Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2009 July 12

= July 12 =

red alert 2 yuri's revenge
Hi Wikipedians:

I'm currently having lots of fun editing the rulesmd.ini file of the game. I am wondering if there is anyway of making a soldier unit such as conscript deploy into a building such as the construction yard?

70.31.152.197 (talk) 01:39, 12 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Probably. Look up the MCV rules and see what they say, however it accomplishes the same feat. --98.217.14.211 (talk) 02:21, 12 July 2009 (UTC)

Safety of online RPGs
Do ourWorld and Spineworld allow for safe chatting? Although the kid in question should be fine, I still worry (and no, I'm not a parent). If not, any alternatives that I can suggest (besides Disney sites and Poptropica)? Vltava  68  02:57, 12 July 2009 (UTC)


 * I realize you're not a parent, but you might still find ourWorld's page of information for parents helpful. They look like they try to be very accommodating. Spineworld also has some information in their FAQ (under Safety), saying that they take child safety seriously, you can ignore/block "unwanted communication" with other users, etc. Indeterminate (talk) 07:50, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

Video games with background eye candy
I'm a sucker for high detail backgrounds, especially in a natural-type setting. Realistic rocks, plants, trees, etc. I've logged more hours on my X-Box 360 playing Oblivion than any sane person would care to admit and Fable was another favourite. Could anyone suggest other games (preferably available for the 360 or PC) that are similar, either in gameplay (love nonlinear gameplay) or background eye candy? Matt Deres (talk) 16:51, 12 July 2009 (UTC)


 * I do not have any suggestion, but I can understand what you mean. Personally, my favourite game would be a completely non-linear (there really do not need to be any objectives at all) sandbox game set in the jungle of Ice Age 3. The jungle needs to be very large, so large that you "never" will get tired of it (not like The Simpsons Game, where you know the entire city after only a few minutes), and there should be an seemingly infinite set of different plants, animals and other natural objects, and you should be able to walk in the djungle, fly through it, or even dig you way through it in the soil. The vegetation is dense, and the graphics is detailed, high-resolution, truly high-end (at least as good as Crysis). And, of course, the main characters from the film series is there, and their activities and the player's interaction with them should never become repetitive. --Andreas Rejbrand (talk) 20:41, 12 July 2009 (UTC)


 * (For PC) At the risk of getting accused of POV by the above poster, a game similar to Oblivion, with the most gorgeous nature graphics and beautifully rendered fantasy locations: Sacred 2. Of course that is a medieval fantasy world. I do agree with Crysis for the best realism I've ever seen (Call of Duty in second place), providing your computer can handle it on high resolution. Oh, and Test Drive Unlimited has some spectacular scenery of Hawaii. Sandman30s (talk) 21:37, 12 July 2009 (UTC)
 * I've got to add a word of caution to buying sacred2 - at least on the xbox 360 - it really didn't sit well with me - in fact I would say that it was a blood awful game - but I do agree that the background graphics were nice in places. Unfortunately it had other flaws.83.100.250.79 (talk) 16:50, 13 July 2009 (UTC)
 * The PC version, with the latest patch, is running very smoothly for me. Diablo-type games are not everyone's cup of tea... Sandman30s (talk) 12:21, 14 July 2009 (UTC)
 * It was the "when you attack or cast spells you stop moving thing" that killed it for me, Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance did the mechanics much better last generation, so having played that I couldn't go back to something inferior - I was upset/bitter - because it had many good points.83.100.250.79 (talk) 16:01, 14 July 2009 (UTC)
 * Potentially Assasin's Creed - anoyingly the roaming is limited until the game is half finished, and the colour palette is annoyingly grey - but once you get a chance to go climbing on the roof tops I think you might enjoy it - it does eventually get a really good "just wandering around because I like it feeling", and the views are great.83.100.250.79 (talk) 16:58, 13 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Fallout III's wide open environment might qualify, but it's more about overgrown centuries old ruins and not so much about lush greenery. APL (talk) 20:13, 13 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Get the PC version for the Elder scrolls. They come with an editor (Construction set) and you can basically create your own worlds/games. You can start creating your own thing based on the games and landcape/items they came with.  With a few add-ons you can even design your own building elements, terrain patterns, animals, game play etc.  (There are a few bugs and hick-ups that occasionally don't let you do quite what you want, though.)  WARNING do that when you have some time off from school/work and make sure a relative/spouse will feed you and pull the plug occasionally so you can get some sleep. The mod forum  has lots of helpful people who'll lend n hand and swap mods. (OR: Try the birds!) 71.236.26.74 (talk) 07:47, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for the responses everyone. My PC can't handle Oblivion in anything close to normal graphics (I've been spoiled by the 360 version anyway), though I'll consider the mod thing when I move on to the next PC. I wasn't aware of Sacred 2 at all, so that's one I'll have to look at further fer shure. The graphics for Crysis look amazing, but the subject matter isn't quite to my taste. Matt Deres (talk) 23:50, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Stolen Music
Basically, I know nothing about computers.

