SCWebCam3 – Old Program, Very Useful

So guess what I did today? I placed a webcam up online! Wait, what? An actual webcam? Nah, I didn’t, but I did something very similar to that. I wanted to find a screen capturing program that could continuously take screenshots and upload them to the web, at first I though, well this will be easy, get Frontcam to take continuous screenshots and use WinSCP’s file synchronize as a way to upload it. Boy was I wrong. Frontcam did not fare well for the one image deal, and it would be too complicated to open two programs all the time, so I needed a better solution. That’s when I looked on google, and found an old program called SCWebCam3. You can find it at http://www.harmlesslion.com/cgi-bin/showprog.cgi?search=SCWebcam, and I instantly learned how to use it. It has some great features to. The nifty upload to FTP feature is great for uploading the image to a site where you can view it, and you can add a caption to the image and make the program automatically start capturing upon computer start and such. Now, you may be thinking, invasion of privacy? Nah, I think anyone should be able to know what I am doing at my computer at all times. This can be used as a lookout spot for my parents, or maybe a way to get to know my lifestyle better, but in any way, I think I should share my desktop with the world. So now that I shared that, where can you find my desktop? At http://mydesktop.tk or http://sidaphela.bravehost.com. It also auto-refreshes every 15 seconds and shows my online status whether I am online or not, so you’d know whether it’s refreshing or not. Hope you enjoy, and maybe I’ve inspired some others of you to try something like this out!

Fiesta Fun with Friends

So this week I went over to my friend’s Charles’ house on the last day of school (Thursday for me) and we had fun playing Mario Kart Wii, Runescape (Created a new account just for fun), and then Fiesta. Yes, Charles actually tried Fiesta and had fun with it and now plays with me. His main account is an archer and is level 16 now, if I recall correctly. This morning, Teva Server went down and we played a bit on Epith. That’s where my secondary account is and Charles created a new Cleric on Epith too. Epith is just so much more crowded because a lot of the Teva players are now playing there until Teva comes back up. Anyway, Charles also got a very nice time for playing Solitaire, and he wanted me to post it on my blog. It was 74 seconds, with a score of 10151. Pretty impressive in my opinion. This was done with three card deal also. Here’s a screenshot of it. He did it on our band room computer as you can see some desktop resources to some music making software.

I also found a nice Fiesta Server code that is shown at the link below to show the server status of Fiesta. You can find the person’s blog that made this at http://gamer-universe.net/blog/2008/13/12/fiesta-server-status/.

 

Fiesta Getting Funner and Tougher

This week I got to level 28. Leveling is becoming quite tougher now that I am needing EXP in the 30,000 range and each enemy gives me around 120 EXP. Well, at least the tough ones. Each monster I kill now takes about 30 hits and 5 heals on me before I can kill one enemy, but I like to do mobs better. One because you have to stay more alert, two because you get more experience, and three because it seems to kill a lot more enemies faster. I also figured out there’s a second and third page to the Cleric skills page and I bought Invincibility and Restore from it along with Cure. Invincibility may sound useful, but it only lasts for about 10 seconds on you and the cool time is…2 minutes. Restore is only useful in mob attacks, and like the other Cleric say, restore breaks your healing chain because of the fact that it takes 0.8 seconds to cast and then an extra little delay which makes you lose a valuable heal you could need. It does recover 35 HP every 1.2 seconds 15 times though, so it’s ok in overall healing. Cure is for curing low grade illnesses and poisons (Tier 1 only). Also I got Heal 05 which heals 500 HP. I now have about 620 HP and 780 SP and I now have two rings that increase my strength by 7, making 14 extra strength. I got so lucky yesterday. I found 4 equip item drops that are called “Greens” in the game. Only one of them was for Cleric, but it was really good, so I kept that one. Greens are basically stronger equip items from previous versions and have a green name and usually have extra bonuses too, such as extra endurance and strength when equipped. I set up my vendor and sold my three greens for 2 silver each (2000 copper) and sold them in minutes. (Because actually you can sell it for about 5 silver but it’d take a bit longer). Then I found 5 silver lumps, worth 1 silver each also. Sold them to the NPC merchants which bought it and then I had 11 silver total. I then bought a new riding horse (Which is a lot faster and doesn’t consume as much food) as the little wooden one. I also bought my new level 24 boots and level 26 pants and then once I reached level 28, I bought the new level 28 Shirt. It looks pretty cool with yellow linings down each side of the pants and shirt. So that’s what I did this week also. The GM Guild Wars Event was pretty fun. Our guild was too weak to really fight a GM (Game Master), but we did fight all the monsters they spawned. Yes, the GMs went crazy and spawned loads of monsters all day that destroyed lots of shops that people left out. It was actually quite hilarious to watch the monsters pick out the shops one by one from people leaving them there in hopes of selling their items for lots of money overnight. The Find the GM event was ok, but not one of the best. Although it was fun, once a GM gave out a second hint, it was very obvious as to where the GM was hiding. I think all they should give out is a location (The first hint) and then everyone just go looking with that. (There were just too many people looking that giving out the “I’m in a boat” hint makes it sort of obvious. I am very well expecting to play the Protect the GM event on Tuesday if you play on the Teva Server. The goal of that is that the GM will start in Roumen and start walking in a long time to a far away town. During that time, and I’m assuming lots of players, will have to protect the GM as he walks through forests, caves, and death areas and the players must fight off the enemies so that the GM doesn’t die. The GM doesn’t do anything but walk but if he dies, everyone fails. During this time all areas the GM is in will have extra EXP (Yes, I will be playing tomorrow for the EXP) and everyone must work together. I wish something like this would be a kingdom quest, I’d always do it. So that’s what I’m expecting to do on Tuesday. I also started an archer character named Sidafella. (See the resemblance to Sidaphela? ) So, archer is like mage with the range and all, but with more DEF and does less damage than a mage. They solo pretty well, but I am still not used to healing without a heal spell, but guess I’m going to have to get used to it. I am still going to play my Cleric, but I will play my Archer probably at night when I have nothing to do and have done everything possible in my Cleric. Archer is level 6 right now.

