All New Map Rotation for UO

_FFC_

Still not heard a definite from ServerXtreme's TS on if they fixed the game panel switch bug. So kinda skeer'd to try swap'n over to CoD2 for now.
So....meanwhile I setup a UO rotation of ALL NEW MAPS courtesy of CoDFiles.com. Biggest map is about 1.5MB so as you can imagine none of these should be too bad for a small number of players. The rotation is a mix of TDM and DM about 50/50 with some limited weapons on the smaller ones and the single exclusive sniper map. Hope to frag ya later today!

F.F.C. CoD:UO Server Back Online

_FFC_

Thanks in part to my still trying to get "CoD2" configured and ready for us to romp on over the holidays, our regular UO server was OFFLINE yesterday starting around 4:30PM MST. Yes granted, I had my fingers in the pie again. But to be fair, the outage was due more to a bug in the host's software. I emailed with their support guys about that this morning. They acknowledged there IS a bug in their control panel software and are working on it. So, they kinda reset things back for UO but it was still screwed up...just sit'n on MP_Cassino and you couldn't do anything other than connect....WTF?!

Luckily I had saved a copy of the working UO AWE custom startup line (for just such a day) and once I pasted that back in as the startup line and kicked the server we are back online again.
I'm sure NOT going to futz with CoD2 until they confirm that the bug is squash-ed as I don't want an angry mob of, well...YOU GUYS...showing up on my doorstep. While some of us played on a couple publics last night it just weren't the same. I thought they were pretty laggy too. And it took forever to find one we could all see/agree on. Much too complex. I like simple...simple is good!

BTW, I'm off for the next few days so shoot me an IM or email or whatever if ya wanna get together. Don't have any big plans other than working on my DVD library and some other esoterical geek stuff.

Gaming News Winds Down for '05

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Not much going on in the 3D FPS gaming world right now. The votes are collecting for "Best Of" in the various game categories for 2005. I had to put in my vote for "F.E.A.R." since it was way over-the-top in comparison to say, "Call of Duty 2". You can go here to put in your vote!

If you're into "Quake 4" there's been a new MP map pack released.

And on a personal note, since I work for Maxtor, there's this joyous bit of news:
Seagate buying Maxtor
Obviously this means there'll be the usual combining/absorbing/trimming of the employee pool so I may not have a job later on next year. That could put a damper on my ability to support our mutual gaming habit...guess we'll just have to see. :-/

Meanwhile...enjoy your Holiday Season!

Holiday Happenings

_FFC_

Let's see...what's new lately.

The usual holiday activities have interfered somewhat with our player attendance. For awhile there we had 6 or so regulars almost daily. Hard to maintain that during the Xmas season of course.

Brother Mufasa has been showing up more regularly now that he has more time on his hands. Even got to shoot off a few of his beloved AT4's now that I resurrected ye olde BHD:TS server.
Someday I'll figure out why that game doesn't like my nVidia drivers...kinda psychedelic in the graphics dept right now.

Our youngest regular player (Shooter) will be M.I.A. for awhile due to (cough) illicit extracurricular activities. Such are Life's Lessons when you are 16 and succumb to unwise peer pressure. Speaking of young players, haven't seen much of Little Fox. He dropped in briefly a few weeks back but then vanished once more. Hmmm...hope he wasn't hang'n out with Shooter. ;-P

I'm still busy tweak'n on my HTPC (see earlier posts) but it's coming along nicely. Pretty much have things configured as I want video-wise; now I'm working on the audio side. I only have one optical (TOSlink) connection left on my home theater receiver so will be installing a Turtle Beach Riviera6 5.1 soundcard. My HTR only does 5.1 anyway, and the TB card has one optical S/PDIF out and is cheap enuff ($24).

I'll be get'n a couple days off around Xmas so maybe we can get a few rounds of CoD2 going again. I *think* I like the MP but need more practice sessions once I get the AWE mod stuff configured for it. Meanwhile, hope ya'll are having a great holiday season and, as always, travel safe and don't get too drunk...you could end up looking like this!!

CoD2 Now Added!

