Monday, December 19, 2016
Thursday, December 1, 2016
The Death of PC Gaming (and video gaming in general)
That's it, I've had it, never again. I'm done with PC gaming and almost gaming in general. So if your on the fence about pc gaming let me show you why you will want to stay with a console. And keep in mind, if pc gaming was so great there wouldn't be home consoles.
My background is: started gaming on the Atari 2600 home console (and on small handhelds like the old football, before the Atari). I've owned almost every console aver made. Its easier to list the ones I've not owned than the other way around.
So what triggered this rage? Well let me paint a picture.....
Last Christmas I was able to borrow enough to get a great gaming rig that I would start to download Steam games on. It was to be my 'Steam Machine'. The logitech f710 controller is THE first to have rubber on the handles! After all these years someone was willing to address my sweaty hands. So I bought the Logitech f710 controller and plugged it in.
For that first year I had been LOVING my new Windows 8.1 gaming pc. Reluctantly, I purchased a Logitech f710 controller because I've had problems with controllers in the past with other gaming pcs. But to my surprise, the controller makes it like gaming on a console, plug the controller in, open up game, controls just work. All is awesome for a year. Last month, around the beginning of November I go to play AC3 and the right stick (camera) is now in the triggers. The A button was functioning on the X button. Attack was the start button. The control scheme was completely broken. The only thing that ever changed on that dedicated Windows 8.1 gaming pc was the Windows updates. No other games added and no other hardware introduced. I freak out and check other games. Bf4, Saints Row 4 and AC3 all suffer from the same problem. Virtually all my games (and from different manufactures) now suffer this condition. So begrudgingly, I start to contact Logitech and MS. Logitech didn't want to acknowledge the problem and wrote me off, eventually ignoring my emails. MS wont listen unless you buy a support contract. I should have to pay for support of something they broke? If I didn't break it I cant fix it MS. This is your responsibility. So because of the ingenious moves of these 2 companies, I'm leaving gaming. I also wont be buying games or consoles for my kids. This from a gamer that's been buying games and consoles since the Atari 2600. I've owned virtually every system ever made and have bought thousands of games. I chose XBOX over Playstation from the first xbox and have owned all the xboxes, even after my first one caught fire, and the 360 gave me the RROD. I've been so loyal, and this is how I'm treated? I was going to get my kids into gaming but now I will not. Maybe Ill consider Playstation again instead of Xbone. If MS or Logitech remove this post, don't worry Ill have this info on every site i can find, and you'll know they removed it from their sites. Way to go guys!
So your gaming experience wont change much with a console. But, MS has made people worried they will implement DRM and always online requirements, no playing of used games etc. like they did with the XBone. So because of these worries I went the way of the PC. Screwed either way. The only thing you'll miss out on now with a console is less graphic ability and less processing power than a pc. But someday you may come to play your pc game and the game now crashes, wont play, has bugs, or has broken controls. And all these problems after you forked out double the price of a console to play games. Don't get stuck in this fly trap, pc gaming is horrible.
MicroSoft many years ago started a campaign called "games for Windows ". These pc games promised controller support, high def visuals, surround sound and everything you find on a console game now-a-days. This campaign never took off and MS made maybe 3 or 4 'games for windows'. The whole thing faded away. So now pc games wont always support; high def visuals, controller support or surround sound even though a pc that will play pc games is expensive no matter how you slice it. Buy the way, good luck hooking up digital surround sound to a gaming pc and getting surround sound. Doesn't happen. PC games play analog sound instead of digital. Virtually all home theaters are for digital sound.
And when your peripherals don't work on your pc, they will blame each other (Microsoft and the peripheral mfg. and the game makers) and not even listen to your problem. This wont happen with a console. I thought stupidly that by 2016 they would have worked out the kinks in pc gaming, but its still the same old busted piece of crap its always been, and that makes me feel that it will always will be just that. Way to lose out on a ton of my money idiots! PC master race is a joke about idiots with too much money.
You always also hear how you can always upgrade your pc as a benefit of pc gaming. Hey, just pop in a new video card and you can now game the next generations visuals for the next 10 years!! Ya thats what I thought too until i found out that:
a new video card usually needs more power. You current motherboard prob wont work with a new power supply (it will burn up the board!). So to accommodate a new graphics card usually is a complete rebuild of the pc, making it the same price (or cheaper) to just get a new pc than to upgrade. And check this out. Eventually Microsoft drops support for your os. SO imagine you just upgraded your old game rig with hot new hardware just to find that MS had dropped support of your os. Now we are talking about buying a new version of windows that may or may not work with your new hardware! So, its just not as easy as they make it seem to upgrade an old game rig. This is another pit fall I'm helping you to avoid.