I talked with the Twilight members a little bit and have decided to start a final map, probably of Roumen from Fiesta! Take a look at the post at http://twilight.fairserve.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=135 if you want to see how that will go.

Fiesta Adventure and Easy Video Conversion

So today I got up to level 22 on Fiesta, and I couldn’t have done it without Warinthestar’s help today. Of course we both play Fiesta daily now and he’s gotten up to level 20 and has gotten his AoE spell so now we both have it. I started off the day helping him fight off certain monsters so that he could obtain that spell, and then we headed down to Luminous Stone. I have to say we stayed down there for a good half hour fighting a whole bunch of stuff in both B1 and B2 of that area. I’ve only been to B2 twice before. Once at the beginning of the game when Dan was power-leveling me, and a second time by myself by luck. We gained lots of EXP there and at the same time, I healed myself a ton and used quite an amount of HP and SP stones. Warinthestar was also running low on items and we soon decided to head out. A careless mistake by me, and then I died and Warinthestar teleported away so he wouldn’t die. Later we did some more fun killing at Sand Hill, which has some very tough monsters. I died there, but Warinthestar found a gate to Burning Hill and then we went through it. Clearly I was blind to not see it. I then tried a Kingdom Quest, a Mara Pirate’s Avenger or something like that. It was very fun, and I did get 1900 EXP from it which was really beneficial. I see how you need lots of teamwork in that minigame, as the monsters were very tough to kill. I had to stay back and be my Cleric healing self as I would die in one hit from those things from the Aggro, or I’d just get killed after two hits, so I stayed clear of them.

I also found a great program today called Any Video Converter. It can convert almost any video type into any other video type. My specific use for it was converting MOV files to WMV video files, which I did find this program especially useful for. I won’t go into detail, but if you’re tired of downloading many programs that don’t work, or are Shareware and have a conversion limit or whatever, you have got to try Any Video Converter. It’s freeware and it works great!

Fiesta Continues…

So I haven’t posted in almost a whole week now. It’s not that it’s starting to become tedious about it, it’s that I just want to always play Fiesta now whenever I come on my computer. I am currently converting a MOV file to AVI file, so I have a chance to type up a bit of what’s been happening in the game. I want to say that now that I have explored Fiesta a little, er, alot more, I can clearly explain why this game is so fun and exciting to play. Where should I start?

The last time I talked to you about this game, I was level 10 or so, and I started getting a handle on this game. First of all, Clerics have to heal ALOT. I have to watch my HP at all times because most enemies I fight wil take down my HP in 3-5 hits and I must heal myself. That may seem like a lot of healing, but there’s a lot of SP to use that I don’t think that would really matter. I find myself completing quests a lot more than killing monsters for leveling now because one, you get around 500 EXP for these quests now, and also the fighting involved magically adds up a lot more to your overall experience. So quests are bargains. I am now level 21 and have gotten the Cleric’s special revive spell. The quest took forever though, I had to walk around and kill specific enemies and I had to take on the Shadow Dungeon Test, which is basically a tomb that you fight in and the overall goal is to kill yourself, which has around 5200 HP but doesn’t cast spells. You also get an archer, fighter, and a big rock monster attacking you at the same time while you’re trying to fight yourself off so it is very tough. From a Cleric’s perspective, it was pretty tough! I just attacked my mirror and healed myself every 2 hits I did to him and I was using my heal, HP potions, and HP stones all at once. It was crazy! A friend of mine who’s a mage has recently reached evel 20 and is having a hard time defeating them, obviously because they can’t have a heal ability. I think they really need scrolls and buffs if they want to make it through that test. Now I am starting to get all the goodies at the second main town caled Elderine, which has some expensive material that you have to buy. I also was able to join the guild that my friend Dan first introduced Fiesta to me. The guild is called RadiantDawn, and we won our first Guild war yesterday against a guild team with Spy… in it’s name. I think it was Spykeeper or something like that. Anyways, that’s pretty much all I have been doing this whole week and I still am. I talked to an archer the other day and the person said that Archer is a very tough class and anyone that wants a real challenge should try being an archer in the game. They are basically weaker mages because of their range. Well, mages can do some pretty good types of magic but archers don’t get much in their arsenal, certain powers do help with how much damage is dealt, but I think archer class really needs to be enhanced. I’m fine with being a Cleric, it’s fun.

