Proportionately long post title
...22 and a half foot poooooole!!!1
Lots of stuff has been going on lately. Really, lots–it’s crazy. I haven’t even had time to update my blog all this time, and I know I kept saying I’d update more frequently. I’ll keep saying it again! Ha! Anyway, I have a lot to cover in this post, so bear with me if this turns out to be really long. Even if it does, I assure you it’s well worth the read. 
Now then, hopefully I can try and tackle this in chronological order without completely screwing up…
First up we have EXGN. Basically, we used to be EXRP (a strictly GMod RP community and server), and now we’ve officially expanded to EXGN (a multi-game community and server network). We used to have a CSS and TF2 server before, but they were always kinda in the background and nobody really paid any attentionn to them. Now it’s official and we have everything flawlessly set up internally to run all the servers at once, so we’re good to go. Since my last post, I got a new server; completely dedicated this time–that server is all mine! Really good specs too, quad core, assload of ram, buncha space, connected to 3 backbones, etc… I’m set for quite some time with that server I think. Then I had to configure all of it, which took a while since the hosting company I’m with didn’t provision the IPs properly, after that I set up the sites again, set up the new EXGN site, and then all the games. Everything’s running suspiciously smoothly now, so I’d say I’m quite proud of myself. 
Ubuntu is good for laptop
In order to set up the Garry’s Mod server without using a graphical X environment, using Xvfb, I had to use the -Y argument while connecting to SSH. It took me a while, but I finally figured out that this only worked when connecting to a Linux server from a Linux client. I had dualbooted Ubuntu before on my desktop, but I really have no use for it. However, I’ve gotten a laptop since then, and Vista really doesn’t run too well on it–bam, there’s a good reason to put Ubuntu on it; let’s do it! It took a while to get the partitions planned out so that I could have a primary NTFS partition for Vista, a primary FAT16 for it’s recovery and boot crap, a primary Ext3 for Ubuntu, a logical Ext3 swap, and a logical NTFS “data” partition to share between the two OS’s. Problem was for some reason Vista only wanted two primary partitions as Ubuntu would allow four, but then if I had four Vista wouldn’t allow me to have any logical partitions–it made no sense at all. After about an hour of deep thought and frustration, I finally got it figured out and installed Ubuntu with my carefully devised new partition table. Once Ubuntu was installed, however, the wireless card didn’t work–even after following all of the guides and forum posts online. After a couple days of trying to figure it out, I accidentally installed a module called linux-backports-modules-intrepid that automatically gets the wireless cards working. So, this is to any of you that have AR242x wireless cards out there: Just install that module, don’t do anything with modprobes or blacklists, and everything’ll work out just fine on your first try.
Next up: School. Ah, lovely, lovely school. I’ve been having some problems with my Algebra 2 teacher, such as when she gives us homework on stuff she hasn’t really explained, and that really set me behind–so much so that my final grade was failing and that I had to pull off an 88 on my semester exam toady. I really hope I did, I don’t know how I’d live with myself if I didn’t. The way it works here if you fail a class is you have to take it again the next semester. Then you take what would be the second semester not the first semester of the next year, but the second semester. Since I’m a junior right now, that means I would have only one chance to pass that second semester–if not, I wouldn’t be able to graduate. So yeah, this is really eating away at me and haunting me when I try to go to sleep at night, so I really hope the above situation doesn’t become a reality. I think I did well on the exam; at least an 88 I’m sure. I didn’t struggle with anything, everything seemed completely logical, and I’m positive I didn’t make any stupid mistakes like bubbling in the wrong answer or using the wrong method to answer a question. …Enough talk of this, I really want to get it out of my head so I can enjoy my Christmas and vacation.
