overbyte's recent activity
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Comment on Starfield: May update in ~games
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Comment on Starfield: May update in ~games
overbyte LinkThe land vehicle is just giving me Mass Effect 1 Mako vibes and not in a good way. Exploring a procedurally generated square area with a whole lot of nothing in between. I've long finished the...The land vehicle is just giving me Mass Effect 1 Mako vibes and not in a good way. Exploring a procedurally generated square area with a whole lot of nothing in between.
I've long finished the game and put it down. My main gripe was the lack of immersion especially with ship travel in a space game. I'm not expecting Star Citizen quantum travel, but at least something that conveyed your ship is somewhat seamlessly moving between systems that hides a chunk of the loading screens. Freelancer had jump gates that hid the loading screen behind the jump effect, so you got instant jumps if you loaded the next sector quickly.
The most minimal example is how Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart and Jedi Fallen Order handled it with a diegetic starmap and how it kept your view mostly within the ship and shifted the skybox around. Fallen Order had an additional trick to fade the skybox to white to quickly transition between takeoff and low orbit.
And then my other minor gripe is the ship density on the ground compared to everything they show in low orbit. If you want me to work with the "one city per planet" stretch of lore that they went with (especially when the rest of the planet is physically explorable and you have a star-spanning civilization) then the capital cities needed to look way more busy with ship trade traffic at least. I loved the first area in Rift Apart (Nefarious City) after you finish the prologue for that reason. So many ships and set dressing flying around aside from NPCs walking around that it actually felt like a bustling city.
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
overbyte Link ParentBack in the day setting up a new app means rack server hardware, install OS, install app. With the transition to virtual machines, the industry has reduced the physicality of getting...Back in the day setting up a new app means rack server hardware, install OS, install app. With the transition to virtual machines, the industry has reduced the physicality of getting infrastructure up and running. Provision VM, install OS, install app. Benefits are better hardware utilization and reducing costs by running multiple VMs on the same hardware.
When you reach enough VMs, you'll need a coordinated way to manage them so this is where config management tools like Ansible/Puppet/Chef come in. Instead of hand-tuning servers, you write what you want your infrastructure to be in code and you get said tool to execute it, so now you get software development benefits like tests, reviews and reusability if you say, want to provision 10 identical web servers.
With the arrival and popularity of cloud services where running static things 24x7 leads to big bills, there's another shift from virtualizing the hardware (the VM) up one level to the OS itself (containers). So you have a VM that runs an engine like Docker to run multiple containers on it. Benefits are similar in that you can cram more things in the same space as before, as well as isolation. If you have apps that need specific versions of Python/Java/PHP/whatever, compared to installing those apps on separate VMs and or on one and dealing with dependency/package manager hell you run them in separate containers on the same box, the only prerequisite is Docker itself.
Cloud services are designed to be elastic. Scales up and down with use, pay as you go and use only what you need. If you say, don't need to run 5 VMs in the Asia-Pacific region after 5pm, you can setup automation to delete them and spin up new ones at 8am tomorrow. If your apps are in containers and they're hosted on one VM and it gets wiped (or you need to take it down for patching), you have a problem. So now you need a way to ensure you have enough containers and their underlying VMs running to keep your services up and available.
When you are at that scale that you have enough containers that run your business apps spread across an ever-changing dynamic pool of VMs, you'll need a coordinated way to manage them. You can probably roll your own solution to all of that, but this is where an orchestrator like Kubernetes comes in.
The jargon is part of the ecosystem, but it's also designed to solve very real problems with application compatibility and scaling on top of ever changing dynamic pool of infrastructure. Cattle, not pets. The unfortunate case is some companies have taken into jumping on the tech trend without assessing their needs because that stack comes with a base level of complexity to solve some particular multiple hard problems when running at scale.
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Comment on What programming/technical projects have you been working on? in ~comp
overbyte Link ParentWorking with plenty of large-scale production clusters on GKE where we actually used the scale, once you get past all the ecosystem-specific jargon I'd also boil it down to essentially shiny new...Working with plenty of large-scale production clusters on GKE where we actually used the scale, once you get past all the ecosystem-specific jargon I'd also boil it down to essentially shiny new ways of doing old things.
