Topics

1

N.A.N.Y. 2024 / NANY 2024 - Tools for New York City Detective Mystery Boardgame

« on: June 07, 2023, 11:22 PM »

I have embarked on a daunting project of creating a mystery tabletop game (similar to Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective), which is set in New York City in the 1930s.
It's a giant project that is likely to fail, but I'm going to make a go of it.
A big chunk of what I have to do is prepare game maps for the city, and a fascimile directory.
I've spent the last few weeks coding tools to help me manage real public domain New York City GIS/geospatial data.

So I think this year my NANY may be (Python) tools for working with this GIS data for generating game-related maps and data.

Some screenshot samples:



You can read about the game project on the boardgamegeek section for my youtube channel: https://boardgamegee...high-and-low-stage-2

2

N.A.N.Y. 2024 / New Apps for the New Year 2024 section is open

« on: May 31, 2023, 08:30 PM »

The NANY 2024 (New Apps for the New Year) section is now open.

3

Other Software / My OBS Plugins

« on: March 07, 2023, 07:35 AM »

I need a thread to link to all of my OBS plugins and addons.

Here's a few threads so far
OBS multi-line text plugin/enhancement - https://www.donation...ndex.php?topic=52699
OBS Flip Screen Plugin and Modification - https://www.donation...ndex.php?topic=52701
OBS Plugin for AutoZoomCrop using machine vision - https://www.donation...ndex.php?topic=52634
Obs Youtube Timestamps, DelayedFade, custom browser CSS, Browser Timer, and more small OBS plugins and mods - https://www.donation...ndex.php?topic=52727

4

Living Room / Happy birthday Deozaan

« on: January 01, 2023, 10:24 PM »

People may not realize how much work Deozaan does behind the scenes on this forum in keeping it clear of spam, and just being a wonderful source of positivity.
Deo I hope you have a wonderful birthday! 

5

Living Room / Game with ecosytem

« on: December 30, 2022, 03:28 AM »

I stumbled across this video.. These games that seem simulation-based seem so intriguing:
https://www.youtube..../watch?v=GMx8OsTDHfM

https://store.steamp...p/312520/Rain_World/

Cost: $8
Reviews don't seem so good.

I'm not sure I would play the game myself but I'm quite curious to watch more videos on it.

6

Living Room / Merry christmas and happy holidays to all

« on: December 24, 2022, 07:23 PM »

I hope everyone is having a nice holiday season -- christmas if you celebrate it, and all the other holidays at this time of the year.
Stay warm and safe.

7

Living Room / Happy Thanksgiving 2022

« on: November 24, 2022, 02:27 PM »

Happy thanksgiving and friendsgiving to everyone at donationcoder.com!


-jesse (mouser)

8

N.A.N.Y. 2023 / NANY 2023 Pledge: More small OBS plugins and mods

« on: October 12, 2022, 02:54 AM »

A few more, demo videos here:
https://www.youtube....ZI0wwr8bX03PhLIMR93v

jrTimestamps:
https://www.youtube..../watch?v=cebWIkZ4spQ

Plugin for OBS that automatically creates timestamp files for your recordings or streams, detecting chapter markers when you switch between certain scenes (or recording all scene transitions), or when you hit a configurable hotkey.  Adjusts timestamp offsets depending on whether you are streaming or recording, live or not.


JrStats:
https://www.youtube..../watch?v=vSQbQ0Q06Yw

A replacement for the built-in stats panel which is easier to size, read, and shows clear tally information about your recording times.  Will also show you "session" and "break" times in long streams by noticing which scenes represent breaks.


Custom CSS for browser docks:
https://www.youtube..../watch?v=tQUEz2gGCfo

A submitted OBS modification that allows you to specify custom css overrides to be used for browser (web page) user-interface docks, just like you can do for browser sources in OBS.


Delayed Fade:
No video yet (I forgot)
Exactly the same as the built-in fade transition, but delays performing the fade transition for a second or two, to give you time to move your hand off the button that triggered the transition.  Useful at start of recordings or when coming back from breaks so have a moment to compose yourself before the transition to you begins.

9

N.A.N.Y. 2023 / NANY 2023 Pledge - OBS Flip Screen Plugin and Modification

« on: September 27, 2022, 03:17 AM »

This OBS plugin (and modification to core), lets you configure certain scenes to be shown in the preview window with left and right sides of a split-screen swapped in position.

This is a difficult one to explain but here goes:

I sometimes have streams where I have a split-screen and I read from the monitor which sits behind my camera:


One problem with this is that, as you can see, when the person in front of the camera is reading from one side of a split screen on the monitor behind the camera, it will look to the audience as if they are looking off to the *WRONG* side of the window.  This is just a mirror-like side effect that will happen whenever the person in from of the camera is looking at a preview that is facing them.  It's just a little disconcerting.

