What Have You Done Today - (Computer Version)

  • Thread starter tlowr4
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That "another another chance" I mentioned about Google Chrome? Well since yesterday, I went back to Chrome. I haven't yet tried to diagnose the Firefox issue I'm having since posting here, but I am back to using Chrome as my secondary browser along with Vivaldi.
 
JohnBM01
That "another another chance" I mentioned about Google Chrome? Well since yesterday, I went back to Chrome. I haven't yet tried to diagnose the Firefox issue I'm having since posting here, but I am back to using Chrome as my secondary browser along with Vivaldi.
Click to expand...

Disable plug ins for firefox
 
I think I solved my Firefox issue! I narrowed down one of the Extensions to find one of the ones that redirects me to Bing from Google. The one I found out is redirecting me to Bing from Google I IMMEDIATELY deleted. For fear of discussing something potentially illegal, I will not discuss what kind of Extension it was or what the Extension does. Every test search through Firefox since deleting the Extension in question has not resulted in my Google browsing being redirected to Bing. I had no previous issues with (this Extension) prior to this past Thursday.
 
I moved my computer downstairs into my lower level back room. My upstairs room did not have enough room for my personal PC and my work-from-home setup. Now I have my office downstairs set up nice the way I want it.
 
I learned a thing or two about 5.1 audio recently and decided to have some fun with some of videos I had on my computer.

Created an account on Sketchfab.com, Xenn told me he uses his as a dumping ground for models he made, after a little thinking I signed up to it for the same reason and so I can download some of his. I have countless models that I have a use for, but they take up a ton a space (something I don't have), so I guess that'll be where they go from now on. Being able to preview them before downloading is a plus.

Funny thing is, he was the one that made me want to join here and he made want to join Sketchfab too. How ironic.
 
Today, I got an OTG cable I ordered online for use with my Nexus Player. I am now able to try to use external media to use with the Nexus Player. I sampled using one of my rarely-used USB flash drives with the OTG cable, and it worked very well. The Nexus Player is still a hot mess when it comes to the use of any real external media. That's why I am hoping I move on from this with the Xiaomi Mi Box I bought online.

...however, I did get that Mi Box... only to find out the packaging had wrinkled up booklets and most of all- NONE of the devices were in the package! So I will have to get myself a replacement for it. This is the first time I can remember ordering something online and having the package offered so poorly. Now I know how it feels when you order something and end up getting crap (or nothing at all) in return when you open the package up. Hopefully better news by next week.
 
Sister in law finally got her own place, so the 3rd bedroom now is my sim racing man cave.

I forgot what a pain it is tearing down and resetting up all the gear.
My modem/router is in my bedroom 100ft away from the new game room so I had to run cat 6 from the modem through the ductwork across the house to get the router moved.

Wife said just run WiFi yeah not happening. Anyway cheers guys it's beer time.
 
So my PC is now in the bedroom where I'm running it headless - or at least trying to. It's been an interesting experiment into the viability of exclusively using it as a game server to say the least...

First of all, it refused to work with VNC without a monitor being plugged in. I kind of expected that because the graphics card can't see an output so why would it work? I was surprised there wasn't a virtual display driver installed along with TightVNC or Splashtop, though.

Steam streaming did work, though, so I thought OK, I'll use that and set up OpenSSH for admin access (like for cleanly exiting games if the stream dropped and for shutting down/rebooting), but my OS is flat out refusing to let me set up the SSH server which sucks.

So the next step was to get an EDID spoofer so the graphics card would "detect" a "display", so I ordered a Fit Headless GS from Amazon US about a week ago, it arrived today and it has fixed the VNC problem perfectly; I can tell my PC I've got anything up to a 4K 60Hz screen connected and Splashtop works without issue now.

So, back to Steam streaming... My MacBook Air performs perfectly well, barring the occasional network hiccup (it's on 802.11ac, PC is wired through 100Mb ethernet), but it's the ancillary stuff that ruins it. I tried Hitman, but the stream crashes when it transitions from the launcher to the game. I can fix it with Splashtop but shouldn't have to, right? My Xbox One Elite controller doesn't work with my Mac so I have to use a DualShock 4, I don't really like it but I guess it'll do. I can't get Forza Horizon 3 or Motorsport 7 to stream at all, it launches but then cuts the stream AND blocks Splashtop, so I have to use VNC to get in and close them. Wreckfest doesn't see the controller, either, and that's probably the game I want to play the most.

