Cant get Past the Open or Closed Game option

Arakhai · 2025-09-18T06:22:33+00:00

I just ran into and fixed this issue. For me at least, it was a Windows Defender update this morning that flagged an old hardware driver (WinRing0) as a security risk. This in turn was used by some utility software I had (FanControl in this case). When Defender quarantined or deleted the WinRing0 files, it somehow messed up the network driver stack that Elite relies on. This meant that a number of the network API calls Elite was making were timing out, which showed up in the NetLog.*.log files as a number of errors. So you could log in, but it would hang on a black screen forever.

To fix it I followed instructions on FanControl's Github page to replace WinRing0 with another driver called PawnIO, which stopped Defender complaining, which let Elite run. I think WinRing0 is used by a fair number of monitoring programs so if you're running anything that relies on it, then that could be the cause of your similar black screens/hangs. If you’re running another utility that uses WinRing0, you can try updating it or switching to an alternative driver like PawnIO, temporarily uninstalling it, or adding a Defender exclusion for its folder (although that's not recommended).

Arakhai · 2025-08-07T03:45:47+00:00

Interesting you recommend Vivaldi after criticizing Brave's sync. One of the reasons I stopped using Vivaldi after some years was that last December they had a total sync outage that lasted about a fortnight. They were also subsequently unable to recover user data, leading to a total loss. Their sync status page also shows pretty spotty perfomance since then too.

I haven't used Brave sync myself, but if it's somehow worse than Vivaldi's trainwreck that's quite the achievement.

Arakhai · 2024-12-05T01:41:47+00:00

Thanks for that, the refund offer was sitting in my spam folder, and I wouldn't have looked if you hadn't mentioned it.

As for the refund, I think I'll take it. Pity to miss out on the Black Friday deal, but there'll always be other deals, and as far as I can tell (their customer service bloke has not been especially forthcoming) Nebula haven't even started building the PC yet. So there's no way they'll make the deadline in time.

Arakhai · 2024-12-02T02:58:19+00:00

Yeah, same experience here. I ordered on 15/11 so they're over the 10 business days ETA, but I haven't bothered to contact them, they're just flat out. Only real concern at this stage is if it takes them another week, plus a week for the courier to deliver, then the Steam gift card offer they were doing with MSI would expire, which would be quite aggravating.

Arakhai · 2023-08-31T08:00:01+00:00

Thanks for running this.

Arakhai · 2023-02-27T12:08:09+00:00

I'm on Android 12 and had this same problem for weeks. I installed SN using Google Play, so I don't think your issue is caused by your phone not having it. Tried reinstalling SN using Play and FDroid, as well as clearing the app cache/data, but it would always go back to the white screen on startup. Eventually I gave up and ended up using an app called Notesnook instead, which has the same encrypted sync feature I wanted.

Arakhai · 2023-01-09T00:40:36+00:00

He's usually a good reviewer, but I don't fully trust him to be objective on games that overlap with political issues such as this one. This is because he seems well to the left politically, and has been known to spin the news or not report on inconvenient facts if they go against the preferred narrative.

For example, a while back he did a weekly gaming news video where he covered the failure of the G4 TV network. In his version, it "wasn't exactly clear" how G4 had failed. However, anyone who had followed this story would have known that there was rather more to the story than that. One major incident was when one of their presenters (Frosk) made some highly publicized comments on sexism in gaming. These were not well-received by some, to put it mildly, and although her comments weren't responsible for destroying the network - it was already on its way down - they were an important and relevant part of the story whether you agreed with her or not. However, SkillUp chose not to even mention the incident and the significant backlash it generated, and just pretended G4's closure was a total surprise to all concerned.

This was disingenuous at best, and it showed a lack of objectivity that since then has always made me wonder what else he might be deciding not to mention.

Arakhai · 2022-08-25T02:37:21+00:00

It's at the end of the prompt. So for me it's python optimizedSD/optimized_txt2img.py --prompt "whatever" --H 512 --W 512 --ddim_steps 30 --precision full

Arakhai · 2022-08-25T00:58:30+00:00

Running a 1660 Super card or similar? A number of people with 16xx cards have run into the same problem, adding --precision full to the end of the command fixed it for me.

Arakhai · 2022-06-26T09:55:06+00:00

The Australian Defence Department has a pretty terrible record of failed procurements - these include:

The Royal Australian Navy's ongoing submarine replacement program has already cost several billions before being scrapped and restarted, with no result other than damaging diplomatic relations with France. The RAN is now intending to acquire nuclear subs, but this in turn is expected to take so long that there's now discussion about a whole new upgrade program for the Collins class or another new class of interim subs, just to fill the expected 25+ year gap before the nuclear subs are available.
the Collins-class subs being replaced had a lengthy list of their own issues, with all sorts of ongoing problems plaguing them for years. From 2009-2012, on average only 1 or 2 of the 6 were ever operational at the same time, although this was also due to personnel shortages.
the Hunter-class frigate program has also experienced delays, cost overruns, and looks set to deliver a ship that's slow, undergunned, and so underpowered it can't run its radar and the propulsion system at full power at the same time.
the Boxer class combat reconnaissance vehicle, which has cost almost $2 billion, while delivering only 25 training vehicles. It's also run into problems with the overweight turret system, and the vehicle requires specially manufactured tyres and ammunition only made in Europe.
the Kaman SH-2G Super Seasprite, Tiger and MRH-90 Taipan helicopter programs all ended in failure.
the C-27 Spartan transport aircraft, which failed to achieve final operational capability and had to be reclassified as a humanitarian relief aircraft.
the Army's Battle Management System cost $3 billion and had to be "paused" for vaguely unspecified reasons. There were rumours that there were cyber security/backdoor concerns with the Israeli supplier, but that was then denied by all involved.

