Category: PS4

Minecraft PlayStation 4 Maps

On By Michel McDonaldIn Games, Minecraft, PS4Leave a comment

maps small

I got my PlayStation 4 in December, the week before Christmas. Why a week before? We like to exchange gifts earlier than most “normal” people because, well, that’s just how we roll lol. Actually, my partner decided on a whim that he would take me to go buy it and he didn’t know what I wanted, so he told me he was getting it. After a few “Oh no we can’t afford it” he said shut up, you’re getting it lol.

Ok, so back to the subject at hand. I got Minecraft and played for maybe a few weeks on this little beach. I didn’t know I could even play the game in peaceful mode, and I died so many times trying to escape the skeletons with their damn bows and arrows. I even got blown up by creepers every now and then. I worked so hard to build the house that I built with what little experience I had with the game, and I think I did pretty good. I felt like exploring, so I would leave my home with my bed and I would sleep when the sun went down. I would explore, return home, explore, return home etc. You get the idea. I saw something so neat that I had to explore it, and I went a bit too far and got turned around and couldn’t find home. I wandered around in a complete panic for literally a couple of hours trying to find it, but never found it, so I decided to find a new spot that I liked and built a new home.

Over the last couple of months I went exploring knowing I could find my way back home with maps, but I never did find my home. I’ve even gone as far as going into creative mode to fly around looking for my original home, but that didn’t work. Finally tonight I thought, let’s try it again, so I did, and I finally found it. Check out the picture below which is a close up of the giant map at the top. The star on the top is where I live now, and the bottom star is where my original home. It’s funny because they are so close to each other too. That white part at the bottom is where I got turned around. It was the first snow I saw and it really messed me up lol.

maps

So now that I have finally found my original home, I can relax. I mean, I was relaxed before. I honestly don’t care about the house or any of the crap in the chests and in the house, it’s just the idea that I lost something that I worked so hard to build that I couldn’t find, and it bothered me to no end. I have it back now and I can use it to my advantage. I don’t know how, but I will think of something lol. For one there is a NPC village near that house in the sandy area at the bottom left of the map. That’s actually where I saw the giant carved out mountain on the bottom of the map which lead me to the snow that got me lost.

Speaking of NPC village… during my mapping, I found many NPC villages and pyramids. I have not yet marked them on the maps, but perhaps I shall go back into creative mode so I can fly to those locations and then add some icons to the map lol. I still have the bottom 2 rows to map out, so perhaps I will do that in time.

Anyway, so I am overly excited and thanks for reading.

450px-KelethinUpdate: I actually think I have an idea for how I will “take advantage” of the situation of the old house. I used to play a PC game called EverQuest, and that game had a forest called Kelethin in the Greater Faydark. Kelethin is a city in the trees, and that old house has a jungle, so perhaps I will start building platforms in the trees that already stand, and add houses to them. Not that it will make any difference to anyone since I’m the only one playing, but it would be nice to remake something to remind me of the good old days in EverQuest.

PlayStation 4 Games and Accessories

On By Michel McDonaldIn Games, PS4Leave a comment

ps4 games

I’ve only had my PlayStation 4 since the week before Christmas, but I already have a pretty amazing selection of games to choose from. A lot of those games were free, but some were bought during a flash sale, so I can’t say this has cost me a fortune.

Apotheon, First Light, Injustice, The Swapper and Transistor were all free thanks to the PlayStation Plus membership. They give away free games every month,. DC Universe is free and it is free to play. Flower, Lego The Hobbit, Lego Marvel’s Super Heroes and Lego Movie videogame, Terraria, The Walking Dead 1 and 2 were all from sales and Little Big Planet 3 was from a flash sale. It’s normally $60, but I bought it for $24. Destiny came for free with my new PS4.

I’ve had a lot of fun with my PlayStation 4 since I got it. In fact, it’s very rare for me to have it turned off, unless I’m watching my regular shows, and even then sometimes I just let the DVR record them because I’m too addicted to a game. I spent 2 hours watching the DVR today, only because I knew I had to catch up because the next episode of that particular show is coming soon lol.

