StormSurvivor

Yes! Thanks a ton for the updated frames. They're all working perfectly for me. My apologies for being on your case in the discussion thread; I just wanted to be able to partake in this competition without any issues.

Interesting to see that you've merged all the framework into one layer and removed the text. I'll be happy now to go through the screens I've taken for the hero zones and drop them into my frames. It seemed like I had so long back when this competition was announced. Now I've only got five days to get them all in!



Note: HAZARD_LoadingScreen's layer called 'PASTE SCREENSHOT #3 HERE' doesn't have its clipping mask set up. This is easily fixed by right-clicking the layer, and selecting 'Create Clipping Mask'. Save it and it's ready to use.

Not so much 'lost', but 'still missing', the VEAT costume creator is often forgotten when new pieces are added to the game.

Arachnos Soldiers are missing faces. Male faces 14-22 and female faces 16-30. Male and huge soldiers do not have access to the current Alpha or Omega Auras, but instead have access to the older versions of Alpha and Omega that were tested before the current version. Female soldiers have no access to either form of Alpha/Omega Aura.

Widows seem to have access to all of the current faces, and all body types use the old Alpha/Omega auras instead of the new ones.

I saw a controller the other day on Union who had reached thirty-six. I looked for her afterwards, and her search comment was 'Looking for any team. Exemping in prae'. I'm guessing she's one of those theoretical Praetoria-only characters who's aiming to go all the way to fifty if at all possible.

I've eight males, eight females, and two genderless beings that take on a male 'shape'. I tend to prefer making female characters. Partly because I greatly prefer their costume creator, and party because when I'm dressing a female character, it feels more like 'dressing them up'. I can make them look 'better' and show a little skin; a bit of female leg or cleavage tends to look better than a mans. I can pick between different styles of shoes. Thigh high boots? Stillettos?

When making male characters, it tends to feel more like I'm designing a uniform. Superman, spiderman, that kind of thing. Men have also got less to show off, tend to be covered from the neck down, and have flat shoes. I've got a couple of males with bare chests and black patterns to simulate 'with skin' options, but it isn't anywhere near as useful as the female one.

Overall, I think it's a combination of having a somewhat effeminate mind, and having more options in the female costume creator. Females aren't my 'type', so it isn't that I like staring at their butts as they move between missions. But because I can clothe that butt up in such a way that it looks great with that particular cutting of skirt and those heels.

If you're talking about changes only on the level of the Gladiator Shoulders, then I say option one for sure.

(Giant image! Thanks for the picture, by the way. Although I'm not sure who I'm thanking.)

If it's more on the level that the shininess was changed on tech pieces, or the thigh high boots that I managed to miss out on, then I'd say option two.

Ideally, I would say option one, and then open a thread where people can request old textures. If particular pieces come up again and again, look into making them available.

On my travels around the internet, I recently came across 'Shaken' by Shiny Toy Guns. As soon as the song started, my ears pricked up, and images of snakes, corrupt police, and arachnos came instantly into my mind. I jumped over to ParagonWiki, and found that I had indeed heard correctly; the intro to Shaken appears to be in the intro to Darwin's Landing.

Now, is this one of those cases where CoH is using stock sounds, and Shiny Toy Guns used the same stock? Or is this a case of sampling? I've heard of unmodified songs being used in media, the Atlas Park Theme particularly, but this is the first I've heard of such sounds being embedded in this way. I was even unaware if the CoV music was achieved in the same manner as CoH. Either way, I'm curious to hear if anybody has heard anything similar. Have you heard sounds that grab your attention, and instantly know what part of the CoH universe you're hearing?

Whee.

I'll be attending on Union if I'm free. Now I just know I'm going to be spending every free daydreaming minute working out what costume to wear. Looking forward to seeing the Unionites dress up, along with whoever we're seeing from NCNC.

While I'm still only a nipper, I put on a load of weight around the age of thirteen or so. Puberty's resulted in my weight fluctuating a fair bit, but I picked up a couple of habits. Now I'm approaching nineteen, I've lost a lot of the weight, and my outlook on food is totally different to what it was then.

I understand that pretty much everything I'm going to say is repeating what those before me have already said, but the first thing that I'm going to have to say is that this is going to take a long time. You may not take six years to get as far as I have, but it really isn't unlikely. Long-term fat takes much longer to get rid of, and can only really happen if you have the patience and determination to stick at it. If you, like I did initially, try to look for a fast way to lose lots of weight, you likely won't be able to keep it off. You need to look at slight changes that will last for a long time; hopefully the rest of your life.

Secondly, and I cannot stress this enough, multiple small meals. I used to eat very little if anything during the daytime, and then ate a large meal in the evening. This was by far the worst thing I was doing to myself. When your body is used to getting one meal a day, it stores that meal away. As fat. Your body won't instantly store what you're eating as fat if it knows that it's going to get some more fuel in a few hours. As others have said, take some things with you on your day: an apple, some grapes, a light sandwich. Eating something small every few hours really does wonders.

I will not, for one second, pretend I know what food groups are wonderful for what. I've found the subject rather difficult to understand, and can never get myself to learn it. I've tried. Luckily, there are plenty of posters here who've told you what good and bad carbs, fibre, and protein do. All I can really suggest from my own experience is that you look into negative calorie foods. Now, before anybody catches me out on this, they are by no means a magical food that cause you to lose weight, and in no way is it as simple as eating low carb foods. There's so much more to it than that. However, negative calorie foods are generally really very good for you, and are a great 'base point' to start from if you're looking for something to snack on. Apples are my favourite, although celery can also be a great snack. Also, look into small changes to make things you enjoy eating better for you. Replacing mayonnaise in a sandwich with lemon juice is great, for example. It adds the same kinda 'zing', but is far better for you in the long run.

