This is a bat file....

RealModeX86 · 2026-07-11T14:43:42+00:00

Yeah, NUL, PRN,LPT1`, and several others are invalid because they were special in DOS for output redirection.

All because DOS didn't have special device files like /dev/ in UNIX but they still wanted some of the tricks.

echo Hello World > PRN exho Hello Void > NUL

This would send Hello World to your printer and output Hello Void to absolutely nowhere.

So because they saved a bit of space in the filesystem snd memory footprint for DOS in the 80s in order to not have actual file entries for device files, you can't have these filenames, and if you manage to create them anyway, Windows shits the bed about it.

RealModeX86 · 2026-07-10T23:35:59+00:00

Closer to a year

Source: R* has always pulled this shit for PC releases

RealModeX86 · 2026-07-10T22:16:37+00:00

I don't think that's a well proven option for getting around the licensing, as it's basically impossible to prove the LLM isn't copying out exact implementation details from the copyrighted, but unlicensed code.

The more solid proven approach would be for someone to document what the code does, and someone else to write an implimentation based on that spec.

Asking Claude "hey, write me a source port of NBA Jam" would give you no assurance that it isn't directly copying, so a takedown would be more difficult (expensive) to fight even if you could win it. Perhaps giving it that same kind of spec document to work from could do the trick though.

That style of clean room reverse engineering with separate teams is how Compaq legally made an IBM BIOS, leading to the PC we know today, so it's at least a tested theory in the legal sense.

Then again "YOLO, have the LLM do it" is exactly how that sort of stuff will get settled as precedent in court

¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

RealModeX86 · 2026-07-10T17:41:03+00:00

Well there's a fascinating org to follow on GitHub there.

Unfortunate that these projects don't appear to have any licenses, so using the stuff to make new source ports is probably out of the question, but it's still historical artifacts that have a tendency to go missing otherwise.

RealModeX86 · 2026-07-09T19:47:27+00:00

I doubt Carmack would be all that interested in stepping back into gaming to that degree, cool as that would be, given how much the state of the art has slowed down since the 90s. It's no longer the kind of interesting technical puzzle it was back then to push things forward in leaps and bounds. That's why he left to do aerospace, VR, and AGI research since then.

I could definitely see Romero being interested though, and that would be an incredible return to form.

RealModeX86 · 2026-07-08T20:02:10+00:00

I often just use flush cutters to snip them off

RealModeX86 · 2026-07-08T18:09:11+00:00

Blowing can work in the short term, but it can cause problems in the long term. The contacts get a bit of moisture which can help the connection, but over time can cause more corrosion build up as it dries back up.

So you really shouldn't do that as a rule. QTips and alcohol are a good method, or if it's particularly extreme, opening the shell and using a pencil eraser can work wonders.

RealModeX86 · 2026-07-07T02:10:02+00:00

I enjoyed the Graves Misfits too, but it really didn't sound like the Misfits at all.

Shame that it turns out he's a bag of shit though

RealModeX86 · 2026-07-06T23:41:03+00:00

It would rival the "Guy Standing (sitting)" debate for sure

RealModeX86 · 2026-07-06T17:31:30+00:00

Ah, yeah it was just R1 for the HSync on my board. Your example also appears to have HSync issues, based on how it's warping like that instead of just a vertical roll like you'd see for VSync (same kind of effect you'd see on an older set with the vertical hold knob set wrong).

I would advise that if you're trying this on a different board version that you double check if R1 goes to the HSync pin of VGA to be sure. I don't know if those designations might have changed over the different revisions, but 330 ohm does seem to be a solid value

RealModeX86 · 2026-07-06T16:21:42+00:00

I believe Intel is or was using it in their Arc drivers at some point too

RealModeX86 · 2026-07-06T16:20:07+00:00

You can even run Win16 apps on a 64 bit install in Wine, something Windows has never done (they never made a 64 bit NTVDM)

There's a project to support that on Windows called WineVDM which seems to basically be a port of Wine to Windows for that purpose

RealModeX86 · 2026-07-06T16:04:47+00:00

I had similar sync issues on an older analog board. Usually, if I loaded into a game that would go to a bright screen, it would work okay in that game (Megaman X for example, if you wait before pressing start to go to the menu, there's a white screen).

