So I got a new computer today, a proper one, not the laptop I've been uncomfortably adapting to over the last few months. So far, it's been more trouble than it's worth. Damn thing arrived in the morning, all built and everything, and wouldn't accept the key for Windows (8 that is, they'll be supporting it for longer and 8.1 sucks, and it seems an OEM copy will actually let you use Microsoft's anti-virus)...
So I carried it back to the builders (actually carried, damn I'm out of shape) over the course of the morning and into early afternoon only to find that they didn't know why it wasn't accepting the key, but reinstalling Windows seemed to work...
So, carry it back home (took a cab for the last leg, lugging this thing around was really tiring) and begin the rounds of Windows updates, interrupted by the occasional bout of nonsense when trying to "trust this PC" and now comes the installing of all the programs I was used to using on the old machine...
Makes me start to hate computers and the whole damn tech industry.
Wednesday, 9 April 2014
Saturday, 25 January 2014
Late hate for 8
I posted a while back about my purchase of a laptop with Windows 8 and my issues trying to get 8.1. Well, as near as I can tell, the issue blocking acquisition of 8.1 was a free trial of McAfee anti-virus; after the trial had expired I removed it and suddenly no issues with getting 8.1. However, it wasn't exactly a step up. I needed 8.1 because plain 8 wouldn't support Microsoft Security Essentials (which doesn't really exist anymore, it's just lumped into Windows Defender, which now has anti-virus capabilities) and I don't want to have to pay extra for protection from the dangers of the internet when it's in MS' best interest to keep it free from corruption. Either that, or go back to AVG free which has been annoying me for a while.
Anyway, this resulted with me now actually having 8.1 and I've got to say, 8 was better. There are so many little things wrong with 8.1 that it's not funny, and there's nothing that I would call an improvement since not making full Defender protection available in plain 8 is just really mercenary. But while the desktop now has a "Start" button, all it does it take you to the Start page, which you could already do in 8, you could always get back there and now we have something that quite specifically doesn't let us access system tools and applications with any ease.
Most strange is the fact that my laptop cannot now be put into sleep mode. Do that, and you'll never wake it without a hard shutdown and restart. Same goes for any situation requiring "wake up", such as the display being switched off to save energy. And I've just today discovered that some silly little update I did yesterday that mentioned nothing to do with display or graphics reverted my settings from "never switch off the display", because that's what it just did.
I'd say steal it, but it isn't even worth the effort. Either stick with 7 or 8, but give 8.1 a pass, Microsoft needs to learn that they aren't the slightest bit in touch with the consumer. All this crap just because some upper management idiot realised that they were losing to Apple in the tablet market; screwing over the PC market hardly seems like a sound business decision.
Anyway, this resulted with me now actually having 8.1 and I've got to say, 8 was better. There are so many little things wrong with 8.1 that it's not funny, and there's nothing that I would call an improvement since not making full Defender protection available in plain 8 is just really mercenary. But while the desktop now has a "Start" button, all it does it take you to the Start page, which you could already do in 8, you could always get back there and now we have something that quite specifically doesn't let us access system tools and applications with any ease.
Most strange is the fact that my laptop cannot now be put into sleep mode. Do that, and you'll never wake it without a hard shutdown and restart. Same goes for any situation requiring "wake up", such as the display being switched off to save energy. And I've just today discovered that some silly little update I did yesterday that mentioned nothing to do with display or graphics reverted my settings from "never switch off the display", because that's what it just did.
I'd say steal it, but it isn't even worth the effort. Either stick with 7 or 8, but give 8.1 a pass, Microsoft needs to learn that they aren't the slightest bit in touch with the consumer. All this crap just because some upper management idiot realised that they were losing to Apple in the tablet market; screwing over the PC market hardly seems like a sound business decision.
Sunday, 12 January 2014
Here I am
And not much else. I don't take my lack of an enthusiastic audience personally, I've learned that having people's attention has generally ended up being unpleasant. But since I'm certain my mother is reading this - yes, I am still breathing.
And not much else.
And not much else.
Tuesday, 26 November 2013
Windows Hate
So I found myself realising that my current computer is definitely dying and I'd rather prolong it's suffering by not using it for gaming anymore. Having not so much money available, I went affordable and grabbed a laptop - which came with Windows 8 installed. I thought: "Not too much of a problem, apparently this 8.1 thing is supposed to be a marked improvement for non-tablet users, and they'll be supporting it for much longer". Note that this is the same rationale I used when I got Windows Vista, self-delusion basically.
