TechnocratTechnocrat’s Random Thoughts

Well that’s been a complicated question lately.

First I would like to apologize to anyone that hasn’t been able to get a hold of me. Though I have been around and try to answer all the questions and messages I get, I have been told I haven’t been really reachable. To anyone that feels that way I am truly sorry about that.

Both my personal and professional life has been more hectic than usual.

Personal

Late in 2008 my wife became pregnant with our first child. The initial happiness was short lived as 13 weeks into it she had a miscarriage. Obviously this was devastating to both of us.  It took a lot of time to work it out and get through it as I am sure you can imagine.

Then in the middle of last year she became pregnant again.  If you are reading this and have a child you know what the pregnancy is like, especially the first one.  Lots of appointments, classes, talking, reading, etc.  Most of my time when I am home has been taken up by that.

We are now in the final days of the count down.  She (it’s a girl) is due in February.  As I have been told and read in books my life for the next few months is going to be pretty full taking care of our new baby.  *gulp!*

So my time at home is limited and soon to be much worse.

Professional

I was promoted a few years back at my day job.  When I originally started I was given little jobs.  As my company soon found out I was a wiz at figuring out things (go figure).  Soon they started calling me the rabbit man, because they would give me vague things they wanted to do and want me to pull a rabbit out of a hat (I prefer to say my ass).  In the last two years the rabbits have been huge.  I have saved them probably close to a million dollars now in in-house development and projects.

But the bottom line is that my day job has been really busy as well.  This is where in the past I would spent much of my day working on the many side projects.

BUT!?

Some of you are on my steam and xbox account and have said I see you playing.  Well (don’t tell steam) I let my brother play on my steam account.  He is lots of time the one playing.

What about?

Nuke-Evolution? As I have said a number of times I am not going to continue to work on this.  Someone pointed out a while ago that it is probably time to start closing the site down and farming people to the people that are going to continue to carry on the project.  That has always been my intention and I think that time for that has come.

phpBB-Evolution? That’s a bit more complicated.  I am going to address that on the site it’s self.

phpInputValidator? I am still working on this project.  It’s moving forward.  v2 is almost complete.  I am very excited about this new release.  It will launch with it’s own website.  I am not sure when but very soon.

End

I would like to end by thanking everyone that has worked on, helped with, or used anything I have had the privilege of being a part of.

After some time working and polishing this project I have decided to release this project.  Its a library that allow you to fetch and validate php input using a verity of validations and options.  I think it’s pretty good project. Check it out:

https://www.assembla.com/wiki/show/phpInputValidator/

Here are a few cool tips/tricks that I have found to be really useful with Firefox 3.5 (many of these work in v3 and v2).

1) Duplicating a tab

Click on any tab and drag it down you will see a transparent mini window of the current page.  Hold CTRL and drag it back to the tool bar.

2) Keyboard/Mouse shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts

• Spacebar (page down)
• CTRL + T (new tab)
• CTRL+TAB (move between tabs left -> right)
• CTRL+SHIFT+TAB (move between tabs right <- left)
• CTRL+K (takes you to the search bar)
• CTRL+L (takes you to the address bar)
• CTRL+SHIFT+T (undo closed tab)
• / or CTRL+F (brings up find on page)
• ‘ (will bring up find but only search for links that match on the page)
• CTRL+N (new window)
• CTRL+# (that is a number not the # sign will take you the corresponding tab number they are numbered from left to right)
• ALT+ENTER from the addressbar (opens the page in a new tab)

Mouse shortcuts

(For these middle click can also mean wheel click depending on your mouse.  If you do not have one of these CTRL+LEFT CLICK will do the same)

• Middle click on any address history to open in a new tab
• Middle click on a bookmark folder to open all those bookmarks in new tabs
• Middle click on the back (or forward) button to open that page in a new tab
• Middle click on the home button to open it in a new tab
• Middle click on a link opens it in a new tab
• SHIFT+WHEEL SCROLL DOWN (goes back SCROLL UP goes forward)
• CTRL+LEFT CLICK (will select only a particular area.  This is hard to explain until you try it.  The best example is you want to highlight only something in one cell of a table.)

