Feel free to chat, make suggestions, or tell your scores!
02/26/01 07:22:48 PM | |
Name: | Damien Moore |
Comments: | Holy crow, there's going to be a lot of awesome videos at the next update. Today I made seven more 19's, four 18's, two 17's, and the clincher: a 14 second video! Man, I was pleased about that last one. (Also made my third 2sec vid...I won't let you get ahead of me Matt.) |
02/26/01 04:42:45 PM | |
Name: | Damien Moore |
Comments: | Hey, Matt. If you've saved your videos, just go to producyer and drag on video up onto the first square of the film roll, then drag the next video from wherever you saved it onto the next film square, and then produce as one movie. That's how I do it. |
02/26/01 04:12:29 PM | |
Name: | Marc Schouten |
Comments: | Hey Matt, I think it can be done in Camtasia, but there's an easier way: Download Peck's Power Join at http://www.divx-digest.com/software/pp_join.html. It joins avi's fast and easily. |
02/26/01 03:45:49 PM | |
Name: | matt mcginley |
Best intermediate: | 17 |
Best beginner: | 1 |
Comments: | Does anyone know if I can take avi's I've already produced with Camstasia and stick them together? Why Im asking this is that I got another 2 sec video (3 now) and I want to put them together in one video. I've tried to open them in the producer but it supposedly only opens "Camstsia projects", not any other format. Anyone have the solution? I also got another 19 video. |
02/26/01 07:11:02 AM | |
Name: | Marc Schouten |
Best expert: | 59 |
Best intermediate: | 19 |
Best beginner: | 2 |
Comments: | Hey Patrick, I don't think there's anyone on this list who, at some point, didn't think they were pretty much the best in the world. I know I did :) The good thing about finding out you're not is that it can take away a mental barrier you might have had, thus enabling you to get much faster times. Keep us posted! |
02/25/01 02:10:39 PM | |
Name: | Wen Gao |
Comments: | Yeah i did change the color setting to 256 but it's still slow ass. Although i did record a 28sec int game last night. U want the Video, damien? |
02/25/01 01:35:00 PM | |
Name: | patrick klein |
Best expert: | 68 |
Best intermediate: | 22 |
Best beginner: | 4 |
Comments: | You are guys are fast as hell at this game, I thought that I was the only person in the world who took this game seriously before I came to this website. The only reason I came is because I broke 70 seconds on expert just 5 minutes ago. I think I'm pretty good but nowhere near as fast as some of the guys on the world record list. Do you need a picture of my game for me to get on the list? |
02/25/01 12:10:25 PM | |
Name: | Dan Cerveny |
Comments: | Damien, speaking of videos, I would like to see Mike Lowder's "no marking" technique on expert. |
02/25/01 06:31:17 AM | |
Name: | Dan Cerveny |
Comments: | Am I the only person who has not had problems with Camtasia while running true color? Very strange considering most of you have computers with speed similar to mine. |
02/24/01 10:30:03 PM | |
Name: | Damien Moore |
Comments: | Camtasia was awful until I switched my computer to 250 colors...now I play using it all the time...today I made four 19sec videos, five 18sec videos and another 2sec video. the last two days I also made a 16, 17, and many other videos that will be posted on the next update..Matt has been sending me some too. Why don't you all try 250 colors and do some recording...no vids from Sriram yet and I'm sure Marc and the others can get better vids. Good luck. I'm having the best time of my life playing. |
02/24/01 01:21:21 PM | |
Name: | Wen Gao |
Best expert: | 89 |
Best intermediate: | 26!!!!!!!!!!!! |
Best beginner: | 5 |
Comments: | using Camtasia's kind of like sprinting with stacks of bricks on your back, once u take them off.......well when i took'em off i got a 26 for intermediate! The videos also helped me alot. Especially Dan's 16int and 59exp. I learnt about 5 more patterns just from those 2 videos! still working on the 5-sec beg time though. |
02/24/01 11:54:15 AM | |
Name: | Dan Cerveny |
Comments: | It will be interesting to see what Rob Donner says about the random board generator. I wish there was a way to guarantee a fresh board every time someone starts a game. |
02/24/01 08:05:56 AM | |
Name: | matt mcginley |
