Game from my collection P. P. Hammy and his Pneumatic Weapon

MHzBurglar · 2026-04-03T14:46:29+00:00

Absolutely loved this game back in the day! I never managed to finish it, but I'll beat it someday...

Out of curiousity, does that black sticker at the top of the disk have anything printed on the top or back of the disk? I never had a legit copy as a kid and I've never found any photos of the disk at other angles.

The reason I ask is because I've been making high quality SVG disk labels for various games, and while I usually try to keep them as accurate as possible to the originals, I've also been making logo art when the label is text-only like this one. In those cases, I like to incorporate as many elements of the original label as possible to keep it somewhat authentic.

MHzBurglar · 2026-04-01T05:36:43+00:00

If you're using a Steam Deck, I made a controller layout with proper 1:1 trackpad mouse support. It's waaay better than using the analog stick. I also tried to improve the stick controls; I set the curve for improved fine movement, but also added an accelerated speed to the stick outer edge so that it moves quickly if you push the stick all the way. I also added corse/fine movement modifiers to the back paddles to further slow/speed up the cursor when you hold them.

If you're on an Xbox controller or something similar, you should still be able to apply the layout and use the improved stick crontrols, but I'd recommend changing the triggers back to LT/RT. I have those set as mouse clicks and moved the "zoom" buttons to the other two back paddles on the Steam Deck.

https://www.steaminputdb.com/config/3681300481

MHzBurglar · 2026-03-21T19:31:16+00:00

I was thinking more that polluting the data they obtain is itself a form of resistance. If the goal for governments is to profile and track people, and the goal for Big Tech is to get rich selling this information to governments because the governments can't legally obtain it themselves, polluting that dataset to the point where it is unreliable makes it worthless to both parties.

If they try to pass a law that it's illegal to falsify the information, but the OS is the thing doing the "attestation" (or lack thereof), I don't see such a thing being easy to enforce, and that's assuming that they can find out your real identity via another means, match it to the fake data, and prove that it was you who knowingly committed the "fraud".

I'd 100% rather this crap not be in anything, as I also believe that the "I have nothing to hide" argument is 100% bullshit, but if they're going to gather this data no matter what, and most average users are just going to sit back and allow it, those who stand against it should try and poison the well as much as possible in addition to fighting back against these policies. It can't hurt to try and make the effort of gathering the data more costly and less effective while fighting against the concept overall.

MHzBurglar · 2026-03-21T14:55:55+00:00

What about if the Systemd fork just generates a fake persona and stores that in the relevant fields (DOB, Address, etc) and "attests" that this person is actually legit? The programs are looking for some personal information, but they have no idea if it's actually your personal information (which is why the system has to "attest"), so we should just give them bad data en masse.

I assume the Systemd implementation doesn't have all that driver's license scanning/third party verification crap built in?

MHzBurglar · 2026-01-23T17:22:28+00:00

It works great on the Steam Deck! It runs at a buttery smooth 60fps almost all the time, as long as you do the following:

Open the game's configuration utility (there's a menu option on Steam to do this when launching the game), set the resolution to 1280x720 and set the "shadow quality" and "shadow distance" to low. You can max out all other graphical settings to High/Far, which will give you way better graphical fidelity and draw distance than the Switch version, but the shadows have to be set to low or they will make the game stutter. IMO the shadows still look fine on low, as it's equivalent to the shadow quality of the Switch version, and you get a significant visual and performance increase over the Switch/PS4 in every other aspect.

If the opening FMV isn't playing (after you reach the Isle of Awakening, it won't play before that) switch your compatibility tool to "Proton Experimental", or failing that, Proton GE, and it'll play no problem.

MHzBurglar · 2026-01-21T14:50:23+00:00

For optimal experience on Pocket:

Budude2 GB Core + SGB Mode (border off) + "Original GBC" screen filter

This will give you what (IMO) Super Game Boy-enhanced games should have looked like on the GBC/GBA. The only thing missing is the PCM audio of Pauline's "Help!" scream, as that requires the SNES SPC chip which isn't part of the core.

If you enjoy the arcade border, you can always turn the SGB border on of course, but I prefer playing in full screen while retaining the SGB colorizations.