_FFC_

While I was'nt real pleased with their timing (doing the switch in the middle of our UO fest last night), the ServerXtreme admins did add-in CoD2 to our available game list. This means we can now flop between that and UO. I know this is a little early since not everyone here has CoD2 yet, but I wanted to have some time to get familiar with the administration of the new game and the associated AWE mod release (which is still beta at this writing).

Crow, myself and BigDaddy played a few maps of CoD2 last night. I like the environment better; more smoke/haze effects, cleaner textures for the world and models. Gameplay is mostly the same. The gun sounds are kinda wimpy...I'll have to see what can be done about that. I also need to go thru the stock maps and setup a rotation of the ones that aren't too big for our wee band.

Adding CoD2 Soon

_FFC_

Since the AWE modders have now released their beta mod for CoD2, I've gone ahead and submitted a request to our gameserver host to add CoD2 to our account. This means we can switch between the two games on occasion. I'd like to see how the gameplay and maps compare without spending a lot of time on the publics. I know some of us don't have CoD2 yet (settle down Greg...we won't shut you out, lol) but figure those of us who do can try it out this way. Besides, I know Crow is ache'n to see if he can possibly lag any more than he does today with UO. hahaha
Plus it'll give me a chance to get familiar with the admin side of things during the off-game time slots.

Don't know how long it'll take the host to process the new request. No rush in any case. And there's no extra monthly fee for having more than one game available..just the one-time $40 setup fee. Since ya'll have been so generous with donations I want to make sure you get your $ worth! Will advise when we're ready to ROCK.

Please Read! - Server IP Changed

_FFC_

IMPORTANT! - Our gameserver host has changed the IP for our server, as follows:
"Due to our company merging with another to offer more server locations I have to change your IP as we are doing maintenance work and removing all 66 block ips. Your new IP will be 64.37.120.119."

Be sure to update your shortcuts, Favorites, whatever or you won't be able to connect! I had to update a couple settings for the server-side config but have tested and things are working on the new IP. If you need help connecting, drop me an email or catch me on TeamSpeak later today...I'll be on around the usual time or earlier.

Hope everyone had/is having a great holiday weekend...cheers!

WOT: Part Deux

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Edit: Here is a link to some pix of the finished product!

I finished up the basics of my HTPC project that I talked about in the last post here. Hooked it up to my HDTV on Friday, and been tweak'n and learn'n thru the weekend. Man o'man, these are THE best TV accessory since the invention of the remote control! Here's a list of the features I now have working:

• PVR - scheduling/recording Live TV is as easy as click'n a button
• Timeshift - Pause/Rewind/FastForward Live TV
• Commercials - everyone hates'em, so now I can auto-strip them from the recordings
• Music - my thousands of music files are now just a click away for hi-fi playback
• Video - our family videos (and soon DVD movies) will be cataloged for easy playback
• Weather - Click! 5 day forecast on the screen in brillant color
• Web Radio - Listen to underground stations streaming over the 'net
• DVD - playback via PowerDVD working, still hammer'n on the upconvert howto
• Movietimes - Theatrical release info including trailers & local theater showtimes
• Comics - Popular daily strip feeds (Garfield, Dilbert, etc) right there on the big screen
• System - Disk usage pie charts & system temps/fan speeds in realtime
• Web - for $30 got a wireless desktop so can surf the 'net from the couch

Yet to be ironed out is the DVDLibrary plugin, so I can play DVDs without the DVD and have a nice graphical catalog of same. Same thing for the GameLibrary plugin. Not sure yet how much gaming I'l be doing on the bigscreen as that would hog a lot of resources.

Now all I need to is win the Lotto so I can quit my job and have time to enjoy all this! Oh, and did I mention that other than the build costs all this is free? No subscriptions. ;=)

Related links:
http://www.snapstream.com/
http://www.byopvr.com/
http://htpcnews.com/

Wandering OT

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Excuse me while I wander slightly off topic (ahem, it is MY blog after all ;) and talk a little about my latest project...the HTPC (codename: HoTPoCket).