So, I may go back to playing on the Playstation after this fiasco if I game at all. But, Microsoft and Logitech have chased me away from PC gaming forever and possibly console gaming too. If you have to game, look at Playstation. All PStations have always had better visuals and still give everything you would expect on a game console. PC and xbox, not so much.
Hell the reason I went to Microsoft in the first place was this situation:
I bought a PS3 and Socom Seals. I LOVED Socom on the PS2 so I was like o hell ya! Got it home. Spent the hour or so to set it all up, PlayStation accounts and all, just to find out that this Socom was online only. Worried, I go online into the only server I can find. There, a few people attacked me from all the hiding spots they knew of, then berated me about what a crappy player i was and then just left. It all took about 5 minutes for me to discover that the game I bought the PStation for was a $60 waste of money. I returned the Playstation the next day, but because I opened the software I had to eat the $60 for Socom. That's why I went to MS gaming.
So gaming is chasing away people that give it a lot of money for nothing. Gaming isn't necessary, and some of us put all the money we have into it just to be given the experiences I've outlined for you here. So I hope this post saves you the time and money I've had to waste with gaming.
UPDATE: It gets even worse with PC games. I played Battlefield 4 a lot the last few weeks (with a Steam Controller). It reminded me of the Battlefield 2 days when you can unload a full clip (assault gun or shotgun ) in someones back and they turn around and one shot kill you with a handgun. Then there are the times I'm one shot killed from across the map with a handgun or shotgun. I Googled for BF4 cheating, guess what I found: websites selling monthly subscriptions for cheats for the game! Thats right, for only $20 / month you too can log into BF4 and headshot the whole enemy team at once if you prefer. You can press one button on the keyboard and instantly kill every enemy on the map. Turn on aimbot and when you aim at people, it auto shoots them in the head. So if the crap even plays, which BF4 (and many other pc games ) did not play upon launch, you will have the game hacked to death eventually. When I just spawn for 20 minutes strait, I don't want to play anymore. This and more can be yours all so that you can enjoy slightly better graphics than the console version. Uh, no thanks.
And I've heard from family that has the new Xbone, that to play games you must install them for hours. Gone are the days of simplicity when you just inserted the game and played immediately. And the kicker; you still have to have the damn disk in the tray to play after installing! WTF?! At least on the crappy pc I install and can play from the hard drive without a disk. Not only does this make you tech support again instead of being a gamer but then you have to spend lots of money on big hard drives just to be able to play many games at once. If all you can buy is a small hard drive console then you are stuck finishing a game so you can delete it and install another. That limits how many games Ill buy at once. Force me to finish a game before I can start another and Ill buy fewer of them.
Also im so tired of the mouse/kb vs. controller argument that Im going to squash it once and for all, forever. The first point is a skilled player will beat you with any input device. The other point is, if these websites are thriving that sell cheat codes, why would people use them? They are ultra precise with a kb/mouse right? Then dont use cheats and headshot every person you see instantly. Crappy cheaters need codes to compete even with gaming mouse and keyboard.
My background is: started gaming on the Atari 2600 home console (and on small handhelds like the old football, before the Atari). I've owned almost every console aver made. Its easier to list the ones I've not owned than the other way around.
So what triggered this rage? Well let me paint a picture.....
Last Christmas I was able to borrow enough to get a great gaming rig that I would start to download Steam games on. It was to be my 'Steam Machine'. The logitech f710 controller is THE first to have rubber on the handles! After all these years someone was willing to address my sweaty hands. So I bought the Logitech f710 controller and plugged it in.
