Fixing the damn HID

In their trademark outstanding attention to detail, Microshaft had seen fit to have an infinite number of variations on your typical Windows install. For my part, I use a version of XP Pro with SP2 and guess what? Although this is the very same version that my parents have, while their HID service started without problems, my service did not.

HID stands for Human Interface Device and is basically Windows' way of recognizing industry standard signals coming from a given keyboard. Have one of those fancy keyboards with media keys like volume up/down, play, stop, etc? That's an HID. And HID Service is what "makes it go."

So on day 2 of running on my G15, I decided it was time to stop goofing off with my macros and start playing with the media keys (which weren't working yesterday). Turns out my HID Service was not running. I found clues on-line what the problem was (not missing files but actually a registry problem. That is, in order for HIDSERV to work, the service keys under your HKey Local Machine registry should look like this:I was missing an entire key under HIDServ. Now for those of you who aren't really into mucking around the registry, it may look like Explorer, but it doesn't quite navigate the same way. Each "directory" is actually a key itself. And mine was missing "Parameters" key under the "HIDServ" key. So you need to right-click in that window and say "new" and "key." In there, you need to create a new "expandable string value" with what you see in my screen capture.

I'm basically repeating info I found on the web but I think a picture is worth a thousand words. Because reading other peoples description of the registry, I had no idea I had to create my "ServiceDll" value inside another "subfolder" I was missing!

Anyway, being that DJ Specs asked so nice, here's a shot of what my work area looks like at the moment. I only now realize after having photographed it, what a frickin' eyesore this mess is! :P

First Impressions: G15

So yeah, I'm enjoying a week-late X'Mas present to myself. I picked up a G15 (version 1 - the blue one) on December 24... needless to say, besides just plugging it into my parents computer to make sure all the keys worked, I didn't actually get to put it through its paces until now

So my first impressions after fooling around with it for about an hour or so?
Well, first of all, it's a pretty solid keyboard. And you can't really deny the inherent coolness of having a "gaming keyboard." I mean, forget the plain keyboard you "just get by with" this is a keyboard made for playing with, for crying out loud.

My second immediate thought was, "damn it, this thing is pretty big." I mean I'm used to having my keyboard on my lap (depending on the chair I'm in, of course) but at that LAN party last month, people looked at me funny when I told them I wouldn't need as much table space as everyone else. It's that additional keypad of macros keys on the left that gives it width. It also takes a moment to acclimate to the shape. I'm on those folks who rarely looks down at his keyboard, so I operate by touch, mostly. But now ALT+Tab and the ESC key down feel like their in the same place anymore. They're no longer at the left-most edge: the programmable macro keys are!

And what of that fancy LCD screen now that I've had some minor experience with it? Well, it's cute, but I don't see myself using it that much. I do feel ambitious and I think I will try the included SDK. I've already downloaded the Unreal Tournament patch that puts a running ammo count on the LCD. That's again, something cute, but why the hell would I take my eyes off the screen to look down at my keyboard?

And while Logitech has added a Dawn of War to the profiler software, Relic still hasn't patched it with any usefulness with the G15. That is, the G15's macro key profile manager is smart enough to recognize that have Dawn of War installed and will let me reserve a keyset for it. But I was really hoping for the LCD panel to, I dunno, tell me how many critical points were being captured or something.

So, uh, yeah... anybody want to do that?

2007 Roll-Foreward

I don't have much to say as things have been real quiet and busy at the same time. So here's what loyal readers get to look forward to in the next couple of weeks.

A few photo-essays of my last Warhammer games of 2007 - mixing and matching Cities of Death and Apocalypse.

Thoughts on the Logitech G15 (yes, I found one open-box at the local Futurecrap store here, so it was even cheaper than I anticipated).

My order from RightStuf should arrive any day so I'll need to post a bit about the anime classic Irresponsible Captain Tylor.

My order from Toy-Wave should also arrive any moment with my newest additions to my Revoltech collection. Expect more photos.

I grabbed some more WH40k models for my army so I'll be blogging the build as usual.

I found a nice super-fine-tipped marker in a local artist store so I'll be putting the finishing touches that Zaku from before.

And just maybe I will start on that Imperial Baneblade model because holy crap, thats been gathering dust for months.

Crisis Commander 3

Finally going to put the lid on the Tau Crisis Battlesuit I've been blogging for the last week or so.

The last thing to do really is paint (and decals but I'm not a big fan of them). So here's a look at a common trick that's an offshoot of dry-brushing. I have slathered paint in large blobs - large enough that it will run into the crevices on the model. But I wipe off the excess leaving the paint filling in the indentations. Afterward, I will lightly "dry-brush" a darker colour to hid the mess so that the indents will be "glowing" with the brighter colour.

Anyway, here's a quick photo of all my "battle suits." They're all in various states of completion. You can see that some of the "eye" lenses still have the slathering technique described above and incomplete. Some have their bases decorated with "rubble." And you will never see this particular configuration in an actual army. The blue guys are my older paint scheme when I first started playing (I've always meant to redo those). The red suit is my rendition of Commander Farsight while the white one is my version of Commander Shadowsun - they don't really get along.

Reaction: Michael Clayton

Did not know what I was walking into - except that this was one of those lawyer movies. George Clooney takes a turn at the legal-drama field playing (as usual) the role he's so good at: a variant of himself.

What surprised me was how well, the character of Michael Clayton fit the events in the film. He's a smart and somewhat desperate man trying to keep everything from unraveling around him.

Secondly, I was surprised at how well the movie kept my attention. Sure I couldn't help glancing at the time (because I was curious where this movie was headed as it meandered around). But when a movie starts with a climax and then tells you, "4 days ago..." Well, very few other than Quentin Tarantino can do non-linear story-telling.

Basically the movie revolves around what Clayton, a law-firm's unofficial trouble-shooter, as he attempts to regain control of a partner who's gone nuts for lack of medication. The case was a class-action suit against a large pharmaceutical company (or something; ultimately it's not important). But well, the situation quickly disolves into chaos as the company becomes desperate to salvage their defense by any means necessary. What's a lone operative to do?

This is one of those films that I would highly recommend, but also neatly falls into the category: "I'm not likely to ever bother watching it a second time." I'm just being brutally honest there.