Since the advent of the Xbox, and shortly thereafter the Xbox modchip, I've been enjoying the ability to stream media from my home-network to our livingroom TV/Home Theater. What does that mean exactly? It means using the Xbox combined with my TV/HT to watch downloaded video files, play music, and slideshow pictures in all their myriad formats (avi, mpg, wmv, mp3, jpg, etc). These media files "live" elsewhere on my network...the Xbox just streams them to the TV/HT. The advantage being that it's a cheap solution if you already own an Xbox...less than $50 for the modchip. Disadvantage is that there is no PVR ability, and finding the software and performing the configuration needed for the Xbox to do this magic can be daunting. The Xbox is mostly a PC but the OS is proprietary. Therefore, lots of busy hackers out there constantly twiddle'n bits to get around the OS quirks, which makes working with the result into something of a black art.

Enter the HTPC. Now you have a standard PC, usually in a HT complementary-style horizontal case, running standard Windows XP (or Linux if you have web'd feet) and standard application software. Being "just" a PC, playing media files off the network becomes a no-brainer. Add in a TV tuner card, and/or an HDTV tuner card (if your set is HD-compatible) and waalaa! you have a Tivo without the excessive cost...or as someone called it, a "Freevo". Think for a minute about the additional possiblities. Say you're watching "Baywatch" re-runs and suddenly need to lookup a phone number or some other datum off the Internet. Use the remote (or wireless keyboard) to switch over to your web browser. Want to know the weather forecast for your locale? Most HTPC media center software includes that on the menu. Telephone rings just as Pamela Anderson flounces across the beach? Eyeball the (optional) caller-id display which discreetly pops up in the corner of your TV screen. Not sure if the baby is awake in the other room? Use your remote to flip the display over to the webcam you installed in the baby's room. And the list goes on...all those cool & mystical things that PC's can do is now in your livingroom.

Another big HTPC advantage for HDTV videophiles is that now you have the means to upconvert your DVD playback from the already decent 480p (on a progressive scan player) to the mucho better 720p or 1080i resolutions. Although this is not the same as watching your DVDs in true high-definition, as current DVDs are not recorded in high definition, you will experience increased detail and color you didn't think was possible from a DVD player. Note that this works best on LCD or Plasma sets. While you can now buy upconvert DVD players, the prices are still in the $200+ range. Using an HTPC you can do this using a $20 DVD-ROM as the player and run cheap or free decrypting software. Thus my interest in the whole HTPC concept.

As I already had most of the spare parts to build another PC lying around, I ordered the few I needed (HTPC case, DVD-RW, low noise power-supply, TV tuner) and have started piecing things together. As the project progresses I'll post updates on the experience and whether or not it lives up to my expectations. So stay tuned!

News & Reviews

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Top 10 PC Games - Interesting that 8 of the 10 are RPGs...at least CoD2 made the list.

Combat Elite: WWII Paratroopers - Not into top-downers myself, but could be fun!

Wired calls for Sony boycott - Normally I love Sony, but this time they've gone too far.

QUAKE 4 Guide (PC) - Quake, what more needs to be said?

RIAA faces off with satellite radio - Is there ANYONE that the RIAA isn't pissing off yet?

And here's one for Crow: GUN - Looks like it'll be out for the PC after all.

I Will F.E.A.R. No More

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I finished F.E.A.R. last night. I won't spoil the fun by describing it but do have mixed opinions on the ending...some good some bad. The second half of the game is definitely more into puzzle'n than the first (how do I get from point A to B), tho' again none are too difficult. But it was get'n a wee too repetitive for my tastes. The new weapons you find are very nice (think rockets) but I still believe the particle gun wins for best damage effect. Nothing like watching your target melt down into a blackened skeleton...that's just so 50's SF. lol

For now I'll set the game aside and concentrate on CoD2 for SP replay and online MP. But I'll drag it back out after my next PC upgrade so I can enjoy seeing what the eye-candy looks like at max settings. And that upgrade got pushed out on my schedule, as I have a few other items farther up on the priority list. My old web server is finally flak'n out on me, as you may've noticed by my site, FAQ, and so on being sporadically offline. I thought it was the latest MS Security Updates causing the BSOD crashes, but I swapped in an older GHOSTed drive and same thing...so it's hardware. Thus I'll be rebuilding that box soon..maybe this weekend. I also put in my order for the few HTPC parts I don't already have and hope to build up that unit over the turkey holiday. Will write more about that experience as it evolves.

