Tag Archive for 'Left 4 Dead'

Project overload

I’m swamped. Arcadium Software is working on a commercial project that has absorbed a metric fuckton of my time. No its not a game but we’re working on a web application for a big ass company. Its sorta weird how it came all about:

A few years ago my dad was using a really archaic method for keeping track of what vehicles he was in charge of. Like… where they were stationed. He wrote the vehicle number down on a magnet and placed it on a white board and moved them from square to square depending on where the vehicle got shipped. So I wrote him a digital version of that and since he struggles with computers, I totally mimicked the look of a board with magnets on it. Except you could double-click any “magnet” and open up extended information and tools on it. Needless to say this worked many times faster and he instantly fell in love with it. I spent loads of time in the UI so it was extremely user friendly.

Well he has since left that company and moved on to bigger and better things. Little did I know he continued to use that program and one day his boss saw him using it and one thing lead to another… next thing I know I’m in a meeting talking business for writing this company a custom software tool. So a lot of our time is being dedicated to that…

BUT THEN…

Garry decides that he wants to start a Fretta gamemode contest with some high dollar incentives. So now we’re working on THAT at the same time. Our goal is to submit two gamemodes so we really gotta bust ass on everything. We’re not going to sacrifice quality though, so its just time dedication.

BUT THEN…

All these new games have come out/are coming out and ahhhhhhhhhh. I’m deep into Fallout 3 right now, I’ve got Borderlands to focus on, Left 4 Dead 2 soon… Modern Warfare 2– fuuuuuuuuuuuuuu–

AND NOW FOR SOME COMPLETELY UNRELATED MEDIA

Awesome:

Derailed!

I’ve been so fucking derailed from my normal tasks lately. The other day I was browsing an old website backup and I found the LuaBin folder.. which totally made me laugh. That thing worked well but was wrote like shit. Since it disappeared I’ve had a few (well more like several) people ask me what happened to it. I didn’t pay much attention to the subject until I found the code and realized how much better I could have made it. And so began my week long derail.

LuaBin has been revived. I rewrote it from scratch and restored the snippets I had in the backup. I went for a clean and easy interface and maximized the syntax highlighter. I still use Geshi but I’ve utilized it to its full potential and extended the keywords…

Oh…! I have to derail this blog about being derailed with a short derail: Is it just me or are some people complete fuck-faces and overuse the vote kicking in Left 4 Dead? I joined a verses server the other day on the infected team and spawned as a hunter at the start of No Mercy. The survivors ran down the stairs (of course) and I jumped down the glass sunroof. They encountered the other infected and killed them all. So this one douche is like:

WHAT ARE YOU DOING FOSZOR? ATTACK THEM! ATTACK THEM NOW!

So I’m trying to get to them but they’ve shut a few doors so I have to beat them down. What happens? I get vote kicked! They didn’t even give me time to explain the fact that they were stupid cunts… err… I mean that I was stuck behind some doors and wanted to maul their faces off like a pet chimp… err… was trying trying to get to the action. I could have explained myself quicker but my mic was broken…

Oh…! Time to derail this short derail with a different derail: So the other day my mic just randomly stopped working… I can’t figure out what happened. I tried messing with my system settings but I’m pretty sure its a problem with the mic itself because of the weird feedback I get and I tried my DJ mic and it worked fine. Fucking hell! So I went to order an identical headset (because I heart mine so much) only to realize the god damn things are still almost $100! WHRY!! They were $100 like four years ago. How can they still be that much? I mean I got these for free as a promo gift but still…

Battlefield HeroesOh…! This is a short derail to the previous derail: Speaking of free, have you guys tried the new Battlefield Heroes beta? They said they focused on the backend but its still pretty crappy at the moment. The game itself works decent. I mean I get a black screen when I join a game 50% of the time, and the matchmaking is worse than the Left 4 Dead system… but for a beta its cool. Seems like no one wants to be Royal Army and everyone is a National.

