost all my 120s they are slowly eating themselves. That will probably cost more than a good mid to high end gpu alone T_T.

That's a nice looking card. :)

I got my replacement Ryzen (the actual Ryzen this time) and my extension cables for the PSU. So, I already swapped the PSUs back, I'm currently running the desktop rig now fully assembled as it was meant to be. And, I'm putting the gaming rig back together. I just have a few more connections to the PSU to do and then I can close it up and boot it up.

Quote from: MadKoifish on Sep 08, 2019, 02:02 pmOpps, m6 and m8 on the screws, dunno how I got a 3 in there  :o

Yeah, that's a little bit of a difference. ;) Still, not huge screws.

Quote from: MadKoifish on Sep 08, 2019, 02:02 pmRosewill is a random thing. Like some of the early Rosewill mechs were ducky and corsair. It is just newegg rebrand name, and yeah I think top line psu then were 600 or so. Maybe a few higher ones. Not many pcs now that need anything more than 600. If anything a server loaded with hdds needs more than a dual gpu system for gaming. Well, IMHO those always needed more for a psu as someone who had 8~12hdds in a case at any one time in the past.

Yeah, I probably just lucked out on the Rosewill. That's fine. I always go by the graphics card when I'm figuring a PSU. I know the rest of the system can easily run on less than 200W. Some newer Nvidia cards claim to need 500W or greater, but I have my doubts. The older ones, like the GTX 950 that I have in my desktop only needed 350W or greater. It's in the specs on the Newegg page:

https://www.newegg.com/evga-geforce-gtx-950-02g-p4-1953-kr/p/N82E16814487250

Quote from: MadKoifish on Sep 08, 2019, 02:02 pmHulu was a idea while it was free and full of adverts, hulu only shows are meh. Rather pay for Flix instead. The hulu app sadly cannot be yanked but it was removed from the "HOME" bar. Wish I could make that crap smaller too, least so you could be watching something while you mess about on the bottom. Oh well. Everything outside of the TV panel itself is extras.

Yeah, I hear you. If it's not free, you don't want it. When I had hulu, I really only upgraded to the no ad plan for mobile, as no ads meant I could easily watch a 1 hour show on my phone on the bus ride to work. With ads, I wasn't always getting the shows finished, especially older ones that were made at a time of less commercials. Otherwise, I never really had an issue with Hulu's ads.

Ok still looking at gpus, finding a few 8gb buffer 570s. The 580s at any flavor are WAY out of the price limit.

Real issue is the powercolor cards are saying 275wtdp vs 120w of the saphirre.
So the 8gb ones are a XFX and a powercolor. Issue is never owned anything from either brand. XFX looks super LQ both have terrible video options on youtube.

Also these seem to be larger cards. Even that sapphire is large. I really wanted a stubby but sadly those prices are a joke or it means stepping down to a 550 and a higher price. There is a sapphire 8gig but it is way over price limits at 195usd. I just dunno if that 8gigs is really needed as I wont be playing things like fortnight or whatever people are playing for kill em alls.


https://www.amazon.com/PowerColor-Dragon-Radeon-8GBD5-3DHD-OC/dp/B079DTJJ2V

https://www.amazon.com/XFX-Radeon-1286MHz-Graphics-RX-570P8DFD6/dp/B077VX31FZ

Also considering the 4gb MSI Amour or even gaming. Just for the msi name, my exp with msi is usualy fucked up mobos but that WAS back in 2005.
https://www.amazon.com/MSI-Gaming-256-bit-DirectX-Graphics/dp/B07QS74XG3
https://www.amazon.com/MSI-RX-570-GAMING-4G/dp/B06Y15M48C
gaming 8gig sold out at amazon. Same for gygabyte stuff. All break the short length rule but well damn. Shrug.
Anyhow what my key wants are size low watts decent performance to push 4k video. HDR 4k over hdmi@60fps+ And build quality IE poly caps good chokes etc. Something that will last and I mean 5+ yrs not 1yr.
I also REALLY REALLY do not want to spend more than 150usd. Original ceiling was 100usd. I have already lost my bluetooth keyboard to the tv.
Looking AMD cause well Nvidia for the same performance are fucking exp. 300usd for a 1050? BS.


The 570s are really kinda pushing it too. The wattage and the sizes are going to disable the whole point of a itx mobo. I am even considering 560s but if memory serves it is a real step down from the 570. hard to call as most performance charts are all FPS gaming type comparisons. I do not care about FPS games.

AND super yes I will likely game any 3d stuff at 1080p whateverfps over 60. I mean I might see 4k in a slower moving rts but most console games I will emulate nah wont see shit as the upscaler on this tv is pretty good.

I MIGHT install and load up max on it to just see what a viewport is like in 4k but heh. Loading up some of my hiugher rez SOTL (8k) images as raw on a keyfob was nice. heh.


Yeah free tv that samsung spam tv thing isnt bad it was what loaded in set up and was playing LEXX lol. They have a channel that is this old house 24/7 lol. I think it is all 480p though or lower. Loads of Canadian shows and strange Australian ones.

Oh wow saw a msi gaming next to someones face that thing is WIDE. Armor appears OCed out of the box kinda ehhhh about that. 
Guess the gaming would fit the itx mobo as a lot of bits are red, ram was suppose to be black but at the time it was 50usd more.
(https://madkoifish.files.wordpress.com/2019/09/itx-mediapc.jpg?w=300) (https://madkoifish.files.wordpress.com/2019/09/itx-mediapc.jpg)
And yes it has a stock HSF, had to take the 112+ or whatever the coolermaster hsf was off for another overheating POS.

Oh and yes I only have 2sets of 2 cables of 6pin connectors for this psu. So meh. Have to use adapters. I did have plans to get a itx mini psu at some point. As most cases I like use them or itr makes for easier mounting. Plans were for a nice small case or to build a tardis out of wood to house it. I think the latter might never happen as the footprint would result in a pretty large overall model. Think when I did the specs the itx footprint meant it would be nearly 32"tall.


Alsp super wierd is my tv shows up as a media device and a NAS in windows7. ERRm

Also noticed most of those are all sold not by amazon so even more meh. Already seen a few MSI 8gig cards and others that read very dodgy sold by 3rd party. now I dunno if fulfilled by amazon means the seller sends product to the fulfillment warehouse or if it is amazon offering discount purchasing of stock. If it is prior then there is no guarantee that it is a real card.
https://www.amazon.com/MSI-RX-570-ARMOR-8G/dp/B076Y93L8F
smells dodgy. . .
Also now looking at 1650s too as most of them are much shorter for a bit less power. And a load less heat. Issue is freesync, nvidia says it will work but dunno if it is implemented or active.  OK maybe not seems the 1650 is an aborted fetus. Though the reviews might be gamer leanings as it doesnt seem to fit a slot. But most reviews are old so pricing has changed up some. eugh so much for the buy some cheapo pos whatever.

Looking at newegg,
https://www.newegg.com/msi-radeon-rx-570-rx-570-armor-8g-oc/p/N82E16814137256?Item=N82E16814137256
20 off promo then add the 20 debit card thing. Latter might not happen been screwed on most of these for the past 5yrs.
anyhow 149USD + 20rebate then again 15usd tax. PHUWAH.

MSI seems OK these days, but I can't guarantee it. There was a problem with my gaming rig that I think was the MSI motherboard, but I can't be sure. Ironically, I replaced it with another MSI mobo. I now have the same mobo in my desktop, so I hope they're solid. The MSI Radeon card I have is fine, I've had no issues with it.

Yeah, NVIDIA is overpriced. They have a reputation as being the best for gaming, and they use that reputation to charge more.

Well nvidia got full of themselves when amd dropped off prior to the 400series of RX cards. That and nvidia always had the less shit of the software. Still sorta does driver updates for nvidia are a 2min affair AMD it is always a download then download again for 45min and get spammed a tonne not to mention spam in the software. Nvidia has let freesync in but only on the 2 most recent gpus. And well atm the prices are real stupid. If I remember prices just before this stupid crypto bullshit were fairly close to performance. But now with 1070 and 2070s twice the price of a 770 870 970 its just in a realm of stupid. Who is going to pay 600usd for a 3rd tier card. 2080 2080ti and titan or whatever the next few super cards are. ok seems a new 20series titan isnt out yet.
Either way a 2080ti can push 1300usd. Thats ridiculous. Oh wait I am super wrong, more like 2500usd. Titan rtx sheesh. Funny 1080ti run a bit higher price by about 100usd. strange.

Build the rest of the pc for 400usd or less and pay two times that for the gpu. meh. All reason I am still using a 770.

The video cards if I could find a gygabyte Asus or even EVGA without paying twice the price for from some scalper Id do it but well the 500s from AMD are 2 yrs old and nothing new so far. Not surprised as GlobalFoundries is dicking around suing instead of making and they quit 7nm chips, well didnt go to. Of all things SAMSUNG are making the 500 cards, least the chips.

Oh yeah that reminds me AMD often did not do so well in MAX. Viewport performance was not that great. And gpu render isnt really there. unless you use nitro and for the stuff we do it isnt fit for purpose. It is more for fast output architectural or game rendering.

Anyhow probably end up with that sapphire, the MSI gamingX is a dodgy seller and not avalible elsewhere, the powercolor has shit support and bad rep on build quality (missing parts like screws surface mount and thermalpaste/pads) And the XFX just look bad.

Heh, AMD drivers are a thousand times worse for Linux. It's a source package you have to download from them and compile on your system, which normally isn't an issue but it is with this. Firstly, you have to have a very specific version of a few operating systems to even install the thing. Secondly, even if you have the right version, it still might not install the driver due to some stupid error it will give you. I had the "Pro" driver for my RX 580 installed and working at one time, but there was a weird screen flickering issue. So, I switched back to the NVIDIA card for a while, waiting for a newer version of the AMD driver. When I tried it again later, it wouldn't even install, despite the fact that I was running an OS based on the correct version of Ubuntu. And, even trying it on Ubuntu itself wasn't any better. Compared to that, installing their drivers on Windows is a dream.

Nvidia definitely has the edge for drivers on Linux. Most Linux distributions have their proprietary graphics drivers in their repositories. A very small few will let you load the driver in Live mode, and it will be automatically installed when you install the system. For the ones that don't do that, many have a tool that easily installs the driver after installing the OS. For MX Linux, which is what I've been using for months, the tool even offered to check their testing repositories for a newer version of the driver, which I did and it worked like a charm.

Well, I bought a new TV too, though far less grand than the one MadKoiFish bought. I bought a 24" Sceptre 1080p TV. It was only $86 at Walmart dot com, and then even less after I applied my employee discount. Though, I have absolutely no plans to use it as a TV. It's going to be my new computer monitor. You can't beat a 1080p 24" monitor for that price. Plus, it has speakers built in, which is always nice. The speakers were the most complained about part in the reviews, but that's common for inexpensive small TVs. And, if they're bad I can always just use my regular computer speakers. Though, it actually looks like the TV speakers are slightly more powerful than standard desktop speakers.

I decided on the Sceptre after looking at TVs in the store. For a couple that are that price and our brand (Onn) I can get either a 24" or a 32" that are both only 720p. They have worse ratings than the Sceptre. Our brand Onn is a rebranding of various Chinese manufacturers, whereas Sceptre is a California based manufacturer. They've been considered a decent budget manufacturer for over 30 years.

And, since TV stands are shorter than typical monitor stands, I bought a riser on Amazon. It both lifts the monitor and has storage, maybe that will help me actually be organized. ;)

Congratulations scifidude79!

Quote from: scifieric on Sep 12, 2019, 01:31 amCongratulations scifidude79!

Thanks bro.

Maybe with the new monitor and recently upgraded desktop, I'll actually do some CGI this weekend. ;)

Edit: and I just got a shipping notification on the TV. :)

Quote from: scifidude79 on Sep 12, 2019, 11:02 amMaybe with the new monitor and recently upgraded desktop, I'll actually do some CGI this weekend. ;)

Edit: and I just got a shipping notification on the TV. :)

I would love to see what you make!  And yeah, sometimes it's hit or miss with those notifications.

If I work on anything this weekend, it's going to be my Phase II Enterprise.

Quote from: scifidude79 on Sep 12, 2019, 12:39 pmIf I work on anything this weekend, it's going to be my Phase II Enterprise.

Sweet!  I can't wait to see what you do!

cool deal on the tv. I wanted a 27 or something for the bedroom back when I got that 32 but back then 32 was the smallest they made 1080p tvs.

Yeah, I was surprised to not only find the TV at a better price than the Onn ones, but also that it was 1080p. The price is a "Special Buy," so I figured I'd grab it before it goes back up. The MSRP on the TV is $150.

Meanwhile, Amazon received and completed my return for that Ryzen where they sent me the wrong item. So, I'm fine with them. It was just weird that they got something that far from what I ordered. I thought there were only people that stupid at Walmart. But, I guess there are idiots everywhere.

Well, I got my Sceptre TV (monitor) today, it's really nice. Unfortunately, the riser I bought from Amazon was a piece of crap, the box was partially crushed and so was the riser itself. So, another thing to return to Amazon. ::) I ordered a different one, which will be here tomorrow. Meanwhile, I have my chair set lower, which I hate.

And, when I switched to the new monitor, I was having bad screen tearing, so I applied a fix that works for most Linux distributions. Unfortunately, said fix made my desktop no longer load correctly. But, that was easy to solve, I just switched from MX Linux to Linux Mint.

Anyway, as I said, the TV is nice. The speakers that people whined about in their reviews are just fine, at least for desktop use. The picture is really nice and crisp, and I like the increased size, coming from a 21.5 inch monitor to a 24 inch one. I haven't tried any of the other inputs besides the HDMI, but I may do so later just to see how they work.

Should just check to see if the tv has a VESA mount on it and get a arm pole or stand that can be adjusted. Or go old school and collect some yellowpages >_>
Would not bother with other connectors unless it is a dvd-d or displayport.

If this is it.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Sceptre-24-Class-FHD-1080P-LED-TV-E246BV-F/46867814
you got a usb for I am guessing keyfob pictures etc also can use it to power led lights etc. MAYBE hook a phone up for usb audio?
Rest of the connections are meh except maybe that optical that you could send audio to a larger stereo.

Yep, that's the TV. I was just going to test the other connections for review purposes. I only plan to have the computer hooked up to it permanently, and it's hooked up via HDMI. But, I may not try them after all.

