29 February 2008

BOYI 3881 Special Operation Review

Unmodified BOYI BI-3881 SO

The name BOYI (Kalash or D'Boys) is recognised as one of the pioneers of airsoft gun makers in China. On par with Jing Gong (Golden Bow), they manufacture medium-hi quality airsoft guns and one of their successful product is BI-3881 SO. Released in 2007, it is a modified M4 rifle replica featuring metal RAS for mounting accessories, Knights Armaments styled adjustable butt stock, and a stylish silencer.

There are two versions of BI-3881 SO, the first one is full metal version, the second one is plastic. In this review, I used the plastic body one. However, altough it is named plastic, the only difference with the metal version is the receiver, one is made of metal and the other is plastic.


Inside the box, you will find the M4 rifle, vertical grip, one-point tactical sling, a metal magazine which can be filled with 300 BB bullets, a 1100mAh battery + charger, some low quality BB bullets, a decent manual, and a cleaning rod. Most parts are made of metal; I can say that they are good quality and have smooth finishing. The plastic parts are the butt stock, upper and lower receivers, hand grip, and vertical grip. Altough some parts are made of plastic, it is quite sturdy and should be able to endure some hard hit. The included sling is also quite useful and made of good quality material.


About accuracy, I can say that this gun performs pretty accurate. You can get around 2,5cm deviation when shooting in 10-15m range with single-shot mode. In 30-40m range, you can shoot a man sized target quite easily, even with full-auto mode. However, to achieve this accuracy, you must carefully adjust the Hop-Up gears as it is very sensitive.

In terms of muzzle velocity, although I don't have a chronograph, my best guess is around 270-300 FPS, which is standard for an airsoft rifle. With this speed, a Coke can is easy to be destroyed with several hits. I tested it using 0.2g BB bullets.

My only complaints are that the butt stock wobbles quite heavily, its default battery power is quite weak, and the magazine seems to be not precisely fit. And for some people, this airsoft gun may be too heavy as it weigh around 4kg with full magazine.


The street price for this rifle is around US$100. At this cheap price, it would be a very good deal considering it has good quality. I would recommend this rifle for a beginner or even a veteran who wants to save money. It is also good for collection or for display.


Below is the picture of my gun. Notice that the original iron sight has been replaced with my Walther red-dot sight, the lower receiver has also been modified (with Colt custom marking), and an additional laser pointer is attached.

My Modified BOYI BI-3881 SO


28 February 2008

iDeaS - A Nintendo DS Emulator for PC

You dream to play Nintendo DS games in PC but don't want to wait until the console is obsolete just like Bleem did? Now you can have a playable Nintendo DS emulator for PC. It has flaws and performance problems, but it is playable and run quite smoothly on modern computers.
Complete with WiFi and gamepad support, it's a real emulator and supports many games. However, due to heavy processing load, some 3D intensive games runs quite slow. It still needs many optimisation for future release.

Screenshot:
iDeaS with PES 2008 running

Here is the download link (Version 1.022 with WiFi and DirectInput plugins):
http://rapidshare.com/files/95606629/ideas1022.zip


Virtual Machine - Run More OS in Your PC

Do you want to run another operating system in your computer, but don't want to create a dual-boot or repartition your hard disk? If you do, then you will need a virtual machine program. Basically virtual machine is a program which runs in your current operating system which can emulate a complete computer system so that another operating systems can run at the same time (Just like you have a computer inside a computer).

Virtual machine has many advantages, some of them are:

  • It can run programs which are not supported by your primary operating system.
  • You can safely test a program or code in your virtual operating system.
  • Able to run more than one operating system at the same time without having another PC.
  • Less hassle and less risk to your hard disk partitions.
In my experience, there are two best virtual machine programs, first is the most complete virtual machine system called VMWare Workstation. It features a complete virtual machine toolset and supports for almost all operating systems. However, it is quite hungry for resources, slow, and the most important is that you have to pay for it.
The second one is very good for basic use, not very resource intensive but only support Windows OS and some Linux OS. It's called Virtual PC. The best thing is that Virtual PC is free for Windows users.

Note that virtual machine softwares are best run in a computer equipped with dual-core or multi CPUs. An Intel CPU with Virtualization Technology also proven to give better performance when running these softwares.

Here are some screenshots of both softwares:


27 February 2008

Mass Effect is Coming to PC!

Mass Effect is a RPG game by BioWare released in 2007 for XBOX360 and has been Nominated Game of the Year by many game magazines and websites. It features a stunning graphics and visual effects as well as an intriguing story and gameplay.

Mass Effect is set on 23rd century in Earth. Where there are many conflicts between human and alien races and artificial races. You play as Commander John Shepard (but you can customise his appearance), you will encounter many planets, races, and many decisions that you have to make. The world will be very dynamic where every actions that you made will affect the environments and characters attitude toward you. Apart from main quest of saving galaxy, you will be given a lot of interesting side quests and minigames. For a Knights of the Republic veteran will surely like this game, however, the gameplay mechanics are not recycled.

