Actually it was last week that I built my new computer, but I haven't started a new set of recordings until this week, and it is so nice. With an AMD Ryzen Threadripper 1950X overclocked to 4 GHz, I'm able to record gameplay, the heart rate overlay, and the gaze tracker overlay all in real-time and all on the CPU. Oh, it is wonderful to be able to do that, as it means I can produce higher quality recordings, and I am not dependent on the h.264 ASIC on whatever GPU I'm running.
One unfortunate thing is that the FFmpeg filters I use are only single-threaded, so they present a bottleneck to the processing at the end while x264 can use all of the threads I can throw at it. In a way though, this is still a positive because I can use the veryslow preset, giving the most efficient compression x264 offers without a loss in speed (the bottle neck is that severe). Think I want to play around with voltages to hopefully drop temperatures, but regardless, I now have what, for me, is practically a dream computer (higher single-threaded performance would be nice for those filters, but this is still a rocking setup).
Now, if only I could get a capture card so I can work with some console games too...
Oh, also (I should probably make a separate post, and I will later) I'm planning on taking part in the Extra Life charity stream on November 4. I've wanted to participate before, and now that I have a better computer, I figure the time is as good as any.
Friday, September 29, 2017
Saturday, September 2, 2017
Small Update and Maintenance
One disadvantage to being able to build up a schedule of videos to come out is you forget about the maintenance the comes along with them releasing. So, now, finally, the playlists for Dead Space 3 and Portal 2 are public.
Actually the main reason why I am posting this is because I have updated the channel logo. What spurred me to do this was some people looking at it and reading it heart I had as an A, making the logo read TBAG, which is rather contrary to my desire. So I found myself a new heart that is less triangular and, after a some hours of editing it and adding color, I thought of another change to make to the logo.
You see, something I had thought of when I first made the logo was to update it as I found ways to add more biometrics to the videos. Even though I have had the gaze tracker for quite some time now, I hadn't added it to the logo, partly because I was not thinking about it. Last night I was thinking about it and what dawned on me was to add the green circle to the logo, as though I were looking at it with the gaze overlay activated. I think it does a good job of representing the tracker.
No other news than that, but that I will hopefully have a new computer built by the end of the month, and after that I will start making some new videos. (Actually I could start making videos now, but I want that faster processor first, though I could change my mind.)
Actually the main reason why I am posting this is because I have updated the channel logo. What spurred me to do this was some people looking at it and reading it heart I had as an A, making the logo read TBAG, which is rather contrary to my desire. So I found myself a new heart that is less triangular and, after a some hours of editing it and adding color, I thought of another change to make to the logo.
You see, something I had thought of when I first made the logo was to update it as I found ways to add more biometrics to the videos. Even though I have had the gaze tracker for quite some time now, I hadn't added it to the logo, partly because I was not thinking about it. Last night I was thinking about it and what dawned on me was to add the green circle to the logo, as though I were looking at it with the gaze overlay activated. I think it does a good job of representing the tracker.
No other news than that, but that I will hopefully have a new computer built by the end of the month, and after that I will start making some new videos. (Actually I could start making videos now, but I want that faster processor first, though I could change my mind.)
Sunday, July 30, 2017
Well, I made it through
Actually I should have posted this last week, but I was able to record and upload Antichamber already, so if you look at the release schedule you will find it covers me through October, which is pretty nice to say.
Now, yes I did have to look some solutions up and I have little issue admitting it. The puzzles are not the easiest to solve, though some at the end I really should have figured out without help. Sometimes things just will not click.
Anyway, those are ready and up and I am going to be taking another break before recording more. I've a good, technical reason why but as I cannot give a date for anything, I'll keep it under my hat for now. In any case, hope you enjoy my embarrassing myself in Antichamber, when that starts coming out.
Now, yes I did have to look some solutions up and I have little issue admitting it. The puzzles are not the easiest to solve, though some at the end I really should have figured out without help. Sometimes things just will not click.
