Anyone who gets the reference in the title gets 10 Internet Points!
Okay folks, so here's the deal… I've decided to restart my Isaac save for Let's Plays because it's been so long since I've done a recording that I feel like a fresh start is the way forward! The old videos will of course be left on my channel, but I will be starting a brand new iteration of the series, although I should be able to reach my current status with relative ease, or at least that's the plan anyway! The plan, for now, is to upload the first video of the restarted series today (Sunday) and work from there. I'm probably going to omit the words for the time being although I may go back and add them in the future, but I'm going to essentially just refer to their episode number from now on and will update my templates accordingly.
The stream save will remain intact though as I've little reason to restart that one too, but I'm hoping to reach 'Golden God' before the end of the year at least! Now that I've a larger upload limit on LBRY/Odysee, I no longer need to worry about missing videos on that channel, so I can upload to there more consistently without a time limit, so it changes the way I work doing IsaacStorm, meaning that the more I think about it, the more it makes sense to do a restart! I've learned a lot from recording both Afterbirth+ and also Repentance, so I should also feel more confident in playing, now that I've ironed out a lot of kinks with my setup; there are likely some more than just the ones I identified, but I'm hoping a fresh save will help with some of those as well, although I'll need to be aware of anything else that comes up, such as my chair degassing and lowering my sitting height, which is playing havoc with my posture and making my shoulder sore!
In any case, this should hopefully lead to better things and help me get into a routine; if you want to see the Geeked Up Network events calendar, which covers my video dates (and will also cover my streams, and other GUN-related videos and streams), that’s available here. Note that I’ve switched over to 23:00 for the IsaacStorm videos (the 23:05 end time is the default time block the schedule is set for when a new time is selected, it doesn’t actually mean anything!) so I’m better able to schedule timings…. hopefully I can keep tho this schedule after a few weeks of rough starts! Anyway, besides the restart and an official schedule, I’ve also started adopting wireless for my gamepad, mouse (or rather will soon), and headset, because dealing with wires sucks and causes issues! I do have my wired headset inserted as a backup, and both of them (as well as the mixer) are connected to a push-button toggle USB hub connected to my new KVM switch, which itself is essentially a hub, at least until my workstation mini PC gets added to the mix!
Part of the reason for the KVM switch and also the hub is to save money on electricity, as I'm going to be using my mini PC for all "admin work", such as dealing with emails, documents, research, watching videos/streams, and anything else it can take over from the main PC because times are going to get tough, and any way to reduce money spent on electricity is a good idea methinks! With regards to my main PC (Zeus), I'm moving the mainboard (with CPU & Cooler/m.2 SSD/RAM) and the BD-ROM/DVD-RW from Raiden to it, because a 0.5 incremental update now makes more sense to apply to Zeus, whilst I source around a 10th Gen intel or AMD equivalent (for Windows 11)! Raiden will still have its case, and also 2 HDDs (4TB/6TB - or maybe 6TB/8TB if I win the 8TB Skyhawk I'm bidding on!), a 1TB SATA (secondary) SSD, the power supply, and a BD-ROM drive assigned to it, though I need a new m.2 drive, mainboard, CPU, RAM, a cooler, and a BD-RW drive, as well as a new GPU, although the Quadro T600 (which is a cut-down GTX 1650, as I've put the 1050 Ti back into Zeus) may be used as a temporary GPU to get the ball rolling!
I'm gradually improving my setup over time (as well as sourcing new bits) via a site called i-bidder, which auctions off customer returns and the like, and I've already got some good stuff from there, such as 2 Logitech wireless keyboards (one will be used with my Multimedia Pi/Armiga), a Competition Pro Extra joystick (for a future project - bidding on a second one too for a pair of joysticks, but I'll explain more later), 3 internet radio devices, a 240GB SATA SSD (useful for Haiku laptop), an SD card case, a toolless 2.5in USB drive enclosure, a 2TB HDD (for Summanus), another Xbox 360 wireless controller (I try to have pairs of things for consistency), which works with my first pad's dongle and saves me a USB port! Also, a few WiFi 6 Mini PCI-E wireless cards (which means I can upgrade the wireless card in my laptops/mini-PCs!), some Panasonic Eneloop Pro batteries (for my Psions, as they have - as far as I know - 1.5v like non-rechargeable batteries rather than 1.2v!), a few PS4 games and a 3DS game (FFVIII HD Remake, Far Cry 4, Battlezone PSVR, and Mario Kart 7), 2x USB external DVD drives and an external USB floppy drive (for thin client projects), an 8GB DDR4 SO-DIMM (always useful), 3 internet radio devices (for listening to IR streams - eventually Stormhaven Radio - in my bedroom and kitchen), a USB handbrake (going to use with ETS2), various USB drives (that I'm also bidding on), a 64GB CompactFlash card, 2x emulation/Famiclone consoles, and MS Flight Sim (the new one), and also - which I forgot I wanted - a Thrustmaster T1600 FCS joystick, which will be great for flight sims, and also a wireless headset for my PS4!
