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NEWS 90 - 68 Comments
From: Jackzilla Entered on: July 30, 2003 11:33 AM
Regarding readings discs:     Most xboxes can NOT read CR-R media.     Most CAN read CD-RW, DVD-R and DVD-RW with varying results. DVD-R seems to be more compatible than DVD-RW. I've had good luck with Sony, Memorex and Fuji brand discs. I'd stay away from the cheaper no-name brands (Hypermedia sucks for instance).     Next up: Networking! Ross, you wanna take this one? I gotta run!     Be sure to check out the tutorials section on...     www.xbox-scene.com
From: Ross Entered on: July 30, 2003 12:55 PM
Creeko - if your PC has a network port (ethernet), you should just go buy a crossover cable. It's your cheapest and easiest option. Then you have to assign both your computer and your xbox an IP address. For the xbox, you can do it in the system settings section, shouldn't be too hard, you can pick something like 192.168.1.1. On Windows, it's different for different versions, so I suggest you find a simple how-to online for setting up a home network with a static IP address. After that, you use an FTP program to FTP from your windows box to the xbox, which has the address you gave it.     This all might sound pretty involved and I guess it sort of is if you haven't done it before. If you're trying to move files yourself, and they fit on a CD, just buy CDRWs and call it good.
From: Jackzilla Entered on: July 30, 2003 3:28 PM
Some additional hints regarding networking:     - When setting your static IP address in Evox, make sure to scroll to the bottom and hit SAVE or it won't take affect (it wasn't obvious thing to me to do so). Then reboot the xbox.     - I use WS FTP as my PC's FTP client. Its nothing fancy, but it's free and works good:     http://download.com.com/3000-2160-1572132.html?tag= lst-0-1     Once you get everything working, it's pretty sweet. It makes it so easy to tinker around with the xbox. Deleting stuff, updating, copying... SWEET!
From: Creeko Entered on: July 31, 2003 2:24 AM
Thanks, my grifriend's brother has a network port so I think I'll give the crossover cable a try. I checked out the tutorial on Xbox-scene, it should come in handy if I run into any problems.   If all goes well, I appreciate the advice. Otherwise I'll check back in after I've fornicated the process.
From: Creeko Entered on: August 4, 2003 8:22 AM
I got it to work with a little help from my girfriends brother. We downloaded FlashFXP fro the FTP and later cracked it. The only problem we had was the IP for my box, but we solved that rather quickly. It was almost too easy. Dose Bill Gates know about this?     I doubt I'll ever have as many games as Jackzilla, but at least I can get them when I need them on my own. I feared that I was only going to be able to play the games Zilla put on there for me. (as if 70+ games wasn't enough)     Keep me updated on any new box sweeteners.
From: Ross Entered on: August 4, 2003 8:28 AM
You want to hear about Xbox SweetnessTM? Jack has put together the sweetest menu ever for Bone. I am shocked at how far Jack has gone in search of customizing his and others' boxes. We were all roaring when we saw/heard it for the first time.
From: Creeko Entered on: August 4, 2003 8:47 AM
If you can, Post it on the site. I want to roar too!
From: Creeko Entered on: August 25, 2003 10:40 AM
I have successly downloaded a couple of games to The CreekoBox, but not without minor set backs.     I had no idea about ISO's and it took a while to figure out that I needed to run an ISO extraction program. I downloaded Xiso to extract/decompress iso files and so far it seems to have worked.     Then passing games to the Xbox HDD is painfully slow. Can that be due to a slow Xbox network card? If so can it be changed?
From: Ross Entered on: August 25, 2003 10:56 AM
Yes. You most likely have a 10MBit/sec ethernet card. You can get a 10/100 (10 times faster) pretty cheap these days, but it means opening your computer up and putting in the card, then installing the software. It's not a big deal if you've done it before but again, if it's your first time, it's slightly scary.     Of course, you could always just burn those ISO's directly to DVDs if you have access to a DVD burner. Of course, swapping disks isn't as convenient as using the hard drive, I'd be the first to admit.