Anyway, those are ready and up and I am going to be taking another break before recording more. I've a good, technical reason why but as I cannot give a date for anything, I'll keep it under my hat for now. In any case, hope you enjoy my embarrassing myself in Antichamber, when that starts coming out.
Sunday, July 16, 2017
Now October is Covered
Took some experimentation at the beginning, but I finished recording in Layers of Fear and with those videos, I am scheduled through October. That experimentation was because I was having serious difficulties recording at first, but eventually I found the problem came from using the Tobii tracker. Might only have been one feature, since it offers two in this game (gaze tracking and head tracking), but once I found it was the source of my troubles in general, I didn't care to test it, but instead turn it off and get to actually recording.
Not sure what I will do next, but I will say I enjoyed the game (as much as I can enjoy horror games) and it made me so often think of Antichamber, with how it bent the world around me, that I might just try to do a gaze-tracking series in that game. It will almost certainly result in embarrassing myself as I fail to solve many of its puzzles, but we shall see. Have a busy week in store, so I will probably not start for a while yet, but then, I do have a deep enough schedule of videos that I will not need it for a while anyway. That is why I release the videos the way I do; to give me time for other aspects of my life.
Not sure what I will do next, but I will say I enjoyed the game (as much as I can enjoy horror games) and it made me so often think of Antichamber, with how it bent the world around me, that I might just try to do a gaze-tracking series in that game. It will almost certainly result in embarrassing myself as I fail to solve many of its puzzles, but we shall see. Have a busy week in store, so I will probably not start for a while yet, but then, I do have a deep enough schedule of videos that I will not need it for a while anyway. That is why I release the videos the way I do; to give me time for other aspects of my life.
Saturday, July 1, 2017
Full Schedule Through September
Huh, I didn't realize I hadn't posted anything here for so long. Anyway, if you look at the release schedule you will see I have videos uploaded and scheduled all the way through September! I also finally finished playing the six games I have been working on for a while; the Dead Space series, the Amnesia games, and SOMA. While I am glad I finally played the five games I hadn't (I played Dead Space some years ago) it is nice to know I can get back to playing the horror games I just feel like playing.
Some other things have come up since the last post as well, including (finally) getting a job, which has had an interesting impact on these videos. One is obviously the loss in time to make these recordings, but the other is that the increase in activity from the job (a lot of walking) has lowered my resting heart rate significantly. Thanks to the 100+ hours of heart rate data I have from the thirteen months prior, I know my resting heart rate was around 75-77, but now it is around 67-70! I first noticed this just two weeks into work, so that was a quick, unexpected, and welcome impact. Due to this I have changed up the R script for generating the histograms so they will show the lower heart rates. You will see this impact in the Dead Space 3 videos, which are the recordings I started after starting at work.
Also, because of how much the length of the Dead Space 3 videos varied I have further tweaked the R script to add the length of the video to the graph (but I have done this after making these graphs, so they will show up on the next set).
I am not sure exactly when I will start the next set of recordings, but I am leaning towards Layers of Fear because it has gained support for Tobii Eye Tracking!
Some other things have come up since the last post as well, including (finally) getting a job, which has had an interesting impact on these videos. One is obviously the loss in time to make these recordings, but the other is that the increase in activity from the job (a lot of walking) has lowered my resting heart rate significantly. Thanks to the 100+ hours of heart rate data I have from the thirteen months prior, I know my resting heart rate was around 75-77, but now it is around 67-70! I first noticed this just two weeks into work, so that was a quick, unexpected, and welcome impact. Due to this I have changed up the R script for generating the histograms so they will show the lower heart rates. You will see this impact in the Dead Space 3 videos, which are the recordings I started after starting at work.
Also, because of how much the length of the Dead Space 3 videos varied I have further tweaked the R script to add the length of the video to the graph (but I have done this after making these graphs, so they will show up on the next set).
I am not sure exactly when I will start the next set of recordings, but I am leaning towards Layers of Fear because it has gained support for Tobii Eye Tracking!
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