FPS-town awaits me
Speaking of Christmas, my parents are surprising me with some new computer hardware I picked out and watched my dad order today. I’m really happy about that, as the hardware is really good. A general rundown: E8400 Core 2 Duo, 8800GT, 2GB DDR2 RAM (my old RAM was DDR, and wouldn’t be compatible with my new mobo), GIGABYTE UD3R motherboard, and an Antec 900 case. Nothing bleeding edge, but still really great and definitely a big upgrade from what I have now. I’m really excited for this, and can’t wait to play games on my new rig and see how amazing my FPS is. I’m taking stuff like the power supply and hard drives from my onw right now of course, and my old parts may go to my mum or dad. Depends if it’s better than my dad’s right now, which I think it is–he’s using a PCI 4x graphics card. Yeah, I didn’t even know they made those anymore either. Well, that settles it I guess.
I went to chop down my own tree last weekend (I think, my concept of time greater than two days is nil) and that was really fun. My parents and I drove up to the mountains of Cloudcroft, NM. There was about two feet of snow in some areas, so that made everything better. I brought my camera to do a kind of mockumentary (of Bear Grylls and Cloverfield if you’re interested), which is downloading right now and so far I think the footage is turning out quite nicely. The majority of it near the end is the epic struggle of dragging a tree up an 8-story hill. I’m glad there was snow, as it would’ve been impossible to drag the tree up to the top with dirt. Even with the snow, it was really tiring. There was really cold winds, and the temperature got somebit below freezing at one point, minus wind chill. As I said, it’s converting and stuff right now so I’ll have to edit it tomorrow. I’ll try to post it real soon, mmkay? It should be quite entertaining. I’ll try for tomorrow.
Last topic to cover, unless I think of something else, is the ol’ dreaded search for the perfect MMORPG. It keeps going. And going. And going… Ashen Empires released a massive update that fixes nearly every problem in the game, as well as adding and tweaking with a bunch of new things like nicer graphics, GUI redesigns, etc… They also released a new expansion pack titled Tides of Fate, which basically adds boats to the game. Pretty cool I think, as it opens up a whole new element to the game which is great, but the boats seem to be rediculously overpriced–the starter boat is around one million gold–I only have 1.5 million, and Son has around 4 or 5 I think, but he’s level 101 (I think) and I’m 34. People say the top-tier galleons cost around 15mil, which is ridiculous.
Above: Lucia Noxnoctis
I tried Guild Wars today from a trial code Lawrence got when he purchased the game. I set my expectations rather low; just expecting it to be another failed WoW clone. However, it’s actually really good. It’s themed just like your generic medieval crap, but it adds some nice quirks and twists that make it unique. Really, it seems like a blend of SRO, SWG, and WoW, which is really nice. One could say Ashen Empires in some cases, but that’s a whole different genre I think. Anyway, F2P is a definite pro, and the combat is quite nice. Questing is also good, as it isn’t just grinding like most RPGs are–like WoW. Yes, I’m aiming that at you, WoW fanboys. Go play a game that’s the least bit fun, mmkay? The biggest con I’ve found so far is that all the male characters are rediculously ripped to the point that they just look really, really unsightly. I’m going to be looking at my character for the whole time I’m playing this game, and more specifically: their ass. I really don’t want to be staring at a ripped guy’s ass all day, so I made a female character. Actually, that’s not much of a con at all. Hmm… Well, the FPS is good given the quality of the graphics, so surely something’s wrong there. Yeah, let’s go with that for cons.
03.7.08Getting back into it
I went to the doctor yesterday, and he said I have a bit of a more serious stomach flu. Some bacteria killed all the ‘good’ bacteria in my intestines that help me digest complex carbs, so I can only digest simple carbs right now. Kinda sucks, today being a pizza night and there being a slim chance of honouring that tradition and all.
If you haven’t gone to stage6.com in a while (which you undoubtedly haven’t since it’s shut-down), you’ll see that they’re now promoting ‘Veoh’ as an apparently decent Stage6 alternative. Veoh apparently supports .divx files now, which is the main point I think. It’s obviously not up to par with Stage6 in terms of picture quality, but it comes pretty damn close–much better than YouTube and all it’s cheap, community-less knockoffs. I’m thinking about moving my videos to them, as hosting them here has already proven to be a bit of a bandwidth hog. We’ll see. I like having the control over it, though; no need to worry about it going down or anything. Well okay, there is a worry, but you catch my drift.
