Super Mario Maker 2.. the true ‘Unfair Mario’

Posted on 08-22-2019 by Benie

I finally got the thing that made me want to get the Switch; Super Mario Maker 2! I also learned something about Dashie.. he uses the Switch Pro controller. Interesting.
So I’ve been playing several player-made levels (in Easy difficulty). And the first one I played can be seen as two things; too easy, and a troll if you don’t take the obvious route. Once I find the ID for the level, I will post it here.
–
I’ve also been playing Story Mode. Basically goes as a dog with bread around their neck manages to destroy Princess Peach’s castle. The toads need to rebuild it, but have no budget to do so. But that’s where you come in, Mario. You can do ‘jobs’ (levels made by Nintendo employees) to gather coins, and use them to begin construction on a brand new castle.
Each level, you get five lives. You gain more by either scoring 10,000 points in one go or getting a 1-up mushroom (typical Mario mechanics). Having more than five lives when clearing a level, it does not transfer over to the next one.
Dying twice, Luigi comes to your rescue by giving you the option to place blocks to get through tough parts of the level (or give you one free power-up such as a mushroom).
Dying completely and getting a “TOO BAD…” message, Luigi shows up again offering you to retry the level with another five lives, give up… or letting him do the level for
you. By allowing him to do it, you’ll still get the payment for completing the level, but you won’t get any coin collecting bonus.
One particular level I had SO… SO much difficulty on, is #15: NO JUMPING ALLOWED! It’s one of the new challenge flag type of levels, where you have to do something through the entire course to clear it (gather an object, defeat a specific enemy, avoid this
mechanic, etc..). In this case, you’re not allowed to touch the ground if you jump. It got to the point where I tried to watch Dashie’s playthrough/stream of it, he NEXT’ed it and went to doing levels made for him by other players.
But after lots of perseverance, I managed to clear it! 💪 Holy fuck the feeling of accomplishment I felt after that.. only to be stuck by another level by getting some stone by using Yoshi, and trying to somehow vault over a high wall with him in tow as the stone is in his mouth (while running out of time).

I’ve also been playing a few levels Ruffy made. The first one (ID: HGV-BSC-6GF), actually made me tell him “you’re a dick”. Good level though, and I managed to (barely) clear it.
The second level I played (his first level), clearly I need to master how to wall bounce. I’m making even amature wall bounce people, look bad. Only a few times was I able
to (somehow) pull it off.
Clearly I need to get a Switch Pro controller; the tiny buttons on the joy-cons aren’t really working out for me. But since I want to get back into VR a lot more (by getting a
Vive), that’s not going to happen anytime soon. But, I can play other levels just fine.
After I order the Vive (and if I still have enough to survive the month), I’ll tell Gamefly I want to keep the game.
And that might also be true of getting the Pro controller (maybe by October).

.
Before I wrap this up, you all may make me levels. And if you do, please email me the IDs of them and I will check them out as soon as I can. 🙂
Or you can tweet me them (@Benie76). Use ‘#Benies-BlogsSMM2Level’ when you do. Get creative and feel free to make me anything (just not a whole lot of trolling, please).

Posted in Nintendo Switch | Comments Off on Super Mario Maker 2.. the true ‘Unfair Mario’

Rec Room, my thoughts

Posted on 08-18-2019 by Benie

So I played Rec Room (it’s free), and it’s actually cooler than I thought.
You start off in a tiny world (or ‘Room’ as they call them) called your Dorm. Here you will be taught the basics of how to move. And when I originally played in VR, there are additional basics. So basically, I had to use the sticks (instead of the touchpads). Very awkward movement design than I’m used to, but I managed.
What sucked me into the game, is the realistic animated buttons. It isn’t just a touch, but the button will actually go in and you’ll hear a satisfying *click* sound… why doesn’t VRChat have similar buttons to this?!
–
Now playing it in Desktop (or ‘Screen Mode’ as they call it), it’s interesting how you don’t really feel ‘crippled’ when you don’t have VR (unlike VRChat)– your avatar actually moves around as if you were in VR. An example is with interacting with buttons, your avatar’s hand will shoot up to the button for you to click on it (instead of using a beam of light of where your mouse is pointing at).
Exploring other ‘rooms’, you use a door system (instead of portals). Also, there are only two types of instances; private (your dorm), and public (everywhere else). And going to this one public place.. wow the level of graphic worlds I was hearing from kids; even one trying to get my attention (using fowl language).
There is also some sort of level-based system, which I assume you gain levels from participating in events and stuff. And from I hear, Level 30 is the maximum (which is where the more mature players are).

