farrell1701

Alright, giving up on the whole "make a video out of it" because this is just something that doesn't fit the format well. Or really, it would just be me talking over stock footage and some slapped in memes, and I can do that better in written form than visual. Or more accurately, that format works for Update Parodies, and this is more... not an Update Parody.

No Keen, you can stop sweating now, I'm not starting them up again.

Yet.

My thoughts on SE2 have been slowly churning in the back of my head with the various updates that have been put out and at this point, they still haven't sold me on it. But it also raises the question of what might have gotten me more interested in it?

The key draw for SE1 for me has always been the creative aspects of it. Through not just the ability to make pretty much anything, but to make the objectives of the game your own. The story is yours to write, aided by a wide variety of mods. Hardcore survival? Machinima? Role-playing? FPS? Design competition? The versatility of SE1 is what has made it so great.

It's also been part of SE1's slow decline, because the developers have taken *away* that creative choice, more or less stealing (oh, sorry, "inspired by") popular mods and implementing them in the main game in inflexible ways. There's a REASON why when you check the workshop you'll see dozens of variations on popular mods, where certain values were tweaked to make them more or less impactful and meet someone's gameplay desires. And it's not a new development - remember when you could actually get uranium on the starting planet, then they removed it because it was "too easy".

The responsibility of an open sandbox game developer is something I feel is best summed up as "focus on the core": The engine, and the ability to mod it. Your job is to stay out of everything else. Which is why it's annoying that SE1 feels like it's moved out of workshop mods into things managed outside of steam or the game entirely, or why in countless other games like Satisfactory or Cities Skylines where I can set mod settings inside the game itself. Why we have game updates that add things like the need to eat and farm, radiation... all governed by settings that are just toggles for on and off. (Thank goodness for that, at least they still remember the cyberhound fiasco.)

Minecraft has the same problem -- throwing mob after mob in the game and trying to force drastic changes to gameplay (looking at you, phantoms) that become incompatible with how some people play the game. Sure, let me just remember all the commands to turn off all these things I didn't ask for...

I feel like SE in general is falling into the same rabbit hole, and SE2 potentially moreso than that, where you are being forced more into meeting arbitrary objectives gameplay.... and that's just not something I enjoy. "But Farrell," I hear you say, "you like Satisfactory too!" And yes -- but you'll also note I don't always follow what the game considers "optimal" game flow. (e.g. maximizing output and perfectly balancing every single resource and being quite happy to just let the factory surge and backlog, skipping things in the tech tree, etc.) And I hate to say it, when I do get back to playing Satisfactory, it's going to be modded for that reason. ;)

What I would consider a worthy SE1 successor to be would be the sandbox experience, updated. Updates to voxel/terrain generation is great - provided those changes get thoroughly tested because we all know how wonky SE1's voxels are, never mind just how performance-shattering they can be. Single grid size with more flexible building options? Bring it on - just make sure the game lets you work with those better in survival mode, because I think we're all tired of grinding/welding the wrong block even though we're looking right at it.

But at the core of the system of my "idealized" SE is something more akin to... Rimworld. Here is your world engine, and you can pick your DLCs and mods that plug into it. Start a new game? Pick your narrator/"modpack" -- something that sets world difficulty, turns on or off certain features, etc. A library of preset narrators for the "Traditional" game mechanics, but also support modded narrators, or even saved narrators of all sorts of game settings/customizations that you can quickly apply to a new world. And all of that using the sandbox universe generated on the fly (but also moddable/alterable through settings). Properly procedurally generated worlds that allow for sharing map seeds but also greater control over resources.

For example, this could be a Narrator: Casual Cammy, provides a mild set of challenges to support a casual play session. Spawn rate of hostile grids at 25%, planetary start, uranium available on starting planet, high resource density, no hunger/thirst, welder/grinder speeds increased, relaxed cargo restrictions/capacities, optimal battery drain rate.

Or you've got Grumpy Gus: Hardcore planetary survival (service ceiling enforced on all vehicles to stop them from leaving the planet), hardcore meteors (increased chance to impact vital systems), enhanced spiders (increased spawn rate and size), extreme temperatures, leaky suits (faster O2 consumption), short circuited suits (increase battery drain), deep resources, radioactive uranium, radioactive reactors, no medbays, tech research, enemy infiltrator grids can hack your grid (aka Glitchy), etc.

