I have a question to pose. What was wrong with Windows Vista?

I had used Vista from Beta through to the other day when I finally upgrade to Windows 7 (because I wanted new technology like DX11) and never, ever had an issue with it as an operating system. My system specs were not amazing, nothing about my computer other than myself (being savvy) is different than one bought off the shelf anywhere else, and yet it ran flawlessly. And I am not the only one. I have built computers within prices ranging from $900 – $1600 for friends, installed Vista, and none of them have a problem with it either.

This leads me to believe that the problem has to be the setup of the operating system itself. Any computer enthusiast should understand that an operating system is just like any other program, and needs to have its options configured to how the user wants in order for the software to behave accordingly. This is a 5 minute job which changes the entire feel of Windows Vista for the better, and in my opinion, makes it more than “liveable”.

Admittedly, Vista was a long way from Windows XP in polish when it came out, and some features were a little annoying, but these could all be switched off (User Account Control – Bah!) There is only a marginal difference in RAM usage from Vista to 7 (both fresh installs, no upgrade) possibly 5 – 10% overall on my system with 4GB, and not a lot more on my laptop with 2GB. So alright, it does use slightly more, but then again, it does look a lot better than XP. If you don’t want it to look better, turn it off!

It seems to me, that because the “IT Professionals” preferred a little speed on older computers and were not used to the default setup of Vista, they took an instant dislike to it, and then wrote on their blogs about it. Then the people who don’t know as much about computers listened. And refused to buy it. And the sales crashed. And more blogs by people who know even less came out about how they don’t like it. And the internet wins again.

I don’t want to get too rant-y here, but let’s just see what the latest internet trends are… Tiger Woods (celebrity scandals! O noes!), New Moon (Teen Vamp movies…), Lady Gaga (Bad music…) and Avatar (The movie, I’m guessing). My point is that you cannot listen to the internet. The best bet would be to ask someone who LIKES Vista to tell you why, rather than someone who hates it. Admittedly, both opinions have their flaws, but why not hear both sides of the story?

I guess the point of this blog wasn’t to give you my opinion, but to help you understand everyone else’s. If you do still have vista and haven’t already followed the fanboy rush at the Windows 7 desk of your local JB HiFi then please, take my advice and do the following:

1. Turn off User Account Control.
   This helps make the computer a smoother, less obtrusive instrument to get what you want done.
2. Change your Security Centre settings to stop notifying you.
   This gets awfully tiring after a while. Personally I don’t run Anti-virus or anything so it will always alert you otherwise.
3. Set Control Panel to Classic View.
   The best for people who are used to using Windows XP. It’s the same again!
4. Set your Start Menu to Classic View and customise to your liking.
   Also suggest using small icons here. This is something I have always had until I upgraded to 7. No, you cannot do that in Windows 7, but you can make it a bit better…
5. Set your desktop to Small Icons.
   Much cleaner for those with smaller monitors / laptops

There is a lot of other small tweaks that you can do, and I’m sure you can google those yourself.

In closing, please don’t judge before you try. You really can make Vista an acceptable operating system with just a few small changes here and there. It’s like OS Feng-shui. Or something.

Have fun,
Andrew

My new blog address is http://blog.andrewdor.com and is an exact copy of this blog (down to the last hair! Get it? Computers don’t have hair!) and because the MySQL databases have been updated to refer to this new URL, everyone should end up there sooner or later.

As for me, watch out. I will hopefully be reviewing some games I have been playing (I say that a lot, but I mean it this time)

Andrew

p.s. I will be cross-posting this, to the new website’s RSS feed as well! Which by the way, can be found here!

This brings me to the issue of how do you format a hard drive to FAT32 (required to be able to boot from the disk). I had done this once before on my Vista setup, which took quite a long time and involved using a 3rd party app to format. Of course somewhere along the line I lost the application. After a quick Google I found The Answer very quickly.

Download the archive file from Here and extract it to an easy place to find (I recommend C:\) then follow these steps:

1. Make sure your disk is connected
2. hit Start / Run
3. type “cmd”
4. be very, VERY careful you know what disk you want to format
5. type “c:\fat32format x:” (Where x: is your drive)
6. once again, triple-check you have the right drive
7. type “y” and press enter
8. Don’t go have a cup of coffee. I dislike it when people that make lists and include those stupid items which are meant to be smart.
9. That’s it. You now have a FAT32 formatted drive of any size!