Posted in PC, VR | Comments Off on Rec Room, my thoughts

Scalesona dev post moved to a Google Doc

Posted on 08-15-2019 by Benie

Yes, yes.. I have been seeing your emails, and I see the number of complaints about how I have stickied this extremely lost post over the others. And I, am sorry.
Therefore, I have moved the entirety of the post (and will be posting future updates, when they become available to me), in the below Google Doc.

https://tinyurl.com/y4j4jcml
Just click on the below link, and you’ll be taken to the new page.

EDIT: Now that the model is completed, the sticky has been removed.

Posted in Other, PC | Comments Off on Scalesona dev post moved to a Google Doc

Super Mario Odyssey completed, thoughts

Posted on 08-12-2019 by Benie

As the title goes, I (finally) completed Super Mario Odyssey today. Would had done it sooner, but I’ve been kind of procrastinating with other things. But anyway, the journey to complete the game was pretty cool. Finding the moons was a pain, but I liked the 8-bit parts.
I think my favorite part of the game, went to New Donk City’s celebration part, where you’re doing a long 8-bit section while “Odyssey” is being sung by the mayor. There was even a section that went back to the days of Donkey Kong. That was freakin’ cool.
The second part I kind of liked (but I wish they would do more of) is the section before entering New Donk City, of dealing with a chaos dragon. Really would had liked to have seen more of this fight, than just jumping over AOE attacks (and dodging electric saw blades).
The battles with Bowser were pretty intense, as sometimes it can be almost unpredictable what he would do.
–
Then there was the part at the end where I went to the Mushroom Kingdom. Super Mario 64 nostalgia right here– The Power Moons are stars (and the music/animation when you grab one) is the same.
Going to the ‘Goomba Woods’, I see fruit that looks very familiar– holy shit, is this the fruit from Super Mario World?! That means.. yep. YOSHI is here (and he’s still on the castle roof from Super Mario 64)!! 😀 Okay, best game ever.
But what turned me off was doing an 8-bit section that looked like something from Super Mario Maker. There are two sections where this black background moves. And if you don’t stay within that black background, you’ll fall out of the world and end up back in the 3D world. Not only that, but you got a fuckton of Bullet Bills coming at you from all
directions, and platforms to deal with, while trying to get a hard to reach Power Moon! WTF?!

Overall, it’s a cool game, but to me it’s not worth $60. There’s not really a lot of replayability (unless you hack your Switch, which I’m not doing). So I’ve sent it back for the game I got the Switch for; Super Mario Maker 2. There I’ll play some of the levels that were made for Dashie (and rage the FRUUUUUUK OUT).
I’ll have to get my own meters. Perhaps a Meter Meter Meter (a Meter that meters Meters).

Posted in Nintendo Switch | Comments Off on Super Mario Odyssey completed, thoughts

MicroSDXC & Super Mario Odyssey got on the same day!

Posted on 08-10-2019 by Benie

What a nice Saturday this has turned out to be. Woke up at 9am of mother bringing in an envelope that felt like there was nothing inside it. I shook it around and thought “oh wait!! I think this is the SD card!” Got up and grabbed a pair of scissors and opened it up. Sure enough, it was the microSDXC I ordered! Sweet!
Went back to bed. 12pm came and I had to use the restroom. Grabbed my phone, my switch and the SD card packet. Searched for how to install it, and did so. Restarted the Switch and then asked Ruffy about how to move games off of the internal storage and onto the SD card. He said I would have to reinstall them.
–
So with the card installed, I was upset I still wasn’t getting the game from Gamefly.
Around 1pm, mother knocked on my door.. and I got the game! YES! Same envelope as the ones I got for the PS4, but there was the tiny game card. Popped it into the Switch and then got an update for it.
Ruffy then wanted me to show him my first time playing. Despite trying to find good enough spot to prop my phone up, it worked alright. The game’s been working great. Simply amazing how something so little, contains this much game.