A while go I put some music onto an Ipod, somehow, and it worked for a while. However,recently that ipod stopped working, and I sent it to a mechanic to get fixed. Somewhere along the way everything on it was deleted, and I have had to put it all back. But some of the music in Itunes refuses to copy over because it apparently isn't on my computer any more. This has only affected the music I added to the collection more recently.

Where then is this music? I can't find it anywhere on my computer, I had assumed putting it into Itunes would save the files there, where I could get then back again if I needed to, but apparently it just saved the names and finds the rest somewhere else on my computer. What can I do to get this back?

HS7 (talk) 17:25, 12 July 2009 (UTC)


 * I wrote out long answers to this question twice so far but each time got bogged down in trying to cover several OS's and music types. Could you help us narrow down a solution by telling us (a) how did you get the music in the first place?  Did you buy it via the iTunes Store, or perhaps did you rip CDs?  (b) What version of Microsoft Windows are you running?  Windows XP?  Windows Vista?  Tempshill (talk) 21:54, 12 July 2009 (UTC)

Name of simple one- screen game (Japanese)
Some time ago I remember that I saw some very simple but funny one screen games. It showed only one picture and you had to discover something. For example, it was a room and you got to go out of it discovering a saw or other tool. Is there any name for this kind of game? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Quest09 (talk • contribs) 19:13, 12 July 2009 (UTC)


 * I don't believe I've heard a word describing such games. Ludomancy has several arty one-screen games.  Many of the "I Spy" games are one-screen games.  Tempshill (talk) 19:40, 12 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Are you looking for the name so you can know the name, or looking for the name to go search on your own? If the latter, literally gazillions of such games (mostly titled "Escape the ...") exist on the Addicting Games site.  Many of them seem to be little more than slap-togethers or ripoffs of one another, but they may be "good enough" for your needs.
 * (Now that they've added pre-game advertising in the form of videos that don't seem to be skippable, I've found the site to be a lot less addicting...) --DaHorsesMouth (talk) 22:09, 12 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Yes, this information is good enough. I wanted to know both, the name and where to find them. I do believe they had a specific name. "Escape the ..." is what I was thinking at. --Quest09 (talk) 10:26, 13 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Would the Crimson and Viridian Rooms be close to what you want? Washii (talk) 06:11, 14 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Escape the room sounds like the genre you are after. Warofdreams talk 19:42, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

MHz - Help
I have just updated my recent hardware (gaming PC) but getting a problem in system. Sometimes my system gets hanged in the middle of operation.And even worse it is constantly happening while playing game with standard recommendation. I suspect about the bus speed of RAM. Here is quick view:

Intel Core 2 Quad 9400 (Frontal Bus Speed or FBS 1333 MHz)

XFX play hard 750i SLI nForce Motherboard (FBS 1333 MHz)

