13CentKiller's Help & Tutorials

[13CentKiller]

13CentKillers Help & Tutorials

An ever increasing list of in-depth written and video tutorials!

Index:

THIS is an old thread and most links are out of date and do not work. There is the odd general post that may help so it is still visible.

- Written Tutorials

• Microsoft Windows Update Fix
  
• ShoutCast for Windows Media Player
  
• Improving the performance of Windows XP
  
• How to fix the Blue Screen of Death when in Freelancer
  
• Creating a simple weapons group within Freelancer *Video tutorial coming soon!*
  

- Video Tutorials

• Backing up your accounts with Freelancer account manager *Video tutorial coming soon!*
  
• Basic weapons grouping *Video tutorial coming soon!*
  

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Notes
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Updated broken links.

-Right now its a very small selection, that will grow in time with help, suggestions and more importantly requests from the whole community. Thanks for your support! :D

-Thanks for reading/watching my tutorials. Please direct any questions or thanks in PM to avoid clutter in the thread. Thanks for your cooperation!:cool:

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"Three o'clock is always too late or too early for anything you want to do."

[13CentKiller]

Microsoft Windows Update Fix

About:
After a Windows repair install, or in rare cases, after Windows Installer 3.1 is installed, Windows automatic Update breaks.

You will need:
-The attached *.bat file

I have written a simple *.bat file to repair broken windows files used to update Windows XP (Only)

How to:

-Unzip The following file: [attachmentid=5395]

-After the repair is complete, switch windows updates off, reboot your computer, and switch windows updates back on to however you had set it previously. Run windows Updates again, and everything should go according to plan!

Enjoy!

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NOTES:

-Please tell me you liked the tutorial though PM. Don't post here. As it would create unnecessary clutter.
-May not work with Service Pack 3 or Vista x64 bit
Thanks!

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"Three o'clock is always too late or too early for anything you want to do."

[13CentKiller]

Improving Windows XP System performance

About:
Windows XP and Windows Vista operating systems both use indexing services to make for faster file searches.
The service uses up extra memory and a decent amount of CPU usage if your doing something CPU intensive (Freelancer maybe?:P or PhotoShop CS3) If you use the search function often, then it may be worth your while to keep it enabled. But for those who know their PC back to front, this could increase the speed of your computer considerably, varying from computer to computer.:)

Information:
The tutorial will show you how to switch this annoying indexing service off. You can switch it back on in the future, if you discover you need the search function more than you thought. May not be worth the hassle if you have sufficient memory (1GB+)

How to:

-Make sure you are on your desktop. Close any other programs you may have open, and follow the steps bellow.

1. Click START.
2. Click RUN in the right hand pane in the start menu.
3. In the RUN box, type msconfig This will bring up the system configuration utility application.
4. Click the SERVICES tab, at the top of the window.
5. In the list there is a service by the name of either Indexing Service or Windows Indexing Service depending on your service pack.
6. Disable that service by un-checking the service check-box. Click apply and OK to save the settings. Windows will probably inform you that you have changed settings. Check the tick-box that reads: "Never show this message again"
7. Reboot your Computer.
8. On Windows log-in, the message you said to turn off may show up again. Tick the box that reads "Never show this message again" and it should never come back.

Your done!

This should free your system memory up, and increase the speed of select applications. It will mostly affect explorer.exe and other Windows based applications. If you have a lot of memory, you may not notice the effects of switching the service off. If you have a fully loaded system with 256MB of RAM, you probably will. increased CPU usage during gaming can effect frame rate. So disabling this on a low end machine may just improve game performace!:D

IMPORTANT:
Switching Windows Indexing service off will slow any search you do on your hard drive down considerably. It will effect bigger drives more than smaller ones.

Enjoy!

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"Three o'clock is always too late or too early for anything you want to do."

[13CentKiller]

Preventing Freelancer from blue screening/instant-restart during game-play

About:
This tutorial is designed to show you how to turn off a buggy option that causes Freelancer to spontaneously restart your computer or crash to the desktop during game-play. This will show you how to switch this function in question off, lessening Freelancer crashes and in some cases, preventing them all together.

Information:
An Microsoft Office Word 97-2000 Document can be supplied via Personal message if you wish to store this tutorial for further reference, or to view it on a different computer without an internet connection as you work though the tutorial.

-The option in question is 3D sound. This will show you (In a lot of detail) how to switch it off.

How to:

First step. Simple Open Freelancer, and a menu in Figure one will appear.
Navigate to options listed in this menu.


Figure 1

Within the Options sub-menu, there is a an Audio tab. Click this tab to get the available audio options.

Figure 2

On the bottom left hand side of the Options menu page, there is a tick box labeled 3D Audio as seen in Figure 3.

Figure 3

If it is currently ticked, un-check the tick box as seen in Figure 4.


