![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Bad adapter! No biscuit!
Jul. 12th, 2004 11:27 amOkay. I got those new PS2/USB adapters for my computer that I've been waiting for. I already had one to use for my PS2 dance pads so I could play Step Mania, but the one I had only maps to axes, not buttons, so I can't, say, hold down the left arrow and step on the right arrow. Well, I can, but it won't register when I do, or it will cancel the signal from the left arrow or something. I went on the Step Mania website and got these new adaptors that were supposed to be 100% compatible with the program, and wouldn't do the map-to-axes thing. I think I might have made a mistake, because instead of getting the model that was listed "highest compatibility" (the PS Joy Converter, which seems to be out of stock in any case) I got the SmartJoy Plus converter ("compatibility unknown," it says on the StepMania website). But there might be another problem.
When I first tried the new adapter it seemed to work fine. Then I wanted to play a 2-player game with my little brother. I hooked up both pads with the adapters. Even though the program registered both pads on the main menu (you could use either of them to scroll down and select things), it wouldn't register the other pad when we wanted to select a 2-player game. I fiddled around with it a bit by installing the driver that came with the adapters (I already had one installed), which didn't work. Then I reinstalled the other driver I had (NTPAD) which took forever. After that I tried uninstalling the pads and adapters from the Device Manager, putting them in again and letting the computer figure out which drivers matched up with them. I tried installing NTPAD again and used the Game Controller menu to toggle the map-to-axes function (actually, I tried it both ways). But on the tests it still seems to map to axes, and it does on the game too. I still can't get it to do a 2-player game on StepMania. I think it was working before I screwed everything up.
If anyone can recommend a downloadable driver for dance pads that will make the damn computer ignore axes, I'm all ears.
The good news is, I should get my laptop today. UPS tried to deliver it Friday but there was nobody to sign for it. Today either my mother or Martina will be there, so it should be waiting for me when I get home. Then I can move all the stuff I want from my desktop to my laptop. Benji will get the desktop, which is going to stay in my room for now but may be moved downstairs when I go back to college. I'll be able to watch DVDs on my new laptop and, I hope, play Sands of Time and have the cutscenes work properly. I need to get a case for it, though, and a USB Palm-pilot cradle and maybe an external USB hub...
Now for something completely different. I'm rather proud of myself for making dinner yesterday. I was making fish (again - if I have to cook dinner, I'll damn well make it something I like) out of a recipe from a Weight Watchers' cookbook. It called for breadcrumbs but I decided to leave those out (I hate breadcrumbs and I don't need the carbs). They didn't have the kind of fish the recipe called for at the supermarket, so I got some tilapia fillets instead. I mixed the sauce and put it on, then baked the fish in the oven. It came out perfectly - nice and flaky. When I finished dinner I tried to get my brother away from the TV and Mom off the computer to eat it, but Mom was having trouble with whatever she was doing and kept saying to wait, and Benji wouldn't leave the TV till she came. Dad was out buying corn and turkey legs because he forgot that Sunday is my day to cook dinner. I got frustrated and felt like breaking something, but I didn't. I just sat down and started eating by myself, because it isn't my fault if the rest of my family isn't polite enough to come eat the dinner I made for them. So there. Mom and Benji eventually joined me. Benji liked the fish, and Mom thought it was okay, but for future reference she told me that she liked it "a little burned," even though that's technically overcooking it. Maybe next time I'll leave a piece in longer for her, though I'm afraid I might mess it up.
This morning I did something dumb. Dad cooked the turkey legs last night and I put one in a bag for lunch. I left it in my gym bag at the Metro parking lot, and since I don't need the gym bag for work and I'm taking the car home anyway, I left it there. On the Metro halfway to Farragut North I realized that I left the bag in the car and went back to get it. The turkey leg would have rotted and the extra fare is less than lunch would have cost me. It took some time, but it was better than leaving it there, since the turkey would probably have stunk up the car if it went bad.
Tomorrow I have to come to Decatur House early, because we're going on a field trip to the place where they reproduce antiques and such for this museum and others. I'll be able to use my laptop on the drive to write more of my fic. I was in a bit of a snag with that, but I'm doing okay now.
In a Babylon 5 commentary J. Michael Strazinsky (did I spell it right?) said that a writer should know his characters well enough that he doesn't have to think about what they'll do next; they'll do all the work and you, the author, just watch them and write down what they do. Well, that's the gist of it, he didn't say it exactly like that. It sounds like very good advice. I think part of my problem is that I don't know Simon and Emma quite that well, so I can't reproduce their badinage (a la Mark Waid) without thinking about it. I can catch myself when I come up with something they wouldn't do, but it's harder to come up with what they would do. Then again, they're Waid and Scott Beatty's characters, not mine. I find that Sherlock Holmes is a useful reference to fall back on for Simon at times.