IMAG0875Earlier this week I got the keyboard that mounts to my game controller and that has been very awesome to have. I have it on there permanently because it just makes sense to. I was afraid that it would be too bulky for me to play games with, but it doesn’t interfere at all. I tried using it while it was not attached, and it does work, but I need it to be attached to the game controller because I use those buttons in addition to the keyboard buttons, so it makes little sense to use them separately. It does look a bit strange though, but you get used to it after awhile I’m sure.

 

PlayStation 4 cameraI also got my new PlayStation 4 camera today. That’s pretty neat. It sits on top of my TV. I bought it specifically for exercising. I plan on buying the dance games because I know that dancing is cardio exercise, and I need all the cardio exercise that I can get. Although, those games are way too expensive to buy in the PlayStation store directly, so I will buy them on the discs on Amazon, eventually lol. I know they are at least half the price on Amazon. I refuse to spend $60 on a game. The camera is $60 at Target, but I only paid $40 on Amazon and got free shipping.

So my collection of games and accessories is getting big considering I didn’t spend too much money. I’m sure it will just continue to grow over time. Keep an eye on new games that I will be adding to my PlayStation 4 page on my website. PlayStation Plus gives us free games every month on the first Tuesday. They also have great flash sales, so perhaps the next $60 game I buy will end up being $24 again just like Little Big Planet 3. I’m also looking forward to EverQuest Next and King’s Quest this year.

If you are a PlayStation gamer, please find me and friend me. I’m Xanapus.

PlayStation 4 Bluetooth Keyboard

On By Michel McDonaldIn Games, PS4Leave a comment

IMAG0875

Have you ever had to type using a analog stick? Probably not, well, I can tell you right now that it can take a long time to type something with a PlayStation 4 game controller. They do have suggestions at the top of the screen, so if I hit the t, possible matches will come up like the, them, those, etc. It may remember some words I have used in the past, or the first suggestion at the top just may be the thing I was going to say. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case, and I usually end up having to type it out one letter at a time. Frustrating when you are in a rush.

I went to Amazon looking for a bluetooth keyboard for a PS4 system, and lo and behold I found this PS4 keyboard for $13 and change with $4 shipping. Not bad eh? It paired up quickly and snaps right on the controller and it doesn’t hinder game play at all.

A few days ago I was playing Destiny, and a couple of kids who were also playing in the same area that I was invited me to join their group. They both had microphones, but I didn’t, so my only option was to message the one who invited me with text to tell him “Sorry no mic.” What actually came out was Sl. I was trying to rush and accidentally made a mistake and accidentally sent it to him. Ugh! I tried cancelling it, but I knew it went to him because he said “What does Sl mean? He said Sl to me.” It literally took me another 5 minutes or so until I was able to send a new message telling him that I meant to say no mic.

There are times when I want to share a screenshot or a video on Facebook or YouTube and I have to type words to describe the image or video and it can take a lot of time. Today when I got the new keyboard, I was able to share an image and type a sentence out in just a few seconds. Viola! Easy!

I don’t know if I can use this keyboard off the PS4 controller, but I’m sure I can since it uses bluetooth to connect with my PS4. I won’t need to have this permanently attached to my game controller, but it doesn’t hurt to keep it on. It also shuts off after a few minutes of inactivity.

This was a pretty good investment, and I am sure it will save me a ton of time and embarrassment.

Destiny on PS4

On By Michel McDonaldIn Games, PS4Leave a comment

Destiny_Warlock

I’ve always hated first person shooter games, mainly because I didn’t like the thought that I would be murdering people. I know, it’s just a game, they aren’t real people and no one is actually getting hurt, but it has just always turned me off. It would be one thing if I am killing goblins, orcs, trolls, ogres or anything else that is not real, but humans, that’s just weird to me.