That's the ideal approach to SE I'd like to see: a proper, modular sandbox that lets you make the challenges and set your goals, be they build something in creative, a light survival challenge, hardcore difficulty, "Gregtech", etc. Focus on the framework, let the community to their thing and let the players pick exactly what they want on/off. (Case in point: Maybe I don't mind a little radiation, just not how/where it's implemented currently!)

Thoughts?

1 month ago | [YT] | 12

farrell1701

(continued from last post)

If everything going on with my theory holds, then we've been teased things about 4.7 - aka well into the next story line, likely at its climax. Consider the following things in that trailer: We see once again four paths are involved in the form of the four judges at the trial - same as Amphoreus. Of the paths shown, one has a ram's head - Destruction, using the precident set by Scene 33 and Irontomb. Another judge has a buck's head - this is symbology for The Hunt. The remaining two characters are a bit harder to place, but... one has the face of a feline, which could ironically be the Path of Finality - the same walked by the Stellaron Hunters themselves (who are actually the ones on trial in the trailer) as there is a lot of imagery tying Elio to the form of a cat (again, even shown at the very end of that trailer). This could imply that Elio's script factors in heavily in 4.7.


This leaves the canine judge - this is where things get trickier.

Remembrance was added for Amphoreus, so it is reasonable to say that 4.X might see another path added, but the list of options is rather small. Trailblaze is unlikely - it's safe to say this is probably reserved for the MC to eventually restart. Elation seems very unlikely - this is the Masked Fools for the most part, and a dog that looks like a doberman doesn't quite fit. Same for Beauty. Enigmata... I doubt, largely because there's a plausible theory out there that Remembrance/Fuli might all be an illusion that Enigmata/Mythus is behind similar to Cipher's lie. Equilibrium, doesn't really fit a dog motif. And we know Order is a dead path (barely, thanks Sunday for the scare). Permanence is a dead path (why the Vidyadhara can't reproduce), so unlikely plus would be more dragon-themed than dog.

There are two potential options left: Voracity and Propagation.

Voracity is a possibility, and we know little about the path. Now consider THAT in the context of Amphoreus - the mobius strip, oroborous feeding on itself... so let's throw a possibility that Phainon might pop over to THAT path in the long run. It's a push for a dog's head to line up with that, but we don't know what the Deep Leviathans look like per se.

Propagation seems more likely. As a path, it's not dead -- Tazzy's (Tayzzyronth) still around, albeit 'sealed in amber' in multiple pieces, and the path diluted somehow by the Aeon Qlipoth (Preservation). It is hinted in Swarm Disaster that Herta thinks Tazzy may resurface in the future, which is then further backed by a Fu Xuan readable where she gets to actually do a quick divination on a piece of the Aeon with her omniscia... and she could not forsee the future of it. (Hmm, sound familiar?) Then add to things that this is what was actually in Luocha's coffin, as means of using it to defeat the Aeon of Abundance, Yaoshi. (e.g. bring back The Swarm to tackle The Abundance...) A rabid dog could fit.

It is also possible the dog symbol could be intended to be more Foxian/Borosin in nature. That could then mean Abundance is in play as the final judge.

So our final question is: Who's on trial? A fifth path intersecting with them all. One possibility would be it's the Trailblazers, *especially* given the (as yet unconfirmed) suggestion that MC may have once been a Stellaron Hunter themselves. But Scene 47 also implies that the judges on the panel have been mind-played by Kafka -- something the TBs have done keeps the powers that be in check at a critical moment, perhaps leading to their downfall?

But there's also Scene 33 to consider, and how Amphoreus will play out. Let's say Phainon is playing Acheron the Duke Inferno scene in 2.1, with Irontomb as Duke Inferno. The paths don't line up. So what if the same applies to the trial seat in 47?

Best guess: It's the IPC/Preservation - most likely Jade, potentially Aventurine. (Love ya Topaz, but not really your style.) Like the Stellaron Hunters, they would be working towards trying to ensure a specific outcome, and their control over trade and communications makes that possible. Also consider we're probably overdue for a "swing of the Amber Lord's hammer". Additionally consider we know one Xianzhao ship has been pretty much become part of the IPC and that the alliance once considered the Preservation Aeon as the centerpiece of their faith, which introduces them into the path conflicts.