Then I remembered Moonlight, the open-source Shield streamer, is a thing. That in turn reminded me that I bought an Ouya almost specifically to get an Android device with HDMI and an Ethernet port... But I couldn't find the power supply, so I downloaded the app on my phone instead and was really impressed by how smooth it was considering that it can't do the Steam Link app - its an Xperia Z5 Compact. I still couldn't use my Elite controller with an OTG cable but could connect the DS4 via Bluetooth and I was able to play Forza Horizon 3 without issue as that uses GeForce Experience instead.

I have a Steam Link on order but I don't expect it'll arrive soon as I haven't even had a dispatch note yet, I expect - if it works - I'll end up switching between it and Moonlight running on the Ouya depending on what I want to play or which controller I want to play them with... I don't know if the Ouya will work with a DS4, after all.
 
Corsa
Sister in law finally got her own place, so the 3rd bedroom now is my sim racing man cave.

I forgot what a pain it is tearing down and resetting up all the gear.
My modem/router is in my bedroom 100ft away from the new game room so I had to run cat 6 from the modem through the ductwork across the house to get the router moved.

Wife said just run WiFi yeah not happening. Anyway cheers guys it's beer time.
Click to expand...

Should've used CAT7.




Just kidding, Cat 6 is more than good enough.
Only ones that would need cat 7 are those who need "Mission Critical" networking.
 
Grayfox
Should've used CAT7.




Just kidding, Cat 6 is more than good enough.
Only ones that would need cat 7 are those who need "Mission Critical" networking.
Click to expand...

Ha yeah.
My old 250Mhz cable feeds my SSD nicely.
I had looked into 6a, but figured it an unnecessary expense.
 
Continuing my quest for usable streaming...

As my Steam Link still hasn't dispatched, streaming to a Mac is just broken and Moonlight streaming to my phone wasn't exactly comfortable, I decided maybe it was time to dig the Ouya out after all. Only thing is it was late on Friday and I didn't have the power supply for it, so I was stuck. I have a box full of pretty much redundant power supplies at work, but that's not much help when I'm not back there until Monday... Fortunately I visited my parents' on Sunday and my dad, being a tech hoarder, happened to have one 12V 1.5A PSU, I just had to hope the connector was the right size.

I got it back to mine and, predictably, the outer diameter of the barrel jack was fine but the inner was 2.5mm, not 2.1mm. Upshot being yes, it would work, but I had to wedge it to get it to stay connected... Good enough, though. So next I checked for Ouya updates as I last updated it like two years ago - nothing. No updates at all, not really surprising. Updated Moonlight, though, and it could see my PC so that was good - but it wouldn't run any games because the RTSP handshake between them failed. Uninstalled and reinstalled Moonlight, still didn't work, so I figured they must have stopped updating the Ouya store version. Luckily I had previously rooted the Ouya to add the Google Play store to it, so I went on there and updated Moonlight through that (I was astonished that it still worked, of course) and that fixed it!

The first thing I tried was Forza Motorsport 7 which worked well enough for me to win a 5-lap race at Laguna Seca in the new GT4 KTM X-Bow without any problems (which is great because obviously any great amount of latency would really affect your braking zones), then I tried turning the resolution up from 720p/60 to 1080p/60 to try MGS V and was still really pleased by how well it worked, although I've completely forgotten the pad controls for that.

So my next steps are to get the Ouya wired up properly then see if I can still install VirtualHere on a Raspberry Pi, if so I could use that to hook my Xbox One Elite controller receiver up to my PC over the network and not have to use whatever controllers the Ouya supports (although I would need a supported controller to operate it). In the meantime I have to make do with a DS3.
 
Still trying to figure out why my printer shows "not connected" in the control panel from yesterday when I unplugged the power cord to it while it was still on to try and clean the printer heads. It shows on my wireless network, the IP address on the printer and in the printer software on my PC match, I can print a test page from my PC from the printer diagnostic software, I can print a wireless analysis on it. Just nothing from my email or anything from the internet.

This is Windows 10 by the way with a HP Photosmart 5510d printer. Someone from the HP forums suggested that when I unplugged the power cord with the printer on that it reset the IP address, but it didn't.
 
I started uninstalling some programs. Notably, Acer Portal (since I have an Acer PC) and Soluto. Reason why is because I noticed my PC somehow crunching a lot while I may not be certain if it is trying to load something, doing a virus scan I did not schedule, or maybe some Windows 10 update trying to update on my PC.

