Show Notes - by Brandon - February 11, 2012 - 23:56 UTC - Be first to Comment!
Because he needs to come record a podcast...
We’ve got a new format to the show, starting with this episode! Plus Tech Corner, a SWTOR review, and much more!
Technical Corner
Norman wants to know what he should do about a filter for his system’s air intake once he puts it on the floor. Keith recommends some good pantyhose or a like material and discusses where to place it.
David is also looking for some help choosing monitors. Listen in to hear Keith’s recommendations on brands and models!
PC Gaming
We go around the table discussing what we’ve been playing. Listen in to hear our brief discussion!
Computer Tip Of The Week!
We have ourselves another tip from Christian D, who wins 250 Jinx.com gold for sending this to us! If you send us a great tip and we read it on the show, you’ll win 250 Jinx gold yourself, so send those tips in!
Here’s a tip that I’d like to pass along for your next show.
I know everyone who’s listening to the show is using a DogHouse system, but if there’s a user out there that’s running a system made a by a company that rhymes with hell this might come in handy (probably hand in other areas, but this is where we experienced it)This may seem pretty obvious to some, but we ummmm…spent some time (hours I dare say) trying to figure this out.
If you have a known good DVD and just can’t get your computer to boot from it (so Windows, Linux/Ubuntu, whatever you might boot from!) make sure that the DVD/CD player is set as the first boot device. Apparently on this De double hocky sticks machine it was not enough to press F12 for a one time boot menu. We failed over and over again until on a whim I put the CD/DVD drive first in the boot order and off we went with no further problems.
What’s Up At Doghouse Systems?
The guys at 38 Studios are giving away a free system during their live stream of the release of their new title, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning! It features some custom laser etching and it will be signed by 38 Studios’ entire project team, including Todd McFarlane, R.A. Salvatore, and Curt Schilling! By the time you guys hear this, it’ll be too late to win, but here’s an image of the side paneling below!
Contests
Pete S is the winner of our SWTOR Screenshot contest! He wins 2 months of game time! Congrats Pete!
Contact Information
We welcome your feedback, comments, and suggestions! If you would like to submit a question for a future podcast you can leave a message for us at our NEW number, (214) 810-4347 . We are no longer under the 1 minute voicemail cap! Feel free to leave your message and we look forward to using it on the next show We can also be reached by email: podcast@doghousenetwork.com. And don’t forget, we’re giving away free PC games every Friday, and your only way to win is to follow us on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook!
And be sure you check out Eric van Skyhawk’s album, “Function”. Skyhawk is the composer of our theme song, as well as the themes for several other shows like Ladies of Leet. You can get it via iTunes or the Amazon MP3 Store.
MP3 File
RSS Feed
iTunes Subscription
Gaming - by clark - February 7, 2012 - 04:45 UTC - Be first to Comment!
This is how I play my WoW:
Gaming - by Brandon - January 31, 2012 - 20:15 UTC - 1 Comment
I had been having some awful framerate issues in SW:TOR lately. Even with the settings turned to their lowest, there were times in large open areas (such as Hoth or Tatooine) or in particularly crowded areas (such as the Fleet stations), that the game would just chug along. Certain NPCs or even other players would simply take forever to load. I thought that I had finally come across a game that my beloved First-gen Mobius TL could no longer handle.
I am happy to say I was wrong. After seeing how amazing the my wife’s Mobius VS handled the game, I immediately began searching for ways to optimize my Framerate without sacrificing graphical quality. There had to be something I could set differently that would make my problems go away. And lo and behold, there was. After implementing the fix detailed below, I was able to crank all my settings back up to max and still have great FPS!
I highly recommend anyone having framerate issues try these steps. Let us know in a comment below if you were having framerate problems and if this helped you out!
1. Open the Catalyst Control Center or the NVidia Control Panel.
2. Locate the setting for Anisotropic Filtering, and set it to 16.
3. Lauch SW:TOR.
4. In the Graphics options, there is a drop-down setting for Anisotropic Filtering. Set it to Low
5. Optionally, turn off the “Bloom” setting. This isn’t necessary, but it can get you an additional good 10-20 frames in most environments, especially the fleet, where lighting effects are quite prominent.
Show Notes - by Brandon - January 27, 2012 - 04:47 UTC - Be first to Comment!
Just another day at the Doghouse Systems office...
We’ve got a new format to the show, starting with this episode! Plus Tech Corner, a SWTOR review, and much more!
Technical Corner
George is confused by the various Internet options available out there and wants to know the best Internet he can get for gaming.
Keith mentions a few options, but basically says that Bandwidth isn’t as important, Latency is the key. Below are the links he mentioned
Leatrix Latency Fix Script
PC Gaming
It’s time to review the newest entry to the MMO Market, Star Wars: The Old Republic! Read the review here!
We know most of our listeners already have the game already, so we’re going to give away a 60-day game card instead! To win, send us your most creative screenshot from within the game to contest@doghousenetwork.com with “SWTOR contest” in the subject line! Our winner will be announced on the next show!
