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Lil_Buddy17
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Name: Travis
Country: United States
State: Oklahoma
Birthday: 11/2/1984
Gender: Male
Interests: I'm interested in all things theatre, dance, music, chocolate, and love...that's about all I can think of right now...
Expertise: um...not much...I'm a theatre major, but I'm not really an expert
Occupation: Student
Industry: Entertainment
Message: message meEmail: email me
Website: visit my website
AIM:  Lil Buddy1717
Member Since:
5/18/2004
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| I don't understand why it seems like everyone reacts negatively to me. It is as if I carry some aura of malice of which everyone but me is aware. It seems like everything I say and do is judged by others to stem from selfishness on my part. And I don't understand why. Because the truth is that I genuinely try to consider others before myself. I know I slip up every now and then, but that is not the norm. I have been in so many fights, and ruined so many relationships because of misconceptions that I was not even aware were present until it was too late to correct them. I'm so tired of fighting people for no reason.
I love you all. I'm sorry if I've said or done anything to offend you. But I don't know what else to do to make things right...
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| I figured you guys would appreciate this, so here it is:
About a week ago, I ran across a torrent of the original Descent.
Now, I'd been wanting to play Descent for a while, but my brother took
the CD when he moved out, and I kept forgetting to get it from him. So
I started playing, and called my brother to ask him to borrow Descent 2.
Now, my brother is notoriously unreliable, but I figured surely as he
was already scheduled to drop by the house over the weekend, he'd
remember to bring the game. But my brother didn't drop by the house
over the weekend...
So on Tuesday night when I got to level 26 (out of 27), I decided it
would be quicker to just download the torrent (20 hour download). The
next day, though, something came up and I had reason to go to his
house, so I borrowed Descent 2 and canceled the download. I start to
install, and it says this: "Error unpacking 2/HMIMDRV.386"  So,
thinking the CD must've been scratched, I restarted
the 20 hour download, and twiddled my thumbs until the next day. The
next day, I get up, mount the image to my virtual drive, start to
install, and... "Error unpacking 2/HMIMDRV.386"
Here begins the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.
So I search online for this particular error. Apparently the only web
page on the entire internet that mentions this specific error is in
French. I cannot read French, so I started searching for related terms.
After over an hour of fruitless searching, I decide that I should just
get some translator to tell me what the French page says. So I fall
back on the only internet translator I know of: babelfish. 'Twas a
horrid translation, but I got the general idea. I had apparently
forgotten that this Windows 95 program was DOS based, so I couldn't
have a space in the file path. I changed the installation directory
from 'Descent 2' to 'Descent2'.
INSTALLATION SUCCESSFUL! VICTORY IS MINE!!!
Giddy with anticipation, I push the play button. I get in the game,
start the first level. But I restrain myself. Because this time, I
want to find all the secrets. I recall a program my brother and I had
back when we used to play this game in the 90's which allowed you to
edit your inventory for a saved game. It could do many things, but I
just wanted the full map. So I saved my game before doing anything,
and went on a search for this program, unaware of the horrors that
lurked in-game.
Apparently this program is not nearly as popular as I thought. After
about 45 minutes of fruitless searching, I decide I'll just use the
cheat codes.
I start the game, load my saved game, and begin to play. But wait.
The ship isn't turning very fast. I check the options, but my
joystick/mouse sensitivity is already at full. Maybe I need to
recalibrate my joystick. I do so, and return to the game. Wonderful,
I turn at full speed now. Oh, wait...the buttons aren't working
So I go on yet another search for yet another problem. Here is when I
realize that most people who want to play Descent 2 on XP just get D2X-XL, which is
almost an entirely different game. I don't want D2X-XL; I want Descent
2. After a few hours of searching, I run across a program called SpanFix.
Apparently some programmer had the same issue, and figured out that the
problem was that the idiot who programmed the joystick for the game
assumed all joysticks had the same calibration settings. Thus when
using many newer joysticks, it doesn't read 'all the way over' as 'all
the way over'.
(You
will note that every single problem I had with the game after
installation would not have been an issue but for that one problem.)
SpanFix had one small problem. It only worked on the DOS executable.
(The game came with a Windows 95 executable and a DOS executable. The
Win 95 one worked perfectly in compatibility mode but for the
joystick. The DOS one would present other problems.)
So I run SpanFix on the DOS executable. I have a DOS emulator (DOSBox), so I shouldn't have
any problem running the DOS executable. I start DOSBox, run the game.
"Error: Cannot locate CD-Rom drive". I conveniently miss the word
'drive' at the end of that statement. My first thought, consequently,
is that it doesn't notice the CD mounted on my virtual drive (e: ),
because it is only looking in d: So I insert the hard copy of the
disk, and try again. "Error: Cannot locate CD-Rom drive". 
Thinking this is a problem with Descent 2 on a Win XP computer, I set
off on yet another fruitless search through the bowels of the
internet. Several hours later, I notice a phrase that appears when I
type in 'intro' in DOSBox: "For information about CD-ROM support type
intro cdrom"
So I type in 'intro cdrom', mount the virtual drive, and try again. IT
PLAYS! But with no sound... Oh, I forgot to run the DOS setup
program. So I run the DOS setup program and tell it to auto-detect the
sound card DOSBox is emulating (Gravis
Ultrasound). So I start the game again. "Error: Cannot
locate ultrasnd.ini"...
I step out for a minute for fear of throwing my computer at a wall.
When I step back in, I call my brother (who owns a computer service
company, by the way), and tell him I may need his help getting the game
to work. I then stare at my computer, dumbfounded, for a few minutes,
before deciding to look up a SpanFix program for the Windows 95
executable.
After about half an hour of fruitless searching for that, it occurs to
me: maybe I can just download the drivers for Gravis Ultrasound so the
game thinks I actually have
the sound card, and then DOSBox can continue emulating it. So I search
for the Gravis Ultrasound drivers. I then run into a gem of a web page
that now resides in my bookmarks folder, a complete
guide to running Gravis Ultrasound through DOSBox.
I go through the guide, step by step, and about half an hour later, I
start the game, and it works perfectly (but for a few minor sound
issues during the cutscenes).
Cue the Hallelujah Chorus.
So if any of you ever want to run Descent 2 on Windows XP, learn from
my mistakes. Don't spend 2 days trying to get it to work when you can
do it in an hour.
Smilies courtesy of cycorps.net | | |
| Fear
Regret
Anger
Jealousy
Impatience
Apathy
...I put on a smile for the masses every day...but I am broken...
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| If you ever get a chance to be a part of producing this play, take it; if you don't, watch it; if you don't get to do that, read it. It is quite possibly the best play I have ever had the honor of being a part of.
"I have been to 4 rehearsals now, and I have left every one of them feeling as though I've been touched by something greater than myself." -Me, after rehearsal tonight
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| Ever have one of those days where something just doesn't feel right? When you find yourself thinking/saying/doing out-of-character things because every little thing is irritating you for no good reason? When you go home inexplicably depressed, even though your day went just fine?
That's the kind of day I had today..
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