DazzleHP

Hi all, For the first time in years i have the opportunity of building myself a moderate gaming rig, to house that nice GPU i purchased recently. I've picked out most of my bits and even a shiny new case but the one thing i have no experience with is SSD's . What i would like to know from my fellow Gexers is are they really worth it? I've read how boot times are faster, and apps load faster (kind of obvious really) but are they really worth the price?? Per GB of storage they are still expensive. I have a fast HDD and W7 boots in less than 30 seconds with apps loading in 1-2 seconds. I'm a patient guy so i have no issues waiting for 1 bleeding second for something to load lol. I guess what i really want to know is how much of an impact they have on gaming, and if it's actually safe to use one for gaming?! Do they not become unstable with heavy use, much like SD cards etc? Also, if i use one solely as a boot drive, how easy is it to get Steam running from a separate HDD? I don't think i have ever seen an option to choose where to install my Steam library it always installs to C: drive. Cheers for any pointers you have on this guys. I want as much info as i can before i part with my once-every-5-years-if-the-planets-align-correctly cash

@Han and null - The first AC can be particularly repetitive at times i agree but it was the first. Stick with the franchise and play them through though - they get more varied and less repetitive (though there is always something to collect 100 of, for the 100%'ers) so you won't be disappionted I love the story though and AC is easily one of my fave all time franchises. I've yet to play Black Flag (anyone up for donating £30 to a bum? ) but just look at the vids for it! Stunning! As for Fallout well i just recently started Fallout 3 so i doubt i'll have time for the old school isometrics. Thanks for the share as always though null!

There have been a few posts about PSX image files recently so no doubt this will be a welcomed work around. Thanks for the contribution stigzler!

Congratulatiomushuns! Much deserved as everyone knows and would like to use this as an opportunity to thank you for all your top notch plugins that provide that tasty topping of cream on an already delectable GE cake. Keep doing what you do man!

I hope you truely didn't think i was capable of being one You see, Trolls are but simple folk, with a simple goal - to provoke as many feelings and emotions as possible with as little emotion or reason as possible. By that very definition these guys aren't operating on the highest of scales. I hope i was never even considered for such a placement

Well as you may or may not have heard, any one outside of the US is disqualified from the SteamBox beta phase, if like me you may well be somewhat disappointed by this news but yet at the same time want to wish all our State-side residents all the best in being picked for the draw! I hope one of you will be picked i really do - all the best and good luck guys! More info: Official Steam Post

Looking at other users themes is one of the best ways of learning how themes work and Draco's are most def amongst the most complete themes out there. If you wanted to use the editor to import an image as a foreground/overlay find the foreground section in the Object Browser menu on the left (we'll use startbak as an examle) then select Start for the start page foreground, click the Open box and browse to your image

The option you are changing is the actual text box justification. I've not got it installed at the moment as i've just done a system wipe but i believe the option is the main menu bar at the top of the theme editor. Edit> Options> Font maybe? Something like that (where you select which fonts to use) This may be a cache issue, try deleting your cache files before loading your modified theme in GameEx. I wouldn't bother doing this everytime, just once to see if it sorts it, then you'll know to do it again once you completed all your logo's. Not all themes have all logo's in the media directory. What GE will do in that case is load the logo's from THEMES\Default - Default. If you are missing any logo's in your theme folder copy them from the default theme directory to make sure you have a full set It's been a while since i've created anything so any theme pro's please jump in if i've given any false info

