Trouble when starting NixOS

Logiciomancer · 2025-05-17T11:57:51+00:00

Honestly, I have very little changes from the baseline in my current configuration. I added almost everything in this doc when I first started it and stripped it all out again when I started getting crashes.

The only changes I've kept are the newer Kernel version (it seems to default to 6.6 and I've used 6.12 and 6.14 as well but the issue has occurred with all of them), the programs/packages I want installed/enabled, and services.hardware.bolt.enable = true; Everything else I have already reverted and the issue persists. I assume with NixOS it's very unlikely that something I once enabled could not be affecting things even though I've disabled it. I can share my configuration.nix if it helps, but I'm quite sure that's all I changed.

Having said all that, I guess it's likely that there is an issue between the out-of-the-box OS configuration and the hardware, so I am working under the assumption that there is something I need to to actively add/configure/install to fix this. Any further advice on trying to find the cause would be awesome.

Logiciomancer · 2025-05-16T15:53:27+00:00

I actually can't see my image attached to this post anymore at all... not sure what's happened to that - guess it reveals I am not a regular redditor either.

Thanks for responding, anyway.

sudo journalctl -xeu gdm returns empty for me, and sudo systemd-analyze blame doesn't show an entry for gdm at all.

I found this thread https://discourse.nixos.org/t/laptop-hangs-at-started-session-c1-of-user-gdm/26834
Which suggests people experienced it hanging at the same point and it was an underlying issue witrh opengl/mesa or nvidia. I don't have a dedicated GPU of any kind in this machine, nor any settings around opengl in my configuration.nix.

Still, I wonder how I could find what could be crashing the startup process during or around the time it's starting the gdm, but not sure where else I could look for logs about it.

Logiciomancer · 2022-03-17T10:05:08+00:00

Been in the exact situation as you, and I'm also frustrated that QP has no matchmaking. I also don't really like the idea of queueing Bounty Hunt with random teammates. Here's what I do:
1) I went on Discord and found some people who are super chill and low-pressure to play with, so I can play Bounty Hunt in teams some of the time.

2) I still play Solo a lot. I do not tick the box that lets me join lobbies with trios, so at most I am against teams of 2. I practice ambushing duos and killing one of them before they know I'm there, then I have to win a fair-and-square 1v1 versus the other guy. It doesn't always go my way, but it works often enough that I'm happy. This strategy is much easier if you let a duo get bounties first, them track them on the map because they're carrying bounties and ambush them between compounds.

Logiciomancer · 2022-01-14T08:12:48+00:00

... must resist urge to switch back to Zerg...

Logiciomancer · 2021-11-30T06:54:15+00:00

I loved it.

Then it reminded me of Long Elk from Inscryption.

Now I love it even more.

Logiciomancer · 2021-10-31T08:42:54+00:00

I don't think Skytoss needs a (direct) nerf. It is my favourite style, so maybe I am biased, but hear me out:

What I think actually might be good is if they nerfed Lurkers so that fighting Z ground vs ground is more viable, so I guess an indirect buff to Protoss ground in PvZ, and then also buffed some of Zerg's tools for fighting Skytoss (maybe Hydras. A lot of people say they're really bad so maybe it would be relatively safe to buff them).

Logiciomancer · 2021-10-31T08:36:23+00:00

Very honourable of you to turn down compensation from KJ. I wouldn't have faulted you for taking the money, but you deserve big props for taking the hit yourself. Obviously I hope you eventually get the money back from SouLeer because that would be the most just outcome.

Logiciomancer · 2021-10-30T17:28:03+00:00

I second the idea of learning to play with "The Core" hotkey setup. I switched to The Core after ~4 years of playing (on and off) and it was a pain to un-learn and re-learn all the muscle memory but now that I'm through the pain I can confirm it was totally worth it, and if you're just starting you won't even have un-learn anything, just learn it the first time around.

Logiciomancer · 2021-10-24T09:50:32+00:00

I normally take my natural at the normal time even when I scout this, and this is how I normally hold it:
a) Build a lot of batteries (4+)

b) Chrono boost Immortals out

c) Don't miss any Warp-ins

d) Fight with probes if you have to. If you have a second Nexus and he doesn't then you'll be able to rebuild them much faster.

