axipher

14 hours ago, neurotix said:

Hey @UltraMegacan you please post a link for me to the controller thing you have for Smartphone gaming? I'm thinking of getting one for my brother for his birthday.

 

Also, considering I know virtually nothing about emulation on Smartphones, what's the best PSX emu and best SNES emu? Hopefully ones that are free and adless.

 

Thanks buddy.

Retroarch on Android is a pretty great starting point, it acts as kind of a mini front-end and manages a bunch of "Cores" for each system and has multiple options for each system.

It has a slightly weird layout and config so definitely might require some guides, but it does a lot of the config, video, controls and all that stuff for you.

Emulation Station Desktop Edition is also working on an Android Front-end that can interface with Retroarch that I'm playing with right now and has made managing all my games much easier with full controller support.

This was definitely helpful for Build Log threads, or threads dedicated to helping with certain tools, or benchmark sharing threads.

On 16/03/2024 at 23:25, Fluxmaven said:

 

Sorry to quote your post from a few months ago but you have a lot of cool stuff in this photo so I had to dig into it a bit.

 

Looks like you have several of the Inked and Screened patent prints framed on the wall. Love those.

 

Audio gear is an interesting lineup. Is that a Schiit Jotunheim? Surprised to see something like that paired with ATH-M50s. Can't tell if that Focusrite is a 2i2 or 2i4 from what can be seen but those are a solid interface either way. 

 

Yep, love those prints, plan to get more once I finish basement renovations, currently: X-wing, Lego Man, and Gameboy

And yeah, first generation Schiit Jotunheim (bought cheap from an old OCN member because the USB DAC is gone bad) driven from a Topping E50, definitely overkill for just my ATH-M50x's, but does sound amazing and will allow me to eventually get some much nicer headphones.  That is a 3rd gen 2i2, I use input 1 for my SM-58 mic through that McBoost, and I use input 2 for my Roland FP-30X digital piano when I want to record some stuff or have it play through my audio system.

And then that's an EVGA 8800 GTS 640 MB that I'm holding on to for a retro PC build at some point, but it needs a couple capacitors replaced first, right now it crashes as soon as you try to do anything that needs hardware acceleration.  It works in Windows 7 with no Nvidia driver installed just being used as a generic video adapter.

In Axipher

For reference for others following this problem, or have a similar setup, I did find an old tool from NirSoft, the makers of another well known tool called NirCMD that I've used on the past.

The tool is called quite simple MultiMonitorTool.  It can save current resolution and orientation, offset, refresh rate and on/off state.

It can save/load configs using the GUI or command line so I can setup two shortcuts to switch between my main monitor and OLED as my main screen.

Luckily in Windows 11 at least, colour Format, colour depth and HDR settings are saved per monitor even if they are disconnected; so when I switch on and off my main monitor and the OLED as primary monitors, they both keep their own HDR settings intact.

There are some issues with how open windows are handled and focus, and especially if you are going between monitors with different Windows Scaling values, so it's not a perfect solution, but I might be able to solve those with some other command line tools.

Left to fix:
- Window Focus

- Windows Game Bar breaks

- Switching between monitors sometimes requires a second request

- Windows Scaling issues

Now for those that might be asking why I don't just simply leave the OLED TV always connected as a 3rd monitor with some offset that will never let my mouse reach it, there are a few reasons:
- Sometimes Windows remembers where screens were open and I could be stuck with a program opening on the TV when I'm at my office computers

- TV's (at least my LG) will periodically disconnect from all inputs if it's left off for a while

- OLED TV's (at least my LG) will periodically do a Pixel Clean/Refresh that disconnects it from all inputs for a while

- Switching Primary between two active displays can cause even weirder window alignment issues especially when they are different resolutions

I have a question for the forum regarding multi-monitor setups in Windows 11 with HDR.

I have my home office setup with two monitors via DisplayPort and then my OLED TV in the adjacent Rec Room via HDMI.  This is off my AMD RX 6700 XT.

