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Supreme Commander 2 strategies against normal difficulty computer

2012-01-16T14:10:00.001+02:00

This last weekend I was trying some different Surpreme Commander 2 skirmish games in 1vs1 maps against normal difficulty opponents and DLC units enabled and no restrictions.

Noticeably the different AI opponents tend to have different preferences from my findings.

What commonly happens at the start is that the AI is going to send up to three vehicles and then some more. It helps to have at least two cannons ready early on to survive. Some AI players send airplanes, so having at least one anti-air is good if there are planes. Some AI players do not seem to use planes at all. This also seems to depend on the map as well.

My most effective strategy to stay alive against huge waves of attacking units was lots of cannons. To get them, I had to hold out until I could research mass converters. The important step here was to have the energy ready which meant lagging behind due to building lots of power generators at a safe remote location right from the very start. This obviously slowed down everything else because the power generators are so cheap and research stations are expensive. Once the first three mass converters are running, then production really started going which also meant more research, more cannons, shields, artillery, more planes and more ships if water map. This strategy should also work in cooperative multiplayer with a player team against a computer player team.

Getting MySQL, PHP and Apache to run on Windows 7

2011-09-15T11:20:00.000+02:00

Two days I spent on getting PHP, Apache and MySQL running on a Windows 7 PC. The biggest problem was getting PHP to recognise MySQL. php_inf() was just not showing MYSQL at all, only MYSQLND which was of no use. The point of the exercise was to also get my local setup as clsoe to the live one where my website is hosted.

After many attempts following tutorials and forums, I eventually I tried a different web server (nginx) with the exact same result. This confirmed that it was not the web server or PHP settings since I made sure the libraries can be found and folders were also set in the environment paths.

Somebody recommended copying the libmysql.dll file into the C:\Windows\System32 folder, but that failed since the file never stayed there and no error message. PHP also did not recognise this file as a valid extension and registering the DLL with Windows did also not help.

Somehow the DLL file ended up mysteriously in the C:\Windows\SysWOW64 folder since my installation of Windows 7 is 64 bit and the same with MySQL. I suppose this is a useful Windows feature to keep some order.

In the end it came down to what none of the forums or tutorials said which is setting things like socket, port, etc. in the "my.ini" file which I had based on the medium example file. Running mysqld or as a service made no difference.

Possibly dumping JQuery for smaller solutions

2011-09-09T11:30:00.001+02:00

The last couple of days I managed to briefly spend some time to investigate different JavaScript frameworks similar to JQuery. So far nothing practical, just checking what is available and what could be of use. The idea is to reduce downloading time and improve performance especially on older computers and mobile devices which have memory limits.

Knockout.js and Backbone.js look promising according to the following discussion:
http://stackoverflow.com/questions/5112899/knockout-js-vs-backbone-js-vs

Either of them in their minified form have a roughly 4KB file size. as opposed to other like JQuery for example which are in the double or triple digits. For low-end mobile phones this becomes a problem. I have seen some nasty error messages on mobile phones due to out of memory when loading some websites as well as serious slowdown.

What has been showing up lately a lot as well is Node.js which is server-side and cannot just simply run on every website. Node.js also uses V8 JavaScript which might not be supported yet by all browsers on all hardware.

Obviously some of these frameworks are for specific purposes only, but might prove to be useful once I have had some serious experimentation time.

Defragmentation tips using MyDefrag

2011-08-19T12:08:00.000+02:00

Lately I have been experimenting with custom defragmentation scripts which can be created based on script examples that come with MyDefrag. What is a good idea is to shove bootup files, folders, EXE and DLL files to the outside of a drive and everything else following. Each of these areas is referred to as a zone in MyDefrag and as many as needed can be defined.

There is this weird thing when pushing files older than a certain date to the end of the drive where a gap right at the end is being created during defragmenting. To resolve this, simply do not have any sort order at all for the files. This also works from other areas.

Like with many defragmenting tools is that things only settle down after a few full runs including shorter defragmentation time. When no sort order is involved then the process takes less time, hence rather set more zones in MyDefrag and gaps as usual.

World of WarCraft utility

2011-08-02T00:22:00.000+02:00

My latest experiment includes a utility that I wrote using C# to give me a list of which installed World of WarCraft addons are an old version. So far it is still very much under construction hence I do not yet want to publish it. The application can be made better.

The application needs interface changes as well as testing in 32 bit Windows since I am developing on 64 bit where the game location is stored in a different location in memory.

