The Bridge

Arda Xi

8:06 PM

Hmm, I think I just can't be nice.

Powerlord

Oh, there's already a cvar to turn on medieval mode... tf_medieval 1

Arda Xi

That reminds me, I have to put SRCDS on my VPS

badp

Pizza has been had.

Arda Xi

resists urge

Powerlord

Pizza? Did it have... wait, I'm not supposed to say that any more.

Arda Xi

8:18 PM

This makes no sense.

arienh4@arienh4.net:~/srcds$ ls
hldsupdatetool.bin
arienh4@arienh4.net:~/srcds$ ./hldsupdatetool.bin
-bash: ./hldsupdatetool.bin: No such file or directory

And yes, it is chmodded properly.

badp

@Powerlord Ham. It had ham. And mushrooms. And mozzarella. And tomato sauce. And that's it.

Powerlord

@ArdaXi Did you chmod it with the execute attribute?

Arda Xi

@badp So Prosciutto con Funghi then.

sjohnston

Delicious fungus and swine pizza

badp

Exactly.

Arda Xi

8:20 PM

@Powerlord chmod +x

But then it would say permission denied.

It claims the file isn't there.

Powerlord

@ArdaXi Hmmm... is this a 32-bit or 64-bit Linux?

Arda Xi

64-bit.

badp

That dash is suspicious

Arda Xi

Wouldn't that pop up another error still though?

badp

-bash: ./hldsupdatetool.bin: No such file or directory
↑
?

Powerlord

8:21 PM

@ArdaXi It should, but I've seen bash sometimes give you that error if the 32-bit libraries are missing.

ia32-libs on Debian/Ubuntu (I think)

Arda Xi

I'll try

Powerlord

Not sure what it's called on other package managers.

Arda Xi

Yeah, this is Ubuntu.

I would never give up apt.

@Powerlord It worked. Thanks!

I still find the whole thing weird.

You download a file, which downloads another file, which updates the original file.

Powerlord

I didn't think it updated the original file.

I mean, you don't really use hldsupdatetool.bin ever again, but rather the steam binary

Arda Xi

You download the HLDS Update Tool, which downloads some Steam binary, which updates the HLDS Update Tool

Well, yeah, hldsupdatetool.bin is just a self-extracting archive containing the update tool, I suppose.

Powerlord

8:25 PM

I've always used ./steam -command update -game tf -dir .

Arda Xi

True.

Powerlord

Because I have a separate user account, and tf/ctrike/hl2mp all install into the orangebox directory anyway.

Arda Xi

This is the first time I've used it on an actual VPS.

Powerlord

Granted, I had our other admin rm -r hl2 on me.

Arda Xi

I used to home-host a dedi, with NTFS junctions going to my Steam directory.

NTFS does have a lot of neat hidden features.

Wow, downloading the update tool takes long.

This always confused me.

No installation record found at ./orangebox
No installation record found at ./orangebox
No installation record found at .
No installation record found at .
No installation record found at .
No installation record found at ./orangebox

Does it expect it to pop up just because it's checking or something?

Powerlord

8:30 PM

I'm not sure why it checks multiple times like that.

I thought it usually checked once.

Bob

0

Q: Are the contents of chests in battles random?

When battling enemy troops in King's Bounty: The Legend, the battlefield will often contain one or more chests. I make it a point to open a fair share of these chests, which vary in contents from a negligable amount of gold to the extremely useful Might/Mind/Magic runes. So I was wondering - ar...

Arda Xi

I don't know, Valve stuff has always been buggy for me.

But I don't complain so long as it works. Regardless of how many times I have to keep retrying the command.

badp

Meta Gaming has hit 500 questions. \o/

Arda Xi

Question. Why is the hldsupdatetool downloading the media folder?

Powerlord

@ArdaXi Is this part of the initial install, or is it specifically installing TF2?

Arda Xi

8:36 PM

TF.

Powerlord

Because it downloads all of the HL2 shared files, and since HL2 launched for the Mac, this includes a bunch of stuff TF2 doesn't really need that are part of the HL2 standalone game. >:/

Arda Xi

This is ./orangebox/tf/media/

I also don't get why ./orangebox/tf/sound is needed.

