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Would it be possible to get a status update on where the 2DA/HAK changes are for DD and AA?

Forgive the annoying fly buzzing constant inquiries - just excited to change up a melee build of mine.

Dec 16, 2014 5:54:54 GMT -5 satellitemind said:

New Jedi Order series personally

Different strokes. I found the NJO kind of middling. Didn't really care for the Yhuuzan Vong.

Those "COM Surrogates" are stand-ins for another process running using them. It's a red flag to see so many of them at system boot, and looks indicative of malware:
malwaretips.com/blogs/dllhost-exe-32-com-surrogate-removal/

What is your total physical memory and what running processes are consuming it?

Check for something large and/or out of place:
Click "Show Processes for all Users" to see everything running (includes processes running under the SYSTEM account), order by Memory Usage descending, screen.

I'd say your best bet is what Hydaro and Valimar suggested - run a sweep of malware removal. I'd start with downloading Spybot Search & Destroy, updating the definitions and letting it do a full system scan (and if persists after that, there is a very heavy handed amount of steps you can run down in the above link to work through - I highly doubt you'd need to run them all, but go one by one and check each reboot to see).

Internet Explorer can't be fully uninstalled because it's a Windows "feature".

You can, however, disable it. To do that:
1) Type "windows features" into your start menu search box.
2) In the results, you should get an item called "Turn Windows features on or off".
3) Locate Internet Explorer in the Windows Features, uncheck it, click OK.

I encourage my players to speak in character when conversing among themselves or with NPCs, but it isn't a big deal with less important or non-pivotal dialogue ("I ask if he has any neat magical items in stock"). It's more immersive on the whole. Of course, we have collectively nudged players out of using accents at the table if they're horribly ear-grating.

I think Fire Wraith hit the big nail on the head. The OGL was a brilliant masterstroke when Wizards introduced it. Suddenly anyone and everyone could publish content for their d20 system and it opened the floodgate to a new world of collaboration. The game was no longer some proprietary rule set, but something that everyone could play with. Sure, the system had its flaws (and every system does), but it was massive and built to last.

4E really did feel like corporates slamming to door on that and seeing a market opportunity to repackage and resell the material (because all the money is made upfront with the core books and tapers off more and more with each new splat blook). Did 3.5 need a massive overhaul? Judging by the success of Pathfinder (often affectionately dubbed 3.75E), it apparently didn't. 4E catered to the MMO crowd and had all the earmarks of a "subscripted" service - involving playaids that were either a painful custom solution or used their online program service (none of this from my experience, but reading of it secondhand).

Now with 5E, the ship may have already sailed. There is a healthy population that jumped over to Paizo's boat. Wizards "needs" 5E to straighten things out again following 4E, but I'm more leery than ever at the often joked about annual updates to the ruleset.

Ah yes, I did cross my wires of thought. It is indeed a flat -4 on the attack roll and the size category is purely to determine how hard it is to resist via a discipline check (+-4 per difference in size, and unable to knock down opponents more than one size category above you). Improved bumps up what you can knock down and makes it easier to knock down what you already could. Didn't mean to derail things with spread of misinformation, carry on.

What if you have Improved Knockdown? Doesn't that effectively negate the -4 penalty and thus cause any potential loss in damage while spamming it to be a wash?

The discipline issue isn't server specific. It was a poorly handled way to handle combat maneuvers and I swear BioWare only implemented it the vanilla design so that fighter types had somewhere to stick their class skill points. I agree that past a certain point, it just doesn't keep up and you are better off relying on AC (and if your AC is higher than your Discipline, which it most certainly is, when you get hit you'll likely fail that check anyway). I always wondered why the itemization on caster items seem to uncommonly carry spellcraft modifiers (belts and robes), but very little of the tank type items offer discipline without it being an exclusive feature of the item. I'm not saying it should be easy to stack up, but it should at least keep up somewhat reasonably well with the AB/AC levels.

That. was. epic.

Start with the Thrawn Trilogy (Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, The Last Command). Hands down the best that the EU has to offer, and also the books that basically began the entire expanded universe.

Shadows of the Empire is a fun little one-off that fits between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.

From there, it really depends on tastes and interests within the universe. If you've an interest in the origins of the Sith, there are a number of books covering the early time periods. If you love the more ship-based and operative type angle, the X-Wing series is great for that itch. There is a series that revolves around Luke training the next generation of Jedi. If looking to see how things pan out in the far future sounds great, Legacy works nicely as a future "movie". There are some great collections of Dark Horse's comic series in Omnibus form that came out over the last half dozen years that should be mostly still be readily available - Marvel has been given the license now, so no telling when they will become rarity.

There is a lot. I totally agree with the desire to keep things roughly chronological (I'm the same way with a lot of fiction), but I really think the best experience is to cherry pick the titles that interest. There are gems in the EU, but as with all largely collaborative works, there are also stinkers.

Keep in mind that they announced earlier this year that everything EU up to this point is now officially "non canon". If that's important to you, only the movies and the two recent cartoon series (Clone Wars and now Rebels) are considered to have "happened". If you are just interested in stories and lore, there are still good things to explore.

My favorite Tim Curry role has still gotta be the butler in the Clue movie. He was just downright hilarious in that.

Oct 6, 2014 10:24:25 GMT -5 The Red Mage said:

I don't even know where the video card is.

It should be the long rectangular module that exposes your video connection through the case.

Although, if you are at all uncomfortable messing with it, it likely isn't a good idea (unless you are almost certain its toast and will need replacing).

Like sorn asked, though, is the BIOS still beeping when it refuses to start up?

I don't suppose you happen to have another system you can use to check your cable and monitor with, or that you could swap a working video card from?