So Super Mario Odyssey is what you would expect for a 5-year-old game (that most people have played by now). Bowser kicks Mario’s ass with a hat (and is presumed dead). Bowser sees this as a victory and spends the rest of the game in an attempt to marry Princess Peach against her will.
Soon you get to play the game, learn the basic movement controls (such as pressing B
and “oh hi I’m still alive after falling from a very high point up”.
Turns out these hat ghosts are being harassed by Bowser too. And since Mario is on the same quest to defeat him, a ghost that has what’s left of Mario’s hat becomes his hat (and you get Cappy as your companion). Cappy tells you of the Odyssey, one of their airships that are fast enough to reach Bowser’s airship.
The levels (13 of them) are 3D based, though there are ‘retro sections’ back to the original Super Mario Bros.
–
If it gets too hard, you can enable ‘Assist Mode’ which sets your tries to 6, and will reset you back to the last stepped on solid platform. It’s very helpful for people like myself.

Posted in Nintendo Switch, Other | Comments Off on MicroSDXC & Super Mario Odyssey got on the same day!

An unconventional way to show your love to someone in VRChat

Posted on 08-06-2019 by Benie

Trying to think of how best to explain this one. But it started a few nights ago when I was cuddling with BlueBio in Kovo’s world. Kovo’s there, saying to me that I need to do a body pillow of Blue. Blue said he was going to do one of me, and do a new prone animation of it.
I thought he was joking. We had gone to the main MMD world that night where Blue was sitting down in that sexy pose. Decided to get a pic of him, while he got one of me.
He told me he was going to try to use Photoshop to the best of his abilities.

And the next night…

…he actually did it. Oh. my. lord! *hides face in shame* I.. don’t know what to say! Noone has ever done anything like this for me before. WOW! And the comments have been, well interesting to say the least. As in, noone’s harassed me over it; they actually feel it’s really cute and I should feel honored.
So I decided to do the same thing for him (but better); completely cutting out the background to only have him in it. And this is the result..

Overall, it’s not bad. Scaling the image in GIMP was an absolute nightmare (over not knowing how to quickly scale a layer).
I would likely do versions of cola and Red Fox. Red should be easy (got a few pretty interesting pics of him). And cola, I’m actually going to need Kovo’s ‘help’ for that (as cola had sent him very interesting pics a few months ago).
I would have to set up two versions of the ‘BTD Body Pillow’ version– one with Red and one with Cola (as I’ve pretty much used up all of the emote slots for BTD.. except for FINGERPOINT, but I need that for booping people on the nose. 😛 ).

And now Red Fox has one. 🙂

It was actually easier to do. Was all a matter of fine tuning the layer to go over the existing one. Did show him it, and he absolutely loves it.
As for cola’s pillow, it’s taking time. Cola wants to help me out with it, but he needs Playspace Mover to work right (it won’t reset when he presses the correct buttons). I have an alternate means, but I’m concerned that he won’t approve of it (as it would be a picture that he took for Kovo).

.
Finally I discovered (via Blender), the pillow actually has bones (four of them). So I added a dynamic bone to not make the pillow like a brick, and actually did what I could to try and make it move like my standard head pillow.

EDIT (8/13/19): I now have pics of Cola to do a body pillow of him. And, let’s just say I got more than I expected, and it’s going to be very hard trying to find just one image for the front. I actually feel kind of… uncomfortable doing so. They’re just..

Such sexy. :O Even though this is what I asked for, it feels like the old saying of “be careful what you wish for, you just might get it”. Eventually I’ll work up the nerve to do this.

Posted in Other, PC, VR | Comments Off on An unconventional way to show your love to someone in VRChat