RAM Transcend 2 GB (800 MHz)

So, is RAM with lower bus speed causing this "hanged" problem? There's a 1066MHz RAM available in the market. Thanks in advance--202.56.7.153 (talk) 21:29, 12 July 2009 (UTC)


 * No it shouldn't cause the symptoms you've described. Can you elaborate more on your "hanged" state? Does the screen go black or just stay frozen for some time and then continue? Do you happen to have an ATI card? ATI cards (not sure about Nvidia cards) can reset the GPU through its driver when it encounters an error or overheats or becomes unstable due to overclocking, and that fits your description of it happening more often in games than in desktop. --antilivedT 22:53, 12 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Screen stays frozen for forever and I have to press Restart button. I have an ATI card (Sapphire ATI Radeon 4890 1 GB Cross Fire). It usually happens if my system runs for 5 to 6 hours. I am using 38'C PC Case recommended by Intel, but it's not branded. One more thing is that I am using XP service pack 2.But I found that Intel Core 2 Quad 9400 requires Vista 64 Bit Service Pack 1. Can it be PC Case which is not enough to provide better air inside the hardware (Motherboard, Graphics card, RAM) or operating system?--119.30.36.53 (talk) 09:11, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

Update: I have just tried to play Call of Duty 5. But within 10 minutes screen gets frozen again. I had no choice but pressing reset button. How can I rectify this problem without changing motherboard, processor and graphics card (because there's no possibility of changing them)? Should I get better PC Case or something else? --119.30.36.54 (talk) 10:51, 13 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Sounds to me like its overheating (running fine then stopping), though that more usually then not results in an auto shutdown/reboot. Try checking the fans on the CPU / Graphics cards. Also, try disabling any programs on startup. Look up memtest, 3dmark and prime95, they're used for stability testing for memory, graphics, and cpu respectively (tho 3dmark does also benchmark cpu). HTH PrinzPH (talk) 20:29, 13 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Download CPUID Hardware Monitor and play games for a few minutes then exit before it freezes. It will record the maximum temperature each component reached during that time which would be really useful in diagnosing the problem. Also, make sure to revert any overclocking that you may have done. --antilivedT 01:15, 14 July 2009 (UTC)


 * I have checked the fans on the CPU / Graphics cards. They are running fine even in frozen state. I ran CPUID Hardware Monitor. It shows the little difference though. One example is given below:

ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series hardware monitor (before playing game)


 * Voltage sensor 0	1.05 Volts [0x1] (GPU Core)
 * Temperature sensor 0	63°C (144°F) [0x3E] (GPU Core)
 * Fan sensor 0		1657 RPM [0x679] (GPU)

ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series hardware monitor (after playing game)


 * Voltage sensor 0	1.05 Volts [0x1] (GPU Core)
 * Temperature sensor 0	64°C (147°F) [0x40] (GPU Core)
 * Fan sensor 0		1807 RPM [0x70F] (GPU)

I never overclock my system and don not know how to do it. I just let the shop's hardware technicians to assemble all the components after purchasing them. I assume they did not do any drastic change to the system. After having this trouble I brought all the components to that shop and had the system checked by them. Surprisingly, everything seemed fine as they have air conditioner in their testing room which provided sufficient air inside the PC case. My PC Case does not contain any single cooling fan except the fans on CPU / Graphics cards. The shop suggested me to buy this PC Case recommended by ATI which has better ventilation then the current one. Can PC case be the problem of overheating? I have met some people who had this problem and they solved it by adding additional cooling fan or changed the PC Case. One more thing, how can I understand my system or graphics are being overclocked? How can I reset them to default condition?--202.56.7.151 (talk) 09:58, 15 July 2009 (UTC)
 * I found the my computer would freeze while playing call of duty 4, and the problems were down to the graphics card (NVIDIA 8800GT). I used RivaTune to decrease the memory speeds on my graphics card by about 5% and that stopped my PC crashing. Rjwilmsi  17:16, 18 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Are those temps from the max column or just the current temp? A screenshot of Hardware Monitor after you've left it open and played games will be more useful. --antilivedT 04:59, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Best way to do graphics cards diagnostics in Linux?
I've recently installed Ubuntu Linux on an old computer. I've never used Linux before. How can I diagnose the problem that the graphic card does not give any video - only the on-motherboard video works. I'd like to find out if the computer is aware that the graphics card is there, why it is not using it, is the card giving any error messages etc etc. I have another working computer, so I can burn boot cds and so on if needed. Thanks 78.149.188.94 (talk) 23:30, 12 July 2009 (UTC)