Mass Effect has gained many good reviews (for the XBOX 360 version). Gamespot gives 8.5 / 10, IGN gives 9.4 / 10, and GameSpy gives 5 out of 5! So, we can expect that the PC version will be at least as good as the XBOX 360 one.

Originally only intended for XBOX360, BioWare now has confirmed that it will be released for PC on May 6th, 2008. PC version will have better resolution, more detailed, and better support for mouse and keyboard. At last, the most important thing is that it will run quite smoothly in mid-range gaming computer. I'll return later with full download links when it has been released!

Screenshots:


25 February 2008

Rescue Dawn - A Movie About Survival

There are many movies about Vietnam War. Most of them shows the might of US military soldiers and commanders, their courage, or Vietcong's atrocity literally. Rescue Dawn, a movie by Werner Herzog tells a Vietnam War story in a different way. A young pilot named Dieter Dengler, who is stranded somewhere in Laos after his plane is shot down. After he was captured, he was put in a captive camp where he met several fellow prisoners, which some of them are Americans. Tortured physically and psychologically, he tried hard to stay alive and escape from the camp. He shows his courage by having a strong will to return home and survive while every hope seems to fade away.

Filmed in Thailand, Rescue Dawn recreates a jungle environment where Dengler was captured and imprisoned. Director Werner Herzong is a perfectionist, he could creates a feeling like you are really in there, with all the jungle sounds, heat of the sun, and the most important, it's like you feel the sufferings that Dengler had.

Christian Bale acted very well. He could recreate a feeling of a prisoner with no hope, but because his optimism, he can survive the challenge. He even had to lose some weight to make his appearance looks like a starving captive. I think most of the scenes, he did it himself; like fighting with a snake, dragged with a buffalo, and even the scene where he must eat maggots (It's very disgusting! Just like Fear Factor). However, because Dieter Dengler is actually born in German, he should have a strong german accent, not american accent that Bale spoke in this movie.

There's a good morale in this movie where one must have a strong will to achieve something. It's shown by Dieter where he never surrender to fate. Overall, Rescue Dawn is a very good movie, it has good values, atmospheric experience, and a satisfying ending. I would really recommend this movie!

Download here:
http://rapidshare.com/files/77143173/rd.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/77143147/rd.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/77143157/rd.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/77143179/rd.part4.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/77143237/rd.part5.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/77143230/rd.part6.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/77143115/rd.part7.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/77143051/rd.part8.rar


23 February 2008

Gears of War PC Savegame Backup

The two most annoying bug in Gears of War PC are:

  1. It only installs in C:\Program Files\, it is ridiculous since many users don't keep their files in the same drive as Windows files. But it can easily fixed by moving the game directory to another location later after installation.
  2. Savegames are often corrupted, moreover you have to sign in to Microsoft Live in order to save your progress, it's really pain in the ass! In this case, internet connection is practically required. In this guide, I will show you how to relieve this savegames mess.
Suppose that you've just reformat your Windows drive, or your games goes crash, then you definitely want to restore your last position in the game. But guess what, when you run the game, your profile is lost!! And what's worse is that you cannot find where your savegames are located.

It is hidden by default, but that doesn't mean that you cannot back it up. Before backuping, make sure that your Windows Explorer is able to show hidden files and folders. Your profile location, along with the savegames is located in:
  • For Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\[Your Username]\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\XLive\Content
  • For Windows Vista: C:\Users\[Your Username]\AppData\Local\Microsoft\XLive\Content
After you backup this directory, you have no more to worry about! Game crash, repairing Windows, formatting your partition, you are ready to go!

Now you can go kick some bloody locust's asses!


22 February 2008

Crysis Benchmark Part 2

Here is the second part of my Crysis Benchmark as I promised. Now I have upgraded to Pentium D 940 3.20 GHz, let's now see the difference in Crysis performance!

Since Pentium D processors are naturally friendly to be overclocked, I used two clock settings in my benchmark. The first one is the original clock, which is 3.20 GHz, and the second one is the overclocked one 3.60 GHz. I got this by increasing the bus speed from 200MHz to 225 MHz (225 MHz x 16 = 3.60 GHz)

An overclocked Pentium D 940

To see my complete computer specs, please see my first post at: http://avateck.blogspot.com/2008/02/crysis-benchmark-part-1.html

I. Pentium D 940 original speed (3.20 GHz)
In this part, like usual I used two settings, one is overall high and the other is custom settings I used to play Crysis (combination of medium and high settings).

Test Run #1
Settings: High (Global settings to High)
Resolution: 1024x768
AntiAliasing: No
Demo Level: benchmark_cpu @ 7a.m.
Average FPS Results: 12.95 FPS
Screenshot:

Test Run #2
Settings: Custom
- VolumetricEffects=Medium
- Texture=High
- ObjectDetail=Medium
- Sound=Medium
- Shadows=Medium
- Water=High
- Physics=Medium
- Particles=Medium
- Shading=High
- PostProcessing=VeryHigh
- GameEffects=Medium
Resolution: 1024x768
AntiAliasing: No
Demo Level:
benchmark_cpu @ 7a.m.
Average FPS Results: 15.96 FPS
Screenshot:

The result #1 shows that there is an increase of 1.05 FPS from Pentium 4 524, well it's not quite an improvement though. However, the second test shows a better result, 3.02 FPS difference from my old Pentium 4 524 or roughly 39% better performance!