For that first year I had been LOVING my new Windows 8.1 gaming pc. Reluctantly, I purchased a Logitech f710 controller because I've had problems with controllers in the past with other gaming pcs. But to my surprise, the controller makes it like gaming on a console, plug the controller in, open up game, controls just work. All is awesome for a year. Last month, around the beginning of November I go to play AC3 and the right stick (camera) is now in the triggers. The A button was functioning on the X button. Attack was the start button. The control scheme was completely broken. The only thing that ever changed on that dedicated Windows 8.1 gaming pc was the Windows updates. No other games added and no other hardware introduced. I freak out and check other games. Bf4, Saints Row 4 and AC3 all suffer from the same problem. Virtually all my games (and from different manufactures) now suffer this condition. So begrudgingly, I start to contact Logitech and MS. Logitech didn't want to acknowledge the problem and wrote me off, eventually ignoring my emails. MS wont listen unless you buy a support contract. I should have to pay for support of something they broke? If I didn't break it I cant fix it MS. This is your responsibility. So because of the ingenious moves of these 2 companies, I'm leaving gaming. I also wont be buying games or consoles for my kids. This from a gamer that's been buying games and consoles since the Atari 2600. I've owned virtually every system ever made and have bought thousands of games. I chose XBOX over Playstation from the first xbox and have owned all the xboxes, even after my first one caught fire, and the 360 gave me the RROD. I've been so loyal, and this is how I'm treated? I was going to get my kids into gaming but now I will not. Maybe Ill consider Playstation again instead of Xbone. If MS or Logitech remove this post, don't worry Ill have this info on every site i can find, and you'll know they removed it from their sites. Way to go guys!
So your gaming experience wont change much with a console. But, MS has made people worried they will implement DRM and always online requirements, no playing of used games etc. like they did with the XBone. So because of these worries I went the way of the PC. Screwed either way. The only thing you'll miss out on now with a console is less graphic ability and less processing power than a pc. But someday you may come to play your pc game and the game now crashes, wont play, has bugs, or has broken controls. And all these problems after you forked out double the price of a console to play games. Don't get stuck in this fly trap, pc gaming is horrible.
MicroSoft many years ago started a campaign called "games for Windows ". These pc games promised controller support, high def visuals, surround sound and everything you find on a console game now-a-days. This campaign never took off and MS made maybe 3 or 4 'games for windows'. The whole thing faded away. So now pc games wont always support; high def visuals, controller support or surround sound even though a pc that will play pc games is expensive no matter how you slice it. Buy the way, good luck hooking up digital surround sound to a gaming pc and getting surround sound. Doesn't happen. PC games play analog sound instead of digital. Virtually all home theaters are for digital sound.
And when your peripherals don't work on your pc, they will blame each other (Microsoft and the peripheral mfg. and the game makers) and not even listen to your problem. This wont happen with a console. I thought stupidly that by 2016 they would have worked out the kinks in pc gaming, but its still the same old busted piece of crap its always been, and that makes me feel that it will always will be just that. Way to lose out on a ton of my money idiots! PC master race is a joke about idiots with too much money.
You always also hear how you can always upgrade your pc as a benefit of pc gaming. Hey, just pop in a new video card and you can now game the next generations visuals for the next 10 years!! Ya thats what I thought too until i found out that:
a new video card usually needs more power. You current motherboard prob wont work with a new power supply (it will burn up the board!). So to accommodate a new graphics card usually is a complete rebuild of the pc, making it the same price (or cheaper) to just get a new pc than to upgrade. And check this out. Eventually Microsoft drops support for your os. SO imagine you just upgraded your old game rig with hot new hardware just to find that MS had dropped support of your os. Now we are talking about buying a new version of windows that may or may not work with your new hardware! So, its just not as easy as they make it seem to upgrade an old game rig. This is another pit fall I'm helping you to avoid.
So, I may go back to playing on the Playstation after this fiasco if I game at all. But, Microsoft and Logitech have chased me away from PC gaming forever and possibly console gaming too. If you have to game, look at Playstation. All PStations have always had better visuals and still give everything you would expect on a game console. PC and xbox, not so much.
Hell the reason I went to Microsoft in the first place was this situation:
I bought a PS3 and Socom Seals. I LOVED Socom on the PS2 so I was like o hell ya! Got it home. Spent the hour or so to set it all up, PlayStation accounts and all, just to find out that this Socom was online only. Worried, I go online into the only server I can find. There, a few people attacked me from all the hiding spots they knew of, then berated me about what a crappy player i was and then just left. It all took about 5 minutes for me to discover that the game I bought the PStation for was a $60 waste of money. I returned the Playstation the next day, but because I opened the software I had to eat the $60 for Socom. That's why I went to MS gaming.
So gaming is chasing away people that give it a lot of money for nothing. Gaming isn't necessary, and some of us put all the money we have into it just to be given the experiences I've outlined for you here. So I hope this post saves you the time and money I've had to waste with gaming.
