Wyk's Blog

[wykrhm]

Press Impressions: HTC & Valve's Vive VR Headset

Gizmodo: HTC Vive: Virtual Reality That's So Damn Real I Can't Even Handle It 

Engadget: HTC's Vive made me believe in VR

TechCrunch: HTC And Valve Have Cracked The VR Code

The Verge: I wore the Vive VR headset and didn't want to take it off

CNET: Watch out, Oculus: HTC Vive's VR experience is astonishing

SlashGear: HTC Vive: That Valve VR wow-factor

You can find the entire press coverage here.

[wykrhm]

Press Release: Source 2, Steam Link, Steam Lighthouse VR Tech and more

March 3, 2015 -- Valve announces a number of product and technologies at this week's Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco.

"We continue to see very strong growth in PC Gaming, with Steam growing 50% in the last 12 months," said Gabe Newell, Valve's president. "With these announcements we hope that we are helping build on that momentum."

Steam Machines, Windows PCs, Macs, and Linux PCs will be able to take advantage of a new product announced at GDC called Steam Link. Designed to extend your Steam experience to any room in the house, Steam Link allows you to stream all your Steam content from any PC or Steam Machine on the same home network. Supporting 1080p at 60Hz with low latency, Steam Link will be available this November for $49.99, and available with a Steam Controller for an additional $49.99 in the US (worldwide pricing to be released closer to launch).

Steam Machines from partners Alienware and Falcon Northwest are being shown, with Machines from a dozen other partners slated to release this November. Steam Machines will start at the same price point as game consoles, with higher performance. Customers interested in the best possible gaming experience can choose whichever components meet their needs. Epic will give a demonstration of the newly announced Unreal Tournament running on a 4K monitor driven by the Falcon Northwest Steam Machine. "We love this platform," said Tim Sweeney, founder of Epic Games. "Whether you're running incredibly detailed scenes at 4K or running 1080p at 120 FPS for an intense shooter experience, this brings world-class gaming and graphics to televisions with an open platform true to Valve's PC gaming roots."

Valve will show a virtual reality (VR) headset. Developer versions of the headset will be available this spring, and partner HTC will ship their Vive headset to consumers by the end of the year.

Two new technologies are part of the VR release - a room scale tracking system codenamed Lighthouse, and a VR input system. "In order to have a high quality VR experience, you need high resolution, high speed tracking," said Valve's Alan Yates. "Lighthouse gives us the ability to do this for an arbitrary number of targets at a low enough BOM cost that it can be incorporated into TVs, monitors, headsets, input devices, or mobile devices." Valve intends to make Lighthouse freely available to any hardware manufacturers interested in the technology.

"Now that we have Lighthouse, we have an important piece of the puzzle for tackling VR input devices," said Valve's Joe Ludwig. "The work on the Steam Controller gave us the base to build upon, so now we have touch and motion as integrated parts of the PC gaming experience."

"We've been working in VR for years and it was only until we used SteamVR's controllers and experienced the magic of absolute tracking that we were able to make the VR game we always wanted to make," said Alex Schwartz of Owlchemylabs.

VR demos being shown at GDC include work from Bossa Studios, Cloudhead Games, Dovetail Games, Fireproof Studios, Google, Owlchemylabs, Skillman & Hackett, Steel Wool Games, Vertigo Games, and Wevr.

Valve announced the Source 2 engine, the successor to the Source engine used in Valve's games since the launch of Counter-Strike: Source and Half-Life 2. "The value of a platform like the PC is how much it increases the productivity of those who use the platform. With Source 2, our focus is increasing creator productivity. Given how important user generated content is becoming, Source 2 is designed not for just the professional developer, but enabling gamers themselves to participate in the creation and development of their favorite games," said Valve's Jay Stelly. "We will be making Source 2 available for free to content developers. This combined with recent announcements by Epic and Unity will help continue the PCs dominance as the premiere content authoring platform."

