Gache

Ah, well, I guess it didn't merit a mention around here. Couldn't see a thread anywhere... Apologies to anyone who found it offensive posting so late - Gache

I can't BELIEVE everyone missed this. Actually I can't believe I almost missed it, either... I've been waiting for this for years. Everyone here's played Half Life & HL2, right? And the best way to get "in the spirit" for HL2 is to run through HL1 first, right? Wrong. Black Mesa is out! The nostalgia is weapons-grade. The textures, the models, the voice acting - they've nailed it. This thing is awesome. I'm on the cliffs at the moment and it's some of the most nerve-racking gameplay I've ever been through. If you haven't played this already... well. Go on - you know you want to - Gache P.S. And no, you didn't miss the crowbar. "It's just one of those days, I guess."

A couple of posts about working on performance, OpenGL and graphics drivers. One from a dev who works on the Intel drivers: http://www.paranormal-entertainment.com/idr/blog/posts/2012-07-19T18%3A54%3A37Z-The_zombies_cometh/ And one from Valve: http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/linux/faster-zombies/ Some interesting stuff there about performance relative to Windows, and about the ability of a big name like Valve to drive rapid improvements in Linux graphics drivers.

DropBox would be a good 'lightweight' version control system (it would at least prevent accidental file loss and make it easy to retrieve old versions!) as well as easing the upload problem some. It would be better to get the project in a proper version control system though. (Github!) Incremental uploads and downloads, automatic creation of helpful change lists, easier to manage contributions from lots of people, no mistakes about which version of files went in or didn't go in , impossible to ever lose files, archival/compression done automatically by a remote server, downloads without having to register an account... (In case you couldn't tell, I adore version control. It makes even small projects so much easier to handle. It's just saying to yourself "I've made a few changes for X feature, I'm going to commit them with a little message to say what they are," but the difference is huge.) Git is super-easy to set up on Linux & OS X, and the GitHub app for Windows is awesome too. ...Or maybe I'm talking through my hat. Just trying to help, 'cause I like the way this project is going (and I suck at artwork). - Gache

http://blogs.valvesoftware.com/linux/

Zeealex, Shadowblade isn't talking about anti-aliasing, but about the 'sharp corners' that many of the old models have. Look at the terrain images in your last post - you can see it there. It's also apparent in almost any character image. The question, I think, is whether the original models can be replaced or overridden with others that have the same effective dimensions, but use a higher polygon count so that the models' corners and edges are smoother/more rounded. - Gache

Working on it, Apex, I'm working on it... (Can't speak for the guys messing with the cables though!) I managed to extract the actual download URL, instead of the obfuscated one they show off, so I've fed that to a download manager. Right now it's 28% done and says there are another 4 days to go. Can't wait! Are you sure, Wombat? Can't check now, but as far as I can remember, Frostbite used Indeo. Their videos worked fine after installing it, but it made no difference for the original vids. The originals reported themselves as something like 'MS MPEG-2 v4', which turned out to be a Microsoft-only codec that wasn't available to download. Been years since I looked into it though, so maybe my memory's playing tricks on me. - Gache

Haven't messed with that particular problem for years, but IIRC, the major problem with intro/outro videos was that Wine doesn't have the codecs. I used to install the K-Lite codec pack, that took care of most of them. Frostbite used a really wierd codec, I had to track a separate installer down for that. What I never got working was the original GR videos. Far as I can recall, they use an old Microsoft codec that's not available as an installer. In theory, you could copy the .dll files across from a Windows install, but I never found a way to make that work. I think I got as far as sound, but never a picture. Anyway, the trick is to use a regular video player to tell you what the video and audio codecs are, then you can go hunting for them. VLC or the standard Ubuntu video player (Totem) will both do that. - Gache P.S. Apex, how do you do it? Every time you release a new version of HU, people start digging up my internet so I can't download for days. I think they're afraid of you

Glad it's behaving for now (and I envy you that download speed ). WPA2 is great. WPA is also generally 'good enough'. (I still occasionally come across devices that don't support WPA2.) It's WEP that's to be avoided if at all possible. WAP is a language for dumbed-down web pages on old mobile phones ... and computer geeks use more acronyms than is good for us. - Gache

The first thing I'd think if a router starts misbehaving right after a firmware flash is that maybe it didn't clean up after itself properly. Routers are pretty notorious for keeping bits of old settings and data around when you flash or reset. First thing I'd try is just unplugging it - take the power cable out for 90 seconds. Very often, that's enough to stop a router misbehaving. If that doesn't help, it's time to try a reset. Make a note of all your important settings first! (You can do a backup, but if the firmware is screwed it may not back up cleanly - don't rely on it as your only way to get your settings back.) Then do a 30/30/30 reset. Start with the router powered on, push and hold the reset button. After 30 seconds holding the button pressed, pull the power cable. Don't let go of the reset button! After another 30 seconds, put the power back on - still without letting go of the button. Hold it in for another 30 seconds, and then finally release. If it still won't behave, chances are you've had a bad flash and you'll need to reflash the router again. If you can, get a copy of your old, known-good firmware and verify the checksum to make sure it's intact. And for the best chance of everything working, do a 30/30/30 reset both before and after flashing. - Gache

Here's the original post on Phoronix and some commentary from ExtremeTech. Now I know this is Phoronix who are, shall we we say, 'optimistic' about all things Linux; but by the looks of things this isn't a leak or a 'source': it's straight from Gabe Newell. - Gache

Snort. Well, I thought it was funny, anyway.

IMHO, it depends on what alternatives are available. Being single-shot/disposable, the real-life M136/AT4 isn't going to be the weapon of choice either when expecting to engage armoured vehicles in number. Nor is it great for engaging modern MBTs. For such a small squad, wouldn't planning to engage more than a very small amount of armour mean taking a reloadable AT weapon? Or at least having a vehicle along to provide enough reloads? And for engaging MBTs, well, that's what the FGM-148 Javelin is for. I can't recall if anyone's ever made a Javelin, but I think the SMAW was in P2. I don't know if the Ghosts would have access to something like the SMAW or Carl Gustav though. Basically what I'm saying is, the need for pseudo-reloadable M136/AT4s is only created by using them for tasks they wouldn't realistically be used for. If the mod's going to include a better weapon for those jobs, there'd be little to gain from allowing people to tote 3 or 4 around. - Gache

Well at least this lot had protected the passwords! But yeah, it's pretty pathetic. Most of the high-profile 'hacks' lately have been on organisations who didn't bother with even the most basic security precautions. If you get everything right, then there are only two ways that data can be compromised: an 'inside job' or someone uses a zero-day exploit against you. - Gache

Maybe it's less relevant today, but this one went both ways: GR is beautiful and playable at even the lowest resolutions. I went from playing Rogue Spear at 1024x748 to GR at 640x480 with the lowest detail... and GR looked better, way better. I remember playing the first mission for the first time, looking up into the sun and going 'wow.' Text was clear and crisp, yet the HUD was still small enough to be unobtrusive. All too many games these days assume everyone has a big widescreen display and the hardware to power it at full native resolution. ArmA2, for instance, is simply unplayable at lower resolutions - you can't see enough detail in the game world, text becomes illegible, and the HUD grows to dominate the screen. Not that ArmA2 is bad per se (there are worse offenders, I'm sure), but it shows the level of polish that went into GR.