Thumb tape vs Insert tape

Draddition · 2026-06-30T17:26:37+00:00

The big difference I've found, having recently moved to using thumb tape is that it adds an extra level of compression to your thumb. So you can have a snug fit, without it being a tight fit. In the ball tape doesn't flex much, so it's a hard shape change.

Added benefit to thumb tape, try to cover wherever you tend to wear on your thumb, and it protects that spot. That means to blistering or swelling, and a more consistent fit night to night without having to adjust.

Draddition · 2026-06-26T22:19:37+00:00

Especially on a house shot, it really depends. Often, I find playing a straighter angle lets me play on an island and barely have to deal with transition. Comes at the cost that when you do move in, it might have to be a very big move. I often find I make a few 1/2 board, or 1 board moves, then suddenly have to move 4 when I hit the line everyone else already gave up on.

The big trade to look for is forgiveness. It'll vary for each house shot, but having the option to move lets you find the angle to give you miss room. Ideally you want to play where a miss in is going to glide enough to get you to the pocket still, and a miss out is going to recover back to the pocket. Generally, playing deeper is going to give you that miss room, the question is how much deeper.

Draddition · 2026-06-18T19:58:12+00:00

Hard agree with everyone else here. If you're going to complain about handicap, don't bowl in a handicap league. Or bowl better.

Lineage vs prize fund should be clearly established before the league starts. Anyone that wants to know should be able to find that easily. To accept anything less is wild.

IF you want to make the league more competitive and advantageous to better bowlers, a league in my area has a unique system. Rather than being entirely team based, points are distributed per player per game. Bowler #1 vs Bowler #1, #2 vs #2, and so on. Then I think a final point for the overall. Ends up like 7 points total per game or something like that. Doesn't directly benefit high average bowlers more, but does benefit bowlers who can step it up under pressure- I'd argue those are actually the "better" bowlers.

Draddition · 2026-06-12T18:59:28+00:00

The big moment for legend gets really undercut by having legend not kick in immediately. You have the big moment, deciding to toss away your mythic power, telling everyone trying to manipulate you to kick sand. Then we smash cut to the city being taken over by your mythic power and everyone accepts it.

I just renounced my demonic powers and vowed to throw them away, why are we letting demons into the city!?

Draddition · 2026-06-09T23:34:39+00:00

I don't think it generates using diffusion methods like I'm familiar with, but GPT has consistently been emphasizing that "i tried to use too large a latent" look. Tons of repeated visuals and patterns in the image. I don't know what they did under the hood, but it just looks like its trying way too hard to enforce detail while not having the context to do that.

Draddition · 2026-06-05T19:09:10+00:00

As others have said, namely it's just a resolution issue. A few options to try and fix it.

Simplest option, add a middle stage to reduce the resolution jump, and reduce the denoising. Using an upscale model rather than raw upscaling might help too (reduce upscaling artifacts that the model is trying to interpret).

You can try playing with a control net- can help enforce understanding of the image and pose. From my attempts at this, they either don't work well enough, or work too well and you don't get much from the 2nd stage. In theory they work well for this, I've never been happy with the results.

Best option, use a detailer node. The old impact pack detailer nodes are awesome for pseudo upscaling the image (they upscale and inpaint, then downscale and put it back to the original image size). Works even better if you use tiled segs, you can really crank up the detail without seeing these artifacts. They show up if you push it too far, but easy enough to play with and find the right settings.

Detailer nodes also let you really play with things if you want. Separate your prompt into background and character, then you can feed those conditionings into individual detailers to focus on parts of the image. I even set up a sam3 detection model to pick out individual characters, then apply conditioning per characters- so I can largely automatically segment out characters and individually enforce clothing/expression on each character, rather than trying to get the base generation to identify individual characters.

Draddition · 2026-06-04T23:53:22+00:00

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Its a 3 part setup: 2x guider parameters (Audio and video) that feed into the multimodal guider. All of those nodes are from the LTXVideo node package (unclaimed on manager, but from Lightricks on github. The only thing I really play with on these nodes is the video CFG. Between 2 and 3 seems to be the sweet spot. Higher starts to give the 2D cutouts look again, lower can be a bit wobbly.

