Where are we from ?

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Most of the time I listen music while playing computer. Is that the same thing for you? Some music remind the game I was playing while listening that music. Each time I heard Godsmack, I remember Starcraft, sound of Hydralisk and Zerglin crawling all over my base

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No, i use to listen music whithout doing something else. But no always. Of course, i'm listening too while doing other things.
I was just asking if you were really loving music to listen it alone and without doing anything else...wow, i repeat the same things each time..ahah...hard to explain.

I'm working in a Radio, and we have some computers. And one evening we played Starcraft and the sound was connected to the mixer. So we have some Protoss or Zerg sounds mixed with the music which was broadcating all over the country. Ahah this was funny. That evening, some people who were listening to the radio must have been surpised by that. Maybe they knew the game and said to themselves: "ohoh, some are playing to starcraft in the radio"...ahah.

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Originally posted by Sylvain
I'm working in a Radio, and we have some computers. And one evening we played Starcraft and the sound was connected to the mixer. So we have some Protoss or Zerg sounds mixed with the music which was broadcating all over the country. Ahah this was funny. That evening, some people who were listening to the radio must have been surpised by that. Maybe they knew the game and said to themselves: "ohoh, some are playing to starcraft in the radio"...ahah.

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LOL :D

Ha ha, I'm wondering, how would I've react hearing a big "POWER OVERWHELMING" while listening radio! :D

JeffB

Well it really depends on the kind of music. The one thing I tend to listen to without doing anything else is Jazz. I come home from work, put in "Piano Reflections", sit on my sofa and just listen and relax for the 45 minutes. But I couldn't do that for pop or other music (I don't like classical music too much).

Then again a few friends of mine are musicians and when I go to their place they always make me listen to their stuff / new records they bought and then I just listen too. But it's more like figuring out the music rather than just flowing along with it. If this makes sense ;)

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Originally posted by JeffB
Ha ha, I'm wondering, how would I've react hearing a big "POWER OVERWHELMING" while listening radio! :D

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Ok, now you got me, where did that sound play ?

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Originally posted by Yves M
Ok, now you got me, where did that sound play ?

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In Starcraft :D :D :D ;)

JeffB

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Then again a few friends of mine are musicians and when I go to their place they always make me listen to their stuff / new records they bought and then I just listen too. But it's more like figuring out the music rather than just flowing along with it. If this makes sense

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Well, in fact, i'm musician. Since i'm a "sofware engineer", my life is for the music. So it takes a laaaaaaarge place in my life. That's why maybe i asked always this question to people...

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"POWER OVERWHELMING"

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is a Zerg sound i think (i never play with Zergs). When you miss some kind of minerals or gas...no ?

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Originally posted by Sylvain
is a Zerg sound i think (i never play with Zergs). When you miss some kind of minerals or gas...no ?

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No, it's an unit sound, but I think it's only when you click many time on the unit (each unit have funny stuff you know). It is not from zerg, I think there is one or some that say something that looks like english, but at first they all say "oouuuarrrrgg", "yiiarrrg" :D

Which do you play, you should know... "power overwheming" is a cheat, the only one an unit (<- mysterious unit) say :)

JeffB

No one knows anything around!!! ;)

"Power overwhelming" is a cheat code that make your units invincible, but it is also the sound that one protoss unit says sometimes. I don't remember the name of the unit right know but it's the big blue electric guy you create when you merge two templars.

And you don't need to click a lot on it to hear it. I don't remember if it says it one a simple click or as an answer when you give an order though.

The name is Archons, so you, Elrond, got an English Starcraft version? Do french prefer english version?

JeffB

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The name is Archons, so you, Elrond, got an English Starcraft version? Do french prefer english version?

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Almost all my games are in english.
No, personnaly, i don't prefer english versions. But i don't prefer french versions too. I prefer original versions (it's the same in cinema). So if it's english, if prefer english. If it's french...
Originals are always better i think.

When i play starcraft with a friend, we always play against the computer. I take the protoss, and he takes the human. And i really love the human sounds...the "receiving transmissions" or "executing orderrrsssss"..ahah that's really funny.

I have english german and french versions of games, but generally prefer the english ones. Many times the translations are not up to par. But I've played Warcraft III in both french and english and actually like the french version better. The voices are cooler I think ;)

When programmers include some funny sound in games (like in starcraft, or better, in Warcraft3 when you click a few times on a unit), those funny dialogs are references to the language they are said. Mean, in french we will have some reference to a french singer, or a french personnality or TV program. In english, it's the same but with english things...ahah.
Translate a game like this must be be funny.