II.
Pentium D 940 overclocked speed (3.60 GHz)
Now let's see how Pentium D 940 performs when it is overclocked.

Test Run #1
Settings: High (Global settings to High)
Resolution: 1024x768
AntiAliasing: No
Demo Level: benchmark_cpu @ 7a.m.
Average FPS Results: 13.08 FPS

Test Run #2
Settings: Custom
- VolumetricEffects=Medium
- Texture=High
- ObjectDetail=Medium
- Sound=Medium
- Shadows=Medium
- Water=High
- Physics=Medium
- Particles=Medium
- Shading=High
- PostProcessing=VeryHigh
- GameEffects=Medium
Resolution: 1024x768
AntiAliasing: No
Demo Level:
benchmark_cpu @ 7a.m.
Average FPS Results: 16.39 FPS

Now with overclocked speed. Test run #1 shows that there's only a little improvement at 13.08 FPS from 11.90 FPS at Pentium 4 524 and 12.95 FPS at original speed. And the second test show 16.39 FPS, which is only 0.43 FPS difference from the original speed.

The results conclusion is that overclocking Pentium D shows not much effect in 3D games performance. Especially Crysis, the performance depends more on video card power rather than CPU. However, a transformation from a single core processor (my old Pentium 4) to a dual core processor (Pentium D) indeed shows a significant performance. Perhaps the performance difference between these two processors is more significantly visible in general computing tasks (such as office programs, image editing, rendering image from 3D applications, etc).


Replacing Your LGA775 Processor - A Guide

Here is a guide to remove and install a LGA775 socket processor. In this guide, I will remove a Pentium 4 524 processor along with its original Intel fansink to be replaced with a new Pentium D 940 processor with a custom Deepcool S775J02 fansink.
If you ask me is it hard? No, it's not! You just need to be careful when doing it.
What special in this guide is that the processor is replaced without a necessity to detach your motherboard from computer casing.

Intel Pentium D 940 processor with custom Deepcool S777J02 fansink

Let's go straight to the guide:
  1. The first step is to open your CPU case, make sure that all power cord have been pulled off.
  2. Remove the fansink by rotating each fastener 1/4 turn counterclockwise, then pull up on each fastener to release them. Finally, remove the fansink.

  3. Open socket lever by pushing lever down and away from the socket (1) then lift the lever (2).
  4. Clean the dust first (if any) before pulling the load plate. This is done to protect the socket contacts from dust or damage when cleaning.
  5. Make sure that any of the socket contacts is not bent. If so, use a pinset to repair any bent. In my case, I use a custom fansink, therefore I have to put the fan chassis behind motherboard to fit the fan screw (But if you use a different fansink like original Intel, you don't have to do this).
  6. Now hold the processor with thumb and index fingers (only hold processor at the edges). Align notches with socket. Lower the processor vertically without title or sliding the processor.
    NOTE: Never touch the bottom of processor. Make sure that the protective cover has been removed before installing it to the socket.
  7. Close the load plate (1) by pressing it down and engage socket lever (2). Lock the lever by pushing it towards in (3).
  8. Place the fansink onto the motherboard and align the fasteners through the holes, use a screwdriver to fasten the fansink. Don't forget to attach the fansink cable to power source at your motherboard.
    NOTE: Be careful not to touch the thermal grease attached to the bottom of the fansink.
Now you can close your computer case and test it! If your computer turned on and the BIOS beeps correctly (one short beep), that means you have just successfully replaced your processor!

NOTE
: Don't replace your processor too often. This procedure should only be repeated less than 20 times before your processor or motherboard performance degrades.


21 February 2008

Compressing Your PSP ISO Files

You have a the latest custom firmware for your PSP, COOL! You have a super duper large Memory Stick? COOL! You have a set of fancy PSP accessories? even more COOL! But what good all of them if you can only put a few games to your memory card? Perhaps you can buy more memory cards, but is that efficient?

There is a way to make your memory card hold more games. Yep, you have to compress it! With compressed ISO, you can have up to 70% smaller game files, which is really a good news for PSP gamers. About the performance, it only make your loading time longer a bit. However, until now, I never found a game which has problems (in terms of loading time or performance) when compressed.

Unfortunately, the compression tool is somewhat hard to use (if not hard to get too). It must be used in command prompt, which is quite a fuss for a novice. After searching in the net, I found a GUI (Graphical User Interface) for the compression tool that makes all this compression steps much easier and more user friendly.

That program is PSP Compression Tool (v1.3). You can download it here: http://rapidshare.com/files/93667857/compressor1.3-installer.rar


To use it, just click Compress ISO -> CSO (CSO format is recommended for new custom firmware), then select the input and output file, click Compress and that's it! Your game file will be (hopefully) much smaller!

Have fun!


