Bondbug

Double post yet again. I think this comment of Rotluchs about sums it up: "the still-frame party that was going on my screen wasn't really fun.. even with everything on low, I never had more than 30fps, very choppy... ~15-30 avg if I remember correctly. I hate to say it, but just as a warning: prepare to be disappointed by the performance you may end up with, even if you'd finally manage to get it to run.. " This would be the poor performance that led me to try a re-install. I had re-instal problems which were possibly caused by a slightly faulty disc drive. It is now re-installed with the other drive. And I am back to the original problems. But in view of that comments by Rotluchs, I think I will abandon for now. Thanks for all your patient help. Anyone for Sacred Plus?

Fern heads - called "têtes de violon" here, because that is what they ressemble. "Fiddleheads" as Chattius calls them. Two of the many links for these, here and here The first link is from Quebec! Buckwheat, is known here as "sarrasin" or "blé noir". It is used widely in Brittany here for the savoury crepes called "galettes". The odd thing about it is that buckwheat is not a wheat at all. It comes from a plant in the same family as rhubarb and sorrel - believe it or not!

Well. Well. Congrats again mon ami. Individual thank-you letters AND a super video. There must be a special award for someone like that.

Well done Schot ... you survived another year! Many more on 'em laddie. All the best.

Thanks. You are right for the first part of my post. I will follow that one up. But what I am also asking ... The file names on the installation CD are the same names as those in the game file when installed. But the size is slightly different, so the content is obviously changed in some way during installation. Does anyone know what are the operations carried out between the (say) "sector04.zip" file in the drive and the "sector04.zip" in the game folder when installed? And is this something that can be done manually? Is there for instance a .txt file somewhere that controls the operation? I don't know, but it interests me.

@Podgie Bear ... could have been worse ... Winnie the Poo for instance. But I like Podgie Bear - I used to get Hodgie Podgie when I was a kid, so it almost feels like family. @Rusto ... Ah! You would need to explain the significance of spray paint in Sacred.....is that one of your toon's buffs?

Ah Tim lad, it is tough being an Eisensteinium. We have a French rugby championship final tonight on the TV ... and I can't watch it. Gone bloody digital here, and with the microscopic amount of TV we watch we could not justify the purchase of a modem. I don't see why we should be forced to fork out for that stuff when steam telly was perfectly good. And I refuse to go to the bar to watch it on a Saturday night - full of drunks trying to be pally ... in French. Pass that damned phrase book over here will you luv. Grumpy.

Hi jnecros. Soyez bienvenu. Plenty of good markets in Brittany when you get here. Seasonal recipe (good for vegans as well!) ... elderflower syrup. Elderberry trees are white with blossom here. This syrup is used like a fruit squash - thinned with water, nice cool summer drink, and good for the sinuses! For about 2 ltrs/3.5pints/2USquarts 30 elderflower heads 2ltrs water 1.5kg/ 3lb5oz/ 7.5UScups of sugar juice 2 lemons 50g citric acid crystals (we get them here from the local chemist/pharmacy) Pick flowers when dry. If wet lay out on a towel to dry for a few hours; Put flowers into a large bowl (we use an old fashioned jam pan but a large clay bowl would be better) Bring water and sugar to boil, stirring to dissolve the suger. Remove from heat. Add citric acid and lemon juice. Immediately pour over elder flowers. (They go a murky sort of colour) Cover, and leave 5 days in a cool place. Then: Strain roughly through a collander, and discard the flowers Strain thoroughly through muslin or cheesecloth. Bottle. Use 'old-fashioned' 'pop' or 'beer' bottles, those with the wired flip-top stoppers. Store in fridge - but better, if you can, in a cellar or 'cave'. Ours is still good after 2 or 3 years. For drinking dilute as for orange squash We make double quantity which gives over 5 litres, so I think the 2litres of the title are perhaps an underestimate. When these trees fruit we make an excellent elderberry syrup which is good for the throat and brilliant as a warming hot drink.

Pure curiosity. A problem that came up during the umteenth reinstallation of Sacred 2. During installation of Disk 1, a message came up: "error 1305 reading from file ................\pak\sector01.zip - verify that the file exists & that you can access it". Yes the file existed and I could see no reason why it was not accessible. I selected "continue". 4 times this message came up. Eventually I pressed "ignore". The game installed, version 2.0.2, and opened without problem! All the bits of the game came up on screen as requested except the actual action itself, tho you could tell it was there from the various cursors available. But the patch to 2.40 refused to run cos of a "changed" file ... I.e. presumably a missing file. OK ... "Sector01.zip" had not installed. Apart from this one file, all of the sector**.zip files had been installed, but though the name was the same as on the installation disk, the size when loaded is different. My question is this: what happens to these files when they are 'installed', and is it possible for me to reproduce that process in order to install "sector01.zip"? ... I suspect that just copying it across will not do. Yes, I suppose I can try to uninstall and re-install yet again ... but that is boring! LATER: Ho Ho Ho that patch is not as clever as it thinks it is. I copied the missing file from the disk, and the patch ran But I am still interested, out of academic interest, in what should happen to that file during installation.

All the best, Brother of the Dragon. Many of 'em.

That sounds so Scottish. I have to say "Frith of Froth" to get the right sound for Firth of Forth. @Silearth "Wasn't until much later that I learned that it had another meaning." You are not really going to leave it there are you? Perhaps I shouldn't ask ... I am probably the only one who doesn't understand ... iggorant old geezer.

Can you really call it a "crime" when the animal has no sense of wrong, just doing what is natural and necessary. On the other hand have you never watched a cat playing with it's prey?

