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Topic Summary

Posted by: fox
« on: 29. April 2025, 07:15:21 »

They haven't determined a definitive cause yet. "Induced atmospheric vibration" caused by extreme heat and rapid temperature and/or wind changes in Spain and/or a "solar storm" is just one theory that one of the responsible grid providers came up with very early on yesterday. A (rumored) fire in the Pyrenees, where the Spanish part of the grid interconnects with France, is another.

I'm not sure what would be worse: multiple countries blacking out due to man-made attacks or due to fairly common weather in early spring.

Apparently this catastrophic situation didn't end up in the chaos and mayhem it easily could have but imagine what would've happened, if the gradual reboot of the grid had failed and the outage continued. This is the stuff for some serious nightmares right there. The signficance of the event can't be overstated.

Even as it stands, the financial damage alone is estimated to be in the billions.

Edit: theguardian.com
Reports on Monday initially blamed a “rare atmospheric phenomenon” for the outage, with news agencies citing REN. However, REN on Tuesday said the statement was falsely attributed to it.

---
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These are hopefully entirely unrelated to the recent incident but nontheless interesting in this context: 
https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/uk/mystery-britains-unexplained-power-outages-spain-portugal-blackout/
https://arstechnica.com/security/2025/01/could-hackers-use-new-attack-to-take-down-european-power-grid/
https://media.ccc.de/v/38c3-blinkencity-radio-controlling-street-lamps-and-power-plants
https://media.ccc.de/v/32c3-7323-wie_man_einen_blackout_verursacht
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/09/10/power-grid-attacks-00114563
Posted by: icemann
« on: 29. April 2025, 05:21:50 »

Wasn't that due to some rare space thing? Heard a mention about it on the news earlier today.
Posted by: fox
« on: 28. April 2025, 13:47:55 »

Spain, Portugal and parts of France are experiencing a blackout right now.

This comes three days after our local news (and only those) reported a temporary small scale blackout (a couple of surrounding villages were affected) after someone used an angle grinder to fell one of those huge metal electricity poles at 4:00 AM. I'm sure it's just a coincidence.
Posted by: fox
« on: 24. April 2025, 08:33:28 »

I have never played Daggerfall, so I can't say anything about it. The level scaling was indeed Oblivions' biggest issue. Apparently they have changed something about it for the remake, not sure what exactly. I seriously played Morrowind for longer stretches but it never fully grabbed me and I kept bouncing off it multiple times. Everything about the region and  lore seemed far more alien and less grounded than Oblivion or Skyrim (which overall was pretty great, too).
Posted by: icemann
« on: 23. April 2025, 15:34:39 »

Been considering playing Daggerfall (via the Unity remake). Never played it before however, and from what I've read it has its issues. Love the 2D sprites and look to it all. I don't like that quests aren't flagged as main questline + you can't replay them (unless you have an earlier save) if you fail them, which puts you into an unwinnable game state. One of the negatives to retro gaming. Not something you come across in every game, but you do every now and then with some.

Only ES game I've played all the way through was Skyrim. Really enjoyed that. Tried Oblivion, but the level scaling + the fact that mages sucked in it, really put me off it. Morrowind never played. Several friends loved it.

In other topics: Ever since December, been taking on rom hacking for the first time ever. Translating a game (Nanatama - Chronicle of Dungeon Maker / Dungeon Maker 3) on the Sony PSP. Very steep learning curve, and for a long time I was getting nowhere. But then in December (I'd been trying on and off prior to that) I discovered about romanic-fonts (which take up 8-hex bits) compared to the standard English style fonts (which take up 4). Using those I was able to make progress.

As my knowledge on the subject was zero before starting, I've not done anything fancy. Most translation projects start off with the hacker (hacker as your rom-hacking) locating the text display function the game uses, and modify it to use standard English fonts / variable width fonts. I looked into that early on and got nowhere. The other common step is adding more space to expand the rom and adding in blank space, then slowly changing the pointers address for each text display, to the new space added (thus being able to do longer words and sentences). Again my knowledge there is zip, and got nowhere there either.

So just been directly editing the Japanese text, with the Romanic English letters. Via that made a lot of progress. The catch is being limited by however many Japanese letters were in each segment of text. Sometimes leads to having to use abbreviations (eg "STAT" rather than "STATUS") or in the case of sentences, only saying the key parts essential to it's overall intent, and not putting in the additional flavour text due to the space limitations.