Got it home, fiddled a bit, looked around for 8.1, spent the afternoon waiting for it to download, then hooray, install time. Except it won't let me. It seems others have had this issue, and still others refuse to make/use a Microsoft account and provide contact information (one person was even paranoid enough to think they were giving this info to the NSA, which is silly because it's more profitable to sell it to direct marketers, and they're far less discreet with it). But not I, you see. I got to the step that says "Help us protect your account" - which is where they ask for further contact details - and while there is a "skip this step for now" button that just reloads the same screen, it won't actually let me provide further information. I enter an alternate email and it says it will send a code to it in the next step - a step I can't get to because the "Next" button just reloads the same screen. Try a phone number for text (or call), same thing.
This is a new level of incompetence here. They go to all the effort of making the damn thing only to screw up the part where people get to use it.
Got it home, fiddled a bit, looked around for 8.1, spent the afternoon waiting for it to download, then hooray, install time. Except it won't let me. It seems others have had this issue, and still others refuse to make/use a Microsoft account and provide contact information (one person was even paranoid enough to think they were giving this info to the NSA, which is silly because it's more profitable to sell it to direct marketers, and they're far less discreet with it). But not I, you see. I got to the step that says "Help us protect your account" - which is where they ask for further contact details - and while there is a "skip this step for now" button that just reloads the same screen, it won't actually let me provide further information. I enter an alternate email and it says it will send a code to it in the next step - a step I can't get to because the "Next" button just reloads the same screen. Try a phone number for text (or call), same thing.
This is a new level of incompetence here. They go to all the effort of making the damn thing only to screw up the part where people get to use it.
Wednesday, 6 November 2013
Howl stretching time
So the people at Overkill decided to extend the Halloween event for PAYDAY 2 for a few more days... I'm noticing a pattern, let's call it the "holiday season" (because it's already called that anyway). The weird thing here is that it's an extension after the holiday in question (though it's not so holy). All that build-up to Halloween and all its associated nonsense fueled by capitalism. Although it might have been slightly overshadowed by the fact that preparations were also underway for Christmas, as of a couple of weeks ago I've already seen the "photo with Santa" stations in shopping malls. Anyway, the point being that prolonging the season after the holiday (whatever, it's the word people use) is what is striking me as odd. Since it's usually all prelude then out with a bang and then roll over and fall asleep. Christmas being the noteworthy comparison here where the only extension of the holiday is the post-Christmas sales. Then it's a week long plateau before the great piss-up known as New Year's Eve. You don't really get extensions of those holidays.
And why the hell was I seeing children doing trick-or-treat? This is Australia, we don't do that sort of thing here. I wouldn't be surprised if it were being used as a way to teach children the importance of disappointment. That I would approve of.
And why the hell was I seeing children doing trick-or-treat? This is Australia, we don't do that sort of thing here. I wouldn't be surprised if it were being used as a way to teach children the importance of disappointment. That I would approve of.
Friday, 1 November 2013
Nightmares in 1080p
So I actually get to do a Halloween post, complaining mostly about the PAYDAY 2 Halloween weekend event. In short, it's BS. Overkill have decided that what gamers find scary is ridiculously overpowered enemies that are in the game just to piss off the people who paid money to play it. The Bulldozer enemy has been upgraded to a headless horseman with at least four times the health of the regular Bulldozer. Yay, just what we all wanted, even more BS in our "entertainment". They even added a special Halloween job called "Safe House Nightmare" because apparently bank robbers have nightmares about evil forces taking their hard-stolen money away. And floating baby face masks, because why not? In this job, the only enemies you face are Bulldozers. Lots of Bulldozers. I found it easier to try to avoid them than fight them, that's how BS they are.
Most of the youtube videos I've seen about PAYDAY 2 were from a couple of months ago, after which there seems to have been a game patch that made enemies do more damage, or armour less effective, because I've seen videos of Enforcers really tanking, and you can't do that now, you die too easily. So here's another developer who seems to think that when you're facing endless swarms of respawning enemies that outnumber you 50:1, the biggest problem is that the players don't die quickly enough. The other developer would be Gazillion, the makers of Marvel Heroes. At least those are two I've encountered recently, I'm sure there are more.
Basically, if you normally play PAYDAY 2, I'd recommend you avoid trying to grind for experience this weekend, it's more trouble than it's worth.
Most of the youtube videos I've seen about PAYDAY 2 were from a couple of months ago, after which there seems to have been a game patch that made enemies do more damage, or armour less effective, because I've seen videos of Enforcers really tanking, and you can't do that now, you die too easily. So here's another developer who seems to think that when you're facing endless swarms of respawning enemies that outnumber you 50:1, the biggest problem is that the players don't die quickly enough. The other developer would be Gazillion, the makers of Marvel Heroes. At least those are two I've encountered recently, I'm sure there are more.