Speaking of comics, I've started reading Sandman again. I got another plot bunny: a Sandman/Babylon 5 crossover, very short, called "Drinking Wine in Babylon." I may write it when I'm done with my current fic, but I don't want to do two projects at once.
Hmmm...there isn't a "stupid" or "dumb" mood icon for SJ. I'll have to settle for a close second.
When I first tried the new adapter it seemed to work fine. Then I wanted to play a 2-player game with my little brother. I hooked up both pads with the adapters. Even though the program registered both pads on the main menu (you could use either of them to scroll down and select things), it wouldn't register the other pad when we wanted to select a 2-player game. I fiddled around with it a bit by installing the driver that came with the adapters (I already had one installed), which didn't work. Then I reinstalled the other driver I had (NTPAD) which took forever. After that I tried uninstalling the pads and adapters from the Device Manager, putting them in again and letting the computer figure out which drivers matched up with them. I tried installing NTPAD again and used the Game Controller menu to toggle the map-to-axes function (actually, I tried it both ways). But on the tests it still seems to map to axes, and it does on the game too. I still can't get it to do a 2-player game on StepMania. I think it was working before I screwed everything up.
If anyone can recommend a downloadable driver for dance pads that will make the damn computer ignore axes, I'm all ears.
The good news is, I should get my laptop today. UPS tried to deliver it Friday but there was nobody to sign for it. Today either my mother or Martina will be there, so it should be waiting for me when I get home. Then I can move all the stuff I want from my desktop to my laptop. Benji will get the desktop, which is going to stay in my room for now but may be moved downstairs when I go back to college. I'll be able to watch DVDs on my new laptop and, I hope, play Sands of Time and have the cutscenes work properly. I need to get a case for it, though, and a USB Palm-pilot cradle and maybe an external USB hub...
Now for something completely different. I'm rather proud of myself for making dinner yesterday. I was making fish (again - if I have to cook dinner, I'll damn well make it something I like) out of a recipe from a Weight Watchers' cookbook. It called for breadcrumbs but I decided to leave those out (I hate breadcrumbs and I don't need the carbs). They didn't have the kind of fish the recipe called for at the supermarket, so I got some tilapia fillets instead. I mixed the sauce and put it on, then baked the fish in the oven. It came out perfectly - nice and flaky. When I finished dinner I tried to get my brother away from the TV and Mom off the computer to eat it, but Mom was having trouble with whatever she was doing and kept saying to wait, and Benji wouldn't leave the TV till she came. Dad was out buying corn and turkey legs because he forgot that Sunday is my day to cook dinner. I got frustrated and felt like breaking something, but I didn't. I just sat down and started eating by myself, because it isn't my fault if the rest of my family isn't polite enough to come eat the dinner I made for them. So there. Mom and Benji eventually joined me. Benji liked the fish, and Mom thought it was okay, but for future reference she told me that she liked it "a little burned," even though that's technically overcooking it. Maybe next time I'll leave a piece in longer for her, though I'm afraid I might mess it up.
This morning I did something dumb. Dad cooked the turkey legs last night and I put one in a bag for lunch. I left it in my gym bag at the Metro parking lot, and since I don't need the gym bag for work and I'm taking the car home anyway, I left it there. On the Metro halfway to Farragut North I realized that I left the bag in the car and went back to get it. The turkey leg would have rotted and the extra fare is less than lunch would have cost me. It took some time, but it was better than leaving it there, since the turkey would probably have stunk up the car if it went bad.
Tomorrow I have to come to Decatur House early, because we're going on a field trip to the place where they reproduce antiques and such for this museum and others. I'll be able to use my laptop on the drive to write more of my fic. I was in a bit of a snag with that, but I'm doing okay now.
In a Babylon 5 commentary J. Michael Strazinsky (did I spell it right?) said that a writer should know his characters well enough that he doesn't have to think about what they'll do next; they'll do all the work and you, the author, just watch them and write down what they do. Well, that's the gist of it, he didn't say it exactly like that. It sounds like very good advice. I think part of my problem is that I don't know Simon and Emma quite that well, so I can't reproduce their badinage (a la Mark Waid) without thinking about it. I can catch myself when I come up with something they wouldn't do, but it's harder to come up with what they would do. Then again, they're Waid and Scott Beatty's characters, not mine. I find that Sherlock Holmes is a useful reference to fall back on for Simon at times.
Speaking of comics, I've started reading Sandman again. I got another plot bunny: a Sandman/Babylon 5 crossover, very short, called "Drinking Wine in Babylon." I may write it when I'm done with my current fic, but I don't want to do two projects at once.
Hmmm...there isn't a "stupid" or "dumb" mood icon for SJ. I'll have to settle for a close second.
