Emulation on the PSP:

I haven’t installed a single game on my PC after I brought my PSP. I almost feel as if I should’ve purchased it EONS ago. What really is the point of upgrading your PC< when you can do everything, except programming, on your PSP?? And you can carry the PSP everywhere you go! What was that? Lack of functionality? Not many options when it comes to gaming? Earth calling to .

Have you checked the homebrew community? They have everything from new games to friggin alarm clocks for the PSP. I have also seen some REALLY good programmers put out everything from emulators for the N64 on a PSP to a Linux port that runs on the PSP. Do you have any idea as to the humongous library of games that are available for even one of these consoles? That in itself is a HUGE advantage. Add to that portability.

If you are able to play that classic game of Mario Kart 64 on your flight, isn’t that everything you ever dreamed of ? Add to that watching movies, recording, and camera snaps. Isn’t that what most people use our PC’s for?

And I have also beta tested a bit torrent downloader for the PSP. To me, the PSP is the single most dominant piece of hardware that I have around me at all times. Whatever Sony’s intentions were in making this piece of hardware, I’m sure they hadn’t expected it to be used thus? Laugh on Nintendo and your army of fan boys ?

Record movies in HL2/CS:S efficiently?

Ok, it seems many people don't know how to do this, so I will explain how this is done. All you need are the game itself, VirtualDub , and the trial of DivX Pro, which can be downloaded. NOTE: When I say to type something such as "record [filename]" in the instructions, I mean type it without the quotes. When I say click 'File > Open video file', I mean click the File menu, then the next option, which would be 'Open Video File' in that case.

Step 1: Recording the Movie in Half-Life 2 / Counter-Strike : Source as a Demo
(If you already have the demo file you want, skip to Step 2)

Open the game, and when it's time to record, open the console by pressing the tilde (~) key. Type "record [filename]" and press 'Enter'. Replace '[filename]' with whatever you want the demo to be titled. When you're done recording, open the console again and type "stop".

When you're ready to leave the server and start Step 2, read on.

Step 2: Converting the Demo to TGA Files

Change your video resolution in-game to whatever size movie you'd like. I use 640x480 since no larger is really necessary, and a single 640x480 frame is 900KB, which means 1/3 of a second of a 30FPS movie is 9MB. 1 second = 27MB. Huge, huh?

Then change your audio (if you want the audio to be recorded at all) to 2 speaker, and not headphones or 5.1 or whatever. You can leave the Options window open if you'd like.

Open the console. Type "host_framerate #" and press 'Enter'. Replace '#' with however many FPS you want the movie to be. I suggest 30 - it's rare any higher is necessary, and again, 1 second @ 30FPS = 27MB. Higher FPS = higher movie size.

Then in the console, type "startmovie [filename]", and hit 'Enter'. Replace '[filename]' with whatever you want the movie files to be called. This can be the same as the demo name, it doesn't matter.

While still in console, type "playdemo [filename]", and hit 'Enter'. Replace '[filename]' with the name of the demo you want converted. At this point, the demo will start, the frames will be rendered slowly (you'll experience 5 to 20 FPS most likely), and will be saved off as TGA images (many of them... host_framerate X length of demo in seconds).

When the demo is done and you're back at the menu, open console and type "endmovie", and hit 'Enter'. This will end the capture. If you don't enter this command, the menu of CS:S or HL2 will be recorded as additional 900KB+ frames. We don't want that, now do we?

Close the game. Go to Step 3.

Step 3: Putting the TGAs Together into an AVI

At this point, I'm assuming you downloaded and extracted VirtualDub. If not, go back to the top of this page.

Open VirtualDub, and click 'File > Open video file'. Navigate to the folder of the game (in CS:S, this will be the cstrike folder). Make sure 'Image Sequence (*.bmp, *.tga)' is selected in the 'Files of Type' drop down menu. Double-click the first image of the record sequence. There will be HUNDREDS (maybe thousands) of these images, double-click the first one.

VirtualDub will read them and begin piecing together a movie. We're not done yet, though!

Choose 'Audio > WAV Audio...'. If you can't select it, choose 'Audio > Full processing mode' first, then 'WAV Audio...'. In the same folder as the TGA image sequence, there will be a WAV file titled similarly to the images. Double-click this WAV file. VirtualDub will attach it to the movie.