This plugin fixes this by letting you specify which scenes are split (and where), and will flip the split sections left and right positions, but ONLY IN THE PREVIEW, not the actual broadcast.
So in this case, what I see when looking at the monitor preview is different from what the audience will see, the result looking like:

10

N.A.N.Y. 2023 / NANY 2023 Pledge - OBS dock layouts export and import

« on: September 27, 2022, 03:08 AM »

OBS has a very configurable dock system.  This modification adds code to let you export and import/restore dock layouts from the Dock menu, as well as provide a list of recent dock layouts for easy selection.

Screenshot:


I suspect this will be my most popular and general use modification for OBS

11

N.A.N.Y. 2023 / NANY 2023 Pledge - OBS multi-line text plugin/enhancement

« on: September 27, 2022, 02:57 AM »

OBS Text Plugin enhancements for Multi-line:
This is a plugin based on the OBS text plugin for windows that comes with OBS out of the box.
It includes several enhancements focused on doing multi-line text.

Motivation for this plugin:
I have to create new text titles for nearly every live session I do, that require multiple lines of text.

This can be cumbersome for two main reason:
1. Multiline text with the OBS plugin seems to use excessively large line spacing which looks weird.
2. I frequently need to have some text lines smaller than other lines.

Now it is possible to get good looking multi-line titles using the built-in OBS text plugin, but to do so requires create a separate text source item for each line, so that each line can be sized and positioned as desiered.
This would not be a problem if one were just making a one-off title page, but is onerous when you frequently have to make new title pages with different text.

So this replacement for the OBS text plugin extends the built-in one for multi-line use in a couple of ways:

1. It allows fast tweaking of the line spacing when doing multiline text
2. It allows each line to be prefixed by a modifier which can tweak the font size and line spacing for that line (as well as one to modify the hue).
3. It provides an option for how gradients are handled for multiple lines.
4. It provides a word-wrap feature.
5. It provides an internal notes textarea for you to keep alternative blocks of text for easy reuse.

Sample of using built-in OBS text plugin to create some multi-line text source:


And using the new multi-line plugin version:


And source options:

12

N.A.N.Y. 2023 / NANY 2023 Pledge - OBS Plugin for AutoZoomCrop using machine vision

« on: August 28, 2022, 11:36 PM »

I've been working for the last coupe of weeks on a plugin for OBS for top-down camera views that can detect the location of physical marker cubes in the scene and then auto zoom and crop into that region of the screen.  Tons of options to control how it works.
Might be useful for people who use top-down camera views to show details of items.

13

N.A.N.Y. 2023 / NANY 2023 Section is up

« on: August 28, 2022, 11:34 PM »

New Apps for the New Year 2023
Where everyone is invited to create new free software to share.

14

Flash Games and 2XL Simulator / New Technomoan youtube video on 2-xl

« on: July 14, 2022, 08:14 PM »

A very well known youtuber just made a nice video on the 2-xl toy:
https://www.youtube..../watch?v=amuRIydCoJk

15

General Software Discussion / Book on kickstarer: 50 Years of Text Games

« on: June 11, 2022, 09:36 AM »

On kickstarter now:

50 Years of Text Games: From Oregon Trail to A.I. Dungeon
A definitive book about the first half-century of interactive fiction.

https://www.kickstar...-years-of-text-games

16

Coding Snacks / Tiny batch file: zips current directory, date+time stamps, moves to parent

« on: May 06, 2022, 06:20 AM »

Just thought I'd share this little code snippet for a batch (zipcurdir.bat) file that I use quite frequently.
Requires 7-zip but could be adapted for any other zip tool.
Then just put this little .bat file in any directories where you want to be able to super quickly make a uniquely timestamped zip file of the contents of the directory, and then move the zip file out of the way to the parent directory.
I use this all the time when I'm working on a project and it's not under version control and I want to make sure I have quick backups before something goes wrong.

Add any exclusion patterns you want to the extraoptions line, and change 7-zip location if different; or maybe you want to change the destination folder..

[Select]

for %%a in ("%cd%") do set "CurDir=%%~na"
set thedir=%CurDir%

set mydate=%date:~12,2%%date:~4,2%%date:~7,2%
set TIMEZERO=%TIME: =0%
set HOUR=%TIMEZERO:~0,2%
set MIN=%TIMEZERO:~3,2%
set mytime=%HOUR%%MIN%
set zformat=zip

set extraoptions=-xr!Temp -xr!Junk

set zcmd="c:\program files\7-zip\7z" a -t%zformat% -r %extraoptions%
set fname=%thedir%_%mydate%_%mytime%.%zformat%

echo %zcmd% ..\%fname% .\
%zcmd% ..\%fname% .\

As an example if I put this zipcurdir.bat file in my Documents\Arduino\ folder and run it, I get the file in the parent directory: "Arduino_220506_0615.zip"

The only thing neat about this batch file is the autonaming of the created file based on the current directory and the fact that you never have to modify the batch file no matter where you put it.

