Scott T: The Blog
V3 Progress!
Posted Sun, Mar 02, 2008 at 6:42pm by ScottTagged: ssc, uni
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Probably not very interesting for the rest of you, but for me, I'm quite excited. I've just finished knocking up a first revision "simple" text module for V3 of SSC (the PHP application that runs this site). Unfortunately, uni starts tomorrow so progress could slow a little. On the plus side, only the news/blog module and photo gallery to go until I can upgrade - I'm certainly looking forward to it :)
Oh, and did anyone notice the three posts before this were each made 10 days apart on the 5th, 15th and 25th? I only did after I made 3rd one.
Online Again
Posted Mon, Feb 25, 2008 at 12:16pm by ScottTagged: everyday, on-the-net, uni
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As some may have noticed, this site was unavailable for a portion of the weekend. From what I've found out, a problem with the file-system on the server I'm hosted on was corrupted. While this took the better part of the weekend to fix, I'm impressed as this is the first time I've noticed any downtime since signing up in June last year :)
In a second sense, I've also just gotten my internet connection up at my uni accommodation after driving down yesterday morning (first time in metro areas with a manual). It was rather annoying yesterday afternoon not being able to check emails or anything. My room is still a complete mess with empty and part-empty bags still lying everywhere and assorted junk covering all the other surfaces.
Suppose I should do something about that now...
It's Cold at the Coast
Posted Fri, Feb 15, 2008 at 9:33pm by ScottTagged: everyday, games, sailing
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Quite cold. Or at least when compared to back up here at home when last week, the lowest maximum for the day was 28C.
[[img|/images/gallery/4/76_med.jpg||float=left|Boats on the shore ready for launching]]Last weekend, on the 8th though 10th we headed down to Victor Harbor for the second leg of the Mosquito States - the first of which was up here last November. Anticipating the cold, I packed jackets and long pants, and upon getting out of the car at the caravan park down there, things didn't seem too bad.
The next day however was a different matter. While a tolerable 19C was forecast, the wind was not factored in to my expectations and despite the sunny weather, it was quite cool all day. The McDonald's cappuccino at 3pm was much appreciated :D I also managed to get rather sunburnt although only on my face and the tops of my hands. This is probably because they were the only parts of my body uncovered :)
Sunday was more of the same however after learning our lesson, the car was parked facing the water allowing shelter all morning. Despite Dad sustaining damage to his Mossie while attempting to leave shore the weekend was reasonably enjoyable.
I would have probably posted this earlier, except I've been colonising new land in Anno 1701 :) Screen shot shows my settlement achieving independence.
[[img|/images/gallery/4/75_med.jpg]]
As the water slowly recedes
Posted Tue, Feb 05, 2008 at 12:22pm by ScottTagged: everyday, water
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It's now been nearly 5 months since the lake was initially cut-off and during that time, it's been hard to not notice the slow retreat of water from the grass on the foreshore. Before the closure and before the river level dropped too much, the "beach" was probably 2m wide at most.
[[img|/images/gallery/4/73_med.jpg]] [[img|/images/gallery/4/74_med.jpg]]
While the beach is now much, much wider ...
... there are locations around the back of the lake where the normally submerged clay is starting to be uncovered. This isn't exactly the nicest smell you've ever encountered and it won't be too long before it's uncovered on the town side either which could make for interesting times. Here are some comparison photos. The one on the left is from the end of last November and the one on the right was taken Feb 2nd.
[[img|/images/gallery/4/60_med.jpg]]
Yes - all three tree stumps on this page are the same one. On the top photo, you should just be able to make out the ledge just below the water level. Some more of the photos taken last weekend I put up in the gallery.
And yes, we still sail and swim in it regularly.
The 7th Guest for Vista: An Update
Posted Tue, Jan 29, 2008 at 8:36pm by ScottTagged: games, programming
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Unfortunately I haven't done a lot on this project recently as I've hit a bit of a stand still. The performance issues haven't really been looked at, primarily because it isn't my number 1 concern for the project yet, but rather trying to work out how the Groovie engine actually functions.
To try and achieve this, I fired up Notepad++ (Portable version) with the hex-editor plug-in to try and nut out the format. While I don't have much to report, I thought I'd note down what I've found so far. So far I've only really looked into script.grv. And even then, only at the bottom part of it where a heap of .grv files are listed.
Example section of script.grv
3F jh.grv \n 2C AB 17 08 2D 00 00 00 44 00 00 45 00 00 \n 1A 02 01 B0 02 3E 17 00 15 0B 3E \n 1A 02 01 B1 0B 3E 15 AB 17 \n
Each .grv file block seems to begin with 3F followed by the file name (with terminating null) followed by 2C AB ... 45 00 00. This appears to terminate the "header". The following bytes (1A 02 01) seem to represent a property block with the property type being represented by the B0/B1/B2 byte. The next 2 bytes indicate where in the file the next block (either 1A or 3F depending on which is next) starts. The rest of the info is currently unknown although the offset within the file of the next 3F block seems to be repeatedly mentioned as well.
I'll be sure to post when I work out anything else.