Got my Switch, my thoughts

Posted on 08-06-2019 by Benie

Got my Switch about 8:15 in the morning, but I wanted to go back to bed (to play with it later). Mother on the other hand wanted me to make sure it works.
Eventually I did so about a half an hour later. The setup was a breeze, except for setting up the dock and putting the AC cable in the USB 3.0 port. Other than that human error (and a lengthy delay on my TV when going to that mode), the rest was
easy.
The only other problem with TV Mode, the picture doesn’t display correctly (it vertically stretches past the bounds of the screen). But it can be adjusted to fit the screen (currently have it at 95% and it fits perfectly).
It then wanted me to create a Nintendo account and then link it with my new
Switch, which I wanted to wait ’till I turned my computer on and tried to go back to bed. A half an hour later, I said “fuck it, I’m up and can’t sleep. Let’s get this done.” The reason I had to be at my computer was I needed to check my email (and at the time I didn’t have Gmail installed on my phone).
Got the account linked, and was about to also upgrade to Nintendo Switch Online; their premium service. It provides everything you would expect, but a special game (similar to the ‘3 free games’ thing for the PS4) where you can play a lot of the retro
classics (including Super Mario Bros 1, 2, and 3). Even the original Mario Bros that I never played in my life is there, Dr. Mario too.
The original Donkey Kong is there, and Donkey Kong Jr. ..They even got a game I haven’t played in years (but has a very special place in my heart): Double Dragon. I played the SHIT out of this when I was a kid! Never beat it though.
‘New’ titles are added every month, so they say. But what I wanna see, is Kirby’s Dreamland, Frogger, Dunk Hunt, Q*bert, and the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game.
This is pretty sweet what Nintendo’s doing here.
–
Now for pricing of this ‘Switch Online’ service, I’m getting the week-long free trial. After it’s over, there’s a $20/yr option. Going by what I’m seeing (online play, the Nintendo Switch Online thing, save data to a cloud server, access to an app, and the ability to purchase member-exclusive products at a lower price)… is it really worth it, for not really having a need for online play (until I get SMM2)?

So for gaming, I found a few free games. First off, Warframe is for the Switch (likely won’t be able to use my PC account though). There’s also the first chapter of the sequel to Undertale: Deltarune (though it recommends you to play the original, which can’t be found on Gamefly for some odd reason, only available on the Nintendo eShop for
$15).
There is also a demo of Wolfenstein: Youngblood. And in the spirit of Ubisoft giving a good ole fuck you to their playerbase.. you can’t play it! Isn’t that HILARIOUS?!
1. It claims you have to have a friend who has purchased a ‘Buddy Pass’.
2. Don’t have friends who have money, then you obviously are interested in purchasing the full game! Because a splash screen TOTALLY is going to make me interested in the game’s
content!
I. waited. four.. HOURS, for this thing to download (22.7MB.. took nearly all of the free space of the Switch). Only for it to say..
F@*# You
..you ain’t playing this demo. Have a nice day.
I’m not even mad, I’m fucking laughing right now. This is so pathetic, its hilarious of how greedy the gaming industry has gotten. Not to mention, putting DRM in a 26-year-old game (DOOM for the Switch).
It’s simply pathetic the gaming industry doesn’t realize they’re slowly killing gaming. They’re too busy swimming in cash to realize, you need gamers for your games. And most gamers will only tolerate so much.
So I say (to Ubisoft)…

.
So, that’s about all I can say. I think I have the same reaction as I did when I got my PS4. Once someone sends back a copy of one of their games, hopefully that’s when I’ll be able to have my first rented Switch game.

EDIT: Been speaking to a friend who also has a Switch, and has been giving me lots of advice for mine. One such thing is to get a microSDHC or a microSDXC card ASAP. He has this 256GB one, and I decided to also get it. He’s got a lot of games, and he hasn’t even reach halfway capacity of it.
Knowing what happened when I tried to get that one game that nearly consumed all of the Switch’s internal free space (and with new games coming), I’ve definitely considered it as a necessity to get one (and is scheduled to arrive next week).
He also highly recommends that I get this Nintendo Switch Pro Controller, claiming “it’s the comfiest controller you have ever held” and claiming it’s better than the Joy-Cons. Plus he says it’s ‘Benie-proof’ (won’t break like a PS4 controller when hitting the floor).
Not having to ‘switch’ my joy-cons (and just stick with one controller to get gaming
faster), I can see the need for it.
It’s reasonably priced too: $33 . But I’m gonna hold up. However if switching the joy-cons gets a bit too ridiculous (aka they want you to do it while ingame), then I’ll consider it.

EDIT2 (8/7/19):

WOO!! Finally, soon (in a week or less) I’ll be able to play my first ever rented Switch game!
Wonder if I’ll get the new microSDXC card before the game arrives. That would definitely be beneficial to me (in the case I decide I want to keep it).

