Tuesday, March 27, 2018

And More: It's Not Just You™ - Windows Desktop Icons Sometimes Loading Small Versions Of Themselves For No Reason At All

[Windows Related] Although not really anything 'new' - this is something I have been experiencing off and on in Windows for years now - I wanted to mention something here (just in case it might help others too) that today is, for some strange reason, the first time I am submitting Windows Feedback on an aging issue: where the Desktop Icon images sometimes (for unknown reasons) load as wee-little versions of themselves - intermittently showing smaller images of the 'normally-256x256-or-higher' resolution images - and if you are experiencing this too, It's Not Just You™...



For the last few versions of Windows, I have been seeing, at random times, Desktop Icons loading - not their nice, large representations of their games, both alluring and alluding to the fun to be had in the games 'behind-the-mask' - but loading wee-little teeny-tiny versions of themselves, squishing the pixels in merciless transgression, giving my normally-full-of-icons Desktop scattered pimples of picturesque perturbation. One example of one of these perpetrators, is below:



As you can see, the [lower] Warhammer 40k Icon I created/assigned, has loaded 'full size' (Windows Large Preset Size), whereas the Vindictus Icon [on top] has loaded a 'smaller size' of its' normally larger self today - for no stated reason at all. No message, no little exclamation mark on the corner of the image, to indicate "something went wrong", leading me to troubleshoot what might be the issue. Indeed, I can do nothing, but try to ignore my pimple-popping urge to fix these intermittent occurrences to my Desktop (temporarily, by replacing the Icon image with something else - the only repeatable 'workaround' I have come across so far).

And so, after many years of finger-in-the-dam work on bypassing this little problem [pun not intended], I have finally mentioned it to Microsoft, via their Official Windows Feedback Hub, found in Windows 10...

The Official Windows Feedback Hub personally thanking me for submitting my feedback about icons loading smaller sizes of themselves, randomly, for no reason whatsoever other than to make me notice that game that I haven't played in years but still have installed, taking up space on my drives, which is already at a premium due to my screenshot and clip hoarding tendencies


As many of you already know, MS has been trying very hard to really listen to Users these last few generations of Windows, implementing Suggestions and continually collecting Feedback on a myriad of topics that have to do with Windows, from how it operates, to how it simply looks. Today, I finally got around to telling them about this little virtual thorn of mine. Perhaps someday, they will find out why this happens randomly [to different icons each time!] and I may one day feel relief in my virtual lion's paw... Good Luck, Microsoft - I think you'll need it; and if you, dear reader, are experiencing this too, remember - It's Not Just You™...




Addendum:
Just a quick note that I have been creating/editing my own Windows Desktop Shortcut Icons for some time now, from multi-layered compositions (with added sun flare!) to simple crops from game boxes or ads (like the one shown above, for Warhammer) - someday, I plan on sharing these Icons with you, my dear readers, here at The Blog. I have no idea when, but it's safe to say that I will be able to collect them up, polish them down and pack them in a Zipped-up File and share them sometime around 2025... Soon™

Sunday, March 18, 2018

First Impressions - Google Play App: "Screen Recorder" by Kimcy929 [App Mini-Review]

This article has been initially posted as Text-Only at this time, to speed up publishing, focusing on a certain issue. I will return to this posting and add more data on Quality and Performance, Screenshots and then eventually Share it on Twitter/Google+/etc... Soon™


[This past Christmas, my father gave me a neat little tablet to play on - Thanks, Dad! I have been enjoying the heck out of it, learning what it does (cough how to use a tablet cough), what applications it can run (I can write a Blog Post laying down!) and of course, what games I can play on it, heh. I hope to give some Tutorials/Walkthroughs and Reviews on Games and Apps from it sometime... Oh wait, here's one now! haha]

The Google Store page for the app, with the 'Play' button removed [I felt it was a bit distracting, making people think there might be a 'video to play' here at The Blog], replaced with The Blog's 'G' brevity logo version.
The Google Play logo in the upper-left will be used to denote images that come 'directly' from the Google Play website/page for the app for these types of App Reviews/Posts (Unedited other than logos or helpful arrows/etc added).


