How do I favourite an item?

Question

I'm playing on a PC and all of my keybindings have been rebound since I'm left-handed. Having a hard time figuring out which button favourites - I thought it would be the sheathe button like on Xbox, but that simply drops my item.

Which button favourites the item? Please note I don't want to know which letter it is on the keyboard, I want to know what button it says on the controls menu (i.e. if it's the "activate" button or the "sprint" button or whatever).

Answer

On PC it is the "Change POV" button.

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Leveling Restoration

Question

There are some nice restoration perks I'm trying to level up for.

Does (dual) casting heal when your health is full gain restoration experience?

If not, what are some good restoration leveling techniques?

Answer

No, it does not. Skills only level when the game judges them to have been "usefully" employed; in the case of spells, that means the spell must have had some noticeable effect. Casting healing spells at full health does nothing, nor does casting damage spells into a wall or armor spells without entering combat.

For leveling restoration, your best bet is to use the turn undead spell line, which gives skill increases very quickly. Head to your favorite barrow and start sending the skeletons fleeing before you kill them.

I would strongly caution against "boosting" non-damage skills in Skyrim. You risk your character leveling up too rapidly without having the combat skills he needs to survive. These techniques are best employed to catch up support skills that have fallen behind.

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In BF3, how does Reactive Armor work?

Question

Battlelog says that the panels protect you from damage but are destroyed in the process.

Specifically, what do the Reactive Armor vehicle unlocks do?

• How many panels are there?
• What constitutes damage? Up to 50 damage? 50 damage each (cumulative)? Some other algorithm
• Does using the repair tool on an enemy vehicle instantly remove the panels?

Answer

There are three panels, protecting the sides and rear of the tank. No protection is given to the front of the tank. Each one can take one incoming rocket, tank shell or AT Mine before being destroyed. Once the tank's health has been repaired, the panels can be repaired by a friendly engineer. Enemy engineers can't destroy the armour using a repair tool but they can by using their RPG/SMAW or AT MINE.

To repair the Reactive armour the tank must be at 100% health. If you do know what parts of the tank does not have the armour, use the repair tool and repair the side for 3-5 seconds and should be back up.

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What kinds of things happen when I link Steam and Facebook?

Question

I really hate Facebook apps. I've probably blocked a few hundred or so. Mostly the reasons are twofold:

1. I don't want to spam my friends with random crap that I'm doing
2. I find that most gaming is more interesting to me in a more rich environment (consoles, or a DirectX experience), and none of the games are really appealing when I've got other games to play.

So, what will happen if I merge Steam and Facebook?

• Will it automagically post to facebook any time I get a steam achievement?
• Will it post to facebook at other times?
• Do I have control over that? Can I hold back posts to facebook?
• What kind of information is available to my friends on each service?

Answer

This Facebook FAQ from the Steam Knowledgebase seems to answer most of your questions.

When you link your Facebook account to Steam, all that happens is that Steam tries to find if any of your Facebook friends are also on Steam, and suggests that you add them. You also get the option to invite your Facebook friends to link accounts as well, via a wall post (looks like this), but that can simply be declined.

Your Steam friend limit is also increased from 250 to 300.

The support article explicitly states that nothing will be posted to your wall automatically:

Are you going to post status messages to my wall?
Steam will not post anything to your Facebook wall without your permission.

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What is that shadow in Blight Town?

Question

Looking down at the sewer like area (in front of the spinning wheel), close to where you find the second fire keeper soul guarded by those "fire dogs", you can see a lurking shadow with a moving tail. If you move to the platform the shadow is nowhere to be seen. It is only visible if you look down on this area.

What is this shadow, a graphic glitch?

edit

Answer

That's just a shadow of one of those ugly bug things that is above you, up the stairs.

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Extra Super Mario 3D Land saved games

Question

Is there any way to have more than 3 saved games in Super Mario 3D Land? My wife and kids have claimed all three saved game slots, and I'd like to play sometime...

The 3DS has an SD card, so it seems like it ought to have lots of storage, but I don't see any way to use it.

Answer

Unfortunately, Super Mario 3D Land does not support any more than 3 save slots. The SD card does hold save data for many games, but you cannot add to save slots or anything like that.

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How do you climb out of a river in Adventure mode?

Question

I deliberately entered a river in order to cross it. I used Alt+direction and my adventurer began swimming around the river. But now I can't climb out, on neither of the two shores.

Is there a different key combination to climb out?

Answer

Are you at least a novince swimmer? Because if you're not

Dabbling or untrained swimmers will start drowning immediately upon contact with water, and require a ramp or stairway to get out. If neither are accessible, they're done for. _{(Emphasis Mine)}

If you are, you should be able to alt-move above.

To get out, alt-move carefully against a shoreline and select the option to move above.

From: Dwarf Fortress Wiki: DF2010:Swimmer

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How do I get more plants for my Zen Garden?

Question

I have recently unlocked the Zen Garden, but there are only 3 plants for sale in the shop and there is tons of empty room in the garden. How do I fill up the garden?

Also, I have 2 grave-eating plants in my garden that just kind of appeared with no action taken on my part. Why did this happen?

Answer

Plants are rare drops for playing the puzzle, survival, and adventure modes after you beat the game. Furthermore, the three sold in the shop reappear each day, allowing you to buy three per day.

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How do I hit these Riddler switches that are blocked when I step on a pressure plate?

Question

I can't find a solution to this enigma.

When I am over the button, grates rise which keep me from shooting the 3 question marks:

Answer

Set explosive gel on the question marks beforehand, then go stand on the button, zoom in and use the remote detonator to detonate the gels in the correct sequence.

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In Skyrim, are the Companion quests still available after taking over Whiterun (Stormcloaks path)?

Question

Being completely new to the game, I randomly decided to help take over Whiterun for the Stormcloaks before I got a chance to finish the Companion quests. Does that mean that the Companion quests are no longer available? Are the options to marry the various Companion members still a possibility after taking over Whiterun?

(P.S. I am also wondering if it is possible to cure lycanthropy [being a Werewolf] after having taken over Whiterun. I know there is a way that involves one of the last Companions quests, hence why I asked if I could still finish that quest line after taking over Whiterun.)

Answer

You can still finish the quests for the Companions - joining the Stormcloaks and taking Whiterun actually has very little impact on practical gameplay, as it mostly just replaces some NPCs with some other NPCs, and some NPCs become happier than some others.

As for the second part of your question, you'll be able to cure yourself of lycanthropy as well, in the same manner that everyone else cures it (if you need a bit of help there, check this question out).

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Where do I find glass to smith with?

Question

I have ran around this game world for 100+ hours and I have never seen raw glass. Am I missing it? Or is there something special that happens when I take the skill to craft glass? I have not taken it because I have never seen glass.

Answer

Glass items are made from Refined Malachite which is in turn made by smelting 2 Malachite Ores.

Malachite Ore can be found:

• 7 veins in Steamscorch Mine, directly Northeast of Kynesgrove.
• 2 veins (along with 2 Ebony Ore veins) at the top of Throat of the World.
• 4 at Labyrinthian Thoroughfare (Hjaalmarch)
• 3 at Labyrinthian, Tribune
• 2 centered at 150 ft NE of Kynesgrove
• 1 at The Brinehammer Below Deck (The Pale)

Refined Malachite can be found:

• 3 centered at 180 ft NE of Kynesgrove
• 2 at Swindler's Den (Whiterun Hold)
• 1 at Saarthal Excavation (Winterhold)
• 1 at Understone Keep (Markarth)
• Sold by blacksmiths and general goods merchants starting at level 18 (20?)

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Where do I find my first gun?

Question

I can't seem to find a gun or any way to progress in Cave Story+. I'm currently at the very beginning and I can't tell if this is just glitched or if I am just completely missing where I pick up a gun.

Answer

You have to steal the first gun (The Polar Star) from the Gunsmith's House. You'll have to evade a couple of screen's worth of enemies to get there, though. The only tricky part is the first jump over the water, where you'll have to jump before you walk off the end of the shore, or you'll end up unable to get over the barrier.

Here's a Let's Play of the first level, taking you down to the Gunsmith's House:

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Should I take the perk to create Plate Armor?

