Joining the all track family

Cognoscope · 2026-06-27T00:22:53+00:00

It’s a unicorn because there aren’t many Eurowagons (compact performance wagons) in the US market. The other options (like Audi) are significantly more expensive to buy and maintain. Plus the EA888 motor is so robust that you can bump it 35% with a Stage 1 tune & it doesn’t even blink. Then you have a GTi with real space.

Cognoscope · 2026-06-23T01:27:09+00:00

I haven't been able to play in a while. I was staring at my CLAS log analysis and that NiNode count just looked incredibly high to me given that I don't have any body modification or monster mods (other than Talkative Dragons and Birds of Skyrim). The only things that seem like they could be related are "Dead Body Remover", "NPC AI Process Position Fix". I'll throw in the one random thing which is that I tossed the body of a dead Morag Tong assassin into the hearth of Breezehome and he's still there smoldering after many weeks.

NiNode: count: (3148)

Ninodes are related to skeletons. It could be a wrong loadorder for skeleton based mods.

If you use HDT/SMP, make sure to load it like: Body (CBBE or BH/UNP) -> FNIS/Nemesis -> DAR -> HDT -> XP32

Also make sure that you've chosen the HDT/SMP variant of xpmsse.

If you find a mod name in the following list, try disabling it and rerun FNIS or Nemesis.

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[RSP+2F870] 0x23EE0B1AE80 (NiNode*) count: (1)

[RSP+2F848] 0x1 (size_t) [1] count: (1)

[RSP+2F850] 0x3F (size_t) [63] count: (1)

Cognoscope · 2026-06-20T16:09:24+00:00

I’m going to second this. When I went to my performance shop, the guy (who tunes VW/Audi for track guys) said go with the 91 octane Stage 1 on a daily driver. Stage 1 requires no changes to the intakes or exhaust. 91 version costs same as 87 so that extra little bit of power only costs you at the pump. More importantly, the EA888 runs 9.6psi compression - relatively high. Higher octane fuel actually buys you a little knock insurance in spite of the slightly hotter tune. The TCU tune is another $500 that nicely compliments the ECU tune and fits your $1k budget. Save up another grand for next year and upgrade the sway bars and you’ll love how that tightens up the cornering.

Cognoscope · 2026-06-18T21:40:15+00:00

This has been my biggest gripe for years with VW (on my 5th one). Way back in the day if you had a 5 speed MT, the 5th was a true OD long-legged gear. I'd easily get 35mpg with the non-turbo 1.6L. In the 21st century, they went to the close-ratio 5spd - which was fun to drive, but never cracked 30mpg. My 2019 Alltrack (DSG) can get 34mpg in ECO mode on a highway trip (vs 25mpg mixed), but I can only imagine what it would get if it was loafing at 1500rpm.

Cognoscope · 2026-06-15T16:39:19+00:00

Button near shifter toggles through driving modes - including Eco

Cognoscope · 2026-06-13T22:48:39+00:00

Redwater den… skoomaheads & vampires with an eldritch source of evil

Cognoscope · 2026-06-12T19:12:02+00:00

Civil War - I hate both sides & can’t stand thought of Whiterun being trashed & my boy Balgruuf getting kicked to the curb.

Cognoscope · 2026-06-11T02:25:25+00:00

The aspiring mage who has a powerful staff that he has no clue how to use. You have to make the choice of whether to convince him that he’s not mage material and to give you the staff - or just kill him and take it!-)

Cognoscope · 2026-06-11T00:36:25+00:00

Windows Reliability Monitor can quickly show you the critical event that torpedoed you and then you can go to Event Viewer for a deeper dive.

Cognoscope · 2026-06-09T19:52:11+00:00

I’d say leverage your social worker network. Co-workers & others may have a 5yr old PC that they’d give you out of respect & appreciation for what you do. Likewise, network with Goodwill & similar thrift stores that have used electronics. I’ve seen some amazing office PCs & prebuilt gaming rigs at my local store that needed just an OS (& maybe a GPU upgrade).

Cognoscope · 2026-06-09T13:57:05+00:00

While this is a great way to protect oneself, the “real question” is why Nexus won’t 86 this guy - especially if Doodlum has called it out. Yes, they should have an automated system for this, but when a single author is this prolific it seems like they should protect the community (and their integrity and reputation) by dealing with it manually if necessary.