From: Jackzilla Entered on: August 26, 2003 4:33 PM
Well I'm done downloading stuff until I can find 30 GIG of non-copyrighted stuff to share. We got our second call from my cable provider regarding a cease and desist letter they got. The first one was 6 months ago for sharing MINORITY REPORT the movie (which ironically enough didn't even work). Last week they called regarding my sharing of old Dreamcast games (TOMB RAIDER and HALF-LIFE). I already stopped sharing music (by the way, FUCK THE RIAA). This sucks, cuz I loved my Direct Connect setup. I think I'll just make an hour-long movie of Zanna playing with a rubber band, copy it til I have 30 gig worth, and see if that works. Then the Direct Connect sysops will probably boot me.     There's just huge privacy issues at work here. Can you imagine if the authorities searched our mail for copyright infringement? Why is seaching my computer any different? I can't even get myself to buy CDs anymore because of the RIAA's recent actions. They don't give a rats ass about artists, their customers or their own retailers. And why are music cds more expensive than movie DVDs? I think I'll just buy USED cds from now on. Fuck em, fascist bean-counters.     Ross - You share stuff right? No one's come calling yet?     In other xbox related news: Fatty successfully installed his first 100% soldered chip. The X2 LITE is sweet and features switches to turn the mod on/off, switch between two BIOSes and has a ON LIGHT (which can burn your retina if you look straight at it). We put in our first 160 GIG drive which results in 137 GIG of storage (that's the limit on the xbox).
From: Swerb Entered on: August 26, 2003 10:17 PM
Zilla, I totally agree... fuck the RIAA! They're suing Joe Schmuck for sharing the new Dashboard Confessional album (or some other piece of shit), and not batting an eye for making the same disc's suggested retail price $18.99. Well, duh. Plus, these lawsuits are a PR nightmare for them, so it only encourages people to have such attitudes. My recommendation, if you want to download music, is to use the newsgroups. You're not sharing anything, just posting and downloading. If you find some like-minded folk out there, you could end up trading stuff... you know, find a Prince newsgroup and swap bootlegs or something.     Plus, being involved in music retail, the independent guys have absolutely no chance of winning the price war with big places like Best Buy. For example, my manager at Vertigo was charging $11.88 for the new Radiohead when it came out a few months ago, and you know what our cost was? $11.65, and Best Buy was selling the same disc for I think $9.99 or $10.99. Those corporate fucks are all in bed together, thus Best Buy gets a better price on the discs, and the guy trying to work for himself gets the shaft. Don't get me started on this whole topic, cuz I won't shut up!     But you know what you should do, Jack? Make a movie of Zanna playing with a rubber band, copy it until it's three hours long, then label the file "The Two Towers" or "Matrix Revolutions" and see what happens...
From: Ross Entered on: August 26, 2003 10:42 PM
Jack - The difference is that you are voluntarily opening up your files for the world at large to see - by virtue of SHARING them. You're saying "Hey everybody, look at my collection!" You're not saying "don't look at my goodies!"     Don't get me wrong, I hate the RIAA and MPAA like everyone else, but it's clear what the difference is, and there is no privacy issue at all. That is one reason I don't use Direct Connect. I use eDonkey2000, and I do not let anyone see a list of my shared files (which is an option in that program). Also, I don't share more than a few gigabytes at a time and have a rapidly shifting cache of shared files. I'm tricky like that. And I don't do music, which is where the main targetting is being done right now.     Swerb is right that newsgroups are great as there's no sharing - only thing is, he doesn't realize that movies/games are different from movies in that they're WAAAAY bigger and one dropped message (without parity files) renders the whole post useless. Also, most of us don't have newsgroup providers that allow unlimited downloads (I did before I moved, though).
From: Jackzilla Entered on: August 26, 2003 11:08 PM
Slerp - Don't get YOU started? Doggone, between the two of us I'm sure we could both bitch for days on end on the topic. What's really lame about the record companies is they blame all their troubles on downloaders or whatnot - Instead of looking in the mirror. I mean, good grief, companies SELL bottled WATER! WATER! It's free everywhere! And here record companies say they can't sell their music because its available on the internet for free? They need to get off the one-hit-wonder, no-talent, pretty-faces and support true musical artists, drop their SRP (its actually cheaper to buy the movie DVD than the music soundtrack these days!). Plus you got stuff like poor Bruce Springsteen having to go on freakin' 60 Minutes just to expose his last album! Radio is just as bad as the RIAA. All of the country's stations are owned by what? 3-4 companies?     I'd love to see some of the top commercial/established artists form their own record company/distribution company, drop the retail price of cds and raise the royalty to the artists.     Sing it, children - "FUCK the RIAA!"