Question

I'm a full 2H warrior and already spending perk points on 2H, Block, Heavy Armor plus Blacksmithing and Enchanting. Should I get the perk to create Plate armor? In order to get it I should spend one in Elven Armor as well...

Answer

Plate armor has the same armor rating as Orcish armor (40 base armor) which has the same level requirement. Plate is also heavier than Orcish. Stick with the Heavy Armor path in Smithing.

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Does using furnace increase smithing skill?

Question

I've smelted quite a lot of ore (iron, silver, gold, etc.) into respective bars but it doesn't seem to get my smithing skill increase.
Is this a bug or does only making/improving objects increase this skill?

Answer

No

Using a Smelter does not increase your skill, similar to a Tanning Rack.

Only actually making something using the Forge or improving things using the Grindstone or Workbench will give you Smithing experience.

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Custom music in The Sims 3 for various modes?

Question

A feature I loved about The Sims 2 was how easy it was to customize music for the various modes -- buy, build, neighborhood, etc.

As far as I can tell, The Sims 3 only lets you add music to the custom music folder -- no customization for various modes :-(

Does anyone know if it is possible to somehow include custom music per mode?

Thanks!

Answer

Currently there is not a sure-fire way to do it, no. The only way that it could be done is to use Sims 3 Package Extractor (s3pe) to replace the current build music in the FullBuild1.package file. If this was all you had to do it'd be easy. However in The Sims 3, EA thought it'd be a grand idea to package the music in it's own proprietary format ".snr/.sns". This is also known as the EA Layer 3 audio format. They also used this format in Command and Conquer 3. To get something encoded in this format is the problem. There are no known converters that will encode into it. I myself, have gotten ffmpeg to convert out of this format into mp3 for some files, but not the other way around. I did not put more effort into it after that and moved on to more enticing projects.

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How to get in Wonder Tower after explosion?

Question

I completed the main campaign of Batman Arkham City.

Now looking at the map, I have 2 riddles remaining on Wonder Tower, but I can't find a way up after the explosion.

Do I lose access to these riddles?

Answer

You enter the same way as you did the first time, i.e. go through Wonder City and take the elevator. You won't be able to access the topmost part of the tower, but there are no collectibles that far up. All trophies, riddles and breakable items are still reachable after completing the main campaign.

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Is there any penalty for getting a miss (False Positive) in Bit.Trip Core?

Question

The principle gameplay of Core involves firing a quad-directional laser by pressing a direction and a button simultaneously. If you hit a beat, it gets cleared, you get score, etc.

It is also possible to shoot the laser when there aren't beats in that direction, which will cause "Miss" to appear. Does getting a miss in this instance (when there are no beats to hit, rather than actually "Miss"-ing a beat) have any effect on your combo, counter, or affect SUPER mode?

Answer

If I remember correctly this will just break your chain. It won't affect your mode meters or combos. Sincerely, the guy who coded BIT.TRIP CORE ;)

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Is there any way to access Dynasty Traits in offline mode?

Question

I am playing Might and Magic Heroes VI and have come across Dynasty Traits. It appears that they are not available when playing in offline mode. Is there any way to enable them while in offline mode?

Answer

I don't think so. It's a feature reserved for online so that you can't have it if you crack the game. It's ubisoft baby.

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What happens if I get arrested?

Question

On the road to Whiterun I came across 3-4 guards escorting a Stormcloak prisoner. I killed the guards and freed the prisoner. Then a couple of seconds later a guard turned up and tried to arrest me, giving me three choices:

• To pay a 40 gold fine
• To go to prison
• To resist arrest

I chose to pay the fine.

What would have happened if I had picked going to prison?

The guard said I'd go to prison and have my stolen items taken from me - however, I had an amulet I looted from one of the dead guards that I equipped and that didn't disappear. Are things really taken or not?

If I had resisted arrest and killed the new guard, would a new one have spawned ad infinitum?

Answer

When you go to jail, everything you have on you will be taken away and stored in a chest until you serve out your prison sentence.

However, you will always manage to sneak a single lockpick with you when you enter jail so you have a chance to break out. If you choose this method, you'll have to locate the chest with your equipment to reacquire it.

Should you choose to serve your sentence, just sleep in your jail cell. Keep in mind this has some consequences

The reason why the amulet was not taken is due to the fact that it was most likely not considered stolen. When you kill someone and take the stuff from their body, its not considered thievery.

Note, this is only for normal arrests/jail sentences. There is at least 1 quest that gets you sent to jail and that is treated differently.

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How does the bonus system work in Uncharted 3?

Question

Does Uncharted 3 simply not have a bonus menu like UC2, or do you have to do beat it on crushing to fully unlock it?

Maybe I misremember things, but it seemed like UC2 had a menu system with lists of trophies won, weapons that could be equipped, and various skins, mirror modes, etc. Initially most of these were locked, but you could see that they existed; even before completing on crushing. I just don't see anything in the main menu system of UC3 that leads to that information. All I can find is player statistics, and the list of treasures found.

Does UC3 just not have that menu system? If that's the case, how do you even know which trophies you have and don't have?

Answer

No, unfortunately Uncharted 3 does not feature the same kind of unlock system that Uncharted 2 did, or any other single-player unlock/cheat system.

There are still plenty of (in fact, a lot more) unlocks for multiplayer games, including skins, guns, attachments, boosters, etc.

I'd cite a source, but guides that don't mention an unlockables menu that doesn't exist isn't very helpful. GameFAQs, which is usually fairly reliable, has this page for cheats and unlockables. Nothing on guns or single-player.

As for trophies - how do you check for any other game? Using the PS3 Trophies menu. There aren't separate PS3 Trophies/Uncharted medals in this one, it's just the Trophy list.

Edit - just a few other questions on other websites, all saying the same thing. Nothing concrete, just additional info:

• Gamespot forum thread
• IGN forum thread

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I'm not powerful enough to continue the main quest(s). What can I do?

Question

It's seems I've hit a bump: Every time I try to battle something I die. I couldn't go to High Hrothgar because I couldn't beat the troll. So I figured I'd become a Stormcloak and head over to Windhelm and maybe level up on my journey there. So I leave Ivarstead, die to a bear, and end up fast traveling to Whiterun. I start off on the trail leading to Windhelm and die to a Frostbite Spider.

I'm a level 6 Breton. I have light armor and I am focused on 1H weps (mainly sword) and destruction magic (and a little alteration, but not til later in the game). Am I just advancing in the story line to quickly, or do I have a bad character build?

Answer

Bears are tough. A few tips: try upgrading your equipment if you have smithing, and either dual-wield swords (if that's your weapon of choice) and attack with both (both mouse buttons simultaneously on PD) or use a sword and a shield.

It's possible that it's just too early to do what you're trying to do. Level up a bit further before trying to progress the main storyline. Do a few side quests, get better weapons and armor, get a few perks in light armor and one-handed weapons.

Don't forget to bring potions!

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Where are the secret holiday gifts needed for the Winter Secrets achievement?

Question

Recently, Trine was updated with a new achievement that involves finding Christmas gifts:

Find the Academic, Bony and Crystalline holiday secret gifts.

The description seems to be a hint to the levels they appear in. Makes me think Academy Hallways, Crypt of the Damned and Crystal Caves.

Where exactly are those presents?

Answer

You are mostly right. The levels where the gifts are located are Academy Hallways, Crystal Caves, and Dragon Graveyard. This video shows their exact locations:

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What do I do after I make the chandelier fall?

Question

I've just gotten past the crane sequence and I'm now in a two-story chamber where I can climb around in the rafters. I hopped on the chandelier and broke it. Now part of the chandelier is on the bottom floor with two lit candles.

I can light my trusty stick on fire with the candles, which I would assume is important to progress. But I can't find anything else to light on fire, nor any dark places to light up within range of the torch's duration.

I saw in the chandelier crash cutscene that the support of the broken bridge is weakened. I assume that I must make the bridge crash, so I can get down to the far first-floor door that Yorda must open. But nothing I do has any effect on the support. I've tried to light it on fire to no avail. I've tried jumping up and down on the bridge above the support, and at the end where leverage would be greatest, but I don't seem to be massive enough to budge it.