Put all of this together, Scene 47 could be interpreted to be an indication that version 4.X could be a Xianzhao Alliance-centric story continuing the fallout of the Phantylia Stellaron/Disciples of Medicus incident and/or something that sees the rise of a new conflict. Perhaps some remain on the path of The Hunt, others look to take advantage of what Jingliu is suggesting by "fighting fire with fire". The Stellaron Hunters are trying to push events to line up with Elio's script, and Phainon or any surviving Lord Ravagers might still be involved. The IPC in turn is trying to leverage the goodwill of the Trailblaze with all of the parties involved while manipulating things behind the scenes/having an unstated agenda, something similar to Aventurine on Penacony...

Yeah, this is what happens when you take a stream night off to try to relax and wind up thinking through something else way too much :D

5 months ago | [YT] | 3

farrell1701

So if you've been catching me on The Other Streaming Platform, you know I've been into HSR for about a year now. The 3.4 update is hitting tomorrow, and we've got trailer that... well, I have theories and they want out. (For awareness, I have stated this under an alt YT account I have in comments, but I need to expound further and in more detail.)

**If you aren't a fan of Honkai: Star Rrail, you can skip this post. Same applies if you're in it for the game and not the lore.** Everything is conjecture, and I'm not asserting that I'm right about anything, but just trying to get this stuff out of my head but also on paper in the off chance I'm actually right. :D

When watching the Fables About the Stars trailer, my thought process was "This seems familiar. Awfully familiar." Hoyo generally doesn't seem to release bulk character details like this in a single video -- even the vast cast of characters on Amphoreus were largely just limited to artwork and little else... except in ONE case: The "Scene 33" trailer.

Go and watch it if you haven't seen it in a while. The theme is the same: The mastermind -- Duke Inferno -- slots in as Lygus/Irontomb, ESPECIALLY with the ram's head. His children also seem to align to a certain extent as well on imagery - we have a puppeteer (which aligns with the tearing down of the Hunt in Stars 2), rot from within, corruption of metal albeit by melting, the cello playing solo as a person walking alone... the list goes on. All of the characters are the Annihilation Gang -- Destruction-themed characters.

Now, the follow up to Scene 33 is then Black Swan interrogating Acheron during the "Rhondo" trailer. "Duke Inferno is dead. He and his children won't be attending." And we get a direct flashback to why this is the case during 2.1 on Penacony. (For those needing a refresher, searching for "Duke Inferno Acheron" should help.) Acheron attacks, demanding the music box that represents The Family's invitation to people to visit Penacony and witness the Charmony Festival. During it, we also learn that his children "might yet survive", we learn Acheron is not walking the path of The Hunt, and its strongly implied Duke Inferno is killed at the end when Acheron unsheathes Nihility.

So what does that have to do with where we are now? Well, the Annihilation Gang trailer is literally called "Scene 33" -- and we are currently still in version 3.3. We have a character who is likely VERY motivated to take on the equivalent of the "children": Phainon. So if the events of 2.1 play out in a similar manner... then a very pissed off Phainon could wind up doing much the same as Acheron -- not invited to the "party" of the universe outside of Amphoreus, but determined to crash it by taking the place of the one invited to it (even if it's a self-invite.)

Now take a look at the Phainon trailer. The Flame Reaver has pretty much been conclusively outed as being post-loop-reboot Phainon due to the nature of his outfit, stature, but primarily the sword he got in 3.3 more so with the teased unmasking in his trailer. However, the scenes of the Chrysos Heir deaths do NOT align with what we've seen in 3.3 -- so these are likely how the previous loops ended, one big final climactic fight where everyone dies, Phainon goes crazy, corrupts into the Flame Reaver with the rebirth, and off to the races we go again. (For those wondering where Kephale is, the answer is simple: It's the Scepter that builds the world, not a proper titan, so its role is easily assumed by any manner of things, ala the Wizard of Oz. (Pay no attention to the Scepter behind the curtain. Or Lygus, potentially.) Cyrene appears to be the "last straw" of sorts here, possibly. (Again, the 3.4 Special Program hints that what we saw at the end of 3.3 may NOT have been the actual events going on "now", implying it could be a previous loop's "recording".

