The Dancing Poodle

I’m disappointed. I was all primed for round two with my Counter-Strike installation when…. everything went smoothly!

Admittedly, it took quite a while searching the internet to find a decent set of instructions to tell me how to install RealBots on a Steam install of CS 1.6, but in the end, it only took about 10 minutes to install everything and start playing.

And I’ve got to say, IT’S GREAT! After the bots learn the maps, they actually start doing all the right things (planting bombs, rescuing hostages, etc), and I’m lovin’ it!

So the moral of the story, I think, is, “Don’t start ranting about a subject unless you know you can finish it.”

Rats.

Anyway, I’m off to play CS.

Enjoy!

For those who haven’t heard, Microsoft have announced that Internet Explorer 7.0 will be available for Windows XP SP2. This is good news for those of us who, in spite of all good sense to the contrary, continue to use IE in the face of howling opposition from Firefox. Or Maxthon, which is of course based on IE6. What amazes me is the absolute revulsion some people seem to have for Internet Explorer, whether it’s based on fact or not. I refuse to be drawn into any argument as to the pros and cons of either, but would just like to say, “Hey people, lighten up!”

I really should have been warned. Over the weekend I bought a few copies of Half-Life at $15 a copy for myself and a few mates. Brought it home and installed a copy on my super Celeron 450 beast with 56k modem, and (surprisingly?) it ran like a charm!

But I’m really not THAT interested in playing Half-Life.

No, the REAL reason for the purchase was, of course, Counter-Strike.

So, since the latest CS version requires Steam, I downloaded the FULL 379MB CS1.6 + Steam install. Did I say I had a 56k modem? OK, let’s assume I DIDN’T download this file at home… First I tried FilePlanet. You know the one, “You are 85/85 in the queue. Wait time: 50 mins”. I get to the end of the queue, and… I have instantly FINISHED my download, with a file on my desktop weighing in at a HUGE 378 bytes. Yes, you heard me, bytes. OK, that didn’t work, and so far I have only wasted about an hour. Let’s try again. “You are 85/85 in the queue. Wait time: 59 mins”. End of the queue, and… you guessed it. 378 bytes. Fortunately, csbanana.com had the file and were much easier to download from.

After burning the downloaded file to CD, I went home to my aforementioned Celeron. Install went smoothly, and soon I was ready to start playing Counter-Strike.

Or was I? Those of you who have encountered Steam before will of course know that, when running Steam for the first time, it updates its own files before doing anything.

Did I say I had a 56k modem?

Time passes…

OK, Steam is now up to date. I register my username and copy of Half-Life, and have access to Counter-Strike, etc. Fantastic. Can I play now?

Evidently not…

It took a further FOUR HOURS before I had downloaded the files needed to play CS. Did I say I had a 56k modem? I am now able to play Half-Life and Counter-Strike both on-line and off-line. Of course, Counter-Strike is no fun on your own, so let’s get some bots.

But that story must wait for next time…

For now, my advice to anyone thinking of installing Half-Life and Counter-Strike 1.6 (and presumedly this goes for Half-Life 2 and any other Steam-powered game) with a 56k modem is, find a friend with broadband. Take your computer to his/her house and link up. Do all the downloading and installation while there and DO NOT LEAVE UNTIL YOU CAN PLAY OFF-LINE!

Steam seems like a cool system - automatic updates, license protection, etc. It’s unfortunate downfall is its need for large bandwidth. Please note, I have not yet played Counter-Strike on-line, and am not sure if I will bother (’cause everyone on-line is generally better than me and I turn into fragbait), but just the installation is enough to give a 56k modem a severe meltdown.

Cheers.

Feel inspired to start a weblog.

Insanity is a curse.

‘Nuff said.

I played the demo of Half-Life 2 over the weekend. Err, WOW! is about all I can say. Game play is very much like the original, but then, you couldn’t really improve much on that.

The two levels given in the demo are quite a good introduction to the game. The first (Arrival) allows you to ease into the game, giving you time to make sure your machine is setup correctly to make the most of the oh-my-gosh-spectaular graphics (I needed to install new drivers for my ATI card) without much in the way of battle. The second level (”Don’t go to Ravenshelm”) throws you straight into the thick of things armed with your trusty crow bar and the anti-grav gun, one of the funkiest weapons of the new game. There’s nothing quite like picking up a circular saw blade, firing it at a bunch of bad guys and seeing their legs drop from under them.

The new physics model used in HL2 is amazing, with detail going down to the way a cardboard box will fold when it’s been broken open. Yep, this is one game I will be buying… as soon as I get the money together.

Free JavaScript Website Popup Menu, Cross Browser Drop Down Web Menus from Milonic. Free for non-profit sites, provided there’s a link to Milonic on the page. Neato!

I love this stuff!

A guy at work put me on to AxCrypt, an open-source file encryption program for Windows. Such a program comes in very handy when sending .exe files through a corporate email environment. Encrypt them with AxCrypt and the email filters can’t tell it’s an executable. Just make sure the person at the other end knows the password…

Fedora Project have announced the availability of test 1 of Fedora Core 4, right on schedule. One of its biggest claims to fame is… Power PC support!

It’s available from here or from one of the mirror sites (see this list)

I’m Bored - Flying Gonzo