Now there are a few things to remember, Due to the way FAT works, I would not suggest using it for a primary hard drive, or anything like that. It can get awfully clogged and tiresome to defragment. Also, people might laugh at you if they ever found out.

This trick is especially useful when running a large drive to play DivX or Xvid movies on your PS3 or USB-DVD player (completely legally, of course) as those devices only use FAT32 disks and USB drives. Also, when building USB Boot-drives for a netbook.

Other than that, I am considering getting one of These Puppies for myself, as I do not have a small laptop, my current one is large and cumbersome.

Keep “with it”,
Andrew

To the business end of this discussion, I have been applying for jobs around Brisbane in Game Dev positions, but it appears that the market is not what it used to be. I have sent off approximately 7 resumes and have heard back twice, with negative replies. This is understandable considering that Krome Stuidos have just fired about 30 of their staff. Don’t ask me why. I have however found a position in a different line of work. Interactive Design for E-Learning systems! The job which I am looking at would be excellent, fits all the criteria and is almost twice as much money as I was looking at getting in the first place. Fingers crossed!

Die Hard weapon magazines

As for entertainment, I have played through and finished then entirety of Borderlands in about 3 days (Which was a very, very fun game, taking me back to the times of Diablo, Quake, and various other FPS/RPG’s. I have also been watching a fair few movies (such as the Die Hard series) which I have been enjoying the nostalgia of. (See image!)

I am also in the process of playing Star Wars: The Force Unleased and am thinking about getting Modern Warefare 2 and Dragon Age: Origins. Does DA:O have a prequel? I should find that out. Most stuff with subtitles does.

The day itself went really well, with some very positive responses from the industry representatives and other students who took the time to sit down and play the game. My father came in the evening for the food and drinks, and to see how it all turned out. This was especially interesting because he could not stop himself playing the game while no one else was.

As for what I am going to do now that I have done my last presentation of my education life, I intend to get a job (as I have said) and would love it to be at THQ. They currently have a Level Design position going of which I fit the criteria to a tee. The only problem is that every Tom, Dick and Gabe Newel will most likely be applying for the position, making it well hard for a undergrad like myself to even get an interview, let alone secure the position.

The other option is to get a job doing something else in the industry (Such as Quality Assurance or making coffee) and then work my way up from there. Unfortunately that renders my university degree pointless, and I do not appreciate pointless expenditures of gratuitous amounts of money.

On a lighter side, I feel I am finally become fed up with FarmVille on facebook, as it is just getting tedious now, and I believe I will start spending more of my time watching movies which I have not seen yet. Movies such as 2001: A Space Odyssey and Ghost in the Shell – Both of which I intend to watch within the next day or two. There are a large number of films which I have not seen and would really like to, but as I have been more focused on playing games than other forms of storytelling, haven’t had the chance.

In the world of games, I have spent some time playing Need for Speed: Shift which has taken a couple hours, and is actually pretty decent. I would give it 7 out of 10. Much better than the previous few instalments of the same game, but could be better.

Anyway, I’m going to meet up with Stuart my friend from uni who I haven’t seen in quite some time, so for now, I bid you Farewell!

Andrew

Our game is finished to the standard which we could have hoped for having only three group members, one of which has communication and cooperation issues. You can check out the trailer and download the whole thing Here on my site. There is also a feedback form, but that’s getting on now.

As for my new site (with the domain andrewdor.com free) i have found Arvixe who offer an amazing hosting package, and am using it to it’s full advantage. I pay a lot more for it than NFS, but it is so much better.

On the employment front, I have submitted my resume to a couple of places, namely THQ Australia who are based in Fortitude Valley in brisbane which is a nice train ride away from my home town. I really need to get a serious position so I can make the money to get married. I cannot wait till then. But until then I believe I will have to put in some hard hours at my current workplace, Big W. Oh joy.

As for gaming, I have been “researching” some of the most popular facebook games, as there is such a large player base. I have found that Farmville by Zynga is an interesting concept, allowing players to plant crops and harvest them after a certain amount of time. Resturaunt City by Playfish is another example of this, allowing people to set up and manage their own resturaunt. These two games generate income by selling in-game currency. That model is a good idea, although your income needs to be ballanced just like the game. The last game I have indulged in is Bejeweled Blitz. It is a 1 minute limited version of a PopCap pc game. These are ridiculously addictive and good to compete against your contacts with.

As I am finishing uni shortly, i hope to do all I can with this blog and my portfolio. You never know who could be looking. I’ll keep you updated.