When I got my PS4 for Christmas, I had the choice of 4 games. Destiny, NBA 2K15, Far Cry 4 or Little Big Planet 3. I didn’t want Destiny or Far Cry 4 because those were shooter games. I didn’t want NBA 2K15 because I’m not big on sports. I wanted to choose Little Big Planet 3, but I have the first LBP on my PSP and I honestly didn’t think it would be any better than the version I already have, which I am stuck on, and that fact is what made me decide to not choose LBP. I decided I would watch YouTube gameplay videos for Destiny and Far Cry 3. I also asked some Gaymers on Facebook and most of them told me Destiny. It was ultimately my decision, but I chose Destiny because I loved that it’s science fiction and that I would be flying around in space. It also helped that the bad guys are evil aliens instead of humans.

I tried playing it, but I became too addicted to Minecraft. When that addiction started to subside, I decided to go back to Destiny, and now look at me, I’m level 23. I’m actually level 20, but the light from my new level 20 gear brought me up to level 23. I guess there is a level cap at 20, but your light can take you to level 32 thanks to the Dark Below expansion, which I paid $20 extra for.

So far I’ve been to the Cosmodrome in Russia, which seems to be the only place on Earth you can go to, I’ve been to the Moon and to Venus. I spent a lot of my time doing missions in the Cosmodrome rather than doing story because I kept dying in story at my lower level, so I waited until I had better gear and weapons.

I have not gone into the PVP areas because I don’t do well when I have to play with others, especially if I have to chat with people. The last bad experience I had with that was when I was playing Lord of the Rings Online, and this experience actually turned me off playing with other people. I was doing a group raid on this one place and the quest involved lighting these pillars on fire, so I said “Flame on?” meaning should we light the fires? Someone said something like I don’t do that faggot shit or something to that effect, and it really pissed me off. That was in text too. If I have to have my headphones on with a mic and have to deal with people with my voice, I don’t know how much I may overreact and end up giving myself such a horrible reputation with other players. You never know if they may spread rumors about me in the message boards or whatever. I wouldn’t mind joining a clan, which is like a guild, if that clan has gay people or is a gay clan. At least I know they aren’t going to do that to me.

Well, this game has turned out to be a lot of fun, and I’m glad I chose it.

Minecraft Farm

On By Michel McDonaldIn Games, PS4Leave a comment

farm

I just love building in Minecraft because it sort of reminds me of putting together Lego pieces, like when I was a little boy. Although, I don’t have all of the pieces at my disposal, so I have to go mine for them. Like I have to chop down literally hundreds of trees, and dig for sand and gravel and I even had to bring down a mountain to give me the space to build a farm.

reworked_farm_1_by_coltcoyote-d68plaoOf course, this farm is not my design, I found it on Google images. I have found many houses, but this was an actual farm which allows me to grow many things, like wheat, potato, carrot, watermelon and pumpkin in their own plots. It also has a chicken coop, a livestock barn and 2 storage silos. The silos and the livestock barn took me longer to make because they are both made out of sheep wool, which I had to go to extra trouble to get since the dogs kept murdering the sheep that came near them. They drop 1 wool when killed, but when I use my shears, I may get 1 to 3 wool, that is if I can find any lol.

Besides leveling a mountain, this was a pretty fun project. I love the house, it is much bigger than the one I built for myself, which I surrounded with castle walls and 4 round towers on all 4 corners. I’m considering dismantling that now that I have this farm so I can replace it with a fun rollercoaster, that is if I can find an easy design.

One good thing about this farm is it is right next to where my current mine is, and I found another one when I leveled the mountain. It has an opening behind the house where the livestock barn is, so I’ll have to check that out soon.

Tomorrow is another day, and I look forward to what it will bring me.

Here is the chicken coop and a some of the crops.

farm back

Update: I removed the original picture at the top and replaced it with the picture of the finished farm. The silos are supposed to have black roofs, but I got tired of waiting for the black sheep to produce, so I decided to use blue since I had a cache of it. I’ve filled one silo with chests on every floor and have already filled the cobblestone and dirt ones to the max. Since I have so many of each material, I decided to dedicate a floor to a particular item. In the first silo, the top floor is all cobblestone, next one down is dirt, then wood, then sand/glass and then wool on the very bottom floor. I was considering using the 2nd silo for food from the crops, but I honestly don’t eat the food since I’m always in peaceful mode, so I don’t really have a need for that, but perhaps I may decide to use that silo for food and fill each floor with a specific item, like pumpkins/jack-o-lanterns, watermelon, carrots, potatoes and wheat. That just leaves meat from cows and chickens, but I have that in the kitchen, and there isn’t that much of it since I don’t kill the animals unless I absolutely have to, like for books (cow hide) or arrows (chicken feathers).

