Great Local American Authors: David Daniel

Photo Copied from the Author's Facebook Page.

David Daniel is a Great Local American Author from the Small town of Westford, Massachusetts. That is Published by many Different Publishing firms; I have still yet to finish one of his Books. But, I can still say with total confidence that he has a very Excellent Writing Style as an Author, and he also Teaches English at University of Mass, Lowell. As a Writer he Writes works of Fiction, mostly of the Mystery Genre.  He was born in Boston, Mass; But grew up Weymouth on the South Shore, where he Learned to Surf. He really is a Great Author and I would recommend his Books to Anyone. (Even tho I never Finished one Myself) You may be able to find his Books at your Local Public Library. He actually is Stated by Most to be a Great Mentor Figure to Any Aspiring Author.








List of Published Works :
Legend: Title / Year Published/ ISBN/ Publisher/ Listed Price (On Book Cover; in USD)
Goofy Foot: An Alex Rasmussen Mystery/ February 2004 / 0-312-32349-2/ Thomas Dunne Books/  $23.95
White Rabbit: A Mystery/ March 2003 / 0-312-30429-3/ Thomas Dunne Books/ $25.95
(Short Stories) Six Off 66/ April 2008/ 978-1-60530-548-6/ Publishing Genus Press/ $10.00

(List will Updated when I Get More Books; to Copy the Info From.)

External Links:
David Daniel Books (Official Site) [Site Down]
Profile Page: Resident Writer at UMass Lowell
Profile Page: Facebook
Facebook Fanpage: David Daniel - Novelist and Teacher

Shop:
Barnes & Noble: David Daniel; Mysteries


Last Updated On: Saturday, April 5th, 2014 at 12:35 pm EST

Nintendo 3DS Emulation on PC

Now Emulating the Nintendo 3DS on your PC can be very, very Tricky; About almost Every Single Emulator that you find online is a Fake one, Locked With Surveys, Missing the BIOS files, Needs to be Activated, or Loaded with Viruses. It has become so Bad that People start thinking that "Any Emulator that Locked with a Survey is Fake". Which is a shame; Why must People do that? Why do they Distribute Malicious Programs and Lock them behind a Survey? The answer is simply to scam us Out of our Money. They Earn Money from those Surveys.

How Ever, I did manage to Find a Decent Emulator that Actually Works; It's Called: "Rick's 3DS Emulator for Pokemon", and as the Name states; It is currently only able to Play either "Pokemon X Version" or "Pokemon Y Version". It has a "Fullscreen Mode", "Sound Emulation" and "Hardware GPU Acceleration" (Currently: Only for Nvidia GPU Cards!).

You Can find the Emulator Here:
Rick's 3DS Emulator for Pokemon (Official Site)

The Emulator comes with the needed Bios file and a Demo using the Intro of Pokemon X Version to show that it works. Which it Does; then It will ask you if you want to Download the "Full Version", and then it will Open up your Default Browser to the Rom Download Page Section on the Official Site.

The only Disappointment I had was, that all of the Downloads are Locked with Surveys; or You can e-Mail the Developer, and he'll Send the Emulator to you for $5 via PayPal (If Offers aren't Available in your Area); I have suggest to him a few times to "Remove the Surveys" and perhaps add a "Paypal Donation Box", kind of Download Lock instead. I mean if People Like the Emulator, they will Donate Money to Help Develop it, Right? It makes more Sense in my Expert Opinion.

It will take time to get to the Point of Full Emulation of Every 3DS Game; But atleast this Emulator is a Great Start in the 3DS Emulation Progress.

Suggested Thoughts for the Future of this Emulator:

• Change the GUI to look More Like that of the DeSmuME emulator, in which Both Screens are Connected Together and Divided by a Border of Some Kind. (DeSmuME; releases their "Source Code" for the Emulator)
• Add DirectX's XInput Support; for the Xbox360 USB Gamepads; The Left-Mouse Button can Still work the Stylus.  
• XAudio Sound instead of DirectSound; May offer Better Sound Emulation.  

Data Last Updated On: March 24th, 2014 at 6:55 pm EST

PSP Emulation on PC

Hello, Recently I've Been getting into Emulating the PlayStation Portable (PSP) on my PC; The best Emulator to do this is called: "PPSSPP", it is really good.  And has been Ported to many Platforms.
Now, there's a Regular Free Version of the Emulator; or you Can Donate a amount of your Choosing ($2 USD Minimum) for the "Gold Version". There is actually no Major Differences between "PPSSPP" and "PPSSPP Gold", besides the Gold version's Icon is Gold; Donating Helps Support The Project and Growth of the Emulator.  The Windows Emulator Package contains Both the 32-Bit and 64-Bit program; I usually Use the 32-Bit version, tho. You only have to Donate once; and you get Permanent "Gold Status" and Access to All Current and Future Downloads of the PPSSPP Gold Version of the Emulator.

