The blog of a dangerous madman

However, this would of course mean neglect for the spy, who has yet to receive any updates. Thus I predict that the next 'Meet the' from Valve will be 'Meet the Spy'.

There, it is now written! Now to wait and see if I'm right. :P

In the mean time I'm playing Doom 3 and making a so called 'game diary' of it. Check it out:

http://www.techious.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=37&t=1628

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My exams are over!

2008-06-25T13:43:55+02:00

In fact, they ended last Friday.

This does of course mean that I now have more free-time.

And also the need to now look for jobs.

Naturally I shall continue to try and remember to post here.

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A new bloginning

2008-05-10T17:42:16+02:00

Ok, so the title may suck a tad, but I was stuck for thinking of a good one.

Anyway, for the few readers of my blogs, my friend Si has kindly decided to host my blog on his site:

http://blogs.spcook.co.uk/metritutus

What does this mean for me? More design customisation! Currently it's using a theme Si downloaded, which I've then tweaked slightly using the in-design settings. The results are clearly horrific.

Still, things may improve further, and expect more disturbing updates in the near future.

I do also intend to keep both blogs updated, but the other blog will be the one with the extras and the nice design.

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Responsible money spending by the government

2008-04-25T19:15:02+02:00

One wonders what morons they have in the government.

Observe the new logo for the Office of Government Commerce:

Now when it is flipped onto its side:

This new logo my friends cost £14 000 to make. That's right. FOURTEEN THOUSAND RUDDY POUNDS! This is taxpayer's money here! All that money and the designers failed to notice the problem. And even with ignoring that problem, the logo still sucks for that price! I have virtually no skill in art or image editing, and I myself believe I could come up with something better than that naff for FREE!!! Who the hell charges that sort of money, and who the fudge is stupid enough to pay it???

Gob-smacking, it really is.
Read the full article here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/24/nogc124.xml

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Some more random

2008-04-16T20:23:56+02:00

The next TF2 'Meet the' video will apparently be the scout, so sayeth the interwebs. Ah well, it was worth a guess, eh?

I've recently been playing some Command and Conquer games. I've got through Red Alert 2, and I'm now having a go at Tiberian Sun. I've been tackling the GDI campaign, and it is surprisingly tough in places. Something I've not particularly liked about Tiberian Sun is the fact that it can be really slow. Units take an age to cross the map. Still, that's probably a poor thing to complain about. On the whole the game is pretty good, although it lacks the ability to play movies you've seen unlike in Red Alert 2.

In another burst of sheer insanity I also tried hosting a dedicated server of Team Fortress 2 on my laptop. Amazingly the performance hit isn't actually that bad (when there's not players on it, mind). It hits my system less hard than stock msn, which I don't use now because it's bloated to hell. Use Pidgin (find it through the power of google).

Peace through power brothers!

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Uwe Boll - The time has come

2008-04-09T11:13:02+02:00

Justice shall be served ladies and gentlemen! He has agreed that if 1 million signatures are gathered at the site below, he shall stop corrupting the film industry!

http://www.petitiononline.com/RRH53888/petition.html

Hop to it!

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I'm placing my bets now...

2008-03-16T18:09:31+01:00

Yup, I reckon the next Team Fortress 2 'meet the' video will be for the medic.

I'm posting this now for posterity in case I'm actually right.

I've recently found myself playing the Chzo mythos, by Ben 'Yahtzee' Croshaw of Zero Punctuation fame. I really do feel sorry for him, he must receive absolutely loads of emails. To cap it off, he was the victim of a 'De Rez' video, where they kind of made fun of him. It was supposed to be funny, but personally I think the whole thing sucked. Still, that's just my opinion. Flame me at your peril (that is of course assuming that people do actually read these entries ).

Anyway, check out Yahtzee's website below, and do him a favour and just pay silent respects to his awesome games and reviews without bothering him.

www.fullyramblomatic.com

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Another regular entry

2008-02-27T19:45:07+01:00

Well, I've been trying to make a CS:S (CounterStrike Source for those who don't know ) map.

I can do stuff with Hammer, but I'm no expert. Nevertheless I have been trying to make progress.

Currently the major bugbear is that the walls in light areas go black when you enter dark areas. I think it's something to do with HDR, which means I'll either have to find a way to disable it or get the HDR to work properly.

I'll post another blog entry for my next release if I remember.

I also got Crysis for Christmas, and it was most awesome indeed, with some of the most amazing moents in gaming history. However, it does have some bugs, the most annoying one being where some aliens would not die during the later levels. The only way out of this was to reload the level or a previous save.

I also fixed my mic problems. It turns out that if you turn up the transmit volume to max it tends to fudge up. Discovered this because I got a Fatal1ty gaming headset for Christmas too. It has some awesome sound, and I simply must recommend it to anyone considering purchasing a new headset.