Powerlord

@ArdaXi To validate that clients aren't trying to use different files on pure mode 1 and pure mode 2 servers.

Arda Xi

So why do you need the actual files for that?

Powerlord

True, you could just store the CRCs... hey, don't ask me, I didn't write it.

Arda Xi

8:40 PM

I doubt it does bit-by-bit validation.

Valve's entire set-up is very hackish.

badp

Reputation from questions to be capped at 500 + 500 every 2k rep (@Drake, phear.)

2

Arda Xi

Wait, so it's gonna cap at 500?

Shaun

@badp I think I am in support of this idea. I think that, overall, habitual answerers have a better feel for the needs of a site than habitual askers. Habitual askers can be limited to knowing about their own questions, but habitual answerers will see a wide range of what goes on.

Arda Xi

That's 100 upvotes in total.

badp

...plus 500 every other 2k

Arda Xi

8:50 PM

Ah.

So that's 100 upvotes per 2k of rep - question rep

Shaun

I think they need to take care not to overly-limit it, though. Good questions provide as much value as good answers. It's the questions for which the site even exists.

Mana

I agree with the comment on the accepted answer about how this might make sense on the trilogy but not so much on other SE sites

Our main problem right now is that we need more questions. We have great users who spend lots of time editing, closing or waiting for questions to be asked so they can answer them, but we don't get enough questions to take full advantage of this.

I'm not sure how much this sort of change will end up affecting us. Maybe it won't be a big deal.

Arda Xi

@Mana Only one thing to do. Ask questions!

Mana

But I just feel very hesitant to accept a change that might damage the potential to have questions asked on this site.

Arda Xi

I've got a ratio of 7% Q/A

Mana

8:57 PM

Yeah, but as Jeff says, this change is to discourage having questions asked for the sake of asking questions.

Arda Xi

Badly phrased.

What he means is asking questions for the sake of rep.

You shouldn't do anything for the sake of rep. Unless you're a planet.

Mana

true

Powerlord

If you're a planet, you have better things to do, like pulling @Mana with your gravitational pull.

Arda Xi

@Powerlord Well, yes, but @Fabian isn't here.

I wonder how much people have noticed that there is text in my avatar.

Bob

0

Q: sm-ssc: where to put my songs

I have installed stepmania fork sm-ssc under my ubuntu 10.10, but I can not make it load my Songs... I've downloaded some packages and put it into ~/.sm-ssc/Songs/ but it still doesnt get loaded... where should I place the Songs to get them loaded in the game?

stepmania

Shaun

9:07 PM

It's kind of a Catch-22. You shouldn't do things for the sake of rep, but rep is how the sites create an incentive for posting good content.

I actually liked the suggestion of scaling down the points per upvote of your questions.

I'd suggest a progression that scales upward as the post reaches certain thresholds. For example, the first 9 upvotes (those before "Nice Answer") are worth a point. The next 15 are worth 2 (those before "Good Answer"), etc etc. Once you break "Great Answer", they're all worth 5 points.

badp

Quick calculation shows that, e.g., Drake got ~3k rep from questions

He's got 5k, so that makes 2k from answers and a 1k cap from questions.

Net loss: 2k rep.

Bad Drake! Asking good questions! What were you thinking.

Bob

0

Q: Help me find an old game - controlling a ball through different levels

Hi everyone i am trying to find an old game wich i played in the late 90's. it's a game where you have to control a small ball through different levels. each level is a maze of different tiles. the ball is automatically bouncing between the walls in the different mazes, and you have to stear it...

old-games

Arda Xi

I love it how nobody remarked upon the fact I just basically confessed I did stuff just to gain rep.

It's like you already know me.

Also, is it just me or do we have a worrying influx of identify-this-game questions lately?

Aardvark

9:23 PM

@Arda so far the questions have been detailed enough that they tend to get answers, this both impresses and surprises me

but there are a ton

Powerlord

I can't even read all the text of that one and I'm still tempted to say "Marble Madness" although there's probably some detail in the part I can't see that would make that wrong.

Aardvark

@power:

it's a game where you have to control a small ball through different levels. each level is a maze of different tiles. the ball is automatically bouncing between the walls in the different mazes, and you have to stear it through the maze, avoiding dangerous "tiles" and smashing other sorts of tiles for points. as an example, i remember a certain level, where the tiles were made of ice, wich made it harder to control the ball. there was also a "bonus tile" wich allowed you to smash a lot of tiles at once.