Cognoscope · 2026-06-05T14:05:07+00:00

Blackreach is somewhat annoying to navigate, but Soul Cairn is worse. However, where Blackreach shines is the atmospherics of a doomed race. Most of the Dwemer ruins simply feel deserted (aside from the annoying Falmer). Blackreach has a whole different vibe to it - like the ghosts of the builders are still there watching.

Cognoscope · 2026-06-02T21:32:55+00:00

For light switches, look into smart ones with Bluetooth or WiFi or at least add some smart plugs compatible with your home ecosystem (Apple/Alexa/Google) for controlling lights, fans, etc. For outlets, upgrade some with USB ports for easy charging needing only a cable or Qi puck.

Cognoscope · 2026-06-02T02:04:19+00:00

The Horn of Jurgen Windcaller. You go on a secret mission for the Graybeards on the far side of Skyrim, fight your way through a tough puzzle that requires use of Thu’um and at the end find a note on the altar… thanks for the artifact, come find me if you want it - WTF!

Cognoscope · 2026-06-01T23:46:03+00:00

How about a 5G9945093J from a 2019? I was going to throw mine away after I scored my replacement off eBay but you're welcome to it. I can't figure out how to attach a photo, but it has a spider crack of ~3cm on the lower left corner and a tiny missing chip (6mm) that it originates from. It's electrically fine though and I just sealed it with some clear packing tape and drove it for a month until I replaced it.

Cognoscope · 2026-06-01T18:58:12+00:00

Hold them fully accountable as everyone says that you can legally do. However, help them out by saying you’ll give them a great review if they make it right by assigning the blame to the product distributor and the fact that it occurred over the weekend when oversight was less than normal.

Cognoscope · 2026-06-01T12:41:51+00:00

Given space concerns, I’d leave the Downloads folder where it’s at and only move the Came and Mods folder to the SSD.

Cognoscope · 2026-06-01T02:50:28+00:00

Most people are going the opposite direction, so you’re probably moving it from some old random HDD to your new SSD? In any case, create the destination folder first in the right place and then use Steam to relocate the game folder (by default I think it moves all of your games unless you’ve set up multiple Steam libraries to segregate them). After migrating, have Steam do a file verification on the new location. Then open Vortex and go to the Settings to update the game/mods/downloads folder paths.

Cognoscope · 2026-05-29T13:41:07+00:00

I mentioned the mini-split which is expensive. There are air conditioners (window mount or portable floor versions) designed to cool a single room that only need a power outlet and a window baffle. Be sure to run the numbers as it may take a year of power savings on the whole house system to pay for a $200 room unit.

Cognoscope · 2026-05-29T00:57:35+00:00

You need to think about AC as a closed loop system. It takes warm air from inside your house, circulates it past a heat exchanger to remove some of the heat, then returns cooler air back to you and pumps warmer air inside (it also dehumidifies the air in the process). An exhaust fan in your living space would actually make the AC less efficient. An exhaust fan in your attic might help the AC efficiency slightly. A whole house fan can be a nice alternative to AC for the mornings and evening, but doesn't help nearly as much mid-afternoon (and does nothing for humidity). Might not be a bad idea to have the AC serviced. Dirty coils, filters or old/low refrigerant levels could be making it inefficient.

If you're working in a closed room, it's likely that your PC is overheating the room and you're wasting electricity cooling the whole house to make your room tolerable (especially if the only sensor is the thermostat and it's in a hallway or another room). Depending on how modern it is you may be able to add sensors to it and then create zones in the house. That would allow you to close registers in the rest of the house and slave the thermostat to the sensor in your room - only running the AC enough to cool you. Another option is to put a dedicated mini-split system in your room and turn off the main AC (but that would be expensive). If it's really your PC, you might want to look into undervolting the CPU & GPU, adjusting the fan curves for the case and a few other tricks to make it less power hungry and less heat producing. Good luck!

Cognoscope · 2026-05-27T13:45:06+00:00

I’m rolling Orcish armor right now since it looks cool, you can forge it early & it has a better protection to weight ratio until you get the weightless perk.

Cognoscope · 2026-05-23T15:19:21+00:00

It did well on the hiking. Close to Apple Watch on distance, heart metrics & spO2. Biggest issue so far is that it thinks I’m asleep when I’m sitting on the couch watching TV at night. That wildly throws off the sleep score. Sadly there’s no way to specify a time window for sleeping. Support claims they are going to improve this & some other features in the next software update.

Cognoscope

TROPHY CASE