New 10 Port USB 2.0 hub

2011-07-11T11:01:00.000+02:00

This last Sunday I bought a new 10 Port USB 2.0 hub at some shop in the local China Town. The spacing for the USB ports is basically ideal so that the bigger plugs do not interfere with each other. There is also a led for when something is plugged in and active. The power cable is a little bit short for my configuration, but that was to be expected. Initially I was worried that it draws power from the PC USB 2.0 port which would possibly fry something.

Looking for costume ideas for upcoming event

2011-07-08T14:37:00.000+02:00

An annual fancy dress event is coming up again at the end of July. Normally a friend of mine and myself go there and we usually try to dress as something matching.

This year I want to try something different in regards to a costume to look completely different including coloured contact lenses to match the eyes to the rest of the character. The actual costume choices depend on what is available as well.

Hopefully I can also get tickets without the same problems like last year at the door.

Various photos of South African metal bands

2011-04-05T14:05:00.000+02:00

Last Friday and Saturday, I went to R.O.A.R. (upstairs at Gandalf's in Lower Main road, Observatory. There were various bands playing. On Sunday, I uploaded some of the photos that I took and told two people about that. Monday morning there were 50 requests for permission to tag photos. These were death metal bands which do not get many spectators to begin with. The sudden flood of requests was rather unexpected.

Cufon and lightbox timing issues

2011-03-01T16:23:00.000+02:00

I ran into a problem where I ran Cufon on page load using JQuery which worked fine. The website also has lightboxes using jqModal. These lighboxes get loaded in using AJAX.

Problem:
The Cufon script does not replace the text to use custom fonts when showing the lightbox.

Solution:
Cufon needs to run after displaying the lightbox. Running it as a callback function for an onShow event also does not seem to work. Running Cufon manually from an onclick event on the lightbox itself does work, which means there is a timing issue involved. Hopefully this helps whoever else has got this same problem.

Solar geyser installation pitfalls

2011-02-02T15:01:00.000+02:00

Recently I spent a bit more than 14000 Rand on getting a solar geyser installed. It was a mission to get the money together. Some of that money came from my credit card. The geyser also included an Eskom rebate which was listed as a bit more than negative 4000 Rand, which then totaled in the 14000 amount. As far as I was concerned, the geyser was paid for at that company and installed and I just got to finish paying off my credit card as quickly as possible. I thought this Eskom rebate would be handled for me automatically.

Yesterday, I got an email about still owning over 4000. After some questions it turned out that I am supposed to pay that rebate amount as well and then take it up with Eskom to get the money back. If the original quote had said so from the beginning, then I could have planned my budget for it, now I got to make a plan on where to get that amount from. That company told me that they are so used to that, they they did not consider telling me about how this actually works. What me concerns, this is false quoting/advertising and misleading.

Note that the company that quoted for and installed the geyser was not Eskom. I did start to notice some saving on the pre-paid meter already.

Back at work

2011-01-14T11:28:00.001+02:00

I am back at work again. Starting first day in 2011 on a Friday. Scheduled for the day is a desk move which will take most of the afternoon once we start.

Website success story

2010-12-21T11:40:00.000+02:00

Recently I have noticed several cases where my decision to have actual costume photos on my costume hire website was really useful to various people in the area and even outside the city. Many people also told me that they make decisions based on the photos shown. A film company rented my cosutmes for an advert after looking at my products and even people in neighbouring towns and cities used my products based on those. None of my competitors do this and hence their actual customer area is much smaller.

Trip to Robben Island

2010-12-17T12:00:00.000+02:00

Yesterday I went on a trip to the Robben island museum by boat with my mother. The whole thing is quite well organised, including the history of the island and bus tour plus a tour through the prison by a former prisoner from the island. This also included visiting the former cell of Nelson Mandela. Quite amazing what these people had to survive for so many years. For what was offered, the trip was very cheap and enlightening.

The game Borderlands in multiplayer

2010-11-24T10:40:00.000+02:00

Lately I have been playing the game Borderlands in multiplayer online. The whole process is quite seamless and the biggest hassle is either firewalls of other people and my slow 384kbps connection which causes me one to two seconds lag. Other than that it is quite interesting and the game actually makes the opponents harder if there are more players and rewards accordingly. The other reason to do this is to get quests done faster. The occasional car accidents and hectic shootouts with the locals are part of the fun. On LAN it works the same way but obviously with slightly less lag.

Damn Small Linux installation on a PC with issues

2010-11-18T10:35:00.000+02:00

For two weeks as I had time, I have tried to install some operating system (Windows or Linux) on my old Pentium 3. The media restriction was CD ROM only since there is no USB booting option.