Outside of the far second-floor door is a balcony area. I found the box I can push around to get up on the low pillar, and from there I can get on the high pillar near the rope. Nothing I do has any effect on the rope. I can't get there in time with my stick on fire to try to burn it. I can whack it, which makes it vibrate a little. I can't hang from it. I can't find any way to get up on the roof.

TL;DR: What do I do after I make the chandelier fall? Please give gentle nudges at first, with increasingly blatant hints in spoiler tags.

Answer

You have to go downstairs and bring a bomb from outside with you then use a stick and light the bomb on the suport.

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How to download a Steam game without DLCs?

Question

I bought The Binding of Isaac together with the soundtrack, and now when I want to download it to another PC, instead of the binary Steam also downloads the soundtrack, increasing the download size. Is there any way to avoid this?

Answer

Someone with a similar problem contacted Steam support and got the following reply:

"Unfortunately we do not have the ability to remove DLCs from games. Once a DLC is purchased, it is automatically added to the game install files. We understand the inconvenience this may cause."

They gave him the option to remove the DLC from his account, but that was about the best they could do.

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What is the best layer to mine for gold in Minecraft?

Question

Now that booster tracks can be created using gold ore, I seem to be getting through my supplies rather quickly.

What is the layer with the highest amount of gold? I'm currently looking around layer 25-30, but can't seem to find more than a couple of blocks..

Answer

I'm always mining on the second level on top of bedrock. That is 4-6 blocks on top of bedrock layer.

This area is very rich in everything. Tons of coal, tons of iron and reasonable amounts of gold/diamonds/lapiz/redstone.

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How can I improve my social skills?

Question

Some of the items in Star Wars: The Old Republic refer to a "Social Rank", and they won't let me use them until I reach Social Rank 1 (or higher).

What are social points? How do I earn them? Aside from these Social Badges, are there any other benefits from doing so?

Answer

They're earned from conversations.

Every time you choose a conversation option during a cutscene while in a party, you get Social Points. In multi-person conversations, each character will roll to see who gets the definitive answer and speaks aloud.

If your character wins the roll and speaks, you get 2 Social Points per person in the conversation (so 8 if you're in a full party). Everyone who didn't win the roll gets 1 Social Point per participant (4 in a full party).

I'm not sure if the rewards are greater in a Flashpoint, though.

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I can't get past the opening splash screen when I try to start playing Skyrim

Question

I just tried to run Skyrim and once the splash screen appears, I hit "Play." The splash screen blinks and pops up again. Nothing else happens, and the game does not open.

I'm stuck in a endless loop :)

It's not the first time I've run the game. I have 28 hours of gameplay already.

I have tried:

• Restarting my PC
• Running Steam as Administrator (if I don't, I get an error message I can't completely remember, something along the lines of "Skyrim will... Modify your data")

Answer

I've fixed it. Steps for those who are having the same problems :

1. Close steam (right click on the system tray icon and choose exit)
2. Go to C:\Program Files (x86)\ or whatever folder your steam is installed
3. To to Steam/steamapps/common/skyrim/Skyrim
4. Delete (or move to desktop to avoid issues if it does not work) the SkyrimPrefs.ini file
5. Open Steam and go to : Library->Skyrim -> Right Click -> Properties -> Local Files - > Verify Integrity of Game cache
6. It will download a "missing" file, 22MB or something
7. Ready to play.

I hope this helps other people with the same problem!

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64-bit Java not recognized in Minecraft

Question

When I set the render distance to Far in mine craft (latest version as of December 30 2011) it says that I need to install 64bit java.

Interesting Information:

• I am running Lion (Mac OS 10.7, latest version), 64-bit
• I have 64-bit Java installed as well as 32-bit (proved in the screenshot below)
• I ran a software update (to make sure I had the latest java version)
• I also ran a "force update" in Minecraft
• Restarted my machine several times
• After Googling I checked to see if 64-bit Java was at the top of the list, it was (in screenshot)

This is the error message that I am getting:

Although I can still use the "Far" render distance, it is a tad choppy.

When I open Java Preferences (located in /Applications/Utilities) this is what I see:

Answer

Minecraft on Mac OS X with 64-bit Java

So you're a slave to warning messages and you want Minecraft to use 64-bit Java. Here's how to do it on the command line. These instructions were crafted on MacOS Lion, which should prefer 64-bit Java when possible (Applications/Utilities/Java Preferences). These instructions assume the default Minecraft.app location, in the main /Applications folder. I had a few tabs open, while I was sussing this out, including an excellent forum post, a post on JavaApplicationStub bits, and the official reference for CF keys.

Here we go.

Swap out Minecraft's JavaApplicationStub for the current OS' version:

gzip /Applications/Minecraft.app/Contents/MacOS/JavaApplicationStub
cp
/System/Library/Frameworks/JavaVM.framework/Versions/Current/Resources/MacOS/JavaApplicationStub /Applications/Minecraft.app/Contents/MacOS/

Then, add 64-bit architecture to Minecraft's possibilities:

/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Add :Java:JVMArchs:0 string 'x86_64'" 
/Applications/Minecraft.app/Contents/Info.plist

Launch. That should do it. Watch out for creepers. Have a nice day.

---

If everything goes wrong, here's how to roll back from here to your original configuration:

rm /Applications/Minecraft.app/Contents/MacOS/JavaApplicationStub
gunzip /Applications/Minecraft.app/Contents/MacOS/JavaApplicationStub.gz
/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Delete :Java:JVMArchs:0" /Applications/Minecraft.app/Contents/Info.plist

I did not write this! Source

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Plant Respawn Time

Question

Has anyone determined the length of time it takes for outdoor alchemy plants to respawn and if there are any gotchas to the respawn?

I did have a look around but all I can find on the web are a bunch of non quotes from people who don't seem that sure.

Answer

The contents of a Cell gets reset (respawning everything in it) after 10 days (240 hours) after your last visit.

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Mass Effect 3 will be on Origin, how will this affect me with my two other Mass Effect games being on Steam?

Question

As you know EA had a fall out with Steam earlier this year (2011). This meant that any newly released games by EA would only be available through Origin and not any other source.

This is troubling for me as I do not know how it will affect me in keeping my character consistency throughout all the games (as you maintain your character stats, features) all through the Mass Effect series.

Do you think Mass Effect 3 will be able to detect my previous games even though they are located in the Steam folder?

Thanks

Answer

As Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 saves your games in a non-Steam-specific location ([My Documents]/Bioware/Mass Effect and [My Documents]/Bioware/Mass Effect 2) Mass Effect 3 should not have any problem finding your previous save games.

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When I purchase a game on Xbox Live, will I get a copy on DVD as well?

Question

Will I get the option to order a "hard copy" (DVD) while buying the game on Xbox Live?

I've only ever purchased live arcade game, not a game you usually buy in the store. You know, something over 1GB.

I want to buy a copy of Dance Central 2, since the family is coming over for new years. And I want to buy it on Xbox Live to save myself a trip to the store, but I want it on DVD for safe keeping. I don't want to have to re-download the game over the net if I reformat the xbox HDD later.

Plus I have fears that somehow I will not have access to it later if Microsoft decides to revamp the Xbox-Live system. They did this with the Windows Media player stores, and we're still trying to get back the music licenses for well over 100 songs that my friends Mom purchased.

Answer

No, if you purchase a game via the Xbox Live Marketplace, there is no option to get that game on DVD. It's a digital download only. The prices also frequently don't align - especially if you're used to buying used, the game prices are typically marked up significantly to make up for the "convenience factor" of the digital download.

Microsoft controls what content plays on the console, whether it is on optical storage or digital download. If you use/connect to Xbox Live while playing, Microsoft can force you to sign out if you refuse a console or title update. This may lock you out of certain features (especially online/internet enabled features) of the game. The licenses are certainly harder to revoke when you own the physical media, but more and more the direction is towards licensed content, and not ownership in the traditional sense.

Recently Microsoft added support for connecting external storage devices, and it is possible to copy your content to these external devices. However, I don't believe the intent is for backup. The Xbox 360 will use a max of 16 GB of storage space on an external device.

