Ross Scott

This is a blog post. To read the original post, please click here » Here's footage from the latest Planetside 2 play session. This one was a little different as we ended up mixing up the gameplay some. I honestly would have cancelled this one if it hadn't been planned in advance as I'm still working non-stop on the next Game Dungeon videos. I'll definitely have at least one more Planetside 2 session in the future, but I admit the overall gameplay is starting to feel more anti-climactic, so I think we may have to come up with more ideas to make it more interesting, although if the turnout is similar to this session, we could just look into an alternate game also. Anyway, new Game Dungeon coming out soon! COMMENTS

This is a blog post. To read the original post, please click here » Here's the latest videochat with fans. I didn't have much in the way of announcements this time, aside from more Game Dungeon videos are coming, though people had several interesting questions. Coming up soon (the 13th) is the next Planetside 2 session. I don't have much more to say than that right now aside from expect more videos in the next couple weeks! COMMENTS

Wow, I feel dumb. That absolutely fixed the problem. I would say that maybe the program having a default setting to use non-whole pixel numbers for its axis isn't a great move, but you did indeed fix it, thanks.

This is a blog post. To read the original post, please click here » More Game Dungeon! Once again, this one is running late, though I'm relatively happy with how it came out. This one is on the short side comparatively, but I never really intended for every episode to be a marathon session the way some of them have. Next up is the Deus Ex trilogy, while it still remains one, which isn't for long. I've also fallen behind on Dead Games News, but will see about having another episode out at some point. Also, as a reminder, the next videochat is at twitch.tv/rossbroadcast on August 7th at 4pm EST. You can submit topics you'd like me to discuss here. PREMIERE PUZZLER: EDIT: Problem solved, thanks to "Xrott" the issue was Premiere was using a 0.5 pixel axis origin. So not exactly a bug so much as something I wouldn't consider great default behavior. I feel kind of dumb about this, but glad it was solved. Here's the rest of the original post below: - - - I actually ran into a very notable bug in Adobe Premiere when trying to make this episode, it was on such a fundamental level, I was a little shocked it exists, it reminds me of the sorts of problems I would run into on the Source engine. I was trying to import an image file with fine pixel details and Premiere WOULD NOT output this image correctly. I doublechecked every setting I could think of, but it came out wrong every single time. This happened on both Premiere CS5 and CS6. I had to use an elaborate workaround to fix this issue. It makes me wonder if this has affected some of my past videos also. For those interested, here's the problem: When importing an image with fine pixel details, it should appear like this: Instead, Premiere would always display it like this (not just in the preview, but also in lossless RGB video output also): Keep in mind the above pictures have been zoomed in for visibility, there was no additional scaling applied inside Premiere itself. I honestly have no idea why this is happening. If anyone can confirm a solution, let me know. Here is the original image available for download if you want to experiment. My guess is this is strictly a problem with Premiere and other video editors don't have this problem, but it definitely surprised me for such a well known piece of software and for such a fundamental function. COMMENTS

You can list questions / topics you'd like to be considered for the next chat here. The next chat will be on twitch.tv/rossbroadcast on August 7th at 4pm EST.

For those curious: -It's hot in my apartment (you can see me sweating in the video). For some reason it tends to be even hotter here than it is outside. It's about the mid 80s right now. I don't have air conditioning, most windows aren't even set up for units in Poland. -Having the side of my case off makes a difference since I have fan blowing at me / the computer also, it's more surface area, not just still air. -I have four hard drives in the case plus a non modular power supply. While I try to keep the wiring neat, it means perfect airflow isn't possible, plus some of the intake is heated from the drives regardless. -This likely isn't the power supply, since my videocard has almost double the power draw of my CPU and it never crashed during a game. The render was hitting the CPU on all cores and it took a few hours for it to happen, plus I wasn't happy with the temperatures of it. -A fan donated an i5-2500k to me actually. I've been meaning to "sidegrade" to that anyway, though it's a massive undertaking for me to do a Windows reinstall since I have to install and configure so many programs. I seriously have a checklist of about 200 items. Once I get to that though, that has a lower thermal profile than the 8350 anyway.