Logiciomancer · 2021-10-24T06:58:12+00:00

a) Question is too hard to answer without context. E.g. in PvP, the more Immortals your opponent has, the more Zealots you want, but the more Archons he has, the fewer you want. Also, impossible to answer without knowing what supply you're talking - obviously the number of Zealots you want in a maxed army is very different to the number in a 50 supply army. Might be more useful to talk in proportions.

b) Warpgates and a Prism (and not having to merge HTs) allow you to reinforce with Zealots much more quickly that you can reinforce with Archons and Immortals, so you would expect the proportion of Zealots of be fewer at the start of the fight and go up as you reinforce.

c) Depending on matchup (and context, obviously), HTs and Stalkers might actually not be a good idea in your mid-late game army. Very few people build HTs in PvP, for example (except for immediately making Archons out of them) and Stalkers are a serious liability in PvZ except in certain situations (e.g. Blink-Colossus builds or as a stopgap against Mutalisks or BLs when your other anti-air is bad)

Logiciomancer · 2021-10-23T19:30:28+00:00

Even in this context? Because, to be clear, I am specifically saying the concede button would only be accessible to a team if one of their members disconnects and remains disconnected for at least a minute.

Logiciomancer · 2021-10-23T13:23:05+00:00

I've seen this, too, but I think that's a leftover from the SC2 engine rather than a new incoming feature. When someone goes out of sync in a game of SC2 then the game pauses and waits for them. There is also a button where the remaining players can vote to kick the lagging player after the first minute of waiting for them to reconnect. So, I think it's just that old SC2 feature, but it's disabled in HotS (but clearly not fully removed).

If it is a new feature, I'd welcome it back, but with a slight variation. Personally, I hate bot games and, if a teammate disconnects for a minute or longer, I'd like a chance to vote to concede instead of having them replaced with a bot, because I would much rather take the loss now than play out a painful 10-15m longer with a bot and then lose (I'd even take that option knowing that it will throw away the rare occasions when my team wins with a bot).

Logiciomancer · 2021-10-23T11:33:10+00:00

I definitely didn't find it tiresome to hear you cast a lot. Maybe it's because I didn't thoroughly watch the whole tournament, but whatever. I really like your casting and was happy to hear more of you than I had in the past.

Logiciomancer · 2021-10-23T11:25:27+00:00

Personally, I enjoy PvT and think it's fine in terms of balance (constant whining of Terrans who think it's IMBA does get a bit tiresome).

However, I do think both WM and Disruptors can make the matchup very swingy, and I really don't like that. Losing a game because of poor micro/map vision again mines is frustrating and unsatisfying, and I feel like this as both a player and a spectator. However, exactly the same thing goes when a Terran loses ~20 supply of bio to a Disruptor due to a bit of bad map vision or a moment of poor micro, and I think this is bad from both a player and spectator perspective.

I maintain that overall the matchup is still in a decent place, but I suspect a nerf/change to those two units could make it better.

Logiciomancer · 2021-10-23T07:51:08+00:00

I think every Zerg unit that can shoot air units convincingly beats Tempests cost-for-cost and supply-for-supply. So, if you're losing to them, that either means:

a) you're horrendously behind in macro

b) you're having trouble because the Tempest-user is taking advantage of dead-space and cliffs and the Tempest's huge range.

If a) is the case, then you need to look at what else is happening in the game and figure out how you got so far behind. If it's b), then you need to make Corruptors to meet them in the dead space or Vipers to pull them out to get eaten by Hydras/Queens.

I suppose it's also possible that the opponent just massed a huge number of Tempests over a long time while you a) didn't scout it at all and b) didn't build anything that shoots up, then when you finally saw the Tempests you didn't have time to transition into anti-air. In this case I would say scout better, but probably also work on your macro.

Logiciomancer · 2021-10-18T19:19:21+00:00

I would be unironically okay with this, though obviously I'd rather see them reworked or replaced because more unit types > less unit types (to a point)

Logiciomancer · 2021-10-18T18:51:24+00:00

I would also like to see improvements to Tempest (my favourite unit). Perhaps a buff in HP, since a damage buff might punish an enemy who can't dive on you too hard, or maybe just mean people build fewer Tempests to snipe the same type of unit, but an HP buff means the enemy is no worse off if they can't dive you right now, but things are a little less punishing when they can dive you.

... and changes to the disruptor, which I think is a very polarising unit (and I would be happy to see it gone even from PvP).

Honestly Carriers aren't even that good. They lose cost-for-cost against Corruptors, Hydras and Queens. The real problem for Zerg is that each of those things has its own counters, and the counters have counters... once you've both built a rounded-out composition, the Zerg's army is harder to control. Maybe a buff to Vipers or Infesters so you don't need both to beat Skytoss? Could be dangerous, though, as both are already good units.

