A quick note on an interesting and very accessible paper titled "An apodizing phase plate coronagraph for VLT/NACO" that discusses the emerging technology used to allow direct imaging of remote planets that would normally be difficult at best due to the (relatively) overpowering brightness of the planet's parent star.
The meat of the result can be seen in the point spread function graph, lower right, on page two: note the distinct reduction of the Airy disk and associated diffraction pattern on the right section of the graph.
Check it out at: An apodizing phase plate coronagraph for VLT/NACO on arXiv.org.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Schannel Event 36888 ( 10 / 10 ) When Playing BFBC2 / MOH / Etc. - WTF?
Since the beta of EA/DICE's Battlefield Bad Company 2, forums have had a myriad of posts with game problems, with this symptom included in the posts. Since retail release of the game, and the subsequent release of Medal of Honor by the same publisher/developer teams, the same has been seen for the latter game.
Specifically, the event log entry in the windows system log is:
Event 36888, Schannel
The following fatal alert was generated: 10. The internal error state is 10.
When I first saw the error myself, I recognized it from my network programming days as an informational error, indicating some kind of barf-o-rama on the server side of a secure connection handshake. Unlike most of the other Schannel event IDs, this particular one seems to remain undocumented. Nonetheless, the Info opcode and 10 / 10 Alert Description and Error State hint strongly at it being server side.
Since it seemed to have no material effect on the playability of the game(s), my interest in investigating it stopped there. A recent poster, however, indicated that disabling their AV (Trend) caused the apparently related game issues to be remedied. While it appears that the game itself runs correcly despite encountering the Schannel error, it may be that some A/V that muck with everything on the wire might take drastic action in the face of it. Strange if some do, but plausible.
In any case, barring some other application / utility causing problems (e.g., said A/V), the error itself can be safely ignored. If it really bothers you, you can change the logging level via a registry change by modifying (or adding if needed) the key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL
DWORD value EventLogging with a value of 0 will eliminate such event log messages. Note that current versions of windows seem to be more voluble for these errors - on older (e.g. XP), the error may occur without a log entry being generated.
I became interested again in this event / error recently while tracing the traffic activity of the game debugging a separate issue. Both games are built on the same engine / network infrastructure, so it is not surprising they share the same frailties.
From an outsider's view (since I have no access to the game source code, nor the EA master or game servers, my view must be the result of probing and testing theories, using debuggers and traffic sniffers), the network infrastructure for these games is a bit of a wreck. In the same way one might surmise their neighbor is a slob from observations of the trash bags thrown on their front lawn, the mishmash of connections and traffic these games generate is appalling. The possibilities of problems due to one piece failing or being unavailable are surely a source of grief for many attempting to play these games online.
If this system was designed this way from scratch, someone should be publicly whipped with a length Ethernet cable. If it is the result of 'evolution' of features and functionality by adding servers to the 'master' pool, the time has come perhaps for EA to rethink the infrastructure and rebuild it from scratch.
In any case, the Schannel error in these games appears to be generated by an improperly configured EA server that provides them with hardware information à la Steam's hardware survey.
Another way to eliminate the error (and stop spying by EA, if that's your stance), is to add the following to the file \windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts:
127.0.0.1 bf1943hwtelemetry.ea.com
This prevents the game(s) from even starting the handshake process, short-circuiting the error path.
In summary: The error is harmless, it is not the cause of crashes / etc. in the game itself per se though it appears it might throw programs such as A/V into a tizzy (when I feel like it, I may investigate this further.) You can just ignore it, or if it bothers you having it in your event log, take one or both of the steps outlined above.
Specifically, the event log entry in the windows system log is:
Event 36888, Schannel
The following fatal alert was generated: 10. The internal error state is 10.
When I first saw the error myself, I recognized it from my network programming days as an informational error, indicating some kind of barf-o-rama on the server side of a secure connection handshake. Unlike most of the other Schannel event IDs, this particular one seems to remain undocumented. Nonetheless, the Info opcode and 10 / 10 Alert Description and Error State hint strongly at it being server side.
Since it seemed to have no material effect on the playability of the game(s), my interest in investigating it stopped there. A recent poster, however, indicated that disabling their AV (Trend) caused the apparently related game issues to be remedied. While it appears that the game itself runs correcly despite encountering the Schannel error, it may be that some A/V that muck with everything on the wire might take drastic action in the face of it. Strange if some do, but plausible.
In any case, barring some other application / utility causing problems (e.g., said A/V), the error itself can be safely ignored. If it really bothers you, you can change the logging level via a registry change by modifying (or adding if needed) the key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\SecurityProviders\SCHANNEL
DWORD value EventLogging with a value of 0 will eliminate such event log messages. Note that current versions of windows seem to be more voluble for these errors - on older (e.g. XP), the error may occur without a log entry being generated.
I became interested again in this event / error recently while tracing the traffic activity of the game debugging a separate issue. Both games are built on the same engine / network infrastructure, so it is not surprising they share the same frailties.
From an outsider's view (since I have no access to the game source code, nor the EA master or game servers, my view must be the result of probing and testing theories, using debuggers and traffic sniffers), the network infrastructure for these games is a bit of a wreck. In the same way one might surmise their neighbor is a slob from observations of the trash bags thrown on their front lawn, the mishmash of connections and traffic these games generate is appalling. The possibilities of problems due to one piece failing or being unavailable are surely a source of grief for many attempting to play these games online.