Windows XP installation bluescreened after formatting, Ubuntu Desktop could not find the live media that it just booted from, Ubuntu Server at least told me what the real problem was, GOS just froze, Mint died terribly, Damn Small Linux (DSL) twice nearly completed and once it told me that it could not read files. In the end it turned out that the CD ROM drive somehow switches off or something similar. Ubuntu Server and Damn Small Linux (DSL) essentially told me what the issue was.

After an installation without a username and password question, I had a system where I could not log in. After reading FAQs and forums, I concluded to install DSL yet again, this time with parameters to ask for those. Finally had a working system.

Clown costume fun

2010-11-10T14:53:00.000+02:00

Recently I got various new costumes for my home based costume renting business. The problem was yet again that packaging photos promise too much and then various people are disappointed in the end. Also scanning in the packaging photo was not a great idea, the same with taking a photo of the packaging and then scaling it down for the website. Details from the packaging photo will be lost either way. The best way around this was if I wore the costume myself and took multiple photos.

As per usual, I did photos of the costume from the front, side and back. Since i did not want my face for those photos as well and my face would not have been the most ideal to go with the costume, I used a mask and some clown wig. It became at this point in time a lot of fun to do different poses and during the process, I happen to see how completely different I looked in the mirror. It was for me quite difficult to believe that the clown in the mirror was actually me in a suit. In the end I recorded a short video as well of just walking around a little bit in the room. The effect on a small video is not quite like in the mirror.

Halloween costume ideas

2010-10-29T14:29:00.000+02:00

This year I am planning to go to one or even two Halloween costume parties. What I will dress up is still the problem since most of my costumes are booked by others. I had the following ideas for what I could wear based on what it looks like will be left and which is not an animal costume, superhero/villain or Star Wars character:

1. Ninja uniform with spiked skull mask, the spiked skull mask also has a bit of a neck and shoulder part.

2. Schoolgirl uniform with the same mask as mentioned above, the problem is that my arms would then be open which breaks the effect a bit.

3. Red devil costume with demon mask where only parts of my lower jaw shows. I can use facepaint for that section.

4. Large purple medieval dress with padding around the chest with female mask and wig.

5. Red/gold medieval dress with mask and blonde wig plus padding. More different mask face options for this costume due to being a different character. I could try and go for a freaky cute look.

6. Nun costume with padding, mask and long white gloves, the costume is a bit short for me.

7. French Maid with padding, mask and wig plus long white gloves. I have worn this before for a Halloween party which turned out to be fun.

8. Indian, either male or female costume with wig.

9. Venom, this is actually a superhero/villain, but I might wear this if I go with people I know to an event.

Several hours spent inside of a Greyland foam latex mask at an annual party

2010-08-03T11:26:00.000+02:00

This last Saturday, I spent several hours in a foam latex mask plus costume with latex parts at the annual German Karneval Matieka in Stellenbosch. A lot of people wanted to know what I looked like underneath the mask. Some wanted to see, then they decided against it. Over the many hours, the mask got rather wet inside from perspiration due due dancing, but it was still fine for me. From the outside, the was no sign of me sweating. The mask is called GOMER (F287-7) on the Greyland Film website. Some people said it looked quite scary when I had it combined with the Clone Trooper costume from Star Wars. My original costume idea was something different, but my friend who came along wanted a sci-fi outfit. He wore some old man mask also from Greyland Film and the Anakin Skywalker costume.

Trains in Cape Town seriously messed up today

2010-07-30T11:36:00.000+02:00

The trains today in Cape Town seem to be very messed up. I was trying to reach the 8:10AM train at Monte Vista station. I was about one minute away when it arrived at 8:04AM. According to official documentation, passengers should try and be there five minutes before a train is scheduled to arrive in case it arrives early. Up to five minutes before or after the scheduled time is considered on time because of delays and catching up.

After that issue, I decided that I have time to walk the 25 minutes to reach the 8:30AM train at Vasco station and with that I would get to Salt River station which is one station away from Observatory station which is where I need to go. I got to Vasco station at 8:24AM, a train only came at 8:45AM.

At Salt River station there was already a big crowd waiting for the train. A bit more than ten minutes later a train came past and did not stop. Normally the intervals that time of the morning are fifteen minutes between trains. More or less fifteen minutes later another one came past that did not stop. After that I decided to walk the fifteen minutes to my work in Mowbray.

Trains are messed up again

2010-07-28T10:53:00.002+02:00

Yet again I heard several announcements this morning at Woodstock station in Cape Town about trains being delayed or even cancelled. The time table at the moment is not ideal at all for those who get off at Esplanade station and walk the one block to Woodstock station to avoid the chaos and the masses of people at Cape Town station.