Unbrick Your PSP - DIY

Do you think that bricked PSP means the end of your PSP life? Do you ever have trouble trying to upgrade your PSP to custom firmware, but the result is having your PSP bricked and crying all night long? This guide will tell you how to revive your bricked PSP by creating a Pandora Battery (reversible) and Magic Memory Stick. The result is your PSP will be live again in version 1.50 (Then you can upgrade to any custom version from this point). Let's get it on! What you need is:

  • Bricked PSP
  • A working PSP (Slim or fat with custom 3.xx kernel)
  • A fully charged fat PSP battery (to become a Pandora Battery)
  • A fully formatted and working memory stick (but not more than 4 GB)
First thing you need to do is to transform your Memory Stick to Magic Memory Stick and your fat PSP battery into a Pandora Battery. Here's how:
  1. Download this file: http://rapidshare.com/files/93578261/pan3xx.zip
  2. Extract the folder pan3xx to /PSP/GAME folder in your memory stick.
  3. Run Pandora for 3.xx from Game > Memory Stick
  4. Press R + X and confirm with R + L + X to repartition and format the memory stick.
  5. Restart the PSP and connect your memory stick to PC (either by using USB connection or data cable).
  6. Create folder PSP and PSP/GAME inside your memory stick. Copy again pan3xx folder inside PSP/GAME.
  7. Copy the official 1.50 firmware (UPDATE.PBP) to the root of memory stick. If you don't have it, you can download it here: http://rapidshare.com/files/93577710/Firmware-PSP-150.ZIP
  8. Run Pandora for 3.xx again.
  9. Prexx X to install files to memory stick (Creating Magic Memory Stick), then press L + X when asked.
  10. Restart the program again then press O to make the fat PSP battery become Pandora Battery (Make sure that a fat PSP battery is inserted).
  11. Press /\ (Triangle) to finally exit the program.
NOTE: A fat PSP battery can fit a PSP Slim but not vice versa.


Description
: Screenshot of the PSP unbricker setup

Now you have the Magic Memory Stick and a Pandora Battery! Let's bring your bricked PSP and put the Magic Memory Stick first and then the Pandora Battery inside!
If it is correct, then your PSP Wi-Fi, memory stick, and power lights will be turned on, wait for a moment, then a setup will come up. Just follow the easy instructions there. Voila! Your PSP has been unbricked! Thanks to HELLCAT.

To convert your fat PSP battery back, do these steps:
  1. Connect your working PSP (without battery) to power charger and turn it on.
  2. Place the Magic Memory Stick then the Pandora Battery inside.
  3. Run the Pandora Installer for 3.xx.
  4. Press [] (Square) button.
Now you got your battery back!

That's it, hopefully this guide can cheer some people who bricked their PSP and thought that they gonna lose some hundred dollars.


How to Backup Movie DVDs for Noobs

Most people are having trouble when they want to copy or backup their original DVDs. Usually DVDs come with a copy protection which will prevent it being duplicated. Copy protection work by preventing a software to copy the disc or by scrambling its contents with some encryption algorithm making the copied disc unreadable.

However, it is not the end of copying DVDs. There is a way to bypass the copy protection (especially movie DVDs), and that way is easy! You just need a special software as well as your favourite DVD burner software. For example, here you can use AnyDVD to bypass the copy protection.

These programs run in the background, analysing DVDs for encryption and removes copy protection while burning the DVD copy.

Below is the basic tutorial to use AnyDVD 6 with Nero Express 8:

  1. After installing AnyDVD, make sure that you reboot your computer.
  2. Make sure that Enable AnyDVD is checked, then go to Settings...
  3. In DVD tab, select the correct region of yours, then check all the box in Feature Removal groupbox.
  4. Click on the Drive tab and check your DVD burner drive.
  5. Now you can run Nero Express.
  6. Select Image, Project, Copy > Copy Entire DVD.
  7. After that you can change the Writing Speed to Maximum.
  8. Click Copy and VOILA the copy protection has gone!
You can do much in AnyDVD such as ripping movie DVD to hard disk, remove CD audio protection, etc. You can find more tutorial here:
http://club.cdfreaks.com/f72/clonedvd-anydvd-guide-madbob-72022/

To try AnyDVD please follow this link:
http://www.slysoft.com/en/anydvd.html


20 February 2008

Beowulf - A Next Step in 3D Animation

I've just seen this movie from a XviD. At first, I was interested of this movie because it has epic battles, heroic story, medieval theme, and great cinematic trailer which reminds me to the award-winning Lord of the Rings series. A kind of movie which I haven't seen for quite some time since Troy.

Directed by Robert Zemeckis, A creative director which has produces many great movies like Back to the Future, Forrest Gump, and The Castaway. Beowulf take a story about Swedish (Geatish) legendary hero named Beowulf, who battles demons in Gothland around 500 A.D. The legend are written on a poem, said that he killed a monster named Grendel and his mother. By his victory he then became the king of Gothland (Denmark) for over 40 years. Before his death he fought a giant dragon, but the battle costs both the dragon and himself.