Nothing To Fear But F.E.A.R. Itself

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Been play'n the SP mode of F.E.A.R. a lot lately. Man, this game just ROCKS! The environment can get a little repetitive (office, basements, rooftops..and the enemies are'nt real varied) but the detail and creepy ambience there-in keeps it interesting.

You want detail? How about magazine covers on desktops that you can actually read; I love the headline on one, "Event Horizon Found!"...any SF-Horror fan will get a chuckle from that one. Or phones with message lights that flash so you can play them back. Or blood trails leading off to....no, shouldn't tell you about that.

While there IS an element of puzzle-solving (ala Half-Life) to the game, the puzzles are pretty simple most times and not so constant that they get annoying.

The use of lighting and shadowing in the game is outstanding...often you're not sure if you saw something move or if it was just a trick of the lighting. Altho' I do find it somewhat unfair that the baddies get night-vision helmets while all you get is a recharging flashlight, which often gives away your position anyway.You can take out your targets silently with a melee move if you can sneak up behind them...which doesn't happen often. The AI is such that they are very aware of movement and your position even if stationary. And they will lean around corners, split-up and flank you, even duck behind cover and raise only their guns above cover to fire. Nor do they stay still often..always moving as they shoot, and will toss an occasional grenade to flush you. Definitely a test of your skill, patience, and QuickSave key to finish the game without cheats. But seeing one nailed to a wall or staircase by your railgun makes it all worthwhile. lol

The supernatural cut-scenes and horror effects are thrown in just enough to keep up the suspense and add to the plot. Quite a few times I've gotten a real chill as I creep around a dark corner in time to hear "something go bump in the night" and see a ghastly figure disappearing into the shadows. Of course the soundtrack plays into that with the appropiate scary sounds and music. In some ways it's like working your way through a murderous haunted house...if you can survive. In summary, if your PC has the ponies to play this game (and you do require some serious hardware to do it right), run don't walk to your nearest game source and feel the F.E.A.R. yourself!

F.E.A.R. [Patch]

_PC_

F.E.A.R. [Patch]

F.E.A.R. retail patch v1.02

PC Gaming Renaissance on the Horizon?

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PC Gaming Renaissance on the Horizon?

Major industry players plan a major push to revitalize segment.

Call of Duty 2 Ships Out

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Call of Duty 2 Ships Out

Activision gives stores a Big Red One.

Call of Duty 2: Big Red One Cinematic

Re-live the epic battle.

Sniper Elite Review

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Sniper Elite Review (Xbox)

Is it worth taking a gamble at Namcos long shot?

Battlefield 2 Modern Combat Review

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Battlefield 2 Modern Combat Review (Xbox)

D.I.C.E. modernizes the classic FPS experience.

Fix File for CoD2

_FFC_

Well, now that I've ordered a DVD drive for my game machine, the Deviance group has released the "no CD/DVD" hack for version 1.0 of CoD2....of course. LOL
Just tested it out (rename the old .exe, replace with the fixed one)...works fine as usual. Ah well, down the road with more games issuing on DVD media it'd be handy to have the drive and it was less than $30 inc/shipping from Newegg.
You can find the "fix" off my Gamefiles link in the right-hand pane.

America's Army: Special Forces

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Just curious if anyone plays AA:SF and what is your opinion on it vs the CoD series. Obviously it's a different style game (pure MP, objective based, one life per round) with the focus on realism. I've considered it a few times, but I think there's an extensive training session (like boot camp) you have to endure before you can play. But the price is right..FREE, courtesy of our tax dollars. I sometimes miss the objective-based team playing style (started out serving "Enemy Territory" after all) but like anything it got old in it's own way too.

CoD2 vs UO - Your Thoughts?

_FFC_

Ok, now that CoD2 is out and the Linux server release is in beta so will be out RSN…what are your views on switching from UO to CoD2 on our server? We'd maybe lose the tanks/jeeps (not sure on that yet) but most of those types of maps are too big anyway. Personally I think we should wait a few months for the bugs to get ironed out and for the mod teams to have a chance to release their toys. While it'd be nice to have the new maps and the improved graphics some of those might prove to be too much for certain (Crow) players that (Crow) have anemic (Crow) connection speeds. Of course it could be that the CoD2 MP will be optimized better than expected and thus not much more of a pig than is UO. I say we play on the publics and then get your feedback on how feasible/attractive CoD2 is over UO. And who knows, maybe the MP maps will be backward compatible so we could use some of them in UO…that would be cool!