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Extracting Announcer Audio Files

Question

I want to extract the announcer audio files (I don't know if this is legal or not).

The closest solution I have found is a "(mini-Tutorial) How to listen to any sound file from LoL (incl. unreleased champions)" however it's a bit too old, that thread started on August 2009 when the game was in beta phase.

Is there an alternative way of doing this besides that post? I really want to listen to the legendary Penta kill sound.

Answer

I don't know if extracting the files is legal or not, it probably is ok as long as you don't distribute / sell them. Follow these steps at your own risk:

1. Google and download fsbext.zip (I used http://ultrashare.net/hosting/dl/65f2fd1f3d). We will use this to unpack the fsb file that holds all of the sounds

2. Extract fsbext.zip into a folder (for example C:\fsbext)

3. Navigate to the sounds directory of League of Legends (mine is C:\Riot Games\League of Legends\RADS\projects\lol_game_client_en_us\managedfiles\0.0.0.20\DATA\Sounds\FMOD, yours may differ)

4. Copy VOBank_en_US.fsb from that directory to your fsbext directory (so that it is in the same folder as fsbext.exe)

5. In the fsbext folder, run the following command in a terminal / command prompt (or create a .bat file in the fsbext folder, copy and paste the command into it and then run the .bat file)

   fsbext.exe -a VOBank_en_US.fsb

6. You'll probably want the files whose names start with "female1_OnChampionPentaKill"

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Do weapons and spells in the off-hand suffer from reduced effectiveness?

Question

When dual wielding, is there any penalty to the offhand weapon, whether of damage or attack speed? What about a spell equipped on that slot? Or is the dragonborn ambidextrous?

Answer

The Dragonborn is ambidexterous, but refuses to wield a shield in their right hand. Magic and weapons can be used in any combination of Right / Left, Left / Right, etc.

The Dual-Wield "penalty" as it were, is that you cannot block when dual-wielding. (Even though you could normally block with a single weapon if your offhand is free.)

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How can I remap the keybindings for containers in Skyrim?

Question

The interface for containers in Skyrim is driving me nuts. On the chest side, press E and you take the ingredient. Change to your inventory side, press E and you eat the item, instead of dropping it in to the box.

On the other hand, I have emptied the whole chest countless times, because the R key moves one item from your inventory into the container, but all items the other way round.

Is there any way to change this behavior? Mods like "Interface Hard Coded Key Tweaks" only seem to be able to change the whole group of functions a key can be bound to in different situations (meaning that I could bind "Take" and "Eat" on another key, but not on different keys).

Answer

Two solutions I can think of:

• Check out the SkyUI mod. It may alleviate the problem as it's more reliant on the mouse, however it doesn't replace all menus at this time (only the personal inventory screen).

• If you have Adobe Flash and with some programming experience I'm pretty sure you can separate those predefined controls into any keys you like. See my question Config setting for the threshold between single/multiple item handling? for the basics of opening and editing the Interface files. You'll need a tool like FOMM to see inside the Skyrim - Interface.bsa file and find the correct directory structure to store your own "mod".

  You wouldn't be able to change the UI like SkyUI does without prior Flash experience. However as I have found out, it's fairly simple to edit the actionscript code and re-publish the files without touching anything else.

  EDIT If you're willing to hack the actionscript, see line 62 of ContainerMenu.as

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Dual casting different spells

Question

I can't seem to find the information. Does getting the dual casting perk also work for dual casting different spells?

For example, if I have Frostbite in one hand, and Sparks in the other, will the combination creates something new, or will it just be better overall?

Thanks

Answer

No. Dual Casting perks only apply to cases where you have the same spell equipped in both hands.

You can not combine spells to get interesting or useful 'combined effects'.

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I'm a Stage 4 Vampire and can't talk to the guy who can give me the cure

Question

I'm a stage 4 vampire, so everyone (except guards) attack me on sight. That includes Falion in Morthal. How can I get this guy to calm down long enough to give me the details on how to get rid of vampirism?

Note: becoming a werewolf is no longer an option.

Answer

Feed. Find a sleeping human, and interact with them to feed on their blood.

This will cause your vampirism to revert to Stage I so that you can seek out a cure.

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How is teamkilling penalized in BF3?

Question

Is there an anti-TK system in the game? How can I punish somebody who intentionally killed me? Is there some kind of slap or slay system?

Answer

There is an anti-team-killing setup on the server side of things. Server admins can adjust these as they see fit, but if you team kill enough you'll get booted.

This is what the defaults look like:

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Can conversations be clicked through?

Question

Conversations in Skyward Sword can take... a while. The text is slow to appear, and it seems you have to wait for all of it to appear. It literally makes me grind my teeth in rage when I accidently talk to the same character a second time, and have to wait through four or five text boxes for 30 seconds or more.

Is there any way to hurry my interlocutors up, and keep my dentist happy?

Answer

You can hold A down and the conversation text will appear faster. Other than that, no.

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I got an 'F' — How can I improve my grade?

Question

I was working on the "All I want for Christmas is Sewers" mission in Rusty Hearts, (Canals B3, Very Hard) and I got an 'F'. How can I improve my grade? I got hit a few times, and I got what I thought was a huge combo (50ish?) Is there something else I need to do?

Answer

Your rank in a dungeon is affected by 3 factors:

Time

Self-explanatory. The longer you take to clear the various rooms, the lower your rank will go.

Style Points

The more Style Points you get, the better your grade will be. Ways to rack up Style Points include:

• Perform high combos: Performing several attacks in succession and comboing your Skills with your normal attacks will help increase this quickly.
• Overkill: Hitting corpses that are already dead will cause Overkill, as will doing more damage on a killing blow than life a monster has left.
• Grab Finishers: Killing monsters with grab skills will give you bonus points, though apparently it also lowers the speed you kill/clear a bit, so you'll have to weight the benefits for yourself.
• Chain Kills and Rising Hits: Slaying lots of monsters one after another will get you Chain Kills and doing air combos/juggling will get you lots of Rising Hits.
• Blocking: Timing your blocks to do a Just Guard in order to counterattack. This is also good because the third factor is...

Getting Hit

The more you get hit, the lower your rank will go. It seems that the number to avoid is 16. After being hit 16 times, your rank will go down a level. So if you're at rank SSS and get hit 16 times, you'll go down to SS, another 16 hits, and you'll go down to S (excluding other factors). According to some, it may even be impossible to get SSS if you have massive Style points, but were still hit 16 or more times.

Some dungeons also have requirements where you must have a certain amount of Style Points by the time you get to a certain room, or your rank will drop. The playerbase has speculated on the formula a bit, but there seems to be either an element of randomness or there's just not enough information yet.

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What are the cryptic Steam Super Meat Boy achievements and what do the names mean?

Question

It seems like the following cryptic achievements are only available on the Steam version, not XBLA.

• N#7*<1!23
• &*>?1$
• (=+66&1$
• ^**5%_=+12
• *|-0&&
• N&8^2^%$1``

The "description" on all of them is: 8*(@31^

Bonus (bounty) points:

Are the names/characters truly random or is there some pattern? Can they be translated into something sane?

Answer

Mana's guess is correct. I can confirm that after beating Level -1 (in The Forest) I got the N#7*<1!23 achievement. Six worlds, six negative levels, six achievements.

See this question on how to reach the levels in the first place.

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Is there a way bring down the iron bars behind Clavicus Vile in Haemar's Shrine?

Question

There seems to be a metal bars-esque barrier in the passage behind Clavicus Vile in Haemar's Shame/Haemar's Shrine. Is there a way to open it?

Answer

Go up to the door, directly to the right of the door is a chain on the wall. If you can't find it I'll post a SS when I get home.

Edit: If you zoom in on your SS you can see it, snip here.

Took me a while to find it as well, and I did look for it, I didn't find it till I came back the second time.

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Skyrim “You already have a follower” issue

Question

Whenever I try to get somebody to follow me in Skyrim they something in the lives with "You already have a follower.". The problem is, I don't.

I have not, to my recollection, had a follower at any given point in the game.

The only thing I can think of is that I have (spoiler) finished Anriel's Endeavors and gotten him as a summon creature.

