Topics

331

Off Topic / [LOCKED]The CIA is one hundred and ten percent safe, and in no way authoritarian

« on: March 08, 2017, 06:16:46 PM »

[News] The CIA is one hundred and ten percent safe, and in no way authoritarian

Year Zero: The  First #Vault 7 Leak

The CIA officially battles in meme warfare guys.
/Discuss

332

Off Topic / Who is Idle?

« on: March 07, 2017, 08:25:05 PM »

User in question
https://forum.blockland.us/index.php?action=profile;u=38771

Idle never posted, and hasn't logged in since last year.
Idle the most logged user (hence the name I guess.)
But who is Idle?

333

Off Topic / [NEWS] Russian Conspiracy Theory is Overblown Bullstuff

« on: March 03, 2017, 09:30:36 PM »

Evidence wins a battle of wits, emotion does not, and it is the tool of the foolish.
https://youtu.be/NBTMKLmdpho

334

Off Topic / [News] Car injures 3 in Heidelberg, Germany

« on: February 25, 2017, 11:36:30 AM »

https://www.google.com/amp/www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/39091858

Yep, it was the cars fault again.
Damn cars.

/discuss

335

Off Topic / Twitter fooled by Inspect Element and so can you!

« on: February 23, 2017, 08:45:42 PM »

Twitter fooled by Inspect Element and so can you!

"This Is How A Social Media Smear Campaign Works, Jack" - Sargon of Akkad

   So, someone faked a twitter DM of Sargon of Akkad to get his account revoked. And the evidence is shaky at best, but twitter banned him anyhow. Don't believe me, just take some quotes from some of these legitimate Blockland Forum posts.

As you can see from these very real posts, we're facing a real epidemic, and in all honesty, this is actually becoming a problem.
[Also if you couldn't tell, yes the images are Inspect Elemented]
Okay jokes aside, this is becoming a bad trend, and I do very much see the word "child enthusiast" following the same path as "tribal, loveist, Homphobic, and Bigoted", Losing all value where it is needed and becoming a misused word. This is almost certainly going to become a problem, and very soon this is going to keep popping up as accusations against all their political opponents.

336

Off Topic / Boycotting - The means of controlling those who seek to control us.

« on: February 21, 2017, 03:47:32 PM »

Boycotting - The means of controlling those who seek to control us.

   Boycotting is commonly seen as a fruitless action nowadays, and unfortunately so, because without boycotting, the people cannot nor will they ever be truly in control. Boycotting, the act of refusing to purchase products from specific vendors or owners as a statement, political, personal, or otherwise was once a huge form of protest. A legitimate, form of protest. A form of protest that did not hinder anyone but those who you're protesting. A form of Protest that did not involve burning cars, destroying buildings or wandering aimlessly and mindlessly attacking people on the street. Boycotting is a form of protest, in which you grab the companies by the balls, and you ensure they cannot nor will they be able to push agendas and abuse their power, without them taking a hit. But then, if boycotting is so powerful, and so ultimately controlling, why does no one do it anymore? Well there are a couple reasons.

Number 1: The "No one else will do it" mentality

   People seem to, at least as of recently, be in a very mob-like mentality, and it is because of this mentality alone. the "No one else will do it" mentality, is a thought process to justify not taking actions as a group because you would be 'standing alone', and this is justified by everyone else sharing the same thinking. "Why should I give up ******* if no one else is going to?" is a response I hear most often when it comes to asking about why people don't boycott products because of any form of their abuse of power.  But this mentality is a mindless chain, and an easy escape to shut up the thought in your head that says 'Maybe you shouldn't support this'. This is a dismissive mentality that only ensures you, not only to be a slave to the companies, but to be a slave to taking the easiest route.

Number 2: A sore lacking of social example

   When was the last time you saw any form of mass boycotting, genuine boycotting, not a hashtag on twitter that's trending, I'm talking, all over the news boycotting? It's been so long since anyone has shown a successful boycott, due to the fact it didn't seem to be needed for so long, that no one sees it as a legitimate form of protest. What do people see instead? They see rioters, burning up streets and attacking citizens and being told that it is a 'justified and legitimate form of protest' by many news outlets who claim these acts to be 'peaceful protests'. But in reality, all these will ultimately result in are a social stigma against a set of people instead of actually hitting those who hold the power where it really matters.

So then, why doesn't someone try and undo these issues?

   These problems are not ones easily solved, and mindsets instilled on an entire generation since infancy are even harder to undo. Too many have gotten into one, if not both of, the two ruts I have described previously. Some are so far into it, they almost certainly will never come out of it. Boycotting is a legitimate form of protest, that works and will work, but it requires massive numbers to do so, which is daunting to a generation which has been taught 'The easy way is the best way'. All the way up to political abuse, down to game companies nickel and dimeing people, no one has done anything in recent times except to sit there and take it. If you remember anything, Remember this, Money is power and money is a cycle, if you stop the cycle, you hold the power, but one man alone cannot stop the cycle, but one man can quickly turn into two, and then two into four.