Now, if you want to chop out parts of the movie, do so by finding the beginning frame of the part you want chopped and press 'Home'. Then find the last frame of that part and press 'End'. Then press 'Delete'. Do this with all useless / pointless parts of the movie. The WAV will also be chopped up, which is why it is important that the WAV be inserted before chopping!

Once you're done editing, it's time to set compression. If you don't want to compress, or want to use another program to do it (WM Encoder, for example), just click 'File > Save as AVI' and you're done. But if you want it to be small, and not the 500MB+ file an AVI itself is, you need compression. So, make sure DivX is installed, then continue.

Choose 'Video > Compression'. Choose the DivX codec, and click 'Configure'. Select 'Slow' from 'Encode Performance' - this will yield a slower processing time, but a better quality video with better compression, which means a smaller file to download. Click 'OK', then 'OK' again to leave the VDub compression dialog box.

Now choose 'Audio > Compression'. Choose 'MPEG Layer-3' from the list on the left, and a bitrate (preferrably stereo of some sort) from the right and click 'OK'.

Choose 'File > Save as AVI'. Locate where you want it saved, and what you want it called, and click 'Save'. VirtualDub will now work on compressing the video into a nice little DivX-based AVI file. Enjoy!

Trojan in DotaKeys !

If you are an avid fan of DotA AllStars, you'd probably know that farming is one of the most important parts of the game, other than pwning other heroes' heads. But farming is difficult for newbies. I hit upon this software called "DotaKeys" made by a guy who called himself "Fucko". I didnt have any problem with this guy, until I updated his software. The software downloads a backdoor trojan which might compromise your computers' security to this guys whims. I googled the problem and I came upon this post. Here, this "Fucko" dude goes about bashing anyone who tells him hes given them a program with a trojan. 

He argues its open source, and even provides a link for its source. SURE its open source, who denied it!! All Im saying is that the program itself doesnt contain malicious trojans. These appear once you update the program.

And just for all of you people who are thinking how he made this program, there is a software called Autohotkey. A pretty nifty program that has its own language, a compiler, and what not, all under 2 MB !

Im working on an alternative to this program, and am going to release it maybe by this months' end. Thanks as always for a patient read

Warcraft III screen garbled? Resolution problem?

Is your warcraft III game screen garbled, or reverts to some unknown resolution each time the game starts? Cant see anything on the screen except colored lines?...I have the solution!

I experienced the same problem a while ago, and was jubiliant when I discovered the solution. The method, in 10 steps is as follows :

1. Goto Start -> Run

2. Type "regedit" without quotes. This is to open the registry editor.

3. you would be presented with a screen with 2 panes. The left most pane will have items such as HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT,etc

4. Expand "HKEY_CURRENT_USER", then expand SOFTWARE

5. You should see a key called "Blizzard Entertainment", expand that too

6. Now expand Warcraft III then expand Video

7. We'r almost there!! You should see a series of blue colored keys on the right pane.

8. Double click on reswidth. *Click Decimal* THIS IS IMPORTANT! Then,type in 800

9. Double click on resheight. *Click Decimal* THIS IS IMPORTANT! Then,type in 600

10. We are done now! Go ahead and start the game, the resolution should be fine now. I have demonstrated with 800x600 resolution. You can try it for any resolution you want I have also tried it with 1024x768 and it works!! Just replace 800 by 1024 and 600 by 768. That should do it!

Ford Offroad Racing??

I recently got my hands on Fords Offroad racing game. This isnt a new title, but I thought of picking it up anyway...

The gameplay is good, though the AI doesnt give up much of a competition. I found the handling pretty smooth. The responsiveness is good too.

There isnt anything more to say about this game...Its just your typical offroad racing game, in which all the cars were Fords Land Rovers!!

The game gets a 2 out of 5..

Registry error loading key 'Warcraft III\InstallPath'

1) Retrieving the cd-key

So u lost the game manual with the cd-key on it... There are a non-legit programs to retrieve lost cd-keys from the game.

So u still have v1.18.

For the cd-key grabber: http://www.securegamers.com/shadowfr...abber11800.exe

Of course u can get another key from Blizzard the Legit Way.

2) Just move the game back to C:\Program Files\

3) To have it where ever u want:

So ur game is still on the other partition/harddisk.

U can config a lot o stuff with regedit, especially in Windows itself, by the way.