Basically, if you normally play PAYDAY 2, I'd recommend you avoid trying to grind for experience this weekend, it's more trouble than it's worth.
Thursday, 31 October 2013
Backhand
So yet another post referring to PAYDAY 2 but this time it's totally the same. I just undid all of the "fixes" that were supposedly helping the game to run and it ran fine for a couple of hours. I'm convinced that not even the people making computers and software understand the problems, it's just some cult of "insider knowledge" and they're all huddling in candle pentagrams and chanting the OS system code out loud.
I did also forget to mention in my attempt to be helpful that though you can redistribute your points in each skill tree whenever you want, you don't get all of your money back, so experimentation can cost you. Or did I actually mention that?
And wow there are some weird ads showing up on this thing. I suppose I might have to do some kind of moderation for it to seem more in line with the theme (if any) of my blog. Have I mentioned that "blog" isn't even a word and I hate it along with many other things so it kind of gets lost in there with the rest I don't have time to focus on; and even the spell-checker doesn't like it.
I did also forget to mention in my attempt to be helpful that though you can redistribute your points in each skill tree whenever you want, you don't get all of your money back, so experimentation can cost you. Or did I actually mention that?
And wow there are some weird ads showing up on this thing. I suppose I might have to do some kind of moderation for it to seem more in line with the theme (if any) of my blog. Have I mentioned that "blog" isn't even a word and I hate it along with many other things so it kind of gets lost in there with the rest I don't have time to focus on; and even the spell-checker doesn't like it.
Wednesday, 30 October 2013
Helping somewhat
With a thought to all the recent youtube videos I've watched recently that were about build ideas for PAYDAY 2, here is some of my own advice:
First of all, be sure you want to play it.
Second, if like me you encounter the random crashes and have followed all the forum listed advice for preventing it and find that they still occur, try this: lower your graphics settings. This seems to have helped me (at least so far) and it was much the same issue with Marvel Heroes, for some reason most, if not all of the crashes for PAYDAY 2 are C++ errors, and lowering the graphics settings made a difference. Other than making the textures look all blurry and ugly.
Third, unlike most of the videos I've watched, I've only played it after they altered the in-game descriptions of skills and weapons. Which means as far as build concerns go, you can get a much better idea of what a skill will do for well before you are even able to purchase it. While I wouldn't discourage experimentation such as I did, if you don't plan to play this obsessively for a few weeks you won't really have enough money to experiment with how different skills work together. So checking beforehand means you can plan around your play style in advance.
Third part 2: weapons are a little more difficult to plan around because while you can see the base weapon stats in the shop, you don't get any idea of what kind or how many mods can be applied to it, meaning that you can't really pick the most appropriate weapon ahead of time and save up for it. The most obvious clues you get are the stats such as "concealment" and "damage" as they will give you some idea of which build style they will fit with most. High concealment suggests they're good for a stealth/Ghost build (and the Ghost skill tree has skills affecting SMG so they're an immediate association). High damage weapons will most likely have a very poor concealment rating, meaning they are for going LOUD!
Third part 3: the above information about guns doesn't quite cover secondary weapons so much as primaries. All SMG are secondaries, and pistols can be quite powerful with a fairly good concealment rating. Though as above you can't get a great idea of what kind of mods can be applied. There are several basic types of mods though. There's a bunch of suppressors that have varying degrees of damage reduction mitigated by improved concealment or stability. Barrel extensions that improve damage at the cost of concealment. Extended magazines that reduce concealment. Generally a mod will either increase combat effectiveness or increase concealment, usually at the expense of the other.
Fourth and probably final: don't go nuts. Sure, there's no real consequence for failure, it is after all, a game. But you will avoid the ire of fellow players if you don't act like a retard. When you start out, don't go assuming that you can undertake a job on overkill difficulty and not die repeatedly and irritate your fellow gamers to no end. You'll find yourself kicked out of many lobbies if you try to reach beyond your grasp. Unless of course you already know someone who has played the game a while and is willing to help you level up faster by carrying you through harder missions. But stay away from "Pro" jobs while you're still a noob.
That is probably it for now. I'll likely only be playing PAYDAY 2 for a little while longer, then I guess I'm back to Marvel Heroes unless I find something else to play. I'm tempted to add an "advice" label but I'm not sure how many times I'd be using it. Maybe a future advice thingy for Marvel Heroes might be in order, they've apparently got a fair amount of marketing geared up for the release of the new Thor movie.