I’ve already moved on to building a fishing boat which will have its own chests for storing fish. Again, I don’t eat the food, but I may decide to do it for the future when I decide to start fighting scary mobs for the purposes of getting to the end, which I am not counting my chickens before they hatch, because I’m having way too much fun building.

Minecraft Blueprints

On By Michel McDonaldIn Games, PS4Leave a comment

Minecraft land map with castle

When most people (I assume) plan out their castle, or house, or whatever it is they want to build, they just go into Minecraft under creative mode so they have a complete inventory of materials that they don’t have to mine for days or months to get. I would go there, but I’d rather have the option of getting all of the trophies.

I have been researching a way of downloading a program that will allow me to create a Minecraft building with a full list of materials on the computer, so it gives me a blueprint. It doesn’t have to be a 3D blueprint, I just don’t want to have to keep building, then have to go run back to the mine for materials, then build more, then mine and also go through so many pickaxes if I decide to go a different way. It takes more time to dismantle your structure than it does to build it.

I did find a website that allowed me to do just what I was looking for. I found it on a message board, and the actual website is www.minedraft.net. Unfortunately, it became a huge time suck for me because the website would freeze up on me. I don’t know if it was the website itself, my computer or my processor, but it didn’t allow me to get very far. I also tried it on my Nook, which was awesome because I could tap on the material, then tap on the screen and it went a little faster. Unfortunately, that became slow over time, so I didn’t get very far there either.

One of the comments on that message board was that you could do the very same thing with Microsoft Paint. All you have to do is make a grid and snap to grid. I assume they were using Windows XP and that it was an old comment because I went to MS Paint and it didn’t offer a grid, so the next best thing for me was Gimp.

I opened Gimp and clicked view and show grid and snap to grid. I zoomed in to 800% and the grid squares weren’t too big. I downloaded some icons of the materials, like the dirt, grass, water, sand, wood planks and cobblestone, and made them into brushes, which helped a lot. The icons don’t look exactly like they should because instead of using 100% of the icon, I had to drop it down to 10%, but I honestly don’t have to see them as perfect as they are in Minecraft, it’s just a general idea of how to build my castle.

Minecraft land mapMinecraft land map castle

With Gimp you can create layers, so first I laid out the land that I am building on, then I created a 2nd layer for the castle, this way if I make a mistake, I don’t have to worry about losing the land, just the castle parts. As you can see they are separate.

castle

I have built the walls that I made in Gimp, but it is far from finished because guess what? I have to mine and mine and mine to get all that cobblestone to build the walls up. I’m actually building the walls around my existing home, which is like a tiny 2 story cobblestone castle like structure. There is my beacon behind the house. When the walls have been built up, then I can work on getting the inside of the castle built, which will take a lot of time and patience and creativity. I built the catwalk along the top of the wall. That is where I will finish that wall, but the 4 towers are going to go up twice as much to provide me with 4 beacons rather than 1. You can see a beacon way behind my house, and there are several beacons to let me know where to find home, but when I see 4 beacons, then I will know for sure that this is home.

minecraft icons

Here are the icons that I found online that I turned into gimp brushes with the .gbr file extension. So far I’ve only had to use the sand, grass, water and cobblestone, and only because that’s really all I needed for this project. I have the rest just in case I might need to use them in the future. I may not, but never say never.

So I figured if anyone in the future was looking for a way to make a blueprint, this should give them an easy idea of how they can make it.

Getting FAT

On By Michel McDonaldIn Diet, Exercise, Food, Health, Nook, Noom, PS4, WeightLeave a comment

My partner and I went to the movies today. We saw Into the Woods, which by the way was a really good movie. I had to pee so bad by the time it ended, so I went to the restroom and well, took a piss lol. When I went to wash my hands, that’s when the realization hit me that I am right back to where I started 2 years ago when I started my diet when I lost 70lbs.

