By Captain Stoneyface for BlackOps Station, 2001-04-15

Co Founder of KhoromMag, Maker of SFC2 patches.

(conducted over ICQ)

Captain Stoneyface:
So you want to do this thing?

MagnumMan:
Sure, sock it to me.

Captain Stoneyface:
Cool so, what's up with the name MagnumMan, how did you come about that particular handle

MagnumMan is a college nickname. Let me explain the story. In my freshman year at RIT (Rochester, NY)
I had a box of Magnum condoms in my drawer.

My roommate decided to go rummaging through my drawer.

He found one of the condoms and started calling me MagnumMan.

It has nothing to do with firearms.

So there you go... at least I'm not "TinyMan"... I didn't complain.

Captain Stoneyface:
That is a funny story, I wondered if the picture you had on the Taldren announcement meant anything

MagnumMan:
Yeah, actually YnrohKeeg helped me design that little thing.

Captain Stoneyface:
So I know that the iCoP is a group and I have done some reading on it. why don't you give that a
plug for those that don't know

hence. MagnumMan-iCoP

MagnumMan:
Right... well iCoP stands for Interstellar Consortium of Privateers. Back when SFC:I came out I was new
to online gaming entirely. I got hooked up with Starlance http://www.starlance.com/ and started playing.

I think I was in one or two units before I realized I was tired of dealing with the notion of not
being the one in control... so I decided to form iCoP.

iCoP is a pirate unit, thus my affinity towards the Orions

Captain Stoneyface:
Interesting. Control is important for me with this game too.

I love the Orions too. I was very excited to play your Orion missions when they came out

How soon did you start messing around with API scripting

MagnumMan:
That was my first shot at writing a script for SFC.

Well to be honest I saw it on the disc and decided to see if I could do it.

As a software engineer I really love a challenge.

Captain Stoneyface:
On the SFC 1 or 2 disk

MagnumMan:
This was on the SFC2 disc. SFC1 kept me busy playing in Starlance with all my free time.

I'm not sure iCoP played any games in the league until 2.0.0.5 came about.

So I had some free time.

Captain Stoneyface:
Hmm...so what are you feelings about the Orion expansion pack the is unofficially planned

MagnumMan:
I'm very excited to see Taldren is taking steps to progress the product line in different ways.
Indeed I am very happy that the Orion Cartels package is coming to fruition.

Captain Stoneyface:
Are you involved in any way with the scripting of it. I only ask because I know you are an
Inner Circle member. Were you approached by Taldren?

MagnumMan:
I wish I could do more to make the game even better than it is... unfortunately game companies don't pay
very well. If they did I would have been there already.

I am not involved in scripting SFC: OC, no. I have not been asked.

Captain Stoneyface:
That's too bad, I would have loved to see your influence on missions

MagnumMan:
Believe me I would love to do it...

Captain Stoneyface:
How did you become an Inner Circle member, was it Starlance affiliation

MagnumMan:
Not really... apparently being a scurvy pirate for 18 months didn't pay off. However, I did catch
the eyes of a couple people when I opened the Orion Script Library http://www.orionscripts.com/

Believe me I had to beg and plead just to get in... And I am glad Jinxx decided to give me a
chance to help out. I do feel I've been able to make a better contribution to everybody with the membership.

Captain Stoneyface:
So how many pages is that non disclosure statement anyway.

MagnumMan:
You know that's a good question. Maybe I should find mine and read it.

Captain Stoneyface:
How long have you been hanging around the Taldren forums. What is you opinion of them,
I don't see you in the general forum very much

MagnumMan:
Well I didn't really get into the Taldren forums for a while because the Starlance forums used to be so active.
Now only a handful of people post there, and it wasn't as fulfilling.

The reason I don't go into the General Forum that much is because it is really filled with a lot of
useless and off-topic stuff that can be hard to sift through.

Captain Stoneyface:
Definitely, sifting the sand to get the gems

MagnumMan:
There is occasionally something I make note of and process though... not everybody posts useless stuff
but a few people seem to have made the Taldren General Forum their home and forgot to clean up.

