Computer Craft, Tinkers Construct revisited

So I left my little contraption running over night, with the hope that it'd finish emptying out my ores. Well, it was half right. I came down to a casting basin half full... This wasn't meant to happen! It was only supposed to cast when there was enough in the smeltery to fill a basin. I looked at my code again:


if quantity > 1296 then
print(quantity)
redstone.setOutput("front",true)
sleep(5)
redstone.setOutput("front",false)
print(quantity)
sleep(5)
end
Nope, that clearly says if the quantity is greater than 1294 (9 ingots, or enough for a block of that material), then it should open the valve, so why is it still opening when there is less than 9 ingots available?
Because the quantity value doesn't update.
If we refer back to our main code:

local tank = peripheral.wrap("left")
local tankTable = tank.getTankInfo()[1]
local contentsTable = tankTable["contents"]
local quantity = contentsTable["amount"]
while true do

if quantity > 1296 then
print(quantity)
redstone.setOutput("front",true)
sleep(5)
redstone.setOutput("front",false)
print(quantity)
sleep(5)
end

end


The first bit, the local variables, are only called at the start of the program - so the value does not change! I should've noticed this when I looked at the printed quantity on the screen, but truth be told, I didn't look.
So, solutions? I could just move the variables into the "while true do" so they're called every cycle - but that's not very elegant. Instead, I went for the complex approach, and made some functions while I was at it...
First off, I timed how long I actually needed for the casting table to fill, cool and empty (15 seconds), and made a function that would just open the faucet for exactly 15 seconds. The faucet is rising edge triggered - so it only goes off when the redstone input goes high, you can drop it straight back down to low again, ready for the next lot - so my function just pulses it on for 1 seconds, then switches it off again for for a set amount of time. I wanted to be able to easily reuse the function, so I didn't hardcode the time into the function.

function on(side,time)
redstone.setOutput(side,true)
sleep(1)
redstone.setOutput(side,false)
sleep(time-1)
end

What does it do?! So, the name of the function is "on" - imaginative! and it takes 2 variables to run it - the side your rednet cable is on (or whatever way you're transmitting your redstone signal), and the time you need it on for. In my case, the rednet cable was on the back of the computer, and it was on for 15 seconds, so calling the command was a simple matter of writing - on("back", 15) and it'd
switch the faucet on for exactly the right amount of time to fill, cool and empty.

So the function takes those 2 variables, and first sets the side you gave it to high for 1 second - then it goes back to low. Now it waits for the time you gave it (minus the 1 seconds it spent setting it high). That's it for that bit!
So, next function I made took care of the issue I had with the first one - that the quantity wasn't updating. in this one, I just moved all the tank/table variables into there... So it looks like this:

function getQuantity(drainObject)
local tank = drainObject.getTankInfo()[1]
local contentsTable = tank["contents"]
local quantity = contentsTable["amount"]


return quantity

end



I made a new variable - drainObject, which passes the wrapped drain block to the function. This way, if I use something like a wired modem to do it more remotely, I can just pass it that, rather than specifically giving it a side, or hardcoding the side.
So next up - it makes a bunch of local variables that are only accessible from within the function, and don't affect anything outside it. (so I could have another quantity variable used in another function or main script, and it wouldn't take the same value)

The key thing here is the return quantity bit. Basically, I can use the function getQuantity(drainObject) as a variable - so my if statement from the previous one (if quantity > 1296 then do stuff) can use the getQuantity instead of having to define another variable.

I did make another variable for the ingot/casting volume, which is 1296mB or 9 ingots. I did this so I can just change that value to 144 if I wanted to cast single ingots or 576 if I wanted to cast gears.


local ingotVol = 1296 -- 1296 is volume of a full block in mB, for ingots use 144, for gears use 576

The -- bit just is a comment, so it doesn't have any effect on the code, and is only there for the user.

Then I have my loop and if statement:

while true do

if getQuantity(drain) > ingotVol then
print("Contents is: "..getQuantity(drain))
on("back",15)
print("Contents is now: "..getQuantity(drain))
else
print("Quantity is less than 1 block")
sleep(15)
end
end

So I'm using my getQuantity() function instead of making a new quantity variable, and I'm using my ingotVol variable to tell me the size of the ingot/block/gear I'm making. Then I'm just printing off the quantity again before, switching the faucet on (with our on() function), and printing the quantity again after, to verify that it went down by the correct volume (maybe I should've done a difference... nvm, next time).

Another new thing is the else bit. This is my catch for if there isn't enough metal in the smeltery to make another ingot/gear/block. If that is the case, it just writes on the screen that there isn't enough for a block, and waits for 15 seconds before trying again.


So, future plans for it? Multi- faucet maybe... and maybe get it to plan if there is enough material for full blocks, and if not, uses a ingot instead of a block, ensuring a fully empty smeltery...


Modems as well, so I can centralise it.. And maybe a monitor to show how much material there is in the tank, and how many ingots it has made? Or maybe I'll just leave it there.

