songo wrote on 2023-01-16, 05:37:

Another example? Since my og Xbox (which is just 733 Pentium III with 64 MB Ram) runs 90% of N64 library well via Surreal 64 emulator, there is no way I would run the same games on Ryzen rig without the feeling of disgust and so on.

Sure, there's more accurate N64 emulators that know what a frame buffer is and gets far closer to 99% (Ares, Mupen64plus both have ParaLLEi-RDP). There's also less risk of being mandela effect'd of emulator inaccuracies and glitches (if you're exclusively playing those games emulated for the first time).

Also that xbox's gonna leak or fry eventually.

The only paranoia: my hardware collection eventually goes bad/breaks 🙁

This topic seems more about obsessions than paranoia.

For me, the strictest obsession is playing retail games. Putting the disc into the drive is part of the ritual. I'm not that much into limited editions more so first editions if the price is reasonable, maybe even upgrade the bargin bin versions. I especially like the CD versions from the time of CD-DVD transition. But the core of the fetish is that game has to install from disc.

Another one is period adjacency. My gaming rig doesn't have to be pinpoint accurate for a certain year or part of a year, if its parts came from roughly around the period for the OS I'm planning to use, that's close enough. For example for XP, I'd go as high as Lynnfield+Fermi, but for any higher, it has to be a quirk build.

And lastly, I like launchers that record gaming stats (first launch, last played, total play time) . For XP and Vista Metropolis Launcher works fine, but I'm still looking for one for Win9x.

RandomStranger wrote on 2023-01-16, 09:05:

This topic seems more about obsessions than paranoia.

Eh, then we already have a thread for that.

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote on 2019-02-22, 23:29:

Hi, my name is Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman and I have obsessive-compulsive disorder. […]
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Hi, my name is Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman and I have obsessive-compulsive disorder.

leileilol wrote on 2023-01-16, 08:08:

Sure, there's more accurate N64 emulators that know what a frame buffer is and gets far closer to 99% (Ares, Mupen64plus both have ParaLLEi-RDP). There's also less risk of being mandela effect'd of emulator inaccuracies and glitches (if you're exclusively playing those games emulated for the first time).

The emulation on Surreal64 is good enough for me to play, even something as hardware pushing as Sin & Punishment runs without glitches or slowdowns, there are only few worthwile games that would not run at all. Xbox is a beast.

leileilol wrote on 2023-01-16, 08:08:

Also that xbox's gonna leak or fry eventually.

I bought it 10 years ago and still it runs rock solid, no overheating, it's indestructible.

songo wrote on 2023-01-16, 19:03:

leileilol wrote on 2023-01-16, 08:08:

Also that xbox's gonna leak or fry eventually.

I bought it 10 years ago and still it runs rock solid, no overheating, it's indestructible.

Unless it's the last 1.6 revision you really should pop it open and replace/remove the clock capacitor before the unsinkable ship meets the iceberg.

https://consolemods.org/wiki/Xbox:Clock_Capacitor

songo wrote on 2023-01-16, 05:37:

Ok, everyone here is more or less paranoid with thing like pedantism, period-correct obsession etc. so what are yours extremes ? […]
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Ok, everyone here is more or less paranoid with thing like pedantism, period-correct obsession etc. so what are yours extremes ?

I simply cannot play games on overpowered hardware. I'm used to squeeze 100% of hardware I own and it's just like another side of the coin... Brain goes that: 'what's the point of having new PC if you still gonna play the same shit as on previous rig?'. And it not about being period correct or using og hardware, I never cared about e.g. real SNES but since I played lots of titles on Pentium 200 MMX, playing the sane titles on Core 2 Duo feels like I'm wasting hardware potential or something.

Another example? Since my og Xbox (which is just 733 Pentium III with 64 MB Ram) runs 90% of N64 library well via Surreal 64 emulator, there is no way I would run the same games on Ryzen rig without the feeling of disgust and so on.

Here in Poland, when one uses overkill measures we say 'It's like using cannons against sparrows' - and with some games I'd should say 'It's like using NUKES against them'. I know it sounds stupid but that's how it is.

I have that to some extent too - not period correctness, i do not mind mind mixing hardware as the motherboard tends to constrain components to a fairly well defined 'era' anyway

but i definitely like to get the best from a given set up and i used to think much more about that

one pc i have is a duron 800 with 256mb ram and win xp- the very idea is abhorrent to some vintage pc enthusiasts who seem to think XP only starts becoming acceptable when using half a 64 bit cpu and 2gb ram. Yet this old duron runs a few applications, some games and quite a lot of emulators quite happily

on the other hand i have let go to some extent on this desire to optimally use hardware, especially with gog - I'm quite happy playing a gog released 90's game in a win 7 64 bit machine with 3ghz two core cpu and 4gb ram plus modest pci card

RandomStranger wrote on 2023-01-16, 09:05:

For me, the strictest obsession is playing retail games. Putting the disc into the drive is part of the ritual. I'm not that much into limited editions more so first editions if the price is reasonable, maybe even upgrade the bargin bin versions. I especially like the CD versions from the time of CD-DVD transition.

that's interesting, i like the case, the CD and the process but over time had slowly developed CD failure paranoia that even made me consider 'no cd' workarounds. virtual optical drives and images as well as gog and steam have finally relieved CD failure paranoia!

