Messages

1051

Trouble Shooting / Re: Crosshair Color

« on: August 10, 2008, 08:03:36 PM »

I don't even think you have to put it in the pak.
Put it as a stand alone file in the quake2/baseq2/pics folder and the ch1.pcx, ch2.pcx and ch3.pcx files will override the ones in the pak.

1052

/dev/random / Re: Crazy map

« on: August 06, 2008, 08:38:15 PM »

This map was preserved on the net by the great work of Deacon and Rosco of ClanWOS. www.clanwos.org
The full map with all textures is at http://www.deaconstomb.org/pub/q2/maps/blevel.zip
This map probably appeared on tastyspleen servers when the Loxophilia server map collection was merged with it.

1053

Discussion / Re: no "numberone" sound on server

« on: August 04, 2008, 10:24:26 PM »

It might be an artifact of Quake2.

There are a limited number of sound channels in the game (6 or so). It's possible to be picking up an item or playing a sound that overrides the numberone sound if it was programmed to play in the same channel. It depends on how the mod was coded. If you have the sound on your client but it doesn't always play, this may be what is happening.

1054

Quake / Re: FreeBSD server

« on: August 04, 2008, 09:57:46 AM »

Too bad. That spells the death of a mod. If a developer is going to stop supporting his code, at least he should put the source up somewhere so that others can carry on.

1055

Quake / Re: FreeBSD server

« on: August 03, 2008, 05:52:11 PM »

Is Lithium still maintained by anyone or is the source code available? Leaks and bugs can be fixed.

1056

/dev/random / Re: Large Hadron Collider

« on: August 03, 2008, 05:42:45 PM »

Antimatter is created and destroyed routinely in particle accelerators. High energy particle collisions yield a host of secondary particle anti-particle pairs that fly off in various directions and spiral around in the detectors depending on their mass and charge. Most of them last only micro or nanoseconds before they collide with another particle in the detector and are absorbed or annihilated. Mutual annihilation of matter/antimatter usually emits photons or other particles that are absorbed in tertiary reactions in the detector.

Unfortunately, it takes far more energy to create and contain antimatter than it yields in return.

The some of the materials exposed to high energy reactions in particle accelerators also become radioactive and eventually contribute to the volume of radioactive waste that must be contained and disposed of.

The best place for Safe Nuclear Power remains 94 million miles away in a nice gravitationally-confined sphere available for free.

1057

Trouble Shooting / Re: R1Q2 troubles

« on: August 03, 2008, 08:29:53 AM »

No.

Try this:

Put -nopathcheck on the command line you use to launch r1q2. This will require changing it in the program you use to launch it or in the desktop shortcut.

1058

Trouble Shooting / Re: R1Q2 troubles

« on: August 02, 2008, 10:38:42 PM »

Install Quake2 in \quake2 on any drive. Don't install it in a deep path like c:\program files\idsoftware\quake2

The message is caused by a safety check of the path to your Quake2 installation to prevent buffer overflows.



There are two problems:
1
Quake2 defines MAX_OSPATH as 128 characters.
R1ch subtracts MAX_QPATH (64 bytes) from it to obtain 64 characters that he will allow for a path to the current directory of the game. This is needed to establish the buffer size for Quake 2 to access the file system and I suppose the 50/50 split was deemed reasonable.

2
All old mods and many current ones use this same 128 character limit from "q_shared.h" so the buffer must be fixed at that size or it could potentially break (crash) most mods.

The fundamental error is that under Windows NT systems: NT, XP, Vista, the true MAX_PATH constant defined for the OS is 260 characters and that is the constant that Quake 2 code should have used in the first place.

I believe the MAX_PATH for Windows 95/98 was 256 as that was the standard in C90/99 at that time.

To top it all off, Linux can use values from 256 to 4096 depending on flavor and vintage and it's called PATH_MAX in <linux/limits.h> with the additional limit that NAME_MAX is 255 or thereabouts.



Anyway, move your Quake 2 installation and you will be fine.

1059

/dev/random / Re: My life flashed before my eyes...

« on: July 27, 2008, 08:02:06 PM »

If they paid for an FBI report and to have you bonded they paid for a credit check. The fees charged by the CRA's are very small to banks, IIRC, on the order of $10 or $25, small change compared to running NCIC or FBI on you. Most places have an account with Experian or TRW and they can do it in about 5 minutes or less. A bank can run your credit report cheaper than you can... up until the federally mandated free annual one became law.

Ever test driven a car at the dealership? Did they make a copy of your drivers license before you went on the road with the salesman? Guess what the back office at the dealer was doing while you were checking out that spiffy new car... they were running your credit to see if you had spiffy credit to buy the car. It is also the basis for the interest rate and/or down payment on the loan they will offer you should you decide to buy it.

One customer I attend does BI's on anyone coming to the facility for longer than a couple of weeks. We're talking full DoD clearances, etc. They have you sign a FCRA disclosure form where you must agree to allow them to run a credit check. They are more concerned with that aspect of the forms than any other. The DoD stuff can be run no matter what and they do, but you better sign this here FCRA form or else.

1060

poetry / essays / short stories? / Re: Quotes

« on: July 26, 2008, 09:23:41 PM »

I had nothing left to double up with. I limit myself to a certain amount of cash in hand when we hit town. Once the cash is gone, that's it. Time to hit the shows or dinner and chase the wife upstairs or head home. Best I ever did was two $100 jackpots one night on a $1 progressive slot machine cluster. Total winnings paid for the trip plus $47. Second best was $90 jackpot on a quarter machine the first night in Vegas while attending CES. Dropped another $400 the rest of the weekend. Where'd that guy go with the "Quit while your ahead" advice?

