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S3C

Age 48, Dude

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s3crashcourse/#sumirs3cjams/goodbyes

Posted by S3C - October 21st, 2015


Greetings and salutations NewGrounds. Felt like making a fresh newspost about prospective plans for 2016. Of course my plans in this digital realm very rarely come to fruition but it's always fun to make new blogposts just to have something new at the top of my page, for just shooting the breeze with fellow NewGrounders, and I need to ease my mind a little. Today has been one of the harder days of my life so I unfortunately am going to broadcast my news in a rather solemn manner with a limited amount of subtle Indian doctor humor.


.:s3ccrashcourse:.

so I try to keep busy with various hobbies. I like sharing my artistic and academic pursuits with others, and especially educating and trying to assist those interested with such likeminded scholarly visions. I have studied, researched, practiced and partook in various activities within various, diverse fields over the years...perhaps, me being all over the map, is one of the several reasons that I haven't been "succesful" (per the American capitalist's idea) in life. In a sense I might be a jack of all trades- scratch that, maybe like an 8 of all trades is more appropriate. Because I'm pretty mediocre at a lot of things and I've come to be okay with it.

so I'm thinking of opening up a youtube channel akin to my Punjab compatriot Sal Khan @ the KhanAcademy. One of the best sites for learning just about anything. Mainly for the sake of refurbishing some of my instructional skills, and in addition to just being fun, teaching is one of the best ways of learning). I've got content written for an integrated linear algebra-multivariable calculus, molecular/cellular/microbiology and genetics, ps2 soft-hacking (think Gameshark codes, some stuff I never published after the scene more or less died when the PS3 came out), and of course music/art (mostly from a theoretical tangent).

the goal here is to be prolific, instead of being a perfectionist, then becoming discouraged to release any new content, and ultimately letting these ideas collect dust within your hard drive (or head). Quantity doesn't trump quality, but sometimes quantity paired with focused efforts will open up avenues for developing quality content in the future.

tell me your thoughts, NewGrounds.


#sumirs3cjams

i have always intended to submit to the audio portal more, instead NewGrounds has remained a showcase for my completed works (although I've plenty unfinished tracks on the AP from when I first submitted in 2008) which I think have a fairly high standard (relative to my own work, I know my audio pales in comparison to some of the audio greats that have graced the NewGrounds Audio Portal).

this project was partially inspired by Cyberdevil's "Project 2013, 2014, etc" over at the CyberD. He's releasing a poem, lyric(s), or short bit of creative literature every day- consistently for the past 2+ years. I'm thinking of doing the same thing on NewGrounds- but with music.Maybe not an entire 365 days, but perhaps "90 days of summer" or similar would be cool. Cyberdevil's primarily a writer who speaks through words and I'm primarily a musician who speaks through the highly interpretive sounds of  audible solo and sound. Not full tracks, or polished loops, but what I like to call "jams" or just #sumirs3cjams (it's scientifically proving that hashtags make anything 10 times more trendy) of me improvising over a  continuous 15-20 second loop (because that's the max time on my effects station). perhaps thrown in a few solo instrument jazz standard chord-melody arrangements as well. Nothing ground breaking, minimal external mixing, and a contrast to the more robust tracks I've primarily uploaded over the years. The idea here as well is to be profilic, to contribute something musically every day primarily for myself, and secondily to publicly publish some sick tunes for potential listening on the world wide web.

would anyone here be interested in the idea? tell me your thoughts, NewGrounds.