Or do I have a hidden follower that I can't remember. A dog or a horse perhaps? Note that I do not have a dog or horse following me now. I talked to dog once, and had a horse that died.

Is this a known issue? Is there a work around? Any tips?

Answer

Are you on the Companions quest chain by chance? Possibly the quest Proving Honor? Starting this quest (and I think several other Companions quests) sets Farkas (in this case) as your Follower. If thats the case, he's waiting for you at Dustman's Cairn and you won't be able to dismiss him until you complete the quest.

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Skyrim “Arniel summon spell” issue

Question

I finished Arniel's Endeavors and got "Summon Arniel's Shade".

But there seems to be something wrong with it. It's just too good.

It costs me 0 magicka and he does not seem to have any health.

If I encounter a enemy that is too dangerous, I just let him loose and he battles the enemy for 60 seconds. Then, I can let him go again at no cost.

Is this a known issue? It almost feels like cheating using him.

And is the quest over, or am I suppose to use him later in the game?

Answer

Summon Arniel's Shade is a powerful spell indeed. It costs 0 magicka and is immune to physical attacks. I'm not sure if the 0 cost was intended but it is certainly known.

This is the end of the quest.

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Is it possible to disarm or remotely trigger Runes?

Question

So, part of being an effective thief is being able to disarm or circumvent various automated defense mechanisms. Y'know, traps.

Tripwires are easy, and the kind that are wired up to doors aren't much tougher, assuming the wire's on the side of the door I'm on. Pressure Plates are easily handled with the appropriate Sneak perk, and they can also be triggered via telekinesis or other means of placing objects with weight on them.

But the Magickal traps, specifically those glowing runes on the ground... those confound me. I've found nothing better to do than to throw up some defenses, and take a burst of (often very LOUD) magick to the face, which is... unpleasant and inelegant.

There has to be a better way? Is there some sort of Dispel Magic that I haven't found? Is there some other trick to disarming rune spells perhaps?

Answer

Well sadly there is no effective way to silently disable the trap but you can throw a a fireball at the trap which will indeed trigger it but some kinds of magic dont work on some kinds of traps, i am unsure of which ones due to the fact that i rarely come across these kind of traps.

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Which file is better to store on a ramdisk? [closed]

Question

I want to minimize the loading time of Skyrim and decided to install a ram disk and hard link one of the big .bsa files in the Skyrim data folder. There are 3 .bsa files over 1GB. Which one is the better to offload my hard disk? Here are the choices: Textures, Meshes and Voices. What is the .esm files? Is this good at all? I admit I didn't noticed a big improvement with the texture file.

Edit: Put skyrim.esm on the ram disk but the game doesn't start.

Edit: Using Process.exe and monitoring TESV.exe the top ten files by the menu Tools->File Summary on my box is:

1. meshes.bsa
2. Textures folder
3. Skyrim.esm
4. Sound folder
5. Voices.bsa
6. Strings folder
7. music folder

The file textures.bsa seems to be totaly irrelevant.

Edit: Here is why skyrim.esm doesn't work on the ramdisk. It's because NTFS doesn't allow hardlinks accross partition: http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=355025.

Edit: To the people that vote to close or downvote read my question carefully and also the edit. Unlike Tom Wijsman is writing in his comment the third edit isn't an assumption!!!! Skyrim.esm doesn't load from a ramdisk and the reason is written in my edit and in the post. READ BEFORE YOU POST!!!

Answer

Wouldn't really buy you anything. RAM disks take away real RAM from your disk cache, which is the better place to locate big and small files. For instance, it will store only the parts of the file in RAM that you actually use, whereas a RAMdisk has to keep whole files in RAM.

Now, you're worried about Bethesda doing a poor job, but that RAM cache is managed by Windows, i.e. Microsoft. And since it's such a critical core component, it's well-optimized.

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Which airfield is “Windy?”

Question

One of the Holiday Gift Grab achievements today is Snowball - Land 5 helicopters in a row on the Windy airfield. The airfields don't seem to have names that I can find, though.

Are there names for the airfields anywhere? Which one is the "Windy" airfield?

Answer

It's the airfield with the orange and white wind cone thing in the middle. 3rd map from the right. Good luck with the achievement!

I just unlocked it. It's definitely that one on the PC.

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Customization in Forza 4

Question

I recently bought my dad Forza 4 for christmas and he's now telling me that you need to have a gold membership on xbox to even customize your cars at all. Now, my dad's not very familiar with video games at all and I think he was confusing this with an ad to buy DLC BUT, just in case, DO you need xbox gold to be able to do this? and if not then how? so I can explain it to him.

Answer

You do not need a gold membership to customize or tune cars, however, you do need it to upload created paint jobs, tuning files, and vinyls to the storefront to sell to other players, to join a club, or to share things with a club you have joined.

If you want to create custom vinyls for your car, you can go to Play Career > Paint > Create Vinyl Group. Once you are in the menu here, simply create your design layer-by-layer and, once you have what you want, save it. (Doing this the first time also nets you an achievement.)

If you want to tune your car to your liking, ho to Play Career > Upgrade > Tune Setup and you will be presented with the option of changing the setup (tuning) of your car. When you have things how you like, hit the Start Button and select Save Current Setup to save the Tuning File.

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How do I read strawberry facts?

Question

In Fruit Ninja, to unlock one of the achievements, you have to "Read three strawberry facts". What does that mean? Somehow, I got that achievement; how did I do it?

Answer

When you finish games, you get a random fruit fact on the same screen where you get your stats for each round. You must have been given three strawberry related ones at some point in time. The strawberry ones seem to be more rare than others (which might be related to the fact that they are an achievement).

In some versions, there are arrows on the screen that let you change between views (so you can actually see the fruit fact you get at the end of the round).

It will look something like this (this particular shot is from the iOS version):

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Does Madden NFL 11 support local multiplayer?

Question

I was looking for a game that my son and I could play together on our xbox. I picked out the game Madden NFL 11. My son asked "Are you sure we can do multi player on the same xbox?" I told him that I thought so, but I better check before I open the game.

Is it possible for us to play together using the same console?

Answer

Yes you can. Up to four players can play "offline" multiplayer, while up to six players can play over Xbox Live/PSN.

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While streaking, can I “shock” police officers?

Question

I'm working on the Saintsbook challenge for streaking, and occasionally I raise the ire of the police. Normally I run away from them, seeing as they're shooting at me and I'm rather... vulnerable. However, it seems like having a high wanted level might make this easier to shock enough people to get to the higher levels.

Do I get credit for shocking police officers (and STAG officers, army soldiers, etc)?

Answer

I've determined that you can, in fact, shock police and military officers. In fact, you can shock gang members, and even people driving cars, if you can get close enough.

The Saintsbook challenge is for time though, and the rewards are otherwise uninteresting. If it's a pain, you're better off just starting streaking, waiting for time to run out, and then starting again. There's no added benefit to actually doing "well" at the minigame.

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Where can I store cars that I find?

Question

Where can I store/save cars that I find? I don't see any garages or cribs on my map.

Also, can you save cars during a mission?

I just started playing and found a really nice Wasabi but failed a mission and now I lost it... argh.

Answer

You can store cars in the garage at any crib, and at any Rim Jobs. Cribs show up as little house icons on a yellow background. Rim Jobs are green icons with wrenches on them.

At the start of the game, you'll only have access to Shaundi's Ex's Loft as a crib, but complete more story missions and more will open up to you (as Ashley list indicates). Some of the cribs have helipads, and these store air vehicles such as choppers, and later... well, I don't want to spoil it ;)

You can buy Rim Jobs locations, but this is not required to store cars or access your garage. This just allows you to lose your wanted level if you enter it, and gives you a "periodic income" boost. You'll be taken to a Rim Jobs location early in one of the plot missions, but they are located across the city and are unlocked from the start. Rim Jobs locations can't be used if you have a wanted level, unlike crib garages which work regardless of your wanted level.

If you invest any money in a car, it becomes yours permanently unless you delete it from your garage - you can lose the car, destroy it, drive it off a cliff into the river, etc, and it will always reappear in your garage shortly afterwards. Under certain circumstances you may have to pay a $500 fee to recover a car that's been lost or destroyed.