Coming from an Ansible/static VM-based traditional sysadmin background herding packaged enterprise apps with terrible vendor support websites, I (and my bank account) overwhelmingly prefer the crazy stack way in a lot of cases especially if the company develops in-house apps (SaaS company or the like).
Like if I have a herd of apps that write to standard streams, I can route cluster-wide logging to whatever centralized log shipping system the company has that day instead of having to deal with log files strewn across hundreds of VMs or making sure I have filebeat up and running on the VM first. Or how Kubernetes DaemonSets take out a lot of complexity in the traditional way of running Ansible plays (or similar config management tool) to provision something in a new VM. I essentially just say "run X in every node labeled Y" and the cluster does it.
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Comment on I made a mistake, I started using Reddit again in ~talk
overbyte Link ParentReddit taking on image and video hosting instead of leaving that sole burden to Imgur was a great step in blowing out their costsReddit taking on image and video hosting instead of leaving that sole burden to Imgur was a great step in blowing out their costs
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Comment on I just installed a DNS based firewall (I think) for the first time in my life. Help me understand which addresses to block. in ~tech
overbyte Link ParentDamage, no. It's the tech equivalent of doing no harm and minimizing risk by not introducing unnecessary changes to systems, especially if you don't have enough background knowledge what those...Damage, no. It's the tech equivalent of doing no harm and minimizing risk by not introducing unnecessary changes to systems, especially if you don't have enough background knowledge what those changes are and what they will do.
You're essentially asking the Tildes community to perform very specific free support work for you that will only benefit your use case. If something went wrong and broke something important like a banking site or software updates, you'd be right and natural to ask back why something didn't work. It could be a lot of fumbling in the dark and lots of back and forth discussions. Essentially a lot of effort for minimal gain. In the meantime your systems have reduced or broken functionality than if you haven't applied the changes in the first place.
And with the existence of multiple open source projects that are already collaborative efforts specifically made for this purpose, stored in a repo like Github where you can see full audit trails and heaps of technical discussions on why a domain is part of the list in the first place, being cautious with personal advice (similar to medical and legal) and referring to better channels to minimize liability, breakage and not reinvent the wheel is the correct way.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
overbyte Link ParentI find the DOS version better with more striking color schemes and things like ground fog and time of day that weren't in the textured versions. It's amazing how the game had so many releases that...I find the DOS version better with more striking color schemes and things like ground fog and time of day that weren't in the textured versions.
It's amazing how the game had so many releases that tried to add textures to the game but they all had limitations in one way or another compared to the DOS version that you could crank up to 1024x768, which was a feat at that time.
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Comment on Movie of the Week #26 - Aliens in ~movies
overbyte LinkLike Terminator 2, it's paced so well whenever I watch it I'm sucked into the world once the Colonial Marines show up and never lets up until the credits. Also copious amounts of iconic one-liners...Like Terminator 2, it's paced so well whenever I watch it I'm sucked into the world once the Colonial Marines show up and never lets up until the credits. Also copious amounts of iconic one-liners mostly from Bill Paxton. Mostly.
The behind the scenes footage of this movie are equally fascinating in how they achieved all of it with practical effects. The production team with Cameron were insistent on doing everything "in-camera". What the camera records is what you get. Those scenes are real because they are real.
Cleverly putting miniatures in front of the camera at the right distance to blend in with the main set to make it look bigger than it is, playing back previously recorded footage with a projector on a screen behind the set if they needed a wide shot, and showcasing the dirty future by getting rubble from Pinewood Studios and opening up the soundstage during bad weather to dirty up Hadley's Hope. There's also some fun ones like the ovipositor where someone below the set had to hold up an egg as it gets placed down so it didn't roll away.
They also used a lot of simple camera tricks to keep it on budget, like turning the camera upside down for aliens on the vents, yanking a prop and playing the footage backwards to make a facehugger "jump", and bigger alien scenes were carefully recorded in such a way that you never see the big crane behind it so they never needed to hide it.
Seeing the movie magic just made me love the film even more. Gale Anne Hurd said that it initially fooled the execs into believing they blew all the budget on sets instead of effects.