The differences we're seeing in the loop THIS time are due to the appearance of Dan Heng and the Galactic Baseballer in it. Phainon has stated on multiple occasions how much this has meant to him, both from them joining in the Flame Chase Journey and from what he's learned of the world outside Amphoreus from our resident librarian. He is a different person - and perhaps this may prove to offer a stabilizing rock of sorts for Phainon to cling to, allowing him to resist the temptation and instead go after Lygus rather than smashing his sanity against the rocks - and here's where Mina Aoyama's theory kicks in, that the very act of taking down an Emanator of Destruction *makes* them one. (Remember, even though the language is "Lord Ravager", they ARE Emanators.) Era Nova in this case becomes him escaping into the greater galaxy and taking down the other Lord Ravagers and potentially even Nanook THEMselves, becoming a new Aeon of Destruction.

ALTERNATIVELY, losing the TBs could actually ACCELERATE this process, perhaps pushing him beyond just becoming Flame Reaver but *something more*.

Regardless of the details, the outcome is the same - that which seems to be strongly hinted in the trailer and his "Keeping up with Star Rail" special, that he's going super-saiyan.

So what about the prophecy? "Only one will witness the birth of Era Nova." That one's a tricky, but I suspect the key lies in how we saw Aglaea's prophecy teeeeechnically come true twice -- the "bathe in gold" can apply both to the waters of the Crysos Heir's bath just as much she had to allow another part of herself to die being forged into a gilded item and just as much as how in the end she LITERALLY dies in a pool of molten gold. In that context, "only one" has similar multiple applications: Lygus is clearly witness to the restart of the loop but Phainon, driven mad into the Flame Reaver, is not coherent enough TO witness it. If the TBs "die" and Phainon avenges them, then he becomes the witness to his own ascension. Or potentially Phainon takes out Lygus but it takes so much effort he falls unconscious, leaving a witness in the form of the MC if Dan Heng is wounded and unconscious. Since Acheron has been teased, perhaps she's the witness and they're all "Dead." There's a lot of different ways to play out the prophecy, but I do think that we will see a similar "multiple interpretations fit" result.

That said, I'm leaning more towards Phainon slaying Lygus and as a result of that, ascending to Emanator status himself (aka the Flame Reaver-adjacent figure in the trailers.) All the while, the Trailblazers are stuck trapped on/in Amphoreus when the loop reset happens. They're NOT part of the simulation, being complete outsiders, so it stands within reason that their memories aren't impacted by a reboot. Mem might not be impacted, given she's a construct of Fuli (assuming a literal hijack of March) or maybe Mem fades and March wakes up - we'll see. This explains how we meet the 2 "early era" Chrysos Heirs set to debut in 3.5. Phainon's and Lygus' absence might play out in a different flow of the simulation - perhaps the Black Tide never descends, or maybe the simulation recreates them to maintain the original purpose of the simulation, who knows.

Side note: Going off the loop counter in the trailer, folks are saying "Oh, it's been simulating Amphoreus since the birth of the universe". The problem I have with that statement is that 1) It assumes the simulation runs the same 1000 year cycle, but it's possible the loop is longer/shorter than that depending on how much "before" is in it and where in the flame chase journey the loop actually starts. The other thing to keep in mind is that's *simulated* time, and the scepters are known to have the ability to alter the flow of time within the simulation. The scepters themselves were created by Rubert II, which means that best guess on how long they've actually been around is in the ballpark of 3,000-10,000 years, depending on how long the various Amber Eras in that time were. This also means that we may see something of an oddity with the TBs once they get out of Amphoreus -- namely that time could be flowing "faster" for them.

Either way, I'm reasonably certain that we'll see things develop in 3.4 much like the aftermath of Scene 33. But this then raises the specter of yet ANOTHER trailer: Scene 47, The Jepella Rebellion.

(continued)

5 months ago | [YT] | 2

farrell1701

Bleh. Alright, I know it's been a while since my last stream, and once again, the issues are medical in nature.

Sometime in February, I started having difficulties getting a full night of sleep, as every 2-3 hours, I'd wake up with my sinuses completely clogged, forcing me to breathe through my mouth, and sit in my chair sideways while tilted at a specific angle to unclog them - a process that takes about 30-40 minutes. And then I go back to sleep and get another 2-3 hours of rest to then repeat the process again. Needless to say, it's not conducive to getting a good night's rest.