It was also my Birthday on February the 19th, and I am now 18! Hurrah!

I received a MIDI keyboard so I can now attempt to compose music and play stuff directly into the PC.

I'm also going to be taking my driving test in March, soon, as well as getting my results for my January exams, which I believe went well.

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Well this sucks

2007-12-02T17:43:49+01:00

I recently tried to change the design layout of this blog as I realise it sucks. Unfortunately, due to the fact I cant (and wont) shell out for the pro version I cant really do much to it, and what I did sucked worse.

So there you have it. The standard default layout.

I have yet again found myself playing far too much of Team Fortress 2 this week. Valve also announced that they were going to be bringing out new achievements for the game, which will be most interesting to say the least.

Apparantly there is going to be 36 new ones for the medic alone (assuming I have correctly understood the announcement).

Cooincidental isn't it that I've been feeling the need to go on a medic spree again. I did this before, going as the medic. Often I was the only one.

Anyway, I would also like to say (assuming that I didn't post this earlier) that my name online is [TCHS] Metritutus.

It's been changed for some time, but I just haven't said.

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OMG, another entry!

2007-11-22T19:35:51+01:00

I really should do more regular entries.

Well for the record (for those who read this other than Skillers, although I doubt there are) I am still not dead!

I recently was able to play the excellent Orange Box. Well worth the money in my most arrogant opinion.

Alas, exams approach, and I have A Level exams for politics and physics in January. I am also a bit stuck for a coursework idea for physics (although I may be on to something so watch this space ).

I also got to play the demo of Crysis, as well as being able to participate in the MP beta. Both were excellent, and I am getting the full game for Christmas.

Something that has been bothering me in Source based multiplayer games is that after a while, my microphone 'glitches'. There's nothing wrong with the mic itself (I have proven this) but it just seems to break in the game. If I quit and restart the game it is fine. Most odd, and I can find no other information on this problem. :-[" class="middle" border="0">

Have any other problems beset me? Oh yes. They have. :-(" class="middle" border="0">

A main problem is that I wish to use my PS/2 mouse with my laptop. Unfortunately, the damned thing doesn't like working. If I go to devices and remove the mouse, then I can get both the touchpad and the mouse to work. However, it prompts me to restart, and when I do the mouse is not longer working again.

The problem has me stumped that's for sure, but I will post if I have success.

Indeed, it is not all a sour story. I had success with dual monitors on my laptop.

It worked rather well, although there are a few niggles (such as it lying about the second monitor's colour quality ).

Anyways, just another little random post by me. Hopefully more regular in the future.

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AS results!

2007-08-18T11:13:28+02:00

Well, I got my AS results and they seem pretty good.

History: A
Politics: B
Physics: C
Geography: C

All in all, the hard work paid off.

On a side note, Techious now have a CSS (CounterStrike Source) server up and running, but it will be offline when the host goes on holiday.

Join it at 82.45.10.76:27015

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A most distressing worry

2007-03-29T15:07:21+02:00

I randomly was looking through the internet (as you do) when I came accross this link.

http://www.realtechnews.com/posts/2088

Having sifted throught the comments and article, it worries me that in one quote someone apeared to be banned after getting a demo video (made by another player and emailed to Valve) made of him getting four headshots in a row.

Now don't get me wrong, all cheaters should go burn in hell, but there are really good players out there (as well as people who get lucky shots).

Another thing is people being banned through other means. Steam uses VAC (Valve Anti Cheat system I believe). It checks whether: a)Core game exe and dlls have been modified, and b) what programs are running as you play. From what I have seen, some programs are mistakenly labled as cheats. The steam forums and site seem most unhelpful, and also claim that VAC is 100% correct, and that if you are banned you are cheating filth. ¬¬

My advice is that when playing a game through Steam, turn off ALL un-necessary programs (such as msn, etc). Leave firewalls and virus scanners on. Never turn those off. If you do get banned, don't go to the forums, they're useless and you'll be flamed to death. Instead go to the Steam support page. HOWEVER, don't do it instantly. I have read of cases where accounts are wrongly banned, and are unbanned around a week later. Leave it a few days and see if you are unbanned.

Additionally, a VAC ban does not stop you playing these games online. You can still play on non VAC secured servers, and can still play in single-player.

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BROADBAND!!!

2007-03-27T10:05:45+02:00

Has finally come! (well actually I had it when I posted my previous entry here but anywho I say about it now).

Upon first gaining it I went on a mad spree and downloaded every Half-Life related thingy on Steam, EXCEPT Half-Life: Source.

DO NOT BUY it! Instead I must advise anyone interested to go to www.blackmesasource.com.

On another note, I have been playing CounterStrike: Source.

My fave map: Office. Sadly I still get quite poor pings and am sometimes auto-kicked, but at least it's not 800 now!