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Comment on X4: Foundations 7.00 trailer in ~games
overbyte Link ParentIt's a singleplayer sandbox that you can greatly influence from your actions without the constraints of an online game where everyone is synced to the story, or just let it play out on its own....It's a singleplayer sandbox that you can greatly influence from your actions without the constraints of an online game where everyone is synced to the story, or just let it play out on its own.
Watch a capital ship battle from the comfort of a station you built. Get lost in a new sector and ask NPCs for directions. Start from a single ship running errands then build a massive fleet and take over a sector setting up your own trade routes, or don't. Keep flying your own ship, hire a copilot to do it for you so you're not glued to the seat, or command your entire flotilla from your carrier and play it more like an RTS/4X game instead.
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Comment on Game recommendations, specifically (round 2) in ~games
overbyte Link ParentYou haven't mentioned what you already played or what's in your library, so these will be from the ones I've personally beaten. The hours are from HowLongToBeat. To The Moon (4 hrs) is essentially...You haven't mentioned what you already played or what's in your library, so these will be from the ones I've personally beaten. The hours are from HowLongToBeat.
To The Moon (4 hrs) is essentially one of those games you play once because it will never hit the same way again once you know the story.
House of the Dying Sun (3 hrs) is criminally short being highly cut down from the original concept when it was called Enemy Starfighter. Laser focused on the action with each mission beatable in less than 10 mins, the game will be over by the time you're wanting more.
Portal (3 hrs) and Portal 2 (8.5 hrs) need no introduction. They ease you in with the puzzles and don't overstay their welcome while packing a story underneath all the puzzles.
Titanfall 2 (6 hrs) campaign is essentially a glorified tutorial for multiplayer, but it stands out on its own with a story about you and Titan. There's some levels that remind me of Half-Life 2's level design.
Rayman Origins (11 hrs), Child of Light (11 hrs) and Valiant Hearts: The Great War (6.5 hrs) were from a time when Ubisoft tried with making "indie" games with a AAA polish. They're all made on the UbiArt engine which showcases the gorgeous art style that look more like a living cartoon than a game engine, and contain mechanics that people don't normally associate with the big budget Ubisoft games.
Medal of Honor (2010 - 5 hrs) campaign is based on the real life Battle of Takur Ghar. The entire campaign takes place in a span of a few days with how the missions flow to each other. It has a very grounded, understated sombre feel that I feel is missing from other AAA military singleplayer campaigns that generally lean towards bombastic Hollywood action. The character dialogue is straight to the point, they rarely shout or scream, they fire in single-shot and I find the campaign as a whole portrays the "cool under pressure" special forces operator type better than other games I've played.
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare (7 hours) campaign has clunky wallrunning to Titanfall 2, but as a whole it's still a fun romp for a few hours. The space military aesthetic and fighter launch sequence reminds me of the reimagined Battlestar Galactica, and being sci-fi and in space allowed the devs to go all-out with the set pieces. Like with Medal of Honor 2010, there's still a grounded feel underneath all the sci-fi, like how characters talk like there's an actual hierarchy of command aboard the ship.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
overbyte LinkPlaying 1.0 of Ready or Not in single player, can't comment on coop yet. Props for the rare dev these days that still care about team AI instead of relegating everything to coop. I like the...Playing 1.0 of Ready or Not in single player, can't comment on coop yet. Props for the rare dev these days that still care about team AI instead of relegating everything to coop. I like the shields (and the AI that have them moves up front during a breach), canted sights and being able to choose low/high ready.
The other side of that is it feels like every encounter ends up in a massive shootout to the death and there's no gradient of suspects compared to the SWAT games. Sometimes it feels like the game was supposed to be Terrorist Hunt but they actually had to make a spiritual successor to the SWAT games so they threw in civlians on the maps. Suspects shoot you on sight the moment you step 1 pixel into their area, and do the occasional John Wick moves against a squad in full body armor. As a bonus your SWAT AI also gets those traits, I've seen them occasionally wallbang a suspect before I even hear the dialog.