If this system was designed this way from scratch, someone should be publicly whipped with a length Ethernet cable. If it is the result of 'evolution' of features and functionality by adding servers to the 'master' pool, the time has come perhaps for EA to rethink the infrastructure and rebuild it from scratch.
In any case, the Schannel error in these games appears to be generated by an improperly configured EA server that provides them with hardware information à la Steam's hardware survey.
Another way to eliminate the error (and stop spying by EA, if that's your stance), is to add the following to the file \windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts:
127.0.0.1 bf1943hwtelemetry.ea.com
This prevents the game(s) from even starting the handshake process, short-circuiting the error path.
In summary: The error is harmless, it is not the cause of crashes / etc. in the game itself per se though it appears it might throw programs such as A/V into a tizzy (when I feel like it, I may investigate this further.) You can just ignore it, or if it bothers you having it in your event log, take one or both of the steps outlined above.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Where's Rob?
I've been getting a surprising amount of e-mail asking what's up with the lull. Fear not, I'll be actively posting again, but as I said in an earlier entry, I've been busy with other things. Perhaps I should add 'irregular' to the banner - might also increase my audience of readers with bowel problems when they Google for cures...
In case you wonder, I've been busy with:
1) Summer. My High School junior daughter is at Stanford doing research for the whole summer, cutting down our face time a lot. So any real spare time I have that matches her schedule, I'm there with her.
2) New games:
Rob
In case you wonder, I've been busy with:
1) Summer. My High School junior daughter is at Stanford doing research for the whole summer, cutting down our face time a lot. So any real spare time I have that matches her schedule, I'm there with her.
2) New games:
- Just Cause 2 (micro-micro-review posted).
- Sniper Ghost Warrior : So far, so not good. I had very high hopes. I'll do a micro review when I form a final opinion.
- Portal Prelude; Very tough mod of Portal. Marred by inane dialogue, but some seriously hard and advanced portal use. If you have portal, check it out.
- BFBC2, Splinter Cell Conviction, COD: MW2: Replaying these using three displays in ultra-wide screen mode via eyefinity. Pretty immersive.
- Understanding Information Transmission (IEEE): A high-level overview of many facets of communication and information theory. Used as a textbook by many schools. Not super deep ( I own dozens that are seriously deep in my library of ~1500 technical books), but a good addition to my 'loaner' shelf - books I loan to interested friends that want to get a basic background and to stimulate them to pursue deeper studies. Hideously expensive at $65.00 for a slim paperback, but I've not seen a better overview to date.
- Two volume set of (The Tenseless)/(The Tensed) Theory of Time: A Critical Examination by W.L. Craig. Traipsing from Special Relativity to A/B-Theories of time, a philosophical work that demands hours of hard thinking for each page, to answer "What is time, is it even real...". Fun.
Rob
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
How long until OnLive is OnDeathRow then OnDead? A µ post.
The OnLive gaming service supposedly goes 'live' tomorrow. As I've said in the past, this is destined for an 'epic fail' in my opinion, perhaps to rise from its future ashes as an acquisition by a google, netflix, or some such ilk as a mechanism for streaming movies perhaps, and very simple games. As a medium for FPS games, it requires a leap of faith of Star Trek proportions to believe it will service serious FPS gamer's needs.
See the most interesting article Why OnLive Can't Possibly Work for a sane and reasoned critique.
Now, back to some real gaming...
See the most interesting article Why OnLive Can't Possibly Work for a sane and reasoned critique.
Now, back to some real gaming...
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Just Cause 2. Get it.
The blogosphere has been quiet here: I've been busy with upcoming posts, hanging out with my daughter, and playing a new game. Just Cause 2 by Avalanche Studios, published by Square Enix / EIDOS.
Take Far Cry (the original, not the über lame second version) with the wisecracking Jack Carver mixed in with a little Antonio Bandares ala "Once Upon a Time in Mexico", throw in some Grand Theft Auto, and fold in some S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl missions, factions, and goodie finding.
All played out on a completely open (no loading when moving around the map) 400 square mile chain of islands navigable by foot, swimming, boats,cars, motorcycles, helicopters, commercial jets, fighter jets, private jets, tuk tuks, etc.
Those elements alone would make for a pretty good game, but when you add in a humor component that many times had me laughing so hard I died (in game) because I couldn't see the screen, and you've got a sure fire winner.
I won't even bother with any kind of micro-review, it wouldn't do justice to a game that is rapidly heading up my chart of personal favorites.
If you liked any of the games mentioned above, get this one. You won't regret it.
Take Far Cry (the original, not the über lame second version) with the wisecracking Jack Carver mixed in with a little Antonio Bandares ala "Once Upon a Time in Mexico", throw in some Grand Theft Auto, and fold in some S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl missions, factions, and goodie finding.
All played out on a completely open (no loading when moving around the map) 400 square mile chain of islands navigable by foot, swimming, boats,cars, motorcycles, helicopters, commercial jets, fighter jets, private jets, tuk tuks, etc.
Those elements alone would make for a pretty good game, but when you add in a humor component that many times had me laughing so hard I died (in game) because I couldn't see the screen, and you've got a sure fire winner.
I won't even bother with any kind of micro-review, it wouldn't do justice to a game that is rapidly heading up my chart of personal favorites.
If you liked any of the games mentioned above, get this one. You won't regret it.
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