From: Jackzilla Entered on: August 26, 2003 11:22 PM
Ross - But I'm NOT opening up my stuff for the whole world to see. At least not in the sense that I have it on a web-site or something. It's a small hub (similar to a chatroom) with just a handful of people. The hubs I use require you to share 30 GIGs! That alone will exclude most people. I see your point though, and maybe sometime when you're over you can show me a little more on eDonkey. I couldn't figure that shit out. To tell the truth, renting games works really well, but I use the hubs for getting the latest xbox utilities too.     Also, these watchdog people apparently just do text searches on known copyrighted works: "TOMB RAIDER", "MINORITY REPORT", etc. I don't believe any of these were actually downloaded from me by anyone. So to answer Slerp's question, naming a movie with Zanna playing with rubber bands as "Minority Report" would get me in just as much trouble as having the real deal available.
From: Ross Entered on: August 27, 2003 9:36 AM
Jack, you're being disingenuous if you tell me that you really can't see that there is no real difference. I know you're smarter than that. The point is that you're out there sharing files ON PURPOSE, allowing people to download them from you. The technical details are completely and totally irrelevant: at the end of the day, you're on a public site of some kind (doesn't matter that it's not a web site, the law doesn't care) and knowlingly sharing your copyrighted wares. It's just that simple. Just because they exclude most people (but still let thousands of the "elite" in) doesn't make it any less illegal, and I know you know it. :)
From: Ross Entered on: August 27, 2003 3:06 PM
It's not looking good for the cause, Jack:     http://news.com.com/2100-1027-5068421.html?part=dht &tag=ntop
From: Jackzilla Entered on: August 27, 2003 4:14 PM
On a related front, I came across something while looking for DVD ripping software. (Basically, I want to rip the audio tracks from concert DVDs I own to WAV format so I can burn em to cd and play them in my car -- all for my own personal use). One site I came across mentioned some ruling here in the US that prohibits software that circumvents copyprotection schemes on DVDs. They basically said that if you reside in the US that you can't legally download and use their program. WHAT THE FRICKETY-FRACK!? Is this for real?     All these companies (in an effort to protect their business interests) are working on getting these shitty laws passed. Its getting so that any item that you could use illegally (even if there are also legitimate uses for it) is illegal: DVD rippers, modchips, etc. Reminds me of the days of the banning of fuzz-busters.     Personally I think fire should be outlawed -- afterall, you can use it to commit arson.     Where's Frank Zappa when you need 'em?     Contemptibles Unite!
From: Jackzilla Entered on: August 27, 2003 4:15 PM
Oh yeah... haven't seen this for a couple paragraphs:     FUCK THE RIAA!!!
From: Ross Entered on: August 27, 2003 4:23 PM
That's right Jack, it's more ludicrous than you know: The code to decrypt the copy protection on a DVD can be condensed into just a few lines, small enough that people put it in their email signatures, T-shirts, mugs, whatever. However, it has been declared illegal (in CA at the very least, not sure about the rest of the US) to display it, or in this case, to even SAY it. That's right, it seems like a pretty obvious case of trampling on the First Amendment to me. Instead of coming up with some better copy protection, these assholes have lobbied courts to fuck with the Constitution to get their way. Makes me sick.     And yeah, there is something called Fair Use that kind of covers making backups for your own personal use, but it's in vague language and is not specific enough to be a real defense, especially against powerhouses with unlimited hours on their attorney's retainers. If you listen to Jack Valenti, the president of the MPAA (or the Antichrist, as I like to call him), he will tell you that Fair Use doesn't apply to DVDs because they last forever and there is no need to make backups. I literally read a quote of him saying this. These are the people who have the power, folks: fucking morons.
From: Swerb Entered on: August 27, 2003 5:20 PM
Let's hear it for life in America... the people with the money and power always seem to be dumber than bricks. Example: The conservative religious folk in Grand Rapids are a rich, vocal minority, hence, they have the ability to try to push schools to teach creationism in science class. That's even dumber than saying DVDs will last forever. Still, part of me thinks that these are just hot-button topics right now, and will probably fade away when something more interesting comes along... like Jack said, remember the banning of fuzz busters? Remember when the issue was putting parental advisory stickers on albums - or even movie ratings, which are, at best, capricious and arbitrary.     Thing is, Jack, get on the newsgroups, and you'll probably be able to find a program to circumvent DVD copy protection. I know people who have downloaded thousands of dollars worth of audio-editing software (and tons of other stuff) in certain groups.