I finished the game Split/Second

2010-07-26T10:43:00.000+02:00

This last weekend I finally managed to finish the PC game called Split/Second, which is a racing game with explosive surroundings.. Some reviewers might complain about there not being enough tracks, which is partially true, but there are multiple variants of the existing tracks and many of them have route changes or nasty accidents that cause track differences. The multiplayer part is very easy to get started for LAN. Initially it looks like the game only supports two players, but as players connect, new slot appear. Most likely the game seems to support eight players. Some people complained about the 30 frames per second, which in my opinion is more than enough. There is no need to slow down the game by doubling the processing intensive rendering when going to 60 frames per second. Getting first in some of those races can be a mission. Being in front is a risk because of everyone trying to take a shot at whoever is in front of them. A small accident or delay can easily cause position changing.

Costume ideas for a future costume party, part 2

2010-06-30T09:32:00.000+02:00

In my search to find a great costume for an upcoming costume party, I made some progress. With the new masks that I got yesterday from Greyland Film, I have more character options due to having more faces that would look good with different costumes.

Now I have an option to go as Mr. Spock (Star Trek) if I can at least get a proper Star Trek shirt or similar to the costume. Another choice is Ironman without the helmet and the head of Tony Stark. Another option are two different medieval dresses with some extra padding and a choice of a few different female masks and wigs. I could be boring and be yet again in a superhero costume like so many years before. I could also be the nun again, but this time with a different face, the alternative option to that would be the French maid. There are other ideas, but I am not so keen on them right now.

Watching someone trying on a foam latex mask

2010-06-01T15:12:00.000+02:00

During the last weekend I had a lot of people coming who were looking for costumes. One party had a requirement for having the face covered. One lady rented a witch costume from me and was trying on different masks to see which one fits the costume and is the most comfortable to wear. Amongst my witch masks is also a foam latex based mask which is very soft. She did try that as well but took it off fairly fast due to heat apparently. foam latex masks generally do not get anywhere near as hot as normal latex masks. I have worn that particular mask briefly before and found it was spacious inside and because of its size, my eyesight was limited. It is not very common for female masks to be requested. Often men want masks with their costumes. Women sometimes want extra eyemasks, but rarely full masks.

It was qutie amazing to see how different she looked with the mask on when she moved around a bit. Unfortunately the mouth of the mask hardly moved when she spoke. Other people were watching as well and gave comments and advice.

Windows 7 partition issues with reboot loop

2010-05-31T16:46:00.000+02:00

This last weekend I had some Windows 7 installation issues when I got myself a new HDD. The plan was to do dual booting like I had on my previous drive which was busy failing.

The initial Windows 7 installatino took long as usual with long waiting for the wallpaper with the mouse pointer. Why there is not anything more informative at that stage is a mystery to me. Some people might think that their PC has frozen. Once the Windows 7 installation was completed, I installed the latest LTS version of Ubuntu. Once that was done, I booted into Windows 7 and formatted the new drive. For some strange reason, the disk management tool was insisting that I had to make the partition dynamic. I might have read wrong and it was for the whole disk. Since I already had the other primary partitions and just needed a data partition, I thought it might just be another "user friendly" term for extended or logical partition.

This process ended up causing a reboot loop because all existing primary partitions suddenly ended up also being dynamic. This was a bulk change and I was really impressed by the reboot loop.

The next step was to start fresh with a new Windows 7 installation, just to find that I had to wait much longer than before and that the partition editor that came on the Windows 7 DVD was useless and could not even delete the partitions. I ended up having to clean up the mess running Ubuntu from the DVD which has a desktop and various tools that can be used while installating Ubuntu Linux onto the drive. Any owner of only Windows 7 would be helpless if that dynamic disk thing hits.

Heavy Cape Town traffic due to railway strike

2010-05-19T15:14:00.000+02:00

The nationwide railway strike this week has been causing some heavy traffic in the morning and evening here in Cape Town. All of the train commuters had to find alternative modes of transport. I came with my car this week and it turns out to be rather expensive what petrol concerns. Sitting in traffic double the time than it should take is also no fun. I am at this point in time considering getting a bicycle and ride to work while getting some much needed cardio done. In the evenings the trains are also sometimes unreliable by not always showing up. In the evenings it would probably be a little bit faster to get home by bicycle than train due to the 25 minute walk in the evening if I do not manage to catch the 18:15 train leaving Cape Town.