The Current Version of the Emulator is: 0.9.8
Platforms: Windows XP+, Mac OSX, Linux, iOS 6+ (Jailbroken), Blackberry 10, and Android OS
Requirements: A Graphics Card that Can Support OpenGL 2.0 or Newer; and Has atleast 1GB (1024MB) of  Memory or "Frame Buffer".
(I Have a Nvidia Geforce GT 610 GPU; OpenGL 4.2 Supported (Claimed on Box); 1GB Memory)

Other Requirements (Windows Version Only):
Microsoft Visual C++ 2013 Run-Time Package
(Needed to Run All Windows Versions 0.9.7 and Newer!)

You can Get it Here: Download: PPSSPP - PSP Emulator
The Most Recent Development Build: Download: PPSSPP Dev Build (CwCheat Enabled)

Reference Links:
Wikipedia: PPSSPP
General Emulation Wikia: PPSSPP

PSP Game Rom Formats:
Disc Image File (.iso)
Compressed Disc Image File (.cso)
PSP Firmware File (EBOOT.pbp) [In PPSSPP it's used mostly for PSP Homebrew and Game Demos]

Google "PSP Roms" to find Sites to Download them. (75% Legal; Questionable)
or Rip the UMD from your PSP Hardware running Custom Firmware (100% Legal)

PPSSPP is Also fully Compatible with any USB Xbox 360 Controller Automatically using DirectX's
XInput Drivers. (Windows version).

You can also use  CwCheats on PSP Games in the PPSSPP Emulator; But, You have to Enter The Codes Manually into the Game's Cheat file (.ini) and Activate them Manually. [Enable "Cheats" and "Networking", under "System Settings"; Game's Cheat INI will Auto Generate on Game Load; Get Cheats off of Google]

Example Cheat (Working):
_S ULUS-10560
_G Final Fantasy IV: Complete Collection
_C0 Max Gil
_L 0x203FB500 0x05F5E0FF

( _C0 = Deactivated; _C1 = Activated (You Might have to Reload the Emulator to Load the New Changes))

PPSSPP: Official Game Compatibility List

Other Downloads:
Check your OpenGL version and GPU Support Info for OpenGL:
 GLView 4.1 - OpenGL Extensions Viewer

Image Gallery: 

My Copy of PPSSPP Gold 0.9.8  for Windows.  

My Copy of PPSSPP Gold 0.9.8 for Windows; UMD Game Menu, I've  

Come to Understand that. Most Games that are "Playable", will Display a Background 

Image instead of just the Game's Banner, in the Upper-Left. 

Note: This Image is Displaying the American Copy of  "Dead or Alive: Paradise" 

(ULUS-10521).  

My Copy of PPSSPP 0.9.8-131-g98b6f0d; the Current Git 

Development Build; the "Cheat Menu" of  the Cwcheat System 

only works on the Development 

Builds, for Some Reason. 

(I Just Figured them Out; the Manual Cheats work on Official Builds.) 

My Copy of PPSSPP Gold 0.9.8; Showing the Device Info (Under "Developer Tools") 

for my "Nvidia GeForce GT 610" GPU, and using OpenGL 3.1.0 for 

Graphics Rendering. 

(OpenGL 4.3 is Supported by my GPU (Claimed by my OS)) 

My Copy of PPSSPP Gold 0.9.8; With the American Version of 

"Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection" (ULUS-10560) loaded, with the 

"Max Gil" and "Infinite HP&MP" cheats Activated. 

(It's hard to tell if the HP cheat is activated; unless there's a Video; But it is) 

(Also, You can Still be KO'd with the Infinite HP&MP Cheat on, if the Enemy 

Depletes all of your HP in one Attack; Words of Wisdom "Level Grind")

Data Last Updated On: March 28th, 2014 at  10:55 am EST

Video Game Emulation

I love to Emulate old Retro Video Game Consoles on my PC.
A great Guide to Awesome Emulators; tho, Google the Emulator's Official site as their Download maybe of an Outdated Version: http://www.freeemulator.com/



Known Current Emulator Versions (for Windows; That I Personally Use):
Legend: Console/ Emulator/ Current Version

PSP/ PPSSPP (x86)/ 0.9.8 (I have the "Gold Version"; $2 usd Donation)
Download: PPSSPP
PS2/ PCSX2/ 1.2.1 r5875
Download: PCSX2
PSX/ pSX/ 1.13 -final
Download: pSX Emulator
N64/ Project64/ 2.1.0.1
Download: Project64
SNES/Snes9x (x64)/ 1.53
Download: Snes9x
NES/ RockNES/ 5.10 (My Personal Favorite; not listed on the site)
Download: RockNES 5.10
GBA/ VBA-M/ 1.8.0 r1229
Download: VBA-M
NDS/ DeSmuME (x64)/ 0.9.10
Download: DeSmuME
Wii & GCN/ Dolphin (x64)/ 4.0.2 (I need to Update from 4.0.1)
Download: Dolphin
Atari 2600/ Stella/ 3.9.3
Download: Stella
MS-DOS/ DOSBox/ 0.74 (Doesn't quite work on 64-Bit hosts)
Download: DOSBox

As you see; I have Tried a Emulator for Almost Every Console! (Even a Semi-Working one for a Nintendo 3DS; But, I'll Talk about that in another Post; Maybe)

Graphics rendering with Emulators; for Windows mostly use DirectX (Usually Direct3D or Direct Draw); Tho, you can also get decent Graphics with OpenGL. And, certain Emulators are powered by OpenGL only. And you'll find that XAudio2 will work better than Direct Sound.