From: Creeko Entered on: August 28, 2003 6:39 AM
The RIAA doesn't scare me. Lets see them come and get me. I can share music, movies, games, etc... with relative impunity. At least I would if I had a sweeter computer.     At the risk of sounding gay, I have a Pentnium 300GHz with a 33bph Modem and a 4Gig. HDD - which would be sweet if this were 1988.     So, as you can see, file sharing is hardly an option for me. I do all my file sharing through my girlfriend's brother. He's got a pretty good set-up.
From: Creeko Entered on: August 28, 2003 6:41 AM
There are some advantages to living in a BTWC (Borderline Third World Country)
From: Ross Entered on: August 28, 2003 7:23 AM
Actually Creeko, that computer would be sort of sweet if this were 2012. 300Ghz is 100 times faster than the fastest chips these days. :)
From: Creeko Entered on: August 28, 2003 10:23 AM
My mistake, 300MHz. It's been a while since people have talked about computer speed in Megas.   It kinda reinforces how old and slow my computer really is. To be honest, I think it's even slower but since I bought it used and don't give a shit about it, I haven't really looked.
From: Jackzilla Entered on: August 28, 2003 10:10 AM
Creeko - I'm not scared of the RIAA as much as I'm afraid of losing my cable. They said if they get too many complaints that they'd just drop a subscriber.     I'm anxious to see what happens with the proposed lawsuits the RIAA is supposed to be filing this next month against individuals. I can't imagine anything but a huge public relations disaster ahead for them if they do this.     Speaking of processing power: Don't force my hand or I'll haul out my Coleco Adam -- 3.58 MHz with dual 256Kb tape drives and 300 baud modem! And Ross will be duly impressed to know that it can run CP/M 2.2! And with the Expansion Module #1 (sold seperately) I can run the entire Atari 2600 game library. Scary all the power they packed under the hood in 1983... Can't imagine why I ever needed more than that.
From: Jackzilla Entered on: August 28, 2003 10:40 AM
FATBOX 2.0 Progress Report: I'm working on giving BigFatty a sweeter menu when he boots up his box. I have now figured out how to have a video playing on the menu (using the MXM program instead of Evox). The result? BigFatty is dancing like a maniac! A maniac on the floor! And he's dancing like he's never danced before! It was a long and convoluted process. Take my hand and I'll show you: 1) First I videotaped Fatty dancing. "Give Up The Funk (Tear The Roof Off The Sucker)" by Parliament was blasted at significant volume to inspire his Fatness. And inspire it did. The time flew by and I soon realized I was out of video tape. 2) This video was then transferred into my computer in MPEG format. The audio was removed as we would be adding music later. The video was then edited into a 10 second, loopable snippet and saved in AVI format. Then it was converted to WMV format for xbox compatability. 3) "The Sanford and Son Theme" by Quincy Jones was selected as the menu music for obvious reasons. Hint: Play it and try NOT to envision FatStation bustin' out. Impossible. The music was converted to WMA format for xbox compatibility. 4) The video and music was added to the selected MXM menu theme and WA LA! Pure fatty bliss! Next step: Figure out how to make this menu the default dashboard.
From: Ross Entered on: August 28, 2003 11:09 AM
That is super sweet, Jack, I can't wait to see it. But if it's not the default dashboard, how do you access it? Is it just your menu on game discs?     What did you end up using to convert the video from AVI to WMV, out of curiosity?
From: Jackzilla Entered on: August 28, 2003 11:26 AM
Yes, it was just a menu on a game disc right now. MXM lets you completely customize the menu (including sub-menus) and includes FTP support.     AVI -> WMV: Windows Media Encoder.
From: Jackzilla Entered on: August 29, 2003 3:57 PM
Wanna hear something stupid? Well, Marvel Comics did away with the Comics Code Authority and has been using their own rating system to rate the content of their books: ALL AGES, Marvel PG, Marvel PG+ and EXPLICIT CONTENT. Well, apparently they have to change it now because the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) caught wind of it and they have a trademark on PG. Good lord how lame!     I just read that and had to share.     Fuck the RIAA and the MPAA!!!