UPDATE: It gets even worse with PC games. I played Battlefield 4 a lot the last few weeks (with a Steam Controller). It reminded me of the Battlefield 2 days when you can unload a full clip (assault gun or shotgun ) in someones back and they turn around and one shot kill you with a handgun. Then there are the times I'm one shot killed from across the map with a handgun or shotgun. I Googled for BF4 cheating, guess what I found: websites selling monthly subscriptions for cheats for the game! Thats right, for only $20 / month you too can log into BF4 and headshot the whole enemy team at once if you prefer. You can press one button on the keyboard and instantly kill every enemy on the map. Turn on aimbot and when you aim at people, it auto shoots them in the head. So if the crap even plays, which BF4 (and many other pc games ) did not play upon launch, you will have the game hacked to death eventually. When I just spawn for 20 minutes strait, I don't want to play anymore. This and more can be yours all so that you can enjoy slightly better graphics than the console version. Uh, no thanks.
And I've heard from family that has the new Xbone, that to play games you must install them for hours. Gone are the days of simplicity when you just inserted the game and played immediately. And the kicker; you still have to have the damn disk in the tray to play after installing! WTF?! At least on the crappy pc I install and can play from the hard drive without a disk. Not only does this make you tech support again instead of being a gamer but then you have to spend lots of money on big hard drives just to be able to play many games at once. If all you can buy is a small hard drive console then you are stuck finishing a game so you can delete it and install another. That limits how many games Ill buy at once. Force me to finish a game before I can start another and Ill buy fewer of them.
Also im so tired of the mouse/kb vs. controller argument that Im going to squash it once and for all, forever. The first point is a skilled player will beat you with any input device. The other point is, if these websites are thriving that sell cheat codes, why would people use them? They are ultra precise with a kb/mouse right? Then dont use cheats and headshot every person you see instantly. Crappy cheaters need codes to compete even with gaming mouse and keyboard.
Monday, July 11, 2016
Finding Work in this "country"
Good Morning Truth Seekers,
Its been a while since my last post. Today I write about how ridiculous working in this "country" is. I recently moved and the head-hunter agencies want me to waste a bunch of time doing "assessments". So I have a few thoughts:
First of all Im totally offended being asked to take a test on programming languages I know. The way I see it, my 4 year programming degree that I paid upwards of $100,000 to obtain is my "assessment". I worked full time while going to school for about 10 years. Not only did I have to work full time, but then had to fit in school in my "free" time. I had no family to contribute anything. When you apply for financial aid at a school, they factor in something called EFC, or expected family contribution. If you have no family to contribute, oh well you just get less money and thats the way it is. I had to beg and borrow just so I could get my degree that I had hoped would be able to speak for me in the future. Employers just overlook this and want to base hiring you on crappy little tests that neither can measure your intelligence or know-how. If there is something on a test that you haven't used, you dont get the job. Many things on these tests are things that you dont even use or is irrelevant. And the kicker is, I read that there arent enough people to fill the empty programming positions. Well that certainly isnt true. If there was such a shortage people out of school would be hired but they are not. Assessments wouldn't be required. If you dont create your own business you might as well not even apply. There is no such thing as a junior level programming position. You have to graduate, and start your first job as a seasoned experienced senior level programmer or you dont get the job. WTF? And the dirty little secret no one wants to talk about is the fact that corporate america only wants to hire the cheapest people possible. No longer does quality count towards creating a product. I witness this first hand as all current video games that come out arent playable. Virtually every company in america is getting hacked. Your telling me that people that have to keep one hand clean so they can eat with it (because they dont have basic sanitation technology) is going to be more knowledgeable than an american that has only known technology? America created the technology. The saddest part is they are now more knowledgeable because employers will hire the cheapest workers at the expense of quality, giving them all the experience. So if you want to program for a living, know these facts. You may end up at the same dead end I did, except $100,000 in debt for nothing. And, the worst part is, Im a better employee, programmer, and human being than anyone Ive ever met in the workplace.
As a side note: Only a hindu would let me be free. I had a job for 3 years as a web developer and the reason was that the IT manager was from India. He set me free to do what I wanted. Its because of this that I was there for 3 years. As long as the owners of businesses are always going to be crusty, evil, white males its going to be hard for anyone to get a job or be set free to do what they are good at in the workplace.
Im sure 50 years ago when you interviewed to be a doctor or lawyer they just looked at your degree. There were probably no silly little tests for getting hired. After passing the bar or a medical exam and you got your degree or licence you just presented yourself to employers and they hired you. It does not work like this now and it should. If ive done all the hard work to get a degree, paid for it and actually made the grade, I should have many options of places to work. This is not the case even with many years of experience.
