Insurgency (Short Review)

Recently I've been spending a lot of time playing Insurgency (a standalone version of the HL2 mod). It was part of a Humble Bundle a while back (even though I bought it before that on Early Access on Steam).

It's a modern FPS shooter...so many of you are probably going "eugh, not another one" right about now. But what I find is a nice change of pace in this is its' approach too the whole 'modern' thing. Sure it's still generic murica' vs taliban isk vibe, but what it lacks in the area of setting originality if makes up for solid mechanics.

"But you said it's a FPS...I mean how hard is it too make solid FPS mechanics?" you might ask, well let me break it down for you.

-It's unforgiving. That's right, unforgiving. Why? Because it takes 1 bullet too the dome or 2 chest shots with practically any weapon.
-The is no HUD (Heads up display) other than where the objective is and mebe your team mates marker (if they are close enough). That also means no ammo counter (only mag count), so be careful
and count them bullets. Also reloading a half full mag doesn't through left over bullets in a bullet pool...that half a mag stays there until you use it again (I've had where I had like 3 half mags mid firefight...not a pleasant experience)
-Heavy emphasis on team work and communication.
-Visually not ground breaking, but very nicely well polished. Also even if in the event of frame drop, the game still feels smooth so you hardly notice it.

Its kinda like half way between Counter Strike and Arma.

All in all a very pleasant experience. I'd give it an 8.5/10.
(Recommended for those who prefer some tactile game-play, without having to remap 4 keyboards just too move around, above the run and gun COD games)


If you like this kind of review and like too see more let me know. Also If you'd like too comment on where I can improve, by all means let me know, I'd be very grateful..

Exams done...now what?

So, my exams are finally done. So i now have a 3 month vacation (SCHWEET XD ).

So this is what I've been doing in my off time till thus far.

- Finished the Tavor repaint

Notes: Had too simplify the design as the paint kept running (even if i masked it off correctly). But happy with the overall result. Next up the fire control system. Here is the painting process: link

- Worked on some weapons for an up and coming project:

Anyhow, any new projects and events I'll keep you posted.

Wut? An update?

Yes I know I said no updates till exams are done...but I REALLY need to share this, so I'm gonna keep this short.

So for the past day or so, this has been 'trending' the interwebs.

KickStarter: Hendo Hoverboards


Jip...you guessed it. IT'S A BLOODY HOVERBOARD.

Nerd-gasms aside, I haven't looked into this product much to I'm going to keep my excitement down to the level of holy $%^&*. As always I'm slightly skeptical, but hey this might be just push in the right direction needed.

Anyhow, your thoughts? Leave a comment down below.

Cheers

Small update: Airsoft related

Found this recently, IMHO it's SUPER useful.
DIY air-smithing (like gun smithing...but with air ^^, jokes. Airsoft rifle mods).
Things like AOE, shimming, mosfets, etc.
Airsoftct: Air smithing-guide

This guys youtube'z is also super interesting if not very helpful
Airsoftology: Reviews, tips, tricks, gear, etc.

so, ya.
Small update, but I find these SUPER useful.

Also, in a few weeks I'll be unveiling a new project...can't say much (mainly because it's still being conjured by a bunch of lvl 23 wizard scrubs...that and teasing about something before unveiling seems to be the in thing makes it sound more exiting)

But first, I'm writing exams...so all current projects are put on hold (ie the tavor repaint)

Cheers

Lightpack: Ambient Lighting system

I can haz a new toy.

This my friends is something I've been looking at for a while. Hell, I even started learning basics of electronics to try and DIY this...well, Lightpack kinda made that unnecessary.

"What is it", you might ask, simple my dear Watson. It's is a Ambient Lighting system.

Ambient Lighting system? Jip. What this does is detect the colours at the edges of your screen and then projects these colours onto the wall with very bright RGB LED's (I've set mine to 25 ms between updates), essentially extending your screens effective display area(well...not completely, more of a colour bleed). This reduces the sudden change in contrast between the screen and, well, everything else behind it. This in turn makes it less straining on your eyes to work/play on the screen. Not only that but it makes things feel more "immersive" and just looks bloody cool.


