I love it when the effort I've put into researching something pays off. After seeing some screenshots of some of the new objects available in the latest Community Expansion Pack for Neverwinter Nights, I just had to have pianos in my module. Historically, I've been very frustrated with the CEP for not cooperating well with certain online play sessions and I was reluctant to add content from it. But, after a number of hours spent trying to figure how to get all the content installed and integrated correctly into the game's toolset, I'm very happy with the results.
The progress on the module is slow but I'm intent to make something that is actually playable and not in some buggy, incomplete alpha state.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
ROM Check OK
A recent Facebook note from iPal Vern indicates that another museum is adding a permanent collection with the goal to preserve the history of electronic gaming. As a lover of the early days of electronic gaming, I continue to applaud these efforts partly because of my appreciation and partly because I am lazy. Allow me to explain.
Because I like old video games, I have a part-time love affair with emulators to keep my collection of games running without the catch of too many legacy hardware problems. Atari 2600, Colecovision, Commodore 64, DOS, and arcade cabinets are all on my PC's hard drive in software form. But again, I am lazy. You see, it takes genuine effort to keep up with the development behind some of these platforms.
For instance, I recently got a MAME itch again that required some significant scratching. So I downloaded the latest GUI MAME client and pulled the old CD-ROMs out of the closet. And there's the catch. The key word in that sentence is OLD. I acquired that ROM set in 2002, a full seven years ago. As the MAME client develops, it requires certain ROMs to update their file sets as well. My ROM set is very out of date. So even ROMs that I have don't work and that requires to reach out to the intarwebs for update downloads. It takes a lot of time for me to find these updates because while some sites have the ROMs available, a lot of them don't keep their sets updated either. And because these things are still copyright protected, that drives the honest preservationists further underground.
So once I figure out that it's going to take way too much work to even keep this tiny little collection of ROMs functional, I give up. Once more, I am lazy. The reason I started feeding off of the the emulation scene in the first place is that I have a strong desire to preserve these games. Their original hardware has a shelf life. It will stop working. But software can fill the gap. Unfortunately, it just takes a lot of effort to keep things working and compatible, so even my modest efforts will be wiped out.
Of course, all of this is simply to state that I applaud the efforts of the true preservationists, the people that are doing their best to see that roots of this new medium are preserved and do not die a slow and silent death trapped in the webs of intellectual property law. To those people: I might not be smart enough to do what you do, but I support your efforts whole-heartedly.
Because I like old video games, I have a part-time love affair with emulators to keep my collection of games running without the catch of too many legacy hardware problems. Atari 2600, Colecovision, Commodore 64, DOS, and arcade cabinets are all on my PC's hard drive in software form. But again, I am lazy. You see, it takes genuine effort to keep up with the development behind some of these platforms.
For instance, I recently got a MAME itch again that required some significant scratching. So I downloaded the latest GUI MAME client and pulled the old CD-ROMs out of the closet. And there's the catch. The key word in that sentence is OLD. I acquired that ROM set in 2002, a full seven years ago. As the MAME client develops, it requires certain ROMs to update their file sets as well. My ROM set is very out of date. So even ROMs that I have don't work and that requires to reach out to the intarwebs for update downloads. It takes a lot of time for me to find these updates because while some sites have the ROMs available, a lot of them don't keep their sets updated either. And because these things are still copyright protected, that drives the honest preservationists further underground.
So once I figure out that it's going to take way too much work to even keep this tiny little collection of ROMs functional, I give up. Once more, I am lazy. The reason I started feeding off of the the emulation scene in the first place is that I have a strong desire to preserve these games. Their original hardware has a shelf life. It will stop working. But software can fill the gap. Unfortunately, it just takes a lot of effort to keep things working and compatible, so even my modest efforts will be wiped out.
Of course, all of this is simply to state that I applaud the efforts of the true preservationists, the people that are doing their best to see that roots of this new medium are preserved and do not die a slow and silent death trapped in the webs of intellectual property law. To those people: I might not be smart enough to do what you do, but I support your efforts whole-heartedly.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Writer's Slack
It is sometimes difficult to get the wheels turning or the gears grinding in my cognitive machinery to write on a regular basis once again. There can be so many reasons for the apparent writer's block, none of which have anything to do with lack of subject material. First, after being gone so long, where would I start? So much has changed that filling in the monumental gap would take time that I quite frankly do not have. Second, if time is of the essence, should I record the major milestones from the minutiae of our existence, simply denoting events that occurred, or should I dig into some mental gewgaw, some philosophical plaything to purge some of that intellectual energy? In time I should get to both if I once again make a habit of sitting down to weave together these pointless threads of introspection that will someday be the only extant map of my existence. Onward.
The minutiae did indeed include some remarkable events during the last two months. We moved out of bucktooth central, our apartment building of six months, and into a house in a suburban Omaha neighborhood. Not so mysteriously, our physical and mental health improved drastically. Also, we celebrated Nicholas' first birthday on the 14th of February. He had a great time visiting with his Grandma and Grandpa B. and Nana (his great-grandma Moore). We did take some pictures, but I will have to find some other time to share them. Finally, Amy and I also celebrated ten years of marriage. It is a significant milestone, a testament to our devotion to one another. Also, we rolled over another number into a higher decimal place on the ball-and-chain odometer, like watching your car hit 50k miles, which is always a good time. On a side note, I find it wholly self-satisfying to not only have our wedding anniversary in such close proximity to a Hallmark (R) holiday but also the birth or our son which allows us the freedom to celebrate more personally meaningful events and avoid the trappings of an otherwise overblown day.
As for the other thoughts I have that I'd like to share, I will save that for later in the week. I am currently on Spring Break and will hopefully have the time to sit and wonder as I wander, metaphorically of course.
The minutiae did indeed include some remarkable events during the last two months. We moved out of bucktooth central, our apartment building of six months, and into a house in a suburban Omaha neighborhood. Not so mysteriously, our physical and mental health improved drastically. Also, we celebrated Nicholas' first birthday on the 14th of February. He had a great time visiting with his Grandma and Grandpa B. and Nana (his great-grandma Moore). We did take some pictures, but I will have to find some other time to share them. Finally, Amy and I also celebrated ten years of marriage. It is a significant milestone, a testament to our devotion to one another. Also, we rolled over another number into a higher decimal place on the ball-and-chain odometer, like watching your car hit 50k miles, which is always a good time. On a side note, I find it wholly self-satisfying to not only have our wedding anniversary in such close proximity to a Hallmark (R) holiday but also the birth or our son which allows us the freedom to celebrate more personally meaningful events and avoid the trappings of an otherwise overblown day.
As for the other thoughts I have that I'd like to share, I will save that for later in the week. I am currently on Spring Break and will hopefully have the time to sit and wonder as I wander, metaphorically of course.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
The Ol' Antichrist Hitler Ploy
I know I've been absent for quite a while, but this particular video made me poke my head of the hole for a couple of seconds. This is the funniest segment I've seen on The Daily Show for a long while. I don't know who is giving these crazies a legitimate voice but I know that this group must be stopped. Or laughed at. Heartily.
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Based on one of the best movie endings ever, one of my favorites anyway:
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Based on one of the best movie endings ever, one of my favorites anyway:
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