Interlude: Guitar Hero III

Got GHIII for Christmas and I have finally had the time to start playing. I suck. However one of the issues is that the game is jerky at times. I have managed to configure the audio lag so that the game is playable, at least usually, but sometimes it starts to almost stop and then start up again. Most of the time it happens a while after something apart from strumming has happened - like me using the whammy bar or I have hit a star power streak...

I have installed the 1.1 patch, I don't have any other programs running, all settings are at the lowest and I have tried the trick with using the black background but I still have these jerks at times. I run it on a computer on the low end of the requirements spectrum, and I use the integrated video (nforce430/6150 motherboard), which might be the cause. I guess I'll have to go buy a new GPU and hope that does it... However! How on earth can a game such as GHIII be such a *horrendous* resource hog??!?!??

Last thing I'll try is to disable the network and possibly other hardware while playing. I might also increase cooling of the northbridge or something.

Or I could get a dedicated gaming computer. I have a nice unused portable case so I could bring it down to the TV when we have friends over. However I had hoped that the HTPC I have built would be enough so I could avoid lugging a computer over the house. So I might end up getting better hardware for HTPC instead, but it's annoying work since I use the fanless hfx mini case, and getting everything and especially the heat pipes in place is a royal pain, and takes time (of which I have precious little already due to our small children). Also, the htpc has been extremely long coming anyway...

More on Arch Linux coming in a later post...

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Mythtv trials

Mythtv is nice.

I have problems, but finally this time it seems I'm getting how it works - at least the tutorials work :D

Ok, so I tried Mythbuntu hoping that everything would just work. It did, but only sort of. I got stuck on how to configure the remote, clearing out data after a configuration mistake etc. Also, I was a bit annoyed that LCDproc wasn't included in the default install and that the remote never seemed to work. It could start the computer so I knew it was sending signals, but I was unable to control Mythtv...

So enter a tips from an IT support guy (not mythtv-related...). I had already decided to more or less roll my own mythtv so when I heard that Arch Linux might be nice if you like to tinker I decided to go with that as it seemed to be just that little bit more automated than Slackware (which is usually my first choice otherwise).

Arch provides packages for Mythtv so most everything is included, but I had to set up xmltv and LCDproc myself. I now have a working system but I need to list some issues. Next post...