Map design is "bigger and better" syndrome drawing notes from the later stages of SWAT 4. Large multi-level compounds with multiple entrances connected by wide open spaces all tasked to a 5 man squad. I kind of miss the smaller levels like the Fairfax residence (there's one as a mod) or the earlier levels in SWAT 3. If you think the gas station (the first level) is huge, it's pretty much starts like that for the game.
The UX leans more on form than function. The police station, while pretty, could've been a menu. The NPCs there just stand around not doing anything and everything there is essentially set dressing. You walk around the station in full armor with a loaded weapon walking your way to the next point. Compared to SWAT 4, there's no UI for tweaking a level before you start where you can fine-tune suspects and civilians.
The loadout menu makes you constantly wade in and out of menus in this little section of the screen in tiny font while there's a giant preview of the character taking up the view. Not like that preview matters since things like changing armor doesn't show the difference. Would've liked more standardized descriptions and numbers like weapon caliber and muzzle velocity similar to Insurgency Sandstorm.
On sound design, guns are very loud which I like. A bang and clear on a room packed with suspects is appropriately tense. Dialog is pretty much lifted verbatim from SWAT 4 just with different voice actors, including "trailers".
Suspect AI tuning aside, overall it feels like a mix of SWAT 4.5 and what a modern remake would be.
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Comment on Microsoft might want to be making Windows 12 a subscription OS, suggests leak in ~tech
overbyte Link ParentNot OP, but my own reasons are the collective sum of UI decisions (like combining the network and volume tray icon) and decades of half-baked implementations (MS seems to think nobody needs more...Not OP, but my own reasons are the collective sum of UI decisions (like combining the network and volume tray icon) and decades of half-baked implementations (MS seems to think nobody needs more than 2 time zones in the clock) in a paid product (whether indirectly through OEM or having the full retail license).
The rewrite of the taskbar and Start Menu threw out existing functionality like being able to move the taskbar or showing all system tray icons. Then having to add previous functionality back in after release like the clock showing up on multiple monitors, taskbar grouping and a less anemic audio device switcher. In Linux, I can choose to not use GNOME if their UI decisions don't align with my workflow. And I'm more than willing to give KDE's bugginess a pass from the sheer amount of out-of-the-box control you have over the UI that you don't even have to engage with.
Then there's the glacial move to the new Settings menu (which you can only open one instance of at a time) over Control Panel. I'm in the camp of either commit fully to it (so we can collectively hate it sooner) or not at all.
On the subjective side, I just personally cannot stand how sluggish the Windows UI (especially the rewritten Explorer) has become over the years, even on a powerful PC and a fresh install. Years of playing Counter-Strike and having
vimas my main text editor made me pretty sensitive to input latency, and "pretty quick" just doesn't cut it when you're used to "near instant". Plasma's UI animation and latency sliders are one of those options I didn't know I needed until now and I have it set up just right, and that's a relatively heavyweight desktop environment by Linux standards. -
Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
overbyte Link ParentTo each their own. I've replayed and finished Freelancer multiple times (vanilla and modded) over the years alongside the Wing Commander games. And hundreds of hours in ED grinding nearly...To each their own. I've replayed and finished Freelancer multiple times (vanilla and modded) over the years alongside the Wing Commander games. And hundreds of hours in ED grinding nearly everything the game has aside from high level Thargoid hunts.
I'm still playing Starfield, warts and all. I'm always up for new sci-fi worlds where humanity has colonized the stars.
