Gunrunner

For this generation of CPU, unless interested in the best perf/price ratio for web browsing, office duties, or you are interested in 4/8-ways systems, avoid AMD. Now, taking a look at newegg with gaming on a tight budget on mind, what can we do for you... Motherboard : Intel DP35DP - $110 (generation n-1,5, still pretty fast, stable, no nonsense BIOS, lacks in OC features) Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R - $110 (generation n-1, fast, stable, durable, more BIOS options) Intel DG33TL - $80 (generation n-1,5, stable, still fast enough, no nonsense BIOS, lacks in OC features, lacks in upgradability as it is a µATX board, still good enough for a 2 slot GPU and a PCI card, I use this on my legacy system). I'd avoid MSI like the plague (some boards work like a charm for years, other die on you in a matter of weeks), avoid Asus actual offering (basic MBs are lacking in stability and features and higher offerings are packed with useless gimmicks jacking up the price and increasing stability issues). CPU : Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 - $165 (best price/perf ratio for gaming at the moment) Intel Core 2 Duo E7300 - $120 (if you really are on a budget) GPU : XFX 9800GT @670/1950 512MB - $160 ($20 mail in rebate) (IMHO best price/perf ratio for single GPU, unless you find a ASUS EN9800GT ULTIMATE @725/2000) You may find better deals in one-slot design but they're usually noisier and tend to generate more heat in your system. RAM : G.Skill 2x 2GB DDR PC6400PK - $60 (not the best overclockers, but fast enough, stable, and not requiring stupid voltages, leaves you room to add 4 more GB should you migrate to 64bit and need them (mostly useless for gaming at the moment though)) With your Power Supply and Monitor, that gives us between $850 and $925 (after rebate), compared to your $838... Close enough budget, more stable configuration, better CPU, better GPU, more RAM (and if/when you'll move on to Vista/7 64bit, you'll be able to use the whole 4GB). The downside of this Intel proposal is that Intel is introducing a new system platform, meaning that in 2 years time, you probably won't be able to upgrade the CPU by anything else (except second hand or stocks). Bear in mind that gaming on a budget is hard and the tighter your budget is, the faster your computer will reach its limits. For legacy gaming, or if you intend not to use any game out in 2 years really seriously, a tight budget is fine, otherwise it is worth putting a little more into your system (especially with a 24" display). Last advice... If you really are on a budget, favor the core of the system and settle on a smaller display, a 22" isn't that much smaller than a 24", but uses a 1680*1050 resolution, meaning you'll get better framerates or will be able to push AA and options. It will be easier and less costly in 2 years time to upgrade your monitor than your system.

Smells like hoax, especially for 1891 (the anti-masturbation mass hysteria would only start to die down in the early 20th century and would linger on for quite some time thanks to Anna Freud and her followers), only a few more years and the idea of using masturbation as a treatment for hysteria was starting to gain some real traction, getting some justification for such contraption. Fun fact, vibrators were actually invented for medical purposes, and fell out of favour when they started being used for non-medical purpose which, as you may imagine, happened quite quickly. Also, on the prototype seen, the screws (as well as other parts) are too new, belonging more to the 30's to 60's era than late 19th... IF passed for the "original" prototype, then it's highly probable we see a fake, if it is a reconstruction/restauration, then it's a very shoddy job indeed. Sounds more like a steam-punk/subgenius thing...

Dave, have I ever suggested it should be taken as a hoax and ignore it ? On the contrary... this is the minor hypothesis as a hoax would have tried to generate more publicity, unfortunately 2 (competence issues) of the 3 alternatives are worrisome (well, for the US, strangely enough this kind of things doesn't happen on our side of the Atlantic, even though we have our fair share of problems). What started my comment is not the threat, but the ridiculous feedback from PhotoBucket/FBI/DHS that reeks of incompetence/lack of interest. I then pointed out the inconsistence in the "case", examining the alternatives to incompetence, which would be worrisome (remember the Blue Thunder thread, I'd hate to think that relinquishing privacy and liberties would not offer more security at all, it's all a trade-off, with the response to the case discussed here, I'd say you are being ripped off).