Also as part of supporting PC gaming, Valve announced that it will be releasing a Vulkan-compatible version of the Source 2 engine. Vulkan is a cross-platform, cross-vendor 3D graphics API that allows game developers to get the most out of the latest graphics hardware, and ensures hardware developers that there is a consistent, low overhead method of taking advantage of products. Vulkan, previously called Next Generation OpenGL, is administered by the Khronos Group, along with other standards such as OpenCL, OpenGL, and WebGL.

GDC 2015 will mark the 13th anniversary of Valve's first public announcement of Steam, which has since become the leading platform for PC, Mac, and Linux games and software. In the last year, Steam realized the addition of many new services and features - including In-Home Streaming, Broadcasting, Music, and user-created stores - as it grew to over 125 million active accounts worldwide.

For more information, please visit www.steampowered.com/universe

[wykrhm]

Back To Tumblr

So I decided to get rid of my blog. The host was quite horrible with a lot of technical issues and I don't want to have the hassle of managing it for a while.

All content and resources I had there will be moved either to Steam or other suitable place. I've already started off with some of the guides and tutorials. You can check them out here.

Now with that gone, I'll need some place to write stuff now and then so I guess I'm back to Tumblr for a while. I'll try to visually pump this up as much as I can.

That's it for now. You can always visit me on my Facebook or Twitter while I get this thing going.

[wykrhm]

How They Came To Be | Stumbled across something today so thought I'll share it with you people. You see and enjoy the characters of Dota 2 today but they were not always like this. Take this stroll down memory lane looking at the earlier versions of the models from back in the day. Good ole times when Lina had fire for hair and Kunkka wore earrings.

[wykrhm]

Didn't like the sharp transition between the idle and injured animations for characters in Dota 2? Well your pleas have been heard. Characters now being installed with injured idle animations too. The video includes previews of the currently available injured animations on the idle status (listed after) | Axe, Beastmaster, Broodmother, Lifestealer, Shadow Shaman. The March 1, 2012 Patch to the Test Build also brings in a new lifesteal animation effect for N'aix. Check it out at the end of the video. For more information and update, stay tuned and follow me on my page |http://www.facebook.com/wykrhmreddy/

[wykrhm]

DotA 6.74 Update | IceFrog

There's so much to talk and discuss about Dota 2 all the time but let us not forget DotA itself while we are at it. DotA 6.73c is running pretty neat with the release of 4 new heroes and 5 new items but Ice is constantly working to improve the map like always.

The next update of 6.74 will be a balance/bugfix patch aiming for a stable release. Soon after release and following the fixing of any release time bugs, this release will be adopted as the stable version for DotA.

For those interested in reworks and newer content, you will have to wait for DotA 6.75. It will be one of those content updates again.

Got some amazing ideas and would like to suggest them to IceFrog directly? Do It NOW.

[wykrhm]

New Shadow Fiend Animations

The Feb 23, 2012 patch brings in new animations for Shadow Fiend a.k.a Nevermore.

Take a quick look at them below.

New Idle Animation

New Run Animation

New Stun Animation

All the above effects are currently only available on the Test Build of Dota 2.

[wykrhm]

Fix That Wood - HD DLC Texture Fix

Updated to the High Resolution DLC Pack? You might have noticed when strolling through Riften or Markarth that the chopping block at the meat vendor is now all shiny and blue. Well this bug fixes exactly that. Same with the wood in the fireplaces. Fixes em too.

Changelog 1.0 - Fixes the wooden textures on the chopping blocks with HD versions of the original textures. - Fixes the wood in the fireplaces.

Get it now on the Nexus.

More Screenshots:  

[wykrhm]

Fus Ro Norris

Remember that first time you walked into a giant and then being blasted to oblivion? Well, you are the Dragonborn and this mod lets you do just that.

This mod replaces your vocal chords with that of Chuck Norris’ when performing the Unrelenting Force. You can check the effect in the video preview above.