Comments: | Wow, how cool, I just got a 2 sec. video. Hopefully Damien will put it up there soon. I also got a 20 sec. int. video. About clicking in the same spot to get a certain board, I do that in beginner most of the time. I get repeat boards ALL the time. I started clicking in the same spot as when I clicked in my second 1 second beg, game. Ive gotten this one board 5 times now.......all 3 second times. |
02/24/01 07:54:45 AM | |
Name: | Damien Moore |
Comments: | Good point Dan...I've been thinking of it myself...my reasoning for not doing so is that I may yet discover a better board. It is tempting though to watch your 16 video and do your first three clicks...or my video for that matter. The only problem is that a few hundred games will have to be lost before the good one shows up. Today I had the most fake picture sent to me...too bad, because I don't have anyone from greece on the page yet, but this guy messed up. He sent a 1sec beg pic that requires (at the least) 14 clicks! I can do up to 7 clicks in a 3 sec game so go figure. |
02/24/01 06:12:03 AM | |
Name: | Dan Cerveny |
Best expert: | 57 |
Best intermediate: | 16 |
Best beginner: | 3 |
Comments: | I'm a bit worried that people will look at all of the repeat boards used for many of the top intermediate records, then start playing in such a way that they will get a great score if they happen to get one of those friendly boards(i.e. figure out the two or three places to click that will open up most of the board). Some of those top boards obviously show up quite often, so playing specifically to get a 10 second game on one of them seems like it could work. This worries me. |
02/24/01 04:00:26 AM | |
Name: | matt mcginley |
Comments: | Uh oh! Khor eng Tat's 20 sec. int time is the same board as Dans' 16........ |
02/23/01 02:44:48 PM | |
Name: | matt mcginley |
Comments: | Ive spent 30 minutes playing beginner today! Im close to Damien in that Ive gotten about 160 4's so far in February. To get 1,000 by the end of the year, Im keeping up at least three 4's a day (13 today) |
02/23/01 11:36:51 AM | |
Name: | Dan Cerveny |
Comments: | Damien, I've probably played 30 minutes of beginner in the past two years. |
02/23/01 10:23:31 AM | |
Name: | Damien Moore |
Comments: | Hey, Wen. Getting fours isn't that hard...I don't play beg much, but this month I've had 150 so far...a thousand a year is not hard. |
02/22/01 11:24:40 PM | |
Name: | Joe Nuss |
Comments: | *ahem*...i agree with matt, that joao should be taken off intermediate. and if that one's fake.... |
02/22/01 10:09:10 PM | |
Name: | Wen Gao |
Best expert: | 89 |
Best intermediate: | 27 |
Best beginner: | 5 |
Comments: | Haha, i told myself yesterday that i was gonna sub-90 before the end of Feb. Now i'll have to set a new goal i guess. The other thing that scares me is that i'm seeing all u people getting 2s and 3s and 4s in beginner, like how matt told me he's aiming for 1000 4s by the end of this year! Now why can't i do that? |
02/22/01 09:11:58 PM | |
Name: | Damien Moore |
Comments: | I just put together a video with 20 fours, 3 threes, and a 2. So I watched and, surprise: One of the 3 sec games was identical to my 2sec, only the timer skipped to 2 so fast you can not even see the one appear. Darn...would've been my 4th 2. |
02/22/01 09:08:41 PM | |
Name: | Damien Moore |
Comments: | I just tried Camtasia with my computer on 250 colors...the problems are gone! I just made a 61 video and a 16 video...Dan, my 16 should've been way faster but I've been cramped for the last hour and was going to quit because I couldn't get under 20. I'll have you back the ranked list..I erased your old position and forgot to fill in the new. |
02/22/01 07:50:27 PM | |
Name: | Lance Votroubek |
Best expert: | 80 |
Best intermediate: | 25 |
Best beginner: | 2 |
Comments: | I didn't beat that, but I tied it.... my old record was 82, then I got 81 on tuesday and 80 yesterday, but great job nonetheless, Wen! I definitely know how you feel, besting your score like that... twice! My goal by April 1 is to get 72 on expert.... I have had more than my fair share of "almosts". Once I get 72, I will be on that pimp daddy playaz list. Of course, I could just shave a couple seconds off of intermediate, but I'd rather do it the harder way. Lance |
02/22/01 07:39:49 PM | |
Name: | Wen Gao |
Best expert: | 89!!!!!!!!!!!! |
Best intermediate: | 27 |
Best beginner: | 5 |