Its been a while since my last post. Today I write about how ridiculous working in this "country" is. I recently moved and the head-hunter agencies want me to waste a bunch of time doing "assessments". So I have a few thoughts:
First of all Im totally offended being asked to take a test on programming languages I know. The way I see it, my 4 year programming degree that I paid upwards of $100,000 to obtain is my "assessment". I worked full time while going to school for about 10 years. Not only did I have to work full time, but then had to fit in school in my "free" time. I had no family to contribute anything. When you apply for financial aid at a school, they factor in something called EFC, or expected family contribution. If you have no family to contribute, oh well you just get less money and thats the way it is. I had to beg and borrow just so I could get my degree that I had hoped would be able to speak for me in the future. Employers just overlook this and want to base hiring you on crappy little tests that neither can measure your intelligence or know-how. If there is something on a test that you haven't used, you dont get the job. Many things on these tests are things that you dont even use or is irrelevant. And the kicker is, I read that there arent enough people to fill the empty programming positions. Well that certainly isnt true. If there was such a shortage people out of school would be hired but they are not. Assessments wouldn't be required. If you dont create your own business you might as well not even apply. There is no such thing as a junior level programming position. You have to graduate, and start your first job as a seasoned experienced senior level programmer or you dont get the job. WTF? And the dirty little secret no one wants to talk about is the fact that corporate america only wants to hire the cheapest people possible. No longer does quality count towards creating a product. I witness this first hand as all current video games that come out arent playable. Virtually every company in america is getting hacked. Your telling me that people that have to keep one hand clean so they can eat with it (because they dont have basic sanitation technology) is going to be more knowledgeable than an american that has only known technology? America created the technology. The saddest part is they are now more knowledgeable because employers will hire the cheapest workers at the expense of quality, giving them all the experience. So if you want to program for a living, know these facts. You may end up at the same dead end I did, except $100,000 in debt for nothing. And, the worst part is, Im a better employee, programmer, and human being than anyone Ive ever met in the workplace.
As a side note: Only a hindu would let me be free. I had a job for 3 years as a web developer and the reason was that the IT manager was from India. He set me free to do what I wanted. Its because of this that I was there for 3 years. As long as the owners of businesses are always going to be crusty, evil, white males its going to be hard for anyone to get a job or be set free to do what they are good at in the workplace.
Im sure 50 years ago when you interviewed to be a doctor or lawyer they just looked at your degree. There were probably no silly little tests for getting hired. After passing the bar or a medical exam and you got your degree or licence you just presented yourself to employers and they hired you. It does not work like this now and it should. If ive done all the hard work to get a degree, paid for it and actually made the grade, I should have many options of places to work. This is not the case even with many years of experience.
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
Connecting PC to home theater - figured out!
Hello Gamers!
So Ive been struggling for years on how to get 5.1 surround sound from my pc to my home theater. As Ive researched this topic, Ive seen many of you with the same questions / problems that I have faced. Ultimately, I had to go with this hardware to get surround sound from pc games:
External USB 5.1/7.1 soundcard:
http://www.vantecusa.com/en/product/view_detail/439
5.1 Home Theater:
http://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/speaker-system-z906
Now, Ill explain the pitfalls in the hopes of helping someone else save some time and research.
First, I learned that the format of sound that comes from most pc video games is analog and is uncompressed. If you think about it, this is the only way sound could come from a game. A movie is linear, that is to say it plays in the track, depending on where in the movie you are. A game is very different. The sound in a pc game is dynamic. That is to say that when I move in the game, the sound has to follow me.
First and foremost you might ask, "why does my XBox and PS play surround sound? Those are pc games too".
And you would be right. However, Sony and MS pay Dolby so they can convert the analog sound to a compressed and digital format (Dolby Digital). Thats what we hear coming from those systems and they play nicely with most home theaters that have an optical input.
Not all cables are created equal!
So we now focus on the cables that can accommodate these analog/digital, compressed/uncompressed signals.
The largest "pipes" to move sound are as follows:
HDMI and analog can carry the most amount of data. (uncompressed analog)
Optical can only handle analog, if its only 2 channels (stereo sound, left and right). We will never squeeze uncompressed 6 channel analog into an optical cable.
Virtually all home theaters have analog inputs, but they are only for stereo sound (left and right RCA jacks). Where most pcs, dont have RCA jacks. Certainly, pcs don't have 5.1 stereo jacks (uncompressed, analog sound from a pc usually uses 3, 3.5mm jacks. These are the familiar but strange orange, black and green 3.5mm jacks on the back of your pc if you have a sound card).