Yeah, most of the tilting monitor mounts I found (first thing I looked at) for that size were a 100x100 or 75x75 pattern. The 200x100 pattern makes it more of a pain in the ass than just getting a shelf riser. The adapter kit alone is what I'm paying for the shelf riser, plus the price of the mount itself. I was actually searching the mounts when Amazon suggested the shelf riser to me, which is what got me onto those in the first place. Besides, I can store stuff under the shelf riser. ;) I don't even think I have a phone book. I did think of books but I don't want to ruin anything nice.

Though, if this new one I ordered also arrives damaged, it's going to be time to start reconsidering Amazon as a purchase option. Who cares if you get stuff fast when it arrives damaged or wrong? I wasn't at all happy with the Amazon Logistics driver who dropped off the first riser. While I can't be certain that person damaged the package, he or she did prop it against the front door, so there was no way to open the door from the inside without knocking it over. That's just plain stupidity.

I may start ordering more stuff from Walmart anyway. I work there, I can get a discount and they have pretty much the same stuff, plus 1 to 2 day shipping on thousands of items with no membership fee. For my TV, they put it in a bigger box and put some of those air pillows in there to protect it. I've gotten enough things like that from Amazon to know they would have just put a shipping label on the TV box and sent it without any other box protecting it. One time, I even had an item where it said they wouldn't put it in another box but you could request that they do so. I did that and they still didn't do it. I'm getting less and less impressed with Amazon as time goes by.

For the video cards, the Sapphire one looks great. It has a higher percentage of 5 egg reviews and a lower percentage of 1 egg reviews than the Gigabyte one. That's usually how I narrow that stuff down when they're so close in features and price.

HAH sniped the post while you were posting >_>
Ok I figured 130shipped for the sapphire card was worth the fatness and ugly backplate. The Gigabyte card was a bit janky and half a inch longer once I found posts people made whom actually measured the cards. Getting some free xbox pc crap. But from waht I read it is tied to the card somehow or Id offer to give away the code.

And wtf newegg wants me to spam my purchase on social media. . . .

I am tempted to look into 590s or a 580 for my main pc some time in the future. While max does little to anything with a gpu it should at least allow some more frames in the viewports. And cut down on power. Think the 770 is a 300w card.

I think once you load up LW or blender the extra pixels will be a godsend in any modeler UI. (assuming this is for that pc)

Well, since the links are no longer there, the Sapphire card definitely looked like the better one, from what I can remember. I've never owned anything from Sapphire, but I know they've been around a long time and are generally considered to be a decent budget option. With Gigabyte, I've only messed around with their motherboards, not their graphics cards. That AM3+ board I used for years with that FX-8120 was a Gigabyte board. Not bad at all.

Yeah, the TV is for my main desktop, the one I'll be doing CGI on. I've already got Blender up on it and it's looking pretty nice. Some of my text was looking a little "meh," but I turned on a thing called Dynamic Contrast on the TV, and that seems to have helped. Basically, it sets the contrast automatically, without me having to fiddle with it.

Might want to see if you can dig around some and see of there is a color space setting or "PC" setting. Just be careful of some of the tv settings as they can rip your retinas a new one. The 41 I have has brightness at 50 and the back light at maybe 10 of 100 as that thing could decently light a 12X12ft room for reading, heck could mount it to the ceiling as a 100w lighting panel >_<

I defently would have gone for oled for my tv if that burn in was not such an issue, the multi stage zone backlights work fine for movies and most tv but you get subs in white EWW. What is really odd is a lot of new films made for HDR and all these super watt tvs is scenes with high light sources like a sun and lens flare really do make you squint like hell.

https://www.newegg.com/sapphire-radeon-rx-570-100412p4gocl/p/N82E16814202283
The sapphire card was the one with all the odd racing stripes on the backplate. I really was tempted by the 8gig MSI card but there were a lot of complaints about heat issues and the 8gigs seem to be power hogs. 330w or so reported with an avg of 75 idle. Ouch. I have had err I think 2 other sapphire cards one was a fanless one with a huge heatsink. It was a amd too a 5670. Got it for the hdmi audio support.
https://www.newegg.com/sapphire-radeon-hd-5670-100289ul/p/N82E16814102902
lol, fanless are great ideas but in the end they just cook away. So I ziptied a 120mm fan on it with resistors to slow it to a slow crawl. Mum stole it so I will probably never see it again. man aug 2010 so 9yrs old. 114usd.

Dunno what the hell this quick connect fan thing is about though. Doubt they still support it.
Yeah same here I don't think I have ever gotten a gigabyte video card. Loads of mobos, not much else heh. They were really good back when everything was in Taiwan. Both them and asus have declined badly since design and build were pushed off to china.  T_T

reminds me I gotta dig around for a 6pin toi 8 pin adapter, as I doubt none of the cards add in any extras anymore.

There are PC settings, but only if you're using VGA. It doesn't even show up on the options if you're on the other inputs. I'm, of course, using HDMI. I've just kind of gone with what looks best and less harsh to me. Also, attempt #2 on the riser worked out great. It's basic:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017DOS5C0/

It's not bad at all, a simple shelf to raise the monitor. Now I don't feel like my chair is adjusted for someone half my size. I'm almost 6'4" tall.

Yeah, that Sapphire card you bought definitely looks nice. It looks like it meets most of your criteria, including fairly small size. Aside from issues with excess heat and power, I'd say you probably don't need 8GB GDDR5 for video playback in 4K. Maybe for 4K games, but not for videos. For video, 4GB should do the trick, I would think.

Man, fanless video cards. It's been a while since I've even seen one of those. Once you start getting into anything too powerful designed for gaming, you need active cooling. The oldest video card I still have is an ASUS Nvidia 9500GT, and it has a fan. No power connector, though. (attached) I bought that beauty about 9 years ago and it served me faithfully for years. I upgraded after Nvidia dropped that chipset from its driver support.

Before the pci era you saw a lot of em. I had a nvidia near top line model in AGP form that had a huge heatsink with vapor pipes and stuff on it ran stuffy too though. I had I think a 7950gt or something from EVGA with a solid copper heatsink thing on that weighted a tonne. Those days are gone thanks to china. Has one of those small annoying fans on. Not thrown out anything unless it was broke and then only if it was thrown out to a tech deposit. So I have like my first gpu a no9 4mb pci gpu. I think I had a vsa? That old super long black socket that was around prior to pci. I think back then that 4mb card was like 400usd.

Issue is the smaller die in newer cards means more heat. remember as things heated up in 2002 or so there was only 80mm fans so you had hairdryer cases with thermaltake orange fans going at speeds to easily remove the ends of fingers, in in the case of a guy in my scanlation group from then a mouse head in his pc.

Yeah, that card in the picture was my first PCI-E card, and my first GPU with a built in fan. I bought that for a computer with Intel built in graphics, which were crap back then. (I guess they're getting better these days) Prior to that, I had a computer with Nvidia graphics built into the motherboard, so I felt no need to get a separate graphics card.

If I could have gotten an AMD A-series APU with more than 4 cores, I may have just used that for my desktop upgrade. But, I wanted the extra cores for CGI rendering, that's why I went with the Ryzen. If I ever give up CGI, which is always a possibility, I may just switch to the simplicity of an A-series. Though, from the looks of the reviews on those, I definitely would want to use something besides stock cooling on one of those. The Wraith Stealth cooler that comes with the Ryzen is probably one of the best stock coolers AMD has ever done.

Yeah I quit with integrated early on. Like 1995? First pc had integrated a HP pavillion 133mhz. HEH. I just ran into too many programs that just would not run without a gpu. Still hit that today usually getting things installed on others systems though or laptops. A lot of the dojin games out there often hork at integrated. I think stuff today might not be as much of an issue as they have sprite support and the 3d stuff.

I forget that 7950 might have been my first pcie card too. I do know it has a different driver branc as I wanted to pair it with the 460 but to do dual gpus you must drive them off the same driver. Hence why I had to use that 12.5" 260 power hog heatbox.
https://cdn.videocardz.net/cache/7d40f910bbd18715587677b383d11dbe-1200x900.jpg
got boxes of cards all over the place lol.

Think I posted this once before, not all of em but hey look that one closest is a gig cardI so yeah I guess I had at least one. Oh I think these are all my AGP cards, sans that one asus on the table edge. MORE of those crappy 40mm fans all over them!!!
(https://madkoifish.files.wordpress.com/2019/09/crap.jpg?w=400)

Oh a nasty Nintendo is going after rom sites like mad again. A few are being taken to court apparently.

Yeah, Nintendo goes through spurts of going after those sites. I remember one some months back where the settlement was likely way more than the couple in Texas could ever afford to pay. But, it's not about money for Nintendo, it's about sending a message. They also took down a British guy who was selling modified SNES Classics. I think he was actually arrested because GB has pretty stiff laws for that stuff. If a ROM site spontaneously starts redirecting to Nintendo's website, you know they got taken down.

Though, that stuff is like sites that have pirated music and movies. You can take one down but another will take its place. Eventually, they'll just set up shop in a country that has no laws for that stuff or that just won't care about Nintendo's copyright claims. For those of us just wanting to download games, we'll just find another site.

Yeah, I think I remember that photo of the graphics cards from before. That's a lot of cards.

You're right, dedicated GPU cards are better. They're easier to upgrade and have dedicated memory. As I said, the APUs were a thought, but probably not a really serious one. Thinking about it, I'll bet that added GPU is what is making those CPUs run hot, which bottlenecks systems. But, maybe for a computer where you don't need a whole lot of power, like a web surfing machine. Though, for one of those, I'd probably just use a single board system. Those are getting better and better.

Yeah apu might work better with some room like in those large footprint chips amd has for the top tier cpus. Probably add too much overhead to spread it out as the platters cost more and more over time. Not to mention possible timing issues of long traces etc. Modern integrated is soo much better than the old stuff though. Intel still has some stupid ideas of software though. Setting overscan and other things is a real annoyance. Also they are now leaning towards REMOVING features and options with each update. I have a laptop I use in my bedroom and sometimes it drives me nuts as it craps up the displays and forces a reboot.

I guess some of it is cause they want to still milk the old games, heard that the switch has a few old snes games available to it. That and I guess IP protection.

Yeah, there's SNES for the Nintendo Switch Online thing. It's "free" with that subscription. And, NES is getting ready to come out for it in a few days. Also, they still sell games for the Wii U and 3DS Virtual Console, which allows you to buy and play NES, SNES, N64, GBA and Nintendo DS and even some Sega games for the Wii U. For the 3DS, you can get NES, SNES, Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Sega games. So, yeah, Nintendo still plans to make money off of those games. So does Sega, but they're not taking down anyone these days. And, Sony can't really be bothered. So, Nintendo fights that fight alone.

Heh, I dug out my 3DS and was playing some Donkey Kong. I have the NES version on there, along with the original Super Mario, Zelda and Tecmo Bowl. I also have some SNES games. In fact, I was just thinking of all of the money I've spent on retro gaming over the years. I have multiple official retro systems, including an Atari Flashback, Genesis Flashback, NES Classic and Super NES Classic. I've also purchased Virtual Console games for the 3DS, Atari and Sega game collections on Steam, and I was gifted a Sega collection for the 360 years ago. Then, going back to the old days, there were retro carts and discs for the Playstation, SNES, Genesis and N64. And, that's not to mention all of the physical cartridges I still own. So, yeah, I've paid my money to those companies. That's why I don't feel bad about doing the emulation thing these days.

Not saying you should heh I probably could buy a decent used car for what I spent on consoles up to 2001 or so. That was about the time I think I got the Dreamcast and shortly quit the industry shortly after. Not like that industry respects legal ownership anyhow. The espionage levels of shit in those companies could put the world powers to shame. Always company A filching hdw or revs for company B then add in all the "unofficial" companies who steal shit for their unofficial stuff. Be it a new controller to get pin outs or some other tech spec that could help them get their unofficial product to market at the same time or shortly after. To guide companies stealing betas and alphas to make guides to be on market on release day.  HAH
I got into the emu stuff back in 2003 2002 or so with usenet for getting software to alter my dreamcast and load roms and fangames. had a lot of silly apps like a paint tool to a crippled video player etc. At the time I think psx had gotten a emulator but only a very few games worked, mostly what few sprite ones that were out. And of course the snes one but then it was a bit iffy.

In some ways I would have thought they would have seen the way to quit spending so much developing hdw and dev a os/engine to push on oem hdw. Be it a custom build or a off the shelf system where they would just have to dev a enclosure for. EXP with todays console prices. I am sure overhead would be hugely lower. In the old days sony Nintendo and sega generally worked for the first 3 to 4 years at a loss. Often selling the at cost consoles for half or quarter of what it cost to make. Guess greed and comfort make you stupid blind.

I quit after getting a pS2 and looking at what I spent on it for something like 4 games I would play a lot. Also the narrowing of the types of games being made. EG look at pc gaming it is online group games(rpg) and FPS either online or in Ai mode (most do not even have this now) Basically the same game over and over for the last 20 yrs.

Need to look at a NEOGEO emu as I miss those a lot more. Was too poor as a kid to even have a game console wasn't till my first job I got a Genesis. I think i got it for the promise of mega drive for the uS which failed. Also couldn't afford PCENGINE at the time. (which that failed in the us as they totally ruined the system. And my friends had snes so Id just mooch their systems or have them bring them for game parties. Anyhow all the pizza joints had neogeo and one rich friend had the old cart system. The carts were like 700usd a pop and the size of a modern bluray player. But then again those carts were the exact same things in the arcade machines.
HAH neorageX, though says something about a bios so might only run on one of those small systems or older hdw. Says windows so eh. Oh boy french. lol. Means only about half the site makes sense to me. derp.

And ohh bugger it I cannot find all the cables for that seasonic psu. I did find a ugly arse 2 6pin to 8 pin adaptor. but bleah huge fittings and mustard and uh I guess gravy? yellow brown and black wires heh. Worst is seasonic uses those wide plugs vs the general stacked ones from corsair evga and others. (pcpower I think is the oem on those)

I only occasionally still buy modern games. It's become an industry standard to release games that feature little content upon release, expecting someone to pay for more content later. They sell the content in DLC packs that are usually about 1/3 the price of the original game. Or, you can buy a "Season pass" to pay less money overall, but you still pay for that content. Though, sometimes I'll buy those on down the road, as a "complete edition" comes out at some point, but you have to wait at least a couple years while they milk money out of the gamers who have to have the stuff day one. Then there are the forced updates, which often introduce more bugs than they fix, and my ultimate favorite: forced online play. ::) Many of the bigger game studio games follow this formula. Occasionally, a game comes along from a bigger studio that doesn't follow this formula, but those are fewer and farther between, as selling people a game once means you only get paid once.

