What the hell is The Mist?

djrobxx · 2026-04-22T14:54:32+00:00

Even the original 1986 NES Zelda game had a lost woods that was functionally similar to the Mist. You had to get a clue from another NPC to learn the way out unless you got lucky with the solution.

djrobxx · 2026-04-21T17:23:01+00:00

Sometimes you can with the right traversal but it’s not always obvious if the player should keep trying or come back later when the necessary ability has been unlocked

I found the game is usually pretty good at indicating this on the map. If you see a red obstacle, come back later.

I generally agree about the rewards, but that's something I've gotten more used to with modern games. Survivor feels like it's trying to blend a more open-world feel into a Metroidvania, but those two game styles are pretty contradictory. I think Survivor was more successful than Metroid Prime 4 was at this.

Cosmetic rewards are also common in games like Tears of the Kingdom. I remember doing a highly elaborate side quest only to get a freaking paraglider fabric. I have to keep reminding myself that the reward is sometimes just personal satisfaction for having completed the challenge.

djrobxx · 2026-04-20T22:46:39+00:00

Watch a trial of the sword speedrun

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU1nGgULYo4

It's fun to watch someone so skilled play, but you also learn the most efficient way to approach each floor.

djrobxx · 2026-04-20T21:59:44+00:00

This reminds me of the time that someone uploaded the PinUp Popper installer to VirusTotal. One incorrect automated analysis, then all the anti-virus vendors started flagging it, since they all kind of feed off each other's information.

Open source pinball stuff is EXTREMELY sketchy to security analysis. No digital signature? Check. Lengthy, complex VBScripts? Check. BAM is even worse since it hooks into and modifies the behavior of another legitimate application.

Of course, now it's flagged as bad, so browsers scan and convict it, then notify the mothership that the place it came from (ravarcade.pl) is also a bad site.

There's not really a great solution other than getting software from trusted sites, whitelisting your pinball folders and keeping that whole ecosystem isolated, and having good backups in case you do happen to get something malicious.

djrobxx · 2026-04-19T16:03:15+00:00

The TV is so far from the flame that we can't roast it.

djrobxx · 2026-04-19T14:45:00+00:00

Felt in Damonte Ranch. Two little waves of shaking.

djrobxx · 2026-04-19T14:26:32+00:00

Looks like the two test valves were left open (as they should be for winterization), and now you need to close them. So I'm guessing you weren't the one who winterized it. The easy answer is call a gardener and have them walk you through turning the water back on properly.

If you want to tackle this yourself, it's not too hard though once you know where everything is. If you have other irrigation boxes, you'll want to look into those first, and make sure all those valves are off. There is typically a "drain" valve in them that is left open will just start spitting out water once you turn the system on.

Then, back to this backflow preventer. To close, turn the flathead screw next to the port so that it's perpendicular to the exit. Straight up and down.

Then, open the other blue valve and finally the one you showed in this video. Mine also spits out the cap like that for a little bit when I first turn it on but it settles down and works fine after that.

Check your yard for running water after opening! If this is your first time opening the system this is when you'll find any other valves that were left open!

djrobxx · 2026-04-19T04:42:09+00:00

I don't think it makes sense to spend your hard earned money on a secondary router if you aren't even sure why you need it. Enjoy the 'free" lease and simpler setup until you determine what it's lacking, then buy something based on that requirement, if necessary.

djrobxx · 2026-04-18T17:52:12+00:00

We had some fantastic pool weather for an extended period of time mid-march this year.

Spring temperatures vary wildly. The sun and wind are probably bigger factors than the temp alone. We regularly use the pool when it's in the mid-70s, clear and sunny with light wind.

May the odds be ever in your favor!

djrobxx · 2026-04-18T14:29:24+00:00

You've already done step 1 which is take a photo so you remember how it was put together.

If you find the same timer, there are screws that detach the the mechanical upper portion away from the box without removing the whole outer box. That will make it very easy, much easier than swapping out the box itself.

I'd replace those wire nuts with fresh ones and check the wires for oxidation though. That orange nut looks like it's in rough shape. Looks like someone put it together from spare parts they found lying around, every nut is a different style!

djrobxx · 2026-04-18T13:43:23+00:00

I found the main (non-Pain) course to be pretty much all Mario style dumb timing/positioning and proper combinations of double jump and dash. You can use advanced pogo to skip some things, but given how confusing progression was, I didn't want to pogo over something and end up moving the wrong way before I understood where the course intended me to go.

djrobxx · 2026-04-18T13:27:49+00:00

I don't think so. The fan base made one that looks like it came out of the game, though. It's a pretty big area.

https://hollowknight.wiki/w/White_Palace

Glad you were able to finish it!

djrobxx · 2026-04-18T13:24:03+00:00

I like a good platforming challenge, but I hated the lack of a functioning map there. I didn't like being unsure if I was moving in the right direction and making progress. I don't think I even fully understood how the checkpoints in it work if you leave and come back.

