Embarrassing moments.. Tuesday, Jun 19 2007

Post ONE:

Hello,

I have a small problem with VC. I realised that sometimes when I play VC the framrate drops very very massively – to the point that I’m playing the game in slo-mo. This slo-mo is not permanent, though, and will resume back to normal after maybe 20-30 seconds. I personally tried to find a pattern where I experienced the slo-mo situation. The following are the four times which I had the drop in framrate:

1) In little havana when I was running (not driving) with a cop chasing behind me.
2) When I was robbing a shop in Little Havana
3) When I triggered a whole Haitian gang start shooting at me and was running away.
4) When I was robbing the same shop in Little Havana (tried it again, and it lagged again.)

The following are my specs:

PC,
Windows Vista Home Premium,
VC version 1.0
AMB Athlon x2 4200+ (dual core)
2 GIG RAM
256 MB GeForce 7300 LE
DirectX Version 9.0
Sigmatel High Definition Audio CODEC (Soundcard)

I have:

toggled the Frame Limiter (usually it’s turned on, but when i turned it off it still lags),
shut off all programs in the background,
deleted the .SET file and re-installed the game,
patched the game with 1.1 patch,
changed the compatibility to windows 98 / Me

but the problem still persists.

I’m guessing (I may be wrong) that it shouldn’t be a problem of programs running in the background (since I shut off programs and the problem is still there, and that the problem seems to arise during “gunfire” scenes only)

And the specs of my computer is pretty overqualified to run the game also. That’s why I don’t know why it keeps lagging at points like these!

Please advise, thanks.

————————————————————————-

Post TWO:

How embarrassing.

I didn’t know there was an adrenaline pill until my friend told me. Guess I must have taken it without realising its effects.

Sorry man!!!!!

Leave a Response »

 

Priceless Moments… On friends and enemies. Tuesday, Jun 19 2007

Zy, qx and i, while walking along a tunnel in orchard road when we met an acquaintance previously from our school. So we actually stopped and chatted for a few minutes, before we departed. When he left….

Zy: (to me) Eh is he your friend?

Me: No leh, I only know who he is. Your friend?

Zy: Nope.

Qx: Me neither.

10 seconds later….

Zy: Eh qx is that your friend?

Qx: Cannot be la where got so many friends one?

Me: (look closer at where zy was pointing) Oh ya it’s your friend rigel!

Qx: (very excited) WHERE WHERE WHERE? RIGEL?????

————————————————-

We were discussing on our phuket trip…. and zy was pointing to the southern part of thailand, commenting that it is dangerous over there.

Qx: Ya, cuz it’s taleban what.

Zy: (burst out laughing)

I snatched the itinerary and looked. True enough, there is a place in southern thailand called Thale Ban.

Leave a Response »

 

English as it is Broken… Sunday, Jun 17 2007

Ky: (Pointing to an escalator at the open-air area in J8) Hey since when is there a lift there?

Me: It’s not a lift la, it’s an elevator!

Leave a Response »

 

Being Nice in Vice City… is not an option. Sunday, Jun 17 2007

Oh man vice city is SO FUN la. wah lau i shldve installed the game earlier. after buying the new comp i was just rummaging through my old “trash” and found this gem of a game. i finally started playing it… like 5 years after its release. After frustrating days of error messages and hanging, I finally *think* i figured out the problem and hopefully have resolved it. Anyway, now i know why it sold 8.5 million copies within a couple of months. Because it’s SO GOOD!

and funny.

i can’t resist taking some screenshots and post them up.

—————

the best name for an “ice cream” company ever – “CHERRY POPPER ICE CREAM”

and a not so obvious innuendo design on the ice cream truck -

My very first investment….

The only “insane car stunt” i know…

Four Simple Steps to Earning Petty Cash (The Vice City way)

1) Hijack a cab

2) Get a customer

3) Drive as fast as you can (by hook or by crook)

4) $$$~!