Now keep in mind that HDMI is for digital data. The 3.5mm analog cables are for analog data. So something special is used to transfer analog over HDMI. Usually a receiver or player that can do this conversion. But remember, when we convert from analog to digital, we will lose some data if its compressed.
Now lets talk about bottlenecks. First, don't trust the sound from your tv. Even if you have an optical out on your tv, its most likely only going to output in 2 channel analog and may not even output in 5.1 digital compressed format. Again, tv manufactures don't want to pay Dolby to license that format especially when most tv's only have a left and right speaker.
The other bottleneck I found was the video card. I have a GTX 760 and it has HDMI out on it. So I figured, oh, for sure this card will pump out 5.1 surround, wether Dolby Digital or otherwise. NOPE. It turns out ATI pays Dolby so their cards will send out 5.1 digital compressed. Nvidia however, does not. When you try to configure the nvidia cards HDMI port in Windows settings, it only allows for 2 channel sound.
In researching this problem, an employee from Nvidia stated that Nvidia cards will pump out 5.1 surround sound, but looks for information from the device its plugged into. In this case the tv. However, I experimented by plugging in the video card (GTX 760) into the back of my home theater with HDMI in and out. Guess what. Only 2 channel sound there. The problem with the video card detecting the device its plugged into is that it didn't see that it was plugged into a surround sound receiver, it always thought it was plugged into a tv (and tv's only want to do 2 channel sound). Specifically there is something called an "edid" chip in all devices that give other connecting devices info about that device itself. Would be great if the video card would have found the edid chip in the surround home theater, but it doesn't. Because its ultimately hooked to a tv, the video card will NEVER allow me to configure its HDMI setting for 5.1 surround sound. So the HDMI port on the video card will not allow for 5.1 anything. The tv wont allow for 5.1 anything. WOW. So whats a gamer to do? Now, there might be someone out there with an ATI card that is connected via HDMI to their home theater and then out to the tv and they might have 5.1 surround sound in games. But even that requires the "analog over HDMI" technology to work. PC Games use analog sound and an HDMI cable is for digital signals.
So, in short to bypass all this mess, which is hard to troubleshoot with equipment that may or may not have the right "tech" to send the 5.1 signal, the easy fix is the equipment Ive outlined above. I used to have a Logitech Z5450, with the 3 3.5mm jacks hooked to the same ports on a Sound Blaster card and the surround sound was wonderful. Now a days, they don't want to include a sound card in new gaming pc's because there is HDMI. Don't be fooled. So because I had no analog ports on my new gamerig, like my Sound Blaster had, I had to get the hardware above.
Update - The logitech showed up last night. I set it all up and got no surround sound from the sound test in Splinter Cell Blacklist. At this point I cant get surround sound out of my pc no matter what I do. When I try to configure the Vantec in Windows it shows side speakers but not rear speakers. The rear speaker option is greyed out. At this point I believe its a problem with Windows. If Windows would show the rear speakers in the config screen for the Vantec i think it would work. Ive figured out a lot, but not what i need to get sound working. Ill post back if i figure anything out.
Update: It works!! Windows shows rears speaker as sides in the config screen for 5.1, and if you have a 7.1 setup it shows rears and sides. I found the software for the Vantec in the control panel in Windows. There it was set to 2 channel sound. I was able to successfully configure the Vantec to 6 channels and viola, Splinter Cell Blacklist speaker test was a success. Now all my supported PC games come through in glorious 5.1 surround. Battlefield never sounded so good! Well there you have it folks. The sure fire way to get 5.1 surround sound from your PC games!!
So Ive been struggling for years on how to get 5.1 surround sound from my pc to my home theater. As Ive researched this topic, Ive seen many of you with the same questions / problems that I have faced. Ultimately, I had to go with this hardware to get surround sound from pc games:
External USB 5.1/7.1 soundcard:
http://www.vantecusa.com/en/product/view_detail/439
5.1 Home Theater:
http://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/speaker-system-z906
Now, Ill explain the pitfalls in the hopes of helping someone else save some time and research.
First, I learned that the format of sound that comes from most pc video games is analog and is uncompressed. If you think about it, this is the only way sound could come from a game. A movie is linear, that is to say it plays in the track, depending on where in the movie you are. A game is very different. The sound in a pc game is dynamic. That is to say that when I move in the game, the sound has to follow me.
