I mean, I've done 3d modeling, level building, texturing, animations, voice work, music work, scripting, web design, web coding etc.. but I probably couldn't write a tutorial on any of those things I just poke at things until they work!

Only thing I've not really done much of is writing.

Perhaps I'll amend that at some point..

What software did/do you use for 3d modeling? With level building the software is game/game-type specific right?

I've found there's really handy tips and tricks with most skills, but are not written down anywhere in a single guide thats easily searchable online. A good example is voice work - buying/finding an inexpensive mic, using different materials: to cover the mic to improve recording, on modifying room accoustics. The time of day to record voice work, recommended software, etc. There's a collective wealth of information but the internet just doesn't seem to have it in the one place.

Um.. I have used 3D Studio in the past and messed about with things like Blender. But really I haven't done much game related design for years, except for the odd Descent project. Going back to the very beginning, Freespace is where I started! But that's all long gone now.. I often think about getting back into proper 3D design - maybe via working on some retro-style game that doesn't require hundreds of hours of high poly work. I just don't know where it'd fit into my life.

Yeah, I actually did play around with voice work once about 15~20 years ago. I recall doing some dialogue for Freespace missions at one point. And when I was doing Let's Plays a few years back (instead of longplays) I became aware of those 'special times of day' that worked best for recording. Subsequently that's why I stopped doing them, because it was hard to get a good recording done.

I wonder why books on topics like that aren't published - with the tips/tricks. Save a frack load of time for anyone! Commonsense and practicality is something most humans greatly lack in any useful or tangible way. Sometimes I ponder why half the books I read are just plain crap!

A skill/talent I'd like to have would be able to draw really DAMN good - I'd use it for concept art, storyboarding, DREAMS (this is a big one for me), product design, engineering, etc. The vision!

I think it's because we like to treat these things as hobbies and not work. If you were paid to make things, then someone else might be paid to create a manual with your input .But for hobby crafting etc? I guess only people that want to teach it to others will do that.

There is the danger of turning a hobby into a 'second job' if you're not careful, even with gaming that can be the case. When I played EVE Online regularly I had literal spreadsheets like it was a real job.

Now when I play games, it's very casual and I avoid slipping into that intense kind of play.

And I treat modding the same way, it's very intense for a short time, then it's back to normalcy.

People still write papers for bragging rights. They might not necessarily get paid for it.

For modding to become a job you need to really be good at it. Lets exclude poorly rated games or mods

I guess being crap has its own benefits.. like no one would want to steal it

I don't know. People steal crap sometimes.

I can only dream of being stolen from Except my computer hardware I guess.. or maybe my clothes.. or my eve ISkies..

Fracking Sick Sux 2+ weeks now

Sick sick, flu sick, cold sick, covid sick?

Flu *highest probability!

Does anyone else keep getting timeouts when accessing the site? I get cloudflare warnings saying the host is down, but it seems fine.

Nope. But I haven't visited since last time.

Seems to be okay now.

Thought I'd chime in and ask something. So hlp was down for so and so right... And this place didn't see a visitor. Was there another backup forum or did everyone flood IRC?

SG Is no longer a port of call for HLPers, and most of the newer members don't even know we exist. But it doesn't matter, SG is pretty much a retirement home now anyway..

That started well but ended with a bleak outlook. I miss simplier days. Social media is a thorn and reddit is a means with no end

Fah! Reddit is a shadow of its former self

The HLP Discord is where most people were hanging out during the downtime. I don't think there are very many people left who use the IRC channel.

Damn but it's been a while since I poked my head in here though...

I think I heard of discord once before this and it just seems like a replacement with more integration that isn't 20+ 30+ years old.

Everytime I hear reddit mentioned I think quora.. oh and I just visited reddit feels like a generic news site

I'm going to bombard you with down arrows because you don't exist inside my echo chamber! Reddit in a nutshell

Also hey Top Gun! Good to see you.

Lol 81 user activation requests. I'm guessing each and every one of them a spam bot.

So this still exists. Hi!

Howdy Matt. Yes. Yes it Does!

How can a bot get past captcha and I can't stupid images

Well the registration requires admin approval anyway, so you couldn't create an account here without telling me first.. Kinda sucks, but there is now a queue of 500 bots! So that gives you an idea of just how many spambots use this site.

Btw: If someone reading this wants to create an account, you're gonna have to find some other way to let me know..

I'm assuming it's to do with the forum software. What would be a simple solution to this problem? Thought of some tricky methods that only maybe sophisticated bots could get past. It really shouldn't be a challenge for a person

Well the Q&A method works best, but some spambots are actually real people (likely low paid freelancers) and they just breeze through and start spamming soon after a fake reply to a topic.

It's surpising so many come here, given that the forum is dead, but I guess it's more to do with how much organic traffic comes through the server as a whole (even if most of it is bots).

Correction:The Q&A method DID work well, but it seems like the bots can get through it now - strange that, considering many of the questions normally couldn't be answered by a bot.

Since it doesn't seem to be working, rather than disable registration entirely, I've created a three step system that should help..

New system seems okay. If the bots are in fact people, can't really do anything about that. A fixed day count rotational Q&A but injected with some reverse polarity questions - and thinking I'm on the right track when I'm not and it's still correct

Seems to have worked - was getting dozens of bots per day, now haven't had a single one.

Hopefully regular users (if any exist) can still successfully register.

Give it time! Skynet will takeover

In that case I'll have to recruit Summer Glau to lead the resistance. Yum