2001-07-22 - 3:05 a.m.
#83: No Need for Enlargement of Genitalia Subsitution Size
Note to self: I forgot to update the situation about our house apparently having prospective buyers in my last entry. Not surprisingly, those prospective buyers decided to move on after being quoted the 650 thousand dollar minimum mark. It may seem a little on the steep side, but considering the fact that this place is starting to go upmarket thanks to new development projects popping up all over here; it'll seem like a drop in the bucket when the prices for the houses around here REALLY go through the roof. O.o So we currently have no people seriously interested in buying our house, which makes me somewhat happy.... Must resist the urge to be negative at this point. Nrgh.
Don't be fightened off by the title, I haven't gone ahead and done anything.... DRASTIC to my body; (though you know, I COULD, if I wanted to. You know. I mean.... You KNOW what I'm talking about, right? O.o) what I'm referring to is my brand spanking new, upgraded COM-PEW-TAH with a 1GHz Athlon chip and a TNT2 Pro card installed. Which basically makes any game out there thus far run like liquid butter on a hot frying pan in the middle of the Sahara Desert. Except for Diablo 2, for which I blame Blizzard since they optimised the game to run with Voodoo 3D cards. Which for all intents and purposes, no longer exist. Stupid, stupid, stupid Blizzard people. But enough of that, I want to focus on the happy thoughts generated by having a new computer that's almost twice as fast as my old one, and with a better video card to boot. Actually, getting to the state of those happy thoughts would probably make a more interesting story than just waxing eloquence on my new system.... So to whit!: the story of how Kunfei and I tried to make my computer run better over the course of four days, and the number of odd problems we ran into because of it. @_@
Day 1, Tuesday: Wait, I already mentioned this day in the previous entry.... Well, might as well flesh it out some more. Kunfei came over to take out the Pentium III 550 chip from my motherboard to put it in place of where his old Celeron 300 was in his old machine, just in order to test out if it could actually work. It did so, which assured him that he could sell his old computer (with my old PIII chip insde) for a reasonable enough price to assure him getting a much, much better one. Since he knew certain people, he could get components for making a monster machine at vastly reduced prices: one that could match the price bid for old compie. Some people will pay anything for a PIII it seems. O.o But I wasn't about to give away my old chip for free, so Kunfei offered to get me a GHz Athlon, and all I had to do was cover the price of the motherboard to install it into. A good bargain by anybodys perception, even if I had to ask my mother for the 280 to give to him. -_-;;; I *will* pay her back, though.... Whether by getting a job or selling one of my kidneys, I'm not certain. But I *will* pay her back. Hmmmm. I wonder what's the price for a good kidney these days....
Day 2, Wednesday: Kunfei came around in late evening with a brand, spanking new motherboard and Athlon chip in hand. Joy of all joys! I had the nerve racking duty of taking apart my old computer, removing each and every device and RAM chip and finally the motherboard from the case. Actually, I had to do that last night as well, and I'm pretty sure Kunfei could have done the work faster than I did, but it felt GOOD to be touching my computers insides and knowing vaguely what you're doing. I have to admit to a certain amount of confusion when it came to reconnecting all the cables again (especially the niggly annoying ones for the PC speaker and LEDs and power switches and whatnot) but that's where the expert of the situation came in handy. ^_^
So, it was out with the old motherboard and processor chip, and in with the new motherboard and processor chip! Along with all the old periphrals. Can't change everything for the price I paid, afterall. O.o And lo, when we lit up the entire rig and turned on the monitor, we were greeted by.... A blank screen. The fan and power to the setup were running, but nobody appeared to be home. We rooted around the rig some more, discovered a few cables incorrectly placed here and there (and replaced one as well) and lo, when we lit up the entire rig (again) and turned on the monitor (again), we were greeted by.... Still a blank screen. With the fan and power to the setup running.
We got a bit worried at this point.