Link as always: https://pastebin.com/1vFwdPNm

Computer Craft and Tinkers Construct (Minecraft)

I've been experimenting a bit with Tinkers Construct and ComputerCraft in Minecraft.
If you don't know what any of those 3 things are, this post is not for you!

The problem I've been trying to solve is this: I've got masses of molten metal in the smeltery, and I want to automatically drain it into a casting basin. I could do this manually, but I've got a lot of metal!
I should also preface this by saying I know very little about Lua, the programing language of ComputerCraft, possibly hence my difficulty solving the issue.

Now, computercraft interfaces with tinkers by way of the OpenPeripherals mod - which gives access to commands such as getTankInfo().

Through OpenPeripherals, it is possible to talk to the Tinkers Smeltery - by way of the drain port for some reason.

So, this is the setup - I've got a computer next to the drain port

I've not yet implemented the actual triggering of the faucet, for now I'm just trying to read the contents of the tanks!

Now, there were a few examples online where people had done apparently similar things, but I couldn't make them work! So I started from scratch.. more or less.

In the lua commandline I could get peripheral.call("left","getTankInfo")to give me a huge long list of all the tasty goodness I wanted to know from the smeltery, but dropping this into an actual application, along the lines of:

tank = peripheral.wrap("left")

print(tank.getTankInfo())
gave me nothing, well, it gave me this: table:4d09e6ec...

So, it must be a table then!

To iterate through a table in lua is 

for key, value in pairs(yourTable) do
   print("here is your key: "..key.." and here is your value          "..value)
end

So adapting it for my use:

for key, value in pairs(tank.getTankInfo()) do
   print("here is your key: "..key.." and here is your value          "..value)
end

No. No such luck. Attempt to concatenate string and table... Its got a table, within a table?! What fresh madness is this?! Okay, lets take table 1 from that then! I read that there are 2 tables for each tank, the main tank with all the smeltery contents, and the fuel tank (lava), and the first one is the smeltery contents. So, table 1 it is!

for key, value in pairs(tank.getTankInfo()[1]) do
   print("here is your key: "..key.." and here is your value          "..value)
end
The [1] bit just lets us take the first key in the table, so the first table of tables, and then iterate through that table.

What did this give us?

here is your key: capacity and here is your value 11792
smeltery:4 attempt to concatenate string and table

WHAT?! again?! A table in a table in a table?! 
So first off, I want an actual object for the table, not tank.getTankInfo()... so I'm just going to have 
tankTable = tank.getTankInfo()[1]

So, this should give us the table for the smeltery contents, and it goes something like:
capacity: 11792
>another table containing who knows what!

Lets go back to the lua commandline again, and do our peripheral.call("left","getTankInfo")again and have a closer look:

The bit at the bottom that I can see reads:

{
  capacity = 1728,
  contents = {
    rawName = "Molten Lead",
    amount = 1728,
    name = "lead.molten",
    id = 187,
    }
}
Very annoying that blogger doesn't let me do tabs.. but never mind!
So, this is mirroring what we had been seeing, the first key is "capacity", with its value being whatever the capacity in the smeltery is, then is a table, and thats as far as it let me get before. But now we can see the contents of the table! (appropriately called, contents)

So within the contents table is the name of the material, its capacity (again, mirroring the "capacity key") , another name (lead.molten), and the ID, which I'm assuming is the minecraft item ID (nope, 187 is IC2.blockWall... no idea then!)

Anyway! We know the name of the table in the table now! So I'm going to try and get the contents table out as a separate object again, so I'm just going to go:

tankTable = tank.getTankInfo()[1]
contentsTable = tankTable["contents"]

And now, we iterate through the contents table:

for key, value in pairs(contentsTable) do
   print("here is your key: "..key.." and here is your value          "..value)
end

What do we get:

here is your key: rawName and here is your value Molten Iron
here is your key: amount and here is your value 1680
here is your key: name and here is your value iron.molten
here is your key: id and here is your value 170

It works!
Interestingly, this is the material at the bottom of the smeltery contents, if I change the material at the bottom to bronze:
raw name becomes "Molten Bronze" - so the first table tank.getTankInfo()[1] is the "active" or bottom material in the smeltery - and if I do tank.getTankInfo()[2] I get the 2nd material! Nothing to do with the fuel tanks!

So, now I've figured out how to get the table in a table in a table, I'm going to use my contentsTable object for now:

print(contentsTable["amount"])

What do we get?

1680

Woop woop! it works! I can have that as a variable now, and use that in an if statement to open and close the faucet when there is enough metal to fill a casting basin!
For that I'm going to use a rednet cable just to pass the redstone signal through to the faucet.

