Monthly Archives: November 2008

Quicktime is a whore

Quicktime is garbage.  It’s ugly, slow and useless.  But more than that, it hijacks some file associates and MIME settings.

Tonight I spent about 2 hours trying to make Quicktime let go of the PNG MIME association.  Why?  Because every time I opened a PNG in IE7, the fucking thing would launch quicktime and use THAT to display the PNG.  So, instead of ranting on further about how awful quicktime is, here’s how you cut that piece of shit off:

  1. Run regedit.  Back up your registry – Be very careful about fucking with your registry, you can damage your install of Windows.  No, I don’t take blame if you’re too dumb to be careful.
  2. In the following places:  HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Shell\Associations\MIMEAssociations\
    Delete anything to do with png, you’ll see keys like image/png and image/x-png.  Delete those.  Quicktime has placed those keys there.  Try out IE and see if you can display PNG files.  If you can, we’re done.  If not, see step 3.
  3. HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT( and KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Classes)\MIME\Database\Content Type\
    Look for the following keys:image/png and image/x-png.  Do not delete these keys.
    In these keys you should have these two string values:
    Name: “Extension”, Value: “.png”
    Name: “Image Filter CLSID”, Value: “{A3CCEDF7-2DE2-11D0-86F4-00A0C913F750}”
    Only those keys should be there, remove any extra keys.
  4. For x64 users: Perform step 3 and include KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Wow6432Node\Software\Classes as well as the other two locations.

I hope this helps someone.  Because, Christ, there’s next to NO info on how to fix this problem.

Gorgon v1.1.3246.24958

It’s that time again.  A new version of Gorgon has been released into an unsuspecting populace to help spread terrorism and christianity at the same time.

There are multiple bug fixes, and these are detailed here.  The most fun thing is that I’ve included a new example that demonstrates how to make per-pixel lit (and bump mapped) sprites via normal maps.  It’s pretty spiffy if I do say so myself.

Other than that, the biggest change is the upgrade to the November version of SlimDX.  With this version the requirement for the Visual C++ 2008 SP1 runtimes has been dropped (about goddamn time too) and the SlimDX guys have created awesome installers for SlimDX.  The big deal about dropping the runtimes is that Gorgon no longer requires the runtimes to be distributed with its own installer and this has decreased the size of the installer (a little).  But the biggest deal comes from the SlimDX runtime installer and x64.  This installer will put SlimDX (both x64 and x86 versions if you’re on an x64 version of Windows) into the GAC.  This means that if you’re running with a project configured for AnyCPU (Project Properties->Build Tab), and you’re running on an x86 OS, it’ll use the x86 version of SlimDX automatically, and if you’re on an x64 version of Windows it’ll use the x64 version automatically.  This means there’s no longer a need to maintain two project/solution files for x86 and x64.  This is a great relief to me as it was a pain in the ass to keep updated.  Of course, this only works if both platform versions of SlimDX are installed into the GAC (e.g. if you only have the x86 version of SlimDX installed and the program is forced to compile to x64 – it’ll fail). 

Wait… what’s that?  You -want- an x64 (or x86) only version of your program?  Well, just set it to compile for x64 (or x86) instead of AnyCPU and the runtime will automatically use the x64 (or x86) version of SlimDX.  Fantastic!

So what are you waiting for?  Happiness is only a download away.

New Gorgon Example

So I kind of broke my promise to not add anything new, and added a new example.  This one deals with per-pixel bump mapping.  It will be included in the next round of bug fixes for Gorgon (of which there are many).   I’ve put up a screen shot of it in action, although it really needs to be seen in its fully animated glory to get the full effect.

As I said there are many bug fixes that have been implemented in Gorgon and I’ll package and distribute another release by the end of the month (I want to be sure to catch as many as possible).  None of them are show stoppers, just annoyances.  You can easily keep up to date by grabbing the code from the sub version repository on the google code page.  I’m aiming for the end of the month for a release unless I find a really major bug, so it’s entirely possible that it could come sooner.  But the way things are looking, it looks like I’ll stay on schedule.

As always, I’ll keep all two of us posted.

Edit: I just encountered a bug with the 1.1.0.0 installer. If you attempt to install the source code it’ll complain about installing x64 components if you’re using an x86 version of Windows. Just deselect “Install Source” before installing. If you need the source, you can get it from the subversion repository. Sorry about that, I’ll get that straightened out with the next release.

President Obama

So my US counterparts.  You have a new president. 

I’m a Canadian, and I’m a very proud Canuck.  For the last 8 years I’ve watched the US get flushed down the toilet by incompetence and greed.  Because of this it became a shadow of its former glory.  And now you’ve gone and elected a man who can possibly repair the damage done by that imbecile, George W. Bush.  I sincerely hope he can start the US back on the path to greatness.

I followed the election coverage tonight with great interest.  Certainly with more interest than I showed for my own country when our election came around (Stephen Harper’s another imbecile btw, too bad we don’t have a candidate with 0.0000000000001% of Obama’s charisma).  I cared so much about it because not only was it the potential end of the reign of incompetence, but also because of the historic connotations brought about by electing the first black president.  I’m proud to have been able to witness this in my lifetime.  And I’m proud, for the first time in a very long time, of the USA for having the foresight to elect this man.  Not because of the colour of his skin, but by the quality of his character.

The USA has always claimed to be the greatest nation on the planet.  Tonight, they have taken the first step to proving this to the rest of the world.

Yay!  Now I can come visit Seattle.  Finally.  Btw, Mr. Obama, will you please do something about this stupid passport requirement (I have one, but we were such good friends once, that I didn’t require it)?

Congratulations USA.  I wish your country and its people the greatest luck on your road to recovering your status as the great nation you were before Bush.