To sum it all up:

LuaBin == done
L4D players == idiots
mic == broke :(
BFH == cool + needs work
me == brack to wok on gadget

</derail>

Movies and stuff

Since I’ve been creating movies more and more lately, I decided to make a page where I can put them all. So at the top of my blog you’ll now see a link to the Movies page. And with THAT said… I’ve created another video:

HIGHER QUALITY VERSION HERE

I had a lot of fun making this video, and I learned a lot about editing… and about being a director. Waxx so kindly put it into perspective for me: “hi I’m Brandon I tell everyone absolutely nothing yet expect them to do it”… or something rude like that.

Also, today marks a day in history… for my alias “foszor” is now** autocompleted by Google from their main page. Go try it out… start typing “foszor” in and it will finish it for you. ABSO-FUCKING-AMAZING!

** Edit: sorry I fixed “not” to “now”

Blood Harvest Expliot

So I was doing something totally unrelated to anything I’m about to show you, yet I managed to figure this out. It’s pretty simple but its not very practical. I mean, it takes like 6 or 7 minutes to actually do it in game, which would mean you’d totally get owned in the ass in verses if you attempted it (anyone up to that challenge? send me a video of you doing it in verses mode and I’ll post a picture of my tits).

Anyways, I first tried it with the boxes, but they weren’t tall enough and I kept breaking them :(

Then I tried it with the hand jack, and it was barely not tall enough. Then I managed to flip the hand jack over, which was then too tall to jump on. So I had to reset the campaign again (this time not breaking the boxes) and use the boxes to jump on it. Easy enough? Sure it is, but the fucking bots like to get in your personal space so I’d recommend doing it with friends or kick the bots. On to the video!

Edit: I know it doesn’t make sense to do it, but in my defense I was trying to get the no medkit achievement ON EXPERT and spending all that time to save a little health would really help in the long run! AND NO, ZOMBIES DON’T SPAWN IN SINGLEPLAYER WHEN YOU’RE DOING THIS… I HAD NO CHEATS ON WHILE DOING THIS!

This is not Matchmaking!

WHRY did you do this Valve? Why do you implement this new idea for PC games and then do such a shitty job. Yes, yes I know its not easy and there is probably more to it than I understand; but dear god… how hard is it to something like:

if ( server_full == true ) then try->again(); end

snapshot0002And if it is, then don’t make me have to go through the click process of searching for a game. I swear to god my biggest complaint about playing online, is the eleventy billion “Server Full” messages or “Human player limit reached (8/8)”. Well thanks for at least trying to give me something new to read with that latter message, but you know what? It still shouldn’t happen. It’s sad when I nearly ragequit before I even start playing!

The other problem with this so-called “matchmaking” process (if you can really call it that; moar like ragemaking) is the fact that both server operators and players get screwed. Its like a double wammy screw in both our buttholes, followed by a bukkake in our fucking face.

Here’s the problem:

Bob wants to play a normal game of verses. He finds a game in progress (lucky you Bob!) and within the first few minutes realizes something: the hunters do way more damage than they should and there are far more common zombies than normal. You know why Bob? You don’t? Well I’m here to tell you that you’re on a modded server. Some fucktard mcgee changed a bunch of convars around for the lulz-factor.

Now it’s Tyron’s turn. He’s been playing the game for a long time and wants a new challenge. Earlier today he was playing on a modded server and he really enjoyed it! The boomers had a shorter recharge time, most of the infected did far more damage, and the tank was real tough to kill. Well guess what Tyron: not only do you have a terrible fucking name, but you’re probably never going to find that server again! So no matter how much you try, you’re going to end up emo… so just go cry in the corner and cut yourself.