1. local tank = peripheral.wrap("left")
2. local tankTable = tank.getTankInfo()[1]
3. local contentsTable = tankTable["contents"]
4. local quantity = contentsTable["amount"]
5. while true do
7.   if quantity > 1296 then
8.     print(quantity)
9.     redstone.setOutput("front",true)
10.     sleep(5)
11.     redstone.setOutput("front",false)
12.     print(quantity)
13.     sleep(5)
14.   end
16. end

Ooo, nice code formatting! So this is copied from the pastebin I put up: https://pastebin.com/MTdVf8nz
The first bit I've explained....
From line 5. I've not explained yet.... while true do just repeats the rest infinitely.

if quantity > 1296 then
    print(quantity)
    redstone.setOutput("front",true)
    sleep(5)
    redstone.setOutput("front",false)
    print(quantity)
    sleep(5)
end

What this bit does is:
First: if the quantity value from our table is greater than 1296mB (which is 9 ingots), then it is going to do the rest:
print(quantity) is just going to write the quantity on the screen for me
redstone.setOutput("front",true) - this is where my computer placement kind of screwed up... The rednet cable came out the front... Not so pretty, but it works! So, this basically just outputs a redstone signal fron the front of the computer, if you put redstone dust on the ground, it'll light up. The signal is going through the rednet cable to the faucet, so at this point, it opens the faucet.
sleep(5) - just hang about for a bit while the faucet is doing its thing
redstone.setOutput("front", false) - switch the faucet off again, resetting it for the next load, then it prints the quantity again to the screen (was more for debugging than anything...), hang about for a bit with another sleep(5), and then do it all again!

So yea! It works nicely! Another little thing though - the casting basin normally needs emptying by hand when it's finished casting - but if you put a hopper underneath, it empties itself - put an itemduct under that going into your chest/storage, and

Agricultural Simulator 2011: Review

The main farming simulator that most people know is the Farming Simulator series by GIANTS Software. But there are a bunch of copies, such as Actalogic’s Agricultural Simulator. This wasn’t supposed to be a review.. but it ended out that way….
Review
There are 2 main differences between this and the Farming Simulator range. First off, the actual crops/tractor work is quite limited. You can do it, but it’s a real waste of money, and time. In Farming Simulator the main goal is about the tractor work. Farming Simulator has animals, but it’s quite limited in that respect. Agricultural Simulator has tried to be different here. The animals in AS2011 gain far more attention. You buy, fatten up and sell the animals, thus turning a profit. There are many more breeds of animals than FS2011 or 2013. FS2011 had 1, cows, FS2013 introduced sheep and chickens… Agricultural Simulator 2011 has Cows, Bulls, Sheep, Goats, Donkeys, Geese, Deer, Rabbits, Horses (?!) ..there are more but I can’t remember them off the top of my head… Each one has it’s own breeding cycle and demand.
In terms of crops, there are more here too, there are the main 4, Maize, Wheat, Barley and Canola (Which all make an appearance in FS2011-FS2013), but then there is Rye, Oats, Buckwheat, and I’m sure there are more, I’ve just not unlocked them yet… The fields require a bit more work than in Farming Simulator, they all need ploughing between crops, (you can just cultivate the stubble in for FS), then cultivating, fertilising (Can choose manure or artificial) and seeding. Then you can spray the crops while they’re growing to do.. something.. not sure what it changes, probably just yield. Lots more work there! There are AI that can help out, they’re slightly more in-depth than in FS as well. You hire workers from a list, and they can be assigned a job, tractor and machinery. They’ll then take these from the vehicle shed, drive to the field, do the job and return the machinery.  They can also be trained up with machines, allowing them to.. do something.. possibly work faster. They’ll do all the main crop work, including harvesting, but you’ll have to drive the trailer to empty the combine after they filled it.
The grain can be stored in a silo, and sold from there, but if you take it to a factory or depot you can get more for it. In Farming Simulator, you take your products to one of 4 or so buyers, and you can see the price in the PDA, so allowing you to choose the best price. AS2011 you don’t have a PDA like that, so you have to load your trailer and pick one. The price might be high or low, so you’ve gotta weigh up driving to the next one to check their prices, at the cost of the fuel to get there. Each place will only accept a certain amount as well, so no more selling millions of tonnes to the pub anymore…
The machines appear to be all CLASS machinery… Clearly the only company that’d give them a license  to reproduce their vehicles in game…
Graphics wise, AS2011 is far from optimised. It has more graphical depth, the tractors for example, get dirty from use, there are tyre tracks in the ground where you’ve driven. This improved graphics (Over FS2011, or indeed FS2013) come at the cost of hugely increased graphics card hunger… Unreasonably so, it’s like I’m running 5 copies of Skyrim at max res. I work on remote sensing data, where you’ve got BIG satellite images, which have to be processed and analysed, and it doesn't use up half the RAM and graphics RAM as AS2011….
Overall, Agricultural Simulator has much more depth than Farming Simulator, but it lacks the fun of Farming Simulator, it is much more of a serious business management game than a fun “OO argh! Get off my land!” kind of game…
I can’t really compare it that well really, I like them both at different times, if I’m missing the farm and tractors I’ll play Farming Simulator, but if I’m in the mood for some business management, I’ll choose Agricultural Simulator.
Overall I’d give Agricultural Simulator 2011 a 7/10, it is good, but it’s the graphics try a little too hard in some areas (Mud) and leave the other things (Like the terrain & trees) looking naff and very odd..
Farming Simulator 2013 gets an 8/10. It is a much more polished and balanced product, but lacks the depth of Agricultural Simulator 2011.
Agricultural Simulator 2011 is available from Steam
Farming Simulator 2013 is also available from Steam

Bale Spike for a tractor

Another mod for Farming Simulator 2013. This is a bale spike that can be attached to the link arms. Allows you to transport 2 bales at once… Makes moving bales from the field a little bit easier without having to load the blue trailer.
There is a slight bug at the moment that it’s quite difficult to get the bales off the spikes… But if you’re just selling them, its not so much of an issue.