When u move the game to an other directory the registry files remain unchanged.

The v1.19 patch at least needs to know where the game is located(from InstallPath).

So u need to use the Registry Editor and just rename those registry files' directories.


But if u don't know how to do this stuff ... well ...

Guide:

Start -&gt; Run Type: regedit
My Computer -&gt; HKEY_CURRENT_USER -&gt; Software -&gt; Blizzard Entertainment -&gt; Warcraft III

Warcraft III:

InstallPath = from C:\Program Files\Warcraft III in D:\Warcraft III for example.

Program = from C:\Program Files\Warcraft III\Warcraft III.exe in D:\Warcraft III\Warcraft III.exe for example.

War3CD = E:\ no change needed.

Warcraft III -&gt; DelOpt0(Savegames)

Path0 = C:\Program Files\Warcraft III\save

Path1 = C:\Program Files\Warcraft III\save

Path2 = C:\Program Files\Warcraft III\save
Warcraft III -&gt; DelOpt1(Replays)

Path0 = ...
Warcraft III -&gt; DelOpt2(Logs)

Path0 = ...

Path1 = ...

Path2 = ...

Path3 = ...
Warcraft III -&gt; DelOpt3(Errors)

Path0 = ...


The rest of those registry files u see there are fine.

Slave hack??

I just ran into this online game when browsing online. I was fascinated by the name itself. I ran a search on google and found out, it was a terminal based hacking game within a web browser!

This game runs within a web page, and installs no spyware on your pc, as no software download is required at all! I have played many other terminal based hacking games before, and have found the genre interesting. I decided to give this a try.

Im still a n00b at this, and will update this blog, as and when I reach advanced levels on this game, meanwhile, I would reccomend you signup for this game at here.

Until next time!

d3dx_??.dll missing ?

This message is commonly found while starting direct X applications such as games. This is one message a software pirate should be aware of. This normally happens with ripped off games wherein the games installed version is given out instead of the games installation itself. All you have to do is hit up the message in google, go to one of the sites, and then place the downloaded dll file into the folder in which you have the game. This is normally caused due to programs which remove fake files to free up disk space. Eg : System Mechanic

 

This message is normally followed with consecutive error messages of the same kind, so this is a pretty iterative process. Once you have all the files, you are ready to rock!

Alternative : Instead of placing the files within each games' folder if you have it missing in many games, you can place it in a system wide directory such as c:\windows\system32. This will ensure all games have access to these files.

How to get ANY game running on your PC !!

The following tutorial assumes that you have a minimum spec. graphic card such as the NVidia GeForce FX 5200 or something similar with a video RAM of atleast 64 MB.

1. Make sure you have the latest drivers for your video card. The latest DX version is also recommended.
2. You have to tweak the game to run optimally on your pc. The same rule holds no matter which game youre tweaking.
3. Games these days integrate an "options menu" into their games. Normally found on the starting screen. Go through the game menu and find it.
   Older games/ games from Atari also configure themselves from an external "Launcher" program. These are normally found in the same installation directory as the game.
4. Go through the configuration settings, go to the "video settings" and make sure everything is set to "low". Some games offer sliders to bring down the level of detail, so keep your eyes open.
5. Decrease the resolution within the game to about 640x480. This should make the game run faster on most systems, but then again, quality is lost out.
6. Run the game again. This time you'll find that the game runs faster!
7. If you still wanna tweak it, get a patch for the game. Patches sometimes support older graphic cards and ensure compatibility.
8. If "EAX environment sound" or "Hardware acceleration for sound" is enabled, you can disable it to gain some performance. This is especially useful if your game produces "stuttered" sound.
   Always look to play in "software" modes, rather than in "hardware" accelerated modes. This is becausethe "software" modes use the CPU contrary to the "hardware" accelerated modes' GPU usage. As your CPU's are always faster than your GPU's(assuming there is one), you can get a major performance gain.
9. Make sure you got ample hard disk space on your drive(YES, the one the game is INSTALLED on, and on drive C). Some games need to write their SAVE status to a drive every now and then. If you do not have ample free space, your game may not save your progress and may CRASH during gameplay. Most games I have played crash without even giving out a message when encountered with disk space scarcity.
10. Calculate the size of your page file and set it accordingly using the formula
    (3.5 * (The amount of RAM on your system))
    This should work wonders for your games.