First and foremost you might ask, "why does my XBox and PS play surround sound? Those are pc games too".
And you would be right. However, Sony and MS pay Dolby so they can convert the analog sound to a compressed and digital format (Dolby Digital). Thats what we hear coming from those systems and they play nicely with most home theaters that have an optical input.
Not all cables are created equal!
So we now focus on the cables that can accommodate these analog/digital, compressed/uncompressed signals.
The largest "pipes" to move sound are as follows:
HDMI and analog can carry the most amount of data. (uncompressed analog)
Optical can only handle analog, if its only 2 channels (stereo sound, left and right). We will never squeeze uncompressed 6 channel analog into an optical cable.
Virtually all home theaters have analog inputs, but they are only for stereo sound (left and right RCA jacks). Where most pcs, dont have RCA jacks. Certainly, pcs don't have 5.1 stereo jacks (uncompressed, analog sound from a pc usually uses 3, 3.5mm jacks. These are the familiar but strange orange, black and green 3.5mm jacks on the back of your pc if you have a sound card).
Now keep in mind that HDMI is for digital data. The 3.5mm analog cables are for analog data. So something special is used to transfer analog over HDMI. Usually a receiver or player that can do this conversion. But remember, when we convert from analog to digital, we will lose some data if its compressed.
Now lets talk about bottlenecks. First, don't trust the sound from your tv. Even if you have an optical out on your tv, its most likely only going to output in 2 channel analog and may not even output in 5.1 digital compressed format. Again, tv manufactures don't want to pay Dolby to license that format especially when most tv's only have a left and right speaker.
The other bottleneck I found was the video card. I have a GTX 760 and it has HDMI out on it. So I figured, oh, for sure this card will pump out 5.1 surround, wether Dolby Digital or otherwise. NOPE. It turns out ATI pays Dolby so their cards will send out 5.1 digital compressed. Nvidia however, does not. When you try to configure the nvidia cards HDMI port in Windows settings, it only allows for 2 channel sound.
In researching this problem, an employee from Nvidia stated that Nvidia cards will pump out 5.1 surround sound, but looks for information from the device its plugged into. In this case the tv. However, I experimented by plugging in the video card (GTX 760) into the back of my home theater with HDMI in and out. Guess what. Only 2 channel sound there. The problem with the video card detecting the device its plugged into is that it didn't see that it was plugged into a surround sound receiver, it always thought it was plugged into a tv (and tv's only want to do 2 channel sound). Specifically there is something called an "edid" chip in all devices that give other connecting devices info about that device itself. Would be great if the video card would have found the edid chip in the surround home theater, but it doesn't. Because its ultimately hooked to a tv, the video card will NEVER allow me to configure its HDMI setting for 5.1 surround sound. So the HDMI port on the video card will not allow for 5.1 anything. The tv wont allow for 5.1 anything. WOW. So whats a gamer to do? Now, there might be someone out there with an ATI card that is connected via HDMI to their home theater and then out to the tv and they might have 5.1 surround sound in games. But even that requires the "analog over HDMI" technology to work. PC Games use analog sound and an HDMI cable is for digital signals.
So, in short to bypass all this mess, which is hard to troubleshoot with equipment that may or may not have the right "tech" to send the 5.1 signal, the easy fix is the equipment Ive outlined above. I used to have a Logitech Z5450, with the 3 3.5mm jacks hooked to the same ports on a Sound Blaster card and the surround sound was wonderful. Now a days, they don't want to include a sound card in new gaming pc's because there is HDMI. Don't be fooled. So because I had no analog ports on my new gamerig, like my Sound Blaster had, I had to get the hardware above.
Update - The logitech showed up last night. I set it all up and got no surround sound from the sound test in Splinter Cell Blacklist. At this point I cant get surround sound out of my pc no matter what I do. When I try to configure the Vantec in Windows it shows side speakers but not rear speakers. The rear speaker option is greyed out. At this point I believe its a problem with Windows. If Windows would show the rear speakers in the config screen for the Vantec i think it would work. Ive figured out a lot, but not what i need to get sound working. Ill post back if i figure anything out.
Update: It works!! Windows shows rears speaker as sides in the config screen for 5.1, and if you have a 7.1 setup it shows rears and sides. I found the software for the Vantec in the control panel in Windows. There it was set to 2 channel sound. I was able to successfully configure the Vantec to 6 channels and viola, Splinter Cell Blacklist speaker test was a success. Now all my supported PC games come through in glorious 5.1 surround. Battlefield never sounded so good! Well there you have it folks. The sure fire way to get 5.1 surround sound from your PC games!!