EDIT3: So Ruffy seemed to think I knew that the Switch can be modded.. which I
didn’t.
He asked for the serial number of my Switch to verify if it’s possible. When seeing it and getting back to me, he said it “could be patched”, and said I “would need a jig” just to check if it’s possible to be modded. For personal safety reasons I will not be linking the device (or explaining it).
He continued with “say your playing mario odyssey and your like ok this is getting boring playing thje same thing. well you could download mods that for example bring levels from other games in like mario galaxys comet observatory”
Erm, what’s wrong with playing the game as-is? He said in his opinion, it “adds extra playability”.
Looking up the device, I’m reading it’s designed to jail break the Switch. So, does this mean the Switch is pretty much a phone? Since you can get Youtube on it, maybe?
But I don’t think I’m going to be doing anything like that. I just paid $300 for this thing a day ago, I don’t want to damage it immediately. Though he said “the only thing you can really damage is the joycon slot”. ..Still not doing it.

Posted in Nintendo Switch, Other | Comments Off on Got my Switch, my thoughts

Getting a new console soon’ish

Posted on 08-04-2019 by Benie

So, this is a thing that’s coming soon…

Yes folks, I’m getting a Nintendo Switch for my birthday. Yes I could had bought a Rift S or even a Vive (or a GTX 2080 to replace my RX 580), but I decided I really want to try out the Switch.
Now I’m not going in blind, I’ve been looking into actually what I’ll get once I get it, and it only makes me excited for it; being able to ‘switch’ and play games on my TV. Sadly I read there’s no real way to play it on my computer. But I wonder if the same setup I have to play PS4 games on my secondary monitor.. would work with this. Definitely something to experiment with.

Now the reason why I want to get a Switch, is to play the new Super Mario Maker 2.
Remember when I said I was getting hooked from Dashie’s videos of Super Mario Maker? Well it seems that’s for the Wii U and not for the Switch. With SMM 2 now for the
Switch, I really want to play it. And all day (in Gamefly) I’ve been looking up some games for it. However as much as I want to play SMM 2, I added Super Mario Odyssey at the top of that list (as I want to play that more).
Both are at ‘Medium Availability’, but I got it set to wait a week (longest I can go) before they send me the highest available game on the list (that’s higher in the queue, which is currently Yoshi’s Crafted World).

Now (at the time) I had no idea how renting games for the Switch would even work (as there’s no CD unlike the PS4, plus I hear you can also download games to the Switch). But from what I’ve seen (that the below pic shows)…
A Game Card being inserted into a Nintendo Switch console with its label facing the same direction as the screen

These ‘Game Cards’ as they’re called, look like SD cards. I was almost envisioning the old cartridges from the original Game Boy, as what they’re using. Heh. So, that’s probably how they’ll look when I start getting them from Gamefly.
Tomorrow, I’ll be sending a just over 7-month rented game from the PS4, back to them to get the ball rolling (that is, once they get it which could take a few days).

EDIT (8/5/19): Tomorrow is now today, and there’s been an update..

Looks like I’m getting it a lot sooner than previously stated. Now I would be
happy.. except I still see the Gamefly envelope that was supposed to go back to them, still in our mailbox (as in, the mailman hasn’t picked it up yet). So that means when the Switch arrives tomorrow, I’ll have no games for it.
Horray. :/
However I’m not out of luck. Sure I’ll have to wait for games from Gamefly, but like when I got the PS4 (before I even got my Gamefly subscription going), I was able to play a few free games. And the same is available on the Switch as well.
So, yay! I’m not screwed afterall!

Posted in Nintendo Switch, Other | Comments Off on Getting a new console soon’ish

Doing that thing Kovo suggested

Posted on 07-31-2019 by Benie

How I love not being able to think of a good title, depending on my mood. And my mood is kind of ‘meh’ right now, knowing the ‘fun’ of posing models in Unity. I still remember the ‘fun’ I had posing Wuffer’s avatar to hug my horn (the first time I was ever able to show my true love for someone). The ‘fun’ came from the model not posing when in Play mode.
I hope to not have this issue again, as none of the three I love are Dutchies.
–
First off, Red Fox sent me a challenge of sorts (due to the fact his ears are different than a Best Boi’s). The challenge is finding out how he did his ears. Little did I know the challenge would be even more so. Made another new project folder just for this, and I’m glad I
did (as this thing contains ProBuilder, that program who I blame for corrupting my worlds and making me no longer interested in world building).
And when finding where Red Fox’s avatar is (no scene file by the way), it looked like this;