A lot of the games I still buy are older games. I only have a handful of actual XBOX One games, many of the games I play on the console are older stuff, made for the XBOX 360 or original XBOX. Though, I use my XBOX One S more for multimedia than I do for gaming. I'm probably going to stop buying consoles moving forward. For me, it's more about having a good gaming PC than a limited console. While I love console gaming, it's just easier having everything accessible on one device. That's one reason I went with the Pi for my cartridge games, it makes life simpler.

About the only gaming specific device I may still go for moving forward is the Nintendo Switch Lite, which is coming out on Friday:

https://www.nintendo.com/switch/lite/

I like that it's completely handheld, no need to mess with docking it and playing on a TV. Basically, I figure it will be replacing the 3DS. The Switch has a large enough game library now where I'm sure I can find fun stuff to play. Plus, they have a huge online store full of cool indie stuff.

That and the carts are like tiny. Least I think the ones I saw were switch carts. About the size of a sd card. I know one of those systems is a driving force for standard sd cards and little boxes and storage wallets I see in Daiso and elsewhere.

I am leaning on setting up that media pc as a emulator system. Only real issue is space as it has a nvme drive and I do not want to stuff a larger ssd or hdd into it. Have to look at that when I start setting things up.

So, I didn't know this was a thing:

store.steampowered.com/app/1017900/Age_of_Empires_Definitive_Edition/

I found out about it because, since I own Age of Empires 2 HD on Steam, I got a coupon for 25% off the upcoming AOE2 Definitive Edition. I was looking at that and saw there was a bundle with both games for $30, so I bought that. I love Age of Empires, I bought the first two games at Walmart about 15 years ago. It was a double pack with the Collector's Editions of both games for $10, or something like that. I've got hours upon hours in those games. I initially bought AOE2 HD because the game didn't display properly on Windows 7 without changing some settings. Plus, better graphics, play in widescreen, etc. But, I didn't know they had done an upgrade of the first game until now.

Fortunately, I ignored the "mixed" reviews on Steam, because I'm not having any framerate issues with it running on my gaming rig, which is where a lot of the negativity comes from. Of course, people are also complaining about other things, some of which were core mechanics of the game. But, you can't please everyone. Also, some people have found bugs, but I haven't really found any. I've just been having a blast playing it in full HD on my television. :)

Cool!  I may check that out!

Between AOE Definitive Edition and Planet Coaster, it was a pretty fun weekend that went by way too fast. I also watched some movies. No CGI, unfortunately. I'm really finding it hard to find motivation to do that stuff lately, even thought there are models I want to do. But, 5 more nights of work and then I get 9 days/nights off. I hope to find some time during my staycation to do some CGI.

Ha!  That is exactly my thought as well.  I go on vacation (first vacation in over 9 months!) in 22 hours and 55 minutes (not that I'm counting or anything) and I want to learn about Blender 2.8.

I hope you enjoy yourself, my friend.

It's good to hear you're getting some time off too. Nine months is a long stretch, but I've been there. I took my first actual vacation on the job I have now almost two years in. So, that was a bit of a stretch. I work with some people who just call in when they're wanting some time off, or when their points drop off and they can call in without getting fired. I've called in twice in four years, so I'm definitely ready for a vacation. ;)

You doing anything fun on yours, besides Blender?

I keep thinking I'd start learning Blender yesterday ... then today ... but I haven't.  So, I may not EVEN have learning Blender on the docket.

I'm going to try though.  How about you?

I plan to take a look at 2.8.

One thing I know is I've about had it with the Cycles render engine. My TV I bought to use as a monitor is brighter than the monitor I was using, and I've noticed lot of fireflies in my renders. Between that and the noise, I'm not too happy with it. Issues like those are what drove me away from Lightwave 2018. But, Blender gives you options. I was looking at the original Blender render engine before I left the house, and I may just use that. That or take a look at the new one in 2.8.

Yeah, I get it.  I've been using a LOT of render time to compensate for those fireflies.  The latest thing is using de-noisers with renders now to automatically clean up a render.

They tend to remove some detail, but sometimes these things take a render and make it FAST!

I've seen renders done with those de-noisers. It's nothing I want to do for my own work.

One of the best movies ever made right here:

(https://evilgenius180.files.wordpress.com/2019/09/flash-gordon-1980-mike-hodges.jpg?w=800)

Seriously, it is. That nearly 40 year old $20 million movie can put more of a smile on my face than any of today's $100 million to $200 million CGI fest Sci-Fi "epics." Why? Because it knows how to have fun and just tell a story about characters, rather than trying to be ultra serious and part of a larger universe. There's no setup for a sequel in it, no attempt to be more than it is. It's just hammy fun. I'm not saying modern movies are bad, but they just don't have that kind of fun anymore. I was actually reading an article yesterday about how modern movies could learn some lessons from Flash Gordon, and I agree. Of course, that put me in the mood to watch the movie, so I whipped out the Blu-ray. :)

Also, fun fact: George Lucas wanted to make Flash Gordon, but the producers didn't hire him. So, he went off and made Star Wars instead.

Such a great film. Got to love the sound track as well.

Yeah, I don't know why that trend of doing rock and roll soundtracks for Sci-Fi and fantasy films didn't last more than a few years.

Been meaning to post the specs to my new PC and now finally getting around to it.

CPU: Ryzen 5 2400G at 3.6GHz
GPU: XFX Radeon RX 570 8GB
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Storage: 2.5 TB
Power: 750W Power Supply

That's a nice looking rig, Malach. I've got similar specs in my gaming machine.

Quote from: scifidude79 on Sep 23, 2019, 12:02 amI plan to take a look at 2.8.

The more I look at 2.8, the less I like it. Not only have they completely borked redone the UI, but they also have made other functional changes, such as messing around with keyboard shortcuts. I have enough issues remembering the damn shortcuts and trying to **not** use the ones from Lightwave without them going and changing the ones I remember. For example, pressing "A" selects and deselects in 2.79b and earlier. In 2.80, you have to press Alt+A or double tap A to deselect. This is an intentional change, as I found out on their bug submission site. I was wondering why it was hit or miss to deselect, I guess after multiple hits of just "A," I was doing it fast enough to count as a double tap. Is this a massive change? No. But, why change it at all? What use is it to change something like that? I can't figure out how to change it back, as the keymapper doesn't even say you have to double press the button. Between that and not knowing where the hell anything is in the UI, plus whatever changes that are lurking that I don't know about, I'm not impressed with 2.80 at all.

https://developer.blender.org/T68542

Anyway, I may just stick with 2.79b. There's no reason I have to "upgrade" just because they released it. I'm actually in the mood to model something and trying to figure out a program while simultaneously trying to build something is never fun.

Quote from: scifidude79 on Sep 23, 2019, 12:02 amOne thing I know is I've about had it with the Cycles render engine. My TV I bought to use as a monitor is brighter than the monitor I was using, and I've noticed lot of fireflies in my renders. Between that and the noise, I'm not too happy with it. Issues like those are what drove me away from Lightwave 2018. But, Blender gives you options. I was looking at the original Blender render engine before I left the house, and I may just use that. That or take a look at the new one in 2.8.

OK, I had a moment earlier. I figured out what a major issue was with me and Cycles. It all started with this tutorial:

https://www.blenderguru.com/tutorials/introduction-to-cycles

It's at a little after 10 minutes into the video. At that time, the lamps in Blender didn't work with Cycles. So, I've always done what it says to do in that video, which is to create light emitting objects, rather than use the lamps. Well, that's a major part of my problem. I guess somewhere in the last 8 years they made the lamps work with Cycles, so that information is out of date. I didn't know this because my Blender use has been sporadic. Ironically, I was messing around in Blender 2.8, trying to get somewhere with the Eevee rendering engine. I switched all of my spheres to lamps and then tried to get it working, but the rendered result wasn't good because I wound up with weird shadow artifacts. I switched to Cycles and found out my renders were a lot cleaner. I wasn't sure if this was because Blender 2.80 is newer, but it's not. It's actually because of the point lights I'm using now instead of light emitting objects. I know this is the case because I was able to get the same results in 2.79b. The proof is in the renders.

Light emitting objects:

(https://evilgenius180.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/phaseii_wip09.jpg) (https://evilgenius180.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/phaseii_wip09.jpg)

Point lights:

(https://evilgenius180.files.wordpress.com/2019/09/rendertest03.jpg) (https://evilgenius180.files.wordpress.com/2019/09/rendertest03.jpg)

Light emitting objects:

(https://evilgenius180.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/phaseii_wip10.jpg) (https://evilgenius180.files.wordpress.com/2019/08/phaseii_wip10.jpg)

Point lights:

(https://evilgenius180.files.wordpress.com/2019/09/rendertest04.jpg) (https://evilgenius180.files.wordpress.com/2019/09/rendertest04.jpg)

Same object, same materials, just different light sources. I have no fireflies and little noise. Also, since I'm using real lights, I was able to make the shadows softer.

Anywho, just thought I'd share that. I'm sure other Blender users knew this, but it was kind of a "Eureka!" moment for me. ;)

Oh wow!  Thanks Chris!  I'll have to make some changes.

And yeah, I think I'm going to reinstall 2.79b.

I finally got some time, the new day job was eating all my time learning it and fixin' what my outgoing boss may have done on purpose to try and make things a mess for me.

I have deduced fully thouge he said he retired .. he was actually fired.

kinda retire now, or we will boot you, sort of thing. It mainly comes down to some stuff I can't say, and the way labour law works. so a forcible golden handshake. LOL  so he was a bit of an ass and very carefully set up som gotchas because he knew it was me replacing him and well he and I never got along after the first year.

so on a hunch, I did a full security audit and found a bunch of stuff just waiting to cause me problems in about 2 months. and the things I found had to be done by hand in a manner intended to hide them.
if they had come upon their own it would have looked like I was negligent or worse.
so I found about a day worth of work. just fixing to do.
I wrote up a report and shewed it to my client rep, and what I found and my opinions on it. they agreed.

I have spent more time correcting stuff and re-writing policy that what my job would normally be.
I took this week off so Heather birthday could be a good one and relax form that last week of extra work. LOL

 

oh, and I have some time to work on the RTS game.

The engine it's built with is getting better with new Game studios actually supporting with code and cash.
this makes it very likely by x-mass season I could support cloud bassed server for connoting the game.
That means way easier for say all of us to play, no need to change router settings or anything. 

a whole host of good stuff coming that my RTS game won't need .. yet.  I'm trying to get the AI working at its basic roots. where units can react and retaliate based on their state. you know shoot em and piss em off and now they mark you as an enemy if they did not think you were enemy, to begin with.

missiles now have a flame/flare that has animated properties. and then when the animation finishes it passe control over to its seek function.

Yeah, it sounds like the guy you replaced was an asshole.

I work with a number of people who used to be managers. One guy who used to be a department manager told me many times that he voluntarily stepped down, but I found out he was basically forced to step down. Upper management will do the whole "either you step down or we'll keep on writing you up until you get fired" bit. Though, I also work with another guy who flat out told me that's what they did to him. So, some people are more honest about circumstances than others.

That's some cool stuff about the game and features they have coming out. It's really nice that they've got good backing to keep development going.

I've played games with a mechanic where an enemy is "neutral" towards you until you do damage on them, then their status changes and they can attack you. Adding that kind of mechanic to your game sounds cool.

Quote from: Prime_8 on Oct 10, 2019, 03:19 pmkinda retire now, or we will boot you, sort of thing. It mainly comes down to some stuff I can't say, and the way labour law works. so a forcible golden handshake. LOL  so he was a bit of an ass and very carefully set up som gotchas because he knew it was me replacing him and well he and I never got along after the first year.

so on a hunch, I did a full security audit and found a bunch of stuff just waiting to cause me problems in about 2 months. and the things I found had to be done by hand in a manner intended to hide them.
if they had come upon their own it would have looked like I was negligent or worse.

Wow, the guy sounds like a complete and utter D-bag.  They are lucky to have you, Scott.

Quote from: Prime_8 on Oct 10, 2019, 03:31 pmoh, and I have some time to work on the RTS game.

Sweet!  This sounds great!

Quote from: scifidude79 on Oct 10, 2019, 09:41 pmYeah, it sounds like the guy you replaced was an asshole.

I work with a number of people who used to be managers. One guy who used to be a department manager told me many times that he voluntarily stepped down, but I found out he was basically forced to step down. Upper management will do the whole "either you step down or we'll keep on writing you up until you get fired" bit. Though, I also work with another guy who flat out told me that's what they did to him. So, some people are more honest about circumstances than others.

That's some cool stuff about the game and features they have coming out. It's really nice that they've got good backing to keep development going.

I've played games with a mechanic where an enemy is "neutral" towards you until you do damage on them, then their status changes and they can attack you. Adding that kind of mechanic to your game sounds cool.

I agree with everything you said, Chris!

So, I signed up for a free trial of CBS All Access through Prime Video. And, I binge watched the four Short Treks that were made between seasons 1 and 2 of Discovery. And, I plowed through the first 9 episodes of Discovery season 2. Man, I don't know why, as a Trekkie, I'm supposed to hate this show, but I can't. I've been enjoying the hell out of it. Just 5 more Disco episodes and 2 more Short Treks to go and I'll once more be able to say I've seen every episode of Star Trek to ever made. ;)

I'm glad you're enjoying it!

Yeah, I really am. There have been some really good episodes. I also find some of the comments I've read on the series have been off base. I've seen multiple people claim that Buhrman solves everything. She doesn't, especially not in season 2. Saru, Tilly and Stamets still solve problems, maybe even more so than in the first season. (Stamets and Tilly are a great team) There are also some other officers who are brought more into prominence in the second season. I think it has quite a bit of character growth for some of the people who were there all along, but not necessarily focused on. Lt. Joann Owosekun (the chick at ops) gets a lot more to do in this season. The cyborg Cdr. Airiam gets more to do also. Pike is fantastic, the best addition to the show from the second season by far. He stands up for a lot of the Federation's core morals, much like Kirk or Picard would. (especially Picard) He's way different than Lorca, but given Lorca's actual origins, everything "off" about his character could be explained.

On the writing side, I haven't found much to complain about. The plots have been exciting and the science hasn't bothered me, but I'm also not a scientist. ;) I find it less cringe worthy than many of the episodes in Voyager's last 3 seasons.