They show up in Windows 11 as:

• Monitor 1: 1080p - 10-bit Colour - Primary - Display Port 1.4 or HDMI 2.0 input option - (Supports HDR)
• Monitor 2: 1080p - 8-bit Colour - Secondary - Display Port 1.4 or HDMI 2.0 input option - (No HDR)
• Monitor 3: 4k - 10-bit Colour - Rec Room TV - HDMI 2.1 - (Supports HDR)

Right now I typically just have Monitor 1 & 3 Cloned and Monitor 2 as Extended.  But Windows 11 doesn't allow you to activate HDR on Cloned monitors since they might have different Max Brightness and HDCP issues.

I have tried just having all 3 monitors Extended which allows me to enable HDR on Monitor 1 and 3, but then I have to move stuff like browsers and games between Monitor 1 and 3 if I want to just enjoy the Rec Room TV.  Also full screen games just default to Monitor 1 unless I change primary each time first.

Now the actual question is, are their any good tools that would work great for letting me have just saved Display Configs that I can quickly switch between using a taskbar icon or a bat file.

For example:

• Profile 1 - Office Work and 1080p HDR Gaming in Office:
  • Monitor 1: Primary with HDR On - 1080p
  • Monitor 2: Secondary (No HDR) - 1080p
  • Monitor 3: Disabled
• Profile 2 - 4k HDR Gaming/Media in Rec Room:
  • Monitor 1: Disabled
  • Monitor 2: Secondary (No HDR) - 1080p
  • Monitor 3: Primary with HDR On - 4k
• Profile 3 - 1080p (non HDR) Gaming/Media in Rec Room:
  • Monitor 1: Primary with HDR Off - 1080p
  • Monitor 2: Secondary (No HDR) - 1080p
  • Monitor 3: Cloned Primary with HDR Off - 1080p

Resolutions should stay constant between them, but if the tools allow for setting the resolution, colour depth and Windows HDR status, that would be amazing too.

Right now, my main solution is to look at just a physical HDMI splitter and send the same HDR signal to both Monitor 1 and Monitor 3 all the time, but some of those don't play nicely with HDCP content or higher resolutions and audio for gaming.  Or getting a cheap AVR that supports two 4k HDR outputs (TV + Projector) and I can just switch between them.

I'm hesitant to just throw hardware at a problem that could be solved in software though with less points of failure.

2 hours ago, Slaughtahouse said:

 

It's your call I just shared all those details because I went back to the OP and noticed you were pretty granular! 

 

On topic, I wanted to add one more game or an honorable mention to "retro" game. Runescape!

 

I played the heck out of it in the early 2000's. I had the subscription, would fish and mine like crazy. Sucked at PvP but I recall beating most of the quests. I have no real drive to ever play it again but it had a good moment before WoW and GuildWars took over, and I never went back to any MMO game.

 

 

I heard it's getting popular again and it's been brought back as Old School Runescape 

Oh all the lunch breaks and spare periods I spend in the high-school library playing Runescape Classic:

1 hour ago, damric said:

Nice work EVERYONE

 

1st Place @miker07

2nd @keeph8n

3rd @elblat

 

Those 3 need to get with us quickly and make your picks so we can move on to the fun random draw.

 

@neurotix yeah some sort of post bit for this will be coming, but I don't know about the one for last month since that wasn't our comp.

Congrats to the top 3, great showing and we appreciate all the contributions.

1 hour ago, firedfly said:

About 11.5 hours before the start time.  Get those rigs going!

Time to cook my home office for a few days

I would have to say at least 2 generations old, so being that we are I think 9th generation now, 7th generation and older so Wii, Xbox 360, PS3 roughly.

Wii U might kind of get swept up with that though with how close it's titles were to Wii as well.

For PC gaming is a little harder because of the huge range in quality and long support for games including engine updates, but probably around 2014 or 2015 I guess would be the latest, so like Shovel Knight, Dark Souls II, Fallout 4, Undertale and probably right before the huge influx of "16-bit" sprite based games in modern engines that don't actually give any regard for the CRT's that made sprite-art come to life and not just be a bunch of pixels.