I'm in the majority of members on here in that i don't use FaceFudge at all. I have an account, but only because Steam insisted i have one linked for the hardware beta participation - why? Who knows but that's the reason i have one and i've not logged in since i created it. I understand its intended use, and is probably invaluable for the people who use it to keep in touch with distant family and friends, but those people who have 400+ "friends" whom they've never met and don't see the irony in bragging about all these "friends" they have - well, good luck to em lol! Back on topic i also don't think GE loses out - it is easily found through searches by anyone seeking out such a frontend - that's exactly how i arrived here and i hadn't heard of it before that time. Not to mention all the users that show it off to all their friends and family (and we all love to show it off don't we! ). I was recommended both HS and Maximus but was left unsatisfied. I went searching for my own choices and i can tell you it took me no more than one hour of installing GameEx to purchase a license and not because of the features it unlocks - because i wanted Tom to have my money! Here's why: Ease of use - check. Clicking an arrow and browse boxes. ANYONE can do that.Configurability - check. The amount of options still blows my mind today.Customisation - check. Tons of themes and included editor. You can't give more than that.Active and friendly community - check. Greatest place on the net with an active presence from Tom himself. Marvellous.Know that i'm not sucking up or trying to brownose when i say this is the greatest place on the net. In the 15 or so years that i have had a presence online the GameEx forum is the only place i've ever made a virtual home. Ever. And i hope to be here for many years In my eyes the mere fact that this place isn't crawling with thousands of people screaming for help is testimony to how good GE truely is. We have people here and there popping in with a lil hiccup or querey, to which they are promptly assisted by the Mods, Admins and helpful regulars, only to never be seen again. That says something! Doesn't it?! As for being #2 to HS - stats aren't everything Tom, 1000 friends on FB? Pfft keep em

I would also like to mention that after a system wipe you should reinstall any video codecs you had - startup vids etc will likely cause issues otherwise. I've forgotten this step a few times in the past so trust me you will save yourself a :facepalm:

Bravo man good catch! anyone reading this - wtf are you doing reading this?! link is above!

Wow null, amazing homage kinda scary actually! Happy Birthday Celly hope you has a guddun! PS: seen the recent shoot em up comp? be my partner man i know we could rinse these guys Have a good day man and from the bottom of my heart, hope you wake up on a bench with a warm fuzzy feeling of amnesia THAT's when you know it was one of the best

Ouch man you just seem to have the crappest (word? is now) luck with HDD's! Take it from a guy who learn't the hard way, and tortured myself with it - but at the same have a kind of sadistic love for starting again - back that shizzle up man. Or like me, get all the data tatooed on your girlfriends/wife's body then sacrifice her when things go wrong. My choice ends in loneliness, the former ends in happy families. Your choice Glad it worked out ok this time for you man... if you want i know a good inker

Nice guitar man, i've always preferred strat style myself - not because of sound though curiously - but because they feel more balanced in the weight department for me. Maybe there is something to it, maybe it's the way i play but i always feel a bit awkward holding a les paul (i have huge hands though which may have something to do with it). Still, if i could get my hands on a Gibson you know i bleedin would! After looking at your pic then glancing over at my 15 year old Squire Strat (yup, not even a real one) i admit i'm a tad envious Haha love Blitzkrieg Bop! I remember when i first heard it on THPS2 (Tony Hawk's 2) back in the day and the first thing i did was break it out and learn it. You're right it's a good drunken song coz it sounds good and your fellow drunken audience will likely have no idea how easy it is to play 1st song i learnt was House of the Rising Sun which i played for around 2 weeks solid till i could nail it in all styles and alternate states of consciousness, which gave me some nice strumming skills followed by Phantom of the Opera by Iron Maiden which gave me power chords and alternate picking. All my skills exploded from learning them 2 songs. After 12 months i was outplaying my "educated" friend who had been playing for 5 years longer Good luck with your new toy man i'm sure you're gonna enjoy it!

I'm inclined to agree with null on this as mine too is a .gxkey reg file. There may however be some permission type troubles happening here so if you are certain you have a legit GE key, try moving it first to your local disk (C:) then executing. If it still gives you trouble move it to C: still and right-click, choose properties> and make sure all permissions are granted -EDIT- if you haven't got the .gxkey file i'll bet some crucial limbs you can grab it from your email - the one you used to license GE then follow above steps

You've convinced me null! I think imma pick this up at Christmas if possible. I've been wanting a reason to pick my guitar up for years and this seems like a good one! Even if i don't get into the game (i'm sure i will though) then i'll still have that handy cable and could maybe start recording again Truth be told though, i'll probably end up mostly playing session mode all the time sounds like it would accompany a crate of beer really well

Haha if it was going to be done with any style it was gonna be you null as it happens i was only awake around 5 hours of my actual birthday anyways as i'm a bit under the weather atm. I'll make it up when bits stop falling off so infact you could say you guys are actually early as i've not celebrated yet... yes we'll go with that *ahem* Cheers fellas!