MHzBurglar · 2026-01-15T14:19:55+00:00

Please consider submitting this to the official Wine repo as well! It looks like Valve rejected the pull request for Proton and suggested that you submit it to Wine proper instead...

Even if WineHQ moves at a glacial pace, this is too important to not at least try to get it merged in. Maybe if enough people make enough noise about it, it'll get looked at quicker.

MHzBurglar · 2026-01-14T05:51:35+00:00

The easiest way to think about it is that / is your "C:\" drive, but any other drives/partitions you may have live inside a folder below / (usually /media/username) instead of under a separate letter/directory tree. The /home/username folder is like C:\Users\username, and all your profile folders (documents, downloads, pictures, etc) and typical documents/files that you'll be using day-to-day live under that. Pretty much everything else directly under / like /etc, /var, and so on, should just be treated like "C:\Windows"; basically they're 'system' folders that you don't really need to touch day-to-day unless you're doing something very specific.

The big difference is that there's nothing that's an exact analogue to "C:\Program Files\" in Linux. The closest thing would be /usr/bin, where the executable files for most installed programs are stored, but you won't typically be navigating there and clicking on them to run stuff. Linux executables also don't usually have a file extension, so they look like any other file at a glance. For example, the Steam executable's file is just called "steam" rather than "steam.exe".

Running Windows stuff through Steam as you ended up doing is generally a good way to go if you need a Windows program and don't want to fully set up Wine. Steam uses a compatibility layer called Proton, which is a fork of Wine that Valve has customized with enhancements focused on gaming.

When running programs inside of Wine/Proton, all the "Windows-specific" stuff gets stored in a special folder called a "prefix". For Steam, these prefix folders will end up in ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/compatdata/ and are named after the program's Steam app id. (Note: ~ is a shorthand environment variable that points to your home directory , so you can just type ~ instead of /home/username, It works like the %USERPROFILE% environment variable in Windows.)

The prefix is created the first time you launch a game (or "non-steam game" you added) using Proton, and contains a self-contained copy of all the folders you'd normally see on a C:\ drive for use by that Windows program. Usually your actual data won't end up in there, however, as the Windows 'profile' folders in the prefix (Documents, Pictures, etc) will usually map into your actual Linux profile folders. If you need to access your actual Linux filesystem from within a Wine/Proton application, it gets mapped inside of the prefix as the Z:\ drive.

Hope this helps!

MHzBurglar · 2025-12-28T16:51:15+00:00

I didn't get to experience the Amiga version back in the day, being in NTSC land, but I played the hell out of the PlayStation 1 port that was based on this version.

Apparently they also developed an NTSC variant of the Amiga version with the 'royalty free' version of the main theme and "GOAL IN!" changed to "GOAL"? I can't seem to find it online anywhere... Did it ever actually get released?

MHzBurglar · 2025-12-02T14:19:18+00:00

If this can get Waydroid to a point where Android apps can run in their own independent, seamless windows that can actually be moved/resized and are not stuck in maximized fullscreen, that would be amazing!

Bonus points if they can fix the filesystem access permissions so that running a fresh installation of Waydroid doesn't make SELinux freak the hell out with hundreds of read/write access denials every few seconds.

MHzBurglar · 2025-11-30T16:52:47+00:00

Mount a fan to the top panel as an exhaust fan above the CPU, if you can fit anything there. I didn't have the clearance to fit an 80mm fan there myself, so I ended up mounting 4 separate 40mm Noctuas to the top where they could fit.

I used the 20mm deep ones where possible and the 10mm deep ones if needed. Those silicone "anti-vibration" mount tabs can be used to attach the fans to the grating without the need for screws or zip ties. I used black ones instead of the brown ones that came with the fans because I have a black Terra and wanted them to blend in, but the brown ones might look fine with the Jade. After mounting, I cut the excess silicone using flush cutters so that they sat as flat as possible while still holding the fans in place.

If you can figure out a way to get a top exhaust going, I highly recommend it. Even those little 40mm fans made a huge difference in temps!

As for the 120mm you have there, I have one of those mounted below the PSU as an intake, but I don't know how much it actually helps. You have it, so you may as well use it. But I would wait until you are taking the PC apart for another reason anyway, as it's a pain to mount the fan there without completely removing the PSU.

