From the Mind of Eddie Dover

[FIX] Daggerdale & “Unable to sign into Gamespy at this time”

Eddie Dover — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 15:43:20 +0000

I noticed that the first time I launched the game, gamespy worked fine, but every OTHER time, it complained that it couldn’t sign in.

Well, I can’t speak for everyone, but here’s how I fixed this:

1) Go to My Documents/My Games/Daggerdale/DnDGame/SaveData/

2) Delete the Credentials.dnd and all .dndprofile files. DO NOT DELETE THE .SAV FILE

3) Start the game.

Works for me every time.

Hopefully they patch this soon.

Github

Eddie Dover — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 09:31:10 +0000

I’m so sad I never discovered the awesomeness of github until now. That said, my projects page has been linked to this one. Check the links up-top to view it.

New Project [PMS] – Perpetual Minecraft Server

Eddie Dover — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 00:04:34 +0000

Fun name, even more fun project! PMS, or Perpetual Minecraft Server is a server wrapper for Minecraft.

I’ve already started work on the program, and it’s nearing a beta phase. Check the rundown below.

It is written in C# and when finished, if people want, I’ll make sure it’s Mono compatible, if possible, for cross-platform usage.

Completed Features:

Auto-restart server.
Auto-backup server.
Program acts as configurable tunnel to server.

Planned Features:

MOTD and Rules support.
Custom and quiet commands for admins.
Remote access via Android devices for admins.
??? More ???

Interested in a public release of this program? Let me know and it might happen. Otherwise, it will stay private. Making it user friendly enough for a wide audience release will only happen if enough people show interest.

[SYWTBAM] Update

Eddie Dover — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 11:55:42 +0000

Well after thinking long and hard about the requirements for the 3d models we’re going to use, Jeff and I decided to go with our own model format. So I tasked myself with the job of writing an exporter for blender and an importer for the engine. This format, aptly named .leb, will have all basic model features including skinning and be exported from Blender in a plain text, human readable, file.

Development is paused for a short while, while Jeff converts the Code::Blocks project to Visual Studio 2010, for sake of faster development on his part and for future possible releases to the community.

[SYWTBAM] Progress Report

Eddie Dover — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 23:44:41 +0000

So far progress is coming along nicely with the engine work. Jeff has managed to incorporate various types of collision detection and vector/matrix math into the codebase while I have been working on a model/model-loader system. I’m almost done writing a framework to parse 3DS files, excluding animation. This of course will have to be rectified since without animation this game would be pretty pointless. I could probably just use someone else’s parser but it wouldn’t be as fun, and besides I’m already combining SDL and OpenGL. I doubt someone’s going to have a neat little packaged loader that works happy with both systems, just sitting there ready for me.

I’ve also been honing my Blender skills in order to get a few models going for us to test with. Sadly I’m a programmer, not an artist, so my skills with anything other than GCC/notepad/Visual Studio are pretty lacking. Hopefully we’ll find some artists who will work for peanuts and credit, sometime soon.

That’s it for this small update. It’s back to work! And by that I mean a little RoM to help me relax before I keep cracking at the OpenGL work.

Windows Live Writer Test

Eddie Dover — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 19:42:46 +0000

I’ve decided to try to find a suitable Desktop application that will allow me to update my blog without having to go through a web interface. Hopefully this will result in somewhat regular blog postings from me, instead of a … Continue reading →

Project Change

Eddie Dover — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 04:05:10 +0000

Why have I been so quiet lately? Well, aside from gaming, I’ve been working on a new project. I’m sad/happy to say that ‘The Mansion’ project has been canceled. Why? Because Wizards of the Coast has seen fit to re-release ‘Betrayal at House on the Hill’ in a special 2010 version!! For those who are as excited by this news as I was, you can pre order here: [avhamazon locale="US" asin="B003HC9734" linktype="pic-text" picsize="small"]

As such, the game engine has already been extracted and is being used for my new project ‘So you want to be a Miner?’, a cross-platform PC clone of Gem Miner for the Android. Check the projects page for info. Eventually I will be looking for devs and asset providers, so if you’re interested, give me a shout.

[Review - Game] Singularity [PC]

Eddie Dover — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 07:48:30 +0000

[avhamazon locale="US" asin="B003M2NFKA" linktype="pic-text" picsize="medium"]
[rating: 4/5]
When I picked up Singularity during the Steam sale, I didn’t have very high expectations. I knew it involved time travel and it was an FPS. The graphics didn’t look very amazing and to tell the truth I was ready to write my first two or three star review, I even put off playing it since my video card abruptly died. However, out of boredom, I launched the game while my significant other watched and we were both blown away. The game isn’t perfect, but it’s better than most FPS games I’ve played this year.

