Your projects, what are you working on in your free time? Options

[mirocu]

Ongoing project: Finding another job closer to home

[mALX]

Ongoing project: Finding another job closer to home

BWAAHAA! Well, at least your project isn't to quit the job/working altogether!

[Decrepit]

I intended to devote a portion of the day to installing some of the too many Unique Landscape modules and quest mods my experimental play-through still lacks. I managed to add two ULs, Castle SeaView and Millstone Farm, along with needed patches. I then moved on to installing the various free-standing grasses, flora, and tree improvements recommended by Bevilex. Early changes weren't all that impressive. As I added more mods from the list things started to click. With everything now in place I think it a very nice improvement. I don't yet know how my hand-picked Lush & Gaudy grass overwrites, seen a good many second play-through captures, will work out with this combo, as none effect the Imperial Isle. Worse come to worst I'll get rid of any that don't fit in.

This was also grocery day, with me adding radishes to my fresh vegetable horde and buying a new-to-me salad dressing I rather like. Otherwise my grocery list was same-old same-old.

[mirocu]

Ongoing project: Finding another job closer to home

BWAAHAA! Well, at least your project isn't to quit the job/working altogether!

Well... hrrm..... *cough*

[mALX]

Ongoing project: Finding another job closer to home

BWAAHAA! Well, at least your project isn't to quit the job/working altogether!

Well... hrrm..... *cough*

[Decrepit]

My Oblivion experimental build project for the morning has been to replace a few grass textures I don't like with something more pleasing. Took awhile to figure out exactly which texture/meshes the offenders were. That done I searched my various grass replacer downloads. One of Disovery1's mods contains suitable replacements for those particular grasses. They are now installed. I suspect I'll be fine tuning free-standing grass for some time to come.

Been looking over the various Hesu Collection? mods. Some very nice stuff! I'd like to try a few but fear they'll conflict with a couple of less popular mods I run, which are unlikely to be patched for compatibility. We shall see.

[mALX]

My Oblivion experimental build project for the morning has been to replace a few grass textures I don't like with something more pleasing. Took awhile to figure out exactly which texture/meshes the offenders were. That done I searched my various grass replacer downloads. One of Disovery1's mods contains suitable replacements for those particular grasses. They are now installed. I suspect I'll be fine tuning free-standing grass for some time to come.

Been looking over the various Hesu Collection? mods. Some very nice stuff! I'd like to try a few but fear they'll conflict with a couple of less popular mods I run, which are unlikely to be patched for compatibility. We shall see.

Yeah, I think you said you use "Better Landscapes" - this would most def conflict with that. Some of them look Awesome, some of them I wouldn't have wanted the changes - but that is a whole lot of work went into that mod, and I love the story behind how it was found and brought to the western world!

[Decrepit]

My Oblivion experimental build project for the morning has been to replace a few grass textures I don't like with something more pleasing. Took awhile to figure out exactly which texture/meshes the offenders were. That done I searched my various grass replacer downloads. One of Disovery1's mods contains suitable replacements for those particular grasses. They are now installed. I suspect I'll be fine tuning free-standing grass for some time to come.

Been looking over the various Hesu Collection? mods. Some very nice stuff! I'd like to try a few but fear they'll conflict with a couple of less popular mods I run, which are unlikely to be patched for compatibility. We shall see.

Yeah, I think you said you use "Better Landscapes" - this would most def conflict with that. Some of them look Awesome, some of them I wouldn't have wanted the changes - but that is a whole lot of work went into that mod, and I love the story behind how it was found and brought to the western world!

As to Unique Landscapes, I use a grand total of seven for my seven for my second play-through, and have added two others to the experimental install. (I wanted to add one other UL, but would have to forego a favorite quest mod to do so.) It figures that one UL does indeed conflict with the first Hesu mod I'd like to try. That said, the UL in question is Cliffs of Anvil. Of ULs I use, it's the one I can most willingly do without. Problem is, the Hesu also conflicts with another of my quest mods. There is no patch. I'm going to report it to fellow patching the Hesu mods and hope for the best.

[Decrepit]

Other than a morning exercise-walk, today's projects all relate to my experimental Oblivion install. I monkeyed with different shrub and freestanding grass textures, but in the end kept those already in place. I installed Sounds Of Cyrodiil with the No Disencumbered Voices patch. Maybe I misunderstand what the patch is supposed to do, but my OCOv2 avatar zoned into IC Market District to be greeting by the sound of a horde of people who weren't there. That's a lease breaker for me. Just as well, several minutes later, still in the market district, the game froze. Had to reboot the PC to get out of it. Sounds of Cyrodill was uninstalled posthaste. Some things aren't meant to be, I guess.

[Decrepit]

Last night I incorporated hand-gathered landscape coordinates for a ridge top between Imperial Isle East Bridge (Roads of Cyrodiil) and the City wall into my tes4ll Imp Isle .dat file. First thing this morning I created a new set of LandscapeLOD meshes to include those coordinates. Had just enough time before breakfast to fire up Oblivion and let my OCOv2 avatar walk from Sewer Exit to that particular ridge. The new coordinates indeed make LandscapeLOD and near field representations of the ridge much closer to identical. Before, the landscapeLOD mesh depicted the ridge top as being noticeably lower. Not a profound change, but LandscapeLOD mismatches have always bothered me, even back when we could do nothing about it.