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Comment on What is a simple tech tip that changed how you use your computer or other devices in a significant way? in ~tech
overbyte (edited )LinkWindows: Ctrl + Shift + click shortcut on taskbar to Run as Admin Steam: this is familiar to anyone who tinkered with Proton, but %COMMAND% represents the default game executable that gets...Windows: Ctrl + Shift + click shortcut on taskbar to Run as Admin
Steam: this is familiar to anyone who tinkered with Proton, but
%COMMAND%represents the default game executable that gets launched by Steam. So if you want to run a loader beforehand, you can set the launch options to something like this (as an example, to enable the Starfield Script Extender)"E:\games\steam\steamapps\common\Starfield\sfse_loader.exe" -- %COMMAND%Kubernetes: pods backed by a controller have a randomly generated suffix. If you don't need to be specific in connecting to
my-app-124abcormy-app-xyz134then you can use the controller:kubectl exec -it deploy/my-app -- bashSame with port forward, you can do it against the service:
kubectl port-forward service/my-app 8080:8080Other: Making aliases for things you repeatedly type, saves a few seconds of typing but it still adds up. It's platform and tool-specific, so my
gitconfigfor example has aliases like# compact log l = log --oneline -n 10 --graph --abbrev-commit # compare and undo against last commit dh = diff HEAD~1 HEAD undo = !git reset HEAD~1 --mixed # Hard and extra-hard resets reh = reset --hard rehh = "!r() { git reset --hard origin/$1; }; r" -
Comment on What is a simple tech tip that changed how you use your computer or other devices in a significant way? in ~tech
overbyte Link ParentI learned about process substitution while cleaning up our scripts at work and make them log things consistently. Instead of having to call a function to append a file we can put out a line at the...I learned about process substitution while cleaning up our scripts at work and make them log things consistently. Instead of having to call a function to append a file we can put out a line at the start like
exec > >(tee ${LOGFILE}) 2>&1To log everything to the screen and file, or change it slightly if we need
stderron a separate file. -
Comment on Starfield - what are your thoughts? in ~games
overbyte Link ParentElite doesn't really hide how repetitive and grindy its game loops are. Aside from doing those corkscrew approaches, there's also nothing to do in supercruise whether that's a 5 min trip or 30. In...Elite doesn't really hide how repetitive and grindy its game loops are. Aside from doing those corkscrew approaches, there's also nothing to do in supercruise whether that's a 5 min trip or 30. In Starfield at least you can get out of the seat, organize your cargo and talk to crew or something.
Elite style immersion yes, but it doesn't have to be a wholesale copy. To me I'd prefer a middle ground where the ship autolands but from your perspective like that cutscene of the landing animation that plays once. Maybe it's a loading/streaming thing with this engine is but I liked how Jedi Survivor did just that. Maybe do some tricks like putting up giant walls around the landing pad or have the cockpit facing empty land instead so they can hide how the game is streaming in the rest of the city.
For in-system travel, have the ship point to the target and do some smoke and mirrors to shift the skybox around as an immersive replacement of the loading screen. Scaled to the loading time at least so it doesn't turn to fixed durations that happen with the shimmying through cracks or lifting up doors type versions. This would also make that navigation computer slightly more useful and mirrors real-life air travel where autopilot is engaged for the bulk of cruise.
At the very least I want the choice of the illusion of travel even if it's just for a few seconds (while still providing the fast travel option) without turning it into Hutton Orbital. Maybe have the ship computer tell you that you arrived at your destination once the loading "screen" is done.
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Comment on Starfield - what are your thoughts? in ~games
overbyte Link ParentI've taken a liking to the MGS V and Death Stranding approach where they put all the notifications into a scrolling feed at the side instead of cluttering up the center of the screen. I've had a...I've taken a liking to the MGS V and Death Stranding approach where they put all the notifications into a scrolling feed at the side instead of cluttering up the center of the screen.
I've had a situation where I had to maneuver to avoid colliding with another ship after jumping into a new place because that giant notification was in the way and was taking its sweet time to fade out.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
overbyte LinkPlaying Starfield on PC and redid my character multiple times because I wanted to try some of the other backgrounds. Settled on Bounty Hunter with Wanted for the nice balance of starting skills...Playing Starfield on PC and redid my character multiple times because I wanted to try some of the other backgrounds. Settled on Bounty Hunter with Wanted for the nice balance of starting skills and RP. Then the usual RPG skill points into lockpicking and speech checks should be a solid, generic start.
Eyeing a crazed knife-wielding Chef for the next playthrough that's on the quest for the best alien lamb sauce. See that alien? You can cook it.
Being a Bethesda game, it retains their signature jank that makes it feel like a game 8-10 years behind, and makes some more prominent, like the loading screens to go to a small indoor area and the stiff animations during dialog scenes (and there's a lot here now). I've read about those indoor areas separated by loading screen might be a product of the development cycle, because other cities have those built into the main space, or maybe New Atlantis might just be too big that it's pushing an internal engine budget to be able to load the space as it is.