Where’s the pointy fox ears, hmm? He sent me pretty much his entire project folder, I expected to see his pointy fox ears. So yeah, the challenge is here.. the challenge of not having his settings (as he’s offline). I also noticed (much later), the whiskers are
missing.
Going by pictures I took of him, I selected the ears and actually managed to rotate both 180* without any sign of texture bending. Very surprised how well it worked.

Still doesn’t look right, though. Back to work.

About 20 or so minutes later (with more rotating, shrinking the ear size, and pushing the ears into the head), I have this to show off.
However I’m not really a fan of them.

Something IMO just looks.. off. I think they look too much like cat ears instead of fox ears. However its as close as I can get (without it being completely accurate with the transform settings of his ears).

EDIT: I got his settings, including his ‘whiskers’ (that are a bunch of very small, elongated capsules).
Thought “I got this!” Used the picture of his right ear, set the settings..

Uhh. What?? What happened?! Red was on thankfully and I showed him a similar pic to this (but with his copied settings). He was as confused as I was, then said “wait.. I think I can help fix this”. Ten minutes later, he tells me to open up a scene file in his Assets
folder (that I never saw).
Did so..

Well well well, there’s the scene file I was looking for all along.
So yeah, this is really cool, but it presents a real problem. Since Unity is being a bitch and won’t retain the settings from this scene to a new one.. how in the FUCK is this idea of Kovo’s going to work?! WHY are the settings DIFFERENT?! UGH!!
DAMN you, Unity!!! D:{
All I can think of, is take a bunch of screenshots and do my best to make the ears (and the whiskers) just like they are in the scene, and then copy those settings to help me.
I shall get back to you folks if I succeed or fail at this task. The reason why I need to do
this (instead of moving his scene file to my project folder), is the models have to be generic for the posing to work without issue.
—
So it took 2+ hours, and this is what I have.

This is the closest I can get with the pics I took. I also (very thankfully) was able to
copy-paste his ‘whiskers’ in without incident.
So Red Fox’s avatar is (nearly) ready for posing! At least ready enough for me to move to the second part of this (with a slightly unfortunate thing)…


Cola’s ‘Jager 2.0’ skin (who uses a custom-shaped tail). I don’t have his avatar, so I don’t know how to recreate it.. so it won’t look like his avatar. Boo. 😛
But all there’s left is to get the Chibi Dragon model (and slap BlueBio’s skin on it), then it’ll be time to do something with my avatar (BenieTheDragon 3.0). And (hopefully), I think I can simply create a dupe of the model Erodac sent me and use it as the posing doll (to not mess up my main avatar), then move the attachments (horns/wings/etc) over.

But the main hell actually went to getting the Chibi Dutchie model installed. It isn’t like others I’ve downloaded (mostly everything gets thrown into the Assets folder).
The hell was seeing A: There are no dynamic bones in the main model. And B: Having to ask BlueBio for texture changes he did for the fluff. After getting them, I think it’s time for a break of the hell I went through with Red Fox’s ears.
Tomorrow, I’ll be slowly putting the plan into fruition. Been coming up with a few ideas in my head of how the pose would look like. Thinking of myself being in the middle, with Red Fox on my left side and Cola on my right, and then BlueBio hanging onto my horn while noming it.
Want to get this plan done before the time Insanely gets back from his vacation (in three days from now).

EDIT2: Decided to get back to work as it’s a pretty slow early Friday morning. The latest SDK almost broke Kovo’s world (the mirrors though set to Local, apparently can be toggled on and off by anyone). Plus, BlueBio has work to do late in the morning and sadly can’t cuddle with me tonight. 🙁
I have no cuddle buddies. I sad. :/ Anyway, let’s get back to work on this project.
So after moving the scene I created to set Red Fox’s ears, I tried also moving the whiskers between scene files (as you cannot do it between project folders for some dumb reason). After one failed attempt of missing textures, I was able to paste it in fully intact. And on a surprising stroke of luck.. somehow his settings (not mine) for the ears actually work in this new pose scene file.
…Why, did they not work before? This also filled me with pure dread; something I’m hoping I can avoid (of when I’m done, copying all four posed models and pasting them completely intact into my main BTD avatar lineup).