You can usually store cars whenever you wish, so long as the car isn't required for a mission. There are times when you can't access the garage, and the game will tell you so if you try to approach it.

When it comes to what can be stored - if it is a land vehicle, and you can drive it, you can store it in any garage. You might not think you can fit a tank inside Shaund's Ex's Loft, and it's a little bit of a squeeze, but it fits :)

In addition to the "land vehicle" garages, and helipads at certain cribs, there is also an airplane hangar at the airport you can buy, and a boat dock or two if you wish to store some boats.

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Is Support Juggernaut only defensive?

Question

In Modern warfare 3, is the Juggernaut in support pointstreak package only for defensive, IE you can't shoot or attack? I got it briefly but that's what it looked like it only was for, but wanted to verify....

Answer

No; you can attack, but obviously less effectively than the Assault Juggernaut. The Riot Shield has a melee attack (bashing), and you also get a USP .45 pistol as a secondary weapon.

The shield is mostly useful for defending (say, a control point), but if you get a couple of team mates to follow you, you can also provide an nigh-invincible distraction and cover for an offensive front.

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How many Stars do I need to complete the story?

Question

In Super Mario Galaxy 2, do I have to collect every star on every planet to complete the story portion of the game (I am not trying to collect everything, just what I need to progress)?

If not, what is the minimum amount of Stars that I need to complete the game - and by that I mean reaching the end of the story and (ostensibly) saving the princess?

Answer

As I recall, you need 70 stars in order to access Bowser's Galaxy Generator, the last boss stage. Mario Wiki seems to agree.

This is the same number of stars you seems to need in all newer 3D Mario games.

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Which crew skills complement each other?

Question

I was wondering, which of the crew skills are complementary? Like mining and smelting in WoW, which gets the components for which?

Answer

Here's a very handy diagram for how the crew skills relate to each other.

The bottom tier is the crafting while the top ones are the ones used to gather materials for those crafting professions:

Here's a direct link to the image and the wiki entry for which the image was created.

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Does turning the flags to gold unlock anything?

Question

In Super Mario 3D Land if you land right on the top of the flag pole (so that Mario does a sort of one-handed handstand), you get a 1-up. I also noticed that the Mario flag that goes up is gold instead of red.

Does it unlock anything if you get all gold flags in a world/the whole game? Or is it just a nice aesthetic change from red because you got a 1-up?

Answer

Getting them all is one of 5 things you can do to get a "star" on your save file in the main menu. The others are:

Defeat Bowser in World 8's last level, successfully complete all levels with Mario, successfully complete all levels with Luigi, and collect all star coins.

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Where do Minecraft texture packs go on OS X?

Question

I play Minecraft on OS X and for some reason clicking this button doesn't do anything.

Where should I be putting my texture packs?

Answer

I poked around and discovered a new folder:

~/Library/Application Support/minecraft/texturepacks/

Putting the texture packs you download in this folder makes them appear in the menu. Don't extract the files, just leave the .zip there.

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Does the Scavenger perk give you extra grenades?

Question

In Modern Warfare 3, does the Scavenger perk give you grenades from dead players? I was wondering if it did for those players who haven't used their grenades. I assume when you scavenge, you get only ammo that the dead player did not use.

Answer

It used to, but not in Modern Warfare 3.

Unlike previous games, Scavenger no longer replenishes Lethal equipment like Frags and Semtex or Tactical equipment like Stuns and Flashbangs. However, Throwing knives can be resupplied.

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Spoiler - Limbo ending

Question

Holding my breath in suspense, I watched the ending animation of Limbo.

My (spoiling) question is:

Did both the boy and the girl die in the end?
After the animation where he found the girl ended, the game menu appeared. The scene behind it looked similar to the previous one. But there only were swarms of flies above the two patches of grass approximately where the kids stood just a moment before.

Answer

There are many theories about the ending of Limbo. This article gives a good summary.

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When to refresh DOTs on Balance Druid 4.3 Full Tier13 Gear

Question

There is lots of discussion on when to refresh DOTs, and I'm not sure what's optimal.

What is the ideal time to recast DOTs in full Tier 13 set? Refresh always when Eclipse procs or only when they fall off or minimal clipping occurs?

Answer

The best answers for optimal plays can usually be found in the Elitist Jerks forums, because they do a lot of testing and maths to confirm their recommendations.

On DoT refreshing, they say:

Compared to WLK, our DoT's are far stronger now. You want to do your best to maintain very high uptime on both of them. Typically, the only time you will hold up recasting of a DoT is if it falls off and the corresponding Eclipse is coming up very soon--you'll wait one or two casts and refresh at the beginning of Eclipse. If both DoT's are coming up at around the same time when you start Eclipse, remember that Nature's Grace will only affect the second one, so you want to remember to use Insect Swarm first (because Moonfire/Sunfire is stronger than IS under either Eclipse).

Cataclysm changed the way DoT refreshing works--when you refresh a currently ticking DoT, you no longer waste a partial tick. Significantly, if you refresh a DoT when it has only one tick remaining, there is no loss at all. This means the optimal time to refresh a DoT is during its last tick, thereby maintaining true 100% uptime. Failing that, refresh at the same time you do now, as soon at it falls off. Note: since Moonfire and Sunfire are two different debuffs, we can't benefit from the new DoT system when replacing one with the other. In that case you should wait for the old Moonfire/Sunfire to fall off.

DoT ticks use your spellpower, haste, and +% damage (e.g. Eclipse) values from the moment the DoT was cast--they do not update in real time until the next time you cast the DoT. Crit chance of the ticks, on the other hand, does change dynamically if you gain or lose crit buffs while the DoT is ticking. Because the entire DoT is effected by your stats at the moment of cast, there can be detailed decisionmaking in when to apply them--see "Advanced Points" below for more.

From http://elitistjerks.com/f73/t110353-balance_cataclysm_4_3_dragon_soul/#DoT_Refreshing

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Can 'Breakability' be Turned Off After Purchasing?

Question

The most recent update for Stair Dismount on ios introduces 'breakability' which enables your hapless dummies to fall apart. If I buy this add-on, will I be able to toggle it on and off whenever I like? I don't want it if it's permanent, and irreversible.

Answer

Yes, buying will enable a checkbox which you can use to toggle it on/off.

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Team Fortress 2 Beta Icon Stuck on Launchpad in Mac OS X

Question

I am currently running OS X 10.7.2 with an updated version of Steam installed. I recently downloaded the Team Fortress 2 Beta to this Mac and then removed it via Steam's "Delete Local Game Content." This has left the "Team Fortress 2 Beta" icon stuck on the Launchpad, and I cannot remove it.

All of the typical methods for removing an icon have not worked (i.e., dragging to trash, Control+Option+Command+Left-Click, holding down left-click over the icon until icons start shaking, et cetera). I have uninstalled Steam and removed all game content and that has not deleted the icon.

I have also deleted the "Application Support" folder to try and force the Launchpad to reset itself; it did reset, but the icon stayed there. There is also not an icon in the Application folder for the game, or Steam (now that I've removed it).

Does anyone know how to correct this issue?

Answer

Steam creates “shortcut” applications in the Applications folder in your home folder, not the system-wide one. Unfortunately, it does not delete them when you delete a game, but you can delete them yourself; the path is show in this screenshot (yours will have your own HD and account names, of course):

You can also recreate these by right-clicking on a game in Steam and choosing “Create Desktop Shortcut”, then moving the result into your Applications folder. (This can be useful to restore a missing icon, though it only works sometimes for that.)

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What is the effect of the Dragon Ball?

Question

One of the weapons in Nitrome Must Die is the Dragon Ball.

Through name and appearance, it appears to be based off of the Dragon Breath weapon from Castle Corp, where it is the most expensive item and fires an immensely powerful ball of purple energy that passes through walls and deals tons of damage.

The Dragon Ball doesn't quite seem to have that same flair in Nitrome Must Die. Is it truly a weak weapon that does pitiful damage and can't even punch through walls anymore, or does it have a special utility (kinda like the Peashooter and Toast) that produces its full power?