ADDENDUM:
Just corrected a potential Oblivion LoadOrder faux pas. It only this morning dawned on me that I have thus far neglected to install the mod "Active Inventory Spell", which my avatar uses to gain access to NPC gear so that he can repair it for them (and occasionally give them better weapons and armor). For some reason I mistakenly moved it to my "mods no longer needed" folder then proceeded to forget about it... until now.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Jul 16 2017, 03:11 PM

[Decrepit]

I felt extra crappy all day yesterday so did little other than audition two full Oblivion Landscape Texture Packs, those by Discovery1 and Lougain, the latter recommended by Bevilex. In both cases I felt the packs contain some fine textures, but in the end still prefer my cobbled together goulash of bits and pieces from various texture packs (including a few from Discovery1).

This morning I finalized and printed a Neurology Report begun Sunday, in preparation for this morning's Neurology Clinic visit.

Needing to drive into town today for the Neurology Clinic visit, I postponed Monday's grocery run and will instead do so today on the way home.

I might do a partial lawn mow this evening as the sun sets. It's getting too hot to mow sooner, except early mornings when the lawn is too wet.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Jul 18 2017, 11:12 AM

[mirocu]

Good luck at the clinic, Decrepit!



As for me I'm currently on a project bettering another tractor road. I have to work in a rather steep slope though so I have to be careful not tipping the machine.

My other project is a hard one; enjoying my vacation!

[Decrepit]

My scary project for the day is yet to come. I still plan to attempt an at least partial lawn mow near sunset. Gonna be hot as all get out. But the rest of the week is hotter still, and the grass won't get any shorted the longer I wait. My thought it to do a portent tonight and finish up same time tomorrow, or maybe break it into thirds. I hate doing it that way, but better that than heat stroke.

An earlier project: Submitted possible mod conflicts between three Hesu Collection mods and two Dragon Captions mods, those being Pride of Wolfs Gate and Kvatch Guard Towers. I've used the two DC mods since my first play-through, and would like to add two of the potentially conflicting Hesu mods to my experimental Oblivion build.

ADDENDUM: Now circa 1938 I'm in from mowing the lawn. Fool that I am, I mowed the whole thing. Got going and just couldn't stop myself. There came a point when I felt I should have stopped for the day, but by then only a relatively small patch of front yard remained uncut. Heart reading almost immediately afterward is surprisingly good: Blood Pressure 101/61, Pulse 88. Feel a bit lightheaded and of course tired and sweaty, but otherwise okay...for me.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Jul 19 2017, 01:43 AM

[Decrepit]

Bloody 'ell, what a mess!

Yesterday afternoon I decided to tackle my PC's sound production problem, which you might recall is, or was, that the left rear speaker either produced distorted sound or no sound at all. I did the normal jiggling of connection wires/cables to no avail other than occasionalyl switches from distortion to nothing and vice versa. Decided to remove my Yamaha 4-channel power amp and substitute the amp section of an old NEC a/v receiver collecting dust on a living room shelf.

Man o man is it heavy! Which is why I've been reluctant to make the switch. Made the move easier for myself by placing a desk chair with casters next to the NEC, transferring the receiver from shelf to chair, rolling chair to the computer room, then transferring the NEC from chair to its tentative new home. Even with the chair the small amount of lifting and carrying I had to do was very nearly too much for me.

NEC in place, I removed pre-power amp bridge devices from the four channels I need to use. Installed banana plugs on all four speakers cables at the receiver end. (Neither the Yamaha amp nor the speakers themselves accept banana plugs.) Hooked up speakers. Hooked up RCA audio cables Booted computer. Switched on NEC.

Eeeeep! While clean sound emitted from all four speakers, it was accompanied by loud hum, noises and crackling. Spent the rest of the afternoon and much of the evening hoping to solve that, to no avail. In the process I replaced all speaker cables (which needed doing in any case) and rerouted cabling to avoid electrical interference is so far as that is possible (which also needed doing). Reconnected the NEC's pre and power amp sections, and attached the PCs audio cables to the NEC's External 7.1 device inputs. Nothing helped.

There came a point when I knew I was better off with the Yamaha and its one flaky channel. A regrettable lesser of evils as it were. Removed connections from the NEC, removed the NEC itself (poor back), removed banana plugs from speaker cables, put the Yamaha back in place, restored its connections to the PC, booted the PC, switched on the Yamaha.

Now both rear and FRONT left speakers produced distorted sound! Nothing I tried fixed it. I had one last trick up my sleeve, one I did NOT want to resort to since it forces me to run in 2-channel mode. By then it was well past 2300, too late to try my last remaining option and get any sleep at all. Went to bed. Managed maybe 2 1/2 hrs shuteye.