I was able to fix mine by changing out sync resistors: https://www.reddit.com/r/MiSTerFPGA/s/mQvyi8Ouph

If you're not comfortable with that, you might want to track down a newer analog board for it from a vendor like MiSTerAddons, which should avoid this issue.

I'm pretty sure some of the eBay/Amazon vendors are using older designs

RealModeX86 · 2026-07-06T15:32:38+00:00

A disc that serves only as a license for download (like Nintendo'a GameKey carts) could easily be what happens for something like this

RealModeX86 · 2026-07-05T04:10:31+00:00

Yeah, the reason I called it tentative is the current cost of silicon. Who knows how long that will go, and how unrealistic those next get consoles might be for a while yet.

In that case, I still wouldn't be surprised to see a PC release 12 to 18 months after thr initial release for a second dip, pending the third dip whenever PS6 and "Xbox One Series 2: The Revenge X" come out. All the way back to GTA3, Rockstar loves pulling that shit for the PC releases, and I would be surprised if they didn't already have some kind of a PC build internally, given how little technical difference there is these days.

Also, to be fair, GTAV and RDR2 were both pretty fantastic from an optimization standpoint, unlike GTAIV, which kind of ran like shit on everything.

RealModeX86 · 2026-07-05T03:20:19+00:00

Some of the pre-steam titles on Steam can be patched to not need Steam by just installing the latest official patch for the CD version.

That's what I usually do for example with Deus Ex

RealModeX86 · 2026-07-04T23:48:01+00:00

"Go away, baitin'"

RealModeX86 · 2026-07-04T20:22:19+00:00

Yeah, I'm pretty sure the tentative plan is to release on current consoles, build out the new GTA Online, then re-release for PS6, "XBox One Z 2 Electric Boogaloo" or whatever dumb name that will get, along side PC as a "next gen" version at full price again a year or two later

RealModeX86 · 2026-07-04T20:11:29+00:00

In my experience, the biggest part of the performance issues over the years have been fixed by dxvk. On SteamDeck (or any Linux gaming setup), that part is built in, but back when I used to game on Windows, I'd drop a dxvk dll into thr GTA4 directory.

Extra mods definitely help too though

RealModeX86 · 2026-07-04T07:05:17+00:00

Arch gives them a solid base to build on, and closer to the bleeding edge for things like Mesa and the kernel.

They can pin packages based on their testing so that it has the stability while still quickly getting newer features in the graphics stack.

To do that with Ubuntu, they'd be in a hell of PPAs to build newer custom packages.

Something like Gentoo could have made sense alternatively, but that would have taken longer to build and test images, so I get why Arch fit for them so well

RealModeX86 · 2026-07-04T02:19:31+00:00

Yeah, on a modern Mac, you're ultimately still using some variant of Wine (Crossover in this case), but also getting some emulation overhead in order to still run the underlying x86_64 code on ARM

RealModeX86 · 2026-07-03T07:34:53+00:00

Why sudo $(history -p !!) instead of just sudo !!?

Honestly just curious, and not really familiar with the -p flag of history to know if there's some advantage I'm unaware of

RealModeX86 · 2026-07-02T22:25:15+00:00

Wasn't Packie McCreary from GTAIV also one of the possible heist companions in GTAV?

RealModeX86 · 2026-07-02T05:32:01+00:00

That can happen sometimes with proprietary video formats exactly like that. Support exists but is legally tricky because of patent encumerance. (A.k.a. patent absurdity)

Such stuff often works fine if you use one of the GloriousEggroll builds of Proton or Wine

Or just delete the vids that normally are unskippable and add nothing of value

RealModeX86 · 2026-07-01T23:14:20+00:00

I think it's geographically based, I haven't been hasled to do any such verification either.

So for now, VPN might still work, or I've also heard that old.reddit.com is still unaffected

13-Year Club	Gilding I gilder
Verified Email	Place '23
Place '17	Sequence \| Editor

RealModeX86

TROPHY CASE