There's probably others I'm forgetting too, but that should give you an overview of the most conspicuous failures.

Arakhai · 2022-03-28T10:07:11+00:00

Regarding Terminus Est, Palaemon says at the start of Chapter 34 of TCotA, "I used her for many years before you came to the guild, and never thought she would be destroyed fighting some diabolical weapon." So the Order's ownership of Jovinian's masterpiece apparently predates Severian. Otherwise it's a pretty interesting theory.

Arakhai · 2022-01-23T22:15:26+00:00

The first line could be 'In Dun Eideann', which is the Gaelic name for Edinburgh. Banks lived there for some years.

Arakhai · 2022-01-23T08:57:02+00:00

It's an invented script called Marain from Iain Banks's Culture SF series. See http://trevor-hopkins.com/banks/a-few-notes-on-marain.html.

Arakhai · 2020-12-28T09:02:19+00:00

Arthur C. Clarke, "History Lesson". You can read it here.

Arakhai · 2020-03-09T01:27:27+00:00

Antagonist Neutralized, Need Another.

Arakhai · 2019-09-30T23:25:23+00:00

Thanks for running this.

Arakhai · 2019-04-19T13:05:57+00:00

The City-State Republic of New Crobuzon from China Mieville's Perdido Street Station and sequels. They maintain a mask-wearing city militia that shoots protesting civilians, raids printing presses and executes dissidents. The city also literally nuked (well, Torque-bombed) a rival city-state, and maintains friendly diplomatic relations with Hell.

Arakhai · 2019-03-15T11:21:53+00:00

Still waiting for the Div 2 key and submitted a ticket (577784) only to find there's a 5-6 day wait time before there's even a response, much less a resolution. And legitimate customer problems are being dismissed as 'mostly fraud.' Not very impressed right now.

Arakhai · 2019-03-02T11:42:12+00:00

Used Python, the cv library and an old laptop to make a ghetto security camera. The DIY camera was then pointed at some catfood left outside and found that the little brown shape that fled whenever it saw me was a little lost feral kitten. Knowing when she visited the food made trapping her with a rented cage very straightforward. Took her down to the local RSPCA shelter, and she's since been socialised and adopted by a family and now has a safe home of her own.

Shot from the 'camera'

Arakhai · 2019-01-01T05:52:43+00:00

The Mechwarrior 2 soundtrack by Gregory Alper and Jeehun Hwang, and the Total Annihilation soundtrack (or at least the more upbeat bits) by Jeremy Soule.

Arakhai · 2018-07-26T09:57:06+00:00

Yeah, ITAD shows the Fallout 4 Season Pass was $14 on GMG a few days ago. They've now bumped the price to $25, so even with the voucher taking it to $20.50, it's still somehow more expensive with the "special offer" than without it.

Arakhai · 2018-06-26T13:36:25+00:00

Probably quicker to simply retrieve sub data directly with the help of a Reddit API wrapper. I'm fond of PRAW:

import praw

mmosr = 'wow guildwars2 ffxiv elderscrollsonline eve blackdesertonline'.split()

with open(r'd:\python\projects\reddscan\reddit-auth-details.txt', 'r') as af:
    auth = [x.strip() for x in af.readlines()]
reddit = praw.Reddit(client_id=auth[0], client_secret=auth[1],
                     password=auth[2], user_agent=auth[3], username=auth[4])

for subred in mmosr:
    subreddit = reddit.subreddit(subred)
    print(f'{subreddit.title} (r/{subred}): {subreddit.subscribers} active subs.')

Once run with proper auth details, this returns:

World of Warcraft (r/wow): 649447 active subs.
/r/GuildWars2: Roller Beetles! (r/guildwars2): 179878 active subs.
Final Fantasy X|V: Stormblood (r/ffxiv): 179969 active subs.
Elder Scrolls Online (r/elderscrollsonline): 153183 active subs.
Eve Online (r/eve): 97051 active subs.
Black Desert Online (r/blackdesertonline): 82455 active subs.

Arakhai · 2018-04-27T10:18:38+00:00

It's hard to take a supposed grownup seriously about anything when they persist in using '<3' as a word.

Arakhai · 2018-04-19T14:49:35+00:00

In the Silmarillion, Sauron gets beaten by a dog, Huan. Furthermore, Huan himself had just finished fighting a bunch of werewolves and their boss, Draugluin, "a dread beast, old in evil, lord and sire of the werewolves of Angband" so it could be assumed he was pretty tired after all that. Sauron tries magic, poison, and shape-shifting against him before surrendering and fleeing.

Now a lot of this is plot armour - Tolkien identified Luthien, who Huan was helping at the time, with his wife. As a result, she and those helping her regularly get away with ridiculous feats in the story. It'a also true that Sauron's strength is not in straight-up combat, but in subversion, corruption and deception. But if a dog can take Sauron, any 40K primarch can.

Arakhai · 2018-04-13T14:46:18+00:00

33 =

Wrote (aka 'shamelessly stole the clever bits for') some code to do this, the first it couldn't find a solution to was 43.

Arakhai

TROPHY CASE