3) Auto-complete domain

When typing an address in the address bar you don’t need to type out the entire “http://www.techn0crat.com”.  All you need to do is type “techn0crat” then hit CTRL+ENTER and it will auto-complete the “http://www.” and the “.com” for you.

• CTRL+ENTER (.com)
• CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER (.org)
• SHIFT+ENTER (.net)

4) Word drag

You can highlight anything in FF and drag it some where else inside FF.  So for example you see some text you want to search for more information on.  Simply highlight it and then drag it to the search bar.

5) Tags to bookmarks

You may have noticed that with v3 of FF that when you start typing the address bar the smart search tries to help you find the address you are looking for.  Well you can add tags to your bookmarks to help the smart search find the correct bookmark for you.  Simply right click on any bookmark and click properties.  There you will see an area for tags.  Just add the keywords with commas.

I do a lot of projects using SVN (now linked to projects on Assembla).  Because I have so many and might work on 3 or 4 over a period of a couple of days I found myself wondering if I could make a batch file to update or commit all my projects at once.  That way I don’t have to go to the project directory everytime and do it.  I use tortiose for my windows SVN client and found with Google’s help how to do it.  First you need a .bat file.  Simple enough to do just start a new file in notepad and when you save it change it to a .bat.

Now all you need is one line.

TortoiseProc.exe /command:commit /path:”C:\project path\” /closeonend:2

For commit or:

TortoiseProc.exe /command:update /path:”C:\project path\” /closeonend:2

For updating.  Then just put in as many lines as you need for all your projects.

I have played lots of left 4 dead matches now.  I have most of the achievements.  I think I am a pretty good l4d player at this point.  In all my time playing I keep seeing stuff that drives me crazy.  So here is some stupid shit people do on left 4 dead.

Not listening is one things that drives me crazy.  I can understand if someone doesn’t speak English.  That I can totally get.  But when you know someone can and chooses to do stupid things even after you warn them not to is going to get you killed.  I can’t tell you how many times I have told someone to stay close, or back up, or watch for this, only for them to ignore me and then have the situation blow up on them.  I know most levels really well.  I know whats going to happen and what to do in 99% of situations.  So its not like I don’t know what I am talking about.  I also don’t field general a game.  But I am giving helpful and many times important advice.  So listen to me goddammit.

My fav is when I tell someone something and they tell me to shut the fuck up, only to have it happen to them.  I was playing the final level of Blood Harvest with someone that ignored me through most of the level and I ended up saving them countless times.  So we get ready to start the final event up stairs in the house.  He was standing in a window.  I told him to get out of the window and come closer to us.  His response was to tell me to shut the fuck up and not tell him what to do.  Ok…. 10 seconds later he gets smoker’ed out the window.  So I have to leap out the window, kill the smoker and then fight our way up stairs to get back to the others.  I then tell him if he gets caught again that I am not helping him.  His response was to act like a child and basically tell me what ever.  So we fight off everything, the truck shows up, and he is in the window again.  I tell him to get out of the window and get to the truck stopping point.  No response.  Ok so I about to get off the roof to where the truck will be when I hear the in trouble music.  I turn around to see him with a hunter ripping him up.  I could have gone back, fought it off and got to the truck no problem.  But I thought, screw it, so I left him.  Which led to him screaming like a girl for help, and save me.  We got on the truck and rode off.  During the credits was a long profanity tirade about how we just left him and how I am an ass.  Yeah what ever. 

Having people in an Expert game that do not have the skills to be there is another thing that pisses me off.  I play expert from time to time and I do a pretty good job.  But I can’t tell you the number of times I am in a expert game and someone that couldn’t do a normal game joins.  They will get lost, freindly fire people, or do other stupid shit.