Captain Stoneyface:
Yep

I prefer the model, scripting and fan fiction forums there. And the Apoc forums

MagnumMan:
Damn man, some of those ship models are totally and absolutely incredible. I can't do that stuff so my
jaw just drops in amazement.

Captain Stoneyface:
Did you get to read the thread by someone named lbeam

Captain Stoneyface:
They tried finding out info about Starlance

MagnumMan:
Nope, I don't believe I did get to read a thread by Ibeam.

Referring to what exactly?

Captain Stoneyface:
They said some Starlance people snubbed them on gamespy or mplayer I can’t remember

Then told her she had to join to find out the rules, something like that. wouldn't tell her about
Starlance

MagnumMan:
I know a lot of people thumb their noses at Starlance... it provides a very valuable team management
service for me and it has many different facets. I wrote the tournament system that they will be testing in the
SFC2 league soon.

Captain Stoneyface:
Cool.

What other projects do you have in the works

MagnumMan:
I have a couple open items on Co-op Ace to address - one of which I had to consult with Dan at Taldren
and I'm just waiting for an answer.

Dan, by the way, is a great guy... he is totally helpful with every question I ask. Ken and David are
also great people.

Captain Stoneyface:
Yes, Dan was great to interview, did you get to read that?

MagnumMan:
I did read Dan's interview, yes. I can't remember a word of it now but I was glad to see him "out and about"

My latest creation is Sector Assault. It allows selectable FRDs, DefSats, base, and planet.
It dumps game results and health of all ships left to a results file.

Ghis was poking me over and over and over about it... so I finally got to it.

Captain Stoneyface:
Well does that mean I can keep bugging you and you will do a BlackOps script?

lol

MagnumMan:
If I have the time to do it, and I think it will be an asset to the community then sure - bug away.

Captain Stoneyface:
Are you looking forward to Dynaverse2

MagnumMan:
Ahh, I was wondering when you might ask about the Dynaverse II.

Captain Stoneyface:
Well, I’m not a trouble maker or anything but...

MagnumMan:
I have some mixed feelings about it. For one thing, it opens up a whole new avenue of SFC play,
and I think that is really great.

Captain Stoneyface:
I can't wait to at least try it

Don't forget about the BlackOps maneuver. That would really suck in a game

MagnumMan:
Add to that the fact users can set up their own servers and customize them... I set up a "Orion Enclave"
server a while back and made the Orions 100 times as active as they are now.

After 12 hours the Orions had 75% of the map.

Captain Stoneyface:
Wow 12 hours

Are you going to do a D2 server for Orions?

MagnumMan:
No, probably not. I don't think it is technically feasible to attempt that right now.

Captain Stoneyface:
That's too bad. We are getting questions from people trying to get us to do a BlackOps D2 server

We try to add more role-playing to SFC2

Like the threads in the models forum with pictures.

MagnumMan:
The Dynaverse II is very much like the single player campaign - with humans mixed in.

There are probably some surprises waiting out there for you, though.

Man those models rock.

Captain Stoneyface:
I am not sure how much control we would have over the server

Which the BlackOps models?

Captain Stoneyface:
Sorry, add a comma in that last sentence somewhere.

MagnumMan:
A lot of them - but the screenshots on your site are very cool.

Captain Stoneyface:
thx

MagnumMan:
One of the things I like is that the user models are very, very detailed... and since I have a
GeForce2 GTS 32MB DDR overclocked to 215/375 I can use them without penalty.

Captain Stoneyface:
we try to use a lot of different modelers and then we do retextures to them to make them that
much cooler

Captain Stoneyface:
Wow. Since you brought it up, how about an outline on your PC specs

MagnumMan:
I'd love to try a program that rendered any model in a 3D VR box for viewing / debugging etc.

I've never done 3D graphics before.

I have a Pentium III 600E overclocked to 800MHz by jumping the FSB up to 133MHz. That's sitting on a
Soyo 7VCA with BIOS 2AA7, with a pair of 128MB DIMMs running at 133MHz CAS 3 at 4 way interleave.