Other Changes in the Mod:

- The Projectiles have been changed for Fus and Ro to blast enemies instead of staggering them. - The cooldown on the shouts has been lowered to 7/14/21 seconds respectively.

You can now get the mod on Skyrim Nexus.

[wykrhm]

Spell Tome: Call Aspect of Akatosh

I have been working on a small mod to test out the Creation Kit and here's a little WIP of that. It's a Conjuration spell called the "Aspect of Akatosh."

Background Story: Having slain the first born of Akatosh, you are now granted with the ability to summon it's aspect to do your bidding. But BEWARE! Misuse of such power often leads to one's downfall.

Spell: Call Aspect Of Akatosh Description: Summons the Aspect of Akatosh to do your bidding for 120 seconds. Class: Conjuration Level: Master (Requires 100 and Completion of the Main Quest Line) Mana: 230 (Can have only one instance at a time) Currently Known Problems:  I tested the mod out quite a but and noticed a couple of problems with it that I am trying to fix. One for starters is that spawning a beast like this inside towns is fine but it can also be conjured inside dungeons. I need to block this off so it can be used only outside. Working on it. Landing animations once it takes off ain't that smooth. Need to fix that too.

[wykrhm]

Dota 2 Update | My Bones Ache for Vengeance

The ghost of the burning shadows is finally making his way to the Dota 2 pool via today's update. Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome Clinkz Eastwood.

This week's changelog is pretty small but is in no way less exciting. Invoker is now added to the Captains Mode. So it will be very interesting to watch him in tournaments as the week goes by. The patch also brings in a quite a few fixes and other changes.

You will now be able to check your ping in game without the net_graph by typing "-ping" in the chat.

Read through the complete changelog below.

GAMEPLAY

- Added Clinkz! - Added Legacy Key support for Invoker. - Fixed Invoker's Quas, Wex, and Exort not giving Invoker bonus stats properly when upgraded. - Fixed Invoker's Invoke to properly swap the invoked abilities in the 1st and 2nd slots if the spell already existing in the 2nd slot is invoked again. - Fixed Cold Snap not being castable on Roshan - Fixed EMP cast range - Lane creeps will now stand still if they become unable to attack, such as when hit by Invoker's Deafening Blast, instead of charging past enemy creeps and towers. - Enabled Invoker in CM - Fixed gold-transfer hack, the sellback cooldown is now reset when combining stacks where the items have different owners. - Fixed Sticky Napalm triggering off of Orb of Venom - Fixed Glaives of Wisdom being usable while silenced

INTERFACE

- Made chat messages HTML safe. - Fixed some buttons in the hero selector being broken after playing in a CM game. - Added a chat -ping command

Next week's patch will bring in a new content delivery system and also the mentioned changes to the replay viewer. That means you get another week to convert all your favorite replays into videos because they will not be available following the update. So start saving.

[wykrhm]

[Tutorial] Activating & Installing Dota 2 Beta

Here is a quick guide that will guide you through in installing the Dota 2 Beta once you have gained your beta key that is required to play the game.

For those interested in winning a key, you can participate in the PlayDotA Beta Key Draw or you can keep track of updates on my page where I regularly give away keys.

Step 1: Installing Steam

Valve's distribution platform Steam is required to play the Dota 2 Beta. You can download and install it from the links given below.

Download Steam Installing Steam Tutorial

Step 2: Creating a Steam Account

You are required to have a Steam account in order to play the game. This will be your most important login credentials that will carry over to the Dota 2 Beta and also every other game you will own on Steam. So be careful with it.

Create A Steam Account Here

Step 3: Activating a Product on Steam / Installing Dota 2 Beta

Congratulations! You have now officially logged in to Steam. It is time to redeem the beta key that you have won to play the Dota 2 Beta.

In the top menu of your Steam client, go to Games > Activate a Product on Steam

This will bring up a pop up that will guide you through the steps required to redeeming your key.