On a happier note, I have caught the game development urge again. Using the Godot game engine, I am slowly trying to learn using 3D with this game engine. I have interest in possible trying to make a racing game. I am more in the brainstorm stage rather than trying to make a prototype at this point. It's all baby steps at this point.
 
Two programs I have noticed that have consumed a lot of memory have been the Antimalware Service Executable and Windows Update. So maybe all the suspicious background loading may be Windows 10 trying to update by downloading a Windows Update to my PC. If it did fully update, I would see an "Update and Shut Down/Restart" option rather than the simple "Shut Down/Restart" when you right-click on the Windows icon on the taskbar. I would sometimes also note the PC stop trying to load up something when Acer Live Updater successfully completes a loading task (I use an Acer PC). But even still, some extra loading still goes on in the background. I don't know what is going on, but I am a bit annoyed.
 
JohnBM01
Two programs I have noticed that have consumed a lot of memory have been the Antimalware Service Executable and Windows Update. So maybe all the suspicious background loading may be Windows 10 trying to update by downloading a Windows Update to my PC. If it did fully update, I would see an "Update and Shut Down/Restart" option rather than the simple "Shut Down/Restart" when you right-click on the Windows icon on the taskbar. I would sometimes also note the PC stop trying to load up something when Acer Live Updater successfully completes a loading task (I use an Acer PC). But even still, some extra loading still goes on in the background. I don't know what is going on, but I am a bit annoyed.
Click to expand...
Have you got Cortana?
 
From my investigation, I noticed a handful of Windows Updates were installed to my computer... or at least, attempting to install. So it must have been those Windows Updates being installed to my PC as the source of the background loading. I might take up on the Cortana advice, though. So thanks.
 
JohnBM01
From my investigation, I noticed a handful of Windows Updates were installed to my computer... or at least, attempting to install. So it must have been those Windows Updates being installed to my PC as the source of the background loading. I might take up on the Cortana advice, though. So thanks.
Click to expand...
No problem! I mention Cortana because it has a habit of indexing repeatedly on the memory on the HDD and causing disc read/write to max out at 100%.
 
I think my search for usable streaming is at an end now, and the solution is... Well, there are three.

The Ouya is the only way I can play UWP apps like Forza Horizon 3/Motorsport 7, so I have to keep it around for that. It feels like it has some latency but if so, it's only barely perceptible so I can't really tell.

The Steam Link arrived today but I couldn't get the controller working on it, so I turned to Google and found there's a version of the Steam Link app for Samsung TVs... It's almost perfect. I played Wreckfest on it with the Steam controller and yeah, it was really good, it even does 4K streaming. I tried some custom controller maps for The Dig, one of my favourite point and click games, but the mapping was way off what I actually set so I suspect the app has a problem there, with any luck it'll be updated but I had to have my laptop next to me so I could get in and alt-F4 a few times.

The Link itself is a nice little gadget and I will try and get it working, but frankly it's looking a bit redundant. It might be worth keeping for VirtualHere, I doubt either it or the TV will support an Xbox One Elite controller connected through the dongle but VirtualHere should.

The Steam controller is a really strange thing, it's disappoingly awful for first person shooters, decent for racing (but I'd like longer trigger stroke) and literally the only way to play mouse-driven games like Into The Breach while sitting on your sofa.

I wonder if the Shield is any good...
 
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Two different things to discuss.

I am slowly seeking certain solutions as to why my PC is slowing. I started deleting a few more programs I have no use for. I even deleted certain Quick Access pins I seldom use. There is still a little something that is slowing down my PC. I haven't attempted anything radical, like a full system scan. File Explorer seems to be slower also. Maybe it's some of the Windows Updates I am getting or something. Trying to diagnose some problems can be like dealing with certain health issues- for example, you may have a headache, but treating just the headache doesn't cure an illness. I'll keep looking around.

On a more pleasant side, I have been practicing making 3D material for the Godot Game Engine. I have tried to learn making a racing game based on a certain demo for Godot called "Truck Town." Truck Town is a Godot demo that has you driving one of three vehicles around this small map with hills and houses. As you might imagine, I am learning about designing a racing/driving game within Godot. I seem to like one project I am working on, so I have been trying to develop it some more. The challenge so far is to try to come up with a decent driving model which I can use to develop 3D racing/driving games. I am considering a mostly arcade-style racer as my first racing game project. I am not trying to make the next Assoluto Racing or Automobilista, and I am SURELY not trying to make the next Asphalt 8 Airborne. I think once I get past making an initial driving model, I can then get into the prototyping phase. And later, I will have to think about making AI drivers and get the racing down pad. It's all baby steps at this point, but I do feel good about at least trying to make something out of this.