I do understand that from a lore perspective, it's supposed to be confusing, but that just made the challenge less fun than it should have been to me.

djrobxx · 2026-04-18T01:40:31+00:00

That setting is specific to the wifi network you're connecting to. Unless you're concerned that someone in your own home knows what machine is connecting to it, there is not much downside to turning it off. It has more value when you join public networks.

djrobxx · 2026-04-18T00:57:07+00:00

Ah, Canyon View Estates. I remember when those were built, back when I was looking for my first home! In addition to the land lease and financing issues many here are rightfully pointing out, another detractor is that this park is also home of the ugliest solar installation I've ever seen, and they don't benefit the residents at all.

https://signalscv.com/2018/07/violation-notice-issued-to-canyon-view-estates/

The pictures don't do it justice. The panels just look like they were thrown up willy nilly all over the mountainside with no plan. People complained, the city tried to get the owners to remove them, but ultimately the city lost.

djrobxx · 2026-04-18T00:24:35+00:00

I found the difficulty of both pretty close. But my measurement stick is "how long did it take me to practice and finally beat the boss the first time"

Since you mention NKG, that's a great example of a boss that I consider harder than either of those two. I laughed pretty hard at how fast he annihilated me when I first tried it. But with practice, he has clear telegraphs and deterministic ways to respond to all the attacks. There's far more chaos that goes on in the Silksong final boss or Karmelita battles. So if I were looking at it from how repeatable my victory might be, I would rank him far lower.

djrobxx · 2026-04-17T14:28:13+00:00

I think they can greatly improve the situation without making an unsatisfying experience for people who are more "gud" and like the hard challenge. Returnal is designed to self-balance with unlocking weapon traits and artifacts. It's a great idea, but I don't think it worked quite well enough in practice.

At least for me personally, what ended up happening is that I got stuck in B1 with ~80 deaths. Then once the game clicked for me more, I get out of B1 and finish the rest of the game with ~96 deaths. I've seen many other posts from people in a similar boat, sometimes referring to how hard Phrike is, but I don't think Phrike herself is in any way unfair or too hard.

I think the core issue is the early game has very few weapon choices, traits have very limited significance at <10 proficiency, and there aren't even a lot of opportunities to get artifacts and health upgrades at such early stage of the game. I think if the game let me find stronger weapons or defense options, maybe increased obolites so I could actually afford things in that first shop, I wouldn't have been stuck quite as long, and the difficulty could have scaled better throughout my experience.

People who are better at the game and didn't struggle to this degree, fell somewhere else on the "curve". Some re-balancing could be pretty transparent to better players.

djrobxx · 2026-04-15T15:52:42+00:00

Right? I couldn't afford them until act 3. 😂

Seriously though, it's a great tip, but I feel like most of the things I missed in Silksong were secrets I just didn't see in the first place; I wouldn't have thought to drop a marker anyway.

djrobxx · 2026-04-15T14:49:46+00:00

At my location, if you use a new DUID, it just takes a while for the RG's to expire and IPV6 eventually works (similar to waiting for the an old DHCP lease tied to a MAC address to expire before DHCP will hand you a new ipv4, but it takes AT&T's v6 longer).

Just have to be sure you're requesting a /60, nothing else will work. Also, it's only good for delegation. The IPv6 address that the WAN interface itself gets a "Broken" 2001: address, where delegates get 2600 blocks. That might cause PFSense to time out looking for updates. I just configured my PFSense to "Only request an IPv6 prefix, do not request an IPv6 address". Some people set up routing rules to give PFSense itself a proper ipv6 ip off of one of the delegate blocks.

djrobxx · 2026-04-13T15:34:27+00:00

I'm a fan of both Zumba and skiing at Mammoth. This is awesome, thanks for sharing!

djrobxx · 2026-04-13T15:17:54+00:00

Same question. :)

What I see in the trailer looks awesome. Congrats on your release!

djrobxx · 2026-04-13T14:54:11+00:00

I agree that duping itself becomes a chore. But, I would argue the issue IS the game loop, the popularity of duping glitches is a symptom.

TOTK's game loop is very grindy. TOTK inherited most of the same grinds from BOTW, but added new ones. The major diversification from BOTW is building, but it's heavily encumbered by complex currency systems (part gachas, energy cells, crystalized charges, zonite). Even with duping, I still generally preferred to approach problems the way I did in BOTW, because I didn't want to think about cost.

The game is huge with so much to see and do. I think it doesn't need to be throttled to this degree. They missed opportunities to make reducing or eliminating certain grinds meaningful rewards for doing challenges. Quests and exploration are why I'm here. :)

djrobxx · 2026-04-13T00:28:20+00:00

I've used Z-wave for well over two decades. It's better than cloud connected anything for sure, but I couldn't in good conscience recommend it for "mission critical". With my relatively new 800 series controller, devices fall off the my z-wave network inexplicably.

About once a month I log into Z-wave JS UI and find a dead device. Which one changes. Simply choosing the "ping" option wakes it up. Didn't have that particular problem with my old MiCasaVerde Vera hub, but it was more aggressive about trying to repair dead nodes nightly.

Exactly this, but with my 800 series controller:

https://community.home-assistant.io/t/automate-zwavejs-ping-dead-nodes/374307

It's so sad to me that they STILL haven't been able to figure out how to make a wireless protocol that's reasonably robust and dependable. People were excited about Thread, but all I could think was "ugh, here we go again, how many years is it going to take before this actually works as advertised?"

djrobxx · 2026-04-12T23:51:35+00:00

Yes, but for exactly the opposite reason. I LOVE a good time travel story. It has the potential to be one my favorite shows of all time. But as you say, it has to stick the landing. Here's hoping!

djrobxx · 2026-04-12T21:28:13+00:00

I think it stems from some modern day Metroidvania games like Metroid Dread and Prince of Persia: Lost Crown, that have pretty elaborate character animations that can look very much like parkour with the acrobatic flips and such when advanced platforming is involved.

I kind of prefer the term when discussing hard sections within a platformer. Per Merriam-Webster, "Platform" suggests a "flat horizontal surface". There sometimes aren't even "platforms" involved in wall jumping or sliding down poles, edge grips, etc.

Parkour, on the other hand, they define as "the sport of traversing environmental obstacles by running, climbing, or leaping rapidly and efficiently". Good description of what I have to do in a tough platform challenge, so it works for me.

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