The last thing I am going to cover is the Ragers.  People that try to make the game unpleasant so you will quit.  This can be done by using something like HLSS to play annoying sounds constantly, or running ahead and setting off events, or the more recent team killer incarnations.  Most of the time you can vote them off.  Sometime you can’t, which is where you have two choices.  Deal with it or leave.  Most of the time you can deal with it.  Best way is to kill them.  I hate doing this but lots of times you have no choice.  The best way to make this happen is to use the auto shotty and get as close as you can and unload in their face.  A couple of those will down them.  If you can the best thing is to leave them, but if you can’t for some reason, reload, help them up and repeat.  The third time they will be dead.  Then don’t release them late on.  Most of the time they will leave because they can’t get to you any more.

Here are some going pointers, strategies, tips, what ever for left 4 dead.  I am writing this because I am sick of people that don’t know how to play.  Some of these tips are for the PC version but most will apply to the other platforms as well.

As The Survivors

Listen

Always listen to the music.  It a constant queue to what is happening.  Every event (horde coming, tank attack, another player in trouble) has a different music accompaniment.  There are some occasions where music will overlap, like if you get vomited on, but you almost always can hear what is going on.  After you have played through a few levels you should have it down.  You should always know when a tank is coming, when the horde is coming, when someone is in trouble, etc.  Just LISTEN!

Listen for the other audio queues of trouble.  A smoker, hunter, or boomer all make noise and you can usually hear them long before you can see them.  It will help keep your eyes open for them and out of their clutches.

You will also usually hear a tank long before you see it.  So unless one of you stupidly sets it off you can plan on how to kill it.  There are a number of good strategies you can employ and I will cover a few a bit farther down.

Team work

This game is not Counter Strike.  You have to work together even on easy.  This means helping free your teammates from special infected, pulling them up, healing them, etc.  If you do not play well with others then play a different game.

You will also need to stay together.  Even more so depending on the level of difficulty.  So don’t go running off because the game director (the AI) will punish you and when they do you will be S.O.L because no one can get there in time to help you.

Help Me!

When another player is caught by a special infected you need to free them fast and before you do anything else.  You should know they are in trouble by LISTENING.  Don’t go heal, don’t shoot the other infected, go free them right now.  If you are close enough us melee, if you are to far away use a weapon, preferably the pistols.  If there are some zombies on top of the player and they are down kill them first, then help them up.  Or if another player is helping them up you should be helping defend both of them.

If a smoker is dragging someone close to you use melee immediately to free them.  You can free them the second they start to get dragged so why not help them before they get to the point of taking damage?  So act quickly.

Melee

Pushing the infected away is a valuable defense, so use it!  A good time to use it is when the horde is coming at you and you need to reload.  Hit the reload key then start melee’ing away until you have finished reloading.  You can also use it to push the horde back so you can unload on them without getting hurt by them.

Melee can also free other players from a special infected grasp.  For example when a hunter is on another player.  Use the melee to get them off.  When you do it will stun them for a few seconds allowing you to ether blow their brains out or you can keep melee’ing them until they die.  It’s much quicker than trying to shoot them off the other player.  It is also safer because there is less chance of friendly fire.  You have to use it on the boomer to push them back a safe distance so you can blow them away without getting any on you.

Communication

This game requires communication.  You will need to be talking to each other as much as need to convey things like where special infected are, or plans of attack.  This doesn’t mean you need to constantly run off at the mouth.  You also don’t need to have your mic set to be open at all times.  Push to talk works just fine.  We don’t need to hear your mom in the background asking you to take out the trash and your dog constantly barking.

Test 123

Also test your mic before you play.  You can do this under options->audio.  It will tell you if you are to quit or to loud.  So TEST it out.  If you are still to quit after you turn up all the setting you can under audio then go into your Windows control panel and under audio you will find the Windows settings for your mic.  You will probably find the setting is down to low, so turn it up.  Remember to test it again!