Once you have un-checked the 3D Audio check box, a dialog window will appear. Click YES to save the settings as seen in Figure 5.


Figure 5

Once you have clicked YES to save your settings, exit the game as you would usually do. Restart your computer. Open Freelancer again. And check if the box is stilled ticked or not. If it is not, try playing the game. The amount of random uncalled for crashes should have stopped.

Your done!

Enjoy!


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NOTES:

-Please tell me you liked the tutorial though PM. Don't post here. As it would create unnecessary clutter.
Thanks!

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"Three o'clock is always too late or too early for anything you want to do."

[13CentKiller]

Configuring a simple weapons group within Freelancer

About:
This tutorial will show you how to use the most simple technique to group your weapons I know.

Information:
-A Microsoft Office Word 97-2000 document of this tutorial is available for download if you wish to store this tutorial for future reference or view it on a computer without internet access.
-Perfecting the use of weapons grouping takes patience and practice to be able to use it effectively in battle.

How to:

1. Log into the Discovery Freelancer 24/7 Server, un-dock from where you are currently docked and fly to a safe place. 20-30k Up/Down will be safe away from players that may attack while you are trying to complete the tutorial.

2. Hit F1 on your keyboard to Open the in-game options window.

3. Click the Options button seen in Figure 1.

Figure 1

4. Now click Controls under the General button (second one down) in the next sub-menu.

Figure 2

5. In the center of the next menu, click User Interface in the top center of the page as seen inFigure 2.

Figure 3

6. In the User Interfaces sub window, scroll down to the bottom where you will come across the Activate Weapons Group section. Appearing as per the highlighted text in Figure 3

Figure 4

7. Notice how each Primary key is set to the corresponding Activation Number (i.e. Activate Weapons Group 3 has a Primary key of 3)
Continue down the list like this.

If you have not configured any controls yet. You will get a box saying that the control you are trying to set is already set to something else as per Figure 4


Figure 5

Just click Continue for each (1 though to 6)

8. After you have set these, you will get a dialogue box asking if you wish to keep the settings you have kept. As per Figure 6


Figure 7

9. Once you have completed the above steps and saved your controls, go back to the game, and hit the 1 key on your keyboard, and deselect all the weapons activated making them white (disabled)
Do this again from 2-6 until they are all white. You can check this by going back down the numbers (6-1) and see if any are still enabled.

10. hit the 1 key again and select one weapon. Hit the 2 key, and select a different weapon. Now hit the three key and select all the weapons you previously selected plus whatever other weapons you still have.

11. Hit the 1 key again and the weapon you selected should be automatically selected again. You can rapidly cycle though the weapons by rapidly hitting the keys.

Experiment with this, choose your own weapon group settings and work out what best suits you.

Your Done!

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As for me, I configure my weapons the following way.

Fighter:

Key 1: All Shield Busters
Key 2: All Hull busters & Mine Dropper
Key 3: Torpedo Only
Key 4: Cruise Disruptor Only
Key 5: Mine dropper & Countermeasure Dropper
Key 6: Countermeasure Dropper Only

I'm not showing you the rest, as its my secret. This is a basic effective setup you can play around with.

Enjoy!

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NOTES:

-Please tell me you liked the tutorial though PM. Don't post here. As it would create unnecessary clutter.
Thanks!

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"Three o'clock is always too late or too early for anything you want to do."

[13CentKiller]

Shoutcast for Windows Media Player!


About:
Make Shoutcast’s (PLS* files) work in Windows Media Player so you don’t need another music player or Shoutcast player.

Information:
You will need: (All the attached files)
*DiscoveryXM Radio PLS file
*PLS Player for Windows Media Player (WMPplsplayer)
*Tutorial readme for future reference

Current DiscoveryXM Radio Station Status: OFFLINE
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For those of you who have wanted to play the PLS file connecting you to Windows Media Player, I have the solution.
By default, Windows Media Player does not have a Shoutcast player. Here is an easy alternative way to get around this issue.

First, download the attached files to the post.

Second, create a folder called “Windows Media Connect 2 In C:\ProgramFiles” Place your “WMPplsplayer” In the file you just created, completing the string. (C:\ProgramFiles\Windows Media Connect2\WMPplsplayer) (i.e.: click and drag)

Take your “DiscoveryXM Radio PLS” file, and place it in My Documents, or on your desktop. Now, if you don’t have Win-AMP, it will ask you as to what program to open that file with. This is the fun bit.

-Open the file so you get the “Open With” window on your screen. Select “Always use selected program to open this type of file” then hit the “Browse” button on the bottom right of the screen.

-Navigate to your newly created folder, and select the “WMPplsplayer.exe” file and click Open.

You’re done! Windows Media Player should open whenever you click that file.

Enjoy!

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"Three o'clock is always too late or too early for anything you want to do."