Google Play App - Screen Recorder by Kimcy929



Straight to it: while this app did in fact ‘record the screen’, it could not record the game sounds themselves ('internal' gameplay audio), it only recorded microphone sounds ('external' audio outside the device). While this is useful for some, especially Vloggers, I was personally looking for a screen recorder for my tablet that recorded gameplay and the audio from the game, for Tutorials, Walkthroughs, etc.**

Also, an issue arose where ANY video I viewed after installing this app (even videos I had on my device BEFORE installing it) only came up as a black screen, with the message:


“...Video Is Playing On External Display...”





Now, I had not enabled any such option, nor did I connect any External Displays...

I did some research online and found many people running into this issue with various apps and devices (tablets, phones, etc). Looking at the App configuration in the Settings of my tablet for Screen Recorder, I found this app giving itself the ability to ‘draw over other apps’ (which it can do to create on-screen writing, or arrows, which it advertises that it can do on the Google Play Store page for the app).




This is fine and these features are no doubt useful; however, I could no longer view any videos with the built-in Video Player ("complete action using > Video") - I literally could no longer view any videos I had on my device, at all. [Even with third-party Media Players, such as VLC Media Player, simply viewing any videos was now 'broken'...]

Video playing of the Video portion of Videos on the Video Player that
plays Videos was like, really broken now


Even after disabling this option that it gave itself without prior warning (found in Settings > Apps > ScreenRecorder > DrawOverOtherApps), all videos still came up with just a black screen and that message - that is, just Disabling the Setting did not 'undo' the inability to no longer watch videos in the Video Player. Disabling this setting, then Uninstalling this app, then Restarting the Tablet, fixed the issue [in my case, the only way it was fixed].



While this app does record the screen, allows for microphone use, doesn't seem to affect gameplay performance very much, and seems to have a decent selection of Resolutions and Bitrates (eg. 1280x720, 8000kbps), also having some additional helpful things like drawing arrows on the screen, etc; it does not record 'built-in' gameplay audio - which I personally was looking for** - and it gave itself a power which interfered with normal tablet video viewing afterward... Not only that, but it only recorded a few videos before no longer working, with a message just repeatedly showing up stating, "Unfortunately, Screen Recorder has stopped".




No changing of Settings (of my tablet or the app itself) was able to remedy this or get past it [the message coming up and no video being recorded]. Reinstalling the app made it work again, but after a few recordings, only that message repeating on the screen was the result, once again. Therefore, considering all of the above [but including the fact that the app must have worked for other people, that is, those not running into this 'Screen Recorder has stopped' message problem], this app earned Three Stars at Google Play from me, as of the time of this writing.






Being 'completely free' (No Fee and No Ads), and having a nice selection of 'standards' like Resolution and Bitrate choices, and having 'extras' like being able to draw on the screen; perhaps with some improvements to bugfixing, enhancements to how it handles itself (asking/warning what would happen before utilizing the “Draw Over Other Apps” ability would be helpful to users that might run into a problem with it) and adding the ability to record internal gameplay audio**, Screen Recorder could potentially be a very capable and 'feature-rich' screen recording application.


3/5 Stars
★★★☆☆


This app (and a shortened version of the above Review by The Blog (to fit on Google Play's Review area)) can be found on Google Play, at:

Screen Recorder by Kimcy929
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.kimcy929.screenrecorder



[Note: I am not affiliated with Screen Recorder or Kimcy929 in any way, and I have not and will not be compensated by them for writing about them here. I am merely a user of their application and like to help others with helpful information, when I can. The information in this post was obtained on an LG G Pad IV, and therefore might vary slightly from your own experience (Settings, Menus, Performance, Problems, etc) - but I hope that it was still found useful in some way.]


...

** More on this later... I have recently found out that Google has taken away the ability [temporarily?] to record game output AND game audio at the same time ("internal audio") in the latest Android versions - save for a small number of possibilities on LG and Samsung devices. But, I'll cover this at a later time, when I find out more solid details...

Thursday, March 15, 2018

"Can You Guess Where The Screenshot Below Is From?", The Game Tips And More Blog's Game Screenshot Identification Contest, Solidifies Again Today! [Updated 2018-03-31 with Answer Image]



Well, it's Mid-Month, friends - and that means it's time once again for something I reconstituted-from-scratch just this year - The Game Tips And More Blog's 'New-ish-sorta-but-only-kinda' Contest:

"Can You Guess Where The Screenshot Below Is From?"
(A Game Screenshot Identification Contest)

Having its' Sixth Edition this very day - March 15th, 2018!