I had really bad sleep apnea back then, and when I had lost all that weight, I couldn’t use my BiPap machine anymore because the pressure was too high, and I actually didn’t even need to use it for the last 18 months. The CPAP company told me I could bring it in to have it readjusted to lower the pressure, but I had it in my head that I finally don’t need it anymore, so I never did anything with it.

The year that I had lost 70lbs, I stopped losing weight in July and I never could figure out why. I was doing everything the same, I was eating the same portions and the same calories, but the weight just stopped coming off. Actually, when I first began losing weight in January of that year, the weight was coming off really fast, but then gradually it went from say for example 5lbs a week down to 4lbs, then 3lbs, then 2lbs, then before you knew it I was only losing half a pound a week until there wasn’t any weight loss at all. The weight gradually started climbing back up and I could not understand why.

You know how when you plateau, then get so frustrated that you say screw it, I’m going to eat something bad. Then once a week you start eating junk, then twice a week, then 3 times, etc. Next thing you know, you are gaining the weight just as fast as you lost it. Sometimes you just need that “AHA” moment, and that was today.

After the movies, we went to the grocery store and my partner asked if I wanted some valentine’s candy, but that is the last thing I need right now.

I have the Dr. Phil 20/20 diet that I pre-ordered in December that arrived on my Nook last week. I have been meaning to read it, but with all the Minecraft and other video games taking up all of my time, I just haven’t been able to read it yet, but I think now is the best time to start reading.

So I guess what I am saying is, this is day 1… well, perhaps since the day is almost over, I will make it day 0, epiphany day, tomorrow can be day 1 lol.

I can always do something if I set my mind to it. I have the Noom app, the SparkPeople “The Spark” on my shoe to count my steps and cardio along with a SparkPeople workout DVD, bicycle trainer and the Dr. Phil diet book. I also have the PlayStation 4 which I will save the money for the camera so I can use it to dance with a dancing game lol. Hey, all I know is the cabbage patch, it would be awesome to know more than that, I mean, not that I really go out dancing.

I have been very lazy, but I need to discipline myself because I don’t want this sleep apnea and I don’t want this fat face again. I’m done with that, so wish me luck.

Minecraft Beacons and Railroads

On By Michel McDonaldIn Games, PS4Leave a comment

I have had a very busy couple of days since I had a Minecraft CE-34878-0 error. I had lost 10 whole days of mining and building underground tunnels for my railroad. Since I uploaded the back up file from my 4gb USB drive, I’ve noticed some things I hadn’t noticed before, even after the recent update, and that is the horses and a few bad guys like witches, bats and these blue or green blobs bouncing around. I didn’t have those before.

So I now have 5 or 6 beacons built that will help me find my way back to my home if I ever get lost. One thing I am thinking of doing is adding an above ground railroad encased in glass. Before I had an above ground railroad that I hated using because the animals would stand on it. It’s easier to travel when there aren’t any animals stopping me and preventing me from getting to my destination. I put the railroad in below ground, but the only problem with that was the constant digging. I enjoyed the under water tunnels encased in glass, but I think I might want to try something different since I have to start all over again.

Today I found out that right under my house there is a massive mine. Who knew that all that time I had all that coal and iron? I haven’t found anything else, but those are still 2 good things to have. I use the iron for my armor and for the railroad. I have already started rebuilding the underground railroad from the first mine I was in all the way to under my house, so I will keep going through the mine under my house which exits in the water in front of my house. That’s actually how I found it, I nearly drowned and discovered it wasn’t completely wet under there. So I will bring the tunnel out of the water and make it go up, up, up in the sky to a beacon I built across the water from my house where there are more tunnels. I’ll have to make more railroad going over to another beacon which is where I had ended my underground railroad tunnel before.

If the beacons aren’t easy to help me find my way home, then the over ground glass railroad will guide me to the beacons which I can just climb to get on the railroad and ride the train back home.