Fun stuff.
== Download ==

and on LS Planet: http://ls-planet.com/mod/bale-spike-for-a-tractor 

Front Loader Implement Carrier

This is a tool that allows implements to be attached to the front loader. Why might this be useful you may ask? Well, if you want to load up the blue trailer for example, with a seeder, a fertilizer and a mower (I'm sure there are reasons!) you can pop this baby on, attach the implement to it and drop it on the trailer.


You can even do silly things like this

== Download ==
Also on LS Planet: http://ls-planet.com/mod/frontloader-implement-carrier

Age Of Empires 2 The Conquerors Colour Fix

Hello folks, it's your friendly neighbourhood farmer here...
Taking a break from farming this afternoon to get my head around a little problem I've been having.
Some of you might remember a little game called Age of Empires 2. 
I recently started playing it again, and noticed something off, the colours in the game were really freaking weird!

Actually this isn't what it looks like exactly, I merged a screenshot which for some reason only showed the weird colours over black, with one that worked with the correct colours to make an almost broken one

The sea is pink and purple and the grass is red and the trees just look weird!
I searched around a bit and found that many people have this problem, and apparently it's a problem with Windows 7 etc.
So, I've made a fix for it, it's a registry fix, apparently there is one coded into Windows to deal whatever causes the bug (This guy explained it pretty well) Since I didn't fancy running a tool that edits my registry, in case it's a virus or something, I basically made my own registry entry.

So, here is how I did it, first I ran Age of Empires 2 (When I refer to AOE2, I mean AOE2 Conquerors expansion by the way... I didn't try it with AOE2 normal). I then ALT-TAB out and fire up the registry editor (search for regedit in the run/searchy bar thing)
In here is the entry we're looking for, it's under:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DirectDraw\MostRecentApplication

Here you want 2 things, it's easiest to print screen and paste it into paint for this, you want the ID and the name, it'll look something like that, though my ID is different from this:

ID in DWORD (32 bit): 0Dfc5342

And the name is: age2_x1.exe

So then I made a new key here:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DirectDraw\Compatibility\

I called mine aoe1_x1 just because that's the name of the game exe. Then in here you want a DWORD (32 Bit) Value (called ID) and paste in your ID, and a String Value called Name and stick in the exe name, so age2_x1.exe

You'll want to check your ID though, I made that one up.
But anyways, here is one I made:
If you want, create a blank .reg file and copy this into it, but change the xxxxxxxx next to Dword: into your ID you got from the first part


Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DirectDraw\Compatibility\aoe2_x1]
"Flags"=hex:00,08,00,00
"Name"="age2_x1.exe"
"ID"=dword:xxxxxxxx


Then run it (Merge) and it should update your registry accordingly. 

And this is what it looked like in the end! Lovely eh?

Tada! Looks beautiful!

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Edition Review

So, when Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary Edition came out (Woa, that really is a mouthful… Lets just call it the Halo 1 Remake) I preordered and got it a day or so after the release date (It’s cos I live in the middle of nowhere…)
I played the first level on Pillar Of Autumn straight off, and thought it was class just to have a Halo 1 that looked like Halo Reach (Almost…). Time limits due to my work on the farm meant that I couldn’t finish playing any more than the first level and it sat dormant on my desk for a few months. I was hoping to play some at Christmas, but Skyrim was big on my play list, and somehow Halo got pushed to the back. Anyways, I’ve recently found myself with a bit more spare time in the mornings before breakfast and started to play again. This was helped by the fact that I’ve been ill in bed for 2 days and have managed to get some more time into Halo due to that.
So, I’ve finally completed it, i wussed out and did it on Normal, not Legendary… One day maybe…. If I end up in prison serving life mayby…. Unlikely.
So, the game… Well, I played the original Halo quite a few times, first on the PC waaay back.. (2004 maybe?) and again on the Xbox 360 with some friends and I’ve loved it, classic Halo, great game. Storyline is epic, coop play is good fun;  All round good game. The remake is pretty much the same, same storyline, coop is still good, but added to that are epic graphics from the Halo Reach engine. Very much nice and lovely.
There are some downsides though, First is that they reduced the number of players for Coop from 4 down to 2… Which means I can’t play it with 2 of my friends… It’s a shame, but not a massive problem. The graphics aren’t quite up to Halo Reach standards, but they’re close, the guns don’t look quite as nice and polished as in Reach, and it would’ve been nice if they’d added the DMR…But that’s not really in keeping with the Halo 1 remake. The one big problem I had was with the sound, many many times I had one audio track over the top of another one, was really annoying in the final cutscene when there was supposed to be sad, epic end music, it was overlayed with the action music from the previous scene…
If you’re a real Halo fan, then I would recommend getting this game, if you’ve played Halo 1 and the rest but aren’t really a great fan, not really worth getting, it’s just a better looking Halo 1 with better graphics…And achievements… And skulls….
All in all though, class game. It’s Halo 1… Can’t really go wrong there… Just want a redux Halo 2 now….
I’d give it a 7/10, it was as good as I was expecting, a remake of Halo 1, there is nothing new or groundbreaking that warrent a higher score though. Maybe if you completed it you could get all the nice stuff from Halo Reach in.. Customizable gear and awesome weapons, then it would get a 9/10 maybe..
Halo ODST is still my favourite...