It's also common to Use a Gamepad with may Emulators as Well.
My Gamepad is an PDP Afterglow AX.1 Xbox 360 USB Controller.

Ren'Py Visual Novel: Homeward

Well, first off Ren'Py is an Visual Novel Development Engine that is Cross-Platform and Compatible with PC (Windows), Mac OSX, and Linux. (Linux Tested on Ubuntu). It is a Freeware "Starter Development Kit (SDK)" Programmed using the Python Programming Language by someone called Pytom. Further more the Downloadable SDK [Current Version: 6.17], is only used to build and compile the Visual Novel Games. And the Visual Games will run on a PC, Mac, or Linux Computer; just, as long as it has Python installed on it. And you can Load the Windows EXE on other Operating Systems, via the "Wine Windows Program Loader". (Mac and Linux; to Launch the EXE) Also, most Ren'Py engines are built on atleast Python 2.6; so you should be Fine with Python 2.7 and/or 3.3 installed on your Computer. This is Not really needed, as all Ren'Py games are shipped with an "Stripped Down" version of Python (Usually Python 2.6); But, I install Python anyways just to be on the safe side. Plus, Installing Python is great if you plan on writing your own Ren'Py Games. Homeward uses Python 2.7 (python27.dll; included in the Game's folder)

About the Visual Novel Game:
Homeward is the Story of a Japanese High School-Aged Boy called: "Riku", whom is around 18 years old; and his Parents got divorced right after his younger sister was born. But, his Father got custody of him, and he spent the last nine years Traveling the world; because his Father's job as a Diplomat. Then his mother suddenly fell Ill; and so, they Returned to Japan to take care of your younger sister, "Sora". While also finishing your Last Year of High School, while staying  In Japan. This makes up most of the Game's Storyline; which your Choices can change the Ending of the Game; as there are 2-3 different endings. No matter what what choices you choose; eventually your Mother recovers and You and your Dad move back to America, and your younger Sister goes back to living in the custody of your Mother.

I highly enjoyed this Visual Novel Game for is wonderful Storyline, Excellent Imagery and Art, as well as the Choices you can make that influences the Story. There's two versions of the Story; just the first part, known as the "Nonami Arc" which is Suitable for All Ages. (16+; Recommended) Or All Three Parts, which is the Full Complete Story and contains some Adult Content. (18+) Even So; it's still a wonderful Visual Novel Game. I have played this Game atleast three or more times; and it never gets old. It is in the Category of "Boy Pursues Girl", and as such is considered to be a Love Story (Like an Dating Sim, almost) . But, It really is Definitely worth playing atleast once.

Visual Novel's Usual Game Play Length: 4 - 5 Hours (Ages 18+; Full Game); Approx. 1-2 Hours (All Ages Version; "Nonami Arc")
[The Story Duration varies Depending on How Long you stare at the "Same Scene" for.]


External Links:
Download: Python Runtime (Installing Python 2.7; is Recommended, but not really Needed to Play most Ren'Py Games)
Download: Wine [Windows Binary Layer] (Installing Wine 1.6; is Useful to Launch Windows Programs under Mac OSX or Linux Ubuntu; But, mostly Linux)
Download: Ren'Py Visual Novel Engine 6.17 (SDK; Really only Needed if you Want to Write your own Ren'Py Novels)

Game Download Links:
Download: Homeward - A Original Adult Visual Novel  (Official Site; Novel Built using the Ren'Py 6.13.11 Engine)

Reference Links:
Ren'Py Games: Homeward
Wikipedia: Ren'Py Visual Novel Engine


Find more Visual Novels:
Ren'Py Visual Novel Games List (Official)
Ren'Py Visual Novel Games List (RPG Maker Network; RMN)

System Requirements:
Microsoft Windows XP or Newer: Just Launch the Windows EXE file.
Mac OS X 10.4 or Newer: Just Launch the Mac OS APP file. (Homeward.app/Contents/MacOS)
or You can try Wine for Mac OS X, and Launch the Windows Version.
Linux Ubuntu 13.10 or Newer: Install Wine 1.6; and Launch the Windows EXE file, via the "Wine Windows Program Loader". (I tested this on Ubuntu)


Data Last Updated: Thursday, March 7th, 2014 at 3:21 pm EST