Arda Xi

SE should have a utility that throws every question through a sentence case converter.

C. Ross

@ArdaXi Maybe a mod tool ...

Arda Xi

@CRoss Well, no, I mean when posting.

C. Ross

9:27 PM

meh, maybe ...

badp

C. Ross

I don't trust automatic grammar tools

Arda Xi

I think I'll just write a bookmarklet that does it for you.

@CRoss Well, it's not really a grammar tool, just capitalization.

C. Ross

@Aardvark not sure why, but it reminds me of Chip's Challenge

Arda Xi

@CRoss Chip's Challenge didn't have a ball. Although it does have an ice level.

C. Ross

9:29 PM

no it didn't

Powerlord

@badp Arkanoid isn't really a maze.

badp

@Powerlord That's why I didn't post it as an answer; the description is strikingly similar to that game though.

Powerlord

You know, I vaguely remember a game where you took a ball through a maze from a top-down perspective, but I don't remember if you had to smash blocks in it.

badp

Besides, Apparently, Arkanoid was set in a labyrinth.

Arda Xi

Funny, it can be interpreted as meaning Arkanoid, except you don't control the ball in Arkanoid.

badp

9:32 PM

This one? (Marble Madness)

Powerlord

Cameltry

Cameltry is an arcade video game released in 1989 by Taito. The game ran on Taito's F2 system hardware and used the same optical rotary system utilized in Taito's 1986 arcade game Arkanoid. It was later ported in 1992 to the Super NES, and in 1993 to the FM Towns computer. The Super NES release was titled On The Ball in North America and Europe, and was compatible with the Super NES Mouse. The gameplay consists of moving a ball through a labyrinth by rotating the board itself around the ball. In 2006, Taito released an updated version for the Nintendo DS in Japan called Mawashite Koron...

aka On the Ball... but I don't remember smashing blocks in that one either.

Arda Xi

function toProperCase(a){return a.toLowerCase().replace(/^(.)|\s(.)/g,function(b){return b.toUpperCase()})};

I had no idea it was that easy

Shaun

-1

A: Should we cap reputation gained from questions at +2000?

I'm for the spirit of this proposal but against the methodology of employing it. A few users have suggested solutions in the neighborhood of what I think is best, but haven't nailed it. The goal here, as I understand it, is to mitigate the reputation gain for people who ask tons of mediocre ques...

That discussion ended a bit ago in here, but I was busy collecting my thoughts into a coherent post. :)

Apparently, someone already disagrees with me, though. :o

Aardvark

@Arda with a regex, its always that easy ;) (cue regex debate)

Arda Xi

@Aardvark Actually, This Converts It Pretty Badly.

Well, it does proper case. I need sentence case.

badp

9:37 PM

@Shaun The vast majority of questions has less of 10 upvotes, that's why there's a badge for the 10th upvote. You're suggesting reducing the rep gain for the vast majority of questions by 5 times...

...while giving those few outliers even more outrageous rep than they already have

~

In other news

tasvideos.org/ConsoleVerifiedMovies.html

Aardvark

@badp isn't rep considered to be a largely imaginary value? The real value is people using the site, not the imaginary kudos

badp

TASVideos is starting testing their runs on actual hardware, thanks to an Andruino

@Aardvark Rep is what hooks experts.

Aardvark

I was surprised to find Jeff Atwood uncomfortable with the amount of rep generated by good questions

badp

You don't mess with reps light-heartedly

Aardvark

@badp you can always add rep, never remove

badp

9:40 PM

@Aardvark -1

(see what I did there? :P)

Aardvark

I liked it :P

Powerlord

@badp Like, say, making it so question votes don't award rep part 500?

Aardvark

I dunno, maybe I'm an oddity. I have had little interest in the reputation system since coming here, my satisfaction was someone telling me that solved their problem

badp

@Powerlord I know. I am concerned by the change.

Shaun

@badp Check my reply to your comment on the answer.

Arda Xi

9:41 PM

@badp I love how that in the Marble Madress[sic] one the camera can't keep up with the ball.

badp

►

@ArdaXi Have you seen some of the sonic TASes?