I would kill to be able to just walk for hours in large game worlds that I enjoyed. I think the Omni has a lot of potential, but it's also highly unlikely to receive mainstream support unless they specifically add it for a few titles. They need to come up with a motion-sickness free solution, which ironically, might coincide with what I was doing with VorpX.

This is a blog post. To read the original post, please click here » Here's another originally unplanned video to accompany the original unplanned video! This is a followup video to the last Ross Rants episode, since I felt like there was enough commentary from people to warrant it, plus I had some new information to add. There's nothing crucial in here if you didn't have any trouble following the last one, btu that wasn't the case for everyone. I originally planned for this one to take much less time, but all the minor diagram editing really ended up ballooning the time. In any event, it's done, so here it is. Right now my plan is to have at least one more Game Dungeon this month before moving into the Deus Ex series, however, I can't promise any dates at this point. While rendering parts of this video, my computer completely froze up. I'm fairly sure it was due to the CPU overheating. Despite having a custom cooler and what I thought was decent case airflow, it's apparently still not enough to tame it. I'm currently running my system with the case off and a fan blowing on it. In light of this, it's just a reminder to me how technical setbacks can crop up, however I'll try to have more videos out as soon as I can. In any event, I don't have future plans to cover any more VR, I feel like I nailed it down between this and the last one. COMMENTS

This is a blog post. To read the original post, please click here » Here's the footage from the latest playsession again. Unfortunately this is the lower quality footage with no in-game sound. While I did record those both locally, they're unfortunately out of sync with the twitch stream I think in about a hundred places and it's just not worth it for me to correct it like I did with the last feed, I'd rather spend that time on more of the real videos. I think eventually I'll come up with a better method of recording everything, but until then, this is what I have. I tried to timestamp a few of the highlights. The next play session will be Emerald server on Augusth 13th, at 2pm EST again. I may try something different next time to make the game a little more interesting, I'll see. In the meantime, more videos are coming before too long! COMMENTS

This is a blog post. To read the original post, please click here » Behold The Chosen: Well of Souls! I'm over a full week late with this episode than I was intending to, though in my defense, it grew into a monstrosity I wasn't expecting. I originally thought this episode would be around 15 minutes, but it grew into a whopping 42 minutes as I found there was so much I wanted to say about it that I didn't want to leave out. While I cut material out of every episode that I think isn't the most vital, The Chosen is so packed full of "why did they do this" moments, that it was harder for me to leave so many out of the video. This really took a lot of time for me to do editing-wise, so I think the next episode will almost certainly be a shorter one, although I have lots of stuff planned. I'd say it's safe to expect more videos this month, though The Chosen should remind me never to promise deadlines since I often underestimate how much work a video needs by a few dozen hours. In any event, I'm looking forward to getting more out! Also something not mentioned in the video is those shaman guys will resurrect each other in a potentially endless cycle. EDIT: I also meant to add this episode may have my favorite ending of any Game Dungeon so far. COMMENTS

This is a blog post. To read the original post, please click here » Well I would have put this video off if it wasn't already pre-planned since I'm in the middle of working on others, but here it is. The short version is more Game Dungeons are coming soon! I don't have a 4th of July video planned this year I'm afraid, though I hope to again eventually. Expect a new Game Dungeon in a couple days, and more after that. More videos! Aaaaaah EDIT: The next videochat will be on August 7th at 4pm EST. COMMENTS

This is a blog post. To read the original post, please click here » Well I have some bad news in that I'm running late on the next Game Dungeon. I just can't see it being finished by tomorrow. I intended to have it done this month, but it's going to take a couple more days. I do intend to have multiple Game Dungeons for July however, and I plan on posting a short follow-up video a little later to the latest Ross Rants since some confusion + good questions were brought up that I wanted to address. Also a reminder, the next videochat will be on July 3rd at 4pm EST at twitch.tv/rossbroadcast. You can either email me or post any additional questions / topics you have in the comments below. I can't promise which will come out first, the videochat, or the next Game Dungeon, but they should both be pretty close to one another. Also the next Planetside 2 play session will be on July 16th at 2pm EST on the Emerald server, also on twitch. That's it for now. Expect several more Game Dungeons coming both July and August! COMMENTS

