Category: LOTRO

My memory is not as good as it used to be

On By Michel McDonaldIn Computer, EverQuest, Games, LOTRO, MMORPG, Tech2 Comments

Memory has been a huge issue with how slow my computer is because I only have 1GB of ram.  EverQuest play OK, but it’s not great.  Lord of the Rings Online is really bad because as I’m running through a zone or area, the screen will freeze up every ten seconds for up to a second or two which can be a bad thing, especially if something is chasing you.  It can be a matter of life and death, well, for your character anyway.

I recently discovered that EverQuest 2 is free, so I installed it and went into the game and it immediately froze up on me.  In order for me to get out of that I had to hit the reset button on the front of my tower to reboot the computer.  I figured it was slow because I had just installed it, but that wasn’t the case at all because I tried to run it again and it froze up again.  That told me that I definitely need more memory for my computer.

I have been doing research over the last few days to find the most inexpensive memory because I just don’t have a lot of money to spare right now.  My go-to website used to be TigerDirect, but when I discovered how quickly I got my orders from NewEgg, that became my go-to site, but they are too expensive for 4GB.  A friend told me to try the Fry’s Electronics website so I checked it out and they are way cheaper than NewEgg.  I did go to TigerDirect and they aren’t too expensive, but I don’t want to have to wait a whole week when Fry’s is in Los Angeles and I could get it as quickly as NewEgg.

My ideal brands are Kingston and PNY, but they don’t have any available that will ship out immediately.  Fry’s Electronics also had some other less expensive brands that I would have liked, but shipping was unavailable, so I chose the Patriot Extreme Performance PC2-6400 (800MHz).

My motherboard will accept PS2 memory up to 8GB.  I can’t afford to buy 8GB so I am buying 4GB for now and then I will buy another 4GB later when I can afford it again.  What I love especially about this memory I am buying is the heat sink.  The memory I have doesn’t have that.  This is the description of this memory, and it really fits for what I use my computer for too.

“Patriot Gamer Series (PGS), part of the Extreme Performance (EP) Enhanced Latency line is engineered to expand your gaming options. These modules are designed to operate at 800MHz at 5-5-5-12 timings and is available in 4GB kit capacity. Equipped with lightweight aluminum heat-dispersing shields, these modules are designed for maximum performance and stability under extreme overclocking conditions. Engineered with quality and Performance in mind, Patriot Extreme Performance line is the ultimate solution for extreme overclockers, gamers, and PC enthusiasts.”

I think that “Extreme overclockers, gamers, and PC enthusiasts” really fits me lol.

Another issue I have with memory is Hulu, YouTube and Facebook games.  I don’t really care too much about Facebook games, but it is fun to play them every so often, you know?  I can’t play them at all because they freeze up my computer.

I will  order this memory now and then see how it works out.  I really hope that it’s as fast as it says it is, and it if is fast, I may just forego buying the other 4GB, but can you imagine how much faster it will be with 8GB?  I actually would love to see how much faster it would be so let’s hope I can afford that next month.

I will let you know how fast my computer becomes when my new memory comes.  I can’t wait!

Update: I ordered it early this morning and it has already shipped.  WOW that was fast!  I don’t have a tracking number yet, but if they ship it from Los Angeles, I should get it by tomorrow, that is if the mail comes on the 4th of July.

Update 7/13/2012: I called Fry’s a couple of days ago asking them why the tracking isn’t working and where my package is since I bought this on the 3rd, but they told me there was a tracking number, it just wasn’t listed yet because it wasn’t working on the UPS website yet.  I told the woman who I spoke with that it’s supposed to come USPS, but she said they ship it out with UPS, then they hand it over to the post office to send it to me.  Well, I was finally able to check the shipping on the UPS website, and the tracking says it should be here on 7/16/2012, but we will see if that is true on Monday, I won’t hold my breath.

My reason for buying this through Fry’s instead of NewEgg or TigerDirect was that I thought they were shipping it from their LA store, but they are really shipping it from back east, which wasn’t what I had thought.  If I knew I would have to wait for 2 weeks for my memory, I would have gone with TigerDirect which only takes 1 week.  They had the same prices, NewEgg was more expensive.  So this is the first and last thing I will ever buy from Fry’s.  I wanted to buy the other 4GB from Fry’s with my next check, but I think I’ll just live with 4GB.

Unable to Load The Lord of the Rings Online (SOLVED)

On By Michel McDonaldIn LOTRO15 Comments

I don’t know why but The Lord of the Rings Online just won’t load for me.  I load the game and the launcher checks the files and let’s me type my password and then choose my server and then it finishes that and my screen is supposed to turn black so the game will load.  It hasn’t loaded in maybe a month and half or 2 months.  I couldn’t figure it out.

The only thing that was worrying me was that my house would get locked and they would start charging me fees, so last night I decided I was going to download the game files again and reinstall it.  I installed it over itself, but that didn’t work so I uninstalled the whole game and reinstalled it as a fresh installation and still nothing.

Out of frustration I was about to email the company because I just wanted to get this resolved so I could play again.  Their website gave me a list of links to see if I could find my issue, and I did.

Here is the thread “LOTRO will not launch and there are no error messages” which is the exact problem I was having.  I clicked “Graphics and Performance FAQ’s…” So their advice was to find the User Preferences configuration file which is loaded in My DocumentsThe Lord of the Rings Online.  I double clicked the file and it showed me a text file with all of this gibberish that I don’t understand.  They warn not to change anything because you might screw it up more.  I wondered if I just removed the file altogether if it will create a new file and let the game load, and that worked.  I didn’t delete it, I just moved it to the desktop and there is a new file in its place that has way less information than the original file.