.:goodbyes:.

now for the not so good news. today was the first time in years I cried. the reason being, I had to put my dog to sleep earlier today ;_;. He was old, but generally in fair shape a week ago. Then some time over the weekend, his legs just gave out and he could no longer walk without extreme difficultly (and presumably lots of pain). and barely has eaten anything in the past weeks. I've lost friends, grandparents, and other relatives over the years but this loss probably hurts the most.

life does not truly die, but returns to the Earth from whence it came, and transforms into another form of energy to be used and help create other life. yet, every biotic entity in the universe is unique and once it's gone, it's gone forever from this natural world. maybe it exists somewhere in another dimension or spirtual realm that will never be uncoverable through the human eye. no one can ever say.

and perhaps it's a selfish notion to want to cling onto life forever, and not let the unborn come to be and experience seeing our world. I believe that biological and cerebral immortality in animals can someday be outside the realm of science fiction (and it technically already is in certain forms) and while the thought of that is interesting, perhaps we just need to respect the universe and not play God. Whether God be an actual theistic being(s) outside this natural world, a spirit/soul entity that flows through us, or just the laws of physics. 

life is an amazing thing. the fact that there are an uncountable amout of different organisms is an astoundingly asute and provocative occurence. the fact that we have a myriad of delicate chemical reactions simultaneously reoccuring in our body to keep us going everday, the fact that life is the result of a perfectly balanced set of delicate equations and events in a precise order for anything to exist in the first place, the fact that our perceptions, tastes, feelings, memories, and dreams are the unique combination neurons (numbered in hundreds of billions) interactions is beyond mindblowing. And being bestowed a high level of sentience by what is best explained by chance is both a gift and a curse.

Yet at the same time unumerable lifeforms have, currently are, and will traverse the Earth. Every second life dies- humans due to violence, pets due to natural causes, wild animals being preyed on by carnivores that are higher up in the food chain, insects being squashed or exterminated, plants being eaten by all the previously mentioned forms of life in order to sustain their own, and the countless microbes that cease to be every time we wash our hands and sterilize a surface. At such rates, life passing and going is nothing special. Given that time and space is approaching infinity, the fact the life exists was always destined to happen, as is everything that has happened, and everything imaginable will happen whether it be in our reality set by human constructs our the reality that exists inside our individual minds. Ergo, each birth, death, event is just an infinitesimally small blip in this ever expanding universe. But that doesn't make any of us insignificant. You can keep splitting an atom, which was once thought of as the final indivisible structure, into infinite parts, there will always be more to discover, just as is the case with the universe. Some would even say that interpolation is a more revealing process than extrapolation. Thus each single living entity is essentially as complex and large as the collective universe itself. I cannot fully grasp this concept, and probably never will, but I know it to be true as much as anything else in this world. 

RIP Sir Fatstuff McBiggiestein.


Thanks for reading. try to cherish every moment you have because in a moment it will all be gone, respect others, aim for sincerity not seriousness (even God has a sense of humor), recognize and appreciate your privileges, accept your shortcomings for what they are, don't start wars in this already f*cked up world...it's hard, but try to take off the colored jade sunglasses (if you had a pair to begin with) 

-sumir

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Comments

Man that's one long post i need an abstract on this.

I conclude my tl;dr posts with an abstract in gif form. But they say a picture is worth a 1000 words, and abstracts are limited to 250, though...so I guess I didn't think that one through...let me think about it and get back to you?

.:s3ccrashcourse:.

Wise thought there S3C. That's how I reasoned with my p2015, just get it out of the way; keep going. And lately with those quick audio recordings to random beats too... it just feels good to create, and vent, imperfect results but practice makes perfect.

I too consider myself jacked up on a great multitude of trades, but prominent at none... yet. Focusing solely on one of these areas is what I thought/think/feel I must do, and yet I'd rather just keep going with all of them. Lately, working an almost-full-time job and focusing on hobbies in spare time... it seems like that might be possible too! Just little time left over for socializing and stuff.

Microbiology and genetics seems interesting to a certain extent, and music's always fun, the other topics: over my head.