I have a Sound Blaster Live! card and the GeForce2 card I mentioned, as well as a IEEE-1394 card for
digital video

Captain Stoneyface:
Wow, you are a techie aren't you?

Nice computer.

No I don't think you would have any problems with hipoly models.

MagnumMan:
And a Licent WinModem and a 3com Performance Pro modem (hardware modem)... UNFORTUNATELY I can't get
DSL because Verizon sucks and AT&T just bought our cable system so I should get cable this year PHEW.

Captain Stoneyface:
Doh

MagnumMan:
I use iSpeed from www.hms.com to optimize my dialup connection.

My computer at work has 10 fans, this one only has 4.

Captain Stoneyface:
I have verizon too. I ordered my DSL line 4 weeks ago and still haven't had it installed and it
took 4 months of trying just to get it available in my area

MagnumMan:
Am I a techie nut? Yeah I guess so. As a Software Engineer I feel knowing your computer in detail is
always valuable.

Captain Stoneyface:
Ah well,

yep, I am building a new PC too. it's going to be a monster. can't wait

MagnumMan:
I've tried THREE TIMES and got rejected each time - from third party providers. There's a class action
lawsuit against Verizon for it.

I can't stand union based companies like Verizon which is 95% unionized.

Captain Stoneyface:
So do you have a favorite modeler

MagnumMan:
To be quite honest no... I love models with incredible details. I hardly ever mod my game - not really
into that much.

Captain Stoneyface:
Really, I would have figured you to really be into modding

MagnumMan:
I can't wait for the AMD 760DP chipset - I want a pair of 1.5GHz Athlons in dual CPU configuration :>

Captain Stoneyface:
oh yeah babeee

MagnumMan:
That's funny I think a lot of people may feel as you do... I'll use new models on top of existing ships
but I don't like changing the game from its original intent.

Perhaps in that way I am "old fashioned"

Captain Stoneyface:
I am going to over clock a 1.33 athlon to 1.5 gig and 300mhz front side bus. I have 2 microns
256mb dimms with cas2

MagnumMan:
PC150 CAS2?

Captain Stoneyface:
Yep. You bet.

MagnumMan:
Mushkin or generic?

Captain Stoneyface:
gonna be fast and hot

Micron

MagnumMan:
Um yeah - hot is right - 1.5 gig Thunderbird would put out about 80 watts of heat.

The thing I like about the Athlon in multi-CPU mode is that there is no bus arbitration -
each CPU has a dedicated path to the north bridge so without bus arbitration the CPUs are
free to scream to their full potential. I simply can't wait for one of those bad boys.

Captain Stoneyface:
Yep. Wow, kinda far a field think I’ll talk geek at you privately

MagnumMan:
Yeah, sorry, I do get carried away. :>

Captain Stoneyface:
me too, my wife and birth mother say they need to take a class to talk to me sometimes LOL

You know your stuff.

MagnumMan:
I've been playing a lot of Lyran lately.

I'm trying to figure out why people whine so much about Lyrans.

Captain Stoneyface:
Well, not my first choice.

MagnumMan:
They are very powerful at almost every bpv...

The only think Lyrans lack are long range assault weaponry.

That makes it very difficult to take a base or planet.

But in ship to ship combat I am quite happy playing Lyran. The disrupter on the 240 degree arcs are great.

Captain Stoneyface:
I don't get to experiment much as far as different races since we are doing this whole role-playing thing.
that's why I love reviewing the scripts from a different races point of view.

Knife fights are very viscous with the Lyrans

MagnumMan:
Ahh I see. Well I think it is wise to learn all the races - it is the only way you will know the strengths
and weaknesses of each and how to counter.

Captain Stoneyface:
Atticbat and myself have started mixing races and ship designs

Very interesting results. Romulan warbird with Federation textures

Federation Akira class with Klingon textures

MagnumMan:
Must look interesting.

Captain Stoneyface:
Very satisfying too. How would you like to see races mixed?

How do you see different races exchanging technology?

MagnumMan:
I'm not sure I would... heh. Maybe Lyrans with Hydran textures

Captain Stoneyface:
Hmm, that would work.

