Author: petersalvia

Fingers crossed this nvidia mw2 hotfix driver fixes my consistent crashes with screen losing signal and requiring a full reboot.

Thank you to this PC Gamer article for keeping me informed, you can download the driver here.

Have you also been pulling your hair out searching for an mw2 nvidia driver fix for awful shader issues plaguing your initial experience?

Here’s a quick fix thanks to this pc gamer article pointing to this twitter admission:

Download NVIDIA driver 522.25 here

Run the installer (i followed the express installation option)

DO NOT download the latest driver in GeForce Experience, instead your rig settings should look (something) like this with 522.25 installed

While it’s not perfect (we all know it will get better), at least i’m not thinking my 8700k or 3090 is ka-fooked.

Here’s some sample screengrabs with shaders in progress.

I can verify i’m able to go back to being just ok at kill confirmed with better shaders and overall stability.

mong00se#11140 over and out

If you’re like me and thinking about learning Python at 44 years young, then let me provide some expedients to maximize your money (and brainpower) if you are looking to sign up for Codecademy.

This is my honest review having spent a little less than the last 60 days starting from scratch and completing two courses in my pursuit of initial Python 3 knowledge:

Learn the Command Line

Learn Python 3

Looking back on the experience, with more than 22 years of my life as a working professional after college, I’m going to share the bumps, bruises and battles won from buying this ticket and taking these rides.

Is Learning Python at 44 Possible?

short_answer = yes

Longer_answer = depends on what your definition of ‘learn‘ is.

When I started out with the self-perceived daunting task of learning my first coding language, I’d decided to invest in taking a course because I couldn’t follow along very well with certain YouTube videos using Python.

And after a colleague recommended Codecademy (oh yeah, here’s a link to my referral code and we both get free training if you use it), I bought the ticket to take the ride.

I will say, I feel I’ve learned how to read Python much better than when I started. But as an English major, I do distinguish between reading and writing. And writing Python is something I am not as per se proficient doing after taking the course as identifying which Python code to copy and then paste / adjust to suit. Which, as I understand it, very well could be good enough for my particular use case. At least for now.

To clarify, I’m not trying to reinvent myself as a coder. I am interested to have better vocabulary describing and scoping coding requests with developers in order to determine plausibility, time and budget for any custom development requests.

So yeah, I learned to read Python better after taking the course. Hmmm. allow me to digress…

Download PyCharm to Save Your Work

No one told me to do it, I just kind of figured it out along the way. Download PyCharm because it’s a great way to copy the code you create in each lesson and save it as a local file you can refer back to after you complete the class (and pause or cancel your subscription.

You can see in the pic above I figured this out starting with chapter 3… go ahead and start from the beginning and learn from my mistake.

Codecademy Syllabus | Learn the Command Line

So somewhere in the first few chapters I figured out there was a prerequisite course I needed to complete to really learn, err copy, Python well. Which was annoying because I liked my progress but when you are paying for your education you might as well learn it good, right?

I will say I’m much more comfortable now with console commands. I’m not trying to be the point person on Linux installs from scratch with pure command line navigation… but if I was stranded in the middle of a desert and it was my only way out, I could figure out how to pop the clutch and get the car moving in the right direction.

Codecademy Syllabus | Learn Python 3

If you’ve made it this far, you should take a look at the significant syllabus you are going to be working through:

And it was a beast to get through. I actually read every lesson. I watched every YouTube video. I even completed all the optional challenges.

It easily took me 60 hours of self-lead learning. Sure, you could hack your way through it much faster if that’s your thing and you just want to post the certificate on LinkedIn or what have you. No judgement here.

But if you’re actually looking to learn the concepts, I found the YouTube tutorials for each project specifically helpful. Because the trainers really show you how to think in Python which for me was by far the biggest challenge.

Final Recommendation = Do It

I saw a lot of comments from Codecademy users about different aspects of the training they did not find helpful – like not having a personal trainer explaining to them the exact answer to their exact question.

Which, to be fair, is not what you are signing up for.

I found plenty of confusing moments throughout the course. But it’s supposed to be confusing, you’re learning a new language. You’re learning a new way to communicate your thoughts, to express a request, to achieve a result.

And overall the course more than provided that for me in a comprehensive, well thought out, and at times even with a solid sense of humor. I definitely laughed to myself more than a handful of times reading through the course material which is a great thing when you are grinding after a work day.

Buy the ticket, enjoy the ride. Go at your own pace and you may surprise yourself with what you learn how to do. I certainly did!

Because there are paths of least resistance to a million+ views and Honda key battery replacement tutorials are a great example of cashing in while helping fumble fingers like me with their late night honda key battery replacement as one last thing on the honey do list:

At the time of this writing, it’s sitting at a cool 1.1 million views since being posted in 2016. And really helps me when my sausage fingers tried prying out the battery and then all the little bits fell out and on the floor… dammit, Peter.