It certainly looks like the people making WCIII had a lot of time on their hands, judging from the whole ending sequence :p

The thing I really like about this game is the level editor. Just using that you can make some funky animations yourself or just make some interesting maps. I tried a map yesterday with 12 players on a small map. It's barabaric and intense, but good fun :)

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Originally posted by Yves M
It certainly looks like the people making WCIII had a lot of time on their hands, judging from the whole ending sequence :p

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And it's better after completing the game on hard!! :)

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The thing I really like about this game is the level editor. Just using that you can make some funky animations yourself or just make some interesting maps. I tried a map yesterday with 12 players on a small map. It's barabaric and intense, but good fun :)

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The editor is the best you can have, you can do ANYTHING. But, to do a map for melee is hard. You must think of ressources, creeps and treasurse (as the terrains, terraing level and neutrals buildings). It is long and it takes times, I've done less WarCraft 3 maps than StarCraft (I have a bunch of StarCraft maps ;) )

JeffB

Really ? Making a melee map takes me about 10 minutes. Five to seven minutes to make the terrain including different heights etc. Then placing the goldmines is easy since I reserved space for them in the terrain, placing the starting positions for the players next to the gold mines takes no time at all. Then placing creeps is not that hard. It actually pretty cool how you can can copy / paste groups of creeps with any additional settings (like specifed items that they drop on death). The thing that takes longest is placing the trees :p

I usually don't put many neutral buildings on the maps. Some workshops, maybe mercenary camps but not much decorative stuff. It's true that my maps don't look very polished but they are nice to play and that's the main thing ;)

It's true though that making a campaign map with triggers is a bit harder.

I also like the fact that you can edit the units. I guess everybody uses that at first to create "super-heroes" :p

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Originally posted by Marina Vaillant 20 pages ago

I'm not much interested in your gaming dicussion, so I will not much interfere. :)
Marina

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And we're still stuck with it :D

JeffB

Ups, I hadn't thought about that one ;) Well in-between there was stuff about music and movies as well ;)

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Originally posted by JeffB
The editor is the best you can have, you can do ANYTHING

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Actually, I would tend to disagree with this. The map editors are designed to be used by almost anyone, and this presents a problem, because the creators didn't go into enough depth. It is very difficult to work with variables in the Blizzard campaign editors. For example, in starcraft, you can use the mineral counter, gas counter, and the 256 switches for variables, and nothing else. You can't make a complex game without having an easy way to use variables. Also, there are limited usages of commands. You can't tell a unit to hold, or stop, etc. And even the simplest things take dozens of triggers if you want to do them correctly. I have made many maps for starcraft, some of which are widespread across b.net, and I know how tough it can be. There have been times where I've had great ideas for maps but didn't even try to make them, not because I couldn't, but because I didn't have the massive amount of time it consumes to spare.

2 Sylvain:

I like to listen music!!! And when I can find time to listen music without doing something, I am happy :) But it's not very often like I wish :(
As for me, I like classical rock. For ex. Pink Floyd.

And else:
Tomorrow I was being posted up in the list of "malicious" shirkers of university lessons. :eek: :rolleyes: :D :p :D
Here I am hardly working for world rescue but they don't understand it uuuuuuu :eek: :mad:
:)

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Originally posted by solarflare
The map editors are designed to be used by almost anyone, and this presents a problem, because the creators didn't go into enough depth.

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Well, it's true that basicly, the editor is made for everyone, but you can script (an option to transform your trigger to TEXT), that means, create variables, array and the like, but, not everyone can do that, and sure it can take a bit of time ;)

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It is very difficult to work with variables in the Blizzard campaign editors. For example, in starcraft, you can use the mineral counter, gas counter, and the 256 switches for variables, and nothing else.

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In WarCraft 3, you can use any variables. I have create a mastermind game in Warcraft 3. It would have been a pain in Starcraft since you can only use boolean switches. I don't find it hard to understand. Functions are well separated and easy to understand (but I did not looks at all). You can create category for your own trigger. In starcraft, they were just all in the same list and it was pretty confusing.

Since it can takes time, I did not see any others games that allow you do to as much (<-pratically anything). Dungeon Siege mod was a lot harder to masterise, Disciples 2 was having limitations, Starcraft Editor was also having limitation but was quite good at the time, Unreal and Rune also were hard to mastermise and having limitation. Anyway, I did not explore all of the map editor, but I have found easy to do something as complicated than a mastermind game in War3, so I expect anything can be done :)

JeffB

I'm proud to announce to everyone that the poll have:

500 votes

Thanks to everyone (currently 502 folks) for their participation :D We are now stuck with the highly objective of 1000 votes

JeffB

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Originally posted by JeffB
you can script (an option to transform your trigger to TEXT)

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I don't know how :(

Ooh.. Long thread. I read all of it, almost :p

Seeing as this is well visited, I figured I might say hi to the regulars since I just registered.
I just recently (<1w ago) caught on coding in a Windows environment. Unix is where I've dwelled programming wise for the last ~7 yrs with DOS before that, C would be my main language of choice with Perl as a handy backup. Got to say C# was really easy to catch on, though VC++ seems to be a bit more complicated and down & dirty (which I like).