From: John Entered on: August 29, 2003 4:48 PM
I agree, Fuck the RIAA and the MPAA!!!
From: The Bone Entered on: August 30, 2003 1:52 PM
Man, everyone here has sweet abilities on the computer except Roche and I. Even Creeko is leagues ahead. I havn't even begun to think about how I would get games onto my BoneBox. You guys are super sweet. Ross - I'm an Edonkey guy too. Doesn't it affect you download speed if you don't upload shit? Also, I need a newsgroup how to guide. I have newsgroup abilities but can't ever find the sweet shit you talk about.
From: Jackzilla Entered on: September 8, 2003 2:26 PM
FUCK THE RIAA!     http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/09/08/music.d ownloading/index.html       The Bone eDonkeys?! That's it! I better give it another try! Actually, I was thinking of joining Easynews as an alternate way of downloading shit.     Ross - Any hints or suggestions for Bone and I regarding newsgroups?
From: Jackzilla Entered on: September 8, 2003 2:36 PM
CATBOX 2.0 UPDATE I updated my brother's xbox with the sweet new MXM dashboard (also used for Fatty's new FATBOX). This program is sweet. The box boots up to a sweet CATBOX animated graphic title screen (with MEOW and thunder effects). The Catbox's startup dash now features four -- count 'em! FOUR! -- videos playing in oval boxes: One each of Tom, his girlfriend and his two girls -- all dancing and shaking their butts. In the background a Shakira song is playing. It's funny as shit! Plus the full menu for launching games and apps is there (like Evox). Ross - You gotta check out MXM for a sweet skinable dash. I gotta design the new FUNKBOX and ZILLABOX skins next...
From: Ross Entered on: September 8, 2003 3:52 PM
I will check it out. You have it completely replacing evox then?     As for newsgroups, you need to have an ISP that gives you access. Check your ISPs website for mention of them, and if you don't find anything, then call them. But they might not provide you with anything.     For me, with Comcast, they give you a paltry account with giganews (which you could subscribe to separately) but it caps your bandwidth at 1GB per month, which isn't even a full xbox game in most cases. So if you really wanted to rely on newsgroups, you'd have to pay for it, unless you have a sweet ISP that gives you unlimited downloads (like my old one).
From: The Bone Entered on: September 10, 2003 9:18 AM
How do you like them apples?     http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/09/09/music.s wap.settlement/index.html
From: Jackzilla Entered on: September 10, 2003 9:37 AM
Fuck THEM apples!     It seems the RIAA has found a profitable new market. Suing 12-year olds and getting $2,000 from 'em! BRILLIANT! This sure beats selling CDs! That's a lot of work -- suing is easy! And fun! And profitable!
From: Ross Entered on: September 10, 2003 10:06 AM
I read about this girl the other day. The best was a quote from her mom: "She's 12 years old for crying out loud - it's not like there's anything illegal going on here!" Since when does your age preclude you from breaking the law?
From: Jackzilla Entered on: September 12, 2003 3:38 PM
Hilary Duff, of "Lizzie McGuire," has the #1 album in the country.     Fuck the RIAA.
From: John Entered on: September 12, 2003 3:42 PM
What!!! Hey, she may be cute, but I would not buy her album in a million years, dude. I know Angie is dancing to the beat of this news.
From: Ross Entered on: September 12, 2003 4:07 PM
Isn't she the 15 year old with big knockers? I've got a case of Cedar Point-itis!
From: Ross Entered on: September 16, 2003 10:00 AM
Revisiting the filesharing issue you're facing, Jack, have you tried Bit Torrent? You do the filesharing thru the browser.     http://bitconjurer.org/BitTorrent/     After getting the client, go to www.suprnova.org - it's slow loading - I think they're having trouble staying online, but it's like being a kid in a candy store on that site.     Also a buddy of mine tells me that TorrentSpy is a good front end for it:     http://torrentspy.sourceforge.net/
From: Jackzilla Entered on: September 16, 2003 11:19 AM
Hmmm... I may have to try that out!
From: Ross Entered on: September 16, 2003 11:28 AM
I've got friends who swear by it, and they got me interested in it during the time that suprnova.org was down, so I never got to try it. But it's back up (for now) so I'm going to give it a thorough testing tonight. Supposed to be very fast. I also hear it's harder to track sharers down on BitTorrent.     By the way: I think one reason you got busted by your ISP (the first time) is that Universal polices the hell out of p2p networks. I've learned to stay away from their stuff at all costs.