There's also the weird UI design decisions which feel like I'm back in the 360/PS3 console port to PC era. Your choices to exit out of menus on PC is to use Esc multiple times or hold Tab. You have to press a key to switch between buy/sell as well as switching between you/companion/ship inventory, because displaying one list takes half of your screen instead of having a trade screen that displays them side-by-side like in most ARPGs and MMOs.
There's the hazy color grading and lack of a gamma/picture quality sliders, no FOV slider (so you have to edit a config file), and the lack of a local map/direction finder in the big cities. In 2023 I can have Google Maps navigate down to an exact store, but the technology was lost in this universe to get grav drives working. A counterpoint that might've helped immersion is being able to ask the generic NPCs for directions and your scanner's route gets updated.
Minor nitpick is the scanner is so useful that I'm going Arkham Asylum detective mode again and having it on most of the time, because aside from the navigation arrows there's way more clutter in the world it can get hard to see which object you can interact with if you're not scanning every inch of the map.
As for fast travel, I definitely wanted a more immersive system similar to what Jedi Survivor did that gives you the feel of you doing space travel in a space game, but not turn it into Elite Dangerous.
Like say you plot a course in that nav computer while you can move around in the ship and have some smoke and mirrors where the skybox shifts around for a few seconds than the current way of a cutscene then a loading screen (which should still be an option). Or maybe one of your crew can pilot while you pick from dialog choices about where to go. I just don't like how the discussion around this tends to devolve into the extremes of loading screens or Hutton Orbital, as if having a balance between immersion and still being a mainstream big budget game doesn't exist.
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Comment on Starfield reviews in ~games
overbyte Link ParentIn Bethesda games it's designed like an on/off switch against some arbitrary number instead of a gradual effect. In real life, I don't lose the ability to run because I picked up a notebook while...In Bethesda games it's designed like an on/off switch against some arbitrary number instead of a gradual effect. In real life, I don't lose the ability to run because I picked up a notebook while hauling a week's worth of groceries.
After finishing Armored Core VI just before this game, I prefer how weight was implemented there where it's more like constant modifiers to your mech's agility and stamina (expressed as energy). Changing parts affected your AC's weight which then affect things like dodge and overall maneuverability, so it's a constant thing to balance against your overall build instead of being able to sprint at 139/140 inventory and picking up one piece of metal destroys your maneuverability.
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Comment on What games do you most wish had a remake, or a sequel or both? in ~games
overbyte LinkA combination of Freelancer and Privateer, or something similar in levels of worldbuilding. Unmodded Freelancer doesn't have a lot of mission variety, the factions are exaggerated caricatures of...A combination of Freelancer and Privateer, or something similar in levels of worldbuilding.
Unmodded Freelancer doesn't have a lot of mission variety, the factions are exaggerated caricatures of countries, the ship handling is intentionally arcadey, hardpoint choices are pretty simplistic, but it eases you nicely into a pre-existing fleshed out world where you can be the titular freelancer Alpha 1-1.
I just love the things you just find from exploring around not mentioned in the campaign (which might be a happy accident of MS pushing Chris Roberts to get the game out the door). It had a JRPG design where the campaign only unlocks a part of the map and you're on your own to discover the rest.
I've likely already played the alternatives that people mention and none of these capture what Freelancer attempted to do with its world or they're doing their own thing.
Yeah I've done all of that like initiating jumps from the cockpit, but I still would've preferred at least even an Elite Dangerous style smoke and mirrors with how that game handled moving a ship around a world at different scales, specifically the supercruise system.
So you'd have your standard on-foot Bethesda open world scale that we have now, then transition to cells for the ship control parts that already exist like station approach, ship combat or low orbit.
Ideally I'd like another open world "map" that's the equivalent of supercruise where instead of moving a character around in a wasteland, you move your ship around a streaming set of cells with textures of planets and stars around you. Elite Dangerous doesn't even let you land seamlessly at planets or dock at stations from interplanetary travel, you essentially have to instance into the planet or stations immediate surroundings by dropping out of supercruise. You solve the random encounter/space POI problem by things pulling you out of supercruise, then you can influence that with things already in the game like speech checks.