/discuss

337

Off Topic / -nvm-

« on: February 20, 2017, 08:15:15 PM »

-nvm-

338

Off Topic / [Debate] The Media Wars - PewDiePie the national socialist? or Mainstream Media the national socialist?

« on: February 19, 2017, 10:24:20 AM »

The Media Wars - PewDiePie the national socialist? or Mainstream Media the national socialist?

   This speculative subject has been becoming more and more discussed throughout social media and other platforms.This would of course be the fact that people are noticing the signs of a media war and I'm inclined to agree with this. Constantly, we are seeing the mainstream media single out YouTubers and attack them or make them their target, the most recent "victim" being PewDiePie. Through these actions they appear to be showing the signs of a dying platform striking out for help by attacking larger and farther reaching platforms in the hopes of expanding their own. But in doing this, they draw the attention toward their "victim" and away from themselves, which will certainly result in backlash from both sides, until eventually, much like Armoured Skeptic said, we will be at another GamerGate. Unlike what Armoured Skeptic said though, I believe this will be a far longer lasting, and more obvious battle than that of GamerGate. GamerGate was the catalyst that eventually lead to the downfall of Social Justice in the previous year, but what Armoured Skeptic has coined to be one day called "YoutubeGate" will not just be a mere catalyst in a bigger picture. YoutubeGate will become the big picture as the Media war would go out of control and eventually, I believe, the mainstream media will dig themselves into a FoxNews-like age lock. FoxNews, due to their many scandals against Gamers (see the trend?) eventually spiraled out of control and very few to this day Trust FoxNews, and those who Do are growing older, because the age group that would have watched them, moved on. I foresee this being the case with almost all Mainstream Media Outlets who wish to follow in the path of FoxNews or WallStreet Journal.

   But I can't be the only one who has something to say, so /discuss.
Heavly Discussed here (Armoured Skeptic):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q6-KXBijWQ
Lightly discussed throughout this video (Sargon of Akkad):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1ulkykn7jc

339

Off Topic / ITT: We are 4kidschan revived

« on: February 17, 2017, 05:12:51 PM »

< be me
< be 10
< the year is 2009
< just found out about this awesome lego game called "Blockland"
< ask for it for christmas
< parents say they couldn't find it at any store
< parents said they found something close
< mfw its roblox

340

Off Topic / Who here is conservative?

« on: February 12, 2017, 04:40:13 PM »

Asking for

341

Off Topic / [PJW] "Conservatism is the new Counter-Culture"

« on: February 11, 2017, 03:50:05 PM »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avb8cwOgVQ8

Share Thoughts

342

Off Topic / -NVM-

« on: February 07, 2017, 06:02:20 PM »

-nvm-

343

Off Topic / Why is bleach depicted as being white?

« on: February 05, 2017, 06:26:00 PM »

Why is bleach depicted as being white?

For those who don't know, bleach is actually clear.

  I just found out the bleach isn't actually white, even though it is commonly depicted as such. Bleach is clear, not white, so why is it depicted as such? I understand that the bottle is white, but that isn't what I mean. The actual liquid is depicted commonly as white, instead of clear. This doesn't seem fair, who decided it was okay to change bleach from clear to white, was it for aesthetic? Infact, this could lead to major issues since Bleach is actually clear like water, but since most people won't know it isn't actually white, then one day someone could drink a nice cold cup of loving BLEACH? Is this what you want, for me to one day, accidentally drink bleach instead of water or crystal pepsi? Damn it this isn't a thing to be loving around with. Bleach is deadly if consumed, so why on earth did this go unnoticed for so long? We need to start a movement for people to know that Bleach isn't white! #BleachIsClear

But don't take my word, take the word of the forum. (Vote on the poll to decide.)

344

Games / Sega PC Reloaded by Korama - Sonic CD (1996) Tutorial Inside

« on: February 02, 2017, 10:52:21 PM »

 

What is it?

I wrote a program that is an installer, launcher, and patcher for a few Sega PC
games that were originally released for Windows 95/98. The games had issues or
broke entirely on newer versions of Windows. Now they work again, with a few
minor improvements even.
So far, these games are supported:

• Ecco the Dolphin PC
• Sonic CD 1996
• Sonic & Knuckles Collection
• Sonic 3D Blast

Some boring technical details:
Those games use DirectDraw and 8 bit / 256 color palettized video modes. Both are
obsolete nowadays, and while the compatibility layer of Windows still supports/emulates
them, it doesn't always work for whatever reason (e.g. buggy game code).
So I wrote custom implementations of the necessary DirectDraw interfaces (IDirectDraw,
IDirectDrawSurface, etc.), and a few other Windows API functions, that either
wrap or replicate what the games expect.
That code is packaged in a "ddraw.dll" file that looks like the real one from Microsoft.
However, some of the games load ddraw.dll dynamically, after executing some "bad" code
(e.g. checking if a 256 color mode is active). That's why a launcher is necessary, it
ensures that my ddraw.dll gets loaded and run right at the start of the game, so that
it can perform the necessary patches in memory. I could also patch the files on disk,
of course, but I've decided against that. It is just too messy and gets complicated if
I need to undo or update patches. Keeping the original files unmodified on disk and
doing all the patching in RAM is the best solution.