From: Ross Entered on: September 16, 2003 5:58 PM
I just tried it out, and it is pretty sweet. I couldn't really figure out TorrentSpy, but the regular BitTorrent client was very quick for a 70MB download that I just completed. I recommend it!
From: Jackzilla Entered on: September 16, 2003 9:44 PM
I got it going... works pretty snazzy so far. What can I say? I'm BACK, BABY!     And BigFatty is going to town with it too. We're gonna tag-team these fuckers!
From: The Bone Entered on: September 16, 2003 10:52 PM
Holy fucking shit! BitTorrent is kicking ass. Just got it and making it work like a red headed step-child.
From: BigFatty Entered on: September 17, 2003 12:00 AM
Fatty DL speed of Desert Storm is 20-35 kbs while Zilla is at a paltry 1-3 kbs for Buffy.     I am also DLing an independant Norweigan film called The Carrot.     Why?     Why do you ask these silly questions. I will look at this film for all the alternate meanings it most certainly posesses. It is true art my friends - it is Norweigan!
From: Jackzilla Entered on: September 17, 2003 7:34 AM
Promo Poster for Willy's Movie THE CARROT... the erotic journey of a small orange root into womanhood.
From: Ross Entered on: September 17, 2003 7:32 AM
I pulled down Madden 2004 (why? Because I could), which is a 2.8GB file, in under 13 hours. I think we have a winner, boys...
From: Ross Entered on: September 17, 2003 6:21 PM
I just found this client for BT that gives more info and allows you to adjust your upload allotments:     http://ei.kefro.st/projects/btclient/
From: The Bone Entered on: September 17, 2003 6:48 PM
I need further guidance on why and how to properly go about this. I do note that my internet surfing ability gets fubared when I'm downloading shit from BT.
From: Ross Entered on: September 17, 2003 7:08 PM
Yeah, that's why you need that client I just listed. You need to shut down all BT downloads first, then run the file that they have listed on that page above. It will replace your BitTorrent client with a more configurable one. From there you can throttle down your maximum upload speed, which usually hoses up your overall internet connection if it's set at maximum (the default).
From: Jackzilla Entered on: September 18, 2003 5:16 PM
So far me likey BT! Good call on this one, Ross! Although we've had trouble with Conflict 2. First, one of the RARs was corrupted, but FatStation and I figured a way to force BT to redownload JUST the bad file. Got that, unRARed, extracted the ISO, DLed to xbox, but now when it runs through the menus a "disk maybe dirty" error appears just before the mission starts (leading me to think that a file must be missing). That sucks.     On the positive side I'm gonna listen to the new Sting album tonight... :)
From: Ross Entered on: September 18, 2003 6:17 PM
I also downloaded Conflict 2 thru BT but haven't tried it yet. I'm FTPing The Simpsons Hit and Run over now, I'm going to test them both soon. I'll let you know what I get.     I also got a bad file on Madden 2004 and couldn't unRAR. How did you get it to re-download the bad file? That would be useful.
From: Jackzilla Entered on: September 18, 2003 7:42 PM
Bad file when you unRAR? Here's what to do (I told Ross, but maybe the Bone needs a bone): restart the BT download into a new directory (it'll create a bunch of empty "place holder" files). Stop downloading. Now copy all the original RAR files (EXCEPT the corrupt one) to the new directory. Now restart BT and it should replace the one file.     Is that a sweet ass solution or what? Half credit to Fatty on this one.
From: Ross Entered on: September 18, 2003 10:20 PM
I'm using this technique to re-download the bad Madden 2004 file. I had to first figure out which one was bad as WinRAR didn't tell me - but if they give you an SFV file, there are programs to verify the CRC32 checksums and tell you which files are okay. So I had one bad one and I'm pulling it down now. Nice!     Also, for everyone's edification, Jack and I tag-teamed the solution to getting Conflict 2 to work: it was a PAL version of the game and some movie files had to be renamed to get them to be loaded since we have NTSC xboxes. Xbox-Scene is awesome.     AND: The Simpsons rules! It's so frickin fun! It's totally GTA: Springfield. It's worth playing just for Homer's commentary alone!