Dear Esther (2012)

Well, the studio behind the original HL2 mod “Dear Esther”, a group called The Chinese Room, have been working on an actual release title of Dear Esther. They teamed up with Robert Briscoe, who designed some of the levels for another of my favourite games, Mirror’s Edge, to bring us a remade Dear Esther. They redid the graphics, the voice recording etc etc and it looks pretty damned awesome.

I played the original Dear Esther a few years back, and was very impressed with the game (I can’t really describe it as a game… but it is the only label I can put on it…. I guess it’s more of an interactive visual arts medium/Interactive novel?). I’ve been keeping an eye on the development of this release, and jumped on it the day it came out…

So, here are some screenshots:

 

The ship wreck on the shore

Interior of the Lighthouse… I love the detail!

The game looks absolutely stunning… And this is on a machine that struggles to play Borderlands on the lowest setting…….Can’t  wait to take it for a spin on my Desktop…

Floor details, plus obligatory chemical symbols…

Stairwell into the Lighthouse

Lighthouse building interior

sigh… It’s puurty

I love it…. Despite the main character being a right downer… He sounds like no fun to be around….

Awesome game… Pop over to Steam and pick it up

>>> Do it! <<<

Interesting article on their website:

Dear Esther sold 16k units in under 24 hours - Recoupes financial backing in 6 hours

Not entirely surprising…

Anyways, have a goodun!

Skipper out.

Game released: The Elder Scrolls Skyrim

So, today is the 11th of November, 2011 (11/11/11, in Day Day/ Month Month, Year Year, not Month Month Day Day Year Year… Nothing goes big, small, big it’s silly… Stop using that system USA…)  and on 11/11/11 Skyrim was released. I’ve been preloading it for a couple days now from STEAM, and this morning I got up at 6 to play for a couple hours before work. And may I say, what a couple of hours it was! OOOOOOhhh my I love The Elder Scrolls games, and so far Skyrim is no exception. DRAGONS!

But yes, I am looking forward to playing this game properly on the weekend. Gonna close everything running and slam the settings up to max
Anyways, enjoy your day,
Skipper

STALKER Patches!

So, I ordered some patches from the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shop.

^ The Loner faction

^ Freedom faction

^ The Ecologists/Scientist Faction

Very cool looking, though I’m not entirely sure what I'm going to stick them on… We shall see!

-Skip

Metro 2033 Completed

So, on Monday I bought Metro 2033, it was on sale on Steam, for £3.71. Bargain, loaf of bread and a couple pints of milk worth, organic bread and milk mind, but still, cheapish. I wasn’t sure when I would be able to play it, seeing as I’m on a new course. Turns out I was in luck, or not so, I got ill. This gave me a couple days of being unable to walk about, or do anything, so I thought I should just haul my ass over to the computer and complete it.
So, it took me 9 hours, with a couple of rage quits, to complete. Overall, my impressions of this game are good though it is creepy as hell in places! Really eerie. I think it was made by some people who used to work on the original STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl.
==Possible Spoilers ==
This STALKER connection does seem to show in places, and I don't mean the simple fact that they’re both set around Russia and the Eastern Bloc. The first one I noticed was the fact that when you ascend to the surface with “Bourbon” he refers to “Stalkers” and “stashes”…. Got to be a reference to STALKER?
The second, was not so much to STALKER, but to the scene and the community, a reference to  Arkady and Boris Strugatsky and their famous (in STALKER communities) book, Roadside Picnic.

With regards to the storyline, something I care most about, overall I did like it. No real twists, I could’ve seen how the story would've played out if given the main points: Big bad monsters you never really see, a home place, main character, and some missiles… Pretty much sums it up… Make some friends, friends die, monsters die… The end. Not to say I didn't enjoy it! Despite a mildly predictable storyline, it was well executed. The characters were well voiced and likable. Ulman was a legend, made some amusing jokes. Khan was a very cool character, he would be a very useful companion if STALKER was real, or Metro 2033 for that matter. The level Ghosts was really quite eerie, and very cool, has the atmosphere of the original STALKER, SOC.
Graphics are very good, well, grimy and nice. I do like it. There is always something out there with better graphics than something else, but hey, I’m a storyline over graphics person.