Pros:

Story – Most games, and TV shows for that matter, really botch the idea of time travel and it’s effect on reality. This game actually tries to take things realistically. My girlfriend isn’t really one for sticking around for ‘horror’ FPS games but to my surprise she was avid about me finishing so she could see how the story ended, even during the parts of the game where we almost soiled ourselves. If a movie is ever made about any modern video game, we can only hope that this is one of them.
Atmosphere – The amount of detail that went into this game, from level design to props was absolutely fantastic. Bits of paper floating around, readable things attached to a tack-board, experiment log videos, notes left by former inhabitants, etc., all of these things set the mood from the very beginning. This game is creepy and amazing.
Weapons and Abilities – While some of the weaponry and abilities in the game have been seen before, some have not, and some are new takes on old ideas. Regardless, every time you obtain a new skill, you’re going to have a good time. You’re able to spend tech points that you collect on enhancements and upgrades to yourself and your weapons, really letting you tweak the game-play to your specific style.
Abilities – I can’t stress enough how much fun it was to PLAY this game. The powers and abilities alone really gave it two stars. Refreshing!! I refuse to spoil exactly why but you will enjoy this game if you like the idea of time travel.

Cons:

Length – This game was short. I think it took maybe all of 8 – 10 hours to finish this. With such a large back-story to draw from, it’s very disappointing that things ended so quickly.
Endings – Depending on choices you make at the very end of the game, you experience one of three different endings. The Good ending while Good, is a little confusing because it’s the shortest and doesn’t go into nearly the same amount of detail as the other two. Even then, there’s a glaring plot hole that could easily be filled by a 4th ending and it’s VERY sad that this wasn’t taken into account.
Sequal – There won’t be one. And if there is, I don’t see how it could merge with the existing storyline unless it takes place in the future. This is irritating and sad, especially for a game that did almost everything right.
Starts Strong and Finishes Weak – In the beginning you’re learning, reading, watching, and enjoying the spooky history of the island. By the end you’re just shooting everything that moves in a desperate bid for survival (or not, depending on the difficulty). Regardless, the first half of the game is the most interesting, just because you’re drawn into the plot heavily. If the second half were as good, this game would be solid gold.
Linear – Go to Point A. To get there pass through Point B and Point C. Some of the game locations are confusing to navigate but with one of your powers you practically have your hand held the entire time. The first-half of the game mixes things up and keeps your mind off the linear design. Even the boss fights mix things up but other than that it’s a simple “go here, go here, go here, done” second-half of the game.
Multiplayer – I haven’t played it, but it’s there, so that’s a good thing. I like to think, that with the power sets you have in the game, playing against other people would be amazing. This isn’t my style though, so I’ll leave that for you to decide.

I would argue this game being worth 50-60 dollars, but it’s definitely a 30-40 dollar purchase. If you can catch it on sale or are looking for something with an interesting premise then feel free to snatch it up.

Remembering a Vehicle

Eddie Dover — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 18:15:38 +0000

I remember the good old days back when I didn’t rely on public transportation. One of the many joys of owning a car wasn’t just the hassle of parking tickets, or not having parking at your own apartment complex, but the wonderful world of auto repair.

Sadly enough, even with all of my techno-savvy, I didn’t realize there were sites like RepairPal to make my life a little more bearable. You’re able to do things such as find auto shops nearby, diagnose problems such as that pesky check engine light, look up specific details about your Ford F-150, or make sure you’re covered by getting information about specific locations you plan on visiting, such as “San Diego auto repair“, and much more. Finding reviews and ratings of products and services for your car or truck couldn’t possibly be easier, and all of this is provided for free. There’s no excuse to ignore this website.

Services like this, if I had been aware of them a few years ago, would have saved me enormous amounts of time and effort with my car. When and if I purchase a new vehicle, you can bet I’ll be using RepairPal for any automotive needs I may have.

[Pirates of the Caribbean Online] – “p3dpythonw.exe has stopped working” [FIX]

Eddie Dover — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 11:31:54 +0000

I plan on reviewing Pirates of the Caribbean Online sometime soon, since Melissa brought it to my attention. It’s a most wonderful game. However this post is to detail a small problem we both encountered today while using the web-launcher.

The Problem:
The game would crash and display a message as follows: “p3dpythonw.exe has stopped working”. Any further attempt to run the game would result in this crash.

The Solution:

Go to the Pirates of the Caribbean Online Website.
Click Help, on the far left column.
Click Download for PC and run the installer.

I have no idea if this will solve the problem for everyone, but so far it worked like a charm for us. Here’s to hoping!

EDIT: I understand that this doesn’t solve the actual problem and only provides a workaround, but I’ve found that the Desktop client provides far greater stability.