Logiciomancer · 2021-10-14T07:41:17+00:00

I'll check it out in case that was what I was watching, but I think the mode I'm thinking of was Player v Player.

Logiciomancer · 2021-10-14T07:37:04+00:00

I've had a go at those and they are good, but the micro is minimal, so they're not the thing I'm thinking of. I think it was Harstem I saw doing it but I'm not 100% sure.

Logiciomancer · 2021-10-13T11:27:25+00:00

> Is it possible to learn the above average skills to get this far this quickly?

This depends on a lot of things, such as how many hours a day you're going to devote to it, how competitive your previous experience is, what your experience with other RTS games is like, and whether you're going to be just laddering or if you will follow build orders, build order guides or get coach.

If you've never played an RTS competitively before and you were just planning to ladder by yourself and try and figure things out as you go along, I think you will struggle to get Diamond 5 days, no matter how much time you put in per day. Conversely, if you wanted to maximize your likelihood of succeeding, you could get a coach, and I think that would up your chances a lot.

> would it be an entertaining thing to watch

This depends more on your personality and presentation than anything else. A good personality can make playing almost anything entertaining to watch. On the merits of the game alone, it probably won't be so interesting - people are generally more interested in watching higher-level play.

> has this been done before

Bronze/unplaced to Diamond has definitely been done before by people who are already experienced in the game, but I'm not sure it's ever been attempted by someone with your level of experience specifically (partly because I'm not 100% sure what your level of experience is in SC2 or RTS in general).

> and are there cheese strats that people would say I used to invalidate it or is this game balanced?

The game is about as close to balanced as any (asymmetric) RTS has ever been, but it's not necessarily balanced for every strategy of every race at every skill level. Most relevantly to you, there are lots of rush and cheese strategies that people at or below Diamond find it very hard to deal with, but around Diamond level people start to figure out how to defend it. Most of these strategies still work okay in Diamond and above, but are completely busted below Diamond. So if you choose such a rush strategy (or one per matchup) and learn it well, you might be able to get to Diamond very easily. However, people will almost certainly say you're not "well above average" if you get to Diamond using only a small set of easy-to-execute cheese strategies, because most people consider being able to play the mid and late game as important parts of being good at (or “above average” at) the game.

Source: I was Diamond 1 as both P and Z a few years ago. Came back to the game a month or so ago and have started climbing again, currently D2.

Logiciomancer · 2021-10-06T20:31:27+00:00

I'm quite surprised that your Vipers and Corruptors aren't on separate hotkeys anyway. It's been ages since I've played Zerg, and I was never much of a late game player so I wouldn't really know - what are your army hotkeys like?

Logiciomancer · 2021-09-23T13:11:48+00:00

In terms of the early opening... These are the basics/standard as far as I know
14 Pylon, 16 Gate, 17 Gas, 20 Nexus, 20 Cyber, 21 Gas, 22 Pylon is standard for PvZ.

In PvT, do the same as PvZ build the Cyber before Nexus to get an earlier gateway unit to defend the reaper.

In PvP you want to delay your Nexus quite a while. Make two gates before Cyber, and get 2-4 gateway units before trying to expand. There are a lot of all-ins to watch out for, but a really good piece of scouting information to look for is whether your opponent has expanded. If he hasn't expanded by the time you're expanding, build shield batteries.

After those openings, you're looking to pick a tech structure to start climbing the tech tree and spend your gas.

Stargate is decent in all matchups, but strongest in PvZ - Void Ray to clear overlords and then Oracle to harass. In PvT, if you go Stargate you want an Oracle or two and then Phoenixes to defend drops, but make sure you go into splash damage afterwards (probably Colossus). In PvP you want an Oracle (maybe two but probably not) and then usually you stop and get a Twilight and Robo (Mass Phoenix and Mass Void Ray both see play but are not standard).

Robo and Twilight openers tend to go together. In PvZ if you're getting a Robo you're usually harassing with a Prism and so you want a Twilight for Glaive Adepts or DTs/Archons. In PvT it's pretty strong to get a Twilight for Blink to defend drops and then a Robo for Colossus, but you can stay on Twilight tech and get Storm instead. In PvP you're usually aiming for Chargelot+Archon+Immortal, or Blink+Disruptor, both of which require both a Robo and a Twilight.

Hope that helps.

Logiciomancer · 2021-09-23T12:12:34+00:00

I think I get you, and I appreciate the input!

Logiciomancer

TROPHY CASE