So for me, graphics were top notch. Storyline was very enjoyable, and that is all that counts. So overall, I’d give this game an 8 or 9 out of 10. Lets say:
8.5/10
Would I play it again? Yea, I think I would. There are achievements for this game that are worth a go at trying to get. Creepy game

Left Over From June

Finally got around to uploading this video Wendy and I made in June while we were driving up from Wales to Yorkshire.

The song is from Portal 2, called Want You Gone, I give no spoilers as to the ending

:edit: Due to PicasaWeb not having an “embed” feature… I’ve got to just give you the link:

From 2011-06 Driving from Wales

Universe Sandbox - Review

Snazzy little program came onto the Steam marketplace a couple of days ago, called Universe Sandbox. Basically, the premise of the game is you’ve got complete control over all aspects of the universe. You can take our solar system, see what would happen if you dialled the mass of the sun up, or try and set up a Geosynchronous orbit around the earth.
^ In  this one I tried to see what would happen if the earth had a set of rings like Neptune, Saturn, etc etc, at the same point as the moon. The gravity of the moon caused some really cool twists and turns in the rings, and a bunch of asteroids broke orbit and crashed into the planet.
Dialling the gravity up a couple of notches is a fun one too, if you get the gravity high enough the sun turns into a black hole, and everything slowly collapses in on its self. Before then though, some of the planets do a slingshot around the sun and end up reaching the escape velocity and buggering off into space.
Using timing and changes to speed and changing the semi major axis I tried to dock a “teapot” with the ISS (the teapot is one of the random weird objects you can use as they didn't have a shuttle…) It was going quite well, I got the closing velocity down really nice and slow, but when the teapot finally got to the ISS (represented by a piece of rock…) the collision engine picked it up as a crash and smashed my teapot… Doh!

This is quite a fun little game, especially for those who are white and nerdy enough to get out the calculator to figure out all the velocities, forces and radii needed to get objects in certain places, it is still very buggy and has crashed on me a number of times, so hopefully in time they’ll release a patch and fix that all up, also I’m hoping for more models,spacecraft, satellites, gas clouds etc etc. But we shall see.
If you like astronomy, astrophysics and anything else to do with stars and SPAAAACE (Portal 2 reference for you there), I’d strongly recommend this, it’s only a few quid at the moment, so get it!
-Skip

Halo: ODST–My favourite character–Virgil

Everyone knows Halo.. Its one of the greatest games of the 21st century. The 4th (Actually the 5th, but Halo Wars doesnt count) instalment of the game was Halo ODST, which took the timeline between Halo 2 and Halo 3, as an ODST, or Orbital Drop Shock Trooper (Mouthful huh?). You have to fight through the city of New Mombasa against the combined forces of the Covenant… death and hilarity ensues. Anyway, there is a character, that is the cities Artificial intelligence, known as the superintendent, or Virgil. You dont really see much of Virgil in the game, except in cutscenes, load screens and at the end.. but he’s quality and so cute!

Anyways, here are his little faces from the load screens and cut scenes:

ODST Virgil: Alert by ~Skipperthepilot on deviantART

His default, alert face

ODST Virgil: Angry by ~Skipperthepilot on deviantART

Angry face! You blew up that building! GRRR!

ODST Virgil: Happy by ~Skipperthepilot on deviantART

Happy cute face! N’awww you!

ODST Virgil: O Rly by ~Skipperthepilot on deviantART

O Rly? What more can I say?

ODST Virgil: Sad by ~Skipperthepilot on deviantART

Aww no! sad face…

ODST Virgil: Suspicious by ~Skipperthepilot on deviantART

Suspicious… I know you did something, I just don't know what….

And that’s it for now folks!

Thought I’d go though my Steam games and give mini reviews to them…

688(I) Hunter/Killer

0.3 hrs on record

Was basically a more limited version of Dangerous Waters… Just the one submarine and worse graphics…

Rating: 3/10

All Points Bulletin

6.8 hrs on record

I was pissed off with this game… I spent the above time.. 6.8 hours downloading it.. and it just lagged like an absolute mother bitch… was unplayable.. annoyed..

Raing: 0/10… I couldnt even walk forwards..

America's Army 3

0.1 hrs on record

Another game that really pissed me off…I couldnt even complete the basic training mission where you have to run the course in a certain time… I guess its a fair estimation of how I’d do in actual basic selection…

Rating 0/10

ARMA 2

6.3 hrs on record

I was hoping for a lot from ArmA 2. I loved some parts of ArmA 1 and in those respects 2 didnt disapoint, there are loads of weapons, vehicles, etc, and the mission editor is nearly identical which are all pluses.. but the same old stupid interface and awkward aiming and shooting…I mostly played it for making a mission with 1 tank and one harrier, then bombing the tank.. hours of fun.

Rating: 3/10 …. Stupid GUI..

ARMA: Combat Operations

13.4 hrs on record

This is the STEAM version only.. I think it would be up there in the 100h range if it recorded my old version. Despite its clunky interface and stupid aiming, I loved this game. Especially the Sahrani Life RPG element  

Rating 7/10 Although I loved it, the interface was really dumb.

