Category: Video Games

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Gaming Rig updates

ASullivan

Hey all, hope things are well. Making a quick post as I’ve done some work on my gaming rig and wanted to share!

My gaming computer and main rig is something I use every single day and so it fulfills a few roles: Binging Youtube and Plex, gaming with friends and video conferencing. It’s been stellar for this over the last couple of years but has started to get a little “slow” for my tastes. Previously, I was running:

  • Ryzen 5 3600 with Wraith cooler (this baby ran HOT)
  • X570 AORUS ELITE mobo
  • 32GB Corsair RGB RAM at 2133MHz (more on this later)
  • 1TB Samsung 980 Pro NVME
  • Cooler Master MasterCase H500 ARGB Airflow ATX Mid-Tower

Noting the RAM: There is an issue with 2nd and 3rd gen Ryzen CPUs when running 4 DIMM slows where the RAM crashes or won’t run at full speed. I lived with this for a while but between that and the CPU the system was starting to get bottlenecked when compared to newer systems.

So, the goals for the new system:

  • Same use cases: video, gaming, conferencing
  • Virtual work using VMWare Workstation to build some Kubernetes labs and similar to tinker with
  • Cooler CPU and RAM running at full speeds finally
  • Use the same case, storage, mobo and power supply as before

Sick of lists yet? Well here’s one more 🙂 The NEW parts! After some BIOS updates and chipset drivers, here’s where I landed:

  • Ryzen 9 5900X 12C/24T
  • 64GB Corsair RAM (4 X 16) running at 3200MHz
  • NZXT Kraken 240 – RL-KN-240-B1 Liquid cooler for the massive CPU upgrade

With everything together the system has become a powerhouse. I ran into some initial issues with random crashes I ironed out by turning up the voltage adjustments a little. I’m not running a stable 4.95GHz idling around 50C and with load temps around 78C. MUCH better than before with a more powerful and much faster CPU. The system absolutely flies now and I’ve been playing with more virtual machines while playing video games and everything is running perfectly. Looks like I’m settled with this build for a while but I’ll post more if I make any more changes.

Thanks for reading, cheers and hope to see you again!

Tekkit2 Minecraft Build notes on Ubuntu 22.04LTS

ASullivan

Assuming a fresh install of Ubuntu 22.04LTS, accepting default options and no extra packages except OpenSSH server to login.

Install zip/unzip:

apt-get update; apt-get install zip unzip

Download archive for Tekkit2 (as of 20221202):

wget https://servers.technicpack.net/Technic/servers/tekkit-2/Tekkit-2_Server_v1.1.3.zip

Unzip:

unzip Tekkit-2_Server_v1.1.3.zip

Install Java and add Repos:

add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/java
apt install openjdk-8-jdk

Attempt to launch to confirm server is working:

chmod +x LaunchServer.sh
./LaunchServer.sh

Should take several minutes to load, depending on hardware. If this works, set up cron to similar to below to launch server upon reboot:

root@syr-tekkit:# cat /etc/cron.d/root_gameserver
@reboot root sleep 5 && cd /home/asullivan && /usr/bin/screen -dmS gameserver-screen /home/asullivan/LaunchServer.sh

Open up port 25565 to internet while server is running to connect. Use the Technic Launcher.

RG350P Handheld First Impressions

ASullivan

After saving up for this handheld, I pulled the trigger on this recently and have been pretty impressed overall. The system runs buttery smooth, comes preconfigured with a large number of emulators and ROMs and just generally feels like a solid little handheld from the hay-day of Gameboy goodness.

Running at 100 bucks with a micro-SD card, the system isn’t super expensive when compared to my Nintendo DS with a custom Kart to run roms (about 90 bucks total and much more limited in what it can do in comparison). This handheld even plays PSX roms without issue and has excellent loading times when compared to my playing times as a child.

Things of note:

  • Quick to boot. Plays games very well once you find the right roms. Surprised it plays PSX roms as well as it does (Vigilante 8, Driver, Crash Team Racing each for 30 mins or more without issue).
  • The system will randomly not boot (stuck on black screen) but hitting the reset button immediately resets and fixes it.
  • Came with 32GB MicroSD card loaded with ROMS which makes managing them much easier. Comes with a bunch of emulators (including DOSBOX which is neat) and all are preconfigured and just work which is excellent.
  • Lots of menu options that make it pretty solid to use. Can also save game states to come back to them if the games don’t support saving (very neat feature).
  • Worth 100 bucks? I’d say so for sure, especially with the loaded SD card.

I’m going to be spending a lot of time tinkering with this. It appears it supports networking (guessing via one of the two USB-C ports) so will need to check that out for easier ROM management off my internal SFTP server. In the meantime, I’ll be reliving my childhood on a 4 inch screen.

Worms Armageddon Drinking Game

ASullivan

Drinking situations for normal drink/beer/wine-cooler:

  • When a worm of yours gets hit for more than 50 damage, drink once
  • When a worm of yours gets hit for more than 100 damage, drink twice
  • When a worm of yours is killed by falling into the water, (NOT by homerun!), drink twice.
  • When a worm of yours is killed and leaves a tombstone on the playing field, drink thrice.
  • When two or more of your worms are killed at the same time, drink half of your drink (or finish if less than half full).
  • For every of your team’s tombstones that are dropped into the water, drink once. If it happens off-screen and cannot be verified, no drink needed.
  • When you grab a tool kit/weapon kit, all other players drink once.
  • When you grab a health kit, all other players drink twice.
  • When you grab both a toolkit and a health kit, all other players drink 4 times.
  • When you shoot, and your projectile ends up in the water without hitting anything, drink twice.
  • When you use your special weapon and miss, drink 4 times.
  • When you teleport out of harm’s way, drink twice.
  • Skip go, drink once.

Drinking situations for shots:

  • When you commit suicide, drink 1 shot
  • When you jetpack and end up killing yourself, drink one shot and drink once.
  • If you get killed by a prod, the only way of alleviating yourself of some of the shame is to drink 1 shot chased by a hearty chug of your drink.
  • If you get homerun’ed into the water, drink 1 shot and give your best Worm voice impression.
  • If a player skips a turn without moving AT ALL, everyone takes a shot
  • If you sit on a worm and make a wormstack for 15 seconds, bottom player takes a shot