rls669

Reply to Change to Forum Format in Galactic Civilizations II Stardock Forums

Anyone else finding that pinned posts aren't showing up in Opera? They work for me in IE but clicking on the +/- sign in Opera does nothing.

Reply to Change to Forum Format in Galactic Civilizations II Stardock Forums

The font is tiny. I don't want to have to set the zoom to 200% every time I come here. Although I'm a rabid supporter of almost everything Stardock, I really hate this forum (software) as I do every other custom built forum I've encountered, because they all suck. There's a reason most sites use vbulletin.

Reply to computer technology chat in Off-Topic Stardock Forums

Get a 3d application and then do tutorials until you get proficient enough to focus on the results instead of the process. All the major apps have either demos or free "personal learning" editions. The PLE will usually only output low-res, watermarked renders but be fully featured otherwise. You might want to lood at Blender, a free open source 3d app that is continuously evolving. The main problem with Blender is that like many open source apps, it has an interface that was designed by prog

Reply to computer technology chat in Off-Topic Stardock Forums

[quote] The CPU is used for rendering, not the GPU. in that case what are Quadro's and Fire GL's for?[/quote] The workstation cards are optimized for rendering large numbers of polygons while working in a 3d application, the gaming cards are optimized for heavy texture and shader work. Once you have the scene set up, it's the cpu that renders out the image or animation frames. In the past the cards were separate lines,

Reply to The most amazing starting system ever!!! in Galactic Civilizations II Stardock Forums

Now someone get a start like this for TA and post it please :)

Reply to "Information Overload" is unbearable - A complaint and solution in one! in Galactic Civilizations II Stardock Forums

[quote]How about if the guardians of the good manners here on this forum get over it? [/quote]Reminds me of an ex-girlfriend. If you yelled at her to get out of burning building she'd stand there and burn to death because you didn't say please.

Reply to computer technology chat in Off-Topic Stardock Forums

[quote] i'm not seriously making a prediction that we'll see movie-quality CGI on home computers in 13 or even 24 years. i think, like that magazine rls669 linked, this shows just how fast computers develop. [/quote] I think we'll be seeing that quality of graphics within 10 years. There's more than speed to consider, modern CPUs and GPUs are both using parallelism now instead of just more speed, hardware and software physics engines are evolving to handle that part

Reply to A few ideas in Ideas Stardock Forums

I hate the drudgery of sending ships across Huge and Immense maps, so I propose a new military starbase module, or even a new starbase type: Wormhole Terminus. The GalCiv equivalent of railroads in Civ. Variations on this theme have been proposed before but I think I've come up with a good balanced approach. Build one terminus somewhere convenient in your territory, another near the front lines. Ships entering one end appear at the other next turn. There could be several levels of

Reply to computer technology chat in Off-Topic Stardock Forums

[quote] Based on how fast things have moved along, I would bet we'll see movie quality computer graphics in games soon. I think I read somewhere that a current high end system can render about a third the speed required.[/quote]Not even close as far as I know. Depending on a the scene and resolution, a high end system would still be many minutes per frame for LOTR level CGI. That's why vfx companies have massive render farms.

Reply to computer technology chat in Off-Topic Stardock Forums

I just scanned a 1997 PC Games article, an early preview of Unreal for my friends in a UT clan. Scroll down to the bottom, I've included a few advertisements to show the state of the art of hardware at the time :D [link="http://redeye.co30.com/upreview.html"]WWW Link[/link]

Reply to computer technology chat in Off-Topic Stardock Forums

[quote] I'm using 80GB drives that cost $40 a piece. That's cheap! [/quote]My 500GB was $99 :D

Reply to Twilight of the Arnor Beta 4C in GalCiv Journals GalCiv2 Forums

[quote]Apparently, I misunderstood a post from Carielf on Jagged Knife. Said we wouldn't see the Jagged Knife again. Must have been referring to a text change.[/quote] Besides the text changes noted above, the mega events have been changed so if minor races in general aren't allowed, mega events involving minors (jagged knife, fundamentalists, vegans) won't happen.