It's hard to pin-point an exact spot, years and generations are an easy way to put a number on it, but really hard to decide on that since games can be in development for up 5, even 10 years, others can be complete reimagining's of 10-15 year old games with modern engines and quality of life improvements.

Deep down, part of me really wants to say that Retro Games are any Games that were designed to be played on CRT's by the majority and also before DLC was a thing.  But then I also consider that "retro" should point to a specific time, but instead a relative past to where we are now, so 10 years in video games is a huge amount of time with so many changes to engine design, game design and cultural changes.

2 hours ago, neurotix said:

Ultra and Axipher, what are your guys votes for best JRPG of all time? Putting away your bias for FFIX.

 

FFVI (the one with Kefka and Terra, Locke, Sabin, Cyan etc.) is generally regarded as the high point of the series.

 

Chrono Trigger is a masterpiece in every regard.

 

I personally think its a toss up between those two but I can't decide which is better.

 

Also, either of you play Xenogears? Man, the story in that is crazy...

I chose FFIX as favourite game overall strictly for the content, the 3D graphics, and the amazing characters.  I think it hit really hard when it came out which is why I praise it, but it does have many flaws that the re-release on Steam/Switch/etc. with the QoL enhancements fixes.


But if I were to say that a JRPG to me is mainly the turn-based variety or the action battle like Tales and Star Ocean, I would actually have to give my favourite JRPG crown to Golden Sun and Golden Sun: The Lost Age on GBA.  Those games just are a great mix of class construction, the story, the towns, and the technical marvel of fitting that on GBA cartridges along with a killer looking battle system.


I'm currently working on developing a game with heavy inspirations from Golden Sun on the GBA because it just brought me so many hours of pure enjoyment in playing it different ways with self-imposed challenges much to how Pokemon on handheld spawned an entire category of self-imposed rulesets for challenge runs.

10 minutes ago, neurotix said:

 Added to the club, good sir. That's a very nice collection, but there's no Sega stuff lol! (I'm a huge retro Sega fanboy).

 

Around how many games do you have? What is your favorite system and game for it? What's your favorite genre, and favorite game of all time?

I unfortunately never had a Sega myself, my friends had Sega, and then PlayStation and Xbox so I stuck to Nintendo so we would all have something fresh to experience at each other's house.  Luckily I pay for Switch Online Expansion, so able to start to enjoy some older Sega games again.  But I did play the absolute rings our of Sonic Adventure 1 & 2 on the GameCube.

A lot of my games are safe in storage until I finish my basement renovations, but I have on average 10 games per TV console, 20 games per hand-held console, and on PC, well that's easily way above 200.

Favourite System would be the GameCube and Game on there would be Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles.

Favourite Genre would be RPG for sure.

Favourite Game of All Time would be Final Fantasy IX by a fantasy mile.

Following and joining the club:
 

Portable: Gameboy Colour, Gameboy Advance, Gameboy Advance SP, DS Lite, DSiXL, PSP-1000

Console: NES, N64, GCN, Wii, PS2 Slim, PS3 Fat, Xbox 360

PC: Q6600 / 8800 GTS

I'll give everyone who participates a Virtual High-Five Coupon.

Just noticed that the Latest Reviews Section on the home page doesn't apply colours to the Usernames like the Posts and News sections:

7 hours ago, Cerberus said:

 

I too use the brush plate set up, its nice.

 

can still hear the whine of the deltas and san aces though

I still have my original Gentle Typhoons from OCN days...  Nice and quiet and I just add a little bit of instrument oil to them every year during Spring cleaning.

13 hours ago, pioneerisloud said:

I thought it ended at 4pm PST, not 4am. -_-.  Wasted 12 hours of high electricity usage.

 

Either way, was super fun!  That was my first time EVER getting a top 10 spot.   my 7900XTX and 7900x system for this.  

 

EDIT:

AHHHHHHHHH ITS FREAKING QUIET IN HERE NOW OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I've had deafening screeching reference blower fans going for a week, and now silence.  AHHHHHH!!!!!!!  

