What the HELL - x16/x16 vs. x8/x8 crossfire

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/crossfire-pci-express,2095.html

I don't have any revelations about this. What I can tell you is there is about a 5% performance loss with x8/x8. However there is a rule of thumb that might work.

As you increase the graphics processing requirements such as higher resolutions usually above 1600 x 1200 or as you turn up the shader and AA as your FPS drops the gap between x8 and x16 will grow larger. Now understand this is with both cards running at x8 or both at x16. A single card of the same model will never out pace a crossfire setup.

If your above 60fps on x16 you won't see much change. You might see 58fps on x8

At 50fps you will see about 45fps on x8. At 40fps you will see about 25fps at x8.

So this basically tells us the harder the cards work the bigger the gap. If you aren't pushing the limits of the cards you will likely only see your best performance gains with crossfire at very high resolutions.

Game crashing on atioglxx.dll

I have been seeing all kinds of posts with crazy solutions to ATI driver crash issues and blue screen problems impacting a particular ATI .dll file.

ati2dvag.dll infinite loop problem for example.

Of course look to see that you have the latest drivers. This doesn't always work however and removing and re-installing is worth trying but likely won't work either. The method I suggest is to replace the offending file with either the latest version of that file or a older version. The re-install doesn't hit that file because it is locked by Windows and is being used. If you boot in safe mode you usually can't get the setup for the driver to work. So boot up in safe mode and follow my procedure.




This is a OPENGL problem and the new opengl doesn't seem to work in many games on Vista.

The fix is easy:

Goto C:\ATI
then to the 8_7 files
search for CMD
then

cd C:\ATI\SUPPORT\8-7_vista32_dd_ccc_wdm_enu_65998\Packages\Drivers\Display\LH_INF\B_66369

(this just happens to be the location of this file for this example
on a XP machine I found the file ati2dvag.dl_
C:\ATI\SUPPORT\8-6_xp32_dd_ccc_wdm_enu_64783\Driver\XP_INF\B_64997)

expand atioglxx.dl_ atioglxx.dll

and copy the new atioglxx.dll to c:\windows\system32

replace your newer file

Home Grown TV

More and more people are overcoming the controls placed on them by big media companies. They are producing unique focused content that likely won't make them famous but certainly can cause a following. They are opening more doors than just sitting at home playing an odds game. This is reality TV. Made by real people not mass media companies. Your looking at the next generation of media pioneers. If you enjoy their work donate anything to help them grow. Their success will pave the road for many more future success stories.



http://theguild.blip.tv/posts?view=archive&nsfw=dc - better quality than Youtube
http://www.watchtheguild.com/

The Guild on The Web

IMDB
Wikipedia
MySpace
Facebook Fan Page

Core Facts about The Guild

• Over 6 million hits web-wide
• Completely funded by Fan Paypal donations since episode 3
• Almost 1/2 of our donors are women
• The 10th episode will be the Season 1 Finale

Games Gone Wild, Not Even Close

WildTangent announced Orb, a new PC service designed with compatibility as a primary focus to have the plug it in and start playing experience, the way consoles work today. Orb will act as a portal for "console games," defined here as games designed for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and let you download and play games in its entirety or in play sessions, which will cost you via tokens or free through watching advertisements. These ads will be a short spot upfront, then you can play without interruption. THQ and Sierra have signed on, with Sierra promising to bring titles to the service "day and date" with console launches, according to WildTangent CEO Alex St. John.



Up to this point I see one game that I saw in Best Buy for about $15. The system requirements for this game were so low that I wasn't willing to take a chance even for 15 bucks.

Here is the description and link:

Battlestar Galactica
Inspired by the famous series, it's a fast and furious arcade-style space combat. You're the pilot and you must choose to defend the Galactica as a hot shot human flier, or cause havoc as one of the ruthless Cylons as they seek to destroy humanity. Enjoy action packed single-player battles or feel the adrenaline rush of multi player skirmishes with up to 8 players. Avoid annihilation with stealth moves and use destructive weapons like missiles and guns.

My final thoughts on this: can we trust this company? Wasn't this company the notorious Wild Tangent Adware company that made out lives miserable. Maybe they are putting their talents to something more productive and enjoyable. If the big names show up then I can see this being a big hit.

The reason Windows Live for the PC is failing is because of the monthly fee for online play. We are burdened enough with the high cost of these games and a monthly fee for every dam thing. Get your freaken hands out of my pocket. Just follow the Steam model, follow the Sony model and stop what is the real piracy of the 21st century.

So what does a Berkeley dropout do?

I was going to write a program to replace FRAPS. This guy did just that and its free. This isn't rocket science but it is computer science. No spyware, no ads, no time limits. The utility also lets you record and post at the the same time. They claim great performance. From everything I see up front I think this is a job well done and is going in my hotpics list.

Take back control of your in game desktop

http://www.playxpert.com/

http://www.playxpert.com/web/guest/product

PLAYXPERT is a next-generation in-game community management tool set developed for PC-based and MMO games. Built around a completely unique in-game overlay technology, PLAYXPERT brings the tools that gamers use into the games they play.