The other problem is that then started cascading over to happening in the evenings, to the point where pretty much where by my usual stream time I'm having to deal with the repercussions - which puts me in a position where my dominant hand is pretty much pinned and out of action for mouse and keyboard, puts me further away from the mic, etc, not to mention the increased noises from me having to breathe through my mouth until normal service is resumed.

So the last two months, I've been slowly working my way through troubleshooting with the PCP while also taking steps to do yet another deep clean of my apartment -- this time on my own, which has only just reinforced how out of shape I am, but on the other hand, has left me with feeling proud when I'm finally able to cross something off my list of Things Needing Done. Medically though, priority has been on managing the last of the fallout from last year -- final appointments with neuro happened, and with luck the last hematology appointment should happen soon as my blood labs are starting to look like I'm back to normal -- which while not necessarily healthy for most people, for someone in my circumstances, my normal is still far, far better than where I was back in November.

Speaking of Things Needing Done, the next World of Madness episode remains on that list. I started off with 145 ReplayMod recordings that needed reviewing to determine if there was any footage I would need, and that count is now down to 137, which puts me roughly at the same point I had done most of the exterior work on Site 01 - the modern/contemporary mountain retreat - and the first torch runs through what would become the real crux of my base.

Expect to see some enhancements there when I'm able to resume streams - the WoM server upgraded to 1.20.4 and we've got access to crafters and the new tuff blocks, and I've also added some visual mods through resource packs. The net result is that my current off-camera project -- transitioning the higher thermal springs elevations away from the blackstone/basalt blocks inherent to the biome -- now has the added benefit of being able to use the half slab tuff block, bringing back that as a viable block for the area. The shots you see here were taken 2 weeks ago, showing off some of the progress in giving this part of the cave more smoother elevation changes, working to increase stalagmite presence as one might expect in a damp, mineral-rich cave, giving it more "thermal" energy through lava and smoke FX, and giving the cave a bit more of a walled look around its edges. I've also introduced lighting via hanging lanterns scattered about along the ceiling - it kinda looked surreal to just have magma blocks providing minimal overhead lighting along the way, and I suspect that I'll be ripping them out anyways. (Seriously, if the rock is hot enough to glow, it's probably not staying there much longer before it'd just fall down to the ground.) Previously I've been limited to diorite, andesite (which I have limited quantities of), and stone blocks to ease the elevation changes since they were the only half slab-capable blocks - the tuff half slabs are a welcome addition to give me rougher-looking patches without resorting to the less-natural look of cobble.

Not to mention it seems that MCP-001 is stepping up its game on the server...

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1 year ago | [YT] | 7

farrell1701

The following is a message composed via consensus of the O5 Council.

For those who are not currently aware of our existence, we represent the organization known as the MCP Foundation. Our previous mission centered around the containment and study of anomalous objects, entities, and other assorted Minecraft phenomena. This mission was the focus of our organization since its founding in World of Madness Season 6, as the surviving offshoot of the SCP Foundation after the destruction of Earth by SCP-7798-2.

Due to circumstances outside of our control, this directive has changed. Our new mission will be the extermination of remaining survivors from Earth.

There will be no further communication.

1 year ago | [YT] | 7

farrell1701

So it's been a while since my last update on where I am from a medical perspective. Blood work from a week ago confirmed my white blood cell count is back to normal, though I'm still showing a bit on the anemic side, and the ophthalmologists saw significant reduction in the swelling of the optic nerve on my right eye, though not as drastic a difference on the left eye, which is now where the bulk of my ongoing vision problems seem centered. I'm also still a little anemic, but the problem there is more from trying to balance out iron intake versus my hemachromatosis making my body store excess iron. Fortunately the latter has an appointment in January to begin dealing with that, which should hopefully deal the final blow to any iron deficiency. (Yup, my medical history is a jackpot of weird shit like this.)

Mobility-wise, I've weaned myself off the walker as most of my strength is back, though I'm probably not taking the stairs anytime soon as my strength there is still a bit short. I've been able to walk modest distances (by my standards at least) and though I'm not up to my normal walking speed, I'm maintaining a better pace than I could weeks ago.