Been fun to work on, and it gives me something to do, when not doing work stuff. Got roughly 1/4 of the game done and fully playable. It's meant doing a super slow (at times) play through of the game, and stopping each time some new text comes up. Been dealing with mental health issues for the past few months, which is something I'd never had at this level ever in my life, and having something to distract from that all helps.

Took on the project in the first place, as I'm a HUGE fan of the other 2 games in the series (Dungeon Maker) which got US English releases. Nanatama being the only entry not to get one. Good side is that with the other 2 to draw from, it's assisted in making sense of some words that Google translate and DeepL can't translate correctly.

If your curious on the project, I put up dev blogs every few weeks. Like this one
Posted by: fox
« on: 23. April 2025, 07:54:13 »

I might get it on sale at a deep discount at some point, for the time when nothing fresh is in queue to scratch that Open World-FP-RPG itch anymore. I liked Oblivion enough to consider re-playing it with some modifications at some point but I really dislike the cash-cow death milking and the ubiquitous wave of remakes.
Posted by: voodoo47
« on: 23. April 2025, 07:26:49 »

with a sprinkle of body type 1/body type 2 character creation buffoonery, or so I have heard. that ought to make everything better for sure!

but he wouldn't be getting my money either way, so don't really care. just play the original modded™
Posted by: fox
« on: 23. April 2025, 07:18:13 »

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered

Let me correct that for you, Todd Howard: "Everytime we think about Oblivion, it's 'what if we could sell that moment to everybody again? What if that horse armor came in Ultra High Definition this time?'" Right on, aim for the stars, not for the knees.
Posted by: voodoo47
« on: 18. April 2025, 15:53:08 »

speaking of Doom, Doom 2016 is on sale on GOG, is there a mod that would make the Cacodemon look like an actual Cacodemon? no proper Cacodemon no purchase.
Posted by: voodoo47
« on: 16. April 2025, 20:13:32 »

so uhh.. a certain Doom mod has been updated.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJYuSQp2RwE
Posted by: fox
« on: 06. April 2025, 07:33:15 »

Trailer for "Tron: Ares"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KVG_X_7Naw


Cinematography by Jeff Cronenweth. Certainly looks 'kewl' but most likely it'll be another case of style over substance. Looks like they are going for an update in the Matrix-sense, otherwise the digital creations invading "real life" would be the dumbest thing ever*.

Also, a Disney movie with a Nine Inch Nails-soundtrack...

* Yes, I know that this will realize an idea already presented in Tron: Legacy. I'm not happy about that one either.
Posted by: notaavatar
« on: 09. March 2025, 04:37:15 »

I was thinking about how system shock 3 would be after playing tomb raider 2, with the maria doria ship. A space wreck is not exactly a new concept, but I found this video interesting about the perils of real life  ship wreck exploring
 
Youtube:
The Andrea Doria Shipwreck Diving Disasters
Morbid Midnight
86.8K subscribers


I kept thinking that it might be too much like alien isolation, but ship wrecks are a deep topic. I think they are more popular now with that whole shtf situation with the titanic probe.
Posted by: WhyHelloThere
« on: 07. March 2025, 21:58:59 »

Also taking this opportunity to formally link my guest name with my account name, because I can't always sign in conveniently, but I know I'll forget if I wait until I can sign in.
Posted by: ModdedInstall2
« on: 07. March 2025, 21:52:11 »

Y'all are pretty tech savvy, so I feel like you might find this interesting. Plus, it relates to something else I like a lot!

Over the past six months, a team of people have developed two tools, XenonRecomp and XenosRecomp, for static recompilations of Xbox 360 games. Last Saturday, they just shadow-dropped this in a livestream, as well as the first project to be completed with them - Unleashed Recompiled, a full PC port of 2008's Sonic Unleashed. It's actually an incredible port, and the recomp tools are also pretty cool.

https://github.com/hedge-dev/UnleashedRecomp
https://github.com/hedge-dev/XenonRecomp
https://github.com/hedge-dev/XenosRecomp
Posted by: icemann
« on: 05. March 2025, 04:03:21 »

voodoo47
Its a great day for fans of the franchise. The remaster which covered C&C1 and Red Alert 1 (with all expansions included + heaps of bonus content) was excellent. Hope to see source ports for the entries that don't work well under modern Windows. Missing is source for Red Alert 2&3, C&C2 and 3, which really could use the same kind of love.