Computer Tip Of The Week!
In our first new segment, we are happy to pass on a tip from Brice M! Brice M wins 250 Jinx.com gold for sending this to us! If you send us a great tip and we read it on the show, you’ll win 250 Jinx gold yourself, so send those tips in!
I have a little trick to get you possibly that little bit of extra RAM on those memory heavy games.
All you need to do is right click the short cut for said game, open properties and copy the “Target” line/box. It’ll be an .exe and needed to launch after step 2.
Next, do the age old CTRL ALT DEL and get your task manager. You are going to close explorer.exeunder the Processes tab. Doing so will free up about 300 megs of ram (especially in win7) and give you that little bit of extra memory to play with.
Last, you click File in the top left, New Task and the paste your “Target” that you copy/pasted. hit go and you’ll be all set.
Hope that helps some folks. It worked for me nicely until i was able to get a new rig.
Brandon also reiterates that Windows Security Essentials is an amazing thing and should be installed by everyone, right away.
What’s Up At Doghouse Systems?
We are happy to announce we are now shipping to the UK! Give us your suggestions on how we can make the experience better at sales@doghouse.com
Contests
We got some amazing contributions to our Skyrim “Arrow to the Knee” MS Paint contest! Take a look at them right here.
We had to pick a winner though, and the winner was John C’s amazing comic entry! Congratulations John!
Contact Information
We welcome your feedback, comments, and suggestions! If you would like to submit a question for a future podcast you can leave a message for us at our NEW number, (214) 810-4347 . We are no longer under the 1 minute voicemail cap! Feel free to leave your message and we look forward to using it on the next show We can also be reached by email: podcast@doghousenetwork.com. And don’t forget, we’re giving away free PC games every Friday, and your only way to win is to follow us on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook!
And be sure you check out Eric van Skyhawk’s album, “Function”. Skyhawk is the composer of our theme song, as well as the themes for several other shows like Ladies of Leet. You can get it via iTunes or the Amazon MP3 Store.
MP3 File
RSS Feed
iTunes Subscription
Editorial - by clark - January 23, 2012 - 19:51 UTC - Be first to Comment!
I did it: I bought a tablet computer. And like at least 25 million other people I bought an iPad. My journey to the iPad has been an interesting one. I’m sharing my story not because I’m trying to convince you to buy an iPad over any other tablet, but because I’m hoping to solicit similar input. I enjoy learning why people spend their money the way they do because face it: an iPad is far from necessary, especially for me. I have two different DogHouse Systems, a first gen Armor ES and a second gen Mobius TL. Additionally, I own a Macbook Pro (though my wife has largely taken that over) and an Android Phone: the Samsung Fascinate. So it isn’t like I’m without adequate means of experiencing social media and the web, so why buy an iPad? I suppose that decision has its origins in my buying an Android phone…
During the smart phone boom I was serving on sea duty as an Officer in the Navy. I wanted a smart phone but the pragmatic side of me knew it was extremely frivolous to pay for a smart phone data plan when I was frequently at sea or else on duty, deep in the reactor spaces of an aircraft carrier far from the signal quality necessary to enjoy a smart phone. Thus, I patiently waited.
When I transferred off Enterprise I bought a smart phone shortly thereafter. Verizon was getting an iPhone soon (it had finally been announced after the many years of speculation) but I’ve always been a little counter-culture (odd, since I have over ten years in the military). I like to cheer for the underdog so with those emotions in mind I researched the various Android phones and bought my Fascinate.
As anyone who owns a smartphone knows, getting one had a substantial impact on my day-to-day life. Two days after purchase I moved from Norfolk, VA to Bremerton, WA. Aided by in my pocket GPS and the ability to easily locate hotels and restaurants I found the cross-country drive to be the easiest one yet (I’d done two prior). I was proud to be supporting the growing Android community and can honestly say this past year or so with my Fascinate has been awesome, but not without a few shortcomings.
The drive was much more pleasant with a smart phone
See, there is nothing on my phone I do which takes native advantage of the fact that it is an Android device. Gmail, Twitter, GPS, taking pictures, Facebook, etc – those aren’t Android specific functions. By contrast, there were a handful of functions it couldn’t perform or did not have because it was an Android device.
Secret of Mana is a longtime favorite game of mine and it still wasn’t available on the Android market but has been out on the app store for some time. Yes, I know there are emulators on Android but I’m very conscientious of how I spend my consumer dollars and I wanted to directly support the mobile release of one of my all-time favorites. Of greater importance to me than the Android market lacking Secret of Mana is my many years as an iTunes user, dating back to the release of the first iPod Nano. I casually researched means to make my meticulously organized mp3 library in iTunes work with my Fascinate and I never found a method I liked. Thus I began to have minor reservations about my phone but with no pressing need to upgrade the decision as to whether or not remain an Android user was far from immediate.
It was with that state of mind that I entered the tablet market two weeks ago. To be continued in part 2…
More Trogdor love.