MagnumMan:
A ship with ESG AND hellbore would be neat - you could hit your own ESG whenever you fire... LOL

But hey, that's what Orion pirates are for - mixing technology together.

Captain Stoneyface:
Exactly! The pirates would take what they could get and put it together.

MagnumMan:
Right... in SFC2 the Orions have a little mini SPZ.. it has 4 Plasma F on it. Only 18 energy but oddly
that seems enough.

Captain Stoneyface:
I like JZ Temple too as a scripter because he wrote so many pirate missions. one of my first favorites

MagnumMan:
I should change Orion: Random Encounter to Orion: Select Your Own

Captain Stoneyface:
So it sounds like you are old school SFB

How long have you played and yes "select your own" is kind of catchy.

:)

MagnumMan:
Surprise... I never played SFB or even heard of it before SFC:I.

Captain Stoneyface:
Wow

That is surprising

MagnumMan:
:>

I learn really fast, plus I have lots of helpers.

Captain Stoneyface:
So do you have favorite scripters? do you play others scripts?

MagnumMan:
Well I'm sure other scripters will be irked when I say no, I don't... not because I don't like them,
but because I don't want to use anybody else's ideas in my scripts subconsciously.

It is much like going to your competition's web site and seeing what they do - and finding something you have
to have.

Captain Stoneyface:
I know that SFCvixen/furrygirl is working on a player made campaign. are you working on one

MagnumMan:
Right she's been busy with work lately but she focuses on Campaign (Dyna2) scripts. I focus on Multi- and
Single-player scripts.

What is it with ICQ tonight - I've received 3 unsolicited messages from people. Sheesh.

Captain Stoneyface:
I hope to be able to interview her soon, I haven't heard from her lately but she said she was interested.

lol

I haven't...

MagnumMan:
I can send them your way if you want.

Captain Stoneyface:
Nah

MagnumMan:
Good choice. Your wife may not approve.

Captain Stoneyface:
oh, those kind of messages... unsolicited. riiiiight.

Captain Stoneyface:
I follow Jinxx on this one...Spam must die.

lol

MagnumMan:
Yes, but let's not take out people standing next to the Spam when we do.

Captain Stoneyface:
heehee

MagnumMan:
I think SFCVixen got a new job and had to devote more time to that and less to scripting.

Captain Stoneyface:
That's what I heard too

MagnumMan:
That was a while ago though.

Captain Stoneyface:
So how close are you to the guys at Taldren?

What do you think about how they are treated in the forums?

MagnumMan:
Well I have e-mail correspondence with Dan and David on a fairly regular basis now. I think they know
Who I am and probably cringe when they see my name in their inbox.

Captain Stoneyface:
lol

MagnumMan:
"It's that damn guy again"

Captain Stoneyface:
So do you get to be nasty to them in email when testing patches?

MagnumMan:
No, I do not. It is not professional.

One should not get emotional about bug reporting - it is dangerous.

Especially with a game - if it were a defibrillator that might be different.

Captain Stoneyface:
What is the overall feeling about the next patch with the testers. (without breaking any confidentiality)

MagnumMan:
Well to answer your question above - about how they are treated in the forums - I think people need to realize
that Taldren does not make all the decisions - especially ones like "you must ship the game by this date -

So we can get Christmas sales into our Q4 ledgers (i.e. Interplay)"

Captain Stoneyface:
They need to vent you mean? So Taldren gives them a target?

Yeah the way that interplay treats Taldren is fairly bad

MagnumMan:
Hearing other stories about Interplay and how they screwed one Aussie company lead me to believe they
are only out for themselves. Personally if I ran a company I would make it my top priority to treat my employees
with dignity, respect, and honesty. Happy employees are better employees.

Captain Stoneyface:
Definitely, how many patch releases have been screwed up now by Interplay...

MagnumMan:
Let me see...

My feeling about the next patch is that I think everybody is going to be very pleased with the stability
and balance. I'll give Taldren extra credit this time around for working with us to "Squish bugs".

Captain Stoneyface:
What's the testing experience like?

Are you given specific things to test, tell us about that process?