Anyone have a good clue whether it's worth learning MFC today, or should I stick to .Net?

Well, if we get serious here, I have a question.
Can I have worked with ActiveX and COM without knowing of it?
I've worked a few years with VC++ and MFC. (my history of threads here can testify this).

Marina

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Originally posted by Marina Vaillant
Well, if we get serious here, I have a question.
Can I have worked with ActiveX and COM without knowing of it?
I've worked a few years with VC++ and MFC. (my history of threads here can testify this).

Marina

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Actually yes. As soon as you add an ActiveX control element to your project you are working with COM (in the background)

From Gabriel:

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Actually yes. As soon as you add an ActiveX control element to your project you are working with COM (in the background)

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But.......if bugs appear.......you wouldn't know where the bugs are if you dunno COM.

It's something like working with C++ pointers when u dunno how it really works.(example : Xeon)
When bugs appear, u get yourself in a total mess and state of chaos cos' u dunno how to debug it in the first place. :):D:D

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Originally posted by Marina Vaillant
Well, if we get serious here, I have a question.
Can I have worked with ActiveX and COM without knowing of it?
I've worked a few years with VC++ and MFC. (my history of threads here can testify this).
Marina

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Adding an ActiveX and working with basic COM OLE interfaces is not too difficult using nthe class wizard.

But when you start having problems, it becomes more difficult to solve. The class wizard is not really flexible to handle the OLE interface, especially if you have to make changes to existing functions. I know that you should not change COM interface once they are released, but in the first hand, when you create a function and realise it's not exactly what you need, it becomes a real pain to change it if you don't know how it all works (odl file, INTERFACE_MAP, ...).

Creating a basic activeX is not too difficult (I've done one) if you use the same method (class wizard, ...), but there are sometimes little problems at the beginning.

It's probably good to start learning the basics of it, as it can be a powerful way to connect programs. Going deeper can be much more difficult, and I never had a real chance to do it.

Well, programming your own COM objects or accessing them is not that hard. Programming your own ActiveX using the various wizards (MFC or ATL) can be a bit more difficult, but it's not that hard. If you have to make do without the wizards then it gets complicated ;)

I'm using COM daily, since I write VC programs that interface with VB. COM is the preferred method of communication for this. This does not mean I'm an expert though ;)

For learning COM, I would suggest getting a book. The documentation in MSDN is OK but a bit confusing if you don't know the general principles.

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Originally posted by Yves M
For learning COM, I would suggest getting a book. The documentation in MSDN is OK but a bit confusing if you don't know the general principles.

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Yup. I'd suggest "Essential COM" by Don Box.

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Originally posted by Sylvain

Well, in fact, i'm musician. Since i'm a "sofware engineer", my life is for the music.

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What instruments do you play ? I like the guitar and keyboards. When I was young, I used to play 'Drums' made from old tins but I haven't had a chance to try out real drums :( At junior/ primary school, I was in the choir but growing up affected my voice so I left the singing to others. After selling my first program, I'm going to buy myself a bass guitar :cool:

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Originally posted by Marina Vaillant
[... some text ...]
Marina

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Happy birthday Marina :D :D :D :cool:

JeffB

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Originally posted by Elusive
Ooh.. Long thread. I read all of it, almost :p

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Poor you...

Reading the where are you from thread has been decreted a supplice. If you tell someone : "Go read the thread Where are you from poll", you are bad, evil and corrupted :D :D

Welcome here anyway

I'll take this moment to present my friend: SabreWulf :D

JeffB

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Happy birthday Marina.

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I have to follow this time, happy birthday Marina.

And Platinum Plus, you just posted the 1332th post in this thread. 1332 = 2 * 666.

From Platinum Pal:

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After selling my first program, I'm going to buy myself a bass guitar

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My! Art thou creating a program now? If so, what is it? Is it some kinda dimension-destroying or realm-killing application that turns the entire earth into nuclear wasteland and ghost towns when you click on a button? WHOA!

Anyway, regarding COM.......is it really worth it to learn COM?
When I've got enough money to upgrade my PC hardware and get VS. net, of course.....I'll be programming in Visual C++ .net.

But the thing is : does Visual C++ .net shield you from the COM stuff? I mean, can u create interopable objects/controls with Visual C++ .net without coding in COM and ATL?