EA may not be the best, but where Command and Conquer is concerned its great to see stuff like this. Hope to see a proper new entry in the future someday. But not like C&C 4.

On the subject a new mod was released a short while ago, called "Command and Conquer: Combined Arms". Imcludes all factions from C&C and Red Alert (GDI, NOD, Allies, Soviets and Scrin. I had a play of it and really enjoyed it. Highly recommend it.

Link:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/command-conquer-combined-arms
Posted by: voodoo47
« on: 04. March 2025, 10:43:34 »

so a bunch of C&C games got a source release. EA.. good now?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezpzl6T6duY
Posted by: icemann
« on: 25. February 2025, 05:40:58 »

Think Voltron or Power Rangers except Cats as the characters (rather than humans) and far more comedy.
Posted by: fox
« on: 24. February 2025, 18:31:36 »

I don't think this ever aired on any of our TV/cable channels at the time. Looks like something I could've liked.

Edit: Well, according to Wikipedia it actually did air but I don't recall this at all.
Posted by: icemann
« on: 24. February 2025, 07:17:50 »

And now for something a little different:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayAjwXFEtdc


I've been a massive fan of Samurai Pizza Cats since I was a kid. To see a game for the series 30 years later is wonderous news. Count me in.
Posted by: Valet2
« on: 21. January 2025, 19:38:59 »

Some cool guys who started making videos involving people who are obsessed with retro computers, games, collecting and stuff paid me a visit again. This time we invited our forum member dp_flint from a small but cozy group in vk. During an hour-long conversation we talked things about System Shock as a phenomenon.

Russian only, but there are great intro and outro, so check it out :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvpacOtxiGI
Posted by: fox
« on: 02. January 2025, 15:42:21 »

The trouble with tribbles. I guess with that many mouths to feed, you can completely forget about privacy. Just a hint, eh...
Posted by: voodoo47
« on: 01. January 2025, 19:05:42 »

creepy facebook crap, 2025 edition - mentions the record number of babies one single woman had is above 50 during a RL discussion, fb 2 hours later "hey it's actually 69".

*paranoia intensifies*
[creep.JPG expired]
Posted by: icemann
« on: 15. December 2024, 02:37:44 »

For me the most interesting announcement was:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPvrzaC44pc


First new entry in this franchise in 20 years. Absolutely adored it on the PS2.
Posted by: fox
« on: 13. December 2024, 05:30:14 »

The Witcher 4 - Official Reveal Trailer | The Game Awards 2024
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWMu6JeT2g8


On another note: Youtube Ads are acting up real bad now.
Posted by: voodoo47
« on: 07. December 2024, 13:23:58 »

..haven't done the fb bs report in a while - so today we have fake AI generated move trailers (think LotR4, Titanic2), welding (ok fine, I'll watch it a bit, welding is ok) and a little surprise bonus at the end to play it up (probably also AI generated, sliiightly off but you almost cannot tell).
[surpsised.jpg expired]
Posted by: icemann
« on: 23. November 2024, 13:05:55 »

Absolutely. Played through that one back in the mid 90's I think. Not bad at all. The jump to Dune 2 though, was quite the change.
Posted by: voodoo47
« on: 23. November 2024, 12:46:31 »

well running around the first half a dozen levels with just the basic infantry isn't great either (yes, looking at you, Starcraft).

be prepared, things will get repetitive after a while, but that's kind of in line with the first two games (or second two games, depending whether Dune1 counts or not), so you know what you've signed up for.

still, Dune2/Dune2000/Battle for Dune is something I can recommend to a RTS fan (and if you also liked the books, then even better).


speaking of Dune1, I actually can recommend that one as well - it's unique weirdness is that it's an adventure game that kind of morphs into a proto-rts half the way.
Posted by: icemann
« on: 23. November 2024, 11:18:00 »

A negative to the game (for me) is that within a few missions you'll have everything unlocked. In Dune 2 + Dune 2k was far more gradual.

