Father Xmas

It's easier to think of the Tier 9 VIP rewards as just three extra Tier 9 rewards that are only available to VIPs.

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Flippin forum logouts...
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I'm going to post and edit mode so I can at least avoid writing this a third time.

First two sticks of 512MB DDR2-400 memory is about $30 at NewEgg. This assumes that what you have currently is two sticks of 512MB and not 4 sticks of 256MB.

Now more memory won't allow you to turn up your graphic settings but it will speed up zoning as well as reduce stuttering when moving around in a zone by reducing swap file access, which occurs when you don't have enough system memory for what you are doing. Indoor missions tend to have a much smaller set of data so other than the time to enter or reenter the mission being reduced, you shouldn't see any improvement within the mission.

I also notice you only have 18% of your hard drive free. You really should look in to freeing up a bit of space there as well as giving your drive a good defrag. When the game is patched a number of the game files can get fragmented and with a old single core with HT Pentium 4 with integrated Intel video needs all the help it can get. I use the free defragger from Auslogics which is a lot faster than the one that comes with XP.

As for inexpensive low power graphics cards, I would suggest an HD 6450. It's extremely low power but is significantly faster than either the HD 4350 or HD 5450. It lists for around $50 but many have a $10 to $20 rebate. You still won't be able to use Ultramode but you should be able to play with most of the other settings turned up and still get a lot better performance. Just watch out which video driver you use. Right now current AMD drivers are a touch unstable with this game, 11.3 or 11.4 seem to be the most stable.

Also due to the design of your system (BTX motherboard layout), I would try to stick with video cards that don't encroach into the adjacent slot because in a BTX layout, there isn't any, and long or wide video cards may interfere with the CPU heatsink and fan duct (interior photo). So single slot video cards that don't have double wide heatsinks or fans for cooling.

Now if you want to get a new computer so you can at least see Ultramode, well that's going to be a $500-800 minimum to get UM at low settings.

Yes, prevent boot viruses and Linux.

Well Microsoft may think of Linux as a boot virus.

No at the end the head Sixer said those were left by the boss's son who went "missing" but is still out there but not with either camp.

The whole Gamma Forest Doctor means Great Warrior as well as the Doctor not knowing her could mean either that was something the future Doctor did or something another Doctor did going back to the two Doctor theory.

I will assume you have done the Vanguard intro mission that unlocks getting Vanguard Merits already. Right?

Which is the reason they seem to have included the top 20 TV tropes in the construction of the pilot.

Disobedient teenage son.
Love struck daughter. Also brainiac daughter.
Cute kid.
Some Parental strife.
Action Girl. Also orphan girl and adopted by leader.
Traitor from within.
Hidden agenda.
Splinter group.

For a moment I thought they were going for ancient astronauts but turned out to be "crazy" scientist son of leader.

Also in 85 million years, the moon is only about 2000 miles closer, less than 1%. But it's enough to make those total eclipses longer and darker.

As for the set, you film in Hawaii to get the tropical jungle feel. Make the far shots of the camp insanely large (due to the farm in the interior) so you only need to show a bit of fence and make many of the buildings interchangeable with a bit of dressing. Keep the dinosaur cameos to a minimum to keep the effects budget in check.

So the series is going to be a mix of family drama plus the whole "real reason for Terra Nova" and who sponsored the "Sixers".

And if you hadn't notice or depending on when you left, new characters get the fitness pool for free (you will need to respec old characters to get it).

Well Fringe has survived, admittedly on Friday nights.

Fox has a number of problems the other three major networks don't have.

1) Less primetime per week.
2) They get major sporting events including playoffs.
3) They have a chunk of time set aside every spring for American Idol
4) They have had a series of successful 1/2 season shows that they use to pad around the sports and Idol but not enough primetime to give all of them a fair shot.

All that Premium means is you are better off than a purely free account and less than a subscription.

For the returning player it means that some features may be unlocked based entirely on months of subscription.

For returning players their experience depends on when they left and how long they had subscribed before leaving. The "problems" that generate the most caterwauling are:

1. No Incarnate unless you subscribe (Issue 19)
2. No IOs unless you have unlocked Tier 7 (63 months) or pay $2 a month (Issue 9)
3. No consignment store until you are Tier 4 (18 months) or pay $2 a month (Issue 9)
4. No MA rewards until you are Tier 4 (18 months) or pay $5 a month (includes publishing a Tier 6 benefit) (Issue 14)
5. No Masterminds or Controllers until you are Tier 5 (30 months) or pay $15 for each AT (Issue 0)

If you hadn't bought Going Rogue (Issue 18) before Freedom's launch you don't get as a non-subscriber*:

1. Creating characters in Praetoria unless you pay a one time charge of $15
2. Alignment switching unless you pay a one time charge of $15
3. GR powersets unless you pay a one time charge of $10 for each one.

So a returning player's experience can be very different depending on when they left. If they left before Issue 9, all they miss are Masterminds and Controllers, unless they had played for 2 1/2 years. If they left after Issue 9 and hadn't played long enough to unlock IOs and the AH, it's $4 a month instead of $15.

For me the biggest problem going Premium for me is the limited number of character slots unless I buy more at $5 to $6 each.

*This assumes you can't get GR post launch.

Since the pics at ComingSoon don't come up for me, here's the link to the article.

Also more random pictures from Sunday.

From what I heard, which may be bunk now since they've supposedly reworked the show, the time bridge to 85 million years ago was an accidental discovery and with the world's ecosystem failing, a life raft in shark infested waters is still better than no life raft at all.

As for space, the advantage, of course, is being dropped into a totally compatible ecosystem. From the point of view of air, water, compatible biochemistry, etc.

Must be easier to disable a contact(s) than a specific zone.

Plus it's advertising. "Look at this nifty zone, wouldn't you want to pay $7.50 to do missions here?".

They went out of their way to post in all the major threads discussing market prices during Beta that prices weren't finalized.

Worst case. Exit the game. Stop the install. Exit the Launcher. Restart the Launcher. Restart the install.

Now you should have the installer window up and it should have the estimate.

Now should it be displayed in the game? Ideally yes but the game isn't the launcher and it's the launcher that's handling the download.

They've just started enabling previously made but not currently subscribed accounts.

Current best player guess is after Tuesday's patch/downtime but their hasn't been official word yet.

So what do you think the chances of this SciFi series on a major network surviving is? Especially Fox?

Will it be a case of so much money has been spent that it'll have to bomb ratings wise huge before it's pulled or will it limp for a full season like The Event or Flashforward?

Thunderbirds but I partially blame that on nostalgia. The original show was the future as I remembered it. Turning Brains's stammer into Porky Pig's was a huge misstep.

Actually I had to do that when I was in high school. My house was on top of one hill, the school another and I was just inside the border that marked who could take a bus and who couldn't. On top of that the school system's superintendent rarely if ever called a snow day even though every town around us did.

Ice storms were the worse.

Of course nowadays schools call in a snow day if the forecast hints at snow the next day. Wimps.

Yes, it's cleverly disguised in plain sight. I thought it was strange that they had two logos for the game until I notice both highlighted when you pass the mouse over them.