Don’t Steal

This game is about team work remember.  On the start/end of every level there are 4 health packs.  Which means you get one pack.  That’s all!  Unless someone says to you that you can have it, don’t take theirs without asking.

If someone accidentally swaps a higher weapon for a lower one then don’t pick it up.  If it’s not yours then leave it alone.

Close Combat

When you are close to each other and need to fire a weapon always aim down or away from other players.  Generally speaking it won’t result in friendly fire.

If you are in front of the rest of your team, duck!  That way they can shoot over you safely.

Wasteful

Don’t waste supplies.  Tossing a pipe bomb at a tank is a good example of wasting something.  Save them until you need them, because believe me you will.  Learn how things work and what to do with them.

Close the door

You should always try to close the doors behind you when possible.  This is more true on vs games.  It will slow the horde and special infected down.

Weapons

At least one member of your team should have a shotgun and a rifle.  If you notice that everyone has a rifle, then pick up a shotgun, or vice versa.  Don’t load up on just one weapon type.

Be careful not to use a weapon in a way to injure another player.  For example tossing a molotov or a pipe bomb on a player.

Reloading

Always try to reload as often as you can and before you run out.  Reloading before you are out is much quicker. This is more true with the shotgun.  I always try to fire a couple and as soon as the last shot is off I am hitting the reload.  I am hitting the reload key as often as I am hitting the fire key.

Don’t forget you can melee while reloading.  So use that to your advantage.

Bursts

Try to fire in bursts so you don’t waste ammo.  You don’t always need to Rambo in every situation.

Aim High

A head shot will bring them down quickly.  So try to aim for their head.  When there is a horde coming I always point the gun I have at about head level and start bursting.  It will save ammo and be much quicker.

Tank

If you have the shotgun, especially the auto shotgun, your main job when the tank is attacking, is to kill it. You have the best weapon to do so.

If the tank is chasing someone else, you need to run up and get as close to it as you can and unload on it.  Depending on the difficulty doing this with the auto shotgun can take most of it’s health by doing do.  You can usually do this a number of times without the tank turning on you.  So don’t be a chicken and help your teammates out!

If the tank is chasing you then you can outrun it when you have a green amount of health.  So run backwards and fire as much as you can.  If you are not in a vs game remember that the tank is a computer player.  So if can only follow you through areas it thinks it can pass through.  So put something between you and it like a bus or a wall, and keep using that as a buffer.  Remember that it can knock small objects over or on top of you like cars.  So be careful.

Also remember that the tank can only climb up things so fast.  So climb up a ladder or jump on top of something then unload on it while its trying to get up.  It can also get stuck in small places like a vent or a window opening.  They can also get stuck under or between things like a ramp or a vertical pole.  So try to get it to follow into one.  Then open up.

This trick is one I use a lot and is VERY effective.  But it should only be done by people with experience and the heart to do it.  The tank is unable to pass through you when climbing up something if you were there first and are completely blocking the area for it to finish the climb.  A ladder is a perfect example of this.  If you know a tank is going to climb a ladder to get you, walk over to top of it like you might climb down it and crouch down.  If you did it right the tank will become stuck in middle of his climb.  Now unload on him!  Trust me it works, it take practice and the balls to try it.  If you didn’t do it right it will pass through you and you will have plenty of time to move before it can strike you.

Here is a good tip for fighting a tank on No Mercy.  It works if you do it right:

Witch

Again if you have the auto shotgun and you need to kill her, guess who has the job of killing her!  She is really pretty easy if you do it right.  Assuming she is clam (ie still crying and shitting on the ground).  Turn your flashlight off, and walk up to her so you are touching here.  You have plenty of time to do this before she attacks you.  Then unload to the top of her head or face.  The hardest part is having the nerve to get close.  But you do it right she is no problem at all.

If you don’t have the auto then your job is to cover them in case they fail.

I got asked how to find me on Steam or XBox live.