Reply to computer technology chat in Off-Topic Stardock Forums

Sounds like a poor value. Spending money to get more hard drive speed has about the lowest bang-for-the-buck imaginable for computer upgrades (IMHO of course). I'd always choose more storage over faster, load times constitute a tiny percentage of my time on the PC. Although . . . using a solid state drive to play Silent Hunter would probably do a lot to reduce my desire for an asteroid to land on UbiSoft's headquarters ;)

Reply to Post your TA suggestions here in Beta Reports Stardock Forums

[quote]OR "make constructors works as miners. When new modules are researched, constructors fan out and improve the starbases themselves".[/quote] I really like this idea. More powerful modules could take more turns to complete.

Reply to Choice of Weapons? in Dark Avatar Stardock Forums

[quote] I am under the possibly-mistaken impression TA changed the psionic weapons. Pretty sure when they were _really_ uber-weapons they were mid-tech, and yes they made it joyous to go evil. But now you need disruptors, which is now the last tech group before the ulitmate doom ray, to get the psionic beam. So it is only a (relative to before) slight advantage now.[/quote]Agreed, they show up much later in the tech tree now and aren't worth expense anymore. My weapo

Reply to Should you only sell or trade any Trade Goods to those who are leaning the same way as yourself? in Game Talk Stardock Forums

I give trade goods to minors for econ and research treaties. It doesn't generate a huge return, but with enough minors it can add up. Otherwise, I never trade or sell anything with military or economic value, with the exception that I'll use trade goods to bribe a peace treaty out of someone if I find myself in more wars than I can handle. A few thousand bc isn't worth giving the enemy more HP, faster repair, the ability to fill transports as fast as he can build them without depleting his po

Reply to SINS finely Spotted in CANADA ! in Sins of a Solar Empire Stardock Forums

[quote] Everwhere in saskatoon is sold out....gay....now i have to wait till next week... [/quote]I found that out too, so I bought online. Except the email I received from Stardock was missing the link to access it, so now I too have to wait.

Reply to [Suggestion] Please disable the Windows-Key in Fullscreen Mode in Technical Stardock Forums

[quote] *hugs his G15* Same here [/quote] +1 Though I don't use the windows lock anyway, but it's nice to have options.

Reply to Beta 4C Bug: Korath Destroyed, Ships Remain in Beta Reports Stardock Forums

The ships are supposed to join other races or turn pirate, which they usually do. They're just not supposed to be still claiming to belong to a nonexistent faction.

Reply to 4c Doesn't appear in my stardock updater in Beta Reports Stardock Forums

That is beta 4C.

Reply to Question about buying direct from Stardock in Technical Stardock Forums

I don't have a credit card by choice, and I have my reasons to dislike paypal. Anyway, totalgaming.net has a gift option so I got a friend to buy a Totalgaming.net Mega Booster Pack (nice name, lol) and gift it to me. Great . . . except the email from Stardock that claims to contain my access info actually contains "=--------------------=" where the info is supposed to be. So now I wait for support to get back to me which I'm guessing won't be until Monday :SNIFF!:

Question about buying direct from Stardock in Technical Stardock Forums

I can't find a retail copy of Sins locally so it looks like I'll have to go digital. But, I don't have a credit card and I don't want to use paypal. So my question is, can I use a friend's credit card or will the system freak out because his name and billing address don't match what's in my stardock account?

Reply to ToA 4d Today? in Beta Reports Stardock Forums

I've never liked RTS games but I think I might like Sins. In any case I'll be buying a copy as soon as it's in stock locally. Stardock has proven to be worth taking a chance on.

Reply to ToA 4d Today? in Beta Reports Stardock Forums

Are those 1500 guests just on the galciv forums, or the Stardock forums in general? If it's the latter they're here for Sins of a Solar Empire, not the TA beta :)

Reply to computer technology chat in Off-Topic Stardock Forums

[quote] I know we can watch temps,.. fan speed and volts How can you check how many watts you are pulling ??? [/quote] You can buy a little meter that plugs into the wall socket, you plug your system into it to see the power draw. Your utility company might have them, otherwise you can probably get one at Radio Shack or your local equivalent.