When it comes to updating my addons I do tend to get a little lazy at times.  A while back I decided to give the curse client a try and found it to be pretty useful.  Being able to update all my addons at the click of one button was right up my street.  However, things have taken a little turn for the worse.  The once free application is now plastered with a nice big advertisement and now wants you to fork out $4.95 a month for the privilege of updating all your addons with 1 click and a supposed faster download.  So the one good function of this program has now gone to the dogs as they went commercial on us.

The whole charging for such a thing sits on very dodgy ground as Blizzard has been on the warpath with people charging for pretty much anything related towards addons for the game.  From the way I understand it this does break those terms and it looks like I’m back to updating manually.

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I’ve seen a few questions being asked around the interwebs on how to connect to a MySql database with alot of people giving up, or rather, not getting any answers on how to do it. It is possible and here’s how you do it!

First off, you will need to download and install the MySql Driver (which is a free download available here).

Once you have installed the driver you are pretty much good to go!

The next step is to use a script to connect to a database.  The following example is connecting to a local MySql server I use.  It also shows how to run a query against that database.  Enjoy!

Set conn = createobject("ADODB.Connection")
conn.open = "DRIVER={MySQL ODBC 5.1 Driver};"_
& "SERVER=localhost;"_
& "DATABASE=test;"_
& "UID=root;PWD=; OPTION=35;"

Set rs = createobject("ADODB.Recordset")
rs.Open "SELECT * FROM computers", conn

do while not rs.eof
msgbox rs("computer_name")
rs.movenext
loop

rs.close
conn.close 

Following up my previous post on converting Bytes to MB, here is a function which works in the same way but returns a value in GB instead.

Once again feel free to use and pass around, comments are most welcome!

Function ConvertToGB(IncBytes, DecPlaces, ShowText)
	If IsNumeric(IncBytes) Then
		If Not IsNumeric(DecPlaces) Then
			DecPlaces = 0
		End If
		IncBytes = Round(IncBytes/1073741824, DecPlaces)
		If ShowText = True Then
			ConvertToGB = IncBytes & "GB"
		Else
			ConvertToGB = IncBytes
		End If
	End If
End Function

Usage:

'The Following Code Returns "1.15GB"
Result = ConvertToGB(123467890, 2, True)

I’ve been working with VBS alot lately and decided to make a nice little function to convert bytes in to MB as it was becoming a pain to convert every value.

And here it is, feel free to use and share, if you liked it or just want to say thanks then please leave a comment

Function ConvertToMB(IncBytes, DecPlaces, ShowText)
	If IsNumeric(IncBytes) Then
		If Not IsNumeric(DecPlaces) Then
			DecPlaces = 0
		End If
		IncBytes = Round(IncBytes/1048576, DecPlaces)
		If ShowText = True Then
			ConvertToMB = IncBytes & "MB"
		Else
			ConvertToMB = IncBytes
		End If
	End If
End Function

Usage:

'ConvertToMB(Bytes,Decimal Places, Return value + "MB" True/False)
'The Following Returns "117.74MB"
Result = ConvertToMB(123456789,2, True)

Ever since last year I have been trying to save for a big upgrade to the iMac I use as a PC (thank god for bootcamp!), and with this and that popping up all over the place, I wasn’t able to put my order in for a new PC.

Well, that came to an end when we managed to gather up enough pennies to fund the upgrade and saw it as an early birthday present for myself (seeing as it would cost so much).

Now, being an IT Techie as I am by trade, I could have bought all of the bits and put it all together myself, which I had been doing for years.  But this time, I thought, nah… let someone else do all the work and just plug it and go.

Lets just say next time, I’m going back to my old ways and building the system myself.
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Whew.. been a while since I’ve posted, hasn’t it?  Guess it’s about time I throw something out there.  I know, I know.. I really do need to catch up, but hey.. the time it takes to gather up the screenies and post this tutorial should sort of make up for my lack of writing… right?

Ah well.. this tutorial isn’t as super simplified as I normally make it, but then again, screenshot-ing did start to annoy me, but I tried to detail as much of the steps as possible.  Any questions, definitely comment and I’ll try to clear things up!

All right, I’ll beg for forgiveness later, let’s get on with the tutorial ^^

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After my long bike ride home I noticed I had but only 1 email sitting in my inbox which was shortly followed by me saying “there’s no chance in hell I’m trying that”.  Could this be Funcom’s attempt at trying to claw back its player base ? Or maybe it’s time they should just call it quits.  Only time will tell, I guess.

On the other hand, if you feel like giving it a go, then maybe now is the time.  Personal views aside, it’s a week’s worth of free gaming, so it can’t be all bad!

Check out www.ageofconan.com/trial at your own risk

All righty, so for those who’ve been keeping up with WoW, the new patch is up and there’s new things splayed across here and there to try to keep the masses hooked onto their accounts for another few months till the next big ticket patch or expansion is released.

Well, here’s the deal.  I don’t power level very well, unlike the Yeti who’s got at least 2 alts at 80 and a bajillion more around the 60s and 70s.  My original character was left behind on her RP server after the RP died with the expansions, and reluctantly built up another from scratch following Yeti’s friend to a PvP server.  We ended up moving to a PvE server afterwards (getting fed up with the ganks and wanting to see the latest expansion without having to defend ourselves every other minute), and I went ahead with leveling, getting two levels away from max.  I collected special event achievements, mounts, pets, and was content, but never quite happy.

Sorry, but as much as I loved the priest, I disliked being the alliance.  I’m just a horde-y at heart, really.  Yeti already amassed a bunch of horde alts and was well into the later levels, but the thought of starting over without the pets, mounts, and achievements and thinking of having to deal with collecting them all over again just didn’t sit well with me (I had already gotten a lot of the patience swallowing ones, like the magical crawdad and even nabbing the Zangarmarsh firefly one).  Not to mention, my heart is still dead set on the Forsaken, yet I ended up starting a female Tauren shammie to ‘try something new’.  So, my motivation was pretty slim.  There, but slim.

…That is, till the patch, and the fantastical thing that happened last night.
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Seeing as patch 3.1 is being released today I thought I would mark this occasion with a small tutorial on creating images for your addons.

For this tutorial I will be using Photoshop, but if you know your way around your favourite image editing program it shouldn’t make much of a difference.

First off, you need to remember a small simple rule.  The image size must always be a multiple of 8, otherwise your image wont show up (correct me if I’m wrong in a comment, but it has never worked for me with any other number that isn’t a multiple of 8).  What does that mean ? Well, basically your image should have one of the following dimensions:
8×8
16×16
32×32
64×64
128×128
And so on…

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Ah Easter.. a time to honor traditions, religions, and easter egg hunts.  Lest we forget that wascally wabbit that hides the colorful (and sometimes chocolatey delicious) eggs, I figured I’d do a small article listing bunnies, rabbits, and hares in games.  They come naturally long-eared, powered up by costume or transformation.  I tried to collect a varied bunch of the floppy-eared cuties that have appeared here and there in gaming.  If I’ve missed any, feel free to chime in the comments.

Hit the jump to check the list.

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