I was having this strong feeling that although COM and ATL still exists, the hype is already long dead and we gotta learn .net instead of COM, cos' .net handles all the COM code for us.

Let's hope this is the way. :):D:)

I tried to learn COM once, and I somewhat got through the learning curve.....but when I started on ATL............aaarrgghhh!!!!!!! That's where my entire world turns into the Abyss. :)

Happy Birthday Marina :)

To Marina :


Joyeux Anniversaire!


Thoughtful Daddy Xeon even got a web translator to wish you happy birthday, k? :p:D:D:):D

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What instruments do you play ? I like the guitar and keyboards. When I was young, I used to play 'Drums' made from old tins but I haven't had a chance to try out real drums At junior/ primary school, I was in the choir but growing up affected my voice so I left the singing to others. After selling my first program, I'm going to buy myself a bass guitar

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I play electronic music. Samplers, keyboards, drum stations, effect processors..that kind of things. I also play Trumpet...that was when i was younger.

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Originally posted by Xeon
From Platinum Pal:
My! Art thou creating a program now? If so, what is it? Is it some kinda dimension-destroying or realm-killing application that turns the entire earth into nuclear wasteland and ghost towns when you click on a button? WHOA!

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If so, can you send me the source code when you're finished?

I guess it wouldn't feel right if I didn't say Happy Birthday Marina!

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Originally posted by solarflare

If so, can you send me the source code when you're finished?

I guess it wouldn't feel right if I didn't say Happy Birthday Marina!

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See, you can start writing before every one of us has gone ;)

However, as it is friday and I'm in Ireland, I'll have to leave for the pub soon.I'm not going to all drinking nights, but I have to go to some of them :D:p:D

Why do you want the source code? Do you want to Nuke Philadelphia? Don't give it to Simon666 then, he might not control what's he doing with this code... :rolleyes:

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Originally posted by Elrond
See, you can start writing before every one of us has gone ;)

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Whatever that means.

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Why do you want the source code? Do you want to Nuke Philadelphia? Don't give it to Simon666 then, he might not control what's he doing with this code... :rolleyes:

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Don't worry, I never trusted Simon666... he'd have to pay me at least US$10 to get that source code. I figure anyone worth less than US$10 might be ruthless! But anyone who has a tenspot would certainly show disgression! There are a few exceptions, of course.

Sorry for diverting the thread completely...

I got my own article posted on codeguru here :)

hehe :)

cool! I could probably write an article about the wealth of uses of cout, if only I could remember what it does...

Aye~ Solar! Simon666.......in case you dunno, he already has his own dimension-destroying program! It's called "Megido-Launcher"(version 17.4, service pack 65293, build 9564060070.64.25253.35.0010103).

According to him, he's currently building a space-ship voyager to escape on before he triggers mass destruction, otherwise if he didn't, he would perish together with us. Firing from space at earth is much safer, according to him.

Me and Simantec, the company of Nortan Anti-Virus, are working on a serious deal sponsored by US President Geroge W. Brush to create a counter-destruction software suite to stop this from happening. All I can say is that when Simon launches his Megido-Laucher and fire beams of mass destruction down to planet earth, our software(code-named Zeus), will open a protective shield across the entire earth and block these hellish beams and fire them back at Simon and his program.

Currently, Zeus is only at version 12.75, service pack 7436, build 38222.4636.274374.21), so we're biding for time.

That's all, guys. Gotta get back to work on our software now.

See you,
Xeon.

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Originally posted by JeffB


Happy birthday Marina :D :D :D :cool:

JeffB

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Thank you! :):D :D :D

Thank you all.
solarflare, you don't have to if you don't want to.

I'm not sure I added any activeX control or used COM... I will have a look at the book of Don Box, if I find it.
Thank for the info.

Marina

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Originally posted by Marina Vaillant
Thank you all.
solarflare, you don't have to if you don't want to.

I'm not sure I added any activeX control or used COM... I will have a look at the book of Don Box, if I find it.
Thank for the info.

Marina

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You can find Dons' book here. It is about the basics of COM. I have found it very usefull because it handels COM from ground-up without being a "beginners" book.

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Originally posted by JeffB
Poor you...

Reading the where are you from thread has been decreted a supplice. If you tell someone : "Go read the thread Where are you from poll", you are bad, evil and corrupted :D :D

Welcome here anyway

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Hehe.. Thx. Skimmed most of it, no worries ;) Anyway, I had a question but didn't get any answer,
I'm digging through and playing with MFC now, so.. No need to answer it. I'll go back to lurking now.. :p

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Originally posted by Marina Vaillant
Thank you all.
solarflare, you don't have to if you don't want to.

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I already did ;)
:D :cool:

Simon, this one's for you: I now have 6.66 posts per day!

I'm baffled :p