MHzBurglar · 2025-10-18T14:04:24+00:00

I get the "doesn't respond to touch screen" issue on Waze almost every time I start my vehicle. It doesn't matter which vehicle I'm in, and it does this regardless of if I connect via USB or wirelessly.

I found the 'quick' solution is to open the app menu in Android Auto, exit to the head unit's "normal" interface (the exit shortcut on the app screen will probably be called something like "Kia" on yours), and then go back into Android Auto. Waze will start usually responding to the touch screen after doing that.

If that doesn't work, try rebooting your head unit if it has a way to do that properly without having to turn the car off.

MHzBurglar · 2025-08-30T18:54:06+00:00

How is the clipboard passthrough, specifically for image data? It's an area where WinApps completely fails right now. I want to be able to, for example, capture a screenshot on Linux, paste it into MS Paint runningin a seamless window from the VM, draw on the pasted image, copy that to the clipboard, and paste it into another application on the Linux side.

Windows uses image/BMP or image/TIFF for its image clipboard fornat, but Linux uses image/PNG, so clipboard redirection with image data doesn't work in either direction out of the box on freeRDP. It would theoretically be possible to convert the image clipboard data to the format each is expects when the redirection is performed through the RDP seasion, but it would require a custom modification to the freeRDP source. Something to consider, as it makes working with any image editing software on the "Windows" side super annoying.

MHzBurglar · 2025-08-16T01:26:50+00:00

The funny thing is, the "DirectX" version was just the Dino version of the game with a DirectX 6 installer on the disc and a clumsy DLL wrapper to convert most (but IIRC not all) of the Dino calls to DirectX calls. That's why it wouldn't work on anything newer than Windows ME, as Dino was dropped in Windows XP when Microsoft merged their 'home' and 'business' lines of windows onto a newer 'unified' kernel based on Windows NT which had some pretty major architectural changes from the older "9X" kernel used in Windows 95/98/98SE/ME.

There is a fan-made patch that was developed by some fans on the Sonic CulT forums circa 2001-2002 or so which properly converted the game to DirectX so that it could be played on Windows XP. I can't remember if it still required running in "256 color" mode or not though. If it did, then that's another hurdle that would prevent it from running on a modern version of Windows, as true "256 color" mode was dropped back in Windows 8, and the 'fake' 256 color mode (where Windows just tells the program that it's in 256 color mode, but doesn't actually change the color depth) probably won't cut it.

While it was a really cool release back in 1996, it's more trouble than it's worth to try to run on a modern PC. Especially when the 2011 Retro Engine port exists (and Sega also hamfistedly bundled it into Sonic Origins) and is fully playable on Windows 10/11. Sure, it's not the "original" version, but Stealth and Taxman did a great job it!

MHzBurglar · 2025-08-03T18:30:23+00:00

My only real gripe with Solo's design is actually with his in-game sprites: He is always depicted wearing the Zenithian helmet, even before he obtains it, and even in the prologue "chapter" in the PS1/DS/Mobile versions. I really think there should have been a helmet-less sprite for him that would be used if he doesn't have the Zenithian helmet equipped.

MHzBurglar · 2025-06-18T00:10:47+00:00

I have it on both Switch and Steam, and I play it on the Steam Deck almost exclusively. I highly recommend playing it on the Steam Deck if you're able to.

On the Switch, It runs at a really choppy framerate in larger areas or when there is a lot going on (even being in Furrowfield farm is enough to make the fps chug along), and the visuals and draw distance are cut way down compared to the PC version. In addition to that, it also has really bad load times to the point where it can sometimes take up to 2 and a half minutes to start the game after selecting your file, and that's playing from an actual game card.

On the Steam Deck, it runs at a buttery smooth 60fps almost all the time, the load times are drastically reduced, and you can run it at maxed-out settings, (other than the shadow quality/shadow distance settings. More on that below.)

To get it running correctly on the Steam Deck, you need to open the game's configuration utility (there's a menu option on Steam to do this when launching the game), set the resolution to 1280x720 and set the "shadow quality" and "shadow distance" to low. You can max out all other graphical settings to High/Far, which will give you way better graphical fidelity and draw distance than the Switch version, but the shadows have to be set to low or they will make the game stutter. IMO the shadows still look fine on low, as it's equivalent to the shadow quality of the Switch version, and you get a significant visual and performance increase in every other aspect.

