Legends of Aranna in 2022

 

Had a bash getting Legends of Aranna working on my PC, using the original CDs since it is the only Dungeon Siege title without a digital release. In my case, I’m running Linux Mint, so I had to use Wine (lutris-fshack-7.1-x86_64) and set it as a 32-bit prefix. The biggest issue I ran into was a crash a start-up, which I solved by patching out the SmarteSECURE DRM.

The Reception of Wolfenstein 3D

 

Bit of a strange post. I just want to provide a link here on my blog to an essay I wrote on Medium in 2018. It's about Wolfenstein 3D, obviously, I only devote my time to the most important things.

DOSBox keymap for Ultima Underworld

 

I had a go at creating a keymap file for Ultima Underworld. It is designed for a person who uses the mouse in their right hand. If you're interested, just download it, extract and drop it into your DOSBox directory (or Ultima Underworld's directory, if you're using the GOG release).

Playing with AI upscaling (Video2x)

 

I’ve been experimenting with AI upscaling for a little while now. For those unaware, this is a process where a program, trained using a set of example images, will take a picture and try to increase its resolution without compromising on quality. In reality, at least in my case, it’s more about coaxing software into producing acceptable, sometimes even amazing, upscaled images, by adjusting this setting here, or that slider there. We’re a long way from this being completely automated, at least at my price range. The pictures I’ve been using have largely been old family photos, taken by my dad with an early digital camera, but for the sake of my privacy and your interest, this post is focused on something more fun; loading screens from The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

Dota 2 And Keeping a Positive Mental Attitude

As much as Dota 2 is a game about skill, speed and hand-eye coordination, it’s also about gaining an advantage in gold, experience, map control, or all of the above. However, there is one key factor which cannot be measured: your morale, both as individuals and as a team. Positivity breeds positivity, and happy players play better.

DOSBox: A Quick Guide to Getting Started

This guide is written for use with DOSBox 0.74, the latest version as of April 2014. Travellers from the future might run into inaccuracies. Sorry about that.

DOSBox is scary if you don’t know how it works. I’ve spoken to many a would-be DOS gamer, eager to explore the classics of the pre-Windows era, but are held back by the unforgiving text-based monstrosity that is DOS. While DOSBox may be an emulator, it’s a pretty faithful one, which requires at least a grounding in DOS to get the most from it.

And if you’re looking to get the most from it, I’d recommend checking out Abandonia’s excellent guide on using DOSBox, as well as browsing the official Wiki.

If, on the other hand, you’re just looking to get started in the emulator as fast as possible, I think I can help!

Moddowind: A basic Morrowind modding guide

This guide assumes you’re running the Game of the Year edition of Morrowind (AKA have both the expansion packs).