Videocard update

[Ross Scott]

Hey, an update on the videocard situation:

 

My cooler came in, only for me to discover that my old videocard was already fried, it started giving me graphics corruption right after POST. The good news is viewer Collin Campbell has sent me an 8400 GS to tide me over. This card has all the same graphics capabilities of my old card, it's just way, way slower. However, I'm able to keep working with this card, and I've been doing so. I won't be doing any gaming with a card like this, but that's probably just as well since I'm so far behind. I've also had offers for donating more midrange cards from viewers John Stokes and Joshua Nicholson which I'll be happy to accept. I've been wanting to build a secondary system for a while in case my main one gets hosed like this, so the old cards will go into that once I upgrade. I probably will buy a new card at some point, but I want to wait until I've finished all the animation work for the next Civil Protection episode as an extra incentive.

 

On that topic, progress is moving steadily, but very slow. I feel bad too because this one isn't going to be the most impressive visually, you'll probably watch it and wonder why it took so long to make. This once again, comes down to the Source engine. If you saw a scene where the metrocops walk down a tunnel, stop, look around, then keep walking, making turns all the while, how long do you think that would take? Maybe 30 minutes right? No. With the long trial-and-error testing process and the downright mystical bugs I have to fight, it takes days. And this is when I already have the map files, custom animations, and models that I already need. Some scenes move more quickly than others, others are more visually impressive for the time involved, but a lot of what's done is very simple visually, with it being a nightmare behind the scenes.

 

I'm absolutely going to finish this episode, though I may make another sacrificial FM episode in the meantime to tide people over. Once I finish this episode however, I think this is the last big CP episode I'll do under the Source engine. I have ideas for much simpler ones after this, plus I have no plans to discontinue the series, but it's possible down the line I may try and port the content over to a more animation-friendly engine down the line. Although this is probably good news for the majority of you, since I can just keep making Freeman's Mind episodes after this until the technology or resources catches up for me to work on something more ambitious.

[Guest]

um can u pls keep us posted on the freemans mind episodes? i dont know if anyone told u this but the majority of ur vids are freeman's mind. and im sure FM was a side project for u but in my opinion more people watch freeman's mind the CP so it would be great if u could make more FM's

sincerely and hopefully

dean

[Guest]

Glad to see you back on track, keep up the good work!

[Guest]

That's cool, take your time. Wait, that was a pun. "That's cool". Freeman will punch me in the mouth for this! I'll check this later! MEXICO, HERE I COME!!

[Guest]

JESUS! Your slower than VALVe!!! They would be on frikin HL2: FM ep 5 by now...

[Guest]

Hey, We're still waiting for Half Life 2: Episode 3, arn't we? we know when things take time, things take time

Take your time, and please give us more FM aswell!

[Guest]

You could try to bake your old graphics card. No I'm not kidding, google it.

Some people are putting their graphics cards which produce corrupt graphics for 10-20 mins in the oven at 200°C and this seems to fix microfissures and the soldering points.

[Guest]

I've heard rumors that a new source engine may be coming out in near future, perhaps you won't have to switch from the source engine.

[Guest]

Ross â

[Guest]

Daaaaaaamn, DAYS for just walking and looking around? Man, forget that. I'll try to make the Machinima ideas I've had with Garry's Mod, thank you very much.

 

~ Le' Moe

[Guest]

Uhm, I don't know, what to think. I'm a bit scared about the future of Civil Protection. It is, in the end, your main series. Ok, I have no idea, what's coming with this Tunnel, maybe it is longer than all previous episodes? So by shortening do you mean going back to previous episodes' length, or even shorter?

 

Well, I see, that working with Source is real pain. Sad, that it is so.. Half-Life universe is one of the most attractive "universes" there is ]. I've seen people shifting from it to Unreal Engine 3, so maybe you could go there. Anything, that allows your creativity to materialize will do, I guess

 

Good luck, I would send you cookies, but you are damn far away from here

[Guest]

Sorry about the whole video card thing. And it might be a good idea to just get a whole new and better animation system. Keep up the FM, people are watching even more of that than CP! Hope you make it all the way to the end of HL!

[Guest]

dont tell the man what to do! lol.. life is never easy ay..

[Guest]

Man, If i had the money i'd buy a Nvidia 480 or a ATI radeon HD 5970 for you ... but i don't. well Best of luck!

[Guest]

Psychology 101 guy: You may want to take more courses, reward systems with random time intervals produce the most addictive patterns in people, though I don't really factor that in when creating the episodes. Also as for neutralizing viewer frustration, that's impossible. I remember seeing the posts of "Finally" and "took long enough" back in November when Freeman's Mind was getting released every 2-3 days.

 

Le Moe: Some things can go much faster, but yes, it really is that bad at the moment.

 

Qwx: It's going to be the longest CP episode so far, but not a lot of action, more plot development. And no, I mean going back to episodes that are easier to animate, like the "What Is Machinima" episode. I still plan to make my more ambitious ideas, but the inefficiency is too damn outrageous with the Source engine. Even though it's frustrating, I'd rather postpone ideas and get them done more effectively later than waste months doing something that would take days with the right tools.

[Guest]

Civil Protection is on hold, and a freeman's mind is now coming on the course.

 

Cool.

[Guest]

Good luck Ross

[Guest]

well that sucks. i would hope for your sake that there is a better engine out there, other than the source one. it soulds like this engine makes you do everything. i at least hope the episode is in 720p. well, thanks anyway for working on it.

[Guest]

I read a few comments on here, then stopped. They seemed to grateful. I wish I were rich or something though, cause then I would totally help you out. But as it is, I'm broke, and the best I can offer is a good luck.

[Guest]

Alright, well, since the majority of anon leaving comments are being total jerks ("Y U TAEK SO LONG?!1?"), I'll just throw in here that nobody could do half as well as you could making a machinima in twice the time you take. Keep up the good work, Mr. Scott!