Dave> I don't see anything X-Files-ish in my analysis... In the Columbine case, it was only known after the fact that the moron actually announced it, it was also the starter of a trend, meaning that even if it was known, it may not have been taken seriously enough. We are years later, and we would have to believe that either someone stupid enough to plan a killing spree and publicize it is clever enough to leave no trace, or that the FBI/DHS are incompetent enough not to have the means to track him (and frankly, unless he is very skilled (something not usually going hand in hand with "fame-seeking depressive gun nut"), there's nothing a prepared law enforcement agency can't find with a little work, and don't get me started on the supposed efficiency of Tor and other gadgets). So, if we want to exclude extreme competence on the vilain's side and/or extreme incompetence on the law enforcement side, we're left with a hoax, or a deliberate maneuver, for whatever reason (including the suspicion that the culprit might be in the employ of the company warning them). Also, looking at the blog, you have to wonder how someone came across it, it barely has content, ranks very low, if ever on search engines, and barely registers on its blog hosting, you really have to know what you're searching for to find it. It was dug, but only 10 hours ago, meaning it can't be the source of exposure. If it never had content, finding it is close to a miracle, if it had content before, then it was prior he had any reason to efficiently conceal his tracks, therefore making it easier to track him.

Well, it all depends whether you are fundamentally an individualist or a collectivist. For collectivists, society comes first, and individuals are there to serve it and make sure it stays safe, secure, prosperous, usually they have no trouble losing liberties or privacy for a little security, real or imagined. For individualists, individuals come first and society is only a by-product of interactions between individuals, loss of liberties, privacy or an over-abundance of rules, laws and unfounded and unneccessary authorities are suspicious, seen as a way for interest groups to manipulate society for their own interest at the expense of individuals. Which is right ? Probably not, the "right" view being somewhere between those extremes. You also have to take into account further distinctions in the ways of judging the virtues and values of things. Some people judge primarily on intent, in which case the moves toward more security and less privacy are "right" as the intention of the proponents of these actions are usually "pure". Others judge mostly on execution (the means if you will), meaning they don't care about intents, or results, but only how well the policies are implemented, with such a view, the situation in the US is a mixed bag, with some things done very well tainted by a host of exemple of things going FUBAR, abuse of power, bureaucratic nutiness etc... Most would judge on immediate results, the intent and the means are irrelevant to them, as long as the results are there, in that case, do US citizen feel safer ? Well, some do, others don't; More important, are they safer ? That's so far impossible to judge. And finally you have people judging on potentiality, they "know" the intent can be pure, the means "right" and the immediate results impressive, yet spell doom for society as we know it in the long run. Those who oppose the security society toward which we all are going belong mostly to that last group, some for irrationnal reasons, others for very rationnal one. For what is seen today as necessary and exceptionnal measures to deal with a dangerous world might become the norm in the spirit of our children, meaning that in a few years, even tighter rules can be enforced with little resistance, and so on until we end up with a real police state without even realising how we got there or anyone has anything against it. For most people potentiality is not a factor, as it is only of interest in the long term and might not even concern them, especially taking into account that a lot may happen to change policies radically before things go "too far" with the current ones. For others the long term and the effects on society is the only thing that counts. Once again, the right attitude is one sitting somewhere between, taking the potential into account without forgetting the present needs and results.

Well, the whole problem is that it is with flight sims like with every other games and entertainement we once knew and loved. At first passionate people gather to build something "cool", for other passionate people. Then success, or something close enough to it, comes, and they start churning out more of the same kind of thing, imitators arise. Soon enough they build real companies, start to earn real money and need to hire people to make things work at the scale things are now. Unfortunately, those people are not necessarily passionate, and they'd rather be paid than be part of the broke company that gave to the world the definitive Ford Fiesta parking simulation. Soon enough there is a need for people knowing how to run a real business, how to raise funds so that the company can go on with newer, bigger, better projects. And soon enough they realise that money and business come with strings attached, and passionate people who won't compromise their vision will leave, and slowly the spirit dies, and it all comes down to business and making profit, the projects are getting less and less ambitious in the passionate sense but more and more on a commercial level. And soon the company is either closed because it failed to cut down costs and increase revenues, failing to recognize that chasing the Grail will lead them to bankruptcy, or producing soul-less crap, like everyone else, because it's the only way it can now survive. That's the beauty of some of developpers nowadays, keeping the 80's garage dev spirit alive and producing games on a shoe-string budget without compromising their vision too much (either by taking their time, or expecting the community to pay for the development by releasing milestones as complete games (as ThirdWire does, in a way)).