So what does this mean for streams? Possibly one or two this weekend as all my holiday plans got cancelled by the Medical Stuffs, and starting the 2nd week of January I'm going to try to work on getting on a normal schedule again, most likely with World of Madness SMP Minecraft streams and a long-overdue return to Space Engineers. (In particular, the game is afoot on WoM regarding the first MCP being loose on the server, just waiting for it to get noticed...)

Thanks to everyone who replied to previous medical feckery posts - it was a big help knowing I had folks rooting for me.

Best wishes to all as we enter the final parts of the holiday season, and I'll see you all in 2024.

1 year ago | [YT] | 22

farrell1701

Added a ceiling to the tunnel last seen on the Twitch stream - color coded to nether wart blocks for my portal, and the warped wart blocks for the skelly XP farm.

1 year ago | [YT] | 8

farrell1701

Update: I'm back home, having had a lumbar puncture performed and gotten my immediate health re-stabilized. The neurologist is taking his sweet time reviewing everything, but there's also fears that some specific tests may have been missed that are needed - bless the people in my medical system, as they are compassionate beyond a fault and always willing to do what it takes to get stuff done, but everything tends to move at a glacial pace, and despite best efforts, things get overlooked.

What we know: The reason I keep winding up in the hospital is likely because I'm currently suffering neutropenia - my white blood cell count is very, very low, so literally anything can walk right over my immune system right now. Anyone around me has to mask up to keep me safe, and I'm pretty much under lockdown (not that this is any real change from my usual hermit-like preferences anyways.)

What we don't know: Where are all the white blood cells going? The concern is they may be attacking my nervous system, which would explain all of my symptoms - the reduction/temporary loss in mobility, vision issues, etc. Needless to say, there are major, scary implications to this and any number of serious conditions and Bad Disease Names that can come up. For the time being, I am keeping those mentally over the horizon - I have to focus on staying healthy, rather than worrying over possibilities. I'm not dismissive of the possibilities or possessed of the concept that everything will Magically Go Back To Normal though.


As of right now, my mobility is very limited. I can walk, but I have to be extremely careful as my strength and balance are both degraded, so getting to the dumpster, car, or laundry room is riskier. And with the vision issues, driving is pretty much out of the question beyond critical need things like picking up prescriptions and getting the mail. I'm waiting for PT/OT to begin, as they'll get my walker calibrated and set up. It's scary to think I just turned 45 in September and may be committed to a walker/cane for the rest of my life already.


Thank goodness my parents are still alive, around, and mobile/able enough to help out. They drove a few hours up loaded down with cleaning supplies and other things and cleaned up my entire apartment. You have to remember, I've been generally sick since late September, with four hospitalizations, and for the last week of October/first week of November, barely able to handle basic needs while dealing with degrading mobility. Bodily fluids were an issue, and I'll leave it at that. Remember folks: You only get the family you have. Cherish them. Be there for them, and they'll be there for you.

Streams... the possibility is there, just depends on the kind of day I'm having, but I also need to work off-stream on WoM MCP stuff as well. It's also possible that... there may be a different kind of video project coming down the pike as well. We'll see.

Speaking of which: Out of curiosity, does DaVinci Resolve not accept .ts video files? I actually record OBS direct to ts files, because if something happens during recording -- OBS/system crash, power failure, etc -- that the recorded content isn't lost. With mp4, if the recording gets interrupted before the file is finalized, you pretty much lose everything... there's some things you can try to recover the content, but you're pretty much guaranteed to have skips, missing chunks, and horrible desync, which is why I prefer the TS format. Granted, I can push the files through Handbrake to make proper MP4s, but it's an extra step I'd love to avoid if possible.

2 years ago | [YT] | 13

farrell1701

Update: Here I am, back in the hospital. Things got worse. The new medication I was on broke me. Lost all desire to eat or do anything. Towards the end I was barely functional at any level. Called an Uber to get to the ER, didn't even make it to the end of my apartment building before my legs gave out entirely. Could not move them at all, so down I went. Cancelled Uber... dialed 911 and just hoped for the best.

Was not the last time I'd fall that day. Fell in ER bathroom too. Avoided serious injury both times, thankfully.

Turns out in addition to the new med that my body just couldn't handle, cranial pressures probaby behind the leg failure -- they don't seem to know why, but blood lab work keeps pointing out one low indicator. They get that indicator up a bit, but then I go home and it's back down next time I come in.