#sumirs3cjams

I never had a Project 2013. :) But closing in on two years indeed... and I plan to keep going next year with something different. Been pondering just posting pictures of my lunch, though, it'll probably have something to do with writing anyway. Good way to stay creative. Anyway, thanks for the mention man. I know we talked about this before, and it still sounds like an awesome idea, though ambitious. 90 jams might not he as difficult as actually making them 90 days in a row! :O I'm thinking it would be fun to try doing some vocal improv with your instrumental improvs, if there's time when the time comes...

.:goodbyes:.

And yet, maybe insects hold the key to immortality! Beautiful speech. Sorry for your loss! Sorry for the dog. And RIP Sir Fatstuff McBiggiestein...

Thanks for the kind words!! Actually, not insects, although insects are a type of arthropod. Should have been more specific. The study was actually done on lobsters (here's an interesting article somewhat related: http://theweek.com/articles/459332/5-animals-that-may-hold-key-immortality).

oh huh I thought you did...well you do have Project 2009, so you might as well take credit for writing poems consecutively for the past 6+, minus March 21st...that would be interesting, though you probably don't eat a different lunch every day of the year so...yeah I was planning on having some feature vocal improvs too

microbiology/music/genetics it is then

Aha, interesting read. The naked mole rat might hold the secret to immortality hmm... that'd make a headline. :)

True true, not on a daily basis, but definitely all year, so all: yeah! Yeah, probably not as interesting as it seems at a first thought, my lunches aren't always so creative; inspiring. And now with the job I sometimes BUY somethng so... probably not worth doing as a daily thing. It's a project I've been pondering for a long time otherwise. Food's fun. Creative cooking. Crafty causeries. Oh, that'd be interesting to hear! Don't think I've heard any vocal work of yours earlier? Is there anything here on NG?

Well alright, looking forward to it!! Though I hope I'll be far from the sole audience here, some people might really appreciate PS2 hacks too...

LOL! I can't do anything vocal related worth sh*t. I meant "feature vocal improvs" as in featuring someone else to lay a line over the top, such as you for example.

meh...that'd be cool, though the PS2 soft-hacking scene is pretty much dead. I'm two consoles behind!! I don't even think cheat devices for next gen consoles even exist. everyone's playing fallout 4 now and I can't relate to people's gaming pursuits IRL

That explains it. :) Well, I'm game!

Mmm gaming's not what it used to be! I don't know about the PS2 scene at all, but oldskool modding/hacking/gaming is still very much alive in other areas. For example, I recently stumbled upon this inspiring archive: http://itrunsdoom.tumblr.com/

well Doom and other computer games will always be popular to mod, mainly for how comparatively easy they are too hack. Hmm, no one ever got around to creating a mod that contains new enemies??

the PS2 modding scene is still fairly alive, I think. But with software hacking you can do a lot less, it's considerably more difficult to get interesting results, but IMO that makes it all the more rewarding, not to mention it's also a good perspective of how to reverse-engineer digital information. It also doesn't require any additional hardware modifications, just boot up the cheat device disc, insert the codes, and games, and you're good to go! Which is why it was actually popular back in the day. Now it' just a very niche area that has very little interest.

That too. Don't think I've ever played one with new enemies, but there are a few: http://doom.wikia.com/wiki/Category:WADs_with_new_monsters

I had to attain a freeloader for GC to play games from different regions (after buying some American RE games I couldn't play!), but that's about as far as I've gone with 'modding'. :) I guess PS2 discs aren't writable to btw? How do you manage to mod them, when you have to replace the cheat disc with the actual game right after? Are mods stored on the memory cards? If so, could you mod directly via those instead of disc?

why the frank not?? there's only so many combinations and arrangements of enemies across widely diverse yet limited landscapes, to the point where it gets old (and easy). New enemies offer more replayability!! And it seems that these are actually cleverly modified monsters, previously I had just seen monsters that were re-skinned or had increased health!! But imagine the possibilities...a cacodemon that fires homing fireballs! a pain elemental that spawns archvilles! a floating Cyberdemon! *sweats profusely*

has something to do with how televisions read graphics in different regions, or something (who decided to develop different hardware between regions?? it really boggles the mind). That's one reason for soft modding, that allowed to correct for coordinates for games that were slightly modified, for European, Japanese, and Norther American countries.