As for the comments that it's not like previous Star Trek shows, of course it's not. Star Trek adapts to the times of its production. TNG really isn't that much like TOS. Core elements are there, but it has a more serious tone, especially once they got past the attempts to redo TOS stuff. (**coughs** The Naked Now) Then DS9 was a further evolution of the property, but not quite as much as TNG was, nor was Voyager. But, Enterprise got us more into a new millennium mindset. Discovery is just another evolution of the Star Trek property. So, people who claim it's not the same need to take a step back and look at the evolution of Star Trek. Or, just go watch the older stuff. It's all on DVD, Blu-Ray and streaming. But, those are just my opinions.

oh my the shows pilling up I wanna watch. ugh

no time to fully enjoy .

I have been watching The Tick, on prime. It's funny because I remember the cartoon. How over the top it was, is well done in the live action.

I hear you on stuff piling up. I've got lots of stuff on DVD and Blu-Ray (whole series) to watch. And, instead of doing that, I'm streaming Discovery. :P

Chris if your enjoying Discovery good for you. There are a few moments in season 2 I liked, but the majority of it I hated. I do expect Trek evolve, but you said it your self TNG and the other kept the core of what made Trek, Trek.
Discovery does not do that for me and I find it bad writing when you compare to past Trek shows or even good current Sci-fi shows.

P8, I saw The Tick recently and loved it, shame that show won't get a third season.

I don't feel the writing is anywhere near as bad as some people do, but that's why people watch things and formulate their own opinions. Obviously, opinions will vary as to what makes good Star Trek. Hell, there are people who won't watch anything but TOS, while some other people may exclude TOS due to its age and silliness. I know a fair number of people don't like Enterprise, but I think it's a good show. I was watching some episodes this morning.

Now, for bad writing, the latest Short Treks episode "The Trouble with Edward" was terrible. I thought the character of Edward was awful and the premise for the episode was bad, very bad. Though, I'm also less a fan of the Short Treks than I am of Discovery. I think the Harry Mudd one was the best one they've done so far.

I don't mind Discovery too much.  I love their take on Captain Pike, and I would be a DIEHARD fan of the show if it became the Christopher Pike show.  That's something I've been wanting since Enterprise.  I thought Enterprise was going to be about Pike and crew.

Oh well.

I've always liked the character Christopher Pike, and The Cage is actually one of my favorite Star Trek episodes.

I think a lot of people would love to see that series with Pike. I know I would. I'm actually sad that season 3 will be focusing on the Discovery in the future, rather than on the Enterprise in the 2250s. I like the cast they have shaping up with Anson Mount as Pike, Ethan Peck as Spock and Rebecca Romijn as Number One. I also really like John Eaves's design for the ship. It looks sexy on screen, much better than any other ship on Discovery. Plus, the interiors, especially the bridge, look more like a modern re-imagining of the 1960s interiors than anything else in canon.

Quote from: scifidude79 on Oct 14, 2019, 10:34 pmI've always liked the character Christopher Pike, and The Cage is actually one of my favorite Star Trek episodes.

I think a lot of people would love to see that series with Pike. I know I would. I'm actually sad that season 3 will be focusing on the Discovery in the future, rather than on the Enterprise in the 2250s. I like the cast they have shaping up with Anson Mount as Pike, Ethan Peck as Spock and Rebecca Romijn as Number One. I also really like John Eaves's design for the ship. It looks sexy on screen, much better than any other ship on Discovery. Plus, the interiors, especially the bridge, look more like a modern re-imagining of the 1960s interiors than anything else in canon.

I agree with everything you said.

As much as I would like a Pike show, I had my fill of Prequels. Hollywood enough already!! All you done is prequels and reboots since the early 00's with Franchises time to move the story forward.

If they did a Pike show I would prefer it be a one off mini series, but that is not going to happen.

Chris I have not seen any of the new short Treks, but I hear they are really bad. From what I am seeing from Ethan Peck Spock is they are taking everything from the Cage with his emotions. This is not the Spock we know and love. What we saw there the character was not fully defined. We never meant to see the Cage except for the TOS two parter, and even in that we did not see Spock smile, they only used shots of him that fitted with what we saw in TOS.
When Paramount realised the Cage in the 90's we the fans just ignored the character difference and imagined him being like he was on TOS. In another words when he was smiling on screen we just saw a non smiling Spock.
But Kurtzman and co like to retcon what we have seen before. That is something that I hate, and this new Short Trek is another case of that.

The general assumption with Spock is that he had trouble controlling his emotions as a young man. Yes, you have The Cage or, more specifically, The Menagerie to thank for that. Both the part with him smiling and his emotional outburst when Number One and Yeoman Colt were transported and nobody else was were in that episode. Therefore, young Spock's occasional emotional outbursts are canon. The best explanation is that he had issues controlling his emotions and had to learn more control.

Q&A with him and Number One isn't bad. It didn't necessarily contribute a whole lot to the overall story, but it wasn't bad.

Quote from: scifidude79 on Oct 12, 2019, 02:17 pmSo, I signed up for a free trial of CBS All Access through Prime Video. And, I binge watched the four Short Treks that were made between seasons 1 and 2 of Discovery. And, I plowed through the first 9 episodes of Discovery season 2. Man, I don't know why, as a Trekkie, I'm supposed to hate this show, but I can't. I've been enjoying the hell out of it. Just 5 more Disco episodes and 2 more Short Treks to go and I'll once more be able to say I've seen every episode of Star Trek to ever made. ;)

Meanwhile, there's absolutely nothing else good on CBS All Access, so I'll be ending my subscription after my trial has ended. The next Short Treks isn't even due out for about another month. Picard starts in January so, see you then, CBS All Access. ::)

Yep, I'll wait until the seasons of Picard and Discovery are out, then do the free trial and binge.  Works fairly well.

It worked great for Discovery season 2 and the Short Treks. I had more time over the weekend, and five days left on my trial, but nothing to watch. They don't have any of their classic shows on there, just their newer stuff, which I don't care about.

Oh wow.  I thought they had advertised that they had their classic shows available, including the original Star Trek!

They did, but they don't seem to anymore. I could swear they had Mission: Impossible on there too, when I was on two years ago. I can't find that stuff anywhere. Though, I'm also on the Amazon Prime version of it, so maybe that makes a difference, as Amazon has all of those shows available with Prime. But, I still don't need to pay for CBS All Access, since I can watch that stuff on Prime.

Oh wow.  There goes any reason to really subscribe.

I would say I don't know why in two years CBS hasn't gotten exclusive rights to those shows back, but I can guess. It's probably because they make more money from those broadcast rights than they do from All Access.

You hit the nail on the head Chris.
It also most likely when they signed the deals it was for long term 5 to 8 years maybe more?
If CBS wanted to pull them back, there is most likely a clause in the Contract where CBS would have to pay whoever they sold it to, to break the contract.

it's funny watching some of the networks making direct to home streaming become a thing, like each cable network trying to figure out how to jump on the streaming bandwagon.

Right now I'm stoked to see what the new season of Rick and Morty is like in Nov.
Amazon Prime is still working well for us here.

What's stupid is all of the networks are trying to jump on the bandwagon and add these streaming services. It seems like a good idea, until you realize that a lot of people use these things to get rid of cable an save money. That's all fine and dandy and was pretty easy to do when you were dealing with a handful of services. If you stacked up Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime (just the video) you're at about $30/month for a lot of content, which isn't bad. Well, add CBS All Access, that's another $6 with ads, $10 without (plus taxes.) Plus whatever Disney is going to charge for theirs. Plus whatever else you want to get. The point is, by the time you pay for about eight to ten of these things, you're at about $80 to $100 a month. So, is it saving money? So, all of these companies starting their own services just leads people back to paying the kind of money they were paying before. Though, those services need to have good content to keep subscribers. That's why CBS All Access is struggling. Another one where I couldn't find much interesting content beyond what I wanted to watch was DC Universe. But, by all accounts of what I've been seeing that it's going to have, there's no reason Disney+ won't hit the ground running next month.

Now, even with the costs, the obvious advantage to streaming is that you can watch stuff on your schedule. I paid $135.91 to Spectrum yesterday for cable, phone and internet. The cable is about $50 of that and I get about 100 channels, including local channels. Of course, a lot of those channels don't get watched, which is another thing people complain about with cable. And, when you're home, there may not be stuff you want to watch on. You can watch some stuff on demand, but you're limited by what's available.

So, I think streaming is a great idea, especially with the kind of hours I work. However, these companies need to realize that there's a limit to the amount of these things people will pay for.

I guess where are lucky over here in the UK.
We have two main streaming services, Netflix and Amazon Prime. This cost about £15 per month for both together or £7 each. (Amazon Prime includes all the Prime services.)

Then you got NOW TV, which has 3 different Packages, Sports, Entertainment and Movies.
Each Package cost about £30 a month each. All these are, are the Sky Channels streamed to your TV though there own box instead of having a Satellite bolted onto your house. (Though going threw steaming route you missing out some services that normal Sky customers have, however you not locked into a year contract. With NOW TV, it more like a top-up service.)

Then we have the main TV channels with their own sub-channels having their own steaming service.
Each of these are free, however the content is removed after two months. It more of a catch up service.
For this we have Iplayer for the BBC, 4OD for Channel 4, ITV HUB and Demand Five.

Also most homes in the UK have either youview, Freeview box or a smartTV, all of which can record live TV to be watched later.

The only Extra we have to pay for over here in the TV Licence.

I was bored.

(https://evilgenius180.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/megs_vs_springer.jpg?w=800) (https://evilgenius180.files.wordpress.com/2019/11/megs_vs_springer.jpg)

Nice.
You got to love Gen 1 Transformers, still the best.
Shame the original toys where not this possiable.

That's one thing I like about the War for Cybertron line, and what got me back into collecting. They're so close to the G1 designs, especially in their robot modes. Of course, Megatron turns into a tank these days, but that's been a thing since GI Joe VS Transformers right before the launch of G2. Besides, that makes more sense than him turning into a handgun. That Springer is the best looking Hasbro Springer I've ever seen. He's a full on triple changer, as you'd expect him to be, and really well done.

Bored AND creative!  An excellent combination.  Cool image, Chris!

Quote from: scifieric on Nov 09, 2019, 03:47 pmBored AND creative!  An excellent combination.  Cool image, Chris!

Thanks Eric, it was fun to do. :)

How **not** to launch a streaming service: CBS All Access

How to launch a streaming service: Disney+

I just signed up and I'm just adding stuff to my watchlist. I about pissed myself when I found Darkwing Duck on there. (or maybe I just need to take a piss) So much great stuff at launch, including Disney films I've not seen in years.

Quote from: scifidude79 on Nov 16, 2019, 06:47 amHow **not** to launch a streaming service: CBS All Access

How to launch a streaming service: Disney+

I just signed up and I'm just adding stuff to my watchlist. I about pissed myself when I found Darkwing Duck on there. (or maybe I just need to take a piss) So much great stuff at launch, including Disney films I've not seen in years.

It's got a lot of good stuff.  I also like that it has full film series.  One of the things that bugged me about Netflix is that they would have the 2nd or 3rd film in a series but not the 1st or vice versa.

Also The Mandalorian is pure awesome.  Definitely lives up to the hype.

Quote from: ozylot on Nov 16, 2019, 02:29 pmIt's got a lot of good stuff.  I also like that it has full film series.  One of the things that bugged me about Netflix is that they would have the 2nd or 3rd film in a series but not the 1st or vice versa.

Also The Mandalorian is pure awesome.  Definitely lives up to the hype.

I agree with everything you said. :)

Aside from Darkwing Duck and The Mandalorian, I also watched some DuckTales episodes. Man, it's been ages. I was going to watch some early Simpsons, but the older episodes are clipped to make them 16:9, which I hate, so I aborted it. Apparently, they're supposed to be adding the option to watch in 4:3 sometime early next year.

Thanks for the low-down, guys.  I was wondering if it was going to be worth it.

I hear it's even got the 90's X-Men Cartoon on it. Greatest Cartoon Theme tune of all time!
Alas, we don't have Disney+ here in the UK and it not coming until March. I understand Australia getting even later than that.

So I would not be surprised if The Mandalorian is one of the highest pirated shows at the moment.
Hell I would not be surprised if a lot of classic shows on Disney+ are being pirated.

X-Men was going to be the first thing I watched on there until I found Darkwing Duck.

Do they have a trial period?

Quote from: scifieric on Nov 18, 2019, 10:32 pmDo they have a trial period?

Seven day free trial.

Sweet!  Thank you!

Posted a new version of the BYOF to test: http://3dscifi.com/3dscifi.com/eric/index.php?msg=2810

Beautiful!  And fun!

Stranger words :

?
does  " pro'crastination "
assume you are
good at something? 'crastination ?
LOLZ


either way, I'm a 'crastination pro right now. :P

Quote from: Prime_8 on Mar 28, 2020, 11:33 amStranger words :

?
does  " pro'crastination "
assume you are
good at something? 'crastination ?
LOLZ


either way, I'm a 'crastination pro right now. :P

Ha!  Awesome observation.  Enjoy your crastination, you pro!

Quote from: Prime_8 on Mar 28, 2020, 11:33 amStranger words :

?
does  " pro'crastination "
assume you are
good at something? 'crastination ?
LOLZ


either way, I'm a 'crastination pro right now. :P

Everybody has something they're good at. I personally turned pro with the 'crastination years ago. ;)

lol
yeah same.

Though i did find and patch the hole in the  windshield washer fluid reservoir .

Quote from: Prime_8 on Mar 28, 2020, 10:42 pmlol
yeah same.

Though i did find and patch the hole in the  windshield washer fluid reservoir .

NICELY done!

When it comes to cars, if I had one, I'd be one of those people who keeps mechanics shops in business. I have no clue what part is what and absolutely no desire to learn.

I used to be that way.  Requiring a car for work/life as it is spread out here and low in the $$$ department results in necessity driving my ingenuity to do whatever it took to keep my last rig on the road.

in retrospect, it was a rolling death bomb waiting for some less ironic time to go off. hade breaks fail 2 times that could have killed me. fuel filler had failed, spilling gas over hot brake drums ( could have been a fireball ).
dropped one side of its large gas tank while driving. it was a saddle-shaped tank that straddled the main rear driveshaft. so its centre was resting on the main shaft  :P

yeah, I bodged that bugger back to life many times.  thing is its engine was fine once I gave it TLC. It just needed a new everything else.

so the new rig has 2 problems, an exhaust leak that at times make sit sound like it was over-tuned by a teenaged speed freak. LOL,
and of course I find my self easily doing 80 in places that are only 50 without effort or notice. could result in  much tickets :P

My God, Scott!  How on Earth did you stay alive?