What exactly does it change?

Many little things that I can't be bothered to write down. Some important ones:

• Flexible window handling (free resizing, preset sizes, try Alt+0..9), quick fullscreen toggling... (all games except Ecco).
• Music playback from file instead of CD, bass.dll and streaming plugin
  support for all kinds of formats. Custom loop points supported for ogg and flac.
• All registry and ini file operations of the games get redirected to a single ini
  file that also holds the patcher configuration. The file is <exename>.ini, so
  if you'd like to have several configurations for a single game, just make a
  copy (or hardlink) of the exe and call it <exename>.whatever.exe (e.g. "sonic3k.2.exe").
• Mapping joystick / gamepad POV hat / dpad to brown townog axes in all games.
• Skipping annoying intro logos and videos.
• Palette blending; mainly for Ecco, still experimental in SCD and particularly S3K.
• Freely configurable keyboard and gamepad bindings (not fully implemented yet).
• Midiout.dll of S&K Collection caused an access violation on termination,
  keeping sonic3k.exe in memory...
• Diagonal key input for Sonic CD. Only worked for gamepad.
• Savegame dialogs and several graphics modes were totally broken in Ecco.
• and more...

https://youtu.be/GXnI5Ex6sr0


Why?

Yes, I know you can emulate most of those games, and Taxman's rebuilt Sonic CD is great.
I started this project last year, specifically for Ecco PC, because unlike the Sonic games,
that game did never receive any official re-release. Yet it is pretty much
the best version of Ecco 1 available.

After that was done, I generalized the code a bit and applied it to the old
Sonic games I had lying around. It took some restructuring/refactoring, but it
worked rather well.
Also, it's not like I'm new to this. I've made Sonic CD and Ecco PC "XP ready"
a decade ago already (does anyone remember SonicCDfix? I reused some code from that.).
But the patches back then were rather simple and superficial compared to this.


Where?

Download here.

A little extra for Sonic CD 1996.
- higher quality sound effects and Xvid-encoded intro movie. The original uses Indeo, which is no longer included in Windows. All other videos use Cinepak, which is still there.



To do...

There are a few minor issues I still need to resolve.
Palette blending tends to get stuck in SCD and S3K; you can turn if off and on via Alt+B. Should probably also be gamma-corrected.
Key/gamepad binding needs to be finished... you can already assign various stuff to buttons in SCD,
but only by editing the ini file directly. If you go to the "[JoystickControls]" section and add "JoyButton11=menu503" and "JoyButton12=menu201", for example,
then button 11 will toggle debug mode and button 12 will toggle fullscreen (as 503 and 201 are the menu command IDs for those actions).
Some upscaling algorithms and dedithering would be nice to have, but that's a pipe dream for now.

Comments, suggestions, and bug reports are welcome.

I Fixed it sonic  CD and here's what you do for Sonic CD.

Install this before anything else.

Install Sonic CD through the Sega PC Reloaded.

Download bass.dll from this website.

Drop the bass.dll from the zip file into your sonic CD installation folder. (DO NOT PUT IT IN YOUR MUSIC FOLDER! This is a common error.)

Go to the AVI folder in the Title folder and place the OPN.AVI file there, overwrite the existing file. (Note: The OPN.AVI was rendered with a certain codec to work with sonic CD, not any avi video will work, keep this in mind if you wish to create your own AVI file!)

Create a music folder and create a play list following the trackorder.txt I have included.

Set that as your music folder through Sega PC Reloaded.

Sonic CD Should run fine now.

345

Off Topic / I think I have Muxiphobia

« on: February 01, 2017, 06:22:40 PM »

I think I have Muxiphobia

Muxiphobia - the Fear of Jupiter

I am deeply terrified of this gas giant, every time I see it a spark of fear and petrification runs through my body. I have no idea why this happens though, everytime I see it, whether it be real pictures, real footage, simulated or otherwise. The fear quadruples when I see how large it is in comparison to earth. Jupiter is so large and so terrifying, have you guys ever thought what it would be like to get sucked into Jupiter. Jupiter is pretty much pure gas, so you would get stuck at the center, blind and alone, until you died from a lack of oxygen. Like holy stuff, this is such a terrifying planet, I kind of fear the other gas giants too, like Saturn, Neptune and Urstar fish. Oh god just look at these terrifying beasts.

Holy stuff, these are some giant monsters who could eat you whole and not give two stuffs. But Jupiter is the most terrifying as it is the largest of the four. Just look how large it would be if it replaced the moon! Am I crazy? is this weird, because this stuff is loving terrifying, the planet sends shock waves through my body every time I look at it. Now I'm sure this isn't right, and many will think this is insane, but these planets are loving scary.

TL;DR Jupiter is loving scary, and so are the other gas giants.