The Mind Of OverlordTomala

Watch Out For This Source Engine Exploit

If for any reason you find yourself playing a multiplayer Source Engine game DO NOT accept any invites from strangers.

Secret Club are a not-for-profit reverse engineering group who’ve found a number of exploits with Valve’s software, which they explain in a series of posts on Twitter. Each of these exploits are remote code execution flaws, which Secret Club told me via email gives a hacker “full control over the victim’s system, which can be used to steal passwords, banking information, and more.”

If what is being reported in the article is true then Valve has been aware of this exploit for two years. This is a serious exploit to have open in the wild, and hopefully the exposure encourages them to get off their duffs to 86 it from their code! Be very careful when playing Source games until this gets resolved.

It’s ironic reading this a day after playing around in GMod with Yutram! Fortunately, it was just the both of us goofing around on maps that would probably be unappealing to twelve year olds Fortnite enthusiasts.

Sunday Noodly Appendage

When I was a kid I loved to have noodles for breakfast, and years later I found that noodles are a staple in Chinese breakfasts. I wanted to do a Chinese brunch this weekend, and it was cool enough that a warm soupy noodle dish would fit the bill. This particular noodle dish uses:

  • Chicken Stock (pretty much any stock will do though)
  • Brown Rice Noodles (any thin noodle will work just as well)
  • Green Onion
  • Bok Choy
  • Shredded Ginger
  • Chopped Garlic
  • Sesame and Chili Oil
  • Pinch of Salt
  • Cilantro and Peanuts (for garnish)
  • Pot Stickers/Chinese Dumplings

I based it on this recipe I found while browsing the interwebz for weekend brunch inspirations, and I’ve always had a soft spot for noodles as they are the ultimate comfort food. I’ve made plenty to easily last me a few days.

To that I say “RAmen”.

Shadow Of The Game Library

I broke down and played something tonight. I wanted to play a game that would really stress test the card, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider delivered. I managed six achievements worth of progress. I did a private livestream with one of my friends. Together we both praised and ridiculed the game for its strengths and weaknesses, solved a puzzle here and there… etc.

I was treated to a drug influenced nightmare sequence that could rival any Max Payne nightmare sequence I could recall from my childhood. Happened just around bedtime too! Time to look at kittens to try and omit the inevitable weird dream that awaits my tired imagination.

My 6800XT Is Making Linux Suicidal

My plans to reinstall Manjaro have hit a brick wall… Updating to Manjaro 21 didn’t fix anything, in fact it wouldn’t even let me into the operating system and produced the same result as yesterday when I tried to login. I tried installing ArchLinux, but the installer decided to throw auditing errors just as it seems to want to do under Manjaro. I also decided to give Solus a whirl, but that just ended up freezing the fucking installer. I finally got Mint to install, but now I’m having issues installing drivers via PPA.

I forgot to factor in the GPU shortage makes it difficult for Linux developers to code for them. This is going to require more research; I’ll have to rely on Windoze until I can find time to get it sorted. But I’ll get it working at some point… I always do.

I’ve Been Busy!

After a long delay in transit I finally, FINALLY got my 6800XT today! I’ve spent a better part of the evening benchmarking it for performance… what a beast! Unfortunately Manjaro won’t boot in properly with the new GPU in place, but I was planning on already doing a reinstall when the card arrived anyway. Manjaro has been giving me issues on every other boot, and I’m hoping Manjaro 21 might fix the issue, and hopefully not create new ones… Manjaro is already pretty easy to setup, so I might even be able to get back to work on my video project tomorrow! or at the very least be ready to tear back into it on Friday. I would have done it tonight, but I wanted to verify that the card worked properly PLUS I have an early work day tomorrow and need as much rest as I can get. I should be sleeping now actually, but I need my tea hydration fix.

I’m sure about one thing; this weekend is going to be awesome!

Bringing Zen To My Lunch Hour

Sometimes my fellow co-workers will catch a glimpse of my lunch time adventures; one day I might be a playing a pride coloured dragon, a demon hunter, a ridiculously overpowered dragonborn, etc. Today I was caught playing Okami HD by a co-worker who I wouldn’t really describe as a gamer, she’s more of the old granny type (not that granny’s can’t get their game on, look up Skyrim Grandma as an example). I gave a brief description of what the game is like, the general story around it, and showed her what you could accomplish with a few brush strokes. She even went as far as to say that it would be something she would consider playing if given the chance! She was fortunate enough to catch me on a day where I didn’t feel like slicing or shooting things. 😛

I think it’s possible that everyone has at least one game they can take joy in, it’s just a matter of finding what it is.

My Chariot Awaits

Today was a “Fuck it I’m not feeling well” kind of day. So, instead of working on my current video project I installed this little beauty.

This is a model(s) replacement for D-Horse. Why ride around on a normal looking horse when you can let these guys cart you around?

Huey really is a horse’s ass.

Well, that’s enough for one weekend I guess. I’m just glad to have played this without any issues, and even with mods!

MGSV Modded & Ret 2 Go

Happy Easter! I’ve been playing more with MGSV:TPP and modding; it’s actually just as easy under Linux as it is under Windows! I ran SnakeBite Mod Manager under Wine and added my mods back in; including some new ones. I rescued Miller, captured enough victims on my own base to develop a cardboard box, kidnapped hired a translator. etc. I was actually going to add another game to test under Linux, but the call to play this was far too strong to ignore.  I’m really happy with the results!

OMG Metal Gear Works Under Proton!

Last week I had a fun time playing Yakuza Kiwami under Proton, and for this weekend I decided to revisit the idea of running Metal Gear Solid V: TPP under Proton. My last attempts took place when Proton was a shiny new toy to be played with,  and MGSV:TPP didn’t really agree with it. You could load the game, but only the HUD was visible. This time around cutscenes played properly, it remained stable the entire session, and there was only one graphical glitch at the start of the game.

I’m currently running the game vanilla, but have plans to see if I can get modding to work properly. Overall I’m quite impressed!