Starting back in before breakfast, Removed connections from the Yamaha, removed the Yamaha, restored banana plugs to speaker cables (sigh), yet again set the NEC in place, hooked up speakers. Here comes the difference. Rather than use RCA cabling to connect PC to NEC I opted for S/PDIF, with its regrettable 2-channel limit. Fired up the PC. Configured PC for S/PDIF. Switched on the Yamaha. Set Yamaha to use its S/PDIF input. Tested. Clean sound. No dead channels, hum, noise or distortions. Success, with the big caveat of losing discrete 4-channel mode.

I can still utilize my two rear speakers thanks to the NECs many surround-sound options. Applying one of those makes music and speech every bit as good as, and often better than, the PCs discrete 4-channel mode. The bummer, and its a major bummer, is that I've lost all sense of directionality for sounds emanating to the rear in Oblivion, and I assume Minecraft and other games. That's gonna be hard to swallow. Very hard.

As if all this isn't enough....all of a sudden my PC monitor will not wake from sleep mode! The computer itself wakes just fine. Not that it matters. All I can do is switch the PC power supply off and on, wait a few seconds and turn on the computer. The monitor responds normally to a cold boot, until the first time it enters sleep mode, when the cycle begins anew. Disabling monitor sleep in Win10 power options does not prevent the monitor from sleeping and not waking. What a mess. Which is where we came in.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Jul 20 2017, 05:01 PM

[Acadian]

is right! Wow, sorry, Decrepit.

[mirocu]

Gee, what a mess indeed! Puter problems are such a pain to fix sometimes and you seem to have been hit on several fronts, Decrepit. Is there anyone who might be able to come around and help you?

[Decrepit]

Gee, what a mess indeed! Puter problems are such a pain to fix sometimes and you seem to have been hit on several fronts, Decrepit. Is there anyone who might be able to come around and help you?

At to that, no. I consider myself more computer savvy than most, at least when it comes to "normal" consumer PC matters. I learned decades ago not to rely on "professional" PC repair services.

Looking back, I wish I had done more experiments with the Yamaha in place "before" the left front went flaky on me. But it seemed so cut and dry at the start. The rear left channel being flaky was a long know issue. The problem, as I saw it, was that it had become constant rather than sporadic. Attaching the PC to the NEC power-amp section seemed logical too, though admittedly NEC does not mention that usage in its manual, as why should they? It "is" rather unorthodox.

As to the monitor, who knows? Something changed during my sound battles. But what? Settings look no different from what I had before. I suspect I'll figure this out eventually. In the meantime, it seems that if I physically turn off the monitor when leaving the PC long enough for it to go into sleep mode, I can wake the computer when ready then switch on the monitor and all's well. Not an ideal solution, as I have to remember to turn off the monitor, which with me is far from a given.

The semi good new is that, near the end of the day yesterday, I forgot to switch off the monitor yet it woke from sleep when the PC did. The semi bad news is that that happened with the monitor still set to not sleep at all.

[Decrepit]

Good news. The PC monitor sleep situation has apparently worked itself out. <crosses fingers> I set it nod off after 5 min inactively. Took a break long enough for both monitor and PC to fall asleep. Both woke as they should. Only test left is to see if the monitor wakes on its own set to 5 min without the PC having been asleep.

ADDENDUM: All's well, PC monitor waking wise.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Jul 21 2017, 02:26 PM

[Decrepit]

Took an exercise-walk at 0600. Excessive heat warning later today. At 0600 temp was tolerable but boy was it muggy! Heart reading circa 15min following return: Blood Pressure 96/58, Pulse 73.

Didn't feel well all yesterday so did no projects to speak of. Ordered two six-foot PC 3.5mm to RCA audio cables off Amazon, along with a neck pillow which will almost certainly prove as ineffective as all such devices I've tried. As to the PC cables, replacing mine is something I ought to have done before swapping the Yamaha power amp for the NEC receiver earlier this week. The PC audio cables I used up to the switch are a jerry-rigged affair, consisting of several short RCA cables linked together then connected the the PC 3.5mm audio cable. Those RCA cables are likely 25-35 years old and weren't best quality when new. For some odd reason it never dawned on me to replace 'em with something better until yesterday...likely too late from them to solve my PC audio dilemma, assuming cabling contributed to it, which might not be the case.

Once the new cables arrive I might or might not experiment further with the Yamaha. One thing for sure. I am NOT lifting the NEC again for any reason unless experiments prove I can safely return to the Yamaha with full discrete four-channel sound restored.

Yesterday evening I studied how to use both Oblivion Reloaded and an ENB together, but couldn't maintain focus long enough to understand instructions.

Almost forgot. One reason I placed an order with Amazon yesterday was to buy a set of casters for a contemplated PC case rolling base attachment. Was already in the process of putting the order together when I decided to take a quick break and grab something from a section of kitchen pantry I use to house misc. "project" items such as glues, electrical and other tape and so on. Rummaging through that cabinet's far rear corner I miraculously unearthed a set of four casters of the exact size and type needed. I had no idea they existed. Prolly been in that corner the better part of two decades if not longer.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Jul 22 2017, 01:36 PM

[Acadian]

Decrepit, those casters were a nice find! Glad you got your puter's sleeping problems fixed.