Well, I don't know, I could live under the delusion that my neighbour is a terrorist, if by some coincidence it happens that he was one, that would just be coincidence, not a proof I'm not insane. Of course during the Cold War the Soviets would try to gather intelligence and influence opinions in the West, just as the West tried to do the same in the Soviet Union, noone ever doubted that, does that justify the often ridiculous witch-hunt of the McCarthy era ? The paranoid ambiance to the point of insanity ? I'd say I doesn't...

The trouble is not that TK followers are unsatisfied with the current state of things, but that to gain new followers, and increased revenues to continue working on new projects and continue supporting and expanding the game, TK needs to throw bones to those addicted to eye-candy and gameplay gimmicks that we don't require ourselves. Most of us will, at one point or another, for various reasons, stop playing, having the time to play, and as such, we will gradually stop buying new games and thus being a source of revenue, to survive and keep the games (and his company) alive, TK needs to appeal to new players/customers.

Something's fishy here... No one dumb enough to brag about such a move in advance is prudent/clever enough to leave no trace at all. So, either a) Photobucket is lying, b) their network guys are incompetent (as are the FBI/HLS ones, which wouldn't be such a surprise after all), c) the FBI/HLS are lying so your departement and police don't interfere with their own work or d) it's just a well prepared hoax.

"A people who would sacrifice a liberty for security deserved neither." Wasn't that Franklin ? On the subject of privacy and liberty, I highly recommand searching for a BBC documentary by Adam Curtis, "The Trap: WHat Happened to Our Dream of Freedom", or checking it out on Youtube (part , , , , , ). It's not bad, even though it offers no alternative except a blind idealistic humanism and fails to understand the real use and values of the theories it discusses and why they fail.

6) Weapons We'll also need some very specific weapons that we lack in both TMF WP and the Bunyap's WP. Forget about the RPK, just when I tested it I found one already done -_- What we'll also need, especially for our first squadron, is the AS-37 AR, an anti-radar missile, fortunately that one is easy too as we already have his evolution, the AS-37 ARMAT, using (almost) exactly the same airframe, so our job will only be to duplicate the ARMAT and change it into its predecessor. Of course, these new weapons, and those already existing would be nothing if we don't edit the Pylons and Loadouts of our Mirage 5F to take advantage of these weapons and ignore those she never used.

Take all the time you need, I'll go forward with my own parts too.

The plan is to release only parts and a how-to, so people can do it themselves, a little DIY project of sorts, so we don't have to redistribute anything but our own work.