►

FallenAngelEyes

blargh

evening all

badp

evening

Powerlord

@badp Whats' with the two views in this one? GBA's not a dual-screen system...

badp

@Powerlord On the left what you can actually see, on the right a camhack that's always centered on Sonic

so you can actually see Sonic

> The screen on the left is identical to the normal version; the one on the right is made with a special emulator, hacked to force the game's camera to focus on Sonic, making it much easier to follow what nitsuja is doing with him. This version doesn't show the credits and anything following them.

Most of the level is broken while it's off-screen, though, which is probably why in later stages Sonic is mostly visible.

Powerlord

9:51 PM

Either Sonic Advance is really glitchy or the emulator he's using is... with all the running through walls crap.

Arda Xi

@Powerlord All those games are glitchy. That's what makes TASes possible.

FallenAngelEyes

I watched part of a Super Mario 64 TAS the other day where they didn't use the A button at all.

badp

@Powerlord The concerns about glitchy emulators is why one guy hacked an Arduino to play back TASes on actual NESes. I've already linked to the relevant pages and videos before.

FallenAngelEyes

It was really odd to see Mario not jumping.

Powerlord

@ArdaXi I've played games on buggy as heck emulators before, so you can't just assume the games are glitchy.

Arda Xi

9:54 PM

@Powerlord That's why they're confirmed on actual consoles.

badp

@ArdaXi Well, only some of those are to be fair, and others won't run there due to technical difficulties of some kind (can't remember exactly, the forums have more)

Here's an example of something going wrong:

►

Powerlord

The Marble Madness one I would have accepted without seeing it on an actual console, the Sonic one is skipping 90%+ of every stage by running through walls... that one I'd want to see on an actual console.

badp

@FallenAngelEyes That one has been confirmed btw: youtube.com/watch?v=VUVzUaNoqY0&feature=related

provided you're talking of the one that doesn't run

(I haven't seen one with Super Mario not jumping)

FallenAngelEyes

The one I saw was Mario 64, not original

Bob

0

Q: Black Ops: 50 or 100 points for a kill?

I always seem to get 50 for a kill but on youtube those gets 100. Is all about the game you play; or how you kill someone? Thanks Mike RocketGoal

multiplayer call-of-duty-black-ops

Powerlord

10:09 PM

Oh hey, if you get Sonic Adventure for the 360, you can download an update for it to turn it into the Director's Cut version.

Can't check how much it costs to upgrade, though.

Ew... 400MSP? $5 USD just for some extra missions?

Arda Xi

For the 360...?

I can imagine getting it for the Wii, but..

Bob

0

Q: PS3 Blueray 5.1 audio playback with older receiver?

I'm having problems using my PS3 as a Blueray player and getting surround sound from my receiver. First my setup: I have both a Tivo Premier and PS3 connected to my Sony LED TV by HDMI. The Sony receiver is connected to the optical out of the TV because it doesn't support HDMI. The Tivo has no...

ps3 5.1 audio

Powerlord

As far as I can tell, the only version available for the Wii is the GC version.

and by that I mean finding an actual disc of it.

Bleah, apparently Sonic Adventure for 360 was on sale on XBLA back in December. Wish I'd known that, I would have gotten it.

Brant

10:25 PM

SA2 was better.

Has anyone tried Torchlight XBLA?

Arda Xi

text.toLowerCase().replace(/(^\s*\w|[\.\!\?]\s*\w)/g,function(c){return c.toUpperCase()}) Perfect.

All hail the power of regex.

Bob

10:46 PM

0

Q: What Wrench should I use? (TF2)

I have no clue, I like crits with the normal wrench, but the bleeding on the SH is awesome with spies. I like the faster build time with the jag, although I think it should also add metal for upgrading on in increments of 50 instead of 25. And if I had a golden wrench, I'd use that all the time. ...

team-fortress-2 valve engineer wrench

0

Q: iPhone point and click adventures

I'm on a long flight tomorrow so need a point and click adventure game to keep me amused. On other flights, I've already completed both Monkey Island and Broken Sword games, which were great, but would like any recommendations for other good games for iPhone in that genre. Thanks