17

Living Room / Bought a color laser printer -- it's a game changer

« on: April 24, 2022, 04:01 AM »

I have always done a lot of printing on my (black+white) laser printer.  I love the speed of printing, long lasting ink, easy and fast duplexing, and the quality.  I frequently print papers to read, documentation, board game rules, etc.

And I have always had a color inkjet printer, upgraded through the years, but never a pleasure to use.  Too slow, ink is too EXPENSIVE, and dries out from infrequent use, slow startup times, waste of space.

I would only use the color inkjet on the rare occasions when I needed color -- most of the time if it was a document with just a little color or where I didn't care, I'd print on the laser in black and white.

---

But I finally bit the bullet and bought a color laser (HP Color LaserJet Pro M255dw for about $350).

It feels like a bresh of fresh air.  It has almost all the advantages of the black and white laser, but I now can print out documents with some color in them, and just have to deal with 1 printer.

Now if you need to print photos, then the color laser is not going to satisfy you; inkjets produce far better nice glossy color photos.

But for everything else it's been a joy and a relief to not have to mess with the inkjet.

I'll also say, I do think the black pure text printing from the color laser is *slightly* worse quality than my previous black+white laser, but especially with my eyes not being what they were, it's barely noticable and an easy trade off for me for the benefits of color printing.  I'm so glad to be done with inkjets.

18

Living Room / Opinions requested on my new YouTube Video Series

« on: February 14, 2022, 11:30 PM »

I've recorded a 5+ hour (16 part?) video series called "Micro-studio Boardgame Video Production":

• https://www.youtube....dS3u1bo7zW80rt-d3bDr

First episode:

It covers most of what I've learned in the last year.

It's not live yet, I still have another 10 days or so before I make it live, and I'd love any feedback about things that I should fix before making it live!
Let me know your suggestions.

19

Other Software / OBS Scripts

« on: January 22, 2022, 02:12 AM »

I've created an open source directory for miscellaneous scripts and tools for OBS (Open Broadcasting Studio):
https://github.com/dcmouser/obsScripts

Browser based animated flip timer (used to show time until some date or a countdown of a specific duration):


Sidebar dock for OBS that acts as a tally indicator of recording/streaming status, using Websockets:


Also includes a youtube chat script that changes a browser source on a scene to show the current chat contents overlaid on a screen

And a fix for an existing lua timer that I no longer use.

ALL of these are just minor tweaks from me of code written by others.

20

General Software Discussion / Deskreen - nice free tool for sending (teleprompter flip) pc window to a tablet

« on: January 19, 2022, 09:05 PM »

Went looking for a straightforward tool to let me broadcast one of my pc screens to an android tablet during a recording -- with the additional need to be able to flip/mirror the screen in the process for a teleprompter effect.

Came across deskreen which seems to work well and is free (donations encouraged):

https://deskreen.com/

21

N.A.N.Y. 2022 / Thank you to everyone who participated in NANY 2022

« on: January 06, 2022, 06:12 AM »

Thanks to everyone who participated this year.
I have sent out messages on the forum to everyone -- I will get the celebratory mugs handled right away this year (i have also sent out messages to last years participants in case you never got a mug).
If you didn't receive a forum message but you participated in NANY please message me.
You should also see little badge in your forum profile commemorating your participation

22

Living Room / How to boot up an old PDP-11 computer from the 1970s

« on: December 15, 2021, 08:16 PM »

Fun picture guide on how to boot up an old PDP-11 computer from the 1970s:

So you want to play Adventure, but don't know how to turn on the PDP-11? These instructions are for booting our dual rack machine from its RL01 drives, although booting the single cabinet machine from the RK05 is very similar.

https://trmm.net/PDP-11/Booting/

from OSnews.com

23

Living Room / Anyone watching the 2021 chess championship matches?

« on: December 04, 2021, 04:10 AM »

Game 6 was INTENSE!

24

Living Room / Nuclear missile silo keyboard repurposed for usb

« on: December 01, 2021, 12:25 PM »

Gothic (John), a programmer and electronics savant, who used to handle server administrator for DonationCoder, had a project featured on Hackaday.com today.  Very cool stuff.

He found a weird old keyboard (with trackball) on ebay and it turned out to come from a nuclear missile silo.  After some work with an Arudino board he got it talking to USB interface.  Very cool.

https://hackaday.com...-re-launched-in-usb/

25

General Software Discussion / MOVED: Adobe Premiere Extension coding: TimeStamper, Multicam Deluxe, SoundFx Adder, et

« on: November 21, 2021, 08:00 AM »

This topic has been moved to N.A.N.Y. 2022.

https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=51718.0