My first impression of the movie is that this movie is very unique. It combines a 3D animation with real actors (CGI). I've never seen a movie like this before and I thought that Beowulf is kind of epic movie like Lord of the Rings or Narnia. The last time Robert Zemeckis 3D animation movie was The Polar Express, which is completely cartoonish look (just like Shrek or Toy Story). Beowulf is played by real actors, then the scenes are rendered and reanimated in 3D creating a new experience in movie history. Unlike The Polar Express which has flaws in animation and models quality, Beowulf is very beautiful. It is technically very advanced and well polished making it looks almost perfect, just like in reality.

Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins, John Malkovich, and Angelina Jolie acting in this movie are amazing and natural. I really like seeing actors modelled and animated in 3D, and by seeing this movie, it's just like your imagination comes true! I must admit there are some flaws in the animation which make you sometimes feels like watching Shrek but with real actors. But with great visual effects and beautiful panorama that you see, this movie really blows your mind! I would really recommend this movie. It's a movie that you never seen before. A next step in 3D animation & technology, and an great epic story.

Fans of Lord of the Rings movie should like it, although it is not recommended for young children (I say that it may be the bloodiest 3D animated movie ever). But overall, this movie rocks!

Download here:
http://rapidshare.com/files/86238041/Beowulf.R5_www.darkwarez.pl_up_by_pawel1501.part1.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/86239436/Beowulf.R5_www.darkwarez.pl_up_by_pawel1501.part2.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/86241148/Beowulf.R5_www.darkwarez.pl_up_by_pawel1501.part3.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/86242723/Beowulf.R5_www.darkwarez.pl_up_by_pawel1501.part4.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/86244336/Beowulf.R5_www.darkwarez.pl_up_by_pawel1501.part5.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/86245816/Beowulf.R5_www.darkwarez.pl_up_by_pawel1501.part6.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/86247379/Beowulf.R5_www.darkwarez.pl_up_by_pawel1501.part7.rar
http://rapidshare.com/files/86247938/Beowulf.R5_www.darkwarez.pl_up_by_pawel1501.part8.rar

Password: www.darkwarez.pl


Smart Install Maker - A Review

Have you ever been thinking about creating an installer just like the famous InstallShield, but don't want to get confused with all the scripting codes and steep learning curve?
Do you want to pack your program or files in easy way but still have a professional look?

If you say yes to one of questions
above, then you may need an installer creator program. An installer creator will create an installation package just like what you see when you are installing a new program.


Description: Sample of an installer setup

However, the problem is that usually installer creator program like InstallShield is very complex, includes scripting, and require much hard drive space. For an ordinary programmer, you won't need a lot of extra features that InstallShield offers. You may only need some of several installer features such as:

  • Produces small installation size (Good compression algorithm)
  • Easy to use (No need to learn)
  • Multi-volume or single-file installer
  • Includes an automatic yet customisable uninstaller
  • Provides simple but good customisation of user interface
  • Can create and manage shortcuts easily
  • Powerful enough (Can add registry keys, ActiveX controls, and INI driver files)
After trying several installer creator programs like:
I found out that Smart Install Maker is the best. Not in terms of features and power, but in terms of simple yet quite powerful for small business or personal use (See my features list above).

I like the feature of Smart Install Maker where we can create a multi-volume installation package so that we can span the installation package into several disks. Another feature is the LZMA compression algorithm which is very good in compressing files (For example, a 8.2 GB The Witcher game can be compressed to merely just 3.7 GB!), altough the drawback is it's slow in decompressing files. Smart Install Maker also provides a clean user interface, easy to follow and quite powerful for general use.

However this software has several weakness apart from scripting ability which only available to expensive installer creator like InstallShield or Wise Installation. One of them is that Smart Install Maker cannot preview the current installation project (Only background preview). A good example would be like Q-Setup where users can preview what their project will look like as if it is finished. Another drawback is that the interface customisation is pretty simple, you cannot add a custom dialog or change some dialog parts. The last is it has a bug in calculating a decompressed installation size, but it should be able to be fixed in later versions.

Here is a screenshot of Smart Install Maker 5.0.1:

To try Smart Install Maker 5.0.2, please follow this link:
http://www.sminstall.com/simsetup.exe


Small Arms by Chris Chant

This book is all about small arms from the World War I Era until Post-Modern Era. Written by Chris Chant, a famous guns and airplanes books writer. This gun encyclopedia-like book contains information about over 250 pistols, submachine guns, rifles, grenades and missile weaponry.
Although it has many photographs and factsheets. I felt that the factsheets is not so accurate and the some photos are not the real model of the gun itself. Also, it doesn't cover all of the gun models, just the famous models. In addition, there's something that irritate me the most is that when I saw this book depicts M4 and M16 as the same rifle type. Everyone know that these are two different type of rifles (although M4 is inherited from M16), but the writer decided to combine these assault rifles into the same category and put only one schematic photos of M16.
But overall, this book is quite detailed. Full of photographs. Also it is pretty simple for beginners who wants to know about famous guns in the world. And for the bonus, it contains some short history of the gun era and prototype guns in the future.


Vista File Association Problem

As Windows Vista use a different file association function than XP. It introduces some problem where not all executables can be associated to a file type. Even you have Browse... an executable, Windows still cannot associate that program and it does not appear in the Recommended Programs or even in Other Programs. See screenshot below:

Description: Even if you have clicked Browse... and select a program, the program still cannot be associated to the filetype.