There are other bits too I'm currently bidding on and haven't mentioned, but they are summed up as more USB drives/enclosures, some cables, some m.2 SSDs, that 8TB SkyHawk, various laptop bags, a case for my new phone, and also a cool computer/electronic cleaning kit which includes cleaning disks for 3.5in and 5.25in floppy drives, which is cool! The added benefit is that I'll also know what I need to keep equipment clean! I plan to bid on other stuff in the future as it's a cheaper way to get things I need to build PCs or use in projects, and because the warranties are already gone in most cases, I don't need to worry about voiding them when I open them up! I also have been on i-bidder's sister site, The-Saleroom, and have secured myself a boxed Commodore+4, a boxed C64 breadbin, a mostly boxed Commodore VIC-20 - NOT a C64 (from EasyLive Auction), a boxed Intellivision (in the auction with boxed C64) with a few boxed games, and a boxed Philips Videopac G7000 (Magnavox 2 in the USA) with a bunch of games! I have no idea if the Intellivision or G7000 work yet because I haven't been able to test them, due to needing RF output, but the +4 needs a replacement plug, and the C64 powers on to a black screen. I also bought an Atari 520 STe (upgraded to 1MB RAM) from eBay, but as the board seems to have issues, I bought a replacement that I'm waiting to install in it!
I also want to upgrade the RAM on the board to 4MB so I can do more with it! I also won an Atari 800 XL with 1050 drive; the drive was why I wanted it, but it turned out to have a lot of interesting stuff, but again it's not been tested yet, though I'll do that soon as it has an RCA/composite cable! I did also pick up some WW2 strategy board games, which also contained a boxed copy of the Red Baron Mission Editor, which will go nicely with my boxed copy of Red Baron! I also picked up a ZX Spectrum printer with 4 rolls of thermal paper and also a cassette deck, which will feature in videos, I'm sure! I also picked up a pair of Atari 2600 wireless joysticks which are boxed, because I figured I just have to try them out, because they have those telescopic ariels, and it's just awesome to see some retro wireless stuff! I also rescued a ZX Spectrum 128K from an undisclosable location, along with a bunch of old PC RAM, a couple of 486 motherboards (which advances my 486 build project a lot), as well as a bunch of video/sound/interface cards, one of which being an OPL3 Sound Blaster Vibra 16, and also a video card supported by my Kasan 3DMax, as well as a currently unidentifiable video card, though all of them need thorough cleaning!
There is also an Apple IIcx with keyboard and monitor at the property, which I intend to pick up because it's the right era of Mac (68k) for me to be interested! There is also a lot of audio gear and other electronics/computer stuff there too, and I'll be photographing it when I go there tomorrow, but I hope to be able to facilitate visits there in the future in conjunction with the guy who introduced me to the place, so if anyone is interested in the stuff I post up down the line, contact me (StormkeeperGU) on Twitter, Mastodon, etc.! But yeah, I'm going to stop here for now, as I need to get ready for Ep #0 of the IsaacStorm reset (I'll record the reset and the first new run), and also update my templates accordingly. I know it's a big post, but I had a lot to share! Actually... one more thing! I also have an 800/50 Meg connection now, so hopefully, that will result in faster uploads and better streaming-related stuff, once I have a system that can do 1080p @60 FPS!
One thing I also forgot to mention was that for a few days in April, I got to visit the lovely city of Norwich, home of the inimitable Nostalgia Nerd, and the legend (and thoroughly nice) Ashens! I got to see some folks I didn't see in a couple of years - it was lovely to see you all again! - and also got to do a tiny bit of thrifting in Norwich City Centre, and also the nicest sausage roll I've ever had, as well as a vegetarian (Moroccan?) roll that I also liked but not as much as the sausage one! I plan to do a day trip (maybe longer) to Norwich in the future so I can take more photos for Diggerventures, as well as doing a proper thrifting session, and seeing a couple of friends I've yet to meet IRL if they're available of course!
In any case, I'll try to start doing fortnightly or monthly updates at some point, so things are more easily digestible in the future, but for now, that's it, so I'll say goodbye for now, and I'll see you all later on!
PS: If you guessed Steven Wilson - The Raven That Refused to Sing, then you have won your Internet Points!