But it wasn’t even the first one I found. At the top of my YouTube search for ‘honda key battery replacement’ was this beauty from 2016

It’s about a Honda Accord, not a Civic, but it’s got a good tip for opening up the key fob using the key itself (which got me off to a good start).

Good Karma Can Pay Dividends

Honda key fobs haven’t changed that much, just an extra button for remote start on our particular model of key. Try it for yourself.

Taking a look at the YouTube search results, you can see 5 and 6 digit videos littering the available options.

The numbers don’t lie so say what you will but from my perspective, giving back with good helpful tutorials for real world problems can be a gold mine.

It’s becoming apparent to me that video games are the new theme parks. No, not brick and mortar recreations of games that already exist.

The video games themselves.

And while Disney+ catches up with Netflix in the near term, there’s a long game afoot with a meta-verse competitive edge: gamers who watch tv shows in between playing video games.

Mods Are Just the Beginning…

There’s a ton of focus from modders to quickly get the Cyberpunk Edgerunner experience available in the Cyberpunk 2077 video game right now. They beat CD Projekt Red to it. Talk about a mobilized fan base.

If you want to see the amazing work modders are doing (and how to install this mod yourself), check out this short Awesome Game Mods tutorial.

What’s amazing is that modders are able to incorporate show content faster than the video game developers themselves… until the developers catch up lol

Ensuring the show content is added to the video game(planned ahead of the show releasing, perhaps?) so fans that are re-stoked to play the game because of the amazing storylines from the show they just watched is a built in revenue stream I cannot un-see studio executives salivating to explore.

No brick. No mortar. Already billion dollar franchise available for micro transaction profit shares from a show that’s profitable in and of itself. Or a loss leader with the opportunity to drive new game purchases from previously untapped audiences. Who will also want to bundle the show-based DLC into their purchase.

A pre-built meta-verse theme park with all the rides and sites and sounds just waiting for new feet to walk through the login screen.

Win-Win.

Netflix is Ahead of This Curve Already

I’ve been paying attention to Netflix’s video game content development over the past few years, and the slew of video game them park possibilities emerging is mind boggling.

Riot games already has a gajillion fans loving League of Legends. Watching the Arcane series got me to download LoL for the first time (hey – I’m an 40+ year old gamer willing to try new things. better late than never).

Add an Emmy snub to their excellent story universe and I’m having zoom call sidebars with colleagues exclaiming how cool the game looks and that they’re trying it for themselves for the first time, too.

And if you’re not aware of the upcoming League of Legends MMO… well, if this doesn’t scream theme park for years potential, I don’t know what does.

No parking lot fee at Disneyland required, go figure. But they will opt to buy $9.99 worth of online credits to get that Vi skin they want. Ka-ching!

I can’t help but feel The Witcher has somewhat missed the boat on being the theme park it could be…

But I did buy it on Steam when it finally went on sale for under 10 bucks because why not? This is the case where the rustic theme park of old is a serviceable cash cow for show fans who want to walk through it’s aging doors one more time… because the servers still work and why not?

A Good Case for More Good Video Game Shows

Wouldn’t it follow that Studio (Netflix) aligns with Game Developer (CD Project Red) to ensure that when a new movie or series launches, and the attention drives new sales and return players, there is a coordinated schedule of contextual DLC available, for free or not, incorporating the show content auto-magically awarding players new and old with the equivalent of a 12 hour day at the park to re-engage or even experience the game for the first time?

And all without the carbon emissions required for people to wait to pay for their parking before they wait to get on the tram to wait to hand their ticket to finally get into the park to wait for the bathroom then wait for the ride and oh the hopper pass is a thing and come on I also want icecream and then there’s funny hats I can…

No, I just want to login and rock and roll. And here’s 9 bucks for the cool outfit because I work for a living and deserve it lol.

I mean, it’s effectively already happening. Shoot robots, take down monsters, battle heroes, compete and make new experiences. Immediately. It’s a theme park.

And talk about the reduction the carbon emissions from cars waiting to park at Disneyland… can we find a theme park business model that doesn’t poke another direct hole in the ozone, please?

And as a gamer, I’m a huge fan of this myself. I’m stoked to see how this plays out moving forward, seems like studios could stop focusing on the need to build Harry Potter Lands as some huge undertaking when fans have instant access (and lower carbon footprint) to access a video game from the same couch they watched the show from.

Brick & Mortar Still Be Cool…

Who is going to argue that a trip to Super Nintendo World would not be a fun way to spend your vacation dollars?

If you’ve never clicked through to the Super Nintendo Website, it’s totally worth 3min of your time.