Basically, only registered programs can be associated. I still don't know if this is a bug or not, but it still hasn't been fixed in Vista SP1. The easy way to fix that problem is by using this small piece of software called OpenWithAdd v1.2. Thanks to Ramesh Srinivasan, now you can register a program in Open With.. menu easily. Here is the screenshot of the program:

You can download the program here: http://windowsxp.mvps.org/utils/OpenWithAdd_1.2.zip


Vista Tweaks

Microsoft Windows Vista offers many new features that are not available in the previous version of Windows Vista. Some of them are:

  • DirectX 10 (Which is great for gamer, although actually gives no significant effect in graphics quality compared to DirectX 9.0)
  • The famous Aero theme (Which is very nice with its 3D and transparency effects but it can eats up half of your memory)
  • Windows Sidebar (Similar to Google Desktop, some of the widgets are cool, some of them will just cripple your system performance)
  • New Start Menu (With great Start search feature)
  • Some interface changes (This may be more intuitive or more confusing)
  • And many more!
At first, I am doubtful to change to Vista as I am really used to my old XP -- I don't want to see my PC runs slowly -- But I am also curious to see what's in Vista. I've tried Vista Beta 2 some time ago, but it is really buggy and not complete -- It doesn't even have a driver for my Wi-Fi USB!!

A year after Vista is released and now it's on SP1, I tried the Ultimate one. My first impression is, WOW the interface is cool, but it is also deadly to your CPU and memory! With all aero things on it could eat around 400MB of your memory! This means a 1GB of RAM or even 2GB is definitely required.

I've been thinking for some time how to increase Vista performance, because mostly it is slower than my XP especially when running games (usually around 3-7 FPS difference). So, I tried to find answer to fix it.

Here are some of the tweaks that you can use to increase Vista performance, some of them are not much, but it can make your work 1-2 seconds faster. Note that some of the tweaks are the same from XP.

1. Turn off some of useless programs at startup
If you are running many programs at startup (roughly, you have so many icons in your system tray), you can turn some of them off.
Effect: It can increase windows startup time as well as reserving more memory space for other programs.
How: Go to Start > Run > msconfig > Startup. From there, you can disable some uneeded entries (Make sure that you DO know what programs that you disable).
In case you cannot see Run... in the Start Menu, You should do: Start > type Taskbar and Start Menu > Start Menu > Customize (not on classic one). Check the Run command. It should display the Run... button.

2. Disable some of Vista's services
Vista has more than 130 services, for a mere mortal, some of them you won't even need.
Effect: If the uneeded items are activated, it can waste your memory and processing speed.
How: Go to Start > type Services > Enter (Or you can go type services.msc in Run command). From here you can change some Automatic settings to Manual or Disabled.
Here are the things that you might consider:
  • Diagnostic Policy Service, Diagnostic Service Host, and Diagnostic System Host. This services may not be needed and can be Disabled. Basically these services are used to verify correct installation of drivers and programs, but in reality, it don't do much help when there are errors in the programs / drivers.
  • Function Discovery Provider Host. It is a service used by Windows Media Center to allow resources to be discovered in the network. Since most of us don't use Windows Media Center (It sucks, really) and not even connected to a network, this service can be Disabled.
  • Internet Connection Sharing, Network List Service, and Network Location Awareness. If you are not connected to any LAN network, and don't want to share your internet connection, you can Disable these services.
  • Offline Files. This should be Disabled if you are not connected to a domain.
  • Portable Device Enumerator Service. This is used by Windows Media Player to detect devices such MP3 players. Since most people don't synchronise their device with WMP, you can Disable it. Note for iPod owners, this setting will not affect the connection between iPod and iTunes.
  • Routing and Remote Access. Most people don't connect their PC to a LAN, so this feature is useless and can be Disabled.
  • Security Center. If you are confident enough that your PC always has an updated anti-virus and firewall, you can Disable this. Disabling this service also removes annoying messages that inform you to update your anti-virus, etc.
  • Tablet PC Input Service. I wonder why this option is turned on by default, since most of us don't use a Tablet PC. This should be Disabled.
  • TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper. Since we are living in a modern era with modern network systems, we won't need NetBIOS now, it is for backward compability with older operating systems, therefore this service can be Disabled.
  • Terminal Services. This is used to connect and control another PC and vice versa. It should be Disabled if you don't use this feature, thus making your computer more secure.
  • Windows Error Reporting Services. It controls the annoying messages that always come up when your programs go error, it asks you to send a report directly to Microsoft. Well, it is quite useless, unless the report goes directly to Bill Gates PC, hehe.. It is recommended to Disable this service.
  • Windows Time. With this service turned on, you PC time will automatically synchronised to a time server periodically. Well, it sounds not to be very useful right? Then, it can be Disabled.
  • Windows Update. Sometimes, automatic updates can be very annoying if you have a slow internet connection or limited by internet quota. You should turn it to Manual, and do the update manually.
  • Application Experience and Desktop Window Management Session Manager. I am not a fan of Aero interface because it is really punishing to your PC. You should use the Basic theme, it's enough to get a Vista-feel. Therefore, if you don't use Aero, it's better to Disable these services as well.
3. Turn off Aero
Aero indeed have nice effects to your interface. Sadly, it is one of the biggest reason why your computer is slower in Vista. Moreover, some of programs don't support this theme, so, Aero will be disabled when running these programs. It is a better idea to just turn this Aero for good.
Effect: Your free RAM is much more bigger, your computer starts faster, and at last you can perform tasks faster.
How: Go to Control Panel > activate Classic View > Personalization > Window Color and Appearance > Open classic appearance properties for more color options > Windows Vista Basic. That's it, now your Vista is faster and more RAM friendly.
However, if you insists to turn on Aero (Or you become an Aero maniac), you can still make it a little faster by turning off the transparency effect. Here's how:
Go to
Control Panel > Classic View > Personalization > Window Color and Appearance > uncheck Enable Transparency.