Since with WoI we have a nearly perfect Mirage 5F airframe (and since I ported my WoE to WoI), I thought it would be nice to make a placeholder until the TMF releases his own version. What do we need ? 1) An airframe (a LOD) In this case, the Lybian Mirage 5D as it already has the right specular/gloss values all over (which isn't the case of the Nesher). 2) A cockpit In absence of something better and references on hand, the nesher cockpit is the best stand-in we have (the Mirage 5BA having substantially different equipment and avionics, and the Nesher and 5F being basically identically out of factory). 3) A flight model The Nesher will do nicely. 4) Avionics Same as above, the Nesher is as good as if TW made a 5F themselves. 5) Skins and decals We have a template, albeit of little help, and we can use some existing decals at first to speed up things as the TMF released aircrafts from the same units and time scale already. 6) Weapons By using the TMF weapons pack we inherit a lot of weapons used by the 5F, or the means to create them, we'll see that later. so, let's begin... 1) The airframe - Create a Objects/Aircraft/Mirage5F directory - Copy or extract from objectdata.cat the following files and directories : Nesher.ini Nesher_DATA.ini Nesher_LOADOUT.ini IDFCamo1/ and rename then by replacing Nesher by Mirage5F, except in the IDFCamo1 (which you can rename as ADACamoEC3-3 as we'll be working on this squadron first) directory where you must replace the Nesher_x.bmp names by Mirage5D_x.bmp (remember, we'll be using the Mirage 5D LOD and don't want to edit it). - Open Mirage5F.ini and replace the existing content by : [AircraftData] AircraftFullName=Mirage 5F AircraftShortName=Mirage 5F AircraftDataFile=Mirage5F_data.ini CockpitDataFile=Nesher_cockpit.ini HangarScreen=Nesher_hangar.bmp LoadingScreen=Nesher_Loading.bmp LoadoutImage=Nesher_loadout.bmp LoadoutFile=Mirage5F_Loadout.ini AvionicsDLL=Avionics60.dll AvionicsDataFilename=Nesher_avionics.ini [LOD001] Filename=Mirage5D.LOD Distance=100 [LOD002] Filename=Mirage5D_lod2.LOD Distance=250 [LOD003] Filename=Mirage5D_lod3.LOD Distance=500 [LOD004] Filename=Mirage5D_lod4.LOD Distance=1000 [LOD005] Filename=Mirage5D_lod5.LOD Distance=10000 [DamageTexture] DamagedPostFix=_holes.tga [Shadow] CastShadow=TRUE ShadowCastDist=10000 MaxVisibleDistance=800 [TextureSet001] Directory=ADACamoEC3-3 Name=ADA EC 3/3 Ardennes Nation=FRANCE Specular=0.400000 Glossiness=0.400000 Reflection=0.000000 Squadron=ADAEC3-3 Take note that we changed the LOD called by the file, as seen above. - Open the TextureSet.ini file within ADACamoEC3-3 and change its content by : [TextureSet] Name=ADA EC 3/3 Ardennes Nation=FRANCE Squadron=ADAEC3-3 Specular=0.400000 Glossiness=0.400000 Reflection=0.000000 - Open the Mirage5D_DATA.INI file and change the whole MissionData code block by the following values : [MissionData] NationName=FRANCE ServiceStartYear=1972 ServiceEndYear=1994 AircraftRole=FIGHTER AircraftCapability=DAY_ONLY Availability=RARE Exported=FALSE PrimaryRoles=STRIKE,CAS,SWEEP,ARMED_RECON,SEAD SecondaryRoles=ANTI_SHIP,RECON NormalMissionRadius=436 MaxMissionRadius=872 Ceiling=16093.4 MinBaseSize=MEDIUM There, you have a Mirage 5F ready to fly with the right dates, name and roles... Yet... we are still missing something for our airframe, Mirage 5F, once embargoed, were quickly introduced into French service but quickly added VOR navigation antennas on the vertical tail. 76.IAP-Blackbird is kind enough to be interested by this project, so I'll let him take care of the explanation ;). Now we skip all the parts we don't have to touch, and end up to skinning and decals... 5) Skins and decals Ideally we will end up making our own skin and decals, but as an interim solution, to quickly jump into the cockpit, we have another solution. In the end we strike to have 4 skins, covering all the units operating the Mirage 5F in Europe, namely : - EC 3/13 Auvergne Silver (From 1972 to 1973?) - EC 3/13 Auvergne Camo (From 1973? to 1994) - EC 3/3 Ardennes Camo (From 1972 to 1977) - EC 2/13 Alpes Camo (From 1977 to 1994) One of the units using the Mirage 5F was the EC 3/3 Ardennes, a unit specialised in SEAD, fortunately the TMF released the Mirage IIIE with skins and decals for the EC 3/3, so all you have to do to get placeholder decals is to get the excellent Mirage IIIE (here or here). So, until we get a template, what can we do ? We can recolor existing skins, here's a quick and dirty way : a) Open a BMP in Photoshop, let's say Mirage5F_1.bmp b) In the menu, search for Image > Adjustments > Replace Color... c) Select the color to replace, here we'll start with the sand color (click on any sand colored part that's not a rivet, panel line or dirt stain). d) Change the fuzziness to 100, as we want to change colors without changing too much of them and ending with strange colors in other places. e) Select a result color close to what you want it to be, here a grey/blue (my choice was 7a7c91). d) Click OK. Repeat, using the Green as a color to replace and 5C5E53 (a darker green) as a target, you'll notice that the earth color change too, and that is why this time, while repeating the process for the Earth color, you'll set Fuzziness to 50, so we don't end up modifying too many colors (the target is, to be quick, 5C5E53). You'll end up with something that could pass for a Mirage 5F camouflage for the time being, you then can add details, modify areas, such as the nose, to fit the real thing, but since it would take longer to explain the process than to do it, we'll see that later on and I'll let you play with Photoshop by yourself... In the meantime, you can download my interim skin... ADACamoEC3_3.zip

