Nancymarie’s House

Well, I went to the Pocket Plane Group to ask for help on EasyTutu. I wasn’t sure about my install order and wanted to know why the BG mod wasn’t working. The person who replied, K-something, said to the effect that “you’ve installed it wrong and you have to deal with it”, implying strongly that I can’t fix things by uninstalling mods or even going so far as to make another clean install of everything. K-something is also a mod. We had a conversation over my install and he admitted that he’d intended the implication in his first reply. One other thing that bugged me is that he pointed me towards Tutu compatible mods that were done by PPG related modders. Some may be hosted on Gibberlings 3, but G3 modders started on PPG. I’m not stupid, guy. I don’t just blunder into a forum, asking questions with obvious answers. I looked for an install order on EasyTutu in several places and only found 1 instance, mentioned by the creator of the mod. There isn’t 1 mentioned on PPG even for regular Tutu! I’m sorry I ever signed up for that forum!

Got my clean install of BG1 and 2 going, put in EasyTutu then the BG2 mods I want. I created a monk after deliberating over what class to take through both games. I’ve heard Tutu totally overpowers BG by bringing in the BG2 classes. Check out the abilities of the specialty classes – monk, barbarian, wizard slayer, sorcerer, etc – and see how deadly they are just at first level. The monk’s speed kills; she’ll be a great lurer.

I created a monk, Serena, and started the game. Nothing weird happened in Candlekeep. I went to Winthrop to buy things and discovered a big mistake on my part. The ammo stacks are BG, not BG2. Silly me thought a conversion mod would actually convert things. Grr… this means I have to track down that obscure BG mod which added unlimited ammo stacks. I think it’s still available on Sorcerer’s Place.

Uninstall all the mods including EasyTutu, then put in the BG mod and begin again.

I’m also considering the ramifications of not entering Beregost for the entire game. There are a lot of quests that either start or end there.

Here’s a fat gaming update.

I’m getting that itch to play Baldur’s Gate again, specifically BG1+TotSC+BG2+ToB using Easy TuTu with the same character. I’ve done the import from BG to BG2, but I confess I’m curious about easy TuTu. What’s holding me back is the unfixable Beregost bug that’s existed since TuTu’s inception. Getting to Beregost with a level 1 character is a royal pain in the vanilla game and there’s so much to do in Beregost that I want to have multiple save games as back-ups (mostly stealing). Another minor thing bothering me is what BG2 mods are compatible with Easy TuTu. I have a few specific mods I won’t play without, but I can’t find info on whether they will work or not. I’m not wanting to be the guinea pig here. I don’t want to live the excitement only to be disappointed because the Kivan romance won’t work. There are TuTu made mods (I don’t know if they also work with Easy TuTu), but they aren’t what I want. I will research in a bit, hoping for answers to my questions.

I’m also playing Puzzle Pirates after a year of not. I created a new pirate, Marm, instead of jumping back in with one I’d previously created. I’ve learned I suck ass at sailing when it used to be my best and favorite skill. Bilging is where I rock now. The other day, Empath and I were both pirating and it was close to 2 am. We were both tired and thinking about just doing a navy job, then hitting the sack. We ended up on the same ship even though I jobbed 10 minutes later than him. The ship took us to Cochineal Island in the Garnet archipelago. Since I hadn’t been there before, I jumped ship when my job was finished. The screen was darker than normal, so I asked, “Why is it dark here?” I always forget this part until I see it again. Empath exclaimed, “Skellies!” I’ve only been in 1 skellie fight and lost. What happens is that a group of skeletons invades an island at random and the pirates on that island attempt to fight them off. Pirates have to put up money and a piece of clothing to join the fight. Joining is the hardest part.

Cochineal was invaded by zombies this time. I hurried toward the palace under Empath’s direction and found it brimming with people (alive and undead). There was a rumble match going and I felt I’d (per usual) missed my chance. I stood beside a zombie right on the palace steps. The rumble came to a close and the pirates hung their collective heads in shame. A loss, meaning I have a chance to join! Quickly, I took off my bandana and clicked on the zombie, selecting Join Fray. I saw purple messages (private messages or tells) flood my window which let me know the challenge was being accepted and I was part of it. Empath got lucky, too, and the pair of us were in the battle. Rumble isn’t my best fighting puzzle; I prefer swords. I only had my fists which I felt sucked as weapons.

When the rumble started, I did my best to stick with making big attacks, then sprinkle. I got one big attack off and ended up matching off 3s to stay alive. It’s rare that I can return to giving big attacks. I heard Empath get knocked out. He began giving me commentary since I put all of my attention on my board. He prompted me to reteam and I did so, but that’s difficult when your board is nearly full of colored balls. Only a few minutes after Empath “died”, I heard the “ding-ding” of a win. We’d knocked out all the zombies and won the rumble! For the first time, I’d won a trophy: a zombie hand which says, “Killed by Marm”. I also have a badge proclaiming my zombie hunter status! The zombie let me keep my bandana and 100 PoE, plus awarding me with its hand, more PoE (I was pretty broke to begin with), pottery and a battered table. Empath won some PoE and 2 whisking potions. He didn’t get a trophy hand because he died, but he does have the zombie hunter badge. I was on a high and didn’t want to go to bed.

With some inventive wiggling, I was able to get the monitor working. Would you be surprised to note that my speakers stopped working?

I thought not.

Empath returned home from work and I explained everything. Normally, I’m practical with these things, but the frustration mounted and I screwed up 2 simple things. The cables going into the monitor were half unplugged. The speaker plug was in the microphone hole (speaker hole is light green and mic hole is light blue; companies need to make these color obvious). He fixed it and I felt like an idiot.