EDIT3, 8/2/19: Wide awake and ready to get back to work again. What I need to do
today (before I begin posing the four models) is this;

Getting BlueBio’s Chibi Dutchie skin fully on (using the colors he told me he has
changed), including (hopefully) moving the Villar eye track settings over.


All the colors are now set for him. The process was fairly easy (using the existing colors and then setting the HEX code that Blue provided.
Now to do the eye tracking. Wish me luck…


And done! That actually went better than expected. Had to make a dupe of the eye shader to keep from messing with BTD’s eyes (standard procedure).
Now I thought it wasn’t possible to turn the existing ‘eyes’ into Villar eyes.. glad I was wrong there as it definitely is! Not to mention it prevented a headache from having to put the eyes in myself.
With the pics I took, I was able to easily move the tracking settings over, and he’s ready for posing!

—
Now, comes the REAL ‘fun’; posing the models! Especially when this ‘delightful’ thing is happening.

#UnityLogic of anything attached to the bone acting like the actual bone. And so that’s where I’m stuck until Acid helps me by making a new version where these attachments are part of the model.

Posted in PC | Comments Off on Doing that thing Kovo suggested

The VRChat climbing world that symbolizes my life

Posted on 07-17-2019 by Benie

https://d348imysud55la.cloudfront.net/thumbnails/file_cda3af12-587d-417e-ad22-29e9f0476d02.1876651505.2.thumbnail-512.png
VRChat launch link (Friends+ instance). Post in your browser;
vrchat://launch?ref=vrchat.com&id=wrld_e06ef2d3-34b1-4f8d-835a-4ca58c9bd1c1:60585~hidden(usr_bd367393-13bb-461e-9c79-434e26c92bec)~nonce(e7c47ba8-78d2-4e8a-9e29-ca130b2b2094)

This world… this world. To explain this world without raging the FUCK out over how fucking IMPOSSIBLE it is (for me), is thus.
If you’ve been playing VRChat since about a month ago, a brand new climbing mechanic was introduced by user ‘CyanLaser‘. This mechanic in a sense, simulates playspace mover with full body tracking (being able to climb up surfaces).
Since then, he has released the prefab allowing world builders to make their own worlds based off of the climbing mechanic.
The latest climbing world came out a few days ago (which is the world at the top of this blog post); titled ‘Climbing Carnival’. It even has some lore behind the world, of finding out what happened to an expedition of climbers that scaled up the mile-high cliff
face… and yes, I wasn’t kidding when I said ‘mile-high’.
This world, can take 3-4+ HOURS (real life hours) to climb (with breaks)! Some brave souls claim they have made it to the very top in just over an hour, however they were never seen since, only their so-called ‘proof’ on a small rock (as being part of the ‘rock of fame’) is what remains of them. Others say they were frozen solid for their lies, and the ‘victors’ are part of that rock, encased forever.
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So clearly (IMHO), this world is for advanced climbers; it tests your speed and endurance.
Question is.. how high will you go before your arms say “FUCK THIS”?
Or will you (like me) suddenly lose your grip at the 1/3rd point of the climb, being unable to use your momentum to swing over to the cliff face (as you’re too far away from it), and end up back at the start (looking like pizza as your body is compressed into one from the sudden stop at the end (the ground), with all of your bones breaking at once)?
Well, minus the gruesome ‘fail state’, it still feels like it when you go up so high, then you mis-click or your controllers suddenly aren’t registering a grab, and you lose grip.

…I’ve been beaten by multiple Desktop users, and someone who has the same exact headset and controllers as I do. PLUS.. it was his first time using the climbing mechanic.
Actually, you know what, I’m just going to call
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on him!! Because there’s NO WAY he got that lucky! Even Frost agrees with me! lol

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To me, this.. thing, shows what I have to get over to change my life. But instead of an enormous bottomless gap with no ending or clear way to get across (as my ‘baby
steps’), it’s an enormous pillar with no ending!