Basically it is a kernel level widget that embeds itself into you directx stream. By doing this it will bypass any and all protections or restrictions that your game environment might have. It allows you to pull up web pages, communicate, take notes, or do just about anything you can think of. You can access Itunes or Winamp for example. This is possible because the developers have ported .NET functionality. We are going to see lots of game database tools.

Of course this is directx 8 - 10 compatible. It appears to be in a closed Beta and I'm not sure what this might cost if anything apon release.

http://www.playxpert.com/web/guest/press/news

Registration is open but the client download is currently disabled.

Sorry. The client download link has been temporarily removed while we prepare a new version of the product.

Simply Fun

http://www.kloonigames.com/crayon/
Explore the world of physics is a whimsical way. Time killers? Maybe, but look at all the crap we fill our heads with. There are loads of games out there that can fill the void of time but for me these bring a little of that childhood feeling back to life.







Another game that is unusually fun is Desktop Tower Defense
DeskTop Tower Defense

Free Valve Games for Nvidia Gamers

By the way Nvidia sucks, but if they want to buy my friendship who's to stop them.

Portal:First Slice
Half Life 2: Deathmatch
Half Life 2: Lost Coast
and Peggle Extreme
These are downloaded from Steam.


http://www.steampowered.com/nvidia/

Flight Sim Goes Orbital

http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/

This is a great learning tool or could be incorported into a class project.

ORBITER is a free flight simulator that goes beyond the confines of Earth's atmosphere. Launch the Space Shuttle from Kennedy Space Center to deploy a satellite, rendezvous with the International Space Station or take the futuristic Delta-glider for a tour through the solar system - the choice is yours.But make no mistake - ORBITER is not a space shooter. The emphasis is firmly on realism, and the learning curve can be steep. Be prepared to invest some time and effort to brush up on your orbital mechanics background.

Gears of Flight without the war.

http://www.flightgear.org/

The FlightGear flight simulator project is an open-source, multi-platform, cooperative flight simulator development project. This is too good to be true. If you are serious about your flight simulation you might want Microsoft's flight simulatorX on Vista with DirectX 10. If you just want to try a flght sim to find out its the most boring game ever you can try this program. When I say most boring I failed to mention train simulations. If you like planes and flying you don't have to play a high speed and stress battle sim to have a good time. This is a great place to start.

Who Knew?

http://www.gametap.com/home/play/free.html

GameTap has lots of games that are free to play with an expiration date of Dec 31. That is Dec 31, 2008 by the way. They change up the games available weekly and these aren't demos, these are the full blown games.

Get that Old Girl Ready for Battle

So that new game you got as a holiday gift won't play or bogs down that PC you spent 2 grand on two years ago, now what are you going to do?

May be it just needs tweaking. The first thing I recommend doing is freeing up system resources. The biggest drain on your PC is likely a bloated virus scan like McAfee or Norton. Remove those, save some money and install one of the free virus scans I posted. FreeAV is the best I've tested. You should also think about removing unnecessary toolbars and quick launch applications. You need at least 1 Gig of Ram for gaming and I recommend 2 Gigs. For Windows7 or Vista 64bit I recommend 6 gigs or more.

If that doesn't help try:



America's Army Tweak Guide
Amiga Emulation Guide
ATI Catalyst Tweak Guide
Battlefield 1942 Tweak Guide
Battlefield 2 Tweak Guide
Battlefield 2142 Tweak Guide
Battlefield Vietnam Tweak Guide
BioShock Tweak Guide
Call of Duty 2 Tweak Guide
Call of Juarez Tweak Guide
Crysis Tweak Guide
Dark Messiah of Might & Magic Tweak Guide
Doom 3 Tweak Guide
Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind Tweak Guide
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Tweak Guide
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars Tweak Guide
Far Cry Tweak Guide
F.E.A.R Tweak Guide
Firefox Tweak Guide
Game Music Extraction Guide
Gamer's Graphics & Display Settings Guide
Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter Tweak Guide
Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 Tweak Guide
Half Life 2 & Source Engine Tweak Guide
Halo Tweak Guide
Hardware Confusion Guide
Joint Operations Tweak Guide
Neverwinter Nights 2 Tweak Guide
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 Tweak Guide
Need for Speed: Most Wanted Tweak Guide
Nvidia Forceware Tweak Guide
Prey Tweak Guide
Quake 4 Tweak Guide
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Tweak Guide
Star Wars Battlefront Tweak Guide
Star Wars Battlefront 2 Tweak Guide
Star Wars KOTOR 2 Tweak Guide
Thief: Deadly Shadows Tweak Guide
TweakGuides Tweaking Companion
UT2003 Tweak Guide
UT2004 Tweak Guide
Unreal Tournament 3 Tweak Guide
VIA Hyperion FAQ
Web Hosting - Ten Basic Tips