lol, no PS2 discs aren't writable (you're not changing anything on the disc but altering the RAM memory on the PS2, by nature RAM is read/write), I don't think any software discs irregardless of the console they are intended for have writing capabilities, otherwise you could lose the information forever!! well you could copy and store the information of course, but there's always the possibility of losing that. Point is, there is no purpose for a company to make their discs not read-only.

with that said: i forgot about this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swap_Magic

makes sense, seeing how Gameshark/Datel/Codebreaker/etc. are not produced by actual game publishers!! I wonder why this wasn't more popular during the day. This would make soft modding an easier process for sure!

You find what you want to modify within the games executable (it's all hex data, though you can use a disassembler to make it somewhat readable, although still largely incomprehensible) and enter the code into the cheat device. The cheat device is able to constantly write a code if it's linked to a system call (that's being called constantly in the game).

Still doesn't fully answer your question though, how are codes able to run if the disc containing the code isn't in the console, and the data on the game's disc cannot be modified?? I guess I never really thought about this intuitively. Here's an astoundingly astute and provocative answer: http://gaming.stackexchange.com/questions/76858/how-do-gameshark-codes-work

Since the RAM is being modified, no, the mods are not stored. That's the nature of RAM. The console stores data (that is temporary, in a sense) that is available while you play, but when you shut the console off (or reset)- it's all gone. of course if you have a code that modifies a stat, and this stat is saved on the memory card when you save your game, then in a sense the code is being stored. But essentially it was a code that modified the data stored at the address, and you are just saving the data at the address in memory, not the code itself. Therefore, it is possible to modify stats directly by modifying the game save stored on the memory card, but not modifying the game save to change the RAM the way a cheat disc does. This goes back to my last point, you can modify a game save (because by definition, they must be read and writeable) and risk corrupting this file, but the worst a cheat disc code can do is cause the game to freeze or prevent it from running to begin with.

btw, i invented a new technology: introducing Dr. S3C's infinite memory!! There is a caveat though, it's not read/write memory, or read/only memory, but write/only!! Truly profound. Almost as useful as my time machine (that moves at a rate of 1 second per second and only in one direction: forward).

Because I'm a man of habit man! I just can't abandon my habits! Like I couldn't abandone a left-out leftover lettuce van if I was rabit! :O It's just my nature! It's how the creator made me to grow and mature! And I'm not an escaper! I may be bitter but I'm not a quitter, so whatever fate this vague Earth has for me to deliver I'll just sit here delivering it till it splinters like Lynyrd Skynyrd!! *spits profusely* They do seem pretty cool though!

Something who thought they might be able to sell more with geographical restrictions? It is pretty annoying though. I'm glad they don't have the same restrictions for most portable consoles at least, never had any trouble playing GB/GBC/GBA/DS/3DS games from different regions. Only trouble I've had there was with games I accidentally bought in foreign languages I didn't understand, like some of these JRPGs that would probably be really entertaining if I could only figure out how to play them...

Aha, RAM memory, that makes sense. Though any mods disappear as soon as you reboot the device right? Swap Magic sounds cool! Similar to the GC thing I used. I guess they might've not marketed themselves so much since they might be interpreted as not-legal? Any disc that changes the behavior of a licensed console to allow unlicensed games to play sounds pretty gray-zone...

Great explanation there. Modified stats getting saved in the savefiles hmm... can you in this way in certain games save cheats, developer mode options, etc? Is there data saved with the file that doesn't relate only to your current stats; is this something you've been working with? PS2 'modding' is pretty unlike the type of modding I'm used to, where changes are usually more visual. Hah, smart! XD I guess even infinite memory is limited by how much memory you can process at any given time though, and thus, not actually infinite? :P Anyway, speaking about this PS2 modding of yours, were you using devices, like GameShark? Figuring out codes on your own? How high-tech modding was your part?