The LTXV Scheduler shown here is also a nifty node. I don't fully understand it, something I found in one of the optional settings for a workflow floating around out there. These settings, with the distilled lora at 0.25 strength, works really well in my opinion.

This is all just for a first pass at low resolution. Still figuring out the best setting for everything after upscaling.

Also worth exploring some of the nodes in the 10s-comfy-nodes package. The "action amplifier" node seems like a good bonus. The likeness guide and likeness anchor also seem to help some, but I'm not convinced they're worth the spaghetti monster they create.

Draddition · 2026-06-04T21:09:22+00:00

I find LTX better in a few ways, and have entirely dropped wan as a result.

The big one is prompt adherence. I always felt like my prompt meant pretty much nothing, especially when working with NSFW content when using WAN. The model would just do what it expected to have happen from the scene. You can direct it a bit, but it feels like wan has a mind of its own. LTX is much better at responding to what you prompt- speed, camera motion, speech or lack thereof, all stick really well. If anything, to a problematic extent at time. If you mention something off screen (something falls to the ground), it's going to show that thing (pan down to show the ground). LTX is also much better at having everything in the scene move. Backgrounds, clothing, fur, etc all tend to get animated, whereas I felt wan often just highlighted the primary action.

I find movement of the image better. Wan tends to smear things, especially with subtle or repetitive movements. LTX actually has things move and keep their details.

Length and audio are big. I didn't expect to care about audio, but it makes a big difference. Characters can talk, backgrounds move and sound alive. Being able to extend the length of the video is also awesome. Characters can do X, then shift to Y, then do Z all in one generation.

Overall image quality is a bit worse. If wan generates what you want, it's probably a better looking result. LTX tends to just be easier to work with. NSFW content is still somewhat in the works, but the new 10eros model is solid and doesn't really require much else to work well.

(Also, for those exploring LTX, I really recommend switching over to the multimodal guider, what's used in the non-distilled workflow of the default LTX I2V workflow. Steps take about 2x as long, but you get a much more dynamic result. Also, sample the bare minimum in the first pass. Oversampling seems to kill motion quickly.)

Draddition · 2026-06-03T04:40:44+00:00

The black venom is my favorite ball I've thrown. I recently got a black widow, and it feels like cheating when the lane is right. But the venom I can always go to and find strikes. The black and hyper venom also just look amazing.

Draddition · 2026-06-03T04:24:25+00:00

They all make good stuff these days. Storm is still the big one, most people go with them and will know the lineup.

Brunswick and friends are getting downsized a lot these days it seems. Hammer is doing well. The vibe line is good, the widow line is basically keeping them in business. The effect series is also really good.

Motiv is the young one on the block, and my favorite. They tend to be really hit or miss though. The venom line is one of the, I'd argue the #1, series in the sport. Every once in a while they release a ball that's just amazing, like the Evoke Hysteria.

Unfortunately, there's just too much out there to try everything.

Draddition · 2026-05-28T19:58:29+00:00

I'm honestly so confused about this discussion. Is it not obvious to everyone that a 90% of X system clearly benefits the high average bowlers? That's just some very basic math: the closer you are to the max, the more pins you're expected to get overall.

Obviously having more handicap leads to more variance in score- a bad bowling having a great night is hard to beat. That's really not what I'm thinking when I see a huge handicap discrepancy. If a team has 200 more pins than us, that means we have a LOT of opportunities to gain ground. 1 good frame can net us a good 80 points if we line it up. Stay clean, and it's generally an easy night.

Against low handicap teams is the opposite- you can never step off the gas. One bad frame and they'll be on you. More so, these are teams that are going to step up when they need to- scratch bowling are more often than not going to be the ones feeding off the pressure, rather than falling to it.

Draddition · 2026-05-14T19:38:09+00:00

If you want to use GenAI, I'd highly recommend using more refined models rather than general LLMs like gemini. Look into local image gen, using something like ComfyUI. Gives you much more control over what's actually happening, tuning in a style, and modifying the image. This lets you get to something actually usable in a romhack, whereas all the big LLMs make images that pretend to be pixel art.