Now that class session is done, lets get to the juicy part...THE UN-BOXING!!!

Package all the way from China. (had to wait for a month for this, because my country's postal services are currently having a fun little strike)

All neatly packed, with some writing on the back of the box (In 5 languages, English, German, Spanish, Chinese and Russian)

The black box opens up from the center revealing all the components and an user manual. Parts include: Base station, 10 led light strip wire thingies, USB connector cable, power brick with 3 interchangeable prongs(so this should work no matter which country you live in) some organizing things + cable ties and extra double sided tape.

User manual, "Quick" Install guide

Ooooh, pretty diagrams

Pretty much the only reason why I bothered to look at the manual...I mean, just look at that thing  o_O

The LED Wire/Strip thingy. It's quite long, so this SHOULD work for most screen sizes.

Stuck everything to the back of my 21' (laying everything out just like the manual said).

The "Cleanup" block I was talking about

Nice and "organized"

Once done you can't even see that it has this thing attached to it.

So after I downloaded, installed and ran the setup or the driver/program, I gave it a go.
I tested it with video and games, and worked pretty well with both. Note, if you are planning to play games with this make sure your run it in border-less mode, full screen doesn't seem to work, also know that the higher you put up the refresh rate the more of a performance knock you'll experience (as it does a screen grab every set amount of ms).

A test on my system (a video, mirrors edge and bf4).

Sorry about a) no sound, only had headphone so phone couldn't hear it b) Image quality and stability...it's hard to play and record a video with your phone c)me being bad at Mirrors Edge

Interestingly enough, the Lightpack system can run tandem with more than one...so I you are fortunate enough to have a monster sized screen , you can do something like the following (using 2 Lightpack's)

All in all, I'm very pleased with this purchase. I think it's bloody awesome...probably my best bought item 2014

More details about the Lightpack can be found on their website: http://lightpack.tv/

Any question, suggestions or general smack talk is always welcome.

Pressured 'speed' paint

So yesterday, woke up reaaaally early...couldn't sleep. So instead of wasting anytime further trying to catch a few extra z's, i decided to try my hand at digital painting/sketching/making pretty pictures thing.

Started of with no plan, just started sketching...ended up with this.

anyhow, I have an interesting project brewing on my side (other than finishing the tavor paint job). I'll keep you guys (and gals) posted once I advance far enough to share a decent amount of Inf with you guys.

Mosfet Mayhem

Recently someone asked me where/how I make the mosfets I use in my airsoft rifles. So I decided to share my "secret".

First of, definition on WTF is: Mosfet.
In airsoft terms it is a component that sits between your battery, trigger and motor. It reduces the current traveling through your contact plates of your trigger, extending the life of the trigger plates as well as increasing battery life, trigger response and ROF (rate of fire) [ever so slightly].

There are many different types of mosfets. Some do fancy things like burst fire and active breaking (with fancy micro controllers, wizardry and pixie dust) where as others just drop the current to the trigger.

Everything I've learnt, I learn't off the internet. Here are the different sites where I found the different types of DIY mosfets (in near future I'll do my own walk through of the making processes, but for now here are the web sites)

Simple Mosfet (just does the basic current drop to trigger)

Active breaking Mosfet (Does the basic current drop to trigger as well as some fancy foot work in terms of preventing over rotation of the motor/gears)

555 burst Mosfet (Uses a 555 timer chip to do burst fire and the usual current drop to the trigger)

Currently I'm trying to merge the last 2 types of mosfets are one (so, a 555 burst with active breaking). How that goes...I'll let you guys know when I've tested it.

A lot of people are against active breaking on airsoft aeg (automatic electric gun) as it adds extra tension on gears, motor and battery (seeing as it effectively send a reverse current to the motor to stop it from over rotating). I can definitely see their point, but some of my reading up has shown that if done softly/lightly it will not effect your gears/motor/battery.

In any case hope you guys enjoyed/learnt/at least read through this post, If you have any questions or requests I'll look into them and respond promtly.

Cheers