And speaking of cool, there's rumor that our "lost soldier" Randor might be homeward bound early next year..WOOHOO!..hope it works out Randy!

CoD2 Single Player Impressions

_FFC_

I took some time last night checking out the new CoD2 SP missions. As rumored, in most ways it's "more Call of Duty". You start out in the Russian character, with the usual training session at first..but with a few twists that I'll let you discover for yourself. You're then off on the missions, with various objectives, tho' there are too many "blow up the tank" ones already for my taste. You have to use the new smoke 'nades a lot to get past the tanks unless you prefer that swiss-cheese look for your combat attire. Speaking of, the character models are gorgeous and much more realistic…shovels, canteens, etc. are now 3D and the clothing itself has a rich woven appearance complete with dustings of dirt, snow, and so on, to match the environment. Gameplay is still "on a rail" when it comes to mission progression, but you can tell they try to mask it as much as possible. Personally I don't mind…I hate wondering around lost for long periods of time…reminds me too much of my childhood when my parents moved..and didn't tell ME. hahaha

What I DO mind is the new health recovery system. Unless you're a total berserker it's nearly impossible to die, even on Regular difficulty. While the health packs weren't very realistic either, at least you had to make it to the next one (and those were sometimes scarce). It's too much like being a super-soldier and I expect IW to catch a lot of flak about it and possibly offer a switch to the old system in a future update. If not, the modders are already looking into a mod for that and for other features like cookable grenades, sprinting and the other realism aspects we've enjoyed in the past. One such mod group is "Cold-Grit" and might be something to look into depending on what the AWE developers release.

Performance-wise, CoD2 WILL push your system more than UO. I can't run much higher than 1024x768 at 60Hz or there's too much "stutter" when the action gets intense (which is most of the time of course). The game sure looks prettier at 70-75Hz but I just couldn't get the same play smoothness without drop'n the size…and 800x600 on a 19" monitor just sucks. My AMD 3000 is show'n it's age I guess, meaning it'll be time for a new mobo and dressings for Xmas. Might keep the GF 6600XT, buy another and a mobo that supports SLI…depends on how cost effective that is compared to a vid card upgrade to a PCIe or -X style. And unless the "no CD/DVD" fix releases soon I still gotta drum up or buy a DVD drive…right now just piggyback'n with a long IDE cable off my other system..looks pretty weird. lol

Call of Duty 2 Released!

_FFC_

Picked up my "Collector's Edition" box yesterday from EB's...two DVDs of fun and info. Didn't actually get to play the single-player yet, as I don't have a DVD drive on my Hornet game machine, and installed the game over the network. Thanks to the usual $#@! copy-protection the SP wouldn't start since I didn't have a local DVD drive to put the disk in. I'm sure there will be a "fix" out soon, but meanwhile I'll have to move one of my other DVD drives into that box so I can play...bastards!!

I took a look at the MP locally (since that requires no disk), and it looks VERY good...great look'n maps, character and gun models. And there's even a SHOTGUN!!...finally! No knives yet tho'...sorry Crow. lol Already a few public servers out there too so may check those out soon.

Meanwhile, here are a couple review links to munch on...one from Lockergnome and another from IGN.

FFC Newsletter blog goes public!

_FFC_

Since the blogging software I was using in the past didn't allow web updates (local interface only) I decided to move to this service. Figured it'd be nice to have the ability to do updates, allow member comments, and so forth from any web browser.

This blog doesn't support categories, so I can't seperate things out BUT you can use the Search feature as a workaround. I'll put a color-coded keyword at the beginning of each post (like FFC, PC, or Xbox) to denote the post category...then you can find them by Searching that keyword.

Another new feature is that you, as a reader, can add Comments! Not exactly a forum, but might come in handy if you have questions or input about a new post here. I have to add your email addy and send an "invite" to you first, as I'm only allowing Members (of this blog) that privilege.

I've re-created the old blog link list, plus added a link TO the old blog for historical reasons. But all future newsletter posts will be here, so all you need remember/save is this blog's address ( http://ffcnewsletter.blogspot.com/ ) .