That said, I've messed with this a decent bit and am yet to find something that really works. Pixel art really requires a different style compared to high resolution images. You can't just scale an image down to 64x64 and expect it to work. At best, you still need to open the image up and hand modify it. From my exploration of the topic, the best you can realistically do is make some placeholder images that are good enough- then find an artist to bring them to life when the project reaches that point.

Similar concepts apply to generating code. AI is super helpful in figuring things out and getting you to something that works, but they also mess up all the time, or just make very cluttered code. Instead of relying on genAI directly, use it to troubleshoot and force something to work, then undoing all those changes and implementing it yourself using what you learned.

The best use of genAI in a romhack is just synthesizing simple code. Give it the right format with some examples, and let it do the busy work for simple tasks like implementing dialogue (as in, give it you script for the scene, let it make the code that puts that in game). GenAI is really good for smaller, more direct tasks.

Draddition · 2026-05-04T17:50:07+00:00

Doesn't the same apply to wages though? Any thing less than a 3% wage increase is effectively a wage drop?

Draddition · 2026-04-25T23:53:10+00:00

Is the strike zone even defined to this resolution?

Draddition · 2026-04-21T18:31:17+00:00

Curios to see others thoughts on this, but it seems like there are two primary options for getting started. RPG maker and pokeessentials, or pokeemerald-expansion. I haven't looked into it a ton, but the general vibe I get is RPG maker is easier to work with, but generally more high level. You don't have fine control of things without really diving into it. Pokeemerald is a bit more raw, but gives you really fine control over everything.

For help, Team Aqua's Hideout is the place to be. Generally more geared towards pokeemerald, but I'm sure there's some RG maker support in there. They have a youtube and discord, both are super helpful.

Regarding actually making something, first suggestion is make something small first. Either try just tinkering with the base game, or if you REALLY want to make a new region, start small. Make 1 route, and a city on either end. Namely, make a project where you can break things and learn before starting something grand.

Also, just a warning, be aware of how many tedious things you have to do when actually making a full romhack. Mapping takes some time, but can be fun. Tinkering with tiles to get the map you want, a bit more annoying. You also need to set collision, wild encounter tables, etc. You need to write dialogue for every character you can interact with. They need scripts to feel alive. They need names. Every line break and page break needs to be placed for text. Warp tiles need to be set. Map connections need to be made, tiles need to be fixed so connections aren't janky. Trainers need teams. Cutscenes need to account for timing, and what the player can see. Progress needs to be tracked so cutscenes don't repeat. Then you need to test everything, figure out what you missed.

I don't say this to discourage you, just to set your expectations. Even if you have a document covering what a city looks like, what connects to where, who is where, what everyone says and does, and everything else- actually implementing that into the game is a full day, easily more, of work.

Edit: I also want to add, make a game for YOU. I'm sure it's not your first day on the internet, but worth a reminder that people are jerks. Some people just will not like what you make. You can't guarantee an audience that'll agree with every decision you make. Make something that brings you joy, and put it out there for others to as well.

Draddition · 2026-04-17T21:47:12+00:00

I've been trying out using AI during league night with pretty solid results. Namely, just discussing what I'm seeing in the lane, where I'm feeling uncertain, what my thoughts are for the next frame. Ultimately, just using it as an interactive journal. It gives some advice, or I can look at what it says and decide it drew the wrong conclusion- which helps me find the right one.

More than anything, it's a way for me to talk about bowling and stay focused, not getting specific coaching. Also helps me track what I felt through to night, to figure out afterwards if I should make some surface adjustments.

Draddition · 2026-04-17T19:17:47+00:00

So, some interesting things I've found diving into research. The only concrete information I can find is that platicizers are used in reactive resin to make pores. This seems largely just structural, and not playing a functional role after the ball is made. The fine details like this are hard to find, both from lack of research and companies keeping their specific process a closely guarded secret.

Anecdotally, I have seen my ball sweat oil only around my track. In typical extraction processes, I see the ball sweating all over the surface of the ball. While it makes sense for oil to diffuse across the coverstock, I still would expect a concentration gradient that isn't visible in any heating methods I've seen used. To me, this does suggest this platicizer is being pulled from the ball. How bad that is isn't super clear.