For example, I'm playing as Atreides and already got the Ixian stuff, sardaukar and fremen stuff + sonic tank (which I never use) after 5 missions not counting the defence ones.
Posted by: voodoo47
« on: 23. November 2024, 09:58:15 »

I'd guess as big as the energy source of the blast allows - physics still works in the Dune universe, so can't get extra boom from nothing.

but a shield generator does look like something that could produce a spectacular blast should the energy it's capable of storing/generating be released all at once, so a moab type explosion doesn't sound too far fetched.
Posted by: sarge945
« on: 23. November 2024, 09:47:35 »

I was under the impression that in the lore, the laser hitting the shield would cause a massive explosion akin to a nuke.

I'm not an expert by any means but I know various online forums etc seem to suggest that it's basically a nuclear explosion.
Posted by: voodoo47
« on: 23. November 2024, 09:18:36 »

if the shielded thing is a nuke then yes, I would assume. iirc the lore says that whatever is generating the shields and also the laser beam will overload and go boom.
Posted by: sarge945
« on: 23. November 2024, 09:10:18 »

Shouldn't it result in a nuclear explosion?
Posted by: voodoo47
« on: 23. November 2024, 07:51:31 »

I also liked the little touch of sardaukar elite (has a laser gun) attacking ordos laser tank (has shield) imploding both units the moment the first shot lands.
Posted by: icemann
« on: 23. November 2024, 05:11:11 »

Double post to add to my previous one, with a few days in between.

Played Emperor - Battle for Dune a fair bit over the past few days. Very fast game. Reminds me of the first Dawn of War game with it's Risk style of attack / defend / repeat cycles + the territory control aspect. Very good FMV. Feels quite different to Dune 2k, as lots less spice, which leads to being dead broke a lot. Especially in the defence missions, where you already used up all the spice in taking the region earlier. The reinforcements you get via allies is essential, I've found. Nice visuals for the time. If you take too long to attack your opponents base, it can be to your detriment also, as they'll often be more likely have their best structures, abilities and units by then. Save scumming also is of major benefit.
Posted by: icemann
« on: 20. November 2024, 06:52:59 »

Quote by voodoo47:
you probably will need some early DX translator nowadays, like DGVoodoo.

I'll have to do some investigating, to see if that helps.

[edit from 4 hours of troubleshooting later]
Got it to work. Required A LOT of tinkering, and a lot of reading of forum posts to find the solution.

To save anyone who happens across this post who was unable to install the game due to a "Cannot read Game1.cab" error. You need to image mount the games first CD to your 1st available disc drive. If anything else is in it, or mounted to it then that error will result. Fix that, and you'll likely be able to install and run the game.

Quote by sarge945:
Incorrect inform. The D2 remaster is very bad for multiple reasons.

Also, why would you pay money for the WC1 remaster "for the control scheme" if the entire thing is a low-effort cash grab in the first place? This sort of behaviour goes away if we stop rewarding it.

It's more rewarding them for actually paying attention to their older retro classics that could use the attention and getting them to work on modern systems / allowing them to. If they were to do the same with the Lost Vikings, Rock'n'Roll racing, or Blackthorne that be awesome. Though no control scheme changes needed with those games.

Getting older games to work on modern systems be far more difficult than you'd think. Even if you have the source code, requires switching things over to more current libraries, extensive testing to make sure they actually work without crashing, adding in new screen resolutions, allowing for borderless fullscreen mode etc etc.

I have the exact same respect for Night Dive Studios (despite my annoyances over the SS remake) for doing that exact same thing with numerous other games, getting them to work properly on modern systems. Need more companies doing that IMO. Absolute sea of games that could do with that kind of attention + easy money to be made.
Posted by: sarge945
« on: 20. November 2024, 03:18:12 »

Quote by icemann:
Considering how good D2 Resurrected was

Incorrect inform. The D2 remaster is very bad for multiple reasons.

Also, why would you pay money for the WC1 remaster "for the control scheme" if the entire thing is a low-effort cash grab in the first place? This sort of behaviour goes away if we stop rewarding it.
Posted by: voodoo47
« on: 19. November 2024, 17:35:52 »

you probably will need some early DX translator nowadays, like DGVoodoo.
Posted by: icemann
« on: 19. November 2024, 17:13:08 »

I do know of it. Tried playing it last year after Dune 2k. Could never get it working unfortunately. Has no good fan remakes or mods that I could find. Sucks as really wanted to play it.
Posted by: voodoo47
« on: 19. November 2024, 14:05:12 »

iirc OpenRA can play Dune2000 without much trouble. yaay to regenerating infantry.

also, remember Emperor: Battle for Dune? seems like nobody does, even though it was pretty good, maybe the best Dune rts that's out there.
Posted by: icemann
« on: 19. November 2024, 13:53:33 »

Quote by voodoo47:
Dune Legacy hits the spot as far as I'm concerned, they did exactly what needed to be done - fixed not just the control scheme, but also AI bugs and a few other problems (saboteurs and fremen are now normal units, not useless mindless kamikaze drones, for example). this is how it's done - don't be afraid to fix the original devs mistake or bad decision.