MagnumMan:
Large, large downloads on a 31,200 bps link suck. I can tell you that. :> We are given general directions
on what they would like tested. The real test is getting all the IC/MC/OC people to load the game and play it
as much as possible. More exposure = more bugs identified = more bugs fixed = better game.

Captain Stoneyface:
How many circle members are there?

MagnumMan:
That's probably something I should not discuss.

Captain Stoneyface:
Okay, I can respect that. there are rules.

MagnumMan:
The members of the circles are for the most part very motivated people who want to see this game as good
as it can be - so they attack it with vigor.

Captain Stoneyface:
Are there alot of coders and tech people or more like players?

MagnumMan:
That is hard to say. People obviously know I am a coder and a tech guy... but you never know what other
people do for their real job. I think there are more players than techies or coders.

Captain Stoneyface:
It seems that the more vocal circle members (interpreted as circle members) are the higher tech
people or coders in their occupations

MagnumMan:
And that is the way it should be, I think... you want the game to be tested by players who can sense
a balance problem or some such thing.

Perhaps, but you never know who is a circle member either... especially on the General Forum.

Captain Stoneyface:
Definitely

I had a good laugh at the latest troll/rumor thread on the general forum. the one where he claimed
that Jinxx told him in ICQ that there was going to be no Dynaverse2

MagnumMan:
Yeah... that was so out of the blue and why not on the announcement forum? Heh. Not even funny stuff.
It was just plain lame.

Besides I have talked with Jinxx on ICQ and he would never say something like that - not even to me.

Captain Stoneyface:
Interesting, looks like it's gone now. *(the tread)

MagnumMan:
Now that is interesting... heh.

Captain Stoneyface:
I have talked to him in email, but from what I have heard, he just wouldn't do something like
this guy claimed.

MagnumMan:
Nope.

That reminds me I have to bug him about a couple things. Thanks.

Captain Stoneyface:
heehee

MagnumMan:
I don't think he really enjoys being nagged... then again who does.

So is that as nasty as you get in an interview Hawkeye?

Captain Stoneyface:
So do you think the patch will be out this week? I believe that Jinxx said that interplay has
the patch right now.

How's that?

>:)

MagnumMan:
Were I to make a decision I would say "ship it". It is not my decision - it has to pass Interplay's QC
department.

Captain Stoneyface:
Seems like they move slow on the patches though

MagnumMan:
I would expect to see some more information on Monday about a status update though. Jinxx and Eric are
doing a good job keeping us all informed through the new forum thread.

Captain Stoneyface:
Yes, I would have to say that is one benefit of the read only forum.

We get more updates

MagnumMan:
Yes, exactly why I asked for it.

Captain Stoneyface:
Yeah I was glad to back you up when you asked. the OT threads were killing the forum.

Were you allowed to make you announcement because of some antsy feelings by some (at Taldren)?

MagnumMan:
Well I did some custom programming to do regression testing on the shiplist.txt file; I don't know if that
was a "thank you" from Jinxx or if they felt giving out some more info will help make people feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I suspect the latter. I was just glad to be of service - I enjoy doing that stuff.

MagnumMan:
http://www.icop-sfc.org/taldren/ *(note details on the patch release can be viewed here)

Captain Stoneyface:
Those were interesting reading. how many changes in general were there to the shiplist?

MagnumMan:
Every change is documented there.

I have not bothered to count them.

"lots"

A lot of things were fixed though - due to the keen eye of many people.

Captain Stoneyface:
It seemed like there are a lot.

What is you favorite era and race in the game?

Is it true that the difficulty level on your machine is stuck at admiral?

Do you remember the vic20?

MagnumMan:
I like Late because you get the most options... and right now my favorite race is Lyran. I play a wicked
nasty F-BCF though... just ask the legendary SL people.

Heh here's a funny one - the difficulty level.

It is unplanned but the Co-op Ace script is full of sexual innuendo.

In the settings file you can select:

The Easy - Captain

The Hard - Commodore

The Nasty - Admiral

Now if that isn't strange... geez.

Captain Stoneyface:
Oh lord, I didn't even think of that!