The server operators don’t get to have regulars, they don’t get any benefit from running the server other than a tiny banner in the scoreboard and a stupid MOTD that no one reads anyways. Where’s the name of the server? DO I REALLY NEED TO RUN SOME FORM OF THIRD PARTY APP JUST SO PEOPLE KNOW OUR WEBSITE? Are you fucking kidding me? You don’t even give us the ability to join our own fucking server! We have to use stupid fucking console command hacks to attempt to get there, and even that shit fails 80% of the time. No! I don’t want to click from the main menu! I want to start a lobby and have it join my server… is it really that hard to understand?

Valve you make great games, Left 4 Dead is a great game… you just wrapped up the online play in a wrapping known as styrofail. Please remove it. Give us server operators and gamers alike the ability to play where ever the fuck we want.

Left 4 Aidan Discussion

There’s been a lot of discussion about the Left 4 Aidan post… let me just clarify some things here:

My son knows the difference between good words and bad words… he corrects me when he hears me say one of them (which I normally avoid around him).

He also knows that violence isn’t good and that we shouldn’t do it. When my wife gives me a love tap (a soft punch in the arm for saying something she doesn’t like) he tells her to say sorry.

Additionally, Aidan is very aware of the difference between video games and reality. His interaction with people in games and people in real life are polar opposite.

You know how he knows these things? Because he’s AWARE of them and we teach him whats wrong and whats right.

You know what doesn’t teach kids? Making them naive by sheltering them from what you feel is wrong. Everyone will eventually encounter foul words and violence, whether it be in school or on TV. So you go about your business and try to hide your kids from all that you feel is evil and see how much they are shell-shocked when reality finally catches up to them and kicks them in their fucking face.

Anyone trying to come off saying I’m a “bad parent” for letting him watch me play is outright stupid. Video games don’t make bad children, the way they are raised makes bad children… example:

I read some comments about his GModigy video and I feel sorry for the people that bothered opening their stupid face. My son is extremely smart. He’s already counting and doing logic way above his age level. He’s also more computer savvy then most of you reading this… and most of the people commenting about how he’s being warped and all that bullshit. I feel sorry for your kids to be honest. If they aren’t spending quality time with you like my son is with me, then you’re just a terrible parent who probably touches their privates in the closet.

I love my children and do everything to raise them right. So get off your high horse.

Left 4 Aidan

*** CLICK HERE FOR THE FOLLOWUP DISCUSSION. READ BEFORE BITCHING ***

This was recorded earlier today. I added a film grain and some background music and a silly HUD.

Anyways enjoy :)

For those of you who don’t remember the classic video of him playing Garry’s Mod:

Edit:

Some threads and stuff:

While I’ve been sick…

Yes. I’m sick again. Awesome huh?

Fuck no, shut up, it fucking sucks. I have two god damn ear infections, a god damn flu, and fucking pink eye!

Anyways. While I’ve been home sick I’ve been playing lots of Left 4 Dead and taking screenshots whenever I remember to.

I also set up some L4D dedicated servers. I didn’t want everyone and their retarded mother on the internet using them, so instead of putting a password on them (thus hiding them from the main menu screen where it’s easiest to click to connect) I just made a steam community group and made them exclusive to it. If you want to play on them, let me know and I’ll send you an invite.

P.S. Is that better Ed? I made it shorter just for you. Oh, and tell your mom I said hi.

Left 4 Dead… Screenshots!

Thanks to Chad, I’ve got my demo screenshots automatically uploading!!

http://www.foszor.com/dump/screenshots/l4d_demo/

Not as many as I hoped, but its hard reminding myself to take screenshots when I’m busy shooting zombies in their ugly faces! I’ll take more later but now I need some sleep before work.

Left 4 Dead!

Bam! Its here! All the waiting and waiting and BAM! Its awesome! I had to take a break to create a dedicated server since everyone is fucking retarded and won’t make one. Always gotta do shit yourself…

If anyone is curious how to setup a dedicated server for the Left 4 Dead Demo, just use your HldsUpdateTool:

HldsUpdateTool.exe -command update -dir . -game left4dead

P.S. Thanks Barri!

Here’s a taste of what I’m seeing!