Comments: | SUB-90 finally!!!!!! Yeaaaaaaahhhh....2 records in 2 days, beat that! |
02/22/01 07:18:12 PM | |
Name: | matt mcginley |
Best intermediate: | 17 |
Best beginner: | 1 |
Comments: | Damien, you should get the profiles page going again. An take Joao of at least the intermediate list, come on........... |
02/22/01 06:03:38 PM | |
Name: | Joe Nuss |
Comments: | good thinking marc, that should settle that debate, then. the update is pretty cool. did joao respond to your emails, damien? im interested to see if his scores stand. we seemed to lose that in the whole talk about the 9x9 boards. |
02/22/01 04:17:20 PM | |
Name: | Dan Cerveny |
Comments: | I think if you play intermediate for a few days you'll have several opportunities to get <18. I've had a couple low 60's along with several "almosts" over the past couple days, but I'm definitely slower overall recently. When I'm at my best I have many "almost 50-56" games, and that just hasn't been happening this week. |
02/22/01 04:07:43 PM | |
Name: | Marc Schouten |
Comments: | And by the way: right now, I'd settle for even a low 60s game. I haven't had one of those in over a week.... And to make things even worse: I just screwed up an 18s intermediate game on the last click. Damn... |
02/22/01 04:06:32 PM | |
Name: | Marc Schouten |
Best expert: | 59 |
Best intermediate: | 19 |
Best beginner: | 2 |
Comments: | Dan: Ok, I'll wait, but only if you'll let me beat you after that... |
02/22/01 03:50:08 PM | |
Name: | Dan Cerveny |
Comments: | Damien, up to this point I've managed to avoid carpal tunnel. My hand and wrist certainly become stiff and a bit sore whenever I overplay, but if that happens all I need to do is take it easy for a day or two. |
02/22/01 03:43:37 PM | |
Name: | Dan Cerveny |
Best expert: | 57 |
Best intermediate: | 16 |
Best beginner: | 3 |
Comments: | Damien, my name seems to have disappeared from the new player rankings. I should be number 8. Marc, we'll both get a low 50's game soon I'm sure. Of course, you must wait for me to get one first ;) |
02/22/01 12:41:59 PM | |
Name: | Damien Moore |
Best expert: | 53 |
Best intermediate: | 14 |
Best beginner: | 1 |
Comments: | As you can see, the update has happened. A lot of neat stuff. As for Marc and Dan...I also had a slowdown period about two weeks ago...I finally quite expert and nearly only played beginner with a couple intermediate games. I basically took a break. Now I'm back and my slowest score has been 71. I was actually scared for a while I might be getting carpal tunnel, but that didn't happen. Times slow down if you play too long (for me, more than 4 hours). I alternate an hour sweeping, 30min piano and it keeps my hands in top shape...my 53 was out of the blue after piano practicing...it really loosens my fingers. When I got 53 I watched the clock for the last three seconds and I didn't panic...I've stopped the heartbeat thing since I got the 56 two weeks ago...as long as you aren't trying to beat your record you will stay calm...I was just hoping to get another 59 and, surprise. Don't try so hard. |
02/22/01 12:12:26 PM | |
Name: | Marc Schouten |
Best expert: | 59 |
Best intermediate: | 19 |
Best beginner: | 2 |
Comments: | Dan: Same problem here. For the past two weeks or so, I've been really struggling. My averages went up at least 5 seconds. I did finish the occasional fast (65 or so) game, but mostly high seventies or no finishes at all. Things have been improving slightly over the past couple of days, but I'm still not as fast as I used to be. I think the reason is playing too much. At the end of a day of serious playing, I would be all tensed up. I've been playing less to reduce the strain and this seems to be working. Of course, playing fewer games also means smaller chances of breaking my records... |
02/22/01 11:32:10 AM | |
Name: | Dan Cerveny |
Comments: | David, you can get rid of the flashing window in the Camtasia settings. - I'm having real trouble finishing games in less than 70 seconds lately. I don't know what the problem is, but even most of the time when I feel myself going fast the time says I'm pretty slow. Also, a HUGE problem for me, when I have a real fast game going(i.e. on pace for 50-59) my heartrate speeds up, I become tense, and I make a bad click...no exceptions. Every damn fast game. That is why Damien and Sriram are kicking my butt, I just plain choke when I'm going fast enough to break my record. Very frustrating to say the least. |