Wow!

dad asked me that after drivng Ravi for 5 min .

Once I drove 25 km  without main breaks from town to his place only down shifting and park break onece :P

Fear and  panic are not your friend in a vehicle, but until you have experienced driving without breaks  when you expect them it's hard to describe .  You learn other ways to slow your rig quick . 4WD cars kinda have easier ways to slow .  but still  first time is quite shocking l. the 2nd time is massive PITA . 
knowing how parts of your rig work can also help you detect big issues early on . 

but old cars ..  are a gamble if you forget to inspect  some things regularly .  extended service routines are more for safety of the vehicle than continued longevity .

random shit happens too , like if you  have the  head of you oil filter get hit by some debris exposing unpainted can . A month later  due to rust  it blows open and oil all over your front tires while you are going up hill at speed. 

Up here in Kannukistan we are used to ice driving and oil feels very much the same as slippy slush.  Hell of a mess , and all the angry pixies in the truck make all the pertinent indicators flash and light on your dash look like x-mas again .

>> i suppose even my first drivers education lessons tought us to drive on ice and with simulated damaged vehicles.

that first day you hydroplane at highway speed ...  the road/tire noise is gone and creepy silence and wind noise takes over ( some cars rev rpm high as ther is no tire friction on drive wheels now). turning your wheels does absolutely nothing ... and you thank your lucky stars the road ahead of you is strait so that you can gradually reduce speed to effect a landing.
listening for the distinct bumps of your tires breaking through the water layer they are planing on, counting for at least 3 or a few big good ones. 
Much the same sensation as a small plane making a perfectly smooth landing .
now you can breath and  call your self an idiot for speeding in the rain . 

^ i was lucky / stupid enough to encounter that a hand full of times as a teenager.

why im alive ?  dumb luck .

Quote from: Prime_8 on Apr 01, 2020, 12:14 pmwhy im alive ?  dumb luck .

Well, I'm profoundly glad that you are still here!

lol Thanks .

~ If i shoudl ever become stupid rich , i wann amake a insurance comapnay called DumbLuck  , With DLI your covered .. probably , liek due seriously go check if you are ..

Quote from: Prime_8 on Apr 02, 2020, 06:09 pmlol Thanks .

~ If i shoudl ever become stupid rich , i wann amake a insurance comapnay called DumbLuck  , With DLI your covered .. probably , liek due seriously go check if you are ..

My friend, that is inspired!  LOL!

i twisted my ankle a few weeks back , and i just kinda re-twisted it yesterday .. hurts like a bugger today . :P

However !  that  is  still not taking the shine off of today . new Mobo and Ram is ready for pickup at the post office.
I used a bit of tax return .  my current mono is 1 generation behind my CPU and it shows sometimes .

so i will  move my cpu to the new mobo , use the new ram.  and the old mobo will get the old R3 1200 back in it and keep its 16GB of ram and replace my wife's rig .


so i may be offline this weekend a bit . :P

parts haz arrived!

I have some work ahead of me now. lol

if all goes to plan I have ryzen rigs at the end of this :P

Congratulations, Scott!  I know you can get it done!

Nice! New components are always fun. Ryzens are nice processors, you definitely need a nice board to go with them.

Cool, getting a new rig is always fun. I recently got a used Surface, I did a doodle this afternoon...

That's really cool, Ozy. :)

Ha, that's great. I like the touch screen on them.

Mostly done some Cable managements and correction of my homebrew RGB controller .

This mobo has RGB and can drive the  CPU cooler's RGB fan > :P

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/220750908986753026/695802151921778688/20200403_223723.jpg

(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/220750908986753026/695802151921778688/20200403_223723.jpg)


lost to so . I just noticed I lost 2 chassis USB ports, but gained some new high-speed flavours.

Pic of back >> https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/220750908986753026/695808055631151104/20200403_230220.jpg

That's a nice looking rig, Prime. If you're worried about losing those USB ports, it looks you have an empty optical bay and there are USB hubs you can buy for those.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/220750908986753026/695815897482264677/20200403_233304.jpg

^^ rite way round

I have 2 usb 2 upfront and 1 USB 3 on the front face ( 3 in total )


I have a header on the mobo for 2 more USB 2. I should make a direct control to that USB header.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/220750908986753026/695819526205472830/20200403_234741.jpg

The old rig , R3 1200 , 16GB of ddr4 ram at 3200

I like the decals you have on the front of the case. I'd do something like that, but the front of my case is a mesh screen for cooling, so probably not the best idea. ;)

nice Rig Scot.

Cool Drawing Oz.

Ozylot, excellent digital sketch!

Scott, very cool!  Again, I can't wait to see what you do with it!

If I set my laser back up I could burn some new decal/masks off and mail them out. but the mail is kinda shitty right now.

simple SVG >> cut paths for my laser.

This is my crapy video about it

Well done, Scott!  Very clever!

So, Firefox has pissed me off for the last time with their latest update that includes a UI change that I absolutely loathe. They changed the address bar so that it looks frakking stupid. It zooms in and I don't like shit that zooms in. Call it a stupid reason, but I like what I like and that's all there is to it. Now, I've stuck with them through thick and thin, including every UI revamp that I've not liked, since version 1, but version 75 is where I'm officially getting off of the party bus. I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I'm trying Google Chrome (again) and it's not bad. I've used it off and on (mostly off) since about 2010-2011, but I've never liked it as well as Firefox. However, looking at it today vs 10 or so years ago, when I first tried it, I don't think the UI has changed much. That's nice, as some people just like consistency. I tried another alternative to Firefox called Pale Moon, but I'm not sure how the updates and support are for it. And, at the end of the day, internet security is one of the most important things.

So far, I've changed my main desktop and my phone over to Chrome. That'll do for a start. My tablet isn't an issue, as it's an Amazon tablet and won't run either Firefox or Chrome without going through a lot of steps I don't care to at this point in time. Though, I think its browser is Chrome (Chromium) based.

you can try chromium , its the root of chrome and works in linux .

But as far as chrome ... even MS gave in as is switching to chrome powered browser .

Now for fun I have been testing opera GX ..  becaus eyou cna limmit it's CPU and Ram use .  chorme left unchecked will use all it can and thinks it needs . OperaGX  lets you set limmits .. but  meh they added a game store front end that i just skip lol

Yeah, Chromium is what I'm running on my Linux desktop. (it has a Windows installer too) I used Chrome to get my bookmarks and settings where I wanted them, which was useful for when I removed Firefox from my phone and reactivated Chrome.

I've used Opera before, but it's been years. I'm personally not that worried about resource usage. My desktop has a Ryzen 5 2600 processor with 6 cores and 12 threads and 32GB DDR4. With Chromium running, it's using a little over 1GB RAM.

Ha I have the same CPU, but just had to upg

---

rade my mobo to make it happy (stable).

I slapped a HYPER 212RGB Black on it. It pulls its RGB from the MObo colour. 

I was staying with the idea of making aura change my CPU fan colour to be relative to temp curve. LOL
but my iQue (Corsair) system controller is cable of running the mobo led/RGB . it controls the macros and extra keys on my keyboard and mouse, and there RGB on them too

See the RGB spilled out across my desk LOL
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/220750908986753026/698347693302480986/20200410_231351.jpg

Yeah, that's 12 buttons on the thumb .. crazy but I'm used to it now. I need to make a bender profile.
Also 6 extra keys on the far left of my KBD.


Yeah, Opera is just a diff Chrome build under the hood now.

The Ryzen 5 2600 is OK, but I'm probably going to go back to an Intel CPU for my next build. I rendered a planet a while back and it took too many hours for a six core with twelve threads. (I may see if I can shorten the time next time I render by doing the atmosphere a separate render) Though, I really wish Lightwave could use GPU compute. Then I wouldn't have to worry about the CPU power for renders.

I'm not really a fan of glowy stuff for my own use, but your keyboard and mouse do look sick all lit up.

So, I'm actually using Edge in Windows because Chrome is stupid. They won't allow you to (easily) block auto play videos on websites. They used to but it's been taken out of the options. Except for mobile, of course, because you might use up your precious mobile data. But, they don't give a crap about desktop users. So, Edge it is. I actually like it a lot. I'm still running Chromium Vivaldi in Linux.

ugh, edge will become Chrome soon under the hood.  MS has caved.

been watching stuff on prime and catching a few movies today.  nothing productive.

Finally watched rise of skywalker. It was entertaining.

I can also just use Vivaldi on my Windows machine. It's a pretty nice implementation of Chromium with some advanced features.

I've just been playing games. Micropolis (SimCity), SimCity 2000 and SimCity 4. I can't seem to get anything started that I want to keep in any of them.

HAppy easter. Came downstairs today and what do I find .. 

no hot water ... but not frozen pipe, just cold water?

oh look breaker popped. flipped it back on .. still no hot or warm water.

open the closet the HWT(heater) lives in and oh lovely it's flooded the floor cause the HWT has burst sometime last night. It's pissing water out ...  shut the f''' off and call landlord.

> sometime I'm glad I'm renting ... 

now get an HWT on Sunday, in easter, in a Pandemic ???

Damn, Scott. I hope that gets fixed/replaced for you soon.

Sorry to hear that Scott.
If the US is anything like the UK on a Easter Sunday and never mind the Pandemic.
Everything is closed.
I hope you get it sorted soon.

So the main PC I have been using lately to do all the 3D stuff, has started to play up.
Its mainly the fan on the graphic card, making a loud Nosie like it catching something as it spins.
I have ripped the board out and given it a good clean. Nothing there for it to catch on but still making the sound.
Did a bit a research and found out that the grease on the spindle has worn away.
To fix the problem you need to pop the fan off it motor and add a bit more grease.

Problem is the fan has been screw so tight into the board I have board one of the screw so I can't get it out. (they have used so cheap arse metal for the screw as I did not use a lot of pressure.
So I can't get it off the board so I can pop the fan of the motor.
To get around this I spread a bit of WD40 into try the fan sits and turn it upside down so the excess would full into the fan and then flipped it back so it goes down into the spindle.
Clean off all the WD40 that not need. Plugged it back in and the PC was quite as a whisper again.
Problem is after three days of the PC running for about 12 hours straight, the problem has come back.
If I leave the PC on for about twenty mins the sound goes, but as soon as the graphic card needs to use more juice the noise comes back.

I can't replace the graphic card because it made only for HP PC. Anything that close to it is just below spec and cost over £100. This is not a gaming graphic card.
I have seen an slight older card where the specs are similar which cost £50 but that second hand.
I don't want to replace the card as it just the fan. I might just have to rip the fan off and pop down to my local PC store and find a fan that will fit.
But as the PC Store is not an essential shop with the current crisis, it not open.
I don't want to buy one on line as I not sure of the size I need or if it would have the correct connections for the board.

couple things.

Yeah them screw are soft on some, worse yet they are a special oriental version of the screw that wants a precise fit to get them out without damage .

and . some OEM mfr's use lock tire or crazy glue on them when they build the rig. ( who knows why It's way over kill )

WD40 is an oil and suspended wax when it dries.

can you post pic of the fan / fan mount ?


if you have a spare 90 or 80 mm case fa lying about you might be able to hook it up at full speed until you can get a proper fan.

If you were close by I could have you running again in 20 or 30 min. I have a bunch of spare parts / fans.


Plumber guy is supposed to be here 30 min ago . lol

I'm sorry to hear about that, Dean. Is it one of those HP slim cases? I hate those things. (I have one sitting by my feet right now) They're a bitch to get components for. I hope you can get it worked out.

I hope that plumber gets there soon, Scott.

On the lighter side of sports, I ordered one of these for my main rig six hours ago. (literally, I was on my lunch break at work) It's coming directly from Seagate:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07H2F3741/

Anyway, I already got a shipping notification on that.

It's going to be nice when I get it. Not only will it have plenty of storage for Windows and games, but it will also be a leap forward for me tech wise, as all of my computers still have HDDs in them.

Scott let hope here there now.

Chris, yeah it one of those slim cases HP machine, which is basically a laptop motherboard put into a tower.


Anyway, my wife sent me up into the attic to put some crap up there and there was a bag full of PC parts that I had forgot about. Luckily It has the fan needed so I just need to test it and then swap it out.

Quote from: Freak on Apr 13, 2020, 01:15 pmChris, yeah it one of those slim cases HP machine, which is basically a laptop motherboard put into a tower.

The one I have is an older one with a Micro ATX motherboard in it, which is a desktop motherboard. However, the case is so thin that I can't put in anything but a low profile graphics card. Upgrading the power supply is also a pain.

Have you checked to see if your motherboard or CPU includes integrated graphics? While not as good as a standalone card, some of those APUs actually have decent graphics built in.

O it is a Desktop motherboard, but it so compact it like a Laptop's.

Yeah the motherboard has it own graphic card, which I can use, render times go up, but not by that much.
Anyway tested the old/new fan and it works fine. So I have installed it and the PC working great for the moment.

It's good to know you got it working.

Glad you found a fan .  after reading your post i went through my box of old an crazy fans from my .98 inch micro fan to all sorts of crazy fans . my server fans are great but super loud .


// other news

1 HWT replaces with a new one that has a heat-exchanger at the top . Supposed to lower my power bill . From the looks it was not a cheap unit.

2 LOL my forums got hacked . about 4 hrs ago .

total Slavic takeover ... I would say Russian but  ,  could be any Slavic nationality these days.

I will have to purge the site .. it was just for testing and did not get used much.

If i launch a game or product i will need a better more secure forum software.

ah my fave game ...
worth a watch

I spent so many hours playing that game, loved every minute!

same and then I made modding tools.   one was lifED  that attempted to let users edit the funky .lif format they used for their active textures


now the new engine you can make ships in blender :P

Man, I don't think I had introduced Eric to the wonders of running his own forums even back then ...

Quote from: Prime_8 on Apr 16, 2020, 07:50 pmMan, I don't think I had introduced Eric to the wonders of running his own forums even back then ...

Ha!  Nice video.

Tomorrow, this gets installed.

(https://evilgenius180.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/img_20200416_193246449.jpg)

I'll have to do some work leading up to it, but it won't be too bad. I have two 1TB HDDs in my desktop right now, one of which I'll be keeping for storage. So, I'll get that formatted in the morning and back stuff up to it before I tear apart the computer and put the new drive in. Once I get it in, installing Windows 10 won't take very long. I'm going to create a new install drive that has the latest version, which will be a time saver as far as installing the system and updates. Then it's just software installation and configuration after that. Physically, it's a smaller drive, but in terms of storage it's twice the capacity of either of my drives and it is newer tech.

yeha that's noice

i'm tossing up moving to them for storage or watching sad M.2 prices.

