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Well finally here’s the next episode. This got delayed at least 2 weeks more than I anticipated, being sick really wiped out my voice for a while. Also some of you watched this one early and I’ve gotten some questions as to how this happened. Here’s how it works:

1. I was done with the video last week and sent it to Machinima.com.

2. They ask me to wait until they can post it on Youtube before I put up alternate links to it. This leads to a gazillion more views.

3. Machinima leaked the video on their own site before being able to get it up on Youtube.

4. Users of course download it and post it on Youtube.

5. I can hardly fault people for posting it online themselves, but this isn’t supposed to happen either, so it’s sort of a mess. It reminds me of this comic.

In case anyone’s wondering, I’m not upset with anyone about this, I’m happy people want to watch the videos. Machinima.com is probably less happy when this sort of thing happens though.

Right now my plan is to get a couple more episodes made, then work exclusively on finishing The Tunnel. I’m finding I work better when I can focus on one thing at a time. On the contrary, when I have to focus on many different things (like I have been), I can often take longer than I would if I did everything consecutively. Sort of anti-gestalt. Maybe there’s an actual word for this concept. On that note, I haven’t forgotten about website improvements, more subtitles, and the many emails I’ve received. I’ll get to all that as I’m not getting distracted by something else.

EDIT:

I’m getting a lot of people saying Episode 25 is the same as 24. I don’t know what to say here. I’ve doublechecked the links several times now and they all work on my end.

EDIT 2:

One of the web guys informed me that it was the EMBEDDED video that was messed up, that never occurred to me. He went and fixed it, so hopefully now everything’s alright.

This may sound like a direct contradiction, but since I made the last post I’ve fallen sick with something relatively substantial, my guess is some sort of flu. While the next FM episode is mostly done, I’m too weak and congested to finish the voice acting on it right now. I feel like a zombie. Not the fast kind that run around screaming, but the Romero kind that moan and run into walls. This is kind of ironic since the entire time I was in LA I rode the bus and didn’t get sick once since my immunity system is usually pretty good. This makes me think east coast viruses are more hardcore, but all I have is this anecdotal evidence.

My apologies about having to go back on what I said about the estimated release time, but I can’t change reality. If my energy comes back before my voice, I’ll get back to work on The Tunnel. I’ll finish the next FM episode as soon I’m able.

If you’re having trouble imagining what this virus feels like and want a better idea, try headbutting a smooth (to avoid lacerations) concrete wall. If it doesn’t feel so bad, you’re not doing it hard enough.

UPDATE:

I’m better and I’ve finished the voicework for the next FM episode. I plan to finish the editing later today, so given the Machinima.com pipeline it should appear before too long.

UPDATE 2:

I submitted the completed video days ago. I thought it would be up by now, but I never really know how long it takes Machinima.com to post it. I’ve started working on Episode 26 in the meantime.

Hey, I’m just letting people know that I’m working on the next FM episode and hope to get the voicework done in the next day or two. Since there’s always lagtime on when the video actually comes out, you can probably expect it out sometime next week. The good news is that this will be one of the longer episodes.

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Also I have a geeky request to anyone that’s interested (only read this if you’re a graphics freak):

I love the use of antialiasing in 3D games and have been experimenting with different modes of it for a long time. I’ve been using a supersampling mode on my Nvidia card for a while on the videos because I’ve found it yields the best visual results on the Source engine. ATI’s new batch of cards support supersampling natively and I’m curious how it compares. Every review I’ve seen of it seems ignorant of the capacity to already have supersampling in newer Nvidia cards.

So here’s my request: If you own a Radeon 5000 series card and a copy of Half-Life 2 and are interested in coordinating some screenshots with me, go ahead and send me an email. I’d like to do my own comparison test.

To everyone else: don’t worry, this isn’t holding up production. It’s just an experiment I want to try.

Youtube

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Well here’s the next episode of Freeman’s Mind. I tried my best, but the bug of demo recording omitting blood decals and bodies is still present, so I guess just use your imagination. While time estimates aren’t my strong point, you can expect more FM episodes for this month.

This has been by no means the longest time in between episodes, though I received more complaints about not having a new episode up than ever before. For those of you who were patient, thanks. For those of you that weren’t, when I produce more videos this year than I have for any other year in the past, remember it’s because I had time to get resituated, do research, etc. Maybe some of you will understand the concept of cause and effect. Maybe.

Things are more or less the same otherwise, though the bug I was having with Source may have been fixed by coder Alexander Morton, I still need to verify this. If so, this is very good news.

EDIT:

I’ve been getting these questions a lot, so here are some more answers:

Q. Will you be selling a DVD of the episodes?
A. No. I can’t do that legally since it’s a mess as far as intellectual property goes. At some point I hope to get higher quality versions of the episodes up for download however.

Q. Did you change the codec for more recent episodes?
A. No, but I changed the encoder. The fade-in for the new introduction caused problems with my old encoding method and produced artifacts every time. I’m surprised it’s causing problems for some people. I use Media Player Classic to watch them if that’s any help.

I have several small updates and I know some of you get restless:

-I’ve started the next Freeman’s Mind episode and plan to be done in a couple days. I can’t promise when it will be released since I never know how long Machinima.com’s release pipeline takes, but I can’t imagine it will be any later than next week.

-I’ve uploaded the missing download links Machinima.com deleted for FM episodes 1,3,7, and 11. Sorry this took so long.

-Multiple volunteers are now helping me take over managing the subtitles. Right now they’re mostly responding to emails that are months old. If you’ve contacted me about making subtitles for the show before, you can hopefully expect a reply back sometime in the near future. I don’t want to accept new subtitle offers just yet, because they have a lot to sort through, but I think we’ll be able to resume full subtitle production soon.

-I’ve run into a new bug that’s holding up production on “The Tunnel.” I still want to do some more research on this, but this one is pretty bad and potentially affects all future work in the Source engine. If we can’t solve it, I’ll make an official post on it, complete with all the details and files so hopefully someone else can. For those curious, it’s related to NPCs jerking around erratically during demo playback.

-I’m surprised with how many people are interested in donating. I think I may reconsider my stance on this, but only once I get more videos made and more goodies on the website rolled out. While I like money as much as the next person, I plan to continue making videos regardless of user contributions.

-Contrary to how people may have read my last post, my life is not hell, far from it. I’m happy I’m going to be able to make progress working on some of my more ambitious ideas this year. It IS busy however. I wasn’t trying to garner sympathy in the last post, I just wanted to give a bit of a defense as to why more hasn’t been produced lately.

EDIT:

The next episode is done, though I don’t know when it’s going up, your guess is as good as mine. I’ve started on the next one too, so just hold on.