Finally……. I managed to clock “SIX STARS!!” (with the help of cheat, unfortunately) I’m a wanted terrorist! Destroyed 2 helicopters, 5 police cars, a couple of other heavy vehicles and killed lots and lots of people. Why does that sound so disturbing suddenly? hmm.

Leave a Response »

 

Should Shrek be Banned? Wednesday, Jun 6 2007

(read this in online Straits Times forum today)

Shrek 3 not suitable for children

I TOOK my six-year-old daughter to watch Shrek 3, thinking it was another wholesome animation for children.

But both I and my wife (who has a master’s in Early Childhood Studies) feel that it is not suitable for children.

There are some good values to be learnt from the movie. However, I find several aspects of the movie make it not suitable for children.

One of the scenes portray one of the main characters ‘Arthur’ feigning extreme sadness to fool an old and pitiful magician.

He succeeded in getting his way, and was not at all apologetic that he had used emotional manipulation to do so. Children watching this would obviously pick up the message that it is all right to manipulate others to benefit oneself.

The other objectionable scene was towards the end where an angry ‘Prince Charming’ starts cutting off the heads of animals/mannequins on stage.

No doubt, he was ‘acting’ in a drama production, but his characterisation makes it totally believable that he would do the same to actual people or animals.

If the visual images of the beheadings and its irreverent portrayal could leave an impression on an adult like me, what impact can it have on young children?

Another objectionable portion is the negative portrayal of traditional fairy tale heroines.

Characters like Snow White and Rapunzel were portrayed in a negative light – as demanding, unreasonable, impatient and manipulative characters, totally different from the virtuous, pure, sacrificial and long-suffering characters that we know them to be in the original fairy tales.

To innocent young children, this may put confusion in their minds as to what their fairy tale heroines are truly like. Should they continue to admire them and embrace the virtues they portray?

My last point has to do with mismatch of the modern American English spoken with the traditional costumes and setting of the movie. The gentlemen and ladies of that era gone by certainly do not speak in such rude and over-the-top manner. So this represents another historical misrepresentation.

The movie has a good ending and some good lessons but overall its irreverent tone, historical misrepresentations and violent images will not leave many positive nor wholesome impressions on our children and young people.

———————————————————————–

Hmm. So going by his logic,

1) Shrek 3 should be re-rated NC16 because PARENTAL GUIDANCE is not enough to protect children from its disturbing scenes. Maybe the censor board should take note.

NC16: Disturbing Scenes.

Oh wait… this is better and more detailed.

NC16: Cartoon violence and frightening portrayal of childrens heroes.

2) Any movie must be historically accurate to be a good movie. So it means,

- Hotel rwanda should be blasted for its sugarcoating of the actual massacre.

- Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia and SHREK 3 should be banned because of its inaccurate portrayal of magic – fantasy magic do not exist like that.

- Titanic, likewise, should have scenes featuring Jack and Rose Dawson censored away because although the titanic is historically accurate, jack and rose obviously did not exist.

Hahahaha… no offence to the actual poster. in fact, i respect him for trying to stay objective throughout his whole argument. many others would have become very personal and judgmental when writing stuff like these.

just that, it’s too funny to let this pass!!! hahahahaha

3 Responses »

 

Hasta La Vista (Home Premium) Baby!! Sunday, Jun 3 2007

just came back from pc fair. i’m buying a new comp with:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 4200+, Windows Vista Home Premium, 2 GB Shared DDR-2 SDRAM, 16X DVD Burner, NVIDIA GeForce 7300LE, 320 GB SATA 3.0 Gb/s HDD.

whee!!!! starcraft 2, c & c 3, fallout 3, aoe 3, heroes 3, diablo 2, theme hospital, here i come!

ah well it’s time to change anyway. my comp is 5 years old and now hardware failing quite badly. it costs me $1774 though, a bit pinch-y…

7 Responses »