Also, don't cut out food you like entirely. Yes, you're going to have to cut down. A lot. But don't think that means you can never eat things you like again, even if they're really very bad for you. Allow yourself a treat every once in a while, and eat something bad for you. Just keep it small: it doesn't work if you eat a couple of pizzas, obviously. I tend to do this about once a week if it's something small, or once a fortnight if it's something like pizza. However, before you treat yourself, you need to make sure you deserve this treat. Have you been eating well? Excercising? Treating yourself every once in a while is a great way to stay motivated. Just don't let it get out of hand.

I know this one seems obvious, but frequent excercise is crutial. You don't need to run a marathon everyday, but you need to ensure you're doing enough every day to use up what you're eating. Your vital functions do use this energy, but that alone will not have you lose weight unless you starve yourself and make yourself incredibly ill. The local gym is an obvious choice, but a home gym is also viable. We've got a cross-trainer downstairs (known as an elliptical elsewhere, I believe), along with a weight bench and a rower. I prefer a home gym, as I can excercise without anybody else around, and I can choose my own soundtrack. But to effectively use a home gym, you need self-discipline. As I found early on, it's very easy to slack off if you're alone. Stick to it.

If you can't go to the gym for whatever reason, and understandably can't afford your own equipment, do some really simple things around the house. Set yourself a task that involves walking up and down the stairs. A lot. When I needed to do something, I'd often carry lots of things from my room downstairs, clean my room, and then move everything back up. This would often be a good ten or eleven trips both ways, and I live in a three-story house. It really tired me out effectively, and even moreso when I lost enough weight that I could gleefully run up the stairs. Sitting still for long periods of time can have a similar effect to eating one large meal a day. If your body doesn't think it's going to use what you're eating, you'd better believe it's going to be fat.

Something that people often overlook is that weight loss is helped a ton by getting a good night's sleep. It isn't often realised that the body uses the ideal eight hours of sleep to 'do it's stuff'. Admittedly, I'm not exactly knowledgable on the subject, but I definitely realised the difference when I started sleeping well. This generally applies to the length of your sleep, although I hear that having a consistent bed-time can also help. If you're doing a lot in your day, as noted above, you'll likely want to go to bed earlier, and it all ties itself together very naturally.

Finally, this is not a diet, or a 'fix'. This is a change of lifestyle. If you're spending time convincing yourself that you can handle this kind of thing for a couple of years, then you're not looking at it correctly. Unless you're happy to put all that weight back on in a few years, then this change is for life. Simply being able to 'put up with it' cannot do. You need to like this change, even though it will initially seem really quite horrible. I can assure you that if you initially stick at it long enough to feel weight loss, you'll be more likely to carry on. Believe me, there is no better motivator than catching yourself in your underwear in a mirror and thinking 'I've lost weight!'. (Which I still do. This morning.)

I apologise if anything in my post seems rude or accusive. I haven't read the entire thread, as some of the posts are simply huge. As a result of which, I may have mentioned some things that are either already underway, or simply not possible for whatever reason. As a guy who's lost enough weight to be truly very happy and proud, I wish you the best of luck, and more importantly:

Enjoy it!

I loved this! After I started to get in the right mindset, I found I had to go and read the first few again, but still couldn't quite understand Radiation Emission. Empathy, Pain, and Medicine were definitely my favourites, with Dual Pistols close behind. Most of them got a smile out of me, and a few of them a chuckle.

Bravo.

I went the other way. 'Geogaddi', by Boards of Canada made me think of Warshades, so I named mine after it, along with trying to work the album art into her costume.

It would also appear that the Resistance NPCs use different glow maps to us in some places. On the shoulder pieces, for example, the two 'rods' that stick out glow on our pieces, yet are the darker brown metal on NPCs. The 'tube' that sticks out of the top is also different. I don't remember who gets what, but either the NPCs or the players have a glow on the tip of the tube, the others have a glow around it.

Isn't it a little early to have this accusive a thread? I swear, I'll never understand my fellow EUers.

However, I doubt we're going to get into i20 Closed Beta. At least initially. With the signed NDA, there are likely legality issues that would prevent us from testing until the NDA belt was loosened a little.

I'm just- wow. I've got so many questions!

As others have asked; how is fitness going to work? Granted at levels six, fourteen, and twenty? Issue twenty closed beta?! What's the difference between the regular NDA and a signed one? Is it easier to keep information within the beta?

Very excited. The f5 button of the computer I've commandeered hasn't felt this loved in some time, I'm sure.

Whether or not this particular announcement is about a revamped Baumton, I think it really shouldn't be left much longer. I mean, how long has Operative Wellman been sending Villains to interfere? The fact that villains get a more up-to-date map than heroes is a little odd, I think.

Consider me intrigued!

I loved the Blue King comics, and was... well, saddened to see it end. If this update has got anything to do with the comics, the characters, or their story, I'll likely be pleased. Looking forward to it.

That was a rather sneaky change. Just thought I'd point it out to those who, like me, hadn't seen it.

Noble Savage's post, as far as I can tell, has vanished into the cosmos:

-Rubs eyes-

-Reads again-


Wow. An EU-only contest wasn't what I had in mind, but it's really quite remarkable to see. Really looking forward to entering this. With this and the Loading Screen contest, I can only send a huge thanks to those who make these things happen.