Nice!  I hope it does what you want, Chris!

Quote from: scifieric on Apr 18, 2020, 01:43 amNice!  I hope it does what you want, Chris!

So far, so good.

My client / Boss just passed away due to what I believe is complications of his cancer.

So it's a kinda bad day here. he was well-liked.

Quote from: Prime_8 on Apr 18, 2020, 05:59 pmMy client / Boss just passed away due to what I believe is complications of his cancer.

So it's a kinda bad day here. he was well-liked.

I'm very sorry for your loss, Scott.  My condolences.

Yeah, sorry to hear that, Scott. It's always a shame when good people pass on.

Sorry to hear about that Scott.

That's rough, sorry for your loss Scott

he was fine that afternoon I was talking with him.  heck, he even went out that evening with his wife. they won tickets to a show or something from a radio station and was out with his wife, just before the COVID lockdown was forming.

picture of him with his wife that night he looked vibrant healthy and happy.  It's just my unqualified opinion that its was damage left from his cancer treatments that caused a cascade-like failure of his organs.
He was obviously tested for COVID at the start and was negative, they legally would have had to tell us and quarantine us if it was COVID.

His wife is a nurse, he is survived by her and two children.

He was the only one who check in with me when I was stuck at work for 52 hrs during the big snowstorm. He was my client rep. ther person in the building in charge of our contract.

just sad.

I am heartily sorry, Scott.  There is a dearth of good people, and I am sad to hear of the passing of a good man.

its been a rough week , talking teh teh few peoepl who pop in  to get stuff from thier office.

i have to remove his name fomr all teh documentation and such to point to teh  person temp filling in .


but yeah   its sad. 

I am sorry that you are still having to deal with the fallout from the passing of your friend and coworker.

On the other hand, your Holodeck Program picture was hysterical!

I too am sorry to hear you have to deal with all of that, Scott. It must be hard.

thanks guys. 

// i had to post that where it would get more appreciation.

trying manual re-topo around booleans works better is an imposed grid it seems vs the star/fan pattern I did on the top side

That looks nice. Are you trying to get nicer topography for doing panel lines? That can be a chore sometimes.

And, yes, Cheers was totally a holoceck program. ;) I (of course) knew about Kirstie Alley and Kelsey Grammar, but I didn't realize that so many other Star Trek actors had done Cheers. (including two main ones) But then, I never really watched it. Hell, Star Trek II was Kirstie Alley's first feature film. She's only got one IMDb credit before that, a guest appearance on a TV show in the '70s. By the way, the show was called "Quark." Coincidence? I think not. ;)

Nice work, Scott.

And Chris, oh man, I loved Quark!  I have the DVD set.  I think I'm one of about 5 people who watched that show.

"What are you doing?"
"Pollinating!"

Yeah, I never knew Quark was a thing. Well, except for the Ferengi bar owner. ;)

same lol

for those hunting, hard drives be aware if you plan on making a nas.

seems SMR drives have some pitfalls.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIeXOS-izMU

Thanks for the warning, Scott!

well work has sucked bunch of my zip these days . soo much depressing stuff .

i have opened blender like 50 times, each time open a old project and  look and close it having done nothing new, or I open a new project and delete the default cube .. and stare blankly .. and close bender. ugh

stupid funk


I been messing with FIve M  , it a mode for GTA V onlin e.  its all LUA scrits . but even that   meh

I'm sorry to hear things are going badly for you, Scott. :(

I've lost count of the number of times where I've been in that funk where you open the software, don't do anything and then eventually close it again.

Quote from: Prime_8 on Jun 19, 2020, 09:01 pmwell work has sucked bunch of my zip these days . soo much depressing stuff .

i have opened blender like 50 times, each time open a old project and  look and close it having done nothing new, or I open a new project and delete the default cube .. and stare blankly .. and close bender. ugh

stupid funk


I been messing with FIve M  , it a mode for GTA V onlin e.  its all LUA scrits . but even that  meh

I'm sorry to hear it, Scott.  You're a talented fellow.  But, I know what you mean.  I haven't been able to turn out any work of late.  I open Blender, stare at it or get a call from work and just close the thing.

Been crazy busy lately but I did recently get a new toy...

I've been experimenting with printing some models I found on thingiverse.

Got a lot more learning to do, if I can get some time I'm hoping to go through some of my old models and see if anything is printable.

Ozylot, that is truly spectacular!

Please keep showing what you do here!  I would love to see what you make.

Thanks!

It's amazing what you can learn when getting into 3d printing that I never realized. I used to think it was kinda like an easy button and all done.

There are a ton of different settings that all affect a different quality in the print. And every shape sometimes requires different settings again.

That is very interesting.  It wouldn't have occurred to me!

Pretty cool Ozy.  I boought a 3D printer to do the same type of thing.  Although I was getting pretty good results with my Ender 3, I found most of my models didn't work.  They were built to look good on screen and weren't watertight for 3D printing.  Wasn't about to re-model my meshes again, so now my son has the printer.  Wish you the best of luck.

Thanks!

Yeah, you kinda have to model things with printing in mind. In theory anything is printable, it's just a matter of how much time you want to invest to actually do it and make it work.

Here is my most recent project...
It's a micro SD card holder. Holds 10 cards

With being back in the office. buy the time I get home I just can't be bothered to sit in front the of the PC and do so modelling.
So I have been watch shows that have been coming out on Netflix and Amazon.
I have also been gaming a bit more and finished Watchdogs on the PS3 and Watchdogs 2 on the PS4.

Currently playing Horizon Zero Dawn on the PS4.

Quote from: ozylot on Oct 14, 2020, 05:30 pmHere is my most recent project...
It's a micro SD card holder. Holds 10 cards

That is AWESOME!  Well done!

Quote from: Freak on Oct 15, 2020, 11:55 amCurrently playing Horizon Zero Dawn on the PS4.

Sounds reasonable to me!

makes me want to fire my smaller printer back up.

still dealing with a fun  - work-related. I like to think I'm in the fall of the funk .. hoping not to be fall-out. :P

I decided to play with 2d game making for a bit as its easier and uses more of my 2d art skills.
I can't dedicate the concentration needed for 3d rite now. LOL
 
on other news one of the research engineers at work has made it a goal to get me on some science engineering work technically this fiscal year.
kinda cool, working head of security in a research facility kinda makes that easier. LOL helps to be a uber-nerd too.

so 2d wise I made some fun stuff. kinda working towards a bullet hell kinda shotty thing.

vijaeo > https://youtu.be/RFu2DxfJLls

ooh and a bit more concept-y stuff

and such.

alternates for the sprites sources.  i sketch and then photo bomb and paint stuff until I get a look I like then I flick it about for variations. 2d is way easier than 3d

Quote from: Prime_8 on Oct 19, 2020, 08:33 pmooh and a bit more concept-y stuff

and such.

alternates for the sprites sources.  i sketch and then photo bomb and paint stuff until I get a look I like then I flick it about for variations. 2d is way easier than 3d

This is all EXTREMELY cool, Scott!  I am awed at your ability to create such things.  I watched your video on playing one of these in your digital playground.  VERY cool!

Very Nice P8.

thanks guys .

thisis off topic but way too funny to not share  https://youtu.be/MXW0bx_Ooq4

Sound like the Technobabble from current Trek.
Just make no sense.

exactly why its perfect. lol

Ha!  Excellent.

Anyone know what's going on with scifidude79 AKA EvilGenius, AKA Chris?
I not seen him here or on Scifi-Meshes for some time. He just dropped off.

I hope everything is okay with him.

Quote from: Freak on Nov 24, 2020, 10:10 amAnyone know what's going on with scifidude79 AKA EvilGenius, AKA Chris?
I not seen him here or on Scifi-Meshes for some time. He just dropped off.

I hope everything is okay with him.

I hope everything is good with him too.  A month or two ago, he indicated he was getting fed up with online activities (if I remember correctly).  So, I figured something like this was coming.  Chris is so talented and such a good fellow, I hope he comes back.  I miss both him and his art.

hop it's just an online funk / busy life like I hit now and then.

I okay it is just him taking a break form the internet. epically with what's currently go on.
I know most of us, only know each other from this forum and Scifi-Meshes. But I do consider you guys friends.
Is it worth having another way to get in contact with you guys some one does drop out, we can still get in contact and make sure everything is cool.

I hate for something like what happened to Nate to happen again. Nate dropped off everything and it was six months later that we learn he has passed away.
Man, I miss him, always had a good laugh with him. I even got him to eat a proper home cooked English meal when he came to London.

how about a discord server .. i just made one :
https://discord.gg/N2Z76SJP

^ link expires
just ask for a new one if it's expired


If you have not used discord yet, it's like a super chat the even allows screen sharing and voice chat.

I set it up , my coding friend jimmio92 is also an admin there so he can fix things when I'm not online.

Wow!  That is awesome!

let me know if that link expires for any of you guys, I'll make an other fresh one

Sweet!  It looked very cool!

fresh invite: https://discord.gg/fcPEJXdQ

Bit late to the party.
P8 the link dose not work. (tired from a standalone UAD at work.)
Do you need a account for Discord or the app to use it on a phone?

Sorry freak ,  i missed that, the invite links only work for 24hrs
you can join a server from the web page , but i think you need a discord account

https://discord.gg/S26dyWXc

I'll try and edit this each day to have a fresh link

i will try and refresh it tomorrow at lunch too.

Quote from: Prime_8 on Dec 04, 2020, 11:57 pmi will try and refresh it tomorrow at lunch too.

You take good care of your users, Prime_8.  Well done!

lol

https://discord.gg/6ER68PQ6

i'll have to show you how to get invite links in case I'm not on ad some one askes.

Quote from: Prime_8 on Dec 05, 2020, 01:15 pmlol

https://discord.gg/6ER68PQ6

i'll have to show you how to get invite links in case I'm not on ad some one askes.

Sounds good, my friend.

Quote from: Prime_8 on Dec 04, 2020, 03:17 pmSorry freak ,  i missed that, the invite links only work for 24hrs
you can join a server from the web page , but i think you need a discord account

https://discord.gg/S26dyWXc

I'll try and edit this each day to have a fresh link

okay I have DL it, I check back tomorrow for the new link.

fresh link.

https://discord.gg/z9sK9jRkpg

^ never expires by time but only works 5 times. ? 
( I don't know why they don't and 1 week, 1 month and 3 mo ... )

Thanks P8, I am in but you know that already. LOL

Does anyone try bforartisats ?

I gave it a quick go it was OK, its a simplified GUI for blender.
where everything available via menus.

https://www.bforartists.de/

That sounds cool... I've always found it a little tricky to pick it up.

Quote from: Prime_8 on Feb 08, 2021, 12:07 amDoes anyone try bforartisats ?

I gave it a quick go it was OK, its a simplified GUI for blender.
where everything available via menus.

https://www.bforartists.de/

I tried it once, but I had already been using the original Blender, so it didn't really do anything for me.  I know a few people who using it to this day!

Sorry I have not been around lately, just been busy with RW crap.
I have not really touch anything since before Christmas, though I have been working on a new Pin-up peace. But I not getting as much time to work on it as much as I like.

As for 3D modelling, I have not touched Blender since Christmas. But this week I dusted off the Old Oberth Class I was working on and got back to work with that. Updates coming shortly.

I am looking forward to seeing whatever you have the time to create!

This week I inspected and repaired the ignition system on a Lycoming O-235.  And today I began to troubleshoot the fuel metering system and induction system on a Continental GTSIO-520.

Quote from: Four Mad Men on Mar 12, 2021, 01:45 amThis week I inspected and repaired the ignition system on a Lycoming O-235.  And today I began to troubleshoot the fuel metering system and induction system on a Continental GTSIO-520.

Wow!  I had to look those up.  Neat!

I got another 3d printer.


but! this one was 170$ cad from amazon .  https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07RT7TW38

its 109 CAD with a 30$ instant coupon.

so I got printer and resin 2010 taxes in!

it has insane resolution and its just an entry-level rig!

I printed a simple .stl of the Razor Crest.

I mean up and running in 30min after opening the box.

If you can handle the smell and I use low odour water washable resin.  It's a great way to step into SLA printing.


soon I'll print som of my own ships!

I'll go back to lurking and printing. LOL
Oh and it runs itself from an SD card, no tether to a computer, I can print while I CODE!

That!

Is!

AWESOME!

Well done!

Very cool! Not a bad deal either. Nice

been putting it to good use ..

Made this for a friend/coworker who could not get last years tree topper . I figure some non-cannon ST goodness.

>> it has clear seam that needs some file work . It was a result of where I chose to cut the .stl

It resulted in 'fattening of the first 2 layers, that makes the 'bottoms/part that touches the build plate' flair out .

Now THAT, my friend, is EXCEPTIONAL work!

Nice work! It's always tricky to find the best spot to cut something to make it printable.

So... Blender has changed.

Quote from: ozylot on Mar 20, 2021, 02:20 amNice work! It's always tricky to find the best spot to cut something to make it printable.

That is entirely true.  Good point.

Quote from: Four Mad Men on Mar 20, 2021, 03:29 amSo... Blender has changed.

Yep!  Software evolution.  The Blender Foundation is ... unique.  They have been slowly changing the industry for years.  I presume that they aren't done, either.

Quote from: scifieric on Mar 20, 2021, 03:44 pmYep!  Software evolution.  The Blender Foundation is ... unique.  They have been slowly changing the industry for years.  I presume that they aren't done, either.

I'm sure of that, but I don't think I could make Borg cube much less the Enterprise.  Also, everything is nodes for texturing now?  My old files don't render like they used to... so... Boo on that.  Engineers!  They love to change things.

Quote from: Four Mad Men on Mar 20, 2021, 11:13 pmI'm sure of that, but I don't think I could make Borg cube much less the Enterprise.  Also, everything is nodes for texturing now?  My old files don't render like they used to... so... Boo on that.  Engineers!  They love to change things.

Excellent McCoy quote!

Yeah, they set it up so that we can use nodes.  They pretty much allow a ton of very cool things, but don't worry about learning it all at once.  You can still apply materials and then go in and take a look at how things are set.  You're a very capable person.  I'm certain you can do whatever crosses your mind.