The game launched and I hit C for my character screen which shows my gear and I clicked the House button.  There was an icon of a lock in the bottom right of my screen along with an icon of a letter which told me that my house was locked.  In the character screen I clicked House and paid the fee and then paid the maintenance for my house for 5 more weeks, you know, just in case.

So now you know, if you have issues getting into The Lord of the Rings Online because the game won’t load after you launch it, just remove the User Preferences config file and  load the game.

 

My DSL Usage

On By Michel McDonaldIn Games, LOTROLeave a comment

This May, AT&T DSL users are going to get a DSL cap (in their arse) of 150GB or 250GB for U-verse users. I thought I was going to be in trouble because I like to watch a lot of tv shows and movies on my computer and I’m also on the internet all day long so I never really had a gauge on how much internet I have been using until now.

I’ve been looking at my DSL usage every month to make sure I don’t go over 150GB because once you go over they start charging you $10 for every 50GB. The first thing that came to mind was EverQuest. When I was playing EverQuest, I was on that game for up to 16 hours a day. It was the first thing I did when I woke up and the last thing I did before I went to bed. I was a hardcore gamer. But I haven’t played it since 2008 so no problems right?

Well, I’ve been wanting to get back into it the last few months but not with EverQuest, this time with a free game but would I be screwed if all of a sudden I started playing a game that uses up a lot of internet?

Here’s my test. I started playing Lord of the Rings Online 1 month ago on 3/19/2011 and I’ve been playing practically every day since. Here in this graph you can see my data usage in mid February through mid March as 17.29GB download and 6.26 up. That was with just regular internet being on Twitter, blogging, looking at Hulu and YouTube videos, facebook, email etc.

Now look at this last month from March 17 through April 16. Not a lot of difference is there? It only went up by 3GB and the upload actually went down by 3GB which I wasn’t expecting.  I don’t really understand why my upload is so high, I mean, I never send files to anyone.  The only uploading I ever do is when I upload an image to my blog and even then it’s only a few KB here and a few KB there.  I don’t even upload videos to YouTube so that confuses me.

(I’m sure someone will explain it to me and I will feel stupid lol.)

Now keep in mind, I’m not on this game 16 hours a day. I can’t, my carpal tunnel doesn’t allow it. I mean, I’m having pain now just from typing this. I usually get on at around 10 or 11am and play until 3 to 4pm or when my hands start to hurt.

I get off the game not just because of my hands but because of my shows.  When I was playing EQ I would miss my shows every night because we were a raiding/family guild and they expected me to be on every night.  I would have to record my shows so that I could watch them later but I can’t do that anymore since the Digital Cable can block certain signals from recording.  The only way for me to do that now is if I had a DVR which I don’t so I play during the day and reserve my nighttime for my shows.  I don’t want a game to rule my life which is one of the many reasons I quit playing EQ.

So this was a good test to see how much DSL data I use every month with a game at the hours that I play.  I’m very satisfied that I won’t have to worry about going over my 150GB/mo.  I mean, I don’t care about $10 if I go over but I don’t want that hanging over my head and it won’t because I don’t use enough to ever have that problem.

As far as me playing Lord of the Rings Online, I absolutely love it.  I’m not as much of a hardcore gamer as I used to be and that’s a good thing.  Actually I start getting bored after awhile.  Yesterday I was falling asleep because I was bored with the area that I was in since I had been there for a couple of days.  I had to leave and go somewhere else to wake me up.

This game is really fun and relaxed and even though I’m already hooked on it, I don’t think it will rule me because of my hands.  So that’s a good thing.  My hands are like a timer for me.  When they start hurting, it’s time to sign off and go watch tv.

My House in Lord of the Rings Online

On By Michel McDonaldIn Games, LOTRO2 Comments

I have been having so much fun playing my hobbit in Lord of the Rings Online the last couple of weeks.  I even bought a house for 1 Gold.  Although, I had to get my farming skill up to the highest it could get in order to make the money to buy the house but it was fun to farm.  It really didn’t cost me that much to farm and I didn’t have to kill anything to get any of the ingredients either (which is another form of farming).

So my house is a standard house with 2 rooms, you can see the main picture has me standing in front of the house then the 2 little pictures of the living room and bedroom.  No need for a kitchen or a bathroom since I would use my cooking skill just standing anywhere and video game characters have no reason to use the toilet, this isn’t the Sims after all.

I have to keep paying the game 50 silver a week to maintain the house but it doesn’t take that long to make 50 silver, actually it’s very easy and I have plenty of it.  I can even pay 5 weeks in advance so if I know I’m going to be away from the game for long periods of time, I won’t have to worry about my house being abandoned and having everything in my chest auctioned off.

The only point to having a house is for the extra storage, the chest.  Also you get a discount on the merchants in the zone that the houses are in.  Other than that it’s purely for show.  It’s fun to have and to decorate and to invite your friends over to look at.

One of the issues that I have with this game is that when I exit in a well populated area then when I get back in the game, all of those graphics make the game crash.  So if I log in to the game in my house then there aren’t all of those graphics to crash me.  I can log in, leave the house and go play.  So that’s a very good advantage of having a house, for me anyway.