4. Turn on Advanced Performance for hard disks
Vista comes with a more advanced file system management not found in XP. This feature will enhance write caching of your hard disks.
Effect: Your hard disks will read and write slightly faster.
How: Go to Start > type Device Manager > Enter > expand Disk Drives > right click on your hard drive > Properties > Policies > check Enable advanced performance > OK.

5. Tweak indexing options
Indexing options provide faster search of files, folders, and programs. But if it is not tweaked properly, it can end up finding a lot of useless files in your drives.
Effect: After this tweak, it can saves your time a bit when searching.
How: Go to Start > type Indexing Options > Enter > Modify. See in the selected locations for any uneeded locations and after finish, click OK.
You can also specify which filetype will be included in the search in Advanced in Indexing Options.

6. Don't search for files, communications, etc. in Start Menu search
Start Menu searching is designed for quick search for programs. You don't need files and others to be included in the search.
Effect: Your start menu search will be faster a bit.
How:
Go to Start > type Taskbar and Start Menu > Start Menu > Customize (not the classic one). Then you can uncheck Search for communications and Search favorites and history. At last you should select Don't search for files.

7. Disable some useless visual effects.
Some visual effects are slow and don't have significant effect in terms of graphic quality. So, it is better to turn some off.
Effect: You can perform tasks faster.
How: Go to Start > right click on Computer > Properties > Advanced > under Performance, click Settings. Now you have some options to be turned off:
- Animate windows when minimizing and maximizing: By turning this option off, you can save time about 1 second when maximizing or minimizing a window.
- Enable desktop compostion: By turning this option off, that means that you turn off all Aero effects. Not recommended for Aero users.
- Fade slide menus into view, Fade or slide ToolTips into view, and Fade out menu items after clicking: These options are for eye-candy purpose only, it should be disabled if you encounter freezing problem when opening many windows.
- Show translucent selection rectangle: This don't have major negative impact but it can be turned off to pump some performance, or if you don't like the translucent effect.
- Slide open combo boxes and slide taskbar buttons: Just like the fade options, it can be disabled to prevent lagging when many windows are opened.
- Smooth-scroll list boxes: It should be turned off especially when your video card is not quite fast or if you are using graphic driver from windows.
- Use background image for each folder type: This will show a watermark when you open folders that has special files like music or pictures. It's not useful though and it does not turn off the folder icon.

8. Change your Virtual Memory to appropriate amount
Virtual memory is used to swap resources from your hard disk into your physical memory. Because usually main memory is limited, this swapping procedure is critical to make resources and instructions available to running programs.
Effect: A correct value will increase your programs performance and prevent program crash.
How: Go to
Start > type SystemPropertiesPerformance > Advanced > under Virtual Memory click Change.
Normally the needed virtual memory / page file is 1.5x of your physical memory. So you can set it to Custom and make the Initial size and the Maximum size is 1.5x of your total RAM. (e.g. if your RAM is 2GB, that means your paging file should be 2048 x 1.5 = 3072MB). The identical amount of intial and maximum size is to prevent fragmentation in your hard disk as the file will not grow or shrink.
Note if you have more than one hard disk, you can set your page file in the different disk than your Windows disk, because the hard disk that contains Windows tends to have busier I/O activities, so it is better to move it to another disk drive. However if you do so, make sure that you still leave about 50MB of virtual memory in your Windows drive to prevent problems.

9. Keep windows system core in memory
Memory is always faster than your hard disk, therefore you can make sure that Windows system core can be placed inside the memory instead of hard disk. However, it is only recommended if your system RAM is more than 1 GB.
Effect: If you put windows core system always in memory, your system may run faster as it is processed quicker.
How: Go to Start > type Regedit > Enter. Expand HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > System > CurrentControlSet > Control > Session Manager > Memory Management. Change DisablePagingExecutive value to 1.

10. Turn off User Acount Control
UAC is used by windows to prevent unauthorised access to important windows settings.
Effect:
This feature is very annoying and slowing you down when you want to change some settings (provided that you are the computer Administrator).
Effect: Go to Control Panel > activate Classic View > Turn User Account on or off > uncheck
Use User Account Control (UAC) to help protect your computer > OK.
You have to restart your computer for this setting to have effect.