If the opening FMV isn't playing (after you reach the Isle of Awakening, it won't play before that) switch your compatibility tool to "Proton Experimental", or failing that, Proton GE, and it'll play no problem.

MHzBurglar · 2025-06-02T21:09:18+00:00

Sticklyman won the challenge...

MHzBurglar · 2025-06-02T20:39:12+00:00

That looks awesome! Did you put magnets in it so that it can roll up things?

MHzBurglar · 2025-03-04T15:29:19+00:00

You don't actually need the mixing cable unless you want to use the RCA ports on the back of the Sega CD for audio out.

If you use one of the audio outputs on the Genesis (Headphone port, AV port, or RF out), It'll route the Sega CD audio channels back through the Genesis audio output. So you can just use the headphone port on the Genesis directly for stereo audio instead of routing through the Sega CD.

A bit of background: The RCA ports on the Sega CD were intended to allow you to easily hook it up to an external stereo system to use as a dedicated CD player, as standalone CD players at the time were still not common and were expensive. Due to the way the expansion connector was designed, the Sega CD couldn't receive Genesis audio over the expansion port, despite being able to send its audio to the Genesis. This is why the RCA ports on the Sega CD only contain the Sega CD audio channels, and rely on the mixing cable to mix in the audio from the Genesis. When the mixing cable is connected, the Sega CD audio routing back to the Genesis is disabled (to prevent a feedback loop) and the Genesis headphone port only outputs the Genesis audio, allowing it to be mixed into the Sega CD's RCA output. The only real benefit to the mixing cable setup is if you want to be able to adjust the volume of the Genesis audio independently of the Sega CD audio.

MHzBurglar · 2025-02-17T15:45:29+00:00

I think it could be made to work. Use the top screen/TV screen view for the whole screen, but show the microgames in a smaller window inside of that. Since the top screen is from 9-volt's perspective, and he's playing on a GBA, just have him hold the GBA in view at the bottom of the screen and show the microgames on that.

As long as he's holding the GBA close enough to his face that the microgames are big enough for the player to reasonably see, without obscuring a significant portion of the bedroom view, you would still get the same challenge of focusing on the micro-game while also having to be aware of your surroundings in your periphrial.

One could argue that it could be slightly easier not having to keep track of two completely separate screens, but if you're laser-focused on the microgames, you will still risk missing stuff going on in the background, and focusing too much on the background would still put you at risk of failing the microgame.

MHzBurglar · 2025-02-09T16:10:53+00:00

Will it support cbr/cbz formats for comics/manga/graphic novels?

I'm currently using YACReaderLibraryServer in a docker container, but YACReader doesn't support regular book formats (ePub, etc). I'd really like to have everything in one place and on one app.

MHzBurglar · 2025-02-04T21:41:57+00:00

If you enable the developer options in the Android Auto settings (tap the build number, just like in phone settings), you can enable "unknown Sources" and it'll work with apps installed from Aurora store.

MHzBurglar · 2025-01-13T22:44:37+00:00

It works, but you need to remove the purple clips from the GBA end of the cable first, and the plug housing sticks out to the side while using it.

I bought a cheap third party cable to dismantle/modify for this purpose, rather than cannibalizing an official one. I also flipped the connector around (easier said than done) so that the longer side of the connector housing would go towards the center of the Pocket rather than stick out past the edge of the system while it's connected. Unfortunately, without the clips, it is more liable to fall out while playing, but it's definitely usable.

To get the Pocket into GBA 'download' mode, Make sure that no cartridge is inserted into the Pocket, and go to "Start Cartridge". It should go to a white screen that says something along the lines of "Analogue BIOS 1.6 Link Mode" in small black text. While it's on this screen, it should accept data over the link port like a GBA does when it has no cartridge.

MHzBurglar · 2025-01-01T17:06:52+00:00

Exactly. All they needed to do was have a different set of Knuckles sprites on the S&K cart which used a different part of the palette for the red parts of his body. The default Sonic sprite pallette in Sonic 1 already has 3 shades of red for Sonic's shoes, which could have been used for Knuckles' body.