Stratagus and Wargus for the first two Warcraft games, last time I've checked they worked ok, but that has been a while. //looks like they are starting to poke into Starcraft too. I don't mind.

Dune 2000 has a few similar remakes out there. Quite the variance. Some more just get the game to work in modern systems, and others change the AI and functionality a bit, and are missing the original missions. Had a long look around, back when I was streaming a play through of the game last year.
Posted by: voodoo47
« on: 16. November 2024, 14:08:17 »

they are targeting the hurr-durr, me wants the official stuff, me pay extra crowd. they deserve one another.
Posted by: fox
« on: 16. November 2024, 13:17:05 »

Quite sad to me, how much the industry (games and movies alike) is going for rehashes these days - no matter the quality.
Posted by: voodoo47
« on: 16. November 2024, 09:14:00 »

Dune Legacy hits the spot as far as I'm concerned, they did exactly what needed to be done - fixed not just the control scheme, but also AI bugs and a few other problems (saboteurs and fremen are now normal units, not useless mindless kamikaze drones, for example). this is how it's done - don't be afraid to fix the original devs mistake or bad decision.

Stratagus and Wargus for the first two Warcraft games, last time I've checked they worked ok, but that has been a while. //looks like they are starting to poke into Starcraft too. I don't mind.
Posted by: icemann
« on: 16. November 2024, 07:27:51 »

On one hand the new gfx look meh. On the other just as with the recent Diablo 2 Remaster (Diablo 2 Resurrected) you can change back to the OG gfx whenever you want, which wasn't even a choice when Warcraft 3 Reforged came out.

Add to that more modern control schemes added to Warcraft 1 (which plays like Dune 2) which gets a hell yeah from me. Replayed that game earlier this year and the controls have not aged well.

Considering how good D2 Resurrected was, and the fact that it's good to be seeing Blizzard actually pay attention to their long forgotten RTS games for a change, and I'm willing to give it a go.

Blizz needs to hurry the fuck up and get started on Warcraft 4 and Starcraft 3 already. The lack of good RTS games nowadays really sucks.
Posted by: voodoo47
« on: 15. November 2024, 19:13:31 »

so the first two Warcraft games are now remastered too, apparently very much in tune with the mediocrity and low-effortness of the W3 remaster.

but whatever, if this makes it to GOG and is 50% off..
Posted by: fox
« on: 15. November 2024, 19:03:22 »

Your Gear is Poisoning You! (Not Clickbait)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ht7nOaIkpI
Posted by: fox
« on: 11. November 2024, 04:49:00 »

Sophos Pacific Rim
Inside the counter-offensive tactics, techniques, and procedures used to neutralize China-based threats

heise.de: "Analysis and opinion: Sophos and the broken vow"
(...) a manufacturer has collected data from its customers' IT systems that was not used to improve them, but explicitly to detect suspicious activity. The collection of necessary telemetry data to improve the systems only served as a front for mass surveillance without cause. In specific cases of suspicion, the manufacturer then even installed special surveillance software without the knowledge of the customers and against their presumed will, which is also capable of exfiltrating any files. This is normally called malware, the hotfixes were Trojans, the kernel implanted a rootkit and the procedure corresponds to that of cybercrime gangs and state attackers.
Posted by: fox
« on: 06. November 2024, 15:53:25 »

Yeah, we're fucked.
Posted by: fox
« on: 02. November 2024, 22:42:00 »

Red Dead Redemption - Bird People Glitch
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYdCvN-ukRY
Posted by: fox
« on: 01. November 2024, 22:36:37 »

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night - Official Trailer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmIQFcPXLXA

Looked it up after someone commented "A Vampire Spaghetti-Western filmed in black and white, set in Iran, filmed in the US, all dialogue being in Farsi, subtitled in English."

A GIRL WALKS HOME ALONE AT NIGHT - Director Ana-Lily Amirpour Interview
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