Armored Fist 3

I’ve yet to try this.. I got it with the Novalogic pack..

Audiosurf

1 hrs on record

An interesting concept… Fun to play when your bored… But hardly ground breaking in terms of story telling… well, there isnt a story.. thats not the point of this game! Its something to dip into when you feel like listning to some music and doing something at the same time (that doesnt include working..)

6/10

Battlefield 2

2.6 hrs on record

Meh… BF1942 was amazing, loved the COOP element. BF2 disappointed on that front. The AI behaved like the dicks you find online, jumping up and down…. SOLDIERS DONT JUMP UP AND DOWN IN REAL BATTLE! You dont dodge incoming fire by hopping up and down… You get into cover and give return fire..

4/10

BioShock

Ah, I played it for that short a time it didnt even record. Stupid game…. if there were mods I would consider playing it… Pack a G36 and I’d jump straight in.

2/10

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

4.7 hrs on record

Grrr…….. Yea… £40 for 5h of game play.. I was very pissed off… But its Call of Duty… its for the multiplayer… Which I detest… Not worth it..

2/10

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - Multiplayer

0.1 hrs on record

..Meh, better on the Xbox, but hardly ground breaking..

1/10

Comanche 4

Got with Novalogic pack.. never played… Looks graphically challenged..

Counter-Strike: Source

0.1 hrs on record

If you want to be shot in the face repeatedly by a 8 year old…. play this game! Idiotic game… But Gmod needed it..

0/10

Counter-Strike: Source Beta

Crash Time II

0.2 hrs on record

It looked quite good fun… But I suck at driving…

1/10

Dangerous Waters

148.5 hrs on record

..I think this is the game I’ve played on longest… Great fun, nothing beats sitting in a darkened room with headphones pressed tightly to one ear whilst listening to a BQQ-5. Had just read Red Storm Rising, so was totally into all the OHP class frigates, and 688s.

Rating 9/10

Darkest Hour: Europe '44-'45

1.6 hrs on record

Played it online for a bit, but the graphics were rubbish… Game play was okay I guess… but not something I’ll play again..

2/10

Day of Defeat: Source

0.3 hrs on record

Damn the guns have some serious recoil! But yea, meh.. got because Gmod wanted the files..

1/10

Delta Force

Delta Force 2

Delta Force: Black Hawk Down

Although it doesnt say it here, I’ve completed BHD a few times. Awesome game. Looks a bit like an old version of Joint Operations.. which I suppose it is… Brilliant storyline Love it. But no Coop! And the multiplayer sucked….

Rating 8/10

Delta Force: Black Hawk Down - Team Sabre

Similar in game play to BHD, but without the familiar storyline. Good, but the original was better. Some good missions though, dont get me wrong.

7/10

Delta Force: Land Warrior

Delta Force: Task Force Dagger

Delta Force: Xtreme

Started playing it.. but its just a cheap version of Joint Operations.. Meh.

4/10

Delta Force: Xtreme 2

4.5 hrs on record

Completed it in 4.5h… There is a full review here: No! here!

Better graphics than BHD, but rubbish weapons.. Missed the whole ranging in from Joint Operations

6/10

DiRT 2

1.6 hrs on record

I suck at driving, so sucked at this..

2/10

F-16 Multirole Fighter

F-22 Lightning 3

Fallout 3

22.1 hrs on record

The first version I got! Thought it was pretty good.. but nothing special..

6/10

Fallout 3 - Game of the Year Edition

64.4 hrs on record

The 2nd time I got it i really got into it. This was the GOTY version, so all the addons. And I loved it! awesome game! Got all the achievements!

8.5/10

Far Cry 2

19.9 hrs on record

I got quite far though this, but my PC crashed and I lost the save game. It wasnt untill recently (August 2010) that i actually completed it on the Xbox. Was a good game with regards to Storyline. And I looooved the scenery. Its set in Africa, which is a country close to my heart, really beautiful scenes in the grasslands. Really nice. But some gameplay aspects sucked.. No Coop for one.. Whats the point in a jeep you can drive, but have to switch seats to gun if you cant have someone else on the gun? meh..

8/10 anyway… was a good game

Far Cry 2: Fortunes Pack

Fleet Command

Frontlines: Fuel of War

5.1 hrs on record

I got this for like 2 quid.. BARGAIN! Loved the game too. The storyline was really good and thought provoking. I just got it for the Xbox too, but not been able to play it much yet.

Garry's Mod

158.8 hrs on record

158h says it all. I freaking love this game. Game? …Sandbox. Its amazing fun. I spent about 50 hours just building assorted space ships and flying them around the gooniverse map. Amazing fun! Class game! I can actually find no flaws.. Apart from perhaps when you’ve built everything there isnt much left to do…

9.5/10 … because I cant give 10/10 to any game….

Grand Theft Auto IV

16.3 hrs on record

I turned Nikko Belic away from a life of crime… but the game lost whatever storyline it had when I did… Plus the storyline sort of ended when I refused to date some random girl I didnt know. Thats not how I roll.