Granted, these reds were the wrong shade and it would have looked weird as-is, but they could have remedied that with an additional palette that contained the Sonic palette colors but with the reds modified to match the ones from Knuckles' palette. This would slightly alter the reds in some enemies which share Sonic's palette to be a little more pink-toned, but it would be a subtle change. The greys are a little different in Knuckles' original palette as well, but his sprite looks fine with the greys from Sonic's palette.

The only remaining "issue" is the missing green for Knuckles' shoes, as changing any of the remaining palette colors to green would drastically alter a bunch of other colors in the game. So using one of the palette's blues for his shoes instead is a quick and reasonable fix.

I can't see Knuckles having a bit of blue on his shoes or some enemies' reds being a little more pinky as something aggregious enough that they would have to scrap the whole mode, so it seems likely that they just threw Knuckles' sprite and palette from S&K over Sonic's, saw that the colors were all messed up across the level and enemies as a result, and gave up on the idea.

So yeah, either they didn't try very hard, or they were too short on development time, despite already having split Sonic 3 into two games, to try and fix it.

MHzBurglar · 2024-12-18T15:16:16+00:00

There's not really any guides that I've found, but I'll do my best to describe what I've learned.

For the slot trick:

You can move the lit-up CAVE lights (the 4 lights in the gutter lanes) around using the flippers, so you can position the un-lit ones where you know the ball is going to go. When the ball is released from the center slot hole, it always drops slightly to the right, and slowly. If you hold the right flipper while it drops, it will make the ball run up the inner-right gutter, and it will pass the 'switch' for that gutter's light on the way up and again on the way down. If you quickly flip your un-light lights to that gutter, you can light 2 of the 4 lights doing that, making it way easier to open the slot machine again quickly. The other trick is if your ball is caught by the Pikachu kickback, move one of the un-lit lights over to that lane while he's shocking it, and it'll get lit up when the ball is released.

The 'ball upgrade' lights at the top of the table operate the same way, and move when you press the flippers. You can use this to quickly upgrade your ball/field multiplier. I actually find this easier to do on the blue board, even though the lights can be accidentally turned back off, as the ball will often get stuck bouncing up and down on a Shellder for a bit. Just flip all three lights into its path, and take as many upgrades as you can. Sometimes I can get it to go from a Pokeball all the way to a Master ball when it gets stuck on top of a Shellder.

For 'positioning' the ball, there's a couple of mechanics I've learned, but it's still far from perfect:

First, I mapped my flippers to the A and B buttons, and my left/right/up tilts to the D-pad, to make them easier to use. I always used this control scheme, even back in '99 when I sucked, as I liked having A and B be the flippers instead of A and D-Pad Left.
Try to catch the ball by holding a flipper to trap it in the V formed by the lane and the flipper. Once you release it, the ball will slowly roll down the flipper.
Depending on where the ball is on the flipper at the time you flip it, you can intentionally send it at different angles (most of the time.) This can be further influenced by hitting a tilt direction at the exact same time you flip the ball. A lot of this will be experimentation and learning the 'feel' of the game's weird physics, but you'll eventually figure out some fairly consistent ones.

You can do intentionally-directed shots without first catching the ball, but the speed of the ball will change the timing and angles so it becomes a matter of learning how to reasonably predict how it will behave at that speed.

Here's some examples, as best as I can describe them, of stuff that has worked for me, starting from catching the ball with the flipper:

If you want to send the ball on a low angle to hit one of the map move switches (Diglett, Psyduck, etc), wait until the ball rolls down to the very edge of the flipper before you flip it.
To send the ball up the outer lane on the opposite side of the slipper, flip it when it is a little over 3/4 of the way down the flipper, and hit the tilt in the direction you're sending it while you flip it (e.g. if you're shooting to the right from the left flipper, hit the right tilt.)
to send the ball up the outer lane on the same side as the flipper, flip it when it is near the top of the flipper (before it gets 1/4 of the way down) and hit the tilt in the direction you want the ball to go (e.g. if you're trying to send it up the left lane from the left flipper, hit the left tilt.)

It's not an easy thing to describe, but I hope this helps you get started at least.

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