Andrew

Posted by Wordmobi

A fair bit has happened, such as my motherboard breaking, a car crash, and more game development issues, but that will come later.

First off. What is with web hosts? All I want is a good, reasonably priced, completely unlimited hosting service. Cause my host has kinda changed it’s pollicies and now I am going to be hit with a bunch of fees and charges I didn’t have previously. Gah.

A project I have been working on between uni and fixing my computer, known as BuildStik is coming along nicely. I am aiming to find a new host and run a type of mirroring service for all kinds of free applications, possibly even tutorials etc.

As for my computer screwing up, turns out my motherboard died, so I had to pick up a new one. Not that I am complaining. My new GA-EP45-DS5 kicks ass.

My final semester of higher education is cruising along at a scary pace. I only have 5 weeks left. Ahh! I am a little worried that i’m not going to get a job. And I really need a job to move out of my mum’s place. Embarrassing much?

The final game-design unit is coming together. We have had another team member drop out, so our group is down to three members. This makes it a little hard for us to get everything together, though we are kind of used to it by now.

On a less cool note i was involved in a car accident last saturday, but it wasn’t too bad. Just ruined my car. Gotta follow up on insurance. *sigh*

Anyway, gotta run.
Great chatting,
Andrew

Posted by Wordmobi

In the last few weeks I have been approached by not one, not two, but upwards of THREE people for help with web design and development. For me, this is quite interesting, and has lead me to believe that people are willing to pay for some of the skills and information I have within my noggin.

For now, I am going to finish one or two of these websites, then start to put my name out there as a freelance, cheap web developer in my home town. What I have found is that some people are looking for more than I can offer, and then other people ask for something small, but I can offer a lot more than they expected. Understanding this, I am going to tailor my services and prices to a number of levels, and hopefully get more, easier jobs.

In other news, not a whole lot has been happening, just sticking to uni and spending time working for some people who also want the liquid awesome from my brain. I have however bought some really, really cool games.

The Steam Indie Games Pack for $30USD included 10 indie games, which have been occupying my time quite well, and teaching me more about what is possible, and showing me how indie games SHOULD be developed. One such games is Braid . This game is wickid-kool, and I will probably post a review in a few days, when I have a bit more time to play though.

Something else cool that will be happening is my good friend Bettina is doing some art for my church. Expect to see some pictures of that as it progresses!

Till then,
Andrew

I read an article in the September PCPowerPlay about the original Duke Nukem, and how that was appealing to gamers at the time, and i just don’t think people are the same. All the choice people have in games today means that a good, but simple game will fall through the cracks, even if it has a small following.

Admitedly, we had this in mind from our research and have tried to compensate by including aspects from many different, yet compatible genre’s of games. Because we are developing a 2D platformer, we are incorporating other 2D games styles, such as shooter, puzzle and even some card games.

This being said, it’s still gonna take more than choice to get people interested. It’s going to take polish, and character development. Having a character that the players can relate to is something, but having a character that the player enjoys playing and wants to find out more about because of their smashed expectations is ideal.

We are developing Cyber Granny to do just that. Take what the player knows and understands and smash their perception. Even if it is of an old lady. Sticking to stereotypes helps inject humor into the game, like cups of tea as health powerups. Because what else would a crime-fighting, ninja-kicking 80year old woman want?

Level design has also been thought about. As we are having a frame-based game, and it is a platformer, we are going to endevour to get the map layout as non-linear and interesting as possible within the engine we are using. Giving the player multiple possible pathways and making them feel as if there is a bigger game than what they are experiencing is excellent for replayability.

On the whole, we are hoping that CG can really give us a helping hand into the industry, and possibly even give us a name!

Check back later for updates.
Andrew

Posted by Wordmobi

During the break my old Nokia 6110 Navigator broke down, and I have a shiny new E71 with WordMobi for blogging. I hope this gives me reason enough to try keep it a little bit more up to date.

As for the education, I achieved two credit’s and two passes for last semester, which is very relieving, and I only have three subjects remaining.This semester I need to knuckle down and finish the game we (as a team) are developing.

In more personal notes, my engagement party was awesome, thanks to many peeps, and my beautiful fiance’ who organised most of it. We are chugging along happily towards marriage.

I know I am meant to blog about games and gaming, but of late my habits have been… Less than average. So when dev issues arrive with this game we are making, i’ll let you know.

That’s about it from me. I hope this one gets posted right..
Andrew

Posted by Wordmobi