After disconnecting and reconnecting of cables, and testing of the video card on the two different monitors I had in the house, we came to the conclusion that the monitor did not like my video card at all. Well, I didn't like it either, but at least it could run 3D (mostly) and show SOMETHING on the screen with my former motherboard, but saying all that didn't solve my problem. The point really hit home when I ripped out the Stealth3D 2000 2D/3D card from my old, old, old computer, (Cyrix P166.... "Just as good as a Pentium" they said.... "You don't need those extra floating point calculations" they said.... RIGHT.) put it into my new motherboard, started up the rig, and lo.... There appeared on the screen colour and lights! So the motherboard liked my Stealth3D better than my Matrox G400? Bah.... Anyway, there was no way I was going to live with a video card I got way back in 97, and since all the computer shops were closed at this point (past midnight, it was!), we decided to go video card hunting the next day (errrrr.... same day). I hadn't really planned to spend quite so much money on upgrading my computer, but then again I was rather glad I had an excuse to splurge for a new and better video card for 3D gaming goodness. I was just going to have to make use of my interest-free overdraft available to me as a tertiary student account holder at National Bank. Now, *YOU* know and *I* know that I'm no longer a prestigious member of the hallowed halls of Auckland Universitys Engineering Department.... But what *THEY* don't know can't hurt them, now can it? ^_^
So the end of the evening saw me with a superfast computer.... with a thoroughly useless video card that could hardly run Streetfighter Alpha, much less render Giants: Citizen Kabuto. So it was with trepidation that I waited for the next day to come, when my abomination against gaming nature would finally be complete. I waited so much in fact, that I actually didn't get much sleep at all. I guess it was a bad idea staying up until 3AM watching Card Captor Sakura episodes on VCD and drowning ones sorrows with mini chicken drumsticks, chicken nuggets, a meat pie and a large bottle of some soft drink I couldn't identify in the dark (I was a little depressed at the situation. Wouldn't you be?). But even so, it's a mystery to me how I managed to stay awake from that time onwards to 8AM while lying in bed. My moods are so predictably overblown. -_-;;;;
Day 3, Thursday: "Why was I awake at 8AM?", you may ask (I mean, up and about at that time.... I was already awake beforehand)? Because Kunfei rung me up and asked if I was ready to go and get that new video card. Which I was, more or less, since I wasn't really doing anything in bed besides being AWAKE. O.o He came over, picked up a hot drink to start his day (cold this time of year, innit?) and we went off to OEM Computers in Manukau.... Only to find it closed, and not open for another hour. So we went over to Manukau Shopping Centre, where we discovered some kind of New Zealand Army exhibition in the process of being set up (it's somehow frightening to hear the amount of knowledge Kunfei has about the weapons on display there O.o) and where I discovered another Electronics Boutique to wander in and drool over at the games I couldn't run.... No wait, that was before.... Couldn't BUY, then. After wasting an hour there and having some breakfast in the form of KFC (no Nandos for us this time, sadly enough) we decided to go back to OEM where we found they had finally opened shop. Grabbed the TNT2 Pro video card that I had decided to get the night before and discovered that the price was slightly less than advertised on the webpage, so I decided to throw in a 100Mb/s network card into the mix. Now I can download off anime at LANs at 10 times my old speed! @_@ And I think I got a small discount as well, since Kunfei was a regular customer there.
Got back at my house at about 11AM, threw out my Stealth3D card, threw in the TNT2 Pro, and lo! Blank screen zone. We couldn't understand it, until Kunfei got the idea that the video port for the motherboard hadn't been initialised (my Stealth3D wuz one of dem old video cards see.... Before dem times when dey had special slots for video cards, so it fit into any old slot). After a few modifications to my BIOS setup, the TNT2 Pro card worked like a charm. Which meant that my G400 would probably have worked just as well, had Kunfei reached this realisation the day before. But I was damn well not going to return my new video card at this point, that was for sure. So I stuck by my TNT2 Pro card and set aside the G400 as a "spare" along with my old motherboard. After redetecting and reinstalling the drivers for the hardware on this new motherboard in Win98 (and only getting stuck on one annoying peripheral that will forever slow startup due to the Add Hardware Wizard not finding the drivers for it) Kunfei went home to get some well deserved sleep, something which I needed too.... After he dropped me off at Sichuan Restaurant to have lunch with my mother and a friend, that is. -_-;;; But AFTER that, I got some sleep.