Want to know who I am? (probably not, but hey!) Well, I'm
[TCHS] Master Bob

The TCHS stands for Techious, founded by my friend. Sign onto his forum here.

I'm a mod there, known as Species (I did NOT choose the name. He didn't want me to go as Master Bob.)

I have also recently discovered a most disturbing game called Carmageddon. It's supposed to have zombies instead of people, but from where I got it, it had a patch to add the people. . .

Most disturbing. . .

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I am still not dead

2006-12-24T16:51:27+01:00

Yes, here I am. Writing when I can be bothered.

The computers have been networked for ages now, and its fun.
Especially Half-Life Sven Coop.

Still what's the latest thing I'm doing?
Half-Life 2 map creation. My limited skills mean that I have little to show thus far.

I am trying to get car props to work.

One of them dissappears, and the one that does appear you can walk through. Narf.

Oh well. I'm using prop physics for the second time. The 1st time, I gave up as the cars did not appear. Then I used prop vehicle. The results was that when I crouched and walked into a car, the view spazzed and the game died, along with Hammer. Sigh.

That broadcast was yet another tale of woe.
(don't worry, my life isn't really that bad, it's just more interesting when things go wrong. )

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less woe more zombies.

2006-01-22T14:54:36+01:00

Ah, I have not posted for some time. But I do now.

Steam is much better, with a new interface and less bugs, although I still do not have broadband.

I got Shaun of the Dead for Christmas. It is one of the funniest films I have ever seen.

If anyone sees it in a shop for a cheap price, BUY IT.

Computers still arn't networked. Oh well.

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Networking - more hell

2005-08-09T20:12:38+02:00

The second network computer just died today. When you switch it on, the fans come on, the cd drive and floppy drives all light up, but the power light doesn't come on and the power button does nothing if you want to turn it off. You have to pull the plug. The computer just sits there, doing nothing. The hard drive light comes on and doesn't turn off and the hard drive makes a few noises before sitting there. I don't know what's wrong and have no clue as how to fix it.

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More pain

2005-07-31T19:21:49+02:00

XPSS_A07.EXE is a bios upgrade for Windows 95. It sat on a floppy disk for a couple of years until someone found it and wanted to use it. Everytime you try to delete it it says it is still in use. That someone who found the ploppy disk didn't think to format it, instead they accidently dragged the offending file onto the desktop. Thus, when I come and use the computer I find the annoying file. It was impossible to delete. I booted the computer into safemode to get rid of it. However, when I found the file I hit the wrong button. I hit the enter key which ran it. No obvious damage was done. A dos screen appeared briefly before vanishing. But, when I tried to delete the file it said it was in use. Because I have lots of icons on my desktop, while in safemode I could not access all of them. So I went into documents and settings and did the above. Since all had failed I pressed the delete key and closed the folder before the message could come up. Amazingly, this deleted the file. It was a coincidence. Yet another Pc problem to come and bother me (sigh).

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title-96543

2005-07-29T20:58:34+02:00

While luck looks else where when it comes to networking, my main interest is PC Games. FPS and and stratagy mostly. Half-Life 2 was good, but it to brought pain - Steam! :-[" class="middle" border="0">:-[" class="middle" border="0">:-[" class="middle" border="0">:-(" class="middle" border="0">

Anyone who wants that game beware: I have not broadband, and it takes an hour to update steam each time it connects. New mods for it need the latest version. So: Long wait on the internet, or no mod. I hate that. I would like the source SDK. But I think I'll wait till I get broadband.
But Steam is not that easy. No, one time, the phone cable to the modem got ripped out when someone fell over it while Steam was updating. The result: It corrupted the cache files. I reupdated it but it refused to load the Play Games window, and loading Half-Life 2 would result in a BSOD. After searching the Steam home page
www.steampowered.com I found no answers. So I reinstalled all HL2 and Steam. Then I spent another hour on the net updating it again. :-[" class="middle" border="0"> I say that steam is bad. While it is a good idea, It needs improving badly.

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Networking

2005-07-28T15:34:11+02:00

Networking is not easy. They say it is but it isn't. Two windows 98 computers (second hand) and a really old serial cable. None of them had any drivers on them, so lots of searching took place to find them. Useful website driver guide
www.driverguide.com

saved lots of pain.
But now, the latest problem (other than the mice and the moniters) is that the computers refuse to connect. Is there no end????
While I worry about that, I might as well say about all the other problems.
The main downstairs computer had Service Pack2 installed on it. The result: It kept booting into a BSOD. Great. So, SP2 was uninstalled in safe mode. But what then? Random crashes of windows, etc. SP2 is bad! My recomendation to anyone who bothers to read this is to not install SP2. The computer will be fine without it. Besides, Microsoft firewall is rubbish. Use Zonealarm instead www.zonealarm.com

Most useful.

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