Spinal tap tomorrow 8:30, but it could take weeks before we have the results from it we need to know what the hell is going on...

Bless my parents for they are old but still came up from hours away to help clean up my apartment.... it's bad in there... a month of neglect and half-eaten food as my apetite slowly died, then a series of water disasters once I got confined to bed trying to stay hydrated.

2 years ago | [YT] | 19

farrell1701

It's time for a little experiment.

Those who hang out on the Salt Mine Discord or a few other Discord servers I'm on know that since late August, the network interface on my gaming rig was going out to lunch. And then second lunch, third lunch, and towards the end it was basically just about dining out non-stop rather than working. Now this motherboard has *constantly* been a pain in my side -- it didn't ever work right, refused to run NVMe drives without corrupting anything put on them, constantly threatened to turn the CPU into molten slag by overvolting it despite the most minimal of overclock setups... and yet somehow it still managed to live and hold up for almost six years, having gone through two CPUs, a RAM upgrade, storage upgrades, and three GPUs replacements.

In that time, I've also been a paying user of Adobe software - everything you've seen on the channel has come out of Photoshop or Premiere. And in that same time... the software has decidedly gotten harder to use (especially as I found out making the World of Madness 00 episode), features I used regularly have been removed or entire products eliminated... and the things my plan includes are things I don't use -- for instance, I really don't need to be paying for cloud storage because I don't work as part of a team or have editors (and even then if I did, I'd be sending files via other means that DON'T tie the other user to the same platform I use.) And for all of this... the price of the plan keeps going up. So I'm just dumping money into things I don't and never will use, for the added pain of Adobe constantly changing things behind my back and demanding a million online integrations I don't want to use.

Now don't get me wrong, this is not about me needing money, nor does this experiment have anything to do with monetizing videos or going affiliate on Twitch, or starting a Patreon or accepting donations. This is a hobby for me, and I don't need the added burden of dealing with the convoluted world of the US tax code when one is considered a contracted worker and having to mess with estimated taxes. (I have done this before in my real-world career and it is NOT. SIMPLE. OR FUN.)

What I'm doing is... not installing the Adobe Creative Cloud or any of its software titles on the new gaming rig, which is also my editing rig. That's right -- I'm using this opportunity to see what is available for alternative solutions. Ideally, the kind that DON'T require forking over money on a regular basis in some sort of Software-as-a-Scam... oh, sorry, "Service" mess. Pardon me, let me find the old man hat and rocking chair...

You see kids, back in my day, we used to buy software outright. That is, you'd buy a program. It would come on floppy disks -- the actual floppy ones, not them newfangled hard-plastic or shiny things -- and you owned that copy of the software. It wouldn't get updated, because the people who made the software would actually have tested it all prior to selling it, and any bugs that did get through were usually pretty minor at most. If you wanted a new version of the software when it came out, you'd pay for a new copy, but it wasn't as if your old copy stopped working or were replaced behind your back -- and if you were content with what you had and didn't need any new bells or whistles, you could keep what you'd legally purchased and keep using it.

Today we live in a world of forced OS upgrades ("security reasons" is not a valid excuse unless you've demonstrably shown you CANNOT issue a security update for something because it is so core to the system that it would render it inoperable if you did update it) and a never-ending bevy of "enhancements" that are used to justify the cost of paying on a regular basis for your software. "It's more convenient," they'll say, "you get a stream of new features and updates."

Anyone who has ever worked on a schedule knows how well THAT works out. The update will come when you don't want it, will remove/break something you need to use, wipe out your custom settings, and require re-learning the software constantly. Such is life with Adobe.

So I'm experimenting this time. Aside from having to deal with WIndows 11 -- which has its own quirks that I'm learning -- I'm also forcing myself to step away from the Adobe addiction and look to open source as well as "pay to own" software. We'll see how this experiment goes, but this does mean I'll be a bit delayed on upcoming videos as I get used to the process change. Stream VODs won't be impacted quite so much since those are imported.

For those wondering: Courtesy of managing to catch streams from some of my fellow World of Madness cohorts, the first MCP has already been identified. More information to come on MCP-003 soon. ;)

2 years ago | [YT] | 6