When I woke up later in the evening, I set about to test the TRUE capabilities of this fully operational Imperial battle stati-- I mean, my computer. I was somehow disappointed for my first few choices.... The Anachronox demo I had running on my old setup apparently didn't like the new one at all, and refused to even start up. Since there wasn't anything even remotely resembling a basic config program available with it, I gave up trying to get it to run and looked to Black and White for my graphical goodness. Unfortunately, it had already looked amazing on my old computer, and looked almost the same on my new one, so I was stuck as to looking for improvements. I went onto Giants: Citizen Kabuto, which showed marked improvement over my old video card, especially in terms of rendering shadows and graphical detail (both of which were fudged with my old system). It looked EXTREMELY pretty, but for some reason the comp kept crashing, which ruined my enjoyment a bit. So overall, my first impressions weren't too good.... Though keep in mind I was playing the games at 1024 by 768 resolution with 32 bit colour and all details on, as compared to my old setup where I had to play at 800 by 600 (or even less) with 16 bit colour and a large amount of detail removed.... And I was experiencing a better framerate in the former than the latter. I guess I'm unfeasibly picky. ^^;;;;
But then came the real test.... The infamous Deus Ex! With one of the most demanding graphic engines for video cards despite being based upon old Unreal technology! Where one had to play in 800 by 600 res, 16 bit colour, turn details off, dial textures to their bare minimum and STILL experienced choppy framerates, even if no player models were around onscreen. O.o It wasn't the most pretty game out of the lot, but it certainly pushed the hardware I had nefore to its limits, so I was curious to see how well it'd run with all details turned to full and at a higher resolution and colour depth. The answer? Well, like I said to another Deus Ex affectionade and AAC member, Michael: "Deus Ex runs like its ass is on fire". With texture detail so fine I could go right up against a stone wall and see little pockmacks all over it, or kneel on the ground and count the number of grains there were in the wooden planking floor. And all at a chipper framerate that refused to die even in the most intense firefights, discounting the occasional hard drive drawl as it lightens and leadens its cache. Should probably get a new one.... But at any rate, I think I'll definitely try to play through the entire game again, now that I can actually have more control and response in tough gun battles with multiple character models on screen.
But not all of this was without its share of problems. For one thing, my computer starting producing a beeping sound at regular intervals, indicating.... Well, some sort of problem, but it wasn't tell me what. So I disconnected the PC speaker cable to temporarily rectify that problem, and was about to ring Kunfei to ask about it when he rang ME. O.o Talk about weird coincidences, he was having problems with his own computer and getting my old PIII working for the sale the next week. Actually, his problems were slightly worse, since his motherboard died on him (!) and without a motherboard in his comp, there was no way he could sell it for the price he had asked for it. So, seeing that it wasn't going to get used (not by me, at any rate), I offered him free reign on my old motherboard; which he accepted happily and would pick up and test the next day, as well as come over to fix my beeping sound problem. After that, I turned to some more Deus Ex playing, completing the first mission some time early in the morning (so I like being sneaky, non-lethal, as well as rendering every guard I meet unconscious. O.o It's fun to play the game your own way!) whereupon I collapsed in bed, satisfied that my computer was up to current gaming specs. Even if I didn't really have anything at the moment that would really show it off. American McGees Alice might have been nice, but I don't feel like playing a platform game at the moment.
Day 4, Friday: Woke up at 4PM. O.o I must have been more tired than I though. Received a phonecall about at hour later from Kunfei, saying that he was coming over. That makes it four days in a row he's been at my house. Weird. I wonder if other people would have had as much patience with my computer problems. I know I don't. ^^;;;; I discovered that the reason for the beeping was that it was a warning (thanks to the BIOS setup) from the temperature detector on my Athlon chip, saying that it was reaching an intolerable temperature reading. O.o Kunfei couldn't really solve that, since he didn't have any coolant gel with him to put on the chip, but he did setup the BIOS to sound the warning only at a higher temperature.... 56 degrees celsius, to be precise. Which is bad, considering the chip is going above 50 degrees in temperature (!). Still, hopefully everything with be solved once I get some of that gel off Kunfei at the next AAC meeting....
After presenting a temporary solution to my problem, we turned to Kunfeis own, and I presented him with a brand spanking new motherboard! My old one. Strange, how my PIII chip went full circle from the old board, to Kunfeis (and burning it out) and back to the old board again. Slightly amusing, too. ^_^ But in any case, his setup went the same way as mine, except less complicated, and he got everything up and running. After setting Win98 to reinstall, we watched a couple of episodes of Samurai Pizza Cats (one of the best dubbed anime ever, and it was free to air to boot!), then he backed up his hard drive of important data and then went home to complete the task of making the computer seem brand spiffing new for its new owner.