You're right, it's illegal to modify hardware for the sake of circumventing the copyright mechanisms (this also includes copyright mechanisms that are incorporated via software). Which is precisely what Swap Magic does by allowing a user to run non PS2 discs... which doesn't really make sense considering that it's perfectly legal to make a backup, although how the hell can you run the backup if PS2 cannot even play ISOs burned to a standard DVD?

I've spent the past two hours researching the issue. It seems that even soft modding is legally a gray area as well, even if it doesn't technically circumvent the copyright mechanisms. The DMCA states that it is legal to reverse engineer the game, but apparently PS2's EULA that presumably prohibits against reverse engineering its software (I haven't found the EULA to confirm, but I would imagine there would be such a clause within) which potentially overrides the government sanctioned DMCA. Yet, back in the day, you would still see cheat devices being merchandised alongside games in most major video game retailing chains. Given the fact that codes add replay value, and you need to purchase the game itself to actually play the game, is why this ostensibly illegal paraphernalia wasn't heavily objected against by Sony.

in any case, I just read Swap-Magic only allows for homebrew CD-R/DVD-R to be used on the system, so it would be a pain in the @ss to use for the sake of testing mods. Using a single disc for each attempt (which will be copious) aside, do you remember how long it takes to write GBs of data to a disc. Seems like it would be faster to just boot the cheat device, enter the codes manually or transfer them via USB and then boot the game. Emulators seem a great way to go but my wooden computer cannot handle that...

Save game-save cheats and developer mode options will save only if if the original developer planned for it to be saved in the game file. For example a button cheat in GTA that enables taxis to jump. The button cheat would not save because the developers did not design the game so there would be a variable, object, address, or whatever digital spaces that corresponds with saving this event. It may be possible with some rather clever coding (i've never seen it done) but you cannot just make a code that reallocates to save different or additional data that was not intended to be written to the game save.

well that is true in that sense; ROM is limited by the capacity of RAM a system has...but the good thing about my infinite memory HD is it works for computers that contain infinite RAM capabilities (let me know when you find one)

I was using an ActionReplayMax for a while but then switched over to CodeBreaker as you didn't need to encrypt your codes, it enabled USB transfer capabilities (thus I had no need to buy additional memory cards if I could just transfer saves to my PC- probably why Sony ended up losing the USB port in the newer slim PS2s) and the GUI was more simplistic. ActionReplay/CodeBreaker/Gameshark all are the same type of tool that can play the same type of codes. They just differ in their encryption so competitors cannot "steal" codes but those encryptions end up being cracked eventually. That's pretty much it from a hardware standpoint. And then I had a certain tools on my computer to disassemble the game's executable and other specialized programs to assist in niche areas in my hacking pursuits.

Did you know that it's actually illegal to make backups of certain content in the UK? Like music. So, iTunes is technically illegal: https://torrentfreak.com/itunes-is-illegal-under-uk-copyright-law-150805/

On topic of PS2 game copies btw, that brings up the question: is it legal to play a PS2 game on a non-PS2 console? IOW is it legal to emulate a game even if you own it?

So that's the reason! Makes sense. As for testing mods via disc, if you only use codes it'd surely be easier via the device indeed. Can your computer handle older emulated games though? NES, SNES, GB types?

I was thinking some developers might've included the ability to save more information than you need though, variables the game wouldn't typically modify by itself... probably not but, that would've been neat.

I'll let you know then. XD Maybe in a few decades, when we realize our perceptions of limits are totally skewed and dimensional laws don't apply the way we think they do!

Good knowing about those disappeared USB ports. I always wanted to try plugging in some alternate controls there, like mouse and keyboard, ones I'm more used to at this point than gamepads. Never did though. Does sound pretty high-tech man! Nice.