 * lists all the pci, pcix, and agp devices; if the card is listed there, then linux can see it. Have you simply tried disabling the onboard video - some (most) motherboards can't cope with two graphics devices active at the same time. 87.112.22.255 (talk) 23:54, 12 July 2009 (UTC)


 * [How to change video cards in Linux Ubuntu?] a few questions further up is about this subject, you may get some clues from that.
 * The graphics card may be one the Ubuntu has no drivers for; see if you can get one from the internet. But first check the BIOS and turn the on-board video OFF, if that's possible, to force it to look for the other card. If that fails, just run it with the on-board one.
 * I had two "identical" Win installations on two hard drives once; one would understand the on-board only, the other the add-on card only, no matter what I did with BIOS settings and drivers. To boot from the other disk I had to change the video being used.
 * Most newer mobos will run twoo sets of graphics, that's how you get to use two monitors at once. There may be considerations of similarity involved though. - 125.63.156.249 (talk) 05:11, 13 July 2009 (UTC)
 * The mobo is old, the monitors are old. 78.149.198.158 (talk) 10:49, 13 July 2009 (UTC)
 * To troubleshoot video problems, the most helpful place to look is the /var/log/Xorg.0.log file. Specifically, look for lines that start with (EE) - they indicate an error that occurred. If it's an unhelpful error like "No screens found", try looking further up in the logs. Usually you can find a message from the video drivers that'll tell you exactly what the problem is. Indeterminate (talk) 07:42, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

Thanks. Please explain how to use these commands. How do I open a command box? Do I just type in the commands above as written and press return? Thanks. 78.149.198.158 (talk) 10:49, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

I have now found out how to do commands - use something called the "Terminal". I typed the lspci command in, and I got eight lines of information in responce. Only one line mentions anything to do with graphics: "00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82815 Chipset Graphics Controller (CGC) (rev02)", and only one line mentions PCI: "00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation PCI Bridge (rev01)". Does that mean the computer is not aware there is a graphics card in one of the PCI slots? Using lspci -help I see that it has other sub-commands to access PCI: do I have to tell the computer to look at the PCI slot? I had an AGP graphics card in when I installed Ubuntu - the AGP card does not seem to work and may have been damaged in another computer.

I also tried the /var/log/Xorg.0.log command, but it gave the responce "Permission denied". Should I just bin the graphics cards and/or the motherboard? thanks 78.146.166.2 (talk) 18:30, 13 July 2009 (UTC)


 * That lspci is showing you that it sees only the motherboard's onboard graphics card, not the one in the AGP slot (which is presumably an nVidia or an ATI?).  As I said above, I think you need to turn off the onboard graphics in the BIOS screen; I do not think your old machine can support two graphics adaptors. 87.114.25.180 (talk) 18:55, 13 July 2009 (UTC)


 * Sorry for not being clear: /var/log/Xorg.0.log isn't a command, it's a text file. If you browse to it, and open it with a text editor, you can read about why your X server (the graphical part of the Linux OS) isn't working properly. But yeah, it looks like it's not detecting your PCI video card; it might be broken, or it could be those BIOS settings. Indeterminate (talk) 07:56, 14 July 2009 (UTC)