MagnumMan:
Yes I programmed a VIC20 - and recorded the programs to the external cassette tape drive.

Captain Stoneyface:
Do you remember the voice synthesizer

MagnumMan:
Don't think so, maybe been too long.

I've owned or operated the following computers though...

Captain Stoneyface:
You couldn't tell what it was saying unless you knew what it was supposed to be saying

Captain Stoneyface:
Preparing for list

It's now been 15 minutes folks...he's still typing

No answer for one hour now (just kidding)

MagnumMan:
Magnavox Pong, Atari 2600, Vic 20, Commodore 64, Apple IIe, TRaSh-80, DEC VT-103, DEC Rainbow, DEC MicroVax,
PDP 11/70,

Captain Stoneyface:
Oh god the TRS 80

PONG!!!!

lol

Was expecting more of a list

MagnumMan:
VAX 11/780, many Macintoshes (many!), and now I program on Windows 2000 (Win32), Mac OS, Linux, AIX, and Solaris.

Captain Stoneyface:
Now that is a list

<------patiently waiting for Windows XP (office XP rocks!!!)

Captain Stoneyface:
What is you favorite StarTrek movie/series?

MagnumMan: Let me see...

Captain Stoneyface:
While MagnumMan is typing out this next list, I will plug his webpage at www.orionscipts.com and
join his mailing list

MagnumMan:
Let me see, I really like I, II, VI, VIII. I liked IV, IX. III and VII were ok. V was lame.

Captain Stoneyface:
Tell first contact didn't rock your world.

MagnumMan:
Maybe I got the movie numbers mixed up :>

The first one, Khan, Kang, and the borg ones all rocked big time.

My favorite series would be ST:TNG followed by ST:DS9 and then ST:V

Captain Stoneyface:
How do you feel about the move towards pre TOS in the next series and modeling community too

MagnumMan:
Not sure... did those ships have weapons at all or what? :>

Captain Stoneyface:
I think they spit out the window

MagnumMan:
As for TV, I'm ready to watch another trek series.

Captain Stoneyface:
But TOS trek?

I don't know

MagnumMan:
I stopped watching Voyager about 2 years ago.

Captain Stoneyface:
I like the advancement

MagnumMan:
I missed the last year of DS9

I've seen every TNG episode at least 3 times.

Captain Stoneyface:
Yeah I like the TNG series alot.

MagnumMan:
It is true to the original while advancing forward in many ways.

Captain Stoneyface:
Yeah, but TOS?

I really don't like how they are dodging the whole Klingon thing. Human looking Vs TNG looking

Oh well, new trek is still new trek

MagnumMan:
Someone brought up an interesting point... how come nobody's explored the Enterprise C era timeframe?
Sounds like a good war series like that episode with the alternate 1701D. I LOVED that
episode and the way the crew and ship morphed from "our" reality to "war" reality.

That rocked.

Captain Stoneyface:
Yeah that would be cool to see a cross over that way.

Well, it's has been a pleasure and I don't have anything else, would you like to add anything else?

Uh oh another list here folks (just kidding)

MagnumMan:
I'm glad we finally hooked up to do this... nope nothing else to add. Thanks for reviewing my script, by the way.

Heh... am I that bad?

Yeah actually

Captain Stoneyface:
Nope you were great.

MagnumMan:
the current iCoP thing is that apparently someone purchased some scaffolding to support my
big head.

Captain: Stoneyface
lol

MagnumMan:
The company also has erection services (for scaffolding - get your mind out of the gutter)

Captain Stoneyface:
lol

(you are) too much

I had to play the bonus missions so I will need to get back to reviews now.

Thank you MagnumMan it's been fun.

MagnumMan:
Hey so now you can review Sector Assault 0.9 and if it works you let me know :>

Captain Stoneyface:
You bet, until then. see you in D2

MagnumMan:
See you out and about the galaxy.

Note: As of April 5th, 2002, the fantastic scripting resource "Orion Script Library" is no more. Due to the creation of the new KhoroMag website, it was decided that his efforts would be better placed with the Community Code Crackers, er, heheh, I mean Patch Providers ;)

http://www.khoromag.com