1061

poetry / essays / short stories? / Re: Quotes

« on: July 26, 2008, 02:54:32 PM »

who is the fool who said, "Quit while you're ahead"?

The stick man at the craps table in Vegas... just before I put it all on the field. 7 in 12 chance paying out 1 to 1, better than 50% odds, and leave it to me to lose it.

LOL! and to that he says "Double up, catch up." ... as I watch my last $5 chip on the come and my wife rolls a natural against the point.

1062

/dev/random / Re: My life flashed before my eyes...

« on: July 26, 2008, 02:32:08 PM »

I've worked in the corporate back end of 2 banks and and a school, and have had everything from FBI background checks to a thorough review of all my places of residency since 10 years before I was born. So far no credit checks.

I guess some places feel that if a person is irresponsible enough to default on loans, then they're probably not going to be a responsible employee either. Makes a little sense, but I still find it to be a loathsome practice. Sometimes these companies overstep their boundaries. Christ, at what point does someones personal life become THEIR OWN???

Short answer: Never. Your personal life and the evidence (credit report) of it indicates who you are.
A person deep in debt might be inclined to steal or embezzle. A person in debt might be bribable or encouraged to spy for money. A person with a bad habit involving expensive "services" or items might be blackmailed into doing something illegal or against his employer. Background checks for jobs involving security clearances always involve credit checks. The fact you didn't detect the credit check does not mean it didn't happen.

1063

/dev/random / Re: My life flashed before my eyes...

« on: July 26, 2008, 02:01:57 PM »

bank held my large "credit" against me.  Said I had to much credit.  WTF?  Never payed a bill late, never ran a balance in anything.

That's odd. Must mean that they can't get enough money from you in interest.

My dad has awesome credit. I wish he'd tell me his secrets.

I'd ask him. I didn't ask my dad and I wish I had, but then he watched me build my credit when I was young and I am sure he would have said something if I was being an idiot about it. My first CC was a dept. store card (now inactive) and 2nd was a Visa that I still keep active.

Simple answer: Use your credit wisely.
Don't run up big balances and then under-pay or pay monthly minimums. Don't spend on credit more than you could otherwise afford to pay in cash that month or in a month or two. Pay off your credit card balances first, then keep them low. Don't close unused credit accounts. Keep them locked up once they are zero-balance. Close the ones that charge annual fees but never close more than one per year, that will hurt your credit score even if you initiate the closure. If you have annual-fee cards, call the CC company and see if you can get them to make it fee-free, it never hurts to ask. If they don't have a free card, take a lower interest rate, they do want to keep you if you are paying as agreed. An inactive credit card shows "Pays as agreed" even though it is classed inactive by the CC company holding it.

If you have CC balances, pay the highest interest rate cards off first, pay twice the minimum or 1/2 the balance off until you get to zero, then lock them up and don't use them except in dire emergencies. Pay off car loans on schedule, double up if you can afford to, especially early on in the life of the loan as that will pay down the principle ahead of schedule and you will save the interest. Don't pay it off too early if their is a early payoff penalty. Pay it on schedule and bank any reserve cash after your monthly budget.

Always keep a savings, even if you can only afford to put away $50.00 a month. Don't buy that Wii or 72-inch TV if you have to give up spare cash each month. You simply can't afford not to save and luxury items are NOT a necessity of life even if the commercials tell you they are. Instant gratification won't make you truly happy if you have to remain in debt.

Keep your job, layoffs can be unavoidable but don't be a 2-year per job resumé builder. Continuous employment at one employer for 5 or 6 years is much better than 3 employers over the same period. When I see resumés of 30 year old VP's who spend two years at places and move on with all kinds of "lean" and "saved costs" and "Black-belt" and "implemented JIT" and other buzz words I see a guy who has no commitment to the company he works for who is solely interested in his own career and hasn't learned anything useful except how to polish a resumé or his bosses knob. Because at 30, he didn't "implement" anything, he participated, probably as a minor player in a commitee who steered the project and they probably fouled the whole thing up so bad they made up the numbers just so the President could claim it a success.

If in school, stay in school. Student loans may feel like an axe over your head but if you can stay in school during a job slump in your region you will be better off in the long run.

If graduating, look for a job with good long-term prospects, preferrably in a position that is a profit-making position rather than an overhead position. Being in Management may seem attractive but new hired "management" is a liability when profits are low and layoffs are coming.

Never let a lender talk you into taking on more debt than you can afford. How much can you afford? If you have to eat dog food to make the monthly mortgage, it's probably more than you can afford. That big house comes AFTER you have that cushy management job at the local chip foundary.

Your credit score does NOT depend on whether you keep a balance on a CC or whether they are making money off you on interest. They make money on each transaction so the interest you pay is gravy to them. It's also really stupid to keep a balance on a card when you can afford to pay it off.

1064

/dev/random / Re: My life flashed before my eyes...

« on: July 26, 2008, 01:33:22 PM »

to top it off I had to ARGUE with the bank that I didn't want to spend as much money as they wanted to give us.   Why?  Because I knew how much we could afford monthly & what they said we should do was WAY more then we could afford.  They didn't seem to care we needed to eat & pay taxes on the house. 

Just maybe that is the reason why the banking industry is in bad shape today?

Yep. They over-extended to get their commissions, got tacit or even active approval from their underwriters and now we see the results.

1065

Jokes / Re: Nerd Humor.. har har

« on: July 20, 2008, 07:46:51 AM »

Man, that takes me back. I coveted a Cromemco when I was in college. Now I am glad I couldn't afford one at the time. Somewhere in my attic I have an Imsai front panel from the good old S-100 days. I have some nice Z80 microcomputers on STD Bus cards too. They were a lot better.