Archive for September, 2010

If you’ve ever had crashing issues, stuttering, low FPS, and/or general video card problems after installing a new driver, one of the causes may be left over files from the old driver. There are many long and detailed instructions for a perfect “clean install” on forums for those who have persistent video card troubles; this one is only recommended when you are having no issues and want to keep it that way.

1. Download and install a driver remover program. There are free ones out there, but I use Driver Cleaner from long habit and because it is updated fairly often.
2. Run the live update for your driver remover program.
3. Download your video card driver.
4. In the Windows Control Panel, use “Programs and Features” or “Add or Remove Programs” to uninstall your card’s associated programs then the old graphics driver last. If you start with the graphics driver, the wizard will force a reboot between each program.
5. Click the Start button > click Run > type “msconfig” > press Enter. This will bring up System Configuration.
6. Click the Boot tab > under Boot options, check Safe boot > press OK > click Restart in the new prompt. Your PC will now boot into Safe Mode.
7. Run the driver remover program for your video card driver. In my case, it is the general nVidia selection.
8. Once done, click the Start button > click Run > type “msconfig” > press Enter. This will bring up System Configuration.
9. Click the Boot tab > under Boot options, uncheck Safe boot > press OK > click Restart in the new prompt. Your PC will now boot into its regular startup.
10. Install your new video card driver, reboot at its prompt and you’re done.

After this is completed and everything is running smoothly, in order to save space and maintain the cleanliness we have going here, you may want to go into your C drive and manually delete the temporary unpacking folder that the driver executable creates during install. Mine is named, appropriately, “NVIDIA” and uses about 500 MB of HD space.

Last updated June 16, 2011.

Ghosts of Ascalon, written by Matt Forbeck and Jeff Grubb, is a novel set in the fictional land of Tyria, home of the best-selling game Guild Wars. The story takes place 250 years after the original game and tells much of what has happened between then and the upcoming Guild Wars 2, although the book’s events occur within a span of less than two weeks.

Read on »

Pardon me while I indulge in an internet meme – I did not think that this was possible. Previously, every 4 hours and 17 minutes there was a 3.57% chance of getting a random hat. Hats now seem to only drop during the weekly limit, but this two-in-a-row appears to null out the old system.

This was, sadly, an unacceptable word in Bookworm Adventures Deluxe. I’m guessing possibly because it is two words and there was no space.

I’ve been tinkering around with a custom Team Fortress 2 menu for a couple of months and decided that I wanted it completed in order to move on to other things. So, now it’s finished and I offer it to you.

Click for more info and instructions »

This is an interesting video that is linked (multiple times) in the comments of a Kotaku article writing on a blog post titled “Why do the Japanese Draw Themselves as White?” I am very surprised at the amount of commenters who are still reading the article through only one… cultural perspective(?), given the point of the article and the nature of the site itself. Perhaps they just lack knowledge of anime and manga history.

“Why Do Japanese Characters Look White?” [Kotaku]