Thanks!  Yes, I can but there should at least be some visibility on the BI shader info.  This would help greatly when creating the nodes.  Or better yet a conversion process (well technically there is one but it does not do multiple images assigned to the same material slot.)

But yes, grumble grumble grumble.  I'm old what can I say!

Quote from: Four Mad Men on Mar 25, 2021, 12:46 amThanks!  Yes, I can but there should at least be some visibility on the BI shader info.  This would help greatly when creating the nodes.  Or better yet a conversion process (well technically there is one but it does not do multiple images assigned to the same material slot.)

But yes, grumble grumble grumble.  I'm old what can I say!

I hear you, my friend.  What the development team could use, is you!  You know what the software can do, and you know what users want!  I also agree with your observations.  I haven't moved on to the latest version yet.

I'm BACK!

Got a copy of Max 9 working once again, and I'm beginning with the rebuild I've been wanting to do since 2009: the USS Buccaneer, a project I slapped together in haste as a present for my brother in law. I'm going to include the original image and the progress I've made thus far. If anyone knows if I can hijack materials from other files in Max 9, please let me know. Might save some time in getting this BEAST of a ship built.

Interesting work.  Good luck with the materials!

Why not resurrect a thread :)

My ongoing Class J project (probably will never get finished lol)

Oovebei, my friend, that is an exquisite model!  Lovely!

Thank you my friend, I fear like your Enterprise this ship will never be 'finished' lol

Quote from: oovebei on Sep 04, 2021, 05:17 pmThank you my friend, I fear like your Enterprise this ship will never be 'finished' lol

That is beautiful work!

Yeah, I understand.  They never will be "finished," will they?

I think it would be a shame if they ever were 'finished' :)

I have decided after such inactivity to limit myself to the three favourite ships I ever made:

Paris Class
Masao Engineers Modified Daedalus
Class J

In fact I just finished rebuilding part of the Paris' nacelle.

Wow!  That is beautiful!

Hey, Peeps.
It's been a rough couple of months for me, and this has been the reason I have not been here for a while.
Back in March the contract I was working on was cut from under my company. Which meant that I was a risk of Redundancy. The company I was for could not give us a lot of information at first as they were in the dark as much as we were in, as to why the contact was cut and how long we had until we had to get off the customer premises of where I work.
We got told that the contract has been extended until the end of August but over the half the workload would no longer be required. Which meant that Redundancy was still and issue, those that survive the redundancy would be moved to other positions in the company, but none of them in London.
With the stress of all of this and Covid. I was in no mood to do anything like drawing or 3D.
Luckily for me I got offered a job on a different contact with the same company and at the same customer location. I have taken this Job, but it is a completely different job to what I did before. So I had to get myself up to speed and learn what I needed to know to do it.

I am now at the point where I can sit down and do some 3d and 2d art. However with the new job. I don't have as much time as I use to. So it might be a while until you see an output from me.

Wow, it sounds like you've been through a good amount of change, Freak.  Good luck!

Thanks Eric!

Good to hear from you, I hope things improve soon!

Now I am trying to bridge the nacelle design between the Paris and the Class J, this is the stepping stone I am pondering atm.

Neat!  I don't think I've ever seen anyone do that!

Reverse angle on the viewer  ;)

My friend, that is EXTRAORDINARILY pretty!

HI guys , It's been ages since i had a min .

Sadly 21st of May, my wife was told she has stomach cancer .(wrong BTW , but we wish it was just that )

That wrong prelim diganosis accidentaly given to us by a resident who was not supposed to say anything ,has turned into a non curable genetic liver disease called PBC, essentially it's like having psoriasis on the part of your liver that makes/deals with bile . it slowly damages your liver til lit fails.
No cure , not even with a full or partial transplant , her body will attack any new one the same.
so we are in the staging of that, but she is has full body jaundice. ( yellow head to toe )

But on top of that they are still concerned that she either has a super rare blood disease or a new type of cancer . The liver Doc says it's got to be some rare possibly new blood cancer .
He cancer doc says , that she's sure its a 2nd rare genetic issue called Wilson's Disease(WD) .
both are not cool , but WD is looking to be likely,  its that her body cannot get rid of elemental copper. very slow copper poisoning as your body slowly fills with copper.
so she is slowly filling up with copper, and copper interferes with other reactions .
so as her liver got worse what small amount of it could process copper is now gone.
PBC and WD can happen at same time, but for some PBC cause liver not to be able to process copper , and no WD .  if that's the case that's better , but then what is messing up her blood and having cancer/WD symptoms. It would have to be some brand new cancer, and well it could be curable then .
PBC and WD are genetic and have no cure.


so PBC - for sure .
WD - most probable according to cancer doc , often linked to PBC and PBS
rare or new type of blood cancer - possible  but lower likely hood than WD ( liver doc ) . ie a new cancer never seen before . who the hell wants that . except a cancer .. could be curable .

oh but wait until this year her meds ere 100% to 80% covered. but because of huge snow storm last year i worked 50hrs OT and covid support programs that paid money to essential workers who did not miss any time and kept working ...  gone .

Me, my knee got hurt 14 mos ago , workers did not know what to do during lock down ... i finally get an mri .
but now my other knee is horrible from picking up the slack . an di have to do physio 2 times a week at 2hrs each session .
I find out my kidneys have fallen to 35% functioning now.

I'm quite busy at work . my job description is kind of dynamic and growing rite now.
head of physical security for a federal research building .
but they have figured out i can code and such , so they have expanded my duties and passed some projects to me. stack on the usual HR issues that come with being the boss, because you cant make everyone happy. LOL

the whole time i just wish I could take a chunk of time to be off home, but i have used all my personal vacation time. 
i have 2 weeks of paid family responsibility if i needed it , but Heather is still in diganostic phase . 
she's prepping for her 3 liver biopsy , bunch of tests to confirm WD or possible new type of cancer .

I got a new resin 3D printer this yer , the resin went bad because i just have no time or energy for anything.

Quote from: Prime_8 on Sep 22, 2021, 04:31 pmHI guys , It's been ages since i had a min .

Sadly 21st of May, my wife was told she has stomach cancer .(wrong BTW , but we wish it was just that )

Oh man ...

Quote from: Prime_8 on Sep 22, 2021, 04:31 pmThat wrong prelim diganosis accidentaly given to us by a resident who was not supposed to say anything ,has turned into a non curable genetic liver disease called PBC, essentially it's like having psoriasis on the part of your liver that makes/deals with bile . it slowly damages your liver til lit fails.
No cure , not even with a full or partial transplant , her body will attack any new one the same.
so we are in the staging of that, but she is has full body jaundice. ( yellow head to toe )

But on top of that they are still concerned that she either has a super rare blood disease or a new type of cancer . The liver Doc says it's got to be some rare possibly new blood cancer .
He cancer doc says , that she's sure its a 2nd rare genetic issue called Wilson's Disease(WD) .
both are not cool , but WD is looking to be likely,  its that her body cannot get rid of elemental copper. very slow copper poisoning as your body slowly fills with copper.
so she is slowly filling up with copper, and copper interferes with other reactions .
so as her liver got worse what small amount of it could process copper is now gone.
PBC and WD can happen at same time, but for some PBC cause liver not to be able to process copper , and no WD .  if that's the case that's better , but then what is messing up her blood and having cancer/WD symptoms. It would have to be some brand new cancer, and well it could be curable then .
PBC and WD are genetic and have no cure.


so PBC - for sure .
WD - most probable according to cancer doc , often linked to PBC and PBS
rare or new type of blood cancer - possible  but lower likely hood than WD ( liver doc ) . ie a new cancer never seen before . who the hell wants that . except a cancer .. could be curable .

Oh my god.

Quote from: Prime_8 on Sep 22, 2021, 04:31 pmoh but wait until this year her meds ere 100% to 80% covered. but because of huge snow storm last year i worked 50hrs OT and covid support programs that paid money to essential workers who did not miss any time and kept working ...  gone .

Me, my knee got hurt 14 mos ago , workers did not know what to do during lock down ... i finally get an mri .
but now my other knee is horrible from picking up the slack . an di have to do physio 2 times a week at 2hrs each session .
I find out my kidneys have fallen to 35% functioning now.

I'm quite busy at work . my job description is kind of dynamic and growing rite now.
head of physical security for a federal research building .
but they have figured out i can code and such , so they have expanded my duties and passed some projects to me. stack on the usual HR issues that come with being the boss, because you cant make everyone happy. LOL

the whole time i just wish I could take a chunk of time to be off home, but i have used all my personal vacation time. 
i have 2 weeks of paid family responsibility if i needed it , but Heather is still in diganostic phase . 
she's prepping for her 3 liver biopsy , bunch of tests to confirm WD or possible new type of cancer .

I got a new resin 3D printer this yer , the resin went bad because i just have no time or energy for anything.

My god, Scott, I am so VERY sorry!  I've been sad because COVID-19 messed up my memory, but I'm alive and my wife is okay, as far as we can tell.  So, I'm on the good side, I suppose.  I cannot even really process what you've said!  If there is anything I can do for the two of you, I would want to know!

You're a good fellow.  You always have been, from what I've seen.  This is horrific news and I hope (honest to god, I do) that things somehow turn out better for you and your wife.  I really do.

Thanks Eric.

We had some good? news today .

Cancer doc called to say , negative for Wilsons's Disease...  it just her PBC making her liver not process copper correctly . her levels are on the very high side of normal for people with PBC
lik WD require copper to be 260 units +   and heather is at or below 240, and doe snot have the gold rings in the eye  that copper causes.
because her total copper levels in other tissues are in high but normal .

But of now WD messing with her blood and lymp system .. it's only cancer left.
so Congrats you have some hither to unknown cancer ! yaya ( in ironic fake happy voice )
But cancer so low it's hard to detect .. and just being cancer means curable  or possible to beat .

WD no cure no real fix, if you dont respond well to it and you have liver issues like she does  , life expectancy is about 2 years, because you are ineligable for liver transplants .

But just PBC, if responding to treatment , then  partial live donor liver transplant every 5 to 8 years is a thing .

Oh and yeah ...  it just sunk in, live donor means you dont have to wait for someone with compatible liver to die. it liek 16 grams of live good liver . the donor grows it back in 2 mos. to a year , and can even re-donate in about 4 years .


ther is a possibility the teh  new lil bit of live liver does not get attacked by her immune system as long as she stays on treatment and it may actually grow.  then a few years after if it is growing they may remove some damaged liver to make it easier to grow more good , instead of a 2nd transplant.
and she will just have to stay on liver protective drungs and cnat ever do anything strenuious or consume any hepatoxic stuff.

so no cure but small tansplants, and a possible work arround if she is lucky .

als .. small tid bit .  men are better liver donors then women . our livers do better in recipients male or female.
Our livers just do way better statistically .

so today brought hope. even if ironic.

Very sorry to hear about this.  You and your wife are in my prayers.

Quote from: Prime_8 on Sep 24, 2021, 03:22 pmThanks Eric.

My pleasure, my friend.

Quote from: Prime_8 on Sep 24, 2021, 03:22 pmWe had some good? news today .
[edit]
so today brought hope. even if ironic.

Good god, man.  I wish you and your wife the very best of luck.

Quote from: Tralfaz on Sep 24, 2021, 07:23 pmVery sorry to hear about this.  You and your wife are in my prayers.

Yeah, same here.

Hi Guys , I'm back about now .

Heather's doing much better , she does have a genetic auto immune issue that is attacking her liver causing PBC.
But she responds to the ursodal?SP acid pill .

may need transplant some time in the future .

The Cancer thing, well that was looking pretty grim. the liver , and cancer doc could not find it or type it.
even thought it could have been a super rare bad thing that would have preculded her form ever getting a transplant.

the by accident and one of her docs was talking to her and heard some thing that was not evidant in her file . ( large portions of her med file as locked due to ongoing legal issue s and inacuracies as her old fam' doc could not keep her and her twin strait in hi head. )

ANy how  ~10dec hepatologis jumpe dup and said WTF , you have been on  prednisone all your life .. you got healthy and stoppe dneeding it and your puffers , so you have spent your whole child and early adult live on steriods.

~ give her a huge shot of prednisone and say " I believe your body is dependent on it now, and you git healthy enough not to need it and your body suffers . ", so back on it for rest of her life now .

some more testing they found the cancer like effect and signs indicate a couple of genetic whole body auto immune disorders that steroids have suppressed her whole early life . Manageable   not awesome but she way better and her full body jaundice is going .

so in short she got healthy and almost died from it .

// I have been obviously doing better mentlay now .
i still have my own heath junk , still 1 ear deaf , my kidneys are down to 35% function , and my knees blew out .
meh i think im past my warranty anyway. LOL

but i have been able to Art again this week .
I just did not feel like doing anything last year .
but this last weekend ... i made ships .
 to be fair i need a few quite a few so I used this blender file/tool . https://youtu.be/Crm6wKdDwtI

i was surprised what it can make and keep poly count low, and I was able to get them in engine so I just need to  make static PBR from the dyanmic blender materials.

too much fun . 

I am glad that your wife (if I understood that correctly) is doing ... better?  I'm very sorry about your problems too.

You are still a very TALENTED artist (and programmer!) and it is a joy to see your work.

I sincerely hope for more good luck for both you and your wife!  Sincerely.

Back pain is the worst.

// sometimes it's a bunch of bad actors who get access to your pop email sending form forms and they use your forums to blast spam.
Sux


I farting about a bit more, figuring out what the options do and re-learning blender.

Trying out some kitbashing to get a feel of it again.

I smashed some shapes and tweaked settings and was able to bag out some organic ish shapes I like.

At the least, it's a fun toy.

tomorrow I will try to get these in-game, see how they look.  they are nice and low poly .

Oh man, good luck shutting down the bad individuals using your forums!  That's rude to use someone's forum like that!

Your work is PHENOMENAL!  The first three shots you posted look like pictures of physical models!  Wow!  The fourth is nice, but those first three blow my mind!

Thanks man

I was just using evee and a preview light rig  .

these are me trying some new textures and in my engine, using a light rig that matches the game.

I need to import the lightbox soon. Right now they just have a near-black BG

Those look SPECTACULAR!  Wow!

thanks, I'm getting the HDRI setup and some better lighting in-game now.

Holy moley!  That looks REMARKABLE!

Spectacular work, my friend!

Thanks .