All you have to do to win this contest, is contact me in any way you can (eg. Comment on this article
below, Twitter profile tweet, email me or Comment/PrivateMessage TheBlog's Steam Account by the end of the month, with these two items within your message:

1. Your guess for the game the image is from.

2. Information on how to contact you back (to receive Steam game gifts, etc) if you win.

That's it!

[Just a quick note to be careful not to include any information you do not wish to share 'publicly' when posting in the Comments area below or at Steam or sending a Twitter profile Tweet, as these messages are seen by 'everyone']



The first correct answer submitted by a Skillful Identifier/Gamer will receive this month's contest prize - which is: a gifted game from the Steam online store!


[Note: Although I have been collecting Games on Steam over the past few Years, during Steam Sales,
due to how Steam has changed Gifting games through Steam recently; you will have to temporarily become a Friend
of TheBlog's Steam Account (to receive the game - after receiving your Gifted Game, you may Unfriend of course)]



Winners will also be announced in bold, large lettered-text, here on this very posting and will thereby be immortalized on The Intertubes in perpetuity, proving to all other comers that you were "The Ultimate Game Screenshot Guesser Thingy Person" [aka. Gamer]!

...


Are you ready? Here then, is the Screenshot image for this month, below:


[As you can see, the image is a portion of a full screen capture - and while it isn't super easy, as it is just a small part of the screen - the image used for the contest will never be 'too' obscure or small (for example, it will never be 'just the end of a wooden log' or anything like that). The Image utilized is also always presented here Unedited (other than Cropping and Logos added), if that helps at all]



After a week has gone by, if there is no correct guess as to what game the Screenshot is from, I will return here and put up a 'Hint' image - a larger portion of the Screenshot - to assist in Game Recognition-ness-ism...


Good Luck, Gamers!

...





Update!

A week has gone by and there have been no correct guesses received yet... So, here is a HINT image; (an enlarged area portion of the CONTEST image for this month's Contest)! Ready?

Here is the HINT image (with enlarged portion revealed), below:



[Click the Image to see it at a slightly-larger Full Size - and as you can see, the image is still a portion of the full screen capture; but don't worry - the image used for the contest will never be 'too' obscure or small (for example, it will never be 'just the end of a wooden log' or anything like that). Also, the Screenshot utilized is always presented as Unedited (other than Cropping and Logos added), if that helps at all]



At the end of the Month, if noone has guessed correctly by then, I will return here and reveal the full Mystery Screenshot and the Game it was from - Good Luck, Gamers!


...


Update!

It is the end of the Month and there have been no correct submissions! Aww....




To end The Mystery, here is the answer for this Sixth Edition of
'Can You Guess Where The Screenshot Below Is From' (2018-03):



The Answer for this month's Contest was - Batman: Arkham City!
[Captured in June of 2016, this Screenshot was taken when I was playing either with an AMD 280 Series GPU, or an NVIDIA GTX 560, at the time**. The 280 was the 'upgrade' Xmas Gift from the GTX560, which served me faithfully for many years. IIRC, the GPU was paired with an AMD FX-4100, which overall gave me solid mid-range performance, able to run all games at Higher Than Medium But Not Highest Settings]
Click to see Full Size



[Editor's Message: Sorry I was a couple of days late with the Answer Image, friends. I was thinking 'the end of the month', instead of 'two weeks from the 15th' and it did not match up this month. I apologize for the discrepancy/wait/suspense.]



Come back next 15th-of-the-month friends, when you can have another chance to be a Digital Screenshot Sleuth in the Seventh Edition of 'Can You Guess Where The Screenshot Below Is From' - with a chance to win the Prize that is carried over to next time: a gifted game from the Steam Online Store!


See You In The Games!




[**Note (this is the same message for all Contest footnotes): I am not affiliated in any way or degree with NVIDIA or AMD, and I have not and will not receive any compensation of any kind, for mentioning them here. I am merely an enthusiastic user of both companies' products. I have utilized both and will continue to use both in the future ((on a personal note, I find I usually am 'stairstepping' with their GPUs, purchasing from one manufacturer, then the next 'upgrade' purchasing from the other. I always Suggest to people who Ask; to get whichever has Features you like - and only what you can afford at the time (but check Reviews and Benchmarks as much as you can and get the 'fastest' you can afford at the time) - it will be outdated in 3 years or so anyway - so; Enjoy what you have and be Thankful because there are always people who have less!))]



(The Game Tips And More Blog Contest Game #2018-03)