This is why I'm so glad I moved my computers to the other side of the wall and used some brush plates to route my cables through.  Can set all my fans to 80% manual and just forget about it.
 

The extra quietness can be really eerie at times.

1 hour ago, ENTERPRISE said:

**Update** 

 

This was a configuration issue, this has now been resolved and should no longer be an issue  

Can confirm on Windows 11 latest Chrome that the issue looks to be fixed.

1) Loading the main page and hitting Enter does nothing now.

2) Loading the main page and clicking in the search box and hitting Enter loads the Search Page

3) Loading the main page, clicking a Carousel item which opens in a new tab, returning to the main page tab and hitting Enter will open the selected review again, but clicking somewhere else on the page then hitting Enter does nothing as expected.

On Windows 11 Desktop Chrome, it seems to be tied to the Carousel.

Just loading the home page and hitting the Enter key, it loads the currently visible 1st item in the Carousel.

So it seems like the Carousel is immediately setting tab focus on it's first item as it scrolls so when the use hit's enter, it opens up the carousel link instead which does default to opening a new tab with the review.

Hey @ENTERPRISE, two spots I've noticed weird squished spacing between text and images is on the Navigation Bread Crumb and on in-thread profile blocks specifically with the text line with the actual rep count:

33 minutes ago, pututu said:

Our website has huge influx of bots scrapping our pages. Please logged in to your [H] account if you have any issue viewing the results. If you don't have an account, maybe someone from the team can copy and paste here. Apologize for the inconvenience caused.

TEAM RESULT UPDATE (min every 12 hours)

Rank	Team	Day0	Day0.25	Day0.5	Day0.75	Day1
1	Team AnandTech	0	225,517,555	459,576,948	783,824,175	1,198,436,909
2	www.overclockers.com	0	277,921,939	543,239,716	775,218,834	1,005,163,133
3	ExtremeHW	0	140,069,051	316,915,613	498,757,890	687,117,340
4	folding@evga	0	166,638,845	328,948,483	492,370,881	668,376,830
5	[H]ardOCP	0	108,725,663	214,954,422	327,165,999	451,353,984
	% World Daily Aggregate	0.00%	13.89%	18.96%	14.65%	15.22%

thanks for posting updates here for us.

Sorry to hear about the bot scrapping issue, must explain why I can't access the website:

I still want to see a name for who last updated the thread.

Right now I think it just shows the avatar for the last person who posted in a thread, but no username or the last time it was updated.


I had noted this in Skype with you previously when we tried to fix this a while back with some different things

In axipher

3 hours ago, mx500torid said:

Well I screwed that up thought it started tonight at 7. Starting them now. Apologies.

Better late than never

On 18/12/2023 at 12:05, Fluxmaven said:

I'd love to go back down to a 42". The 48 is just a bit too much for how close I sit. I don't use mine for anything other than the PC so I'd like to get away from a TV. Turning it on and off manually is only a minor inconvenience, but if I'm gonna spend more money, I'd like to get exactly what I want. I haven't come across a 42" glossy OLED monitor yet. They always put some sort of BS Matte coating on the monitor versions of all the big OLED displays. 

 

That being said. I still love my CX and it's been going strong for a few years now with no issues. At work currently so I can't check but the last time I looked a couple months ago I was just shy of 2300 power on hours. Still no burn in. Haven't needed to or at least haven't been prompted to do a pixel clean. 

 

*Just checked and she's at 2481 power on hours. 

The 42" is amazing

Of course it's not the most "immersive" since it doesn't fill as much of your vision, but for watching anime and playing RPG's and slower-paced games, being able to see the whole screen without moving my head or relying on peripheral vision that is blocked by my glasses frames, it's amazing.

And being so small and 4k, the pixels are so bloody tiny and close together, you cannot tell where they start and where they end.  It even makes older GameCube titles look amazing.  I actually enjoy the GameCube version of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles better when the Switch Remake on this screen.

Slightly Unfocused picture in dark with my phone: