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I have an old Sidewinder Force Feedback Pro. It’s the version with the big motors inside that just looks like a block.
The cons of it: You need a MIDI port and Windows XP for the effects to work
The pros: When I turn the strength all the way up, it really hurts my arm. Very realistic 😀
The Thrustmaster should be more than suitable for Diaspora. It took me 1-2 hours to get used to the keyboard setup, though. I think the default layout is horrible and I configured it more I-War like.
Space. The final frontier.
[quote=”schmatzler” post=19311]I have an old Sidewinder Force Feedback Pro. It’s the version with the big motors inside that just looks like a block.[/quote]
Ha! And *I* have an even older Logitech Wingman Extreme on my Dachboden that uses a gameport. Which modern computers don’t have. But some day I’ll build myself a nice i486 computer out of ancient spare parts (VESA Local Bus, anyone? 😉 ) to finally be able to play all the goodies without all this nonsense like DOSbox and Glide emulators.
I always wanted to build such a PC, too.
I’m thinking about getting an old Thinkpad. A22p or A30p. It has 1600×1200 resolution and the best hardware for Windows 98 and old games. And it’s portable! 🙂
At the moment I am playing on a Quadcore with Windows XP and it works. I got an old Soundblaster Live with a Gameport and I can use the Sidewinder with it without a problem.
It’s possible to hack Gameport support into later Windows versions, but the Sidewinder uses very strange MIDI commands for the effects, they don’t work. 🙁
One day I will build a USB adapter. Theres a tutorial on the web for it. Soldering iron, here I come!
Space. The final frontier.
in reply to 7upMan:
I am an American, but that doesn’t have much to do with being a Christian.
This is one tough navy, boy. They don’t give you time off, even for being dead. -Clay
Storm Petrel
[quote=”Chessking” post=19315]in reply to 7upMan:
I am an American, but that doesn’t have much to do with being a Christian.[/quote]
It does have a lot to do with the strictness in which you adhere to your belief. You may have noticed that in European countries, even in the deeply catholic ones like Spain and Italy, people are less… how can I put it without offending you… well, strict (although the word I was looking for goes more in the direction of “fanatic”) than Americans. Really, religion plays for you guys a much much bigger role in everyday life than in Europe.
At the same time, the US are the biggest producer of porn material *in the whole world*! Also, drug abuse as a whole (alcohol, prescription medicine, illegal drugs) is highest in the US. And of course the very fact that you have an extremely lax relationship towards violence while at the same time going absolutely ballistic when seeing private female parts in public (Nipplegate, anyone? 😉 ).
Chessking, I’m not trying to insult you, I just point out that Americans tend to have a very strict beliefs towards morals, beliefs that not many other cultures can share.
Although the U.S. was built on Christian beliefs, the nation has been becoming less and less Christian and less morally strict all the time. You pointed out some of the things that have been going on. Add to it that evolution and atheism are now the only beliefs that can be legally taught in public schools, the legality of same-sex marriage in most of the states, and that many people call themselves Christians when their actions show otherwise…
I think the situation is this: Moral strictness restricts freedom, so the government has to lessen its morals to promote freedom.
However, I do not know the situation in other nations, so I can not say for sure how they relate.
This is one tough navy, boy. They don’t give you time off, even for being dead. -Clay
Storm Petrel
[quote=”7upMan” post=19318]I just point out that Americans tend to have a very strict beliefs towards morals, beliefs that not many other cultures can share.[/quote]
That may be true but European countries aren’t without flaws either. Americans may censor the word “Fuck” or go crazy when they see nipples, but I come from Germany and sometimes we are more oppressing than other countries. Just some examples:
– People are forced to pay for cheap TV programmes, even threatened with jail time if they can’t or won’t pay
– There’s a lot of hatred against immigrants, politicians even debate to let them pay for using our roads
– Bavaria is a state that is very different to all of the other 15. They claim to have the best school system but they behave like neandertals all the time. Also, religion plays a big role in Bavaria and is even taught at schools. Having the Christian cross in the classroom is standard in Bavaria.Add to it that evolution and atheism are now the only beliefs that can be legally taught in public schools
I don’t think that is neccessarily a bad thing. If people want to believe in a book that hasn’t been updated for centuries (no offense, but societies DO change, the Quran has the same problem), they can do it.
I don’t think of Atheism as a belief. I think of it more as a non-belief. Atheists don’t have a god or a bible. They simply choose science as the center of their judgements.
If a religious person comes to me and tells me that I have to believe in god (that happened) I always ask this person where they would be without science. No TV, no fancy Samsung Galaxy, no cars…even religious people can’t ignore science anymore. So I think this is the best way people can be taught at school.
If they find god or something else they can believe in later, it’s their decision and their life. It’s not like schools are forbidding this.
Space. The final frontier.
[quote=”Chessking” post=19319]Add to it that evolution and atheism are now the only beliefs that can be legally taught in public schools,…[/quote]
From what I hear, there’s a big movement in the so-called “Bible Belt” to change that, so that Creationism instead of Darwin’s evolution theory will be taught at schools. Can you share some insight if this is indeed true? Maybe the media reports we read are blown way out of proportion.
[quote=”schmatzler” post=19320]Germany:
– People are forced to pay for cheap TV programmes, even threatened with jail time if they can’t or won’t pay[/quote]Yeah, the state-sponsored public television is indeed on a long way down in terms of quality and political neutrality. However, this is the same with the British BBC that has a business model not unlike the German Public Broadcasting. However, if you are poor you can get exempted from paying the fees.
– There’s a lot of hatred against immigrants, politicians even debate to let them pay for using our roads
Well, as a former Dresdener I can tell you that what you hear in the news about PEGIDA is mostly bullshit, plain and simple. That’s why my question to Chessking about our media coverage of the Creationism movement at schools. I’ve simply come to distrust the mainstream media as a whole, seeing that most of German media belongs to (IIRC) four Big Media companies (Bertelsmann, Springer, Burda and Holtzbrinck).
– Bavaria is a state that is very different to all of the other 15. They claim to have the best school system but they behave like neandertals all the time. Also, religion plays a big role in Bavaria and is even taught at schools. Having the Christian cross in the classroom is standard in Bavaria.
Having lived in Munich for five years I can tell you that you can’t compare the people in Munich with Bavarians. Bavarians, especially those in the small villages and far-away valleys, are indeed very backward. Maybe this comes from their excessive inbreeding, I don’t know.
Also, in German schools you can choose between Religion and Ethics classes. At least in Eastern Germany the vast majority of parents decides for Ethics. Western Germany is more religious as a whole.
Still, to this day I have to meet a person who is in-your-face religious. Sure, some carry the fish (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ichthys) on the back of their cars, but it’s not too obvious. Then again, maybe my personal experiences are just different from yours.
In reply to 7upMan:
As far as I know, the media in America is more reliable than what you describe in Germany. I think the Bible Belt is real, although I have not heard of it before now. The reason may be that the Bible Belt is in southeast America (based on this), while I live in the northwest corner. It is strange, though, that you heard about the Bible Belt in a different country, and I live in the same country as the movement and have not heard about it.
However, I doubt the movement will get anywhere. The First Amendment of the Constitution has a phrase has a phrase about separation of church and state. According to the link, separation of church and state is that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof …”. So, teaching only Christianity in public schools would be unconstitutional. Although the nation would retain its high moral standards and remain a Christian nation, America would be violating the foundation that it was built upon, the constitution.
On the other hand, there was a time in American history when Christianity was taught in schools. However, I don’t think that these schools were government controlled or funded. In addition, there were very few people in the schools who were not Christians, so the teaching of Christianity in the schools didn’t offend very many people or “prohibit the free exercise therof” of a religion or belief.
Still, to this day I have to meet a person who is in-your-face religious. Sure, some carry the fish (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ichthys) on the back of their cars, but it’s not too obvious. Then again, maybe my personal experiences are just different from yours.
I am glad you haven’t met any in-your-face Christians, although they do exist. However, I don’t think that God approves of their “aggressive evangelism.” First Corinthians chapter thirteen of the Bible, commonly known as the “love chapter” says this: “If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.” Although evangelism is a common goal of many Christians, it is of no use if it is done without love. These people throw away logical reasoning for the “authority of their opinion”. I call these people “aggressive debaters”.
This is one tough navy, boy. They don’t give you time off, even for being dead. -Clay
Storm Petrel
Iwar 2 of course quick combat and the odd mission, Elite Dangerous but its getting really dull, occasional Star Citizen but its buggy and melts your hardware, Waiting for Homeworld HD Reboot, DCS world and Cliffs of Dover and Silent hunter IV & V. Also WC III & IV and X-Wing Alliance from GOG. Also have a passion for Star Shatter. Just bought the Battlecruiser compendium but its nuts (so hard to on board).
Hardware swapped Sidewinder FF2 (USB) for Saitek x52 Pro and a Track IR – which is great. I do love the SWFF2 but not enough buttons.
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on the edge of chaosI actually left out a bunch of the mods I may use when I re-play EOC. Here is an updated list: Elite, Future Trader, Station Assault, Ifleet, the Babylon 5 station, Custom Jafs, the retro ships pack, Audio Overhaul mod, BigComSec HC(maybe), ComSec_Multimod(allows to undock ComSec), Repair Ship mod, Station Save, SYN MP3 PLAYER, Waypoint Utilities, Xaereaux’s base mover mod, location finder, Free Form mod, Manual Countermeasures, no launch Sequence, challenge course v2, and Improved Tug (sith sound fixes). Let’s see how many of them work at the same time! Of course, Multimod and Unigui are necessary.
This is one tough navy, boy. They don’t give you time off, even for being dead. -Clay
Storm Petrel
I just played through a Half-Life 2-Mod called
There are only few Singleplayer modifications out there with really good quality. This is one of them. Giant numbers are falling out of the sky, creepy “things” that look like pieces of architecture are coming to life and attack the humans.
Actually, a portal has been opened to a world where math doesn’t exist and you fight back – with math.
This is so original and crazy, I highly recommend it. Also, there are buildings from Claude Nicolas Ledoux in it! 😛
Space. The final frontier.
I recently finished NaissanceE and “Mind: Path to Thalamus” (do have a look at the YouTube Let’s Plays), which I can both recommend if you’re looking for something unconventional. Also, I’m playing The Book of Unwritten Tales 2 right now with my kids. It’s a lot of family-friendly fun!
Homeworld Remastered is a thing of beauty (I had actually stepped out of my way to pre-order the game), but the HW1 part is not there yet. Formations don’t work, fighters don’t use fuel anymore, rendering support frigates nearly useless and lots of little annoying stuff. But Gearbox is actively patching the game, so I do hope that the bugs will be fixed toon. Also, Steam Workshop is integrated in the game, so adding mods is child’s play. I definitely recommend giving the game a try.
I have one other space-sim beside Independence War. it is called INCA II, and was released in 1994. The prequel was released in 1992. It is a DOS game, so I run it with DOS-BOX. It is very interesting. You play as Incans flying spaceships. In the prequel, the Incans were fighting the Spanish, in spaceships.
This is one tough navy, boy. They don’t give you time off, even for being dead. -Clay
Storm Petrel
[quote=”Chessking” post=19410]I have one other space-sim beside Independence War. it is called INCA II[/quote]
I love old DOS Games and wanted to give this a try, but then I saw the horrible real actors and their “voice acting” on Youtube:
It’s so hilarious! 😀 I don’t know if I really want to play this. 😆
But to be fair, there seems to be a version without this stuff in it.
When we’re talking about DOS Games, I have a lot of games I still enjoy playing. I had them back in the old days when I was little and knew nothing about doing websites and such. :whistle:
– Extreme Assault from Bluebyte Interactive:
This is one of the best and latest DOS games that were made. 3Dfx graphics up to XGA, Joystick + Force Feedback support and the ability to fly helicopters and drive tanks to destroy everything! It never gets old for me 🙂
– I also love playing all the Commander Keen Games, they are on Steam now:
http://store.steampowered.com/app/9180/
– and Project Paradise. That’s a top-down shooter with some RPG elements, pretty nice for that era. You can play a soldier, a hacker and a magician fighting against evil things from the underworld:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bd2t5GdUQOU
Space. The final frontier.
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