LOL!! according to that article if you were transferring a legally obtained digital song from one folder to another, and you accidentally pressed Ctrl+C instead of Ctrl+X you could get arrested. The ugly head of capitalism is reared once again. That and the technology illiterate geriatrics who run the governments...Digital data cannot hold monetary value, rather it is the time and service that should hold monetary value...I would support hard drive taxation in lieu of all these specious copyright laws but then again I don't really trust such geriatrics to appropriately use my money anyway...

I don't think there's any cases were the video game manufacturer has won against emulation. It's the same legal guidelines that surround soft-modding. But like I said above, some reverse engineering needs to be done in order to emulate/mod so technically the EULA can prohibit such actions overriding the DMLA and making such actions illegal.

yes my computer can play all those 2-D console games. They are also easier to hack since I can "track" data with the emulator. They're real small too which is nice. The size of games greatly increased in the next generation (like ten-twenty fold). Probably has to do something with the inclusion of video files and analog music (stepping up from synthesizers/midi).

I suppose the developers could technically do that, but why?? it may be a feature or statistic that was intended to be savable data at one point, but then scrapped in the final release. as was the case with the "hot coffee" minigame in GTASA. Did you know it was just a simple boolean switch that enabled the mini-game eventually leading to Rockstar/Take Two settling for 20+ million dollars in lawsuit(s), not to mention a sizeable loss in sales due to being forced to recall their games from the shelves? The hacking violated the game's EULA, but it didn't hold up in court.

actually not high-tech at all lol. I used to do this all on a Windows 95. the biggest obstacle was file size. My old comp with Windows 95 comp only had 1 GB in hard drive space, with game executables being around 4-7 MB and all the programs together being no more than 1 MB. Doesn't seem like a whole lot even back then, but the text conversion of game is around 30-40 MB. Right now I'm working on mapping out the functions for GTAIII.

Merry Christmas man!

Merry Christmas!! Happy Kwanza!! I wish you a rich Chanukkah! A splendid Paganmas! And a politically correct new year!!

Hah, Happy Hanukkah, Joyous Kwanzaa and a Happy Festivus too! :D Paganmas was a new one! Like the Year! Soon!

Preach it bro! Unfortunately, we do have taxation on storage devices here, and yet these skewed copyright laws prevail all the same. What makes matters even worse is: the copyright holders aren't the ones who actually benefit from this taxation, it all goes to state, and their efforts at fighting piracy. Capitalism. Yeah. With all that which I know they do, I'd take every opportunity I could to not give them the money they want to get. I don't want to support a cause I don't believe is just.

Mmm.

Yeah, lately the notch on quality is getting a bit insane! Just the texture files are gigantic. I think it'd be possible to be much more space-efficient about how they generate/process huge game worlds rather than just opting for the highest-quality graphics a system can support. It does look good, but in many cases it's unnecessary. I'm playing through the second encounter of Serious Sam right now, and it still looks awesome! It's getting better and better sure, but at greater ratio of wasted space than gained quality IMO. Well, at least portable games stay smaller! Never really the same thing playing those on a higher resolution though.

Oh, didn't know it was a boolean switch, nor that they had to pay that much to settle it!! In the long run it might actually have increased sales though, but I suppose they don't put that to stats.

Times sure have changed. :) I still have an old MAC with a HD on just a few hundred MB. It's crazy how fast it loads; how much content it can handle despite such gigantic limitations in performance when compared to new hardware. People are getting sloppy with code though, programs unnecessarily large and flashy just because they can be. I guess Linux took over the 'do as well as you can with as little as possible' portion of the audience. GTA III for PS2 btw? Or is this the PC version? I actually started a TC project for GTA III a bunch of years ago, here at NG. Started enrolling voice actors (I even had Hania on board!), to redo all audio in-game, started working on textures to replace all textures in-game, custom music from the AP, etcetc. Somewhere along the line I must've realized it was a bit too ambitious though, so... project abandoned. :/