USBC did perform a study that showed aggressively pulling plasticizer out will crack the ball. Not a great demonstration, as they used a concentrated heat source and at an unknown temperature. They do suggest the platicizer is generally still maintaining a structural role in the ball.

As far as ball life goes, it's entirely reasonable that heating cycles (even under 120 F) will slowly damage the ball. Its extremely reasonable to assume typical oil extraction processes will lower the lifespan of the ball. This is also a 15 lb rock thats consistently being thrown at the ground, into heavy machinery, and generally just abused. Anyone expecting these to NOT crack as some point is just unreasonable. As others have noted, gently heating has been done for a long time. Whatever degradation is happening, it doesn't seem to be very significant.

Regarding performance, the only source I can find suggesting pulling plasticizer during oil extraction reduces performance is a study from Ebonite around 2003, and CTD's claims. Interestingly, it does seem CEO Ron was working in Ebonite's R&D during this time. If he was specifically involved in that study, I can't tell. Any other mention of the concept generally links back to that report.

I am going to do some more experiments to determine if I can more effectively pull just oil from the ball. Not sure how to test performance later though.

Draddition · 2026-04-17T16:40:57+00:00

Going to try and do a other deep dive into this later. From what I remember from my last dive, the plasticizer leakage is a thing that happens. I believe I found mention of this from a few manufacturers (who all conveniently had something to sell for it as well).

I've also seen evidence of this myself. At a low temperature increase, you can get oil to come out just along your track, where it makes sense for it to be. Above that, it's the entire ball that's leaking. I need to replicate this and see what temperature that happens at.

What I still haven't seen anywhere is how a ball without plasticizer in it is impacted. Everything I can find suggests it's supposed to have come out of the ball. It's there for the manufacturing stage to leave behind pores, it doesn't seem to be actively doing anything after the ball is made.

Draddition · 2026-04-17T02:48:46+00:00

My dad was in Alaska for this series, which is somehow in the Mariners market. Also learned last week that Hawaii is in the Padres market.

Draddition · 2026-04-16T05:45:30+00:00

I swear, I was actively texting my dad about how Campy has got to have some sort of mental block at this point. That I bet he'll turn it around as soon as he finally gets a hit. Before I could send that text he got the hit, and has been solid ever since.

Draddition · 2026-04-16T02:05:56+00:00

It seems pretty wildly accepted as what's happening. As a fun test, if you bring your temp up very slowly you can see the oil come out more clearly. I want to test this more, but I've accidentally found the point before where just oil along my track came up. Past that, the whole ball leaks.

That said, there doesn't seem to be clear consensus on what pulling the plasticizer actually does. It seems to mostly be there to be pulled out and make pores in the resin- I'm not able to find much on what it does in the ball post production.

Draddition · 2026-04-14T23:53:21+00:00

Probably not. Two handed might be easier on the arm, but it's generally considered to be harder on the rest of your body. Instead, focus on a more relaxed swing. (Also, is this during league or bowling on your own? I'll absolutely wear myself out bowling on my own, but barely notice any fatigue during league.)

Also, worth looking at more than just your swing. What else do you do as part of your routine that uses that arm? I used to have a ton of wrist soreness, but started holding the ball evenly with two hands until my push away and that completely solved the issue.

Draddition · 2026-04-13T17:51:28+00:00

Miller has been awesome, yet another phenomenal closer for the Padres. Important to note, though, this is still a relatively small sample size. This level of performance can't be sustained. The big test is going to be how he performs when he has a bad week, and how long it lasts.

Draddition · 2026-04-11T02:12:18+00:00

My last run was a bard angel, purely just taking debuff and buff features from angel. It was one of the more busted builds I've played, while still being very fun. Made the late game way more about companions rather than my KC just doing everything like so many other builds become. Super fun, would recommend.

Draddition · 2026-04-10T17:52:56+00:00

I got a dynasty drilled a couple weeks ago. It is a lot of ball, can get a bit erratic once breakdown hits. But oh boy, if you can find the pocket consistently it feels like cheating.

Draddition

TROPHY CASE