From: Jackzilla Entered on: September 18, 2003 11:27 PM
Oh. My. God.     My current game count: 184.     Yes, Ross - that includes Finding Nemo and Shrek Super Party (got that one from Johnny!). :)
From: Ross Entered on: September 19, 2003 8:31 AM
That's just plain ridiculous, dude. I've stopped counting but I'm sure I'm barely breaking 100 - and it's still too many.     By the way, the Willy techinque worked - I successfully re-downloaded the corrupt part of Madden and it extracted perfectly! I started burning it before I left for work this morning so I won't know if all went well till tonight. Actually, I used a simplified version of the Willy technique - I simply deleted the corrupt file and restarted the BT download to the same directory - saved me a ton of time.
From: Jackzilla Entered on: September 19, 2003 10:17 AM
Actually, I used a simplified version of the Willy technique - I simply deleted the corrupt file and restarted the BT download to the same directory - saved me a ton of time. I considered doing that but was afraid having the "place holder" file missing would screw the pooch. Nice to know that it works though. I'm sure we'll be using it in the future. Fatty and I were noting that that was one of the weak points of BT: You immediately are sharing data even if its corrupt. I can see bad files spreading along with the good. Oh well, BT still rules.
From: Jackzilla Entered on: September 19, 2003 3:54 PM
Make that 185: The Simpon sHit and Run has been added to the collection! This is pretty cool: I had a customer rent it and drop it off to me at the store today. He's gonna stop by and pick it back up from me tomorrow! :O
From: Ross Entered on: September 20, 2003 9:34 AM
Jack: Disney Extreme Skate Adventure just came out! Get on that shit!
From: Jackzilla Entered on: September 20, 2003 9:46 AM
I'M ON IT!!!
From: Ross Entered on: September 21, 2003 1:16 PM
Jack/Fatty - have you guys gotten Freedom Fighters yet? I just started playing it - it's pretty sweet! Fatty, I hear you're all about Desert Storm - I haven't really given it its due time yet - thumbs up?     UPDATE: I just started playing Desert Storm now too. It's fun too! Between this, Freedom Fighters, The Simpsons, and Jedi Academy, I'll never finish all these sweet games!
From: BigFatty Entered on: September 21, 2003 6:45 PM
CDS2 is cool - Jack and I were playing some tonight. We are itching to play with four players on hard mode. There is too much going on to worry about another guy. I'm about to fire up the BT and get freedom fighters then. My second download was not nearly as sweet. It took almost 3 days compared to CDS2 14 hours. The DL rate was ony averaging 5 kbs. The forums say the rate can vary dependent on who you are connected to.
From: Ross Entered on: September 23, 2003 5:23 PM
Well, if you guys get Freedom Fighters, you'll have to let me know how it works for you. I love to play it, but I get lockups sometimes when I go to quick-save during a mission. It's especially annoying since quick saves only last while the game is running and if you reboot, all mission progress is lost. So essentially, I can't reliably save in the game unless I fully complete a mission start-to-finish. Needless to say, this is unacceptable. I am going to try out the PC version since I'm kind of having fun with this one, though.
From: Ross Entered on: September 23, 2003 8:08 PM
Jack - something made me remember what could be affecting your download speeds with BT: have you forwarded ports for BT to your download machine? I opened ports 6881-6889, as recommended by the BT website. I believe it works similarly to the donkey in that it allows for direct connections between peers. I was getting slow speeds and then checked my IP address, which apparently changed on my internal network at some point, and when I re-routed those ports, my speeds picked up considerably.
From: BigFatty Entered on: September 23, 2003 11:09 PM
I believe I speak for Jack and myself. We need a router/firewall/port tutorial. We've run across senarios where changing ports was required.     I've done some looking into this, but have come up even more confused. My router help screen on changing ports for telephony explained everything *except* how to change ports.
From: Ross Entered on: September 24, 2003 7:26 AM
On mine, it's called "port forwarding" - it's really pretty simple. Your router interface (a web page, I'm guessing) should have a screen that allows you to put in a port (or range of ports) and say which machine on your internal network requests on those ports go to. For instance, the web (more specifically, HTTP) generally runs over port 80, so I have port 80 going to the IP address of my Linux server. I would think that most major firewalls/routers these days have this kind of functionality. Next time I'm around I'll try to take a look at you guys' setups.