Any amount of beeping indicates a hardware fault. According to Alienware beep codes, six beeps is a video card/chip issue:
en.community.dell.com/owners-club/alienware/f/3746/t/19451762

Have you tried re-seating the card in the slot? If comfortable, open the case, make sure power is off, that you've grounded yourself by touching the metal of the case itself before any components. Locate the video card, press the release catch, pull it out, then set it back into place.

If you are able to snap a shot of the model number on the video card, I'm sure someone can suggest a replacement of similar type should it come to that. The only real cautionary note is that this follows the water-spill incident, so there's no guarantee that even if the current issue is fixed that there won't be other affected components (especially if the motherboard or power supply came under any damage).

Nice. I'd been wanting to play through this series for a while. I guess a remastering of the first game is definitely something to jump into. I admit I'm not watching your play through since it would spoil the experience, but appreciate the heads up on the upcoming release.

forums.cormyrdalelands.com/index.php?topic=8

I think it's disrespectful for people that can't be assed to sign up on a forum for a quest, bitch and moan about joining it only to be intentionally an irritation toward characters that signed up for it in advance.

People joining quests spontaneously happens from time to time. Some DMs are open to it, others stick strictly to their sign ups. If there was a perceived issue with particular players, it shouldn't have been allowed to run course as long as it did. However, the problem then becomes "who do you exclude?" I signed on with Raina while the event was still empty of players. Zoey, who was one of the group the conflict and "intentional irritation" came from, signed up in advance as well.

I understand how Bass acts as a character, how Voss does and how much of a "might is right" Lord of the Flies thing they have going on. That's perfectly fine as a model and great if you are all having fun. I only take issue when it bleeds over to cover the enjoyment of others. Your line of reasoning is that Bass was in charge by virtue of being the most powerful and it was fine for anyone to challenge him and accept the consequences or leave. That was my issue exactly. At the behest of "maintaining rp integrity" it was fine to bully the other characters. I don't know how many times I've read over and over how this is a cooperative server, how ECL or level shouldn't matter, but you cannot say what happened today was not the result of strong-arming.

At this point the rational, logical continuation of the event would be for the character that just got bloodied to either seek revenge for the slight, bow down and back off to quietly brood and potentially come up with a way to unmake him, or decide this man is unstable and walk away from the event, losing a little bit of rp xp but maintaining the character's consistency.

So it's "leave my event because I want to role play my way and you're in the way"?

Instead it appears the player's first response was to immediately take up an out-of-character complaint with the DM that ultimately derailed the event to the point where -every- player involved was left only with the option of compromising their character's personality and rp or walking away.

This is a HUGE pet peeve of mine. Even without being there, the fact that a player (any player) took the consequence to a DM during the event to attempt to change the interaction is disrespectful to the DM and other players.

Is there evidence that any player made an OOC complaint about the PvP, or is this undue mudslinging? I would argue myself that the plot was derailed from the constant threats being thrown IC left and right (and there was a single OOC one I caught that was in reference to player, not character intelligence). A DM is not running an event to babysit or watch pvp arena warfare. They are there with a story and an agenda. Apologies if you feel this compromises your character, but some massaging needs to be done or overlooked for the sake of everyone's enjoyment.

That still leaves the DM with at least 7 or 8 players - an amount most DMs wouldn't have more than in the party to begin with and for some reason these five players leaving caused the event to end? How is that?

If the DM decided to end the event with those players leaving they did so as a -choice- not because they were forced.

We didn't leave the event. The DM decided to postpone it (to an as of yet determined date) because of how horribly derailed it had gotten. It was supposed to be about a hired group investigating a strange plague and not the "Bass and Friends Happy Time Fun Show". Integrity, again, is fine, but it has to be tempered knowing that the story isn't just yours, but a collaborative effort.

Bass and Voss would've continued to be a potential pvp threat, and Bass - the more experienced, epic-level character - would lead the party through whatever trials they faced to a successful finish.

With every future party decision having to be run by the "more experienced, epic level character" first or suffering his disdain or wrath? This wasn't a war scenario, it was an investigation. One of the popular DM checks and balances in PnP is the concept of sharing the spotlight. During a game session (in this case an event), a DM should aim to let everyone have a chance to shine in some way. Maybe the group rogue can handle that rusty lock? Maybe the ranger can ask the animals what they saw? Big bad boss enemy? Barbarian has it covered. But try as a DM might to create these opportunities, the players still need to recognize them and know when to step back and pass the spotlight. That's how collaborative storytelling works.

That doesn't mean you have to stop being an asshole in character, but it is more respectful to know when to back down and perhaps tick a check box in your head to sulk about it or get even later.

why is it that the ranger managed to go off on her own and find an alternative solution while everyone was squabbling?

I did that as per DM direction in response to a skill check, and the whole thing actually flared up in the short span I stepped away from the group. But it was an over-boiling pot from the start, and if things hadn't flared up then, they surely would have later.

If said DM expected the players to compromise their character's rp for the sake of event xp...then I guess it's clear now that with some people that just won't happen.

I cannot speak for everyone, but I mainly go to events to enjoy myself and the story the DM put together. I'm not going "for the sake of event xp".

Once upon a time, it was said that the ultimate goal of CD was to provide fun for a maximum number of people.

My point is that, in the past, people have been told to suck it up, when maintaining a general amount of harmony or a maximum amount of enjoyment for as many people as possible, required getting off one's high horse of RP standards.

I've had this principle pointed out to me many times. Many others have as well. It's likely that it will have to happen again.

This sums it up succinctly. If your character behaving a disruptive way is going rain on the parade of the majority of the group, maybe it is best to find an alternative approach that still fits your character.

There was no ruining of fun for a "maximum number of people," to my knowledge.

Did you miss the part where the group broke apart, the DM called off the event and everyone shuffled offline because of the sour taste it left?