gareth.halfacree.co.uk

Steam - Valve’s digital distribution mechanism - is having a sale at the moment with some reasonable bargains, including a decent deal on Max Payne and Max Payne 2.  Having enjoyed the original and never having played the sequel, I snapped it up.

There are problems, however: while the original works fine, Max Payne 2 suffers from major audio glitches in the video sequences.  Sticking, juddering, popping every few seconds - it’s a mess.  I tried setting processor affinity, turning Direct3D acceleration off, setting Windows 2000 compatibility mode - the works.

I finally figured out that it’s not actually Max Payne 2 that’s the problem, but rather the Bink video playback DLL that comes bundled.  Having upgraded the RAD Video Tools to the latest version, I was able to recreate the problem outside the game engine simply by playing back the - admittedly fairly high-resolution - intro video within the Bink Player.

It turns out that some older software - Bink playback tools included - don’t like SMP systems, i.e. systems with two or more logical processors.  The good news is that there’s a relatively simple fix.

Read the rest of this entry »

Well, not Santa per se…  More one of his helpers.

Okay, it was company MD Gareth (no relation) Davies in a daft hat handing out the results of the Secret Santa we’ve been running.

I’m pleased to say that I came away from it with an absolutely awesome toy crossbow - which is powerful enough to send a dart flying half-way across the office.  I don’t know who was buying for me, but they know me scarily well.  The only problem was keeping Lee away from it for the safety of people around him.

Sadly, I was too distracted by the crossbow to see the recipient of my gift’s reaction, so I’ll just have to hope that they were suitably pleased.

Well, after deciding I was unable to post a copy of the Davenport Lyons letter - the one that was kindly scanned in and sent to me by a mysterious benefactor - owing to the threats of legal action the company is apparently taking against anyone who distributes said letter online, I was surprised - shocked, even - to find the self-same letter posted on good-old Wikileaks.

The full letter - the same one I was unable to post - is available on their secure website, and thanks to the organisation’s modus operandi is unlikely to be going anywhere soon no matter what threats Davenport Lyons makes.

What a shame someone ignored the strongly-worded threats in the letter against publication.  Oh, well - thank you, kind - and, more importantly, anonymous - Wikileaks contributor.

Well, it looks like Davenport Lyons has decided that going after alleged sharers of computer games isn’t lucrative enough. To keep the cheques rolling in now it’s approaching Xmas time they’ve come up with a whole new method of making money: porn.

More specifically, accusing people of downloading pornographic movies from peer-to-peer networks.  If you think about it, it’s the perfect scam: it’s one thing to stand up in court and defend yourself from accusations you downloaded Sid Meier’s Alpha Centurai but quite another to publicly associated yourself with Army Fuckers.

According to the BBC, the letters follow the usual Davenport Lyons theme of “you’ve been naughty, give us £500.”  Again, Davenport Lyons is ignoring the very real possibility that their ‘monitoring’ company, DigiProtect GmBH, is acting on poisoned data.  They’re still laying it on thick and threatening extremely expensive court action too.

The good news is that none of this is worth a damn.  As I’ve said before, make yourself a nuisance and they’ll go away.  So far, not a single person who followed my advice and replied to the demands with a Subject Access Request has been taken to court or made to pay a single penny.

If you’re curious as to what the Davenport Lyons letters look like, a very kind individual has sent me a scan of one he received after being accused of sharing a video file.  Unfortunately, I have been advised that Davenport Lyons doesn’t like the thought of people being able to prepare themselves and collaborate on a defence and is actually threatening anyone who publishes the letter online with legal action.  As a result - and because I don’t want to give them any ammunition that could take this site down - I’m unable to publish it.

As always, keep making a nuisance of yourselves and take heart from the fact that not a single person that has put up even the most basic of defences has been successfully sued by Davenport Lyons.