In the first step, read through and press 'Next' to continue. 

The next screen will take you to the Steam Subscriber Agreement. Read through once again (if you wish to) and press 'I Agree' to continue.

You will be then taken to the dialog box where you need to redeem your key. Enter it in the slot pointed out and then press 'Next' to continue.

Steam will then check for the validity of your key and activate your product for you.

Once the validation is completed. Dota 2 Beta will be permanently added to your account. You will be able to use the same account from any system to login, install and play the game. The same applies to any other Steam purchase you might make.

Press 'Next' to continue to the installation of the game.

You are then displayed the size of the installation, free space on your hard disk and estimated time of download. Make sure you have enough space and click 'Next' to setup your installation shortcuts.

Set your shortcut options and press 'Next' to begin the download.

Step 4: Playing the Game

Once the download is complete, the game will get added to your Library along with the rest of the games on Steam. (if you own any) You can launch the game from there by clicking on the 'Play' button.

Welcome and Enjoy the Dota 2 Beta

WARNING: Dota 2 Keys are absolutely free. Do not purchase them from anywhere. You stand at a high risk of getting scammed off your money.

Note: Do not worry if your Steam client looks different. I am using a different theme. All functions will be the same.

[wykrhm]

[FIX] Stuck at "Game in Progress" in Dota 2?

Many users have been reporting a bug in Dota 2 following the January 12, 2012 update that fixes their status at "Game In Progress" which prevents them from signing up for the Match Making service in Dota 2.

The bug has already been reported but until the patch to fix this is released, you can follow the given steps as a workaround and get back to playing the beta.

If your "Play" screen shows your status at "Game in Progress" or "Game is Finished", just go to the "Watch" tab and start spectating a game. Sit through the entire game and when the scoreboard pops up at the end, be sure to click on "Finish Game" which will take you back to the main screen.

Once you are back there, you will find yourself free of the bug that you had earlier.

The bug also fixes itself when the servers refresh or after a certain amount of time but you can avoid having to wait by following the steps mentioned above.

Once again, this is not a fix to the problem. This is just a workaround. Enjoy the Dota 2 Beta.

You can follow me on my Facebook Page for all the latest Dota 2 content.

[wykrhm]

First iPhone was designed in 1983

I was equally amazed when I read it for the first time but recent reports reveal that the concept for the first ever iPhone was thought up in the Apple offices way back in 1983 before anyone even heard of touch sensitive technology.

Hartmut Esslinger, founder of Frogdesign and also the man who helped make the Apple Ilc computer (the first portable PC from the company), came up with a design for a landline phone that carried a regular phone attached to a touchscreen with a stylus.

This design was made available to the public a while ago but it once again became a topic of discussion thanks to the curious minds digging deep in the archives of Stanford which were kept secretive for a very long time. The documents related to Apple were made public after the late Steve Jobs rejoined the company in 1997.

So what is the point of discussing it now you may ask? Well not much. Just knowing that something like this was thought up way back in the past is in itself an amazing thing to talk about and the gadget's resemblance to the iPad and its only makes it a discussion heavy topic.

Various websites are already reaching out to Stanford to gain more information from these documents but until we get more information, we can might as well continue to be amazed.

I might be an Apple-fanboy myself but it is stuff like this that makes me love them even more. You might like them and you might hate them but you cannot deny the fact they are one incredible company that has undoubtedly changed the course of modern technology. iLife.

[wykrhm]

Dota 2 Ursa Injured Animation.

You can get the Haste Version of the same here. 

[wykrhm]

Talking about injured animations - here's one for Juggernaut.

[wykrhm]

For those of you who did not know, Dota 2 has injured animations for characters (a few at the moment) that trigger after the character takes a certain amount of damage. It's purely visual and does not affect gameplay in anyway. Eye-candy much.

Here's a quick preview of Nature's Prophet's wounded animation.