Afterwards, we went out for a Valentine supper. Swiss Chalet was packed; we could not get into the parking lot. Our second choice, East Side Mario’s, had a line up of people waiting for tables. Back across town to Pizza Delight which had people, but we could see empty tables. The waiter (I never caught his name) had a great attitude for the night and we gave him a pretty generous tip (Mr. Pink would’ve shot us ). We were able to try out the grilled bread bar. So delicious.

After an hour, I figured out how the change the battery in my mouse.

Then, my keyboard decided not to work.

While I was digging through various cables, I lifted my new flatscreen monitor out of the way and broke that too.

I got the mouse and keyboard working again. The only way my monitor will show anything is to have it tilted 75 degrees forward. If I had a webcam, you would have a great shot of my tits. In widescreen. Yummy.

Probably should’ve spent the extra $200 for a free parts-free labor warranty from Future Shop.

Do I like seeing no one commenting? Does it bother me to know no one reads this blog?

Yes. No.

After a disaster with several ex-friends yesterday, I realize that I would rather have no comments and no readers, just a flat line on my blog stats. Currently, there is the occasional blip (whether this is a stranger or Empath, I don’t know) on this blog. I deleted my Vox blog. I want to escape from the hate and hurt associated with the nickname I used.

I don’t think of myself as famous. People would put my recent nick into Google and link hop to whatever appeared that looked to be something I would have done. The Vox blog was the original bitch blog until a friend discovered it. She was upset over what I wrote (which was about her without naming her). All I could and can say is: she went looking for it. I certainly didn’t advertise through sig links and friends to go read my Vox blog. I cut the friendship; it’s simpler to end it there because I could see it would not get fixed.

Friends will always piss you off. It happens.

I forgot to mention this friendship was only in an online RPG. We were not friends IRL. Does that make such a difference? Hell yes. I had many friends in this MMORPG, mostly from being part of an in game chat channel created by a mutual friend from a gaming fan site.

Did I have any precognitive sense that becoming friends with people on this chat channel would be a bad idea? Well, I did get a bad impression from the first friend (Betty to keep things clear). Other than that, no. The dissolving friendships evolved during the few months (2 iirc) I was a regular chatter. James begged me to buy him an expensive item that I (at the time) wouldn’t buy for myself; Betty’s “I’m lost and dying, so I will ask for help and run around to get more lost because staying in one place is dumb” motto became sickening; Peter, who received a promotion along with myself and others, was annoying me with his singing. When I mentioned how I’d like to kick him, but that he wasn’t breaking any of the channel rules, he breezily said, “You can’t kick me because we’re the same rank”; I could not lurk and enjoy what the others were doing. The most prominent, forced delurking happened when I suddenly was punched, then thrown down a well. Later I discovered this was some sort of game – escape from the well – and a normal activity.

I feel better now.

ION, my wireless mouse is dead. It died sometime during this post and I think it’s the battery. Gack, keyboard shortcuts! Tab isn’t doing what I thought it would; it makes big spaces in the post lines. How do post this without a mouse???

Empath choked it up and bought a new computer from Future Shop. The one he originally wanted because he could purchase just the tower and a monitor was out of stock (natch), so he had to get the second cheapest, a Hewlitt-Packard. Once we got it home and he garbled an explanation to his folks *rolls eyes* (they still like to control his life), we cannibalized the new computer to share between us. Empath kept the tower and speakers (a separate purchase) while I got the keyboard and LCD flatscreen monitor. From his old computer, I got the BFG graphics card and 1G memory chips. I fell slightly guilty because I don’t do anything that needs such power. Today, I hope I can motivate Empath into installing his old harddrive as a slave in the new tower. He mentioned turning it into an external drive. He’s been digging through the web for his links and struggling to recall passwords (he doesn’t write them down), so hooking up the old drive as a slave means he can access the data stored there and get those links and things back. Not to mention the save files for the games he was playing, including a nearly god-like character in Morrowind.

Empath’s computer died last night. He was trying out a demo for a game he saw in the bargain bin at EB just to make sure it would run with his graphics card when he readied his spaceship to leave the station. The computer voice said it was ready for launch and his computer shut down. Not a shock as it’s happened before. Some game forces his computer to reboot itself. Only this time, the computer didn’t turn on again.

Collectively, our thoughts were: damn, his power supply went tits up, too! Today, after a rough evening of not being on a computer (Empath is very computer oriented), he took his baby to PC Medic for help. Nearly 2 hours later, he returned home and informed me the power supply is fine, but a small connector on the mother board is fried. This means a new mother board with compatible CPU. The PC Medic guy gave him a price list of what it would cost and it’s pretty well better off to buy a new computer.

We’re planning on going to Price Club tomorrow and have a look around. Empath says he’ll wait until next payday, but I flat out said he was delusional. He confiscated an old laptop of his father’s and spent the morning before work grumbling good naturedly about Windows 98 the erasure head 16 megs harddrive and laptop keyboard . This doesn’t even cover the lack of internet access. I’ve offered the use of my computer so he can surf and he’s taking me up on it when he gets home from work in about 10 minutes. God knows he’s done it for me enough, though I was kind enough to wait until he was at work before pouncing.

I have to log out of 2 forums we post in so he’s not posting as me. Lol

Friday, I decided to get a haircut. I went in and asked for a trim and to thin out my hair because it’s so thick. I have 2 layers of hair like a dog. I’ve walked home in the rain thinking my hair was soaked only to discover the under coat next to my scalp is warm and dry. Anyway, the woman cut my hair and mentioned I have layers. ORLY? I think it’s been over a year since I had scissors near my hair. When she was finished, I noted the hair on the floor looks like a small dog and Empath mentioned with the new, thinner cut, my hair doesn’t look so much like a helmet. :p