Only the tail ones are missing from the Nesher/Mirage 5D LOD I'm using as a basis.

Always used Hard, might explain it... Yep, you're right, it works in normal mode, almost too easy even...

I'd need a set of VOR antennas for my Mirage 5F placeholder (and I'm in the process of posting the step by step procedure needed for it, so anyone can benefit and the complete beginners can get a quick idea of the most basic operations). Here are a few pictures of the part while I'm searching for a drawing and better references for dimension : They are the small horizontal antennas on both sides of the vertical tail (way up), should be easy, but between writing the how to and placing rivets on a template (and knowing how clumsy I am when it comes to 3D modelling)... It's neither urgent nor important, I would understand if that doesn't interest you at all.

Nice ^^ mmmm Blackbird, when you have a few minutes to spare, may I interest you in something even simpler than those pylons ?

The stock flight model doesn't allow it, a few 3rd party aircraft do it, but they are very optimised to obtain vertical take-off/landing (the MV-22 and Yak-141 for instance) and require some practice and finesse to obtain that. The stock Harrier doesn't even have enough thrust to do it unloaded IIRC.

Do you know the model of your card ? The quickest (if not entirely reliable) way would be to right click on your desktop, chose Properties, then parameters and read what you have in the pull down menu, it should tell you the name of your card (even though it won't tell you the amount of memory and frequencies, it gives a useful baseline, since I can't navigate you through menus, I only know the french names and shortcuts -_-).

Quite frankly, it's a small leap, the GT would be a better choice (even though it's more noisy), for usually around $3 or 5 more (maybe more, I tend to think in euros). If you can spend more, are really concerned about performances but don't want to change everything, ATI/AMD has the HD 3850 in AGP for around $140. On quality, it depends on your visual criteria, your display, settings and drivers, also it varies from generation to generation, nVidia having the advantage of offering less lemon (nVidia's failings are usually cards that are too noisy, too hot or too power hungry, while ATI's cards are often too underperforming for their segment or way too unstable) than ATI (nVidia lemons being mostly their very high end, while ATI can be over the whole range) and somewhat more convinving drivers (even though ATI's performances in the domain have definitely improved and nVidia's not what it once was).

Exactly what I was searching for to change that in the Nesher model (well, I still have to figure out which entry is the nose, and which value is used on the rest of the plane, but that should be easy now that I know what I'm looking for) and make it a placeholder Mirage 5F (until the release of the TMF one), now if only I knew how to delete the belly pylons (without crashing the game or making a nice rendition of Wonder Woman's jet). OR... I can stop being a dimwit and use the Mirage5D LOD instead as it already has a nose with the same specular/gloss all over...

We are witnessing people reinventing the wheel because they didn't spend time to 1) read the manual 2) read TW's forum, 3) read Ca's forums and KB and 4) gather documentation and knowledge prior to tinkering. So there is a great deal of excitation, experimentation, "new" knowledge being found, but to those with a some more hours in the series, it sounds outlandish... In their defense, the search functions around here and TW are quite ineffective and a great deal of things I remember being in the KB still seems to be missing.

You missed nothing, the pylons and the canards are one piece, if you delete the entry for the canards, the canards won't show up, but the pylons won't too, even though there will be "phantom" pylons as they are still present in the INI file.

No, FC has pylons, and yes, I forgot he bundled both pylons and canards into the same LOD, which is inelegant even thouh more efficient, and means you are right.