Fiesta! A Great MMORPG

Say hello to a new game I played today that one of my friends Dan introduced me to. This game is called Fiesta and is a MMORPG. First, I want to say that this game can seem a bit overwhelming at first when you must familiarize yourself with the menus, navigating, and keys to press for different functions, but once you learn, this game becomes really fun! I have to base this game off of Runescape, because it reminds me some about it. Fiesta is much better than Runescape though, even before Runescape’s new updates. Fiesta starts you off by asking you to select one out of 4 character classes. These classes are Fighter, Cleric, Mage, and Archer. Features of this game include fighting NPCs and enemies in a certain Battle Dungeon Area. The graphics can be very great for a game like this. They are very realistic and 3-D and make for a very large amount of appeal in the game. Different classes have different roles in the game. Clerics obviously do a lot of healing and reviving and usually accompany fighters or mages. Archers gain powers that perfect their shooting and lengthen their range, and then you have much more. Probably one of the best parts about Fiesta though is it’s community. Unlike most online communities, this one tends to remain calm and peaceful, but yet have the excitement you’d find in any MMORPG. Everyone usually behaves, and only on occasion do you get people annoying others, but there are just too many players to make it a large difference. The size of this game is just, wow. Even though Runescape has such a large world, it seems dull and boring using the same graphics over the same terrain plot over and over. But the creators of Fiesta completly made the areas original. As you walk farther and farther down, you’ll always see something different. No repetition of one object the whole way. One thing I like about this game, is that there are only 4 servers. These 4 servers take care of every player that plays on this game. No matter which one you choose, you are bound to find hundreds or thousands of people in areas. This game is not easy to master either. Although leveling up takes awhile, you often get lots of new things available to you each level up including new armor to equip, weapons, quests, etc. Even if you reach level 40, half the world will still be unreachable to you because the game is just so hard, but at the same time as enough beginner areas to get yourself started. You just have to play this game, it is so much fun. You can download it at http://fiesta.outspark.com/.

Next thing on my tab, Mario Kart Wii. When I went over to Dan’s house, this was the first thing I wanted to play. Mario Kart Wii is great, but as always, the experience is enhanced in its multiplayer aspect, so I’ll skip right to that. Nintendo did a great job in redesigning its Wifi system to find games alot more adequately. There are three things that happen. First, it searches for games that still need players, then it’ll add you to that group. And 12 racers/battlers at once is very fun I must say. If it doesn’t find any games to add you in, it’ll then start a new group looking for about 4-6 players at first. Then after each race, it says that there might be more players joining in. It’s genious I tell you. And there is no limit to how many games in a row you stay in for. You can stay in for one, two, twenty, however long you’d like. The ranking feature is very nice also, and features a separate ranking for both your battle and race scores. This game is very fun, but also challenging. As always, power sliding is a large key to winning this game. And I mean it. All the turns in this game at some point either require you to brake intensly or power slide into the turn. If you can’t learn power sliding in this game, say goodbye to your Wifi ranking. Items are crazy in this game, which adds to the fun and excitement of this wifi. Snaking removed, more item fun, and easy connectivity makes this game the best in the Mario Kart series thus far!

I also started work on one of my own games called MegaLoManium. I still have only created a storyline for it, but I am starting work on the game soon. It will be a platformer game with only auto-scrolling levels, and throughout the game, the levels will get more intense and it will get harder. You must think, jump, and react quickly to live.

Yoshi’s Island DS Main Theme Song

So, yesterday I took a rough draft of what I’ve experimented and found to be the best-sounding solo piece for playing the Yoshi’s Island DS Main Theme Song, which you hear is the rhythm of almost every song. I have created a sheet music version of it and am posting it here. As I experimented with it on the Alto Saxophone, although it should sound similar on most instruments.

I haven’t posted in 2 days because I have been improving my life and trying to get a grip on my grades and life. Once it becomes stable, I will start using the computer more frequently again, so don’t expect a large amount of posts for the rest of this or next week.

Also, our bus now has 7 Mario Kart Players. I’ve only played with 7 players once, and it was really fun. Of course on Mario Kart DS, there’s always an item shortage as almost everyone grabs the 5 or 6 items before you can, although sometimes other people miss and you get lucky.