Sunday, July 5, 2015
Tommees New American Heros
Henry Wallace - Fought against Harry Truman when Truman wanted to drop the nuclear bombs in Japan. Post war, he wanted the English speaking world to "serve the world, not dominate it"
Joe Cosley - In Montana he fought for his right to live off the land. He became a fugitive for doing so. A true American hero
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Mooney:
Tom Mooney - Wrongfully convicted of a crime he did not commit because he wanted better conditions for labor workers and did not want to participate in war. The prosecuting District Attorney conspired with the jury foreman to convict Mooney in the face of non-deniable photographic evidence in Mooney's favor. Post trial, Mooney's attorneys had microphones planted in the DA's home that captured conversations between the foreman and the DA and their boasting of putting an innocent "union scum" away for many years. When the whole system was exposed, Mooney was still left to rot for 20 years. Absolutely no justice in the Divided States of America.
Joe Cosley - In Montana he fought for his right to live off the land. He became a fugitive for doing so. A true American hero
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Mooney:
Tom Mooney - Wrongfully convicted of a crime he did not commit because he wanted better conditions for labor workers and did not want to participate in war. The prosecuting District Attorney conspired with the jury foreman to convict Mooney in the face of non-deniable photographic evidence in Mooney's favor. Post trial, Mooney's attorneys had microphones planted in the DA's home that captured conversations between the foreman and the DA and their boasting of putting an innocent "union scum" away for many years. When the whole system was exposed, Mooney was still left to rot for 20 years. Absolutely no justice in the Divided States of America.
Saturday, February 28, 2015
All games should support gamepads / controllers even strategy games
Hello truth seekers,
Today's rant is about the lack of gamepad support for strategy / pc games. This is what I have to say on the subject:
Not ALL buttons are used frequently enough to make the argument that there aren't enough buttons on a gamepad. Also, if game makers got a little bit creative, they could make single press, double press and holding down options for the gamepad giving more than enough button options. All that happens is I have to use mapping software to emulate the keyboard on my gamepad. So if I'm going to play it that way anyway, you can have strategy games that support gamepads. Also, haven't you seen any of the console strategy games lately? They support controllers. Hey I thought PC gamers were the "Master Race" of gamers. But strategy games on PC wont support gamepads, but ones on the consoles do? Come on man. ANY and ALL games should support gamepads, no excuses. Besides, strategy game or not, I'm really not interested in using 40 buttons to play the dang thing. Hurts my brain to do that.
I hope you help spread this word and I hope game makers listen.
Thursday, February 12, 2015
A new way of doing business
Im fed up with how businesses run in America. As soon as you walk in the door to any business, everything that makes America "great" no longer applies. Freedom of speech? Try speaking freely at your job and see how long you stay employed there. Democracy? Wouldn't it be grand if before you were fired, a poll had to be taken and if you were spoken of kindly in this poll, you couldn't lose your job? Novel isn't it? Democracy doesn't exist in American business. Its actually a dictatorship where the "president" is usually a fascist. Never is the person at the top a woman, or person of color. So discrimination, thats allowed in a business. Even though we tell our kids to NEVER act like that, its the norm in American business. Women paid less for better work than men? Hey thats ok in a business environment, though we would NEVER teach that outside of a work environment. Police protection? Not in a business! You can be violated in a place of business and hey thats ok too! No police there, absolutely no protection. We assume safety at the work place but if someone comes in guns a blazing because they don't like you, what protection do you have? None. Freedom of religion and expression? Everyone knows you can be fired for these things and no one will do anything about it. The supreme court recently decided that a woman can legally be fired for pumping breastmilk at work. And guess what? Weight is NOT covered as a protected status to being fired. If your discriminated against because of weight, thats your problem, no protection. Think the employer has to provide a safe place, chemical free? Nope. If they use harsh chemicals at work and you want to feed your family, guess what, no protection. You can get any number of cancers and employers don't have to warn you or even provide for you when you become ill. We could make all of these things different and what harm would it cause? People feeling appreciated and free in the workplace. That would make the fascists more money but they are too stupid, evil, and greedy to change things. So what are we to do when we have to feed our families? Put up with this misery and injustice? And to top it all off, the owner mocks the whole system further by calling himself the "president". This is why the world will never swallow your "democracy". You mock it in daily life. Things aren't required to be this way and the world could be closer to utopia if we just changed the way America does business.
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