Answer

The Challenge Level on Level 73 uses the Dragon Ball as its weapon. I used this floor as an ample way to test the weapon in every conceivable way possible.

This led to the conclusion that it's just a slow moving ball of purple energy. It can neither pass through walls or enemies, it has a very slow rate of fire, and it only has 15 ammo. There are a plethora of better long range weapons available, and while its damage is decent (able to destroy Mini Octobosses in one hit), its downsides are just too hindering to make it that much of a viable weapon. The slow rate of fire makes it unsuitable for tough enemies, while the very poor ammo count makes it unsuitable for weak enemies.

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What happens when I use the map flags?

Question

There are a number of maps in Skyrim, mostly in the Jarls' palaces or various camps. All of these maps have flags placed in them to mark Imperial or Stormcloak territories. When I "use" one of these flags, a message pops up saying "Map Updated". However, at this stage in the game, my map is such a mess I wouldn't be able to really tell if anything changed on it or not.

Can someone tell me exactly what sort of update is being done here?

Answer

It simply shows you that city on the map as an unexplored location. It is a good way for new players to populate their maps with major cities and towns.

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Can't reach High Hrothgar because a sabercat is in my way, how can i evade or handle that?

Question

On my way to High Hrothgar (I'm a level 11 thief mostly aimed at sneaking and archery) i meet a sabertooth cat on the 7000 steps. There is no way to go around it and it kills me in 2 blows.

I tried doing large damage to it with shouts, magic and everything else, but i can't kill him. I even lost my housecarl, it can't fight it.

I was wondering if i could find a potion of invisibility somewhere. Else i'll have to wait for the Ethereal shout and run like hell in hope he'll let me pass.

How would you bypass this "problem"?

Answer

I would buy a horse and run past it. They only cost 1000 gold which shouldn't take too long to build up as you work on other quests.

Alternatively you could try to find a rock or some object along the path that you can jump onto where the sabrecat can't reach you and try to shoot it with arrows from there.

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Where to spend Fleet Commendations?

Question

I have amassed quite a few of these, as I rather enjoy the space battles. Although I've not found anywhere to trade them in yet. I've had a brief look around the Republic Fleet both Carrik station and the other ships, but didn't find anything.

Does anyone know if you can spend them, or if this is to be added later when they update the space part of the game?

Answer

The commendation vendor can be found in the same room as the Starship Upgrades vendor on Carrick Station (NE quadrant, if I recall correctly). He's just not standing behind the counter, but by the racks just next to the counter.

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Can I safely desynth raw materials from previous floors?

Question

So far, it looks as if all the recipes you gain on one floor of the tower consist only of materials obtained from that floor.

Once I have cleared a floor and crafted all its recipes, can I desynth all the left-over materials or do they come in handy later on?

Answer

So it seems you can desynth most leftover materials after you've gone through all of the floor's recipes.

The exceptions are Crystals, which might be obtained before you have a recipe that involves them. Different Crystals can be synthed into a Half Prism and a Prism Half, which, together with an item dropped by the final boss, can be synthed into Iridium.

Doing so unlocks a bonus floor of the tower (floor "???").

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Do you keep support kill count when changing classes?

Question

In Modern Warfare 3, for example if I am using a class that has the Support strike package and I get 2 kills and then die and change to a different class (also with a support strike package) will I still have a kill count of 2? If yes, do both classes need to be using exactly the same support set-up?

Answer

No, you lose your entire Support strike package pointstreak when you switch, even if you're switching to a class that has the exact same setup for its pointstreaks. I think this is just an intentional downside of switching classes with Support.

I used to have an "anti-air" class that I'd switch to with a launcher secondary for times when we were getting overwhelmed by air support. However, with this restriction, I usually just don't switch, or set up a class that has aspects of both my normal and anti-air class together.

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Where do I find the sketches for part #1 and part #2?

Question

It seems I'm almost at the end in Great Adventures: Lost in Mountains.

I've already obtained all the parts required for the goal to make part #1 and part #2 except for the sketches.

Where do I find the sketches for part #1 and part #2, and how do I get them?

Answer

According to this walkthrough, you'll need to go to Suite #4 to get the mirror, and then use the mirror in Suite #1 on the lasers. This opens up the rest of the suite, where you'll find sketch parts #1 and #2.

(If you need more help, and you'd rather not be spoiled by consulting the walkthrough, edit your question and post a comment on my answer and I'll try to add more specific detail.)

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Tactics for fighting enemies in Iram of the Pillars

Question

Are there any good tactics for fighting the "fire" enemies in Iram of the Pillars? I'm having a lot of trouble with them, particularly in the first fight after you get drugged.

Answer

There are a few "heavy" weapons scattered about in these areas that will make the fights easier. After the area with the elevator, there is a RPG you can grab near the cover directly in front of you.

In the last area that's quite large, it can be challenging to avoid being killed over and over as you aren't afforded much cover initially. However, there is a RPG on the left side that you can quickly run to which will help you dispatch some enemies, as well as a M32-Hammer right in front of the door that will open after you clear this area.

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Why am I 100.3% complete with the campaign?

Question

I've played all the way through the campaign on Veteran, and I went back and got all the campaign achievements and located all the intel. However, on the main menu screen, the game tells me I'm 100.3% complete with the campaign.

Having a percentage higher than 100% is normal in things like the Multiplayer component, where it gives you a percentage based on how far along you are in the prestige track (so you have 100% at level 80, and then 200% at level 80 first prestige, 300% at level 80 second prestige, etc) but I don't understand why I have exactly this percentage for the single player.

Answer

I wondered this same thing for the longest time but i figured out the answer. You have 100.3% because on the level "Mind the Gap" there are 3 pieces of intel even though it only says there is 2. So since you found the 3rd one it counts it as .3% since it is not registered in the game. If you dont grab that one though you wont get the collect all 46 pieces of intel and you will only have 100%. It is just stupid that they put that 1 extra one in there without telling you it was on the level.

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What is the purpose of beds in Aquaria?

Question

I have encountered a number of beds and "resting places" in Aquaria, but so far they seem to have no purpose.

They are something you can interact with, the help file even mentions them as an early example of interacting, but nowhere is it mentioned that they have any use.

Other than a small push to the plot (no spoilers) in the beginning they seem to have no point at all. They could not be a save point, there are save crystals for that, and from my experience they don't seem to regenerate your health.

I have not finished the game, so if a use becomes apparent later in the game, just mention that and I'll be content.

Answer

I never wondered about their purpose. During my playthroughs of the game I never noticed any actual purpose they served, other than some items being placed on them.

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How does Machinarium handle save games?

Question

Does anybody know how Machinarium handles save states? I put about a half hour into it the other day, clicked 'Save,' and then quit.

Loaded it up today to continue and lo and behold, my save game was nowhere to be found.

One caveat is that I don't have internet access currently...is it possible that it syncs save states with the Steam cloud?

Answer

I may have found the answer. I didn't realize that it makes use of the Flash player data directory instead of somewhere more logical, like the Documents or Steam folder.

Machinarium forums

Long story short...if you are regularly using something like Ccleaner to clear out your temp files, then your save games will get blown away.

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Machinarium save games

Question

Does anybody know how Machinarium handles save states? I put about a half hour into it the other day, clicked 'Save,' and then quit.

Loaded it up today to continue and lo and behold, my save game was nowhere to be found.

One caveat is that I don't have internet access currently...is it possible that it syncs save states with the Steam cloud?

Answer

I may have found the answer. I didn't realize that it makes use of the Flash player data directory instead of somewhere more logical, like the Documents or Steam folder.

Machinarium forums

Long story short...if you are regularly using something like Ccleaner to clear out your temp files, then your save games will get blown away.

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Are Items safe lying around my house?

Question

I'm a bit of an untidy thief and often end up with a few things lying around the house. I've also left open a book next to my Alchemy lab in Whiterun for cosmetic and reference purposes. Obviously the proper way to keep all this stuff safe is to put it away in my chests etc which are safe containers.

My question is; is this stuff safe in my house without being stored in a container?

It so far for me seems to be so since a lot of random replaceable stuff hasn't disappeared however I have a few books that I'm pretty sure I can't replace (PS3 so no console :( ) and don't want to take the chance.