On steam I play only the PC games.  My ID is Technocrat and I have the punisher avatar.

On the XBox it’s TechnocratEvo.

To expand on my previous post of development tools I use, these are the internet tools I use.

First tool is Firefox.  If you are still using IE as your primary browser, you should stop.  IE sucks to put it nicely.  It’s slow and doesn’t follow the internet standards.  IE 8 may change all that but that’s down the road.  For now I would suggest using Firefox.  Opera and Chrome are good alts but I think FF offers the most bang.  You can get custom skins and the plugins for it are outstanding.  When the next version comes out of beta it will out render almost all the current browsers out there.

For the addons I use in Firefox there are a couple of really important ones to me.  First is Firebug.  It allows you to debug javascript and html issues.  It’s not the most user friendly and sometimes doesn’t work right.  But when it does it helps alot.

I also use Foxmarks to keep my bookmarks synced between computers.  Also if you loose your PC you can get your bookmarks back really quickly.  Also you can access all of them online which is nice.

Another one I can’t live with out is Autocopy.  It automatically copies anything you hightlight.  No more ctrl+c or right click copy.  It has a few other features but thats all I use it for.  If you go for this one you need to find the project homepage to download it.  The version on mozilla doesn’t work right.  Not sure why they haven’t updated it.

StumbleUpon is another awesome addon.  It takes you to random websites in categories you choose.  Its will take you to pages you might otherwise never go to.  I have found tons of useful tools and information with it.

The final Firefox tool is Web Developer.  It allows you to do a number of html tasks.  The one I use the most is validate html.  But you can do a ton of other things, like edit CSS or HTML on the fly.  It’s VERY powerful and useful.

Another tool that I use ALOT is GetRight.  It’s not free but for $25 I think you get a very powerful downloader.  You can split downloads into parts and get it from various sources.  You can also pause and resume downloads.  Using it with the flashgot addon for FF and you have an awesome downloading tool.

The final tool I am going to put out their is Microsoft Live’s sync.  It allows you to sync folders over the internet across multiple PCs.  Comes in handy when you need to keep a folder synced for projects and such.

That’s all I got for now

I don’t get as much time as I would like to play games any more.  But when I do I don’t waste my time on crappy games.  Anything that doesn’t get me right off the bat goes back, or get’s uninstalled.  That said I have played two games I really enjoy and thought I would share with you.

Saints Row 2 is going to have the label poor mans GTA.  Well that’s not a bad thing in my book.  To me there are a couple of things that make this game better than GTA.  First off there is no annoying phone calls.  No cousin calling you every other day to go out on a date.  The game is all about having fun and destroying things.  There is no real life moral dalemas, no real life keeping friends, no real life really at all.  It’s just well….fun.

Secondly is the HUGE amount of customization that is SORELY missing from GTA.  You can customize almost everything.  Your looks, your clothes, your cars, etc.  You can do it at almost anytime.   Makes the game much more interesting and more replay-able.

Finally the missions are easy to spot and the objects are pretty clear.  You know right where to go to get a mission and what to do when you get there.

It’s not a perfect game by any means.  The graphics are well mediocre.  But if you want to just have fun killing and destorying things for a couple of weeks (or days) check it out.

The next game is left 4 dead.  I have to say once again Value knocks one out of the park.  It’s 100% co-op game play, which can be good and bad depending on who you are playing with.  Having a mic is almost a must.  By the time you type something it can be too late.  It’s scary and great fun to play.

I do have one gripe about it.  The cost vs the amount of game play.  5 levels just doesn’t seem to be enough to justify $50 in my mind.  I sure hope the downloadable content starts flowing soon.  Plus they add the ability to make levels.  If not this game is going to be left for dead quickly as it will get played out.

Today pretty much marks the end of phpBB 2.0.x.  It has now been offically replaced with v3.  It was a good product and has stood the test of time really well.  I am a bit sad to see it go but it’s time for it.