I agree, this is more about obsessiveness (all systems must be period correct!!!!) than paranoia (government has installed cameras to monitor me in all PCs released after 1999!!!!).

My obsessive thing is that I always feel like I need to play the original release of a game for the "true experience." There's a valid reason for this; many ports or remaster screw around with the balance/difficulty one way or another. I've got a bad case of this, though... for example, I've already completed the modern remake of the The Bard's Tale 1-3, but it really bothers me that I didn't complete the original DOS (or even C64) releases instead. Same with Wizardry 1-3&5 (completed DOS versions, regret not playing Apple II releases instead).

"Wasting hardware potential" is only problematic, IMHO, as a concept for me if it is defined as "dedicating overpowered hardware exclusively to a task that is significantly below it", i.e. :

- Using a 486 or faster only to playing Minesweeper
- Using a Raspberry Pi only to to blink a LED using one of its GPIO pins

On the flip side, forcing oneself up to use ZX80 or a dollar store pocket calculator every time one needs to do some arithmetic instead of using a modern OS' bundled calculator wouldn't make much sense either, IMHO .

I like using vintage hardware due to a combination of nostalgia factor and desire to for "authenticity" (subjective, to a point). Emulators are not (yet) perfect, especially for audio, but they are getting closer all the time . Then again, I use vintage hardware combined with modern line doublers, scalers, monitors, DACs, storage, etc . I don't see any sacrilege there .

"I do me", "you do you", and if we can learn from each other, help each other, expand our horizons (questions beliefs, etc) and have fun along the way, then we are all the better for it .

@songo Na zdrowie!

gerry wrote on 2023-01-16, 20:54:

that's interesting, i like the case, the CD and the process but over time had slowly developed CD failure paranoia that even made me consider 'no cd' workarounds. virtual optical drives and images as well as gog and steam have finally relieved CD failure paranoia!

I don't think disc failure is a problem. Would be surprised if installing/playing games from them would shorten their life significantly compared to normal physical degradation. These are not VHS tapes. Also, it's usually a lot less reading stress than what music CDs get. Just store them properly in their case, pay attention not to drop them and don't put them data-side facing the desk or something. And I'd like to enjoy them while they last.

Actually you want to put CDs data side down. There is nothing to protect the data except the label on the label side.

Shagittarius wrote on 2023-01-17, 06:58:

Actually you want to put CDs data side down. There is nothing to protect the data except the label on the label side.

I just put them back in the case.

Alright, if this thread is about actual computer-related paranoia instead of obsessive-compulsive disorder, then mine started with this:
Indonesian government blocks Steam, Yahoo, and PayPal. What is the safest VPN to access PayPal?

Thankfully the government called it off, due to backlash from my country's internet activists, but there are rumors that Widodo administration will enforce even stricter restriction in near future; the one that is based on whitelist. So anything not explicitly allowed will be blocked by default, and that might include GoG, PayPal, Ebay, Reverb, Audiogon, HiFi-Do, Linux dot org, Audiokarma, Vogons...

And that's when I really get paranoid.

I like to install as little as possible, I don't see the point of applying updates on an OS that hasn't received any in last few years, (end result is it's still out of date)
But I do like to install Office and the latest supported version of IE on all my retro Windows PC's, even though I never use them, it just feels more "complete"

I also like to "max out" the hardware as much as possible. My 486 supports 64MB Ram and 8GB HDD? then thats what It's getting, screw the performance hit.
All my XP rigs have 4GB ram and fastest supported CPU...HDD may not be the largest admittedly but thats only because I don't have an endless budget

RandomStranger wrote on 2023-01-17, 05:24:

I don't think disc failure is a problem. Would be surprised if installing/playing games from them would shorten their life significantly compared to normal physical degradation. These are not VHS tapes. Also, it's usually a lot less reading stress than what music CDs get. Just store them properly in their case, pay attention not to drop them and don't put them data-side facing the desk or something. And I'd like to enjoy them while they last.

true, i imagined the cd shattering in the reader or being very low quality and degrading quickly - very unlikely scenarios!

songo wrote on 2023-01-16, 05:37:

I simply cannot play games on overpowered hardware. I'm used to squeeze 100% of hardware I own and it's just like another side of the coin... Brain goes that: 'what's the point of having new PC if you still gonna play the same shit as on previous rig?'. And it not about being period correct or using og hardware, I never cared about e.g. real SNES but since I played lots of titles on Pentium 200 MMX, playing the sane titles on Core 2 Duo feels like I'm wasting hardware potential or something.

I know the feeling, like owning a Ferrari and only using it for grocery runs. I also find it a bit hard to settle down to play on too fast a system for a game. Though somehow, on top of emulators, it helps if the emulator is only just fast enough to emulate a machine only about fast enough to play an older game. That probably sounds strange.. but I seem to enjoy fast 486/slow pentium things on DOSbox on an Atom and Centrino systems that I've got that can only just manage that speed. As opposed to playing them on later faster core class on DOSbox. Maybe it's the opposite of how some people are hugely hugely irritated by "microstutter" but it's not slowdown, it's speedup, "micro warp 9" or something, where just briefly something happens way too fast, even if unimportant to game.

Though it did finally seem like games broke out of so much speed dependancy at the top end as we went into this millenium and I'm fine playing the later need for speeds for example on machines they don't need the speed of.