Answer

Yes they are absolutely safe, but with 1 caveat. Things tend to get redistributed when its inside your house. For instance, I had all the claws I've collected from random dungeons organized on a big table all facing down. But every once in a while I might find them all scattered or on the floor.

So you do risk a chance that an item might end up clipping under the floor so you can't find it anymore.

Also, the risk is higher for losing small things like gems and rings.

To be safe (and make things easier to locate), I would put the books onto a book shelf and try to sort the rest of your stuff into various containers.

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How many zeds does a mega zed count as?

Question

I've been playing a bit of Atom Zombie Smasher lately. I'm pretty sure that I'm losing, as the zeds have amassed enough points for mega zeds to start appearing (and I'm not exactly keeping up).

That aside, I was wondering how many kills are registered for a unit when it kills a mega zed, as I am pondering ways to get the "Destroy 50 Zed in one XXX explosion", where XXX is one of the available types of explosives.

If mega zeds register as several kills, they would provide a lucrative venue to getting said achievements.

Answer

I tested this in my copy just now, by adding a mod that caused them to spawn at the start of the game, and it doesn't seem like they count significantly more than regular zombies. I bombarded the mega zed with artillery until he died, and I got credit for 2 "regular zombie" kills.

I had a tough time with the game until I turned on a few of the options to make it easier. If you can pick your own squads, you can take barricades and the weaponry that you want to use for the achievements. You can still get the achievements even if the difficulty settings are turned down.

I found that it was possible with the barricades to funnel several zombie hordes into one "kill zone" which would make it easier to get them in one go. The mines are probably going to be the worst, as you can't control when they detonate.

Since your squads level up, you may want to wait a bit until you've got some larger infestations to deal with before you attempt these achievements. I heavily preferred the artillery, so I don't have most of the dynamite/mine achievements.

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How do I seal off a cavern in Dwarf Fortress?

Question

As I was digging up/down staircases straight down the Z-level, I hit upon a cavern. I'd like to seal it off now so I don't get attacked by the underground mobs. There's only one up/down staircase that I need to seal off. How do I seal it?

Answer

You can put a floor on the staircase, it will prevent anything from coming trough.

Floors are build with b-C-f.

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Can I restore Batman's health out of combat?

Question

Sometimes I screw up and lose health to an environmental hazard, but it seems like then the next time I get into a fight, I've still got missing health. This is something of a disadvantage.

I get my health restored when I finish a combat sequence, but is that the only way to get health back? Is there any way to restore lost health before entering combat?

Answer

You can restore it with anything that gives you experience, including things such as collecting Riddler trophies or completing side quests. You can also heal by dieing or reloading your game, but those will put you back to your last save point, and you'll lose anything you did afterwards. Personally, I find the easiest way to be just silently taking out a lone guard.

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How can I speak with Notch? [closed]

Question

I have some pretty good ideas about some things in Minecraft and I justed wanted to know if theres any way to share them with Notch. For example, I think you should be able to tag places on a map so you can remember where they are.

Answer

Have a look at http://www.minecraft.net/community, there's a link to Get Satisfaction where you can post your suggestions. But use their search first, duplicates are frowned upon much more than here!

With respect to your tag idea, have a look at Zan's minimap mod

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How to kill Blackthorn?

Question

Killing Blackthorn on the Gunship seems to be the most hectic and the most troublesome for everyone I have raided with this far. What are all the mechanics in detail and how do we deal with all these things to create the most stress-free and easy kill?

Answer

This is Normal Mode and LFR only. Heroic has the same abilities plus a few extra

The Warmaster Blackthorn encounter is a two phase fight. Phase one is all about add control. Phase two is dps race while watching your positioning so you don't make your healers job harder.

Phase 1:

There are four types of adds. (Three in LFR)

1. Twilight Assault Drakes
2. Twilight Elite Dreadblades
3. Twilight Elite Slayers
4. Twilight Sappers (Not in LFR)

During this phase Goriona(The drake that Blackthorn is riding) will cast Twilight Onslaught. When this ability is cast you will see a purple swirling void zone on the ship. This ability will be used roughly every 35 seconds. Once the projectile hits the ground it will cause a large amount of damage (1,500,000 in LFR, 800,000 in 10-man, and 2,000,000 in 25-man), which is split between all players (standing in the void zone) and the gunship. You will want most (if not all) of your raid members standing in this zone to make it healable and to protect the ship from extra damage.

The Twilight Assault Drakes will drop off the other adds and then they start firing Twilight Barrage (A similar ability to Goriona's attack but smaller and less harmful). These should be dealt with the same way as Goriona's attack. These drakes should be focused down by your ranged members.

The Twilight Elite Dreadblades and the Twilight Elite Slayers are melee adds and should be tanked. These should be focused on by your melee dps. These adds will charge random players dealing damage to every player in their path. The Dreadblades cast Degeneration, which is a frontal cone attack that deals a moderate amount of shadow damage, and places a DoT on the affected players (lasts for one minute and stacks). The Slayers cast Brutal Strike which is identical to Degeneration except it is physical damage instead of shadow damage. The abilities are cast every 7-20 secs. The only players that should be hit by these are the tanks and they should swap mobs to avoid stacking the debuff too high if you dps is too low.

Twilight Sappers (10 and 25 man normal NOT LFR) are adds that focus entirely on damaging the gunship. After they are dropped off they will go invisible and reappear a few seconds later. They will run to the back of the ship and cast Detonate if they reach it. This deals 20% of the ship's maximum health in damage, and also damages players within 8 yards of the explosion.

Phase 1 is all about add control. Survive 3 waves of adds and phase 2 starts. Tanks pick up Dreadblades and Slayers. Tanks face them away from the raid. Watch for Twilight Onslaught and Twilight Barrage. Whenever a sapper lands all DPS should focus them down. They can be slowed, stunned, and death gripped. You can possibly ignore the last sapper if you dps is high enough and the ship has enough health left to survive the explosion. When the Twilight Assault Drakes are within range of your ranged DPS they need to switch to them and kill them.

Priority for adds:

1. Twilight Assault Drakes (when they are close enough to be damaged)
2. Twilight Sappers (As soon as they land, unless you are ignoring them)
3. Dreadblades and Slayers (Focus on one first, then the other)

Phase 2:

Goriona and Warmaster Blackthorn.

Goriona has one ability during this phase: Twilight Flames. This launches a ball of flame at a random player, dealing massive damage at the location and leaves flames on that spot for a short time. Don't stand in that void zone. Ranged DPS must focus her down asap. At 25% health she will fly away leaving the encounter.

Warmaster Blackthorn has four abilities during phase 2.

1. Vengeance is an enrage that Blackthorn gains throughout the phase. He deals 1% increased damage for each 1% of his health that is missing.
2. Devastate is a sunder armor effect that lowers the tank's armor by 20% and deals damage with each application. The debuff lasts for 30 seconds and stacks (thus requiring a tank swap).
3. Disrupting Roar deals a moderate amount of damage to all raid members and silences all raid members within 10 yards of the boss for 8 seconds. The ability is cast roughly every 20 seconds so casters need to remain further than 10 yards away from the boss
4. Shockwave is a frontal cone attack that deals massive damage to anyone in front of him and stuns them for 4 seconds. This ability is used roughly every 25 seconds. It is cast at a random raid member so be sure you are not in the path.

Phase 2 is a lot less chaotic. Tank picks up Blackthorn and moves him to the center of the ship. Melee dps stay on Blackthorn the whole time and ranged dps brings Gariona to 25% health asap. Move out of Goriona's fire. Once Goriona leaves everyone focuses on Blackthorn. Spread out around him to help with avoiding shockwave (You can see the visible graphical effect on the ground). Melee can usually just step through the boss quickly and then get back behind him after he is done. Casters should stand further than 10 yards away from the boss at all times if possible. The tanks will take increased damage as the fight goes on. Healing can get intense toward the end of the fight.

Learning phase one is the hardest part of the fight. Practice makes perfect. Good communication from raid leaders in vent is a great help on the fight. Call out kill orders, void zones, and shockwaves and you should be downing him with no trouble soon!

Have fun!

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