Yes and no. I realized after I made this, I was focusing on a different point, but a lot of people thought I was assuming most native VR games for the CV1 and Vive would cause nausea also. I don't think that, my point was that motion sickness is EASY to induce unless the game is specifically designed for it. That unfortunately includes most 3D games made and limits mobility substantially on native VR ones. Yeah, that's great for games that get full VR adaption treatment, but I'd rather focus more on solutions for the huge bulk of existing games already out there that full immersion simply isn't an option for, but good 3D still is. And yeah, the 2D image virtual cinema thing I don't think would add to the immersion that much. Well the real answer isn't "none" so much as "it's really not obvious." In any event, there are two links I recommend. One, that review I showed in the video is THE best comparison of the Vive and Rift I've seen out of all the ones I've looked at: Additionally, the HDK2 is coming out in July. No idea if that will be better or not, but it's certainly worth taking a look at it. It should have different lens than the Rift or Vive, so that could be a good thing. 4pyuJa8VnME Hell, I'd prefer to control my OS that way. I may have to bug you about this in an email then, I have a lot of questions. Well to each his own, personally, I do NOT want to aim with my head, even if it has high accuracy.

The Nexus is really the closest analogy I can think of, since I really had some gaming euphoria moments back in 1999/2000 and would like to return to it. I have no idea, but I think it has a lot of potential as long as the nausea is manageable. This is another reason to really want backwards support for some games that can handle it (maybe using my method), since there are many enormous existing game worlds. I do think sweat could be a concern, you might need a special washable pad to put on the VR device for long term use. This stuff isn't perfect. That video is the result of 3.5 hours of recording under strong heat. I was just glad to get it made. I can screw up or forget lines a lot and have to keep redoing them until I get them halfway decent. As for my speed, it could be slightly faster, but I don't think I'd want it dramatically faster, since I am going for emphasis. I agree with #4 completely. Honestly, even though it's the same technology, the 3D effect from the Elsa Revelators was NOTICEABLY better than 3D vision, even though Nvidia bought them out and used the same technology. It took a lot of the "wow" factor away and I can't even explain why, but it sounds like you have a better grasp on it. As for flat textures, the illusion is obviously broken in 3D, although again, I'd be thrilled to play something with Quake or Unreal graphics in 3D, so I can scale my expectations accordingly. I'm not sure decent color would be an issue for me. As for low resolution, what I liked less were the lines between the pixels. The low resolution wasn't a huge problem for me, although it certainly does promote nearsighted tendencies since a lot of far off details can't be focused on. Does that really work? On their Steam page, they have a picture of what looks like Borderlands, but it looks like the left and right eye are getting almost the exact same image (I did a quick photoshop test): It seems like that would only create a flat image, not 3D.

This is a blog post. To read the original post, please click here » New video, finally! I've been wanting to make this episode for a month or two, although I was holding off until new videocards were announced last month as it's relevant to this topic (it's discussed in the video). If things had gone a little differently, I wouldn't have made this, because I wouldn't have thought it necessary. Unfortunately, things drifted into rant territory instead, so here it is! This is the longest Ross Rants I've made so far and will likely be the longest for some time to come. I wasn't trying to make it long, I just had a lot to say, some of which you'll be hard-pressed to find elsewhere on the internet. I pretty much unloaded almost all my thoughts on VR that have been building up for a long time now. As you'll see in the video, I'm partially obsessed with the topic and have a love / hate attitude towards the medium that I'm trying to reconcile. Anyway, I hope my drive towards it ignites in other people, particularly 3D programmers. The next video will be a Game Dungeon. I hope to have it out in under a week, but I'll just have to see how it goes. COMMENTS