As for your blogly EXRP update, I’m getting back into the jist of things. These last two weeks were really hectic, leaving with me not much time or energy to code EXRP-Script. All of the exciting stuff is already done, and all that’s left is the boring, behind-the-scenes stuff that requires long hours of tedious code for even the most simple of things–I don’t think this helped, either. Anyway, I’ve been taking a few breaks here and there, which is quite apparent, but I’ve been coding non-stop before–I deserve them. I’m in no way going to give up, though; I’ve already put countless hours into this, and I’m way too far in to put those hours to waste. I don’t know if we’ll be seeing EXRP-Script this month, but stay tuned. Don’t get discouraged by that, either–you know my estimations are nothing to live by.
Anyway, that’s pretty much it. I wish I had something more exciting to say, but I don’t. Just stay tuned for more EXRP-Script news as I get back into the routine of coding all the boring stuff.
02.27.08Delay
Shh, I know, I know. I don’t like the sound of it either, but there’s gunna be a delay in the launch of EXRP-Script. It’s about 70% done now, and I could launch on time, but it’ll seem very anticlimactic. All this waiting for something that’s not even done yet–I don’t like the sound of that at all. Half of everything will say “coming soon” and there won’t be any SENTs or SWEPs. It’ll suck–truly. That’s why I’m delaying it. Okay? Don’t get angry. I’ve just had a lot on my mind/plate lately. I’m human too, you know. (Although my brain is made of nanites and my blood contains code…) Anyway, point is, EXRP-Script will be delayed for a bit. I don’t know exactly how long, but I can’t imagine it more than two weeks. That’s not to say that it will be two weeks, but it won’t exceed it. I’ll let you know once I get an estimate. In addition to the actual coding, I have quite a bit of reorganization to do within certain things–namely staff. I want to lay down some very very basic rules and lay down a tougher standard for applications. Nothing too big, I’m still the same ol’ friendly “X”.
Well, I’ve been busy. Actually, not really. I’ve just been playing Roller Coaster Tycoon 3, watching random Youtube videos, downloading all the good Stage6 videos, and reading/watching things about Spore. I wanna make Disney World in RCT3, but I need the expansions to do a lot of things. Meh. I’ve been kinda obsessed with WDW recently, dunno why. I’ve been watching a lot of on-ride videos and getting a lot of nostalgia while doing so. Fun. As for Spore, I can’t wait to play it. I saw a really cool video of it from a past E3 where Robin Williams creates his own creature–it was so ugly, it crashed the game when he tried to make it produce offspring. Fun stuff; makes me want to play even more. Plus Robin Williams pwns–I never knew he was a gamer.
That’s pretty much it. I’ve been really tired lately, which surely contributes to the delays. Hopefully I can get more sleep. Lets just leave things off with a good ol’ kung fu skit. Yeah, everyone loves those! Plus it has Jackie Chan–bonus!!
[youtube width="425" height="355"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uRjSboqWKc&feature=related[/youtube]
02.25.08Stage6 is shutting down
Well, as you might’ve already heard, DivX’s Stage6 video hosting site is shutting down. I don’t blame them, though. The bandwidth and webspace costs must have been unearthly. You can read more about it on their site. It says it’ll only be up until the 28th–that’s when they’re shutting down. It’s really sad to see something so great go, but I guess everything must be put to an end at some time. As for me, I’m using the DivX Web Player for my videos now; They’re all hosted on this webserver. I made a PHP page to dynamically load the DivX files, thumbnails, and video dimensions–and it actually didn’t take too long. I’m just glad that I could stay with DivX, I love their format.
And for your daily EXRP update pleasure, I’m deeply considering a delay. March 6th is about what I’m thinking, at least, but we’ll see how it goes. I still have 3 days to whip this gamemode into shape, so there’s still hope. If not, then I guess we’ll just have to wait a little bit longer then, right? 
I’m sure you’d like a gamemode that’s thoroughly made instead of one that’s rushed out to meet randomly placed deadlines. Trust me, it’ll be worth it.