And there you have it. The four days where the earth stood still and revolved around my quest for a better, faster computer. Sure it has its share of problems (it's still starting up a bit too slow for my tastes.... And the damn Add Hardware wizard won't go away with that message!) but happiness is running all games at high resolution and colour depth. ^_^ So what am I going to play, now that I have all this power at my disposal? Why.... Baldurs Gate 2 of course! A predominantly old fashioned 2D RPG with a few 3D effects for spells! Makes perfect sense doesn't it? O.o I wasn't planning to pick up on playing this game straight away.... I mean, I was PLANNING to, since the expansion offers so many tempting opportunities to make your characters even more godlike. And you can have Sarevok as part of your party; which is damned freaky assed cool, because he's the big, badass final boss you killed (but can ressurect) all the way from the first game. But what REALLY tipped the scales in favour of me playing it was ripping out the music from the game, listening to it, and swooning to its every note and trill. I have this thing about listening to and appreciating game music, can you tell? ^_^
I have to say that, next to graphics, music is probably one of the first things I look for in a game when I want to purchase one (gameplay is what keeps me interested long enough to see all it has to offer, though). And Baldurs Gate 2 - Throne of Bhaal has probably one of the more impressive dark orchestral scores I've heard in a while. There aren't many tunes over the original BG2, but the amount of personality each track has makes it forgiveable. It's like.... Like John Williams on a very good day and on a high after seeing so many 70s and 80s fantasy/barbarian movies. Rather classic, I should think. It makes me feel like I've reached the end of a long and eventful adventure, and about to face my final challenges as the son of the dead god of murder. That's a pretty specific emotional twinge to fall upon. O.o And it's quite different from the "general adventuring" orchestral music of the first game, and the slightly darker and mature, but still unfocussed tunes of the second game.
I'm not entirely uncertain that this wasn't done on purpose. Afterall, the first game basically revolved around you, fetching item A to bring to person B and then unto location X.... Basically FedEx quests, and none too satisfying in terms of story. The second game had a better story structure, with quests that tied in together with your heritage as a (so called) evil Bhaalspawn and many more events that enriched ones experience depending on their playing style. And the second games expansion pack....? Well, I haven't gotten up to the point where I can switch over to the new world yet, but I've heard that the story grows even more intense as you delve into what it means to be a Child of Bhaal, and draws the entire series to a close as you choose to accept or avoid your fate. So the darkening and more intense score over the course of the series? Could have been done purposely indeed....
But in any case, after reloading my old game, I realised I had absolutely NO idea how to play with my old characters again. I mean, I've modified my characters so much, equipped so many different things, have so many status effects and spells to remember that, hell.... Might as well stuff this and start all over again. O.o But this time, I'm going to raise everyone's levels to the point they were in my old game, so they'll have an easier time with the first couple of areas. And as well as that, I'm going to equip my characters with all their old stuff they had at my last save game (!) making them even more unbalanced. Okay, so I'm cheating horribly here, but give me a break.... This is my 4th time playing through this, and I REALLY want to be able to play through it quickly enough so I don't suddenly lose interest this time. ^^;;;; Besides, looking through some of the item codes and names, I found some really weird and cool items. O.o Some even from games like Planescape: Torment or Icewind Dale which was odd. And there was one piece of equipment that just made me plain laugh out loud when I first put it on.... It was just.... Unusual. But I should speak no further lest I give spoilers to some of the more wacky secret items available in the game.
Phew. Spent too long on this entry too. What time is it? 3AM?!? -_-;;;; I'm not going to reset my sleeping patterns like this.... I mean, I woke up on Saturday at 3PM! Okay, it's bedtime for me after this. Right after I sneak a quick little game of BG2, teehee. ^_^
(Oh and btw, I have a leftover Matrox G400 video card and a 4/4/32x Mustek CR-RW for sale if anybody wants them. 120 dollars for the former, and 160 for the latter. Gimme a ring if you live in Auckland and know my phone number and are in the AAC. ^_^ I'll be glad to take your offer and listen to other people make counter offers, making the price rise and rise to insanely large heights that will inevitable make me rich! Or maybe I'll just give it to the first person who waves money in my direction. Mmmmm. Money.)