EDIT: null said everything i wanted to say, he did it much quicker and with more class lol. I shall leave my post for records sake Hi Jerome, The simple answer is no. To get the best out of MAME you need the same version as your rom set. The GameEx version might be different. As far as I am aware, GameEx just downloads the latest pre-compiled version, regardless of your romset and that is something, in my opinion you should be fully aware of. Also, to get a "no-nag, highschore" version of MAME you will need to compile it yourself - the GameEx version (i'll bet my life on it) will not provide this. The best advice i can give is to find out what rom set you have, then seek out the right version of MAME for it. If you do that, and are still unsatisfied then search on these forums for "MAME compile custom headkaze", if you still have trouble by all means let us know, and we'll be glad to explain things further

Likewise if any GE member wants to be my partner then it's all good by me! I'm not what you would call a "Pro" either but i have played many Let me know if you're interested. @wolfman - i can't help but get these questions from my mind!: 1. Will the games be multi-platform ie not just MAME? 2. Who is deciding what games are in and what are not? 3. How are you deciding these games? A vote? If so can the rest of us vote on this? I would like at least some say of what goes in and what doesn't. 4. If we don't get a say in what games are played then i really would like clarification as to why and whom does get to decide and why. Cheers for any info you can give!

That unfortunately is why i put my disclaimer of "I'm not sure whether you can do this in PCSX2". It's unfortunate you can't tbh but the only options you have right now is to map EVERYTHING as keyboard strokes, have your macro's available as one button presses and lose stick accuracy, OR keep your pad as a pad and manually punch em out on the fly If it's any consolation the codes become easier with practice - i remember punching out the "no police" while simultaniously driving Practice makes perfect hehehe -EDIT- I will give my thoughts on this: GTA (and i've played em all from 1-4 and the inbetweens) really doesn't need accurate input for driving/getaways. You can do just aswell with tapping your pad as you can using "analogue" movement with a bit of practice. If we were talking about a sim, Forza for example i would call you crazy for even contemplating it but we're not so... your call

Well, you know sometimes the easier route is the best route I mean after all you can still utilise mostly everything that comes with GameBase within GameEx Snaps , vid, boxart, flyers, etc etc I may well take a look at this in the near future - i'll let you know of (if any) progress

+1 to that lol My 1st try at GameBase was GB64 with WinVICE and also, i majorly messed my own head up unintentionally It only became apparent, when in my head that i realised both GB64 and WinVICE were altering the same freakin .ini I had to lock that .... down!

Have you tried using WiniPAC? I've never used an iPAC so can't vouch for it's usefullness, or even if you can load different layouts per emulator (maybe in launch before??) but may be worth a look?

Here are a couple of virtual or "theoretical" comparisons. Of course in the real world things would be different with our exact cards but should give you a good overall idea hwcompare.com game-debate.com

HA! got it working! It's the first time i seen big picture mode and tbh after being an xbox user for many years - it does look a bit amateurish - that being said it is quite impressive too seeing as this is all new to Steam. Do any of you guys remember the original xbox360 dashboard?! it was horrific! i'm sorry i know there are some hardcore fans of "the blade" style of the original dashboard but in my opinion it was crap beyond all crap. Nuff sed. For a first attempt i'm impressed with the GUI. Major flaws granted but they haven't even pushed a beta out yet so... I don't kow how many of you follow Valve as a developer - i have for many years. They have an off-ball approach to things and that is to give everybody freedom! Freedom to do what you want, they have always encouraged this and it's because of this, titles like Portal and Garry's mod exist. In a world where you are forevermore choked, restrained and restricted - no longer able to think for yourself companies like Valve and indie devs alike will keep on pushing freedom. I like freedom.