EDIT: I was going to be doing a few tweaks on a laying down animation that Kovo sent
me, but I decided to spend pretty much all day trying to climb that thing (using that Friends+ link I posted). And here’s some pictures of my climb (all legit);

I look like “I needed this vacation to get away from the stress this year.”
The twisty section (halfway to Base Camp 1): it took about 20 minutes to reach, finally going past the 1/3rd mark. Going up the twisty section to reach the rest of the pillar, is quite easy and enjoyable compared to getting up to this point.
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About an hour later (compensating for failure and resting time), I finally reached
Base Camp 1! So the time to get up here is pretty realistic (indicated on the sign behind me). This is also the furthest point I reached illegit (flying) a day ago. Rest assured, this time it was completely legit.

About 1/4 further up (on my way to Base Camp 2), it was nearing dinnertime. Decided to take off my headset and put something infront of the sensor to keep it from turning off and losing my progress.
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When I came back and after dealing with some other things that forced me to leave the pillar (but was able to get a flight back), I continued my climb. Though the one that helped me decided to join me on my way back up, and he got stuck.

Slowly made our way near where I had reached, but he had to leave and I continued the climb by myself. Soon I made it back to my previous point, and continued on.
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The snow layer really kicked in, now halfway to Base Camp 2 (while taking another rest on a cliff. Taking breaks is very important, especially in VR).

Finding ledges (to rest my arms and let my forehead cool as it was 85*F in my room with the AC on at full blast) at this altitude, is a godsend.
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Now 3/4 to Base Camp 2, I stumbled upon a boo-boo of the map maker..

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Decided to get a selfie on this very large resting ledge. How I wish I could turn it into my own personal Base Camp!
If I was to guesstimate the time to get up to this point (not including dinnertime), about two hours.

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*panting* Almost… there…. the gateway to Base Camp 2. The snow squalls up here are nearly blinding!

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Formulating a plan to reach BC2… and folks, this is when things really started getting intense!! 2 doesn’t fucking play around.

Had a few moments where I swore I was further than this point, suddenly losing grip. And at one point I was forced to go nearly 90* backwards (as there was no other way up), trying to reach a gap in a fortified section. That part, made me extremely nervous, knowing if I lose grip there.. there would be no ground for 1.5 miles.
…But my dragon determination, would not let up. It was grueling, it was ridiculous, it nearly felt impossible… but I’m a dragon. I REFUSE to give up at this point!!
Because I HAVE DONE IT!!

Base Camp 2 REACHED, LEGIT! BOO-YA!!! 😀
*happy dragon roar sounds could be heard all the way to the ground*
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Or there would be, if I showed it. But to keep what’s beyond Base Camp 2 a secret, I won’t post it. All I can say is there’s rumors of another pillar that extends to 2,850 meters shorter than the highest point on Earth (Mount Everest). There’s also rumors of riches (and
fame) beyond your wildest dreams on the top of it.
But I didn’t care about such things, as reaching Base Camp 2 is all I wanted (as my headset fell asleep and closed VRChat).
Just goes to show, with enough patience, focus, and determination, you can achieve anything (in a video game.. not a real life lesson :P).

That was fun challenge, and I’ll likely be going past Base Camp 2 in the near future, when I’m good and rested (after flying myself up there of course, because fuck THAT noise of climbing that damn thing again!!), just to see what’s up there.
This time though, the only picture I will post is reaching the very top.

EDIT… The map maker has made it even harder. Though this doesn’t change the climb to Base Camp 2, it makes what’s beyond now higher than Mount Everest (making it the highest known point ever reached in VRChat).
In addition, a future update will require you to use the rock climbing pickaxes instead of your hands (as the grip balls will be moved to the tips of the pickaxes). But to make it easier, there will be an audible sound to let you know when your swing makes contact with a surface; so no more assuming your hand is locked in (when it might not be).

EDIT2 (7/31/19)… It’s even harder (and higher) now, going all the way to the fucking MOON!! The pillar can now be seen as a ‘space elevator for manly men’.
Also it seems the map maker was unable to make it possible for the rock climbing pickaxes to be used as the main mode of climbing. Didn’t think it would be possible; too ambiguous of a task. So your hands are the only way to climb.
The map maker has also fixed issues with sound (from the latest VRChat update). The carnival music can now be heard as it was before the update.

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