Update grief, new logo
I won’t elaborate on it too much, as I really can’t be arsed after complaining about the exact same thing several thousand times on exrp.ca, so I’ll just make it short and sweet: Gmod’s latest update screwed everyone over. Massively. Almost everything broke–including EXRP’s roleplay script. I’ve been remaking it for a couple weeks before, but it was really simple at the time, and not really playable. Then out of nowhere, here’s the update! Oh, wait, no. It’s broken. And again. And again. AND AGAIN. How many times does it take you to get something right, Valve? You updated at least 4 times that day. As I was saying, though, EXRP has a new script. It’s cleaner, nicer, sleeker, and better. It’s kinda basic right now, but I personally think it’s already better than the last. Of course, DM minges don’t really agree with my point of view, and the majority of the staff doesn’t quite seem to care. But meh, what’s it to ya?
Anyway, Dvondrake Studios has a new logo, as you might’ve already seen. I got tired of the crappy crescent I made years ago, as it was… Well, crappy. I didn’t really know what I was doing back then, to be honest. I still love the text, however, but I just changed the glow to a neon-y blue colour. I love it. My only complaint about my new logo is that I found it hard to get the penguin to ‘fit’. If I made it too bright, it looked out of place. If I made it too dark, you couldn’t even see it. The plasma-esque glow seemed to pull it off alright, though. We’ll see how it goes.
That’s pretty much it. I’ve reorganized my DivX a little bit; made a channel for Dvondrake Studios. I’ll be uploading a lot more stuff there sometime, as I slowly get back into the machinima groove. I have a lot of footage on my hard drives, and it’s just taking up space there, not being used. This stuff is pure gold, though. It needs to be used. It talks to me in my sleep saying, “Dooooooouuuug, DOOOOOOOOUUUUUUG, USE ME IN A FILM! UUUUUUUSSSSSSEEEE MEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!”
As you can see, I’m tired. I think that’ll be all for tonight…
Higher quality stuffs!
I’ve uploaded more high quality versions of my films, so hopefully that’ll make people happy. I’ve also uploaded the Breen teaser to DivX Stage6, and I must say that it’s simply amazing. Best quality out there.
I can’t upload BSOD or Cooking with Gen to it since I can’t convert them to .divx files, but that’s okay. They don’t need the insane quality Breen and The Story of Gman do. Yep, I’m uploading TSoG to it. We’re gunna be working on the sequel today, so we need a high-quality version of the first. I’ve made the whole video 30% brighter, so you’ll be able to see things better and enjoy the film more. I’ll be reuploading and whatnot when it’s done rendering.
I couldn’t post any higher quality versions of Headshot? and Varied Darkness, since I don’t have the source files for them anymore. 
Oh well.
As for TSoG II, we’ve got the very beginning and the very end perfectly planned out. Now we just need to fill in the center. (Reverse Twinkie)
Update: TSoG I is now globally reuploaded with the new digitally remastered twice over version. Time to start TSoG II!
06.3.07Brightcove added
I needed a streaming video thingy for my videos, and Youtube is a bit too lossy TBH. FileFront is okay, but it takes forever to upload stuff. Anyway, in an attempt to find a better streaming video service, I found Brightcove. It seems pretty good, so I uploaded most of my videos onto it. We’ll see how it goes. I’m thinking of trying DivX Stage6 later.
I’ve also added the Breen Teaser to the Films page.
Summer
The summer is here and I’ve got tons of stuff on the way! My goals for this summer vacation are as follows…
I also have some news up on skyboundonline.com about it’s progress and the SkyEngine and whatnot.
Breen Teaser/Preview
So, Redrik/Teru/General Direction/whatever his latest alias is and I are making a new Gmod movie, this time a who-done-it murder mystery based off a TV show, Monk. So far, it’s great. We have the murder scene and the ‘title slide’ all done.
Take a look.
Cooking with Gen!
Maybe you would’ve guessed it, but I’ll just tell you anyway. Redrik and I have made a new Gmod video! This time, it’s called Cooking with Gen, and is a short, 6-minute cooking show. He may not be as good as Emeril Lagassi or the Iron Chef, but he’s as good as it gets in the world Gman lives in, whatever that may be… Hey, he’s the General chef!
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