I should really make a new thread, n not spam this one LOL

I made a blocky fighter, again mostly with procedural mesh manipulators LOL

this would be a heavy fighter, small crew. possibly chipping at the heels of a corvette size ship.
but the texture kind of controls the sense of scale. I could scale the mesh down and redo texture alignment mak it very much a 4 person fighter or bomber size rig.

Wow!  That's an impressive design!

Lately I have been making use of JSplacement ...

https://windmillart.net/?p=jsplacement


Its worth a look . It generates various types of height / displacement maps in 8k.
Some of you probably have used it by now .
I tend to mix it up with my own other tools and filters.

Have a play if you have not yet , especially if you build stuff for the original universe type ships .

using displacement as a material on ship surfaces to instantly get greebles.   

examples of results with some tinkering.

height maps/detail maps

use how ya like just dont sell em as is.

Thanks for the software link!  I'll check that out.

And your bump maps are insane!  They look like cities!

LOL they doo ..

so i tried something .

I'm not at home ( working ) ,  so i cant blast it as a displacement map in cycles but this should
make a city if you make a high poly plane with a displacement modifier .

I had to .jpg it so it gained extra noise and might not be teh leanest height map to us e.. but shoudl result is a sci fi city .
if you use one of the other two textures as a triplaner texture it shoudl let you make a mega city .
 I'm so gonna try this when i get home .

this one is not a height map realy but coudl be .

i think teh proceduar roads look better .

again you can use it as a detail texture and have panels or roads or whatever you think they are .

i attached an example from last night what using one of these can do/look like if used as micro greebs . oh and that's a game engine, not even a blender render .

so here same mesh 2 shots , 3 dif textures & material mixes .

you can get 3 very different feelings about the ship , ready , under construction or repairs  , and rundown possibly almost derelict-ish  .

Again no geometry was harmed , and this is live game engine screen caps.

I think i could plug the same HDRI into blender and do same in evee.

Quote from: Prime_8 on Jan 20, 2022, 01:40 pmthis one is not a height map realy but coudl be .

i think teh proceduar roads look better .

again you can use it as a detail texture and have panels or roads or whatever you think they are .

i attached an example from last night what using one of these can do/look like if used as micro greebs . oh and that's a game engine, not even a blender render .

My friend, you are BRIGHT and TALENTED!  You should be doing this stuff for a living!

Wonderful!

LOL I don't think to live.

I was playing with Blender today.


I made 100% procedural earthlike. It's all shaders.

I found out blender can export/render out equiangular HDRI / skymaps. This mean si can export space backgrounds for my game with great details and lighting.
I just have to build them in Blender first .

also not sure if you know this but if you ever want a quick start BG for a test render ..

Shader node recipe in pic

Quote from: Prime_8 on Jan 22, 2022, 02:39 amLOL I don't think to live.

I was playing with Blender today.


I made 100% procedural earthlike. It's all shaders.

I found out blender can export/render out equiangular HDRI / skymaps. This mean si can export space backgrounds for my game with great details and lighting.
I just have to build them in Blender first .

I absolutely DO think you could do this for a living.  I think you have the talent.

You are an impressive artist, my friend.

Quote from: Prime_8 on Jan 22, 2022, 02:55 amalso not sure if you know this but if you ever want a quick start BG for a test render ..

Shader node recipe in pic

Cool!  Thank you!

LOL  you gona make me blush.

I got a chance to try that texture as a city idea you had with the heightmap in blender,

I attached the scene cap, it works in evee or cycles.

I think if I was careful I could ma the 8 other side tiles but I think this makes a pretty OK cyber city ?

Its only 4k texture if I use dteh 8k it would have more detail IMO

Giga-City

making a re go of an old idea .. farting about

This is just Evee screen cap

another shot bit more done ..
I like how Blender tell you stats in the lower right.


( maybe we get some art happening in ere again fire the place up. )

Quote from: Prime_8 on Jan 22, 2022, 03:29 pmLOL  you gona make me blush.

I got a chance to try that texture as a city idea you had with the heightmap in blender,

I attached the scene cap, it works in evee or cycles.

I think if I was careful I could ma the 8 other side tiles but I think this makes a pretty OK cyber city ?

Its only 4k texture if I use dteh 8k it would have more detail IMO

Oh man, YES!  That looks pretty AWESOME!

Quote from: Prime_8 on Jan 22, 2022, 10:31 pmanother shot bit more done ..
I like how Blender tell you stats in the lower right.


( maybe we get some art happening in ere again fire the place up. )

That looks FLIPPING exquisite!  Wow!

I tried adding in some more tower - mega scrapers

Again this is in evee.

Quote from: Prime_8 on Jan 23, 2022, 02:10 amI tried adding in some more tower - mega scrapers

Again this is in evee.

Wow!  That looks AMAZING!

sorry no blender stuff last night .

I was stuck into code .

I wanted camera controls and mouse selection working.

I made a grid so i could test movement and be able to see if they are moving correctly (hard to see in space).

so i have camera working mostly how i need.
I can tab and shift+tab back and forth between ships.
i can issue move to targets , and ..
the ships move very simply to them . ( i will re visit the movement code to make them move more like massive ships the size of a sky scraper on its side. LOL

I need the  area map to load in 2d over the 3d when M key is pressed . and let you issue fleet commands and plan tactics & plot courses and such .

short goal is single player sand box doing typical space stuff mining , hauling , ratting , and surviving.

with blender how it is now, I have never felt I had so much tools to craft my ideas . 
every day i find a new way blender makes an old paid tool obsolete .

Quote from: Prime_8 on Jan 25, 2022, 12:45 pmsorry no blender stuff last night .

I was stuck into code .

My friend, you NEVER have to say "sorry" for anything you do.  You are smart AND talented!

I also said, "WOW!" when I opened the attached image.  Well done on creating new controls!

working in-game side.

added some gratuitous thrust.

that is max/ military thrust.

That is AWESOME!

It is also HYSTERICAL!  The Gratuitous Thrust would be a great name for a ship with a Captain who has a warped sense of humor!

lol. true.

I was thinking about Spaceballs,  with ludicrous and plaid as speed, Gartuitus would fit just before them. LOL

some more n a new ship.

oh added rcs thrust for fun.

omg! found a way to make normal maps in blender better than I ever knew


OMG , worth a watch : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHF4F1Q42uI&t=565s

I made some details on a mesh , rendered the  height using fog trick , and then inverted it and put it in my normal map maker.

ok so all but the lower first 2 small ship ar in and work*.

and by work I mean you can tell them where to ply an dthier engines and stuff flame up.

you can tab to them .

I have so much more to do here ,  making ship accessory meshes like engine pod accents and deck guns :)

the last pic I have all those ships 'working' just not all their settings matching their size . ( they all move the same speed rite now )

First, that's an amazing amount of work!  Second, I'll be watching that video in just a minute.  Third, you do fantastic work, Scott!  Wow!

Put up a video https://youtu.be/dtVaSC4wufk

and i got guns pointing last night ..


colors are horrible , so I can see them , and scale is way to big.

As far as I'm concerned, you can make the colors anything you want!  It's YOUR program!  It would certainly make sense to me.

Plus, great work!  Well done!

lol .

well after a whole couple days of trying to remember the code , I have the guns  working .

they track as they should .

i put long bars in the gun barols. the let me see how they are pointing for sure .

but i also made them look like lasers for fun . 

Out-flipping-standing!  Well done, my friend!

so I made a procedural planet maker in Blender.


then I figured out how to render out without a background.

so I can render clean planets at 2048x2048 in this case and match the lighting to the scene .

loa d them in my game and orient the correctly for the light.

My friend, that is FANTASTIC!  Wow!

blender keeps slipping off the upper atmo. 
there should be a small bit of low alpha atmo glow around the ball.
blender renders it but won't save it to file .
seem it a old bug blender (its devs) has been denying for over 5 years,

literally saying "its a feature"  or "your using it wrong "   but never once do they show it working
or how to get the result

extremely frustrating

Quote from: Prime_8 on Feb 05, 2022, 04:22 pmblender keeps slipping off the upper atmo. 
there should be a small bit of low alpha atmo glow around the ball.
blender renders it but won't save it to file .
seem it a old bug blender (its devs) has been denying for over 5 years,

literally saying "its a feature"  or "your using it wrong "  but never once do they show it working
or how to get the result

extremely frustrating

Yep, I'm with you.

i used the composite frame to export the bloom in B&W 

then is use paint.net alpha tools plugin to make a solar corona.

but that's extra stuff that could just have been exported correctly

the result, bloom in B&W, converted grey level to alpha .. the applied alpha to sun m and add a copy colourized.
But I should not have had to do that because Blender displayed it correctly in the viewer. It stripped alpha pixels on save. even in exf format.

Wow!  You do excellent work, my friend.

I love the yellow sun!

thanks ,   so does supe' LOL



perspectve is off in these shots .  I should make a video later .

There is some awesome stuff being done here. Really cool to see!

Quote from: Prime_8 on Feb 07, 2022, 10:25 amthanks ,  so does supe' LOL

perspectve is off in these shots .  I should make a video later .

I would ABSOLUTELY watch that video!

Quote from: ozylot on Feb 07, 2022, 02:00 pmThere is some awesome stuff being done here. Really cool to see!

Yep, Prime_8 is a visual wizard!

SO YT is cooking the video.

Seems that scan for copy write issues now. LOL

https://youtu.be/baRs-6EOzU4   < when the video is ready.

Quote from: Prime_8 on Feb 07, 2022, 10:25 amthanks ,  so does supe' LOL

perspectve is off in these shots .  I should make a video later .

Quote from: Prime_8 on Feb 09, 2022, 11:17 pmSO YT is cooking the video.

Seems that scan for copy write issues now. LOL

https://youtu.be/baRs-6EOzU4  < when the video is ready.

Wow.  I watched your video.  I didn't know that and I already played your video!  I hope everything is okay.

yeah, it seems when you upload it starts scanning for CW issues and flags them for you to acknowledge.
probably scans every 30th frame or something vs known popular videos

Wow.  I haven't uploaded any videos lately, so maybe this is something new.  Odd.

speed modelling today.

its kinda ST

Well it aint no ST skin ..


possibly old fleet salvaged by some other race. LOL

but yeah it works in game.

of the bussards and side of the nacells have animated glow

The whole big ship batch is here.

surprisingly not looking too out of place.

Quote from: Prime_8 on Feb 12, 2022, 07:51 pmspeed modelling today.

its kinda ST

Quote from: Prime_8 on Feb 12, 2022, 08:50 pmWell it aint no ST skin ..


possibly old fleet salvaged by some other race. LOL

but yeah it works in game.

of the bussards and side of the nacells have animated glow

Quote from: Prime_8 on Feb 12, 2022, 09:24 pmThe whole big ship batch is here.

surprisingly not looking too out of place.

Dude ... that looks AMAZING!

Wow!

thanks man 


id did a lil video, some blender and some game.
https://youtu.be/qrAajZ3fIVU

Quote from: Prime_8 on Feb 13, 2022, 04:37 amthanks man 

id did a lil video, some blender and some game.
https://youtu.be/qrAajZ3fIVU

You've absolutely earned it.  I've also seen your video.  Fantastic!

you're too kind man .


I want to sketch out a space station with docking , like a fed station the joe loius with ahuge spike type ?  or stack of rings .. not sure I'll see where the polys take me .

Quote from: Prime_8 on Feb 13, 2022, 07:43 pmyou're too kind man .

Nope.  You've ABSOLUTELY earned it!  You're a bright, hard-working lad.  I wish things were easier for the two of you right now, but you've made a lasting impression upon me with your excellent work!

Quote from: Prime_8 on Feb 13, 2022, 07:43 pmI want to sketch out a space station with docking , like a fed station the joe loius with ahuge spike type ?  or stack of rings .. not sure I'll see where the polys take me .

Cool!  I can't wait to see!

im not fully hapy with it .

its kinda plain ?

I think that looks spectacular!

Thanks.

It seems a bit wheel like . IDK how to put it . I am not sold for it being a huge station .


i had a 2nd crack at it last night . playing with fast bool a bunch . I think this is better ?

The blender shot is later so it has more details that the first 2 in game shots did .

I think it needs some greebs.

I gotta say i'm liking blender more each day.

My friend, this is SPECTACULAR!

I absolutely want you to sell a video game!  I think that people will LOVE it, and it would make you money.  I promise to buy a copy!

lol, I may just have to do that. I don't know a whole lot about setting up web stores,

some progress https://youtu.be/4n1etrKG39s

Outstanding!  Thank you, my friend!

I took a break from the code and targeted meshing to learn some tools moor.

mainly the fast bool tool , push it and see what it like , also the power of weighted normals.

and how doe s B' export to .obj.

1st is in blender, clean now errors considering all changes were boolean ops.

2nd is . obj in win 10 obj previewer

zip is the . obj result and the blender file if you wanna play .

Very cool, my friend.

I figure you'll be able to do anything you want in Blender.  Either now, or in a few more attempts.  You're very smart!

events of the world have absorbed my free time .

sadly may of the CG sources and products I subscribe to I find out now they are in Odesa Ukraine!!  of all places


very sad a arse head has to swing his dick about and trounce a country for his ego.

Vladolph Putler

I agree with you.

I had no idea that a bunch of your CG sources and products were out of the Ukraine!  Wow!

I keep thinking that someone needs to ... uh, retire Putin.  Permanently.

Yeah,  or an extra-long vacation with a one-way ticket.

Oh just remembers  , there is an extra mesh plugin that generates asteroids and rocks. 
It's a blender built-in.

If I'm not too pooped from snow shovelling tomorrow I'll take some shot of it.

also, texture paying in blender is sooo good now.

Quote from: Prime_8 on Mar 07, 2022, 01:02 amYeah,  or an extra-long vacation with a one-way ticket.

Oh, nice wording!

Quote from: Prime_8 on Mar 07, 2022, 01:05 amOh just remembers  , there is an extra mesh plugin that generates asteroids and rocks. 
It's a blender built-in.

If I'm not too pooped from snow shovelling tomorrow I'll take some shot of it.

also, texture paying in blender is sooo good now.

Oh man, a mesh plugin for asteroids and rocks!  Wow!  I've got to find that one.

mini tut

https://youtu.be/d7j5vhAE6cg

fallow up


using  in game

Excellent work, Prime_8!  Two excellent videos!

lol thanks they prolly should have been 1

Quote from: Prime_8 on Mar 09, 2022, 09:06 pmlol thanks they prolly should have been 1

They seemed perfectly fine as two separate videos to me!  Slightly different, but you're the creator!  I'm interested in whatever you post.  You are an interesting creator, my friend.