And... that's it for this post.
 
A lot of the slow stuff was ironed out on Thursday... all for most of it to return. I'm hoping it is just updates. It isn't like I am dealing with some kind of PC virus.

I have also been playing more towards Godot Game Engine and making cars. I took a few cars I made and then applied physics to them. Funny enough, one model I used was a static model voxel car. All you need in Godot for proper car physics is a VehicleBody node, VehicleWheel nodes, and a 3D CollisionBody. There are about two different kinds of projects devoted to 3D driving. One of them is a demo called Truck Town. Another is a more accurate driving model based on Truck Town. I eventually want to develop my own proper system to where I can make at least a decent racing/driving game to maybe post online or offer on Google Play. I just don't want to release my own game based on someone else's work. So this is something I am going to keep working on and try to perfect my own model.
 
Still on the streaming thing, I enabled wake on LAN on my PC so I don't have to go and turn it on (this was never a hassle before but I figured if it can do it, why not enable it), but I have yet to try VirtualHere in order to be able to use different controllers that aren't the Steam controller. I mean, it's far superior to a traditional controller in mouse-centric games (although neither are great for Nuclear Throne/Enter the Gungeon) but it's terrible compared to a pad for almost anything designed for two sticks. I tried Everspace last night, it was just about doable with the pad set to "third person with camera controls" but the official config was awful...

Anyway, still really happy with Steam streaming, I also figured out how to get Forza 7 to stream on it so I guess I don't especially need the Ouya after all. Then again it might be a usable VirtualHere box, I should try that out I guess.
 
We got a new WiFi router. Our new router is a NETGEAR 41 5G. I am not sure about the 5G capabilities, but I have connected a lot of my devices to the new router.
 
I made some better progress using Godot Game Engine making a more decent 3D driving model. I am not trying to make the next Gran Turismo or Project CARS- I just want to make a more-than-decent and serviceable 3D racing game. What I am trying to work on is putting the car properly in reverse and maybe even offering proper acceleration to a car. I am actually enjoying what is possible and can't wait to eventually start designing levels and such.
 
Last one about the streaming for a while, probably: I dug out my old Raspberry Pi Model B and installed Virtualhere server on it, then hooked it up to my router and tucked it under the sofa with a USB extension cable (the one that came with my Steam Link, funnily enough - it's a Micro USB cable with a little weighted adaptor on the end to convert it to a type A socket), so now I have a USB port next to my sofa that connects straight to my PC that's in the other room. I've tested it with the Xbox One wireless adaptor and it works great, so I could (in theory, not that I will) connect a racing wheel or keyboard and it would work as if it were plugged straight in, there's something like 1-2ms of added latency so it makes very little difference. The free version only lets you use one port (and the device can't be a hub) so I might get a license so I can connect my mic too, but it's about £35.

I don't think I have anything left to fix now... I wouldn't mind working out an actually good way to use a keyboard and mouse but I don't really think that's going to happen.
 
Recently I got LXLE Linux installed and running off of a flash drive. I didn't just burn the image to USB, I took that and installed it to another USB as a full OS. It... works. It's not very fast, but it works.
 
I guess my computer finally downloaded and installed all of the updates and stuff needed after a week of two of questionable slowness. Now it seems to run basically normal again. Even trying to move over content to my 1TB external hard drive meant this computer has even more free space after all of the downloading/updating was complete.

With Godot Game Engine, I made more progress working on my racing game project. I have mostly documented my experience in my Weebly site, social media, and even my blogs. I learned of one feature which can make for unique handling of cars. If you worked with vehicles in Godot, there is a setting for VehicleWheel nodes called wheel_friction_slip that you can apply to tires. So it is possible to give one set of tires more or less grip. If and when I start making more diverse kinds of cars for my Godot work, I will surely experiment making cars of various performance characteristics. I don't think the Godot Game Engine is capable of racing games with wild physics, like (for example) the Ridge Racer series, the Asphalt series, or even any Need for Speed series game. Despite these limitations, I will still try to develop something cool.

I am somewhat contemplating getting a Raspberry Pi or an Arduino. Mostly the Raspberry Pi. I had a vision that I make my own little computer or arcade unit showing off any and all games I work on and complete. There is one person online who makes bartop arcade cabinets powered by a Raspberry Pi computer. The Raspberry Pi can be good for any number of projects and uses. I am not serious right now about getting a Raspberry Pi, but I am just letting my young mind and old body dream away.
 

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