That's all for the basic tweaks that you can do to improve Vista's performance. For advanced tweaking you should consider a third-party program like TuneUp Utilities 2008 (It offers many windows tweaks, disk defragmentation, registry cleaner, etc.) or TweakVI from Totalidea for advanced windows tweaking.

Another tips is just to install Windows Vista Home Basic (like I did) instead of Ultimate as it will saves your hard disk space (up to 2.4GB difference) and it don't have CPU hungry features which you will not likely use. Home Basic version serves well for most users, it is quicker in performance, and it is cheaper! I can guarantee most of you won't even use Windows Media Center, BitLocker Encryption, IIS Web Server, Remote Desktop, 128GB of max memory instead of only 8GB, Dual processors (not dual core), Mobility Center, DVD Maker, Dynamic drives, more games, and more other features that you can do more with third-party programs installed.

However, if you are a Home Basic user but you want Aero effects to be turned on, you can do it by:
  • Go to Start > type Regedit > Enter. In the registry editor, go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Software > Microsoft > Windows > DWM. Edit the value of Composition to 1 and Composition Policy to 2.
  • Then you should restart the Desktop Windows Manager by using this method:
    Go to Start > Run... > type cmd > OK.Then at command prompt, enter these commands:
    net stop uxsms
    then enter,
    net start uxsms
    then enter again.
  • After that, reboot your Windows. Now you have Aero effects enabled in your Home Basic system.
For Home Premium or Ultimate users, if you don't want to use Home Basic, you should consider uninstalling some Windows programs. Here's how:
  • Go to Start > type Programs and Features > Turn Windows features on or off.
  • Now you can uncheck some programs that you don't really need such as Windows Ultimate Extras.
I'll return next time if I have more windows tweaks, tips, and tricks!


19 February 2008

Crysis Benchmark Part 1

Hi! This is my first post in my blog. Today I'm going to benchmark my beloved PC to run Crysis, A new game from Crytek that boasts breathtaking visual graphics with realistic physics you never seen before.
Now before judging about anythi
ng, let's see if the visual effects are indeed stunning or killing.. if your PC cannot handle it.

First, I will show you my current PC specifications:
- CPU: Intel Pentium 4 524 3.06GHz with 533Mhz FSB (Prescott LGA775 32-bit 1MB L2 Cache)
- Mainboard: Gigabyte GA-8I945PLGE-RH with Intel 945PL Express chipset
- Video card: EVGA GeForce 8600GT 256MB (Standard version with 169.25 Forceware driver)
- Memory: 2GB PC-4200 DDR2 533MHz

- Hard disk: 3 7200rpm hard drives (1 SATA II, 1 IDE ATA 133) with the total of 360GB
- Sound card: RealTek Azalia on-board

- OS: Windows Vista Home Basic Edition SP1 v6.0.6001.18000 RTM (Yeah, I don't like the Ultimate one, I tried that one and I am really dissapointed with its performance!!)

For testing purpose, I use Crysis Benchmark Tool v1.0.0.5. The Crysis game itself is patched to v1.1.

Here are the test results!
Test Run #1
Settings: High (Global settings to High)
Resolution: 1024x768
AntiAliasing: No
Demo Level: benchmark_cpu @ 7a.m.
Average FPS Results: 11.90 FPS
Screenshot:


Test Run #2
Settings: Custom (This is the settings that I used to play the game)
- VolumetricEffects=Medium
- Texture=High
- ObjectDetail=Medium
- Sound=Medium
- Shadows=Medium
- Water=High
- Physics=Medium
- Particles=Medium
- Shading=High
- PostProcessing=VeryHigh
- GameEffects=Medium
Resolution: 1024x768
AntiAliasing: No
Demo Level:
benchmark_cpu @ 7a.m.
Average FPS Results: 12.94 FPS
Screenshot:

Conclusion:
I didn't turn the settings lower than that because there will be huge noticeable differences in terms of visual quality which will make the gameplay somewhat unsatisfying (apart from the better FPS). So in this case, I think I have four options:
1. Upgrade my CPU to Pentium D
2. Upgrade my video card to 8800GTS (Which is quite impossible as my fund is limited and I just recently upgrade to 8600GT!!)
3. Upgrade the whole system (This one is ridiculous!!)
4. Throw away Crysis (This even more ridiculous, because I really like it!!)

So.. it seems that the reasonable option is to upgrade my CPU. Alright, next time I'll return with my new benchmark using Pentium D 940 3.20GHz 4MB L2 Cache. I think it should improve the FPS to 4-7 FPS.

If you have performance problem for Crysis but don't want to upgrade your PC, the Crysis guide from TweakGuides.com may prove useful. With some text editing, your PC may be able to run Crysis quite smoothly with a lot of visual effects compensation (Still, better than heavy lag..).

Links:
www.ea.com/crysis/ - Official Crysis website
downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=1791 - Crysis benchmark tool
www.tweakguides.com/Crysis_1.html
- TweakGuide for Crysis