Meh/10… thats not a number.. eer 6/10.

Half-Life 2

13.4 hrs on record

Played mostly over Synergy mod. Excelent game.

8/10

Half-Life 2: Deathmatch

Half-Life 2: Episode One (See Synergy)

Half-Life 2: Episode Two (See Synergy)

0.3 hrs on record

Half-Life 2: Lost Coast

0.3 hrs on record

Joint Operations: Escalation

14.9 hrs on record

GOTTA LOVE JOINT OPS! Though with the new edition none of the stats recorders work.. and I cant install mods on the STEAM version of Jops…. But yea, its an amazing game! LOVE IT!

9/10

Joint Operations: Typhoon Rising

Killing Floor

63.5 hrs on record

Nothing like extreme gore and violence when your in a bad mood. So grab your M9 and blow some zombies heads off. Great fun! And I’ll definitely be playing more of this as soon as I get new internet, instead of this inter-нет that I currently have…нет is russian for No. Its pronounced “Niet” ..Inter Niet…. Oh nvm…

9/10

Killing Floor Mod: Defence Alliance 2

1.2 hrs on record

The shite cousin of Killing Floor.

2/10

Left 4 Dead

I did like this to start with, but once you’ve completed it once or twice its just so repetative. Shite replay value.

3/10 ..Just because I’m feeling generous.

Left 4 Dead 2

2.9 hrs on record

Its a once though game… Although its meant to be “great replay value” … Once you know the story the only difference will be where the zombies are…. meh

3/10

Mare Nostrum

0.4 hrs on record

Junk graphics, clunky gameplay..

2/10

MiG-29 Fulcrum

Portal

PORTAL! Amazing game! Its class! You’ve got to play it!

9.5/10

Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45

Rhythm Zone

0.2 hrs on record

I got this thinking it would be like a custom Guitar Hero. But was disapointed to find there was no strumming… Meant I sucked at it since I’m used to holding down the note, then strumming when it passes. But its okay when you get used to it. But unlikely to play again.

3/10

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat

73.8 hrs on record

OMG. STALKER! 3rd in the series. The 2nd best I’d say. Full review here: TADA!

Really love the STALKER series. My favorite game series of all time. Love it sums it up.

9/10 A-MAZING!

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky

4.8 hrs on record

:Cough: This game was a mistake. lets be honest. Its the worst of the STALKER series. I think they just rushed it though developement…. I’m playing it again with the STALKER Complete mod by ArtistPavel (Available here) so we shall see… maybe its better with that mod..

One memorable moment only really from that game, the battle for the bridge at Limansk, and the battles though Limansk itself, they were the best thing about this game. Its worth getting if you’ve completed Shadow of Chernobyl, just for the storyline, dont play Call of Pripyat without playing this first.

6/10… yea.. it sucked.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl

69.7 hrs on record

MY FAVORITE GAME OF ALL TIME! Love it love it love it! A short review doesnt do it justice. This game is like an old jumper, you really love it, its got so many good memories, but its also really uncool and you would never be seen in public with it as its not as cool as all your MW2s and Battlefields. GSC a its finest.

9.8/10. Just because it doesnt have COOP, and the artefacts are too easy to find… Otherwise it’d be a 10/10 for sure! 11/10!

Stargate Resistance

0.5 hrs on record

I was tricked… I thought this was the Stargate Worlds under a new name… But it turned out to be CounterStrike in the SGC, with Zat guns and P90s… meh.

2/10

Sub Command

Synergy

40.8 hrs on record

I’ve completed Halflife 2 on Synergy….3 times I think.. and am on my 4th play though with Wendy. Its a Coop mod for Half life 2, so instead of going though the campaign on your own, you’ve got someone backing you up. Tis a great mod

9/10

Tachyon: The Fringe

Team Fortress 2

0.3 hrs on record

Weird looking, deathmatch shite… meh

2/10

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

77.3 hrs on record

 

Gasp… Oblivion. BEAUTIFUL! Love this game so much! I’m not even going to say anymore… Play it.

9/10

Tomb Raider: Anniversary

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon

0.1 hrs on record

I’m wishing I’d played this a long time ago, when I was playing Rainbow Six.. The controls are the same, but I now find them really hard to use after all the newer games… Was gutted as I loved these old Tom Clancy games..

6/10

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter

4.9 hrs on record

s’ difficult! Even on easy! I gave up…

5/10

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Desert Siege

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Island Thunder

TrackMania United

12.3 hrs on record

I suck at driving… But its an awesome game..

7/10

X3: Reunion

81.3 hrs on record

Haha oh I love this game! There are some awesome mods for it too, the Stargate mod is my favorite. Flying around in a BC-304 Daedalus class ship is amazing fun, especially when you have a fleet of F-302s onboard. CLAAAAS! But never completed it… The tangos just get too difficult later on.. I’d take a few hits and just blow up… annoying…

7/10

X3: Terran Conflict

0.3 hrs on record

Figured I shouldnt play this till I’d completed Reunion… so cant really comment..