I wondered a bit about the names people use in this and other forums. I remember from the Official Forum that a lot of names came from Tolkien and the Lord of the Rings. Others are simply names written backwards. So what is the story behind your DM name? Do you use different names in different forums? My own "Bondbug" is fairly obvious from the car on the avatar and sig. It was my first 'new' car. Before that I had a line of superb "crocks" from the 30's, that I loved but could not really afford to keep in top nick. My first was a 1931 Morris Minor, 2 seater with hood. Used to take home a total of 8, with the hood down, after jazz club evenings. First love, till it fell to bits. Then a big 8 seater Armstrong Siddeley, an old hire car with sliding window between the front seats and the rear, folding down bench seat and tasseled blinds to the rear side windows, which were discretely lowered when the baby was being fed during cricket matches. There was a 1930 Rolls 2 seater which had been used as a farm tractor. My wife held down the front corner of the hood which tended to lift, with her left hand. The right hand kept the door shut. 8mpg that car. The Bond Bug was the last of these cars. 700cc. Three wheeler. Two seater. Fixed seats. Too small for a 6footer - I drove it with the steering wheel between my knees using the edge of my shoes on the pedals (no, it wasn't a kid's car, it did have an engine). Nothing special for top speed despite its shape. Economic on fuel. It developped starting problems when it was heated. Starting for return journeys could be a problem. Park on a slight down slope or on the flat. It had, as you can perhaps see, no side door but a lid hinged somewhere about the driver's knees. You lifted it to get in. For tricky starting days you propped up the lid with a pole, ran alongside it to get up speed, leapt in and whammed it into gear. Just like a motorbike. We toured France in it once. Me, Viv, 2yr old, camping equipment, the lot. Overloaded but we made it. The French could not believe their eyes. We used to park up in a square, do our shopping and have to fight our way through a three deep crowd to get back to the car. I learnt to deliver a basic spec. in French. But eventually spares got too difficult and the resin body started to deteriorate. Like a mouse alongside those beasts of Chattius'. Overtaking big artics in wet weather was like driving blind till you got through the spray. Motoring doesn't seem to be the fun it once was - probably a good job given the density of traffic in most countries. Other forums - different names. Usually place names or past pets.

"Steam Punk" eh? OMG - never heard of it. That's my flaming life you are making a mockery of there. I had not realised that our cast iron stoves and oil lamps and the iron bath with the claw feet were such relics.

post cancelled! still a problem which may relate to a fault on the installation disc.

Yep. Got access, but not good access. It is tricky, to say the least. I click around for a while and eventually get into the game. Single person then runs well, but only for about 30-40 mins then it freezes. So I am going back and re-installing, with all the advice I have been given, up to 2.40 for starters. Just a question of time I think.

Ouch! Thanks for the link. You can see I am out of date with the news - don't watch TV (couldn't even if we wanted to now it has gone digital), don't get newspapers. I know there is a hurricane when a tree falls on the house. I know it is raining when the cellar access floods. We occasionally get family emailing to ask if we are OK, when we have not even been aware that most of France is devastated by bad weather. Peaceful isolation. (touch wood)

I would seriously doubt it Gogo. I have worked in this kind of administration. These guys are scared of any come-back if they depart from what are known in GB as "deemed-to-satisfy" specifications. The possibility is there but it is a brave man in admin who will give serious consideration to such things.

What is going on Chattius? We have a drought here in central France!

Bit early to report on Runes of Magic - I am still careering round the training area. I am still picking daisies, cutting wood and mining ore. Plenty of artisanal skills if you like that sort of thing. It looks like being a poor man's WoW (the elf training area surrounded by mountains as in WoW). I have not felt it necessary to spend any cash yet. I never do with these games (I haven't got any). You need to be in a hurry to feel the need to improve your armour/weapons etc quickly. I am not in any rush. There are only two races, human and elf, each with 6 types all with both male and female. Lots of choice of colour, face and hairstyle for your char: variations of size for head, shoulders and the rest, which seems to be normal for these 'free' games. Costumes so far not specially pornographic! Pleasant and undemanding so far.

Thanks Arperum. I got it. If I ever get to find you lot on closed just remember that I am definitely VSC (very soft core) like the best chocolates - but don't eat me!

Sorry to revive this, but you have explained open and closed, but what about "Coop" I have just got Sacred 2 working. Fair enough I can play SP, but there seem to be limited multi-player options available. LAN here seems completely dead; Open seems unavailable; Closed claims to be HC which is scary for a beginner; so what is "Coop" ?

OFF THREAD! OFF THREAD! POLITICAL! RACIST! Gonna complain! What the hell am I talking about. I gave up the English team when that oaf Larwood introduced body-line bowling. It is supposed to be a skilful sport, not total war. Good luck to you laddie, don't get your corks in a knot. Whoops. I got family in Australia, mustn't put their lives at risk. P.S. I once met an on-tour Australian rugby international in a pub in Lewes (Sussex) when I was a student. Bought him a beer and ran for my life. Like fuelling a tank. Oh whoops again! What was the thread? Oh yes. "judgemental". Is that like people who make up their minds what they are going to think before they even try/encounter it. If they are included in your list Rusto I am with you.

WOW! Gotta have one - that sidecar job. Where? Where? Neat job for home-made. (makes note to discuss possibilities with old-fashioned garagist) Great for long drives in cold weather.

Oddly enough there was a 'making history' programme that I listened to on my way home this afternoon that told us that meaning of lager - obvious I suppose if you stop to think about it. Lager has been brewed for 150 odd years in England, but only at one or two specialist breweries. It is only 30 years ago that lager really 'arrived' in GB in any quantity - from Germany. Great horses. There is, or was till very recently, a brewery (Vaux) in Sunderland (NE England) which still used horses for delivery in town and for festivals and horse shows. As kids we used to run out along the street after the horses with shovel and bucket to collect a bit of manure for the garden. But we are duplicating here with the other beer thread.