I mentioned that I finally see horses, well I don’t know if this is a major bug or not, but it bugs the hell out of me. I found a horse, tamed it, put a saddle on him and rode him home where I built a pen for him to prevent him from escaping. Well, I felt sorry for him (I know, it’s not real lol) so I didn’t keep him there against his will. I went into the house to make a leash and when I came back he was gone. It took me a very long time to find another one and it was very difficult to tame him but once I did I felt like I found a good horse. I leashed him to the post and all was good. I brought him in the house when the bad guys came out because I was afraid he would either get blown up or spooked. When the sun was out I took him over to where the cactus are and put a fence in the ground, it was more of a pole because I only used 1 fence. I leashed him to the fence pole and went cutting down cacti and when I returned to the pole, the horse was gone. The leash was attached to the pole, and that was the last straw for me. I found 3 saddles and 2 are gone, so I have 1 more saddle and 1 more chance, which I am not going to take until I can build a barn, but even then I’m not so sure he will stay with me.

I know, I’m still a newbie and have quite a lot to learn still. I will figure it all out in time.

Minecraft CE-34878-0 Error

On By Michel McDonaldIn Games, PS41 Comment

Well, call me disappointed tonight. I have spent a lot of time digging tunnels, and making and placing glass around my tunnels under water and mining and this and that and the other, and now all of that is gone because of an error on my brand new PlayStation 4.

I was so proud of myself for making all this progress and it is all gone, well, mostly anyway because thankfully I had made a back up on my 4GB USB memory stick on January 29. Unfortunately that was 10 days ago, and a lot happened in 10 days. So all of that work is gone and I am back to where I used to be. My other file is still there, I just cannot access it because it crashes as soon as it loads.

This sucks, but on the other hand all of my trophies are still there, so at least I don’t have to go through all that work just to get the trophies again. This does give me the opportunity to do things again, but since I know where everything is, I can get what I had a lot faster.

When I make my railroad going back to the mines I went to before, I can now make them go up or down, I can make them any way I want. The tunnels in my first mine had wood platforms with tracks laid out, but they were scattered and it didn’t seem like they had a plan for them, but now I can probably connect them since I know how to lay the tracks up and down. I think it will make things a lot easier to avoid getting lost in the mines… hopefully.

One other thing I would like to do is to find some good plans for cool Minecraft houses so I can make a better looking house. Mine is okay, but I know it could be a lot better if I tried. I would also love to move it over the water so I can make a glass house on the bottom floor with a bottomless floor for fishing lol. I think that would be really neat. I could also have a dock for my boat and of course I would have my railroad tunnel going from land to the house so I don’t have to worry about how I’m getting back to land. I think that would be cool.

So I don’t see this as a bad thing necessarily, I see it as a way of doing things differently and more efficiently.

By the way, here is that video that I made of my tunnels. I was so proud of all the work I had accomplished, and I have the pain in my right arm and shoulder to prove it.

Playing Video Games is Painful, So I Use Aspercreme

On By Michel McDonaldIn Games, PS4Leave a comment

aspercreme

I have been playing video games my whole life. I have never experienced this pain. First of all, my right forearm feels like I’ve been squeezing one of those spring hand grips at the gym for hours and hours every day. The muscles are so tight and it hurts like hell. The reason that is happening is because I am pushing the buttons and using my thumb to control the right stick on my new PlayStation 4 game controller. My left hand is constantly controlling the left stick, and I don’t have this issue with my left arm.

Yesterday I found a Icy Hot stick in the medicine cabinet and used that on my arm and shoulder, but unfortunately there wasn’t enough stick, so the plastic was scraping my skin lol. I decided to go to the grocery store to find something else, something not a stick, but a cream. I have always used Aspercreme in the past because that is what my mother always used. If anyone knew pain, it was my mother, so I trust her judgment when it comes to things like this.

It actually did the trick for awhile. I played Lego The Hobbit for an hour or 2, then DC Universe Online and then Minecraft, so I did play for quite some time before I went to bed. Believe it or not, I woke up this morning with no pain. The pain is usually a constant thing from when I wake up until I go back to sleep, and I woke up feeling refreshed.

I know that this is not something I should be using all the time, because it is medicine, and medicine takes a toll on your body if you abuse it too much, but I would just like to continue using it until my muscles are actually used to the torture of pushing a button lol.