First of all, be sure you want to play it.
Second, if like me you encounter the random crashes and have followed all the forum listed advice for preventing it and find that they still occur, try this: lower your graphics settings. This seems to have helped me (at least so far) and it was much the same issue with Marvel Heroes, for some reason most, if not all of the crashes for PAYDAY 2 are C++ errors, and lowering the graphics settings made a difference. Other than making the textures look all blurry and ugly.
Third, unlike most of the videos I've watched, I've only played it after they altered the in-game descriptions of skills and weapons. Which means as far as build concerns go, you can get a much better idea of what a skill will do for well before you are even able to purchase it. While I wouldn't discourage experimentation such as I did, if you don't plan to play this obsessively for a few weeks you won't really have enough money to experiment with how different skills work together. So checking beforehand means you can plan around your play style in advance.
Third part 2: weapons are a little more difficult to plan around because while you can see the base weapon stats in the shop, you don't get any idea of what kind or how many mods can be applied to it, meaning that you can't really pick the most appropriate weapon ahead of time and save up for it. The most obvious clues you get are the stats such as "concealment" and "damage" as they will give you some idea of which build style they will fit with most. High concealment suggests they're good for a stealth/Ghost build (and the Ghost skill tree has skills affecting SMG so they're an immediate association). High damage weapons will most likely have a very poor concealment rating, meaning they are for going LOUD!
Third part 3: the above information about guns doesn't quite cover secondary weapons so much as primaries. All SMG are secondaries, and pistols can be quite powerful with a fairly good concealment rating. Though as above you can't get a great idea of what kind of mods can be applied. There are several basic types of mods though. There's a bunch of suppressors that have varying degrees of damage reduction mitigated by improved concealment or stability. Barrel extensions that improve damage at the cost of concealment. Extended magazines that reduce concealment. Generally a mod will either increase combat effectiveness or increase concealment, usually at the expense of the other.
Fourth and probably final: don't go nuts. Sure, there's no real consequence for failure, it is after all, a game. But you will avoid the ire of fellow players if you don't act like a retard. When you start out, don't go assuming that you can undertake a job on overkill difficulty and not die repeatedly and irritate your fellow gamers to no end. You'll find yourself kicked out of many lobbies if you try to reach beyond your grasp. Unless of course you already know someone who has played the game a while and is willing to help you level up faster by carrying you through harder missions. But stay away from "Pro" jobs while you're still a noob.
That is probably it for now. I'll likely only be playing PAYDAY 2 for a little while longer, then I guess I'm back to Marvel Heroes unless I find something else to play. I'm tempted to add an "advice" label but I'm not sure how many times I'd be using it. Maybe a future advice thingy for Marvel Heroes might be in order, they've apparently got a fair amount of marketing geared up for the release of the new Thor movie.
Friday, 25 October 2013
Mechanical decay
While I'm on the subject of my dying computer and incompetence related to people making things for it - for some reason lately after closing a game the sound will occasionally stop working. The sound device will claim that it's still functioning but I can't hear anything and as soon as I attempt to run a program the will utilise sound, said program will not operate correctly if at all. This happened to me sometimes about a year ago and I could disable the sound device and then re-enable it to restore sound. But not now, now I have to restart the computer to restore sound. This is maddeningly retarded, "you've stopped using the sound device, so you don't need it anymore right?" It's like cutting out your tongue after you finish a meal.
Fear not, once I've obtained a new computer I will still have many, many things to complain about, it's just a matter of remembering them long enough to write them down...
Fear not, once I've obtained a new computer I will still have many, many things to complain about, it's just a matter of remembering them long enough to write them down...
Wednesday, 23 October 2013
Meander
I suppose some extra information should be provided so that there is more clarity - I do think I am in need of a new computer so many of the complaints I make about games stuffing up should be tempered by this. And since I'm unemployed and poor my next machine is likely to be some cheap(ish) laptop that will be far from ideal for gaming which might end up making me complain even more.
If all this swinging back and forth makes me seem like a moody bastard it's probably because I am. Carry on. I'll be doing something. I'll figure it out and maybe get back to you. And when I say "you" I mean "me" because this is akin to a great big reminder note except other people can see it. Eventually I might get around to writing up some of the other article ideas I had. Won't you be lucky?
If all this swinging back and forth makes me seem like a moody bastard it's probably because I am. Carry on. I'll be doing something. I'll figure it out and maybe get back to you. And when I say "you" I mean "me" because this is akin to a great big reminder note except other people can see it. Eventually I might get around to writing up some of the other article ideas I had. Won't you be lucky?
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