02/22/01 09:51:20 AM | |
Name: | David Barry |
Best expert: | 51 |
Best intermediate: | 18 |
Best beginner: | 3 |
Comments: | New best time for me... back level with Sriram on expert now. This came out of the blue - I hadn't gone below 57 in a few weeks. As for videos.... I don't think we can have them mandatory until we all have lightning fast computers. I also find the flashing window a bit distracting. I must work on my int. time now.... |
02/22/01 09:43:54 AM | |
Name: | Ryan Peckyno |
Comments: | About this whole mandatory video thing. I just think that you should somehow annotate on the scoring page what evidence people provide i.e. video, screenshot, etc. Personally, I think that just a persons word should be enough but then again I am probably far too idealistic. I just think that it would be very silly and cannot really comprehend why people would go that far out of there way to cheat when there is nothing really at stake. As for me, I'll make some videos if I decide to take some initiative and if I decide to take this game more serious. This page should just serve as a reference to make comparisions and each individual should make these themselves. |
02/22/01 07:25:19 AM | |
Name: | Dan Cerveny |
Comments: | Marc, good thinking. |
02/22/01 06:09:25 AM | |
Name: | Marc Schouten |
Best expert: | 59 |
Best intermediate: | 19 |
Best beginner: | 2 |
Comments: | Joe and Matt: The solution for people who can't play beginner fields smaller than 9x9 is fairly simple: download a win3.11 or win9x version of the game (it's in the files section of the mailing list). I'm using Win2000 professional, like ET, but I'm using the win98 version of winmine.exe and the beginner fields are standard 8x8. Hope this helps. |
02/21/01 11:37:18 PM | |
Name: | Joe Nuss |
Best expert: | 85 |
Best intermediate: | 22 |
Best beginner: | 3 |
Comments: | oops, i meant "win", not "when". and now i actually do have some minesweeper relevent stuff, since i read the recent responses. i think what we should do is just add a fourth category. we obviously cant just replace the old 8x8 board, it's the standard, but i guess it is unfair to the people with the new one, since they cant play 8x8. so i think we add "beginner plus" or something. and secretly, though i wont be too loud about it right now since no one agrees with me and i have no clout, im in favor of mandatory videos. its the only way to weed out cheaters, and we all now how many numerous ways there are to cheat. of course, if you look at it as just a hobby, which is actually what i do look at it as, i guess it's ok to let a few cheaters slide through. it just seems a lot of people are competitive, thats all. so i dunno. in the end i dont really care, i just thought id share my "official stance" or whatever. |
02/21/01 11:27:43 PM | |
Name: | Joe Nuss |
Comments: | the grammys were a collasal waste until the end, eminem and elton john ripped it. im pissed em didnt when. this is perhaps the first non minesweeper post on here, eh? in that case, ill mention that im anxiously awaiting the update, to see what damien has in store for us. yeah! |
02/21/01 11:02:46 PM | |
Name: | Lance Votroubek |
Best expert: | 80 |
Best intermediate: | 25 |
Best beginner: | 2 |
Comments: | okay, so after winning 34 games on expert, after watching the Iowa Hawkeyes beat Purdue in overtime, and watching three hours of the grammys (what a waste of time), my average time for the day was 91.1 seconds. I even managed to knock another second off of my expert score, so that was a big bonus. Anyway, goodnight all. Lance |
02/21/01 05:52:18 PM | |
Name: | matt mcginley |
Comments: | Marc, If you read ET's last post, you will find that on Windows ME (right?), the beginner level is set at 9x9. Thats why Im wondering.... |
02/21/01 02:43:39 PM | |
Name: | Liam |
Comments: | cool website |
02/21/01 02:13:38 PM | |
Name: | Marc Schouten |
Best expert: | 59 |
Best intermediate: | 19 |
Best beginner: | 2 |
Comments: | Damien: Congratulations! You must be very excited. How many sub-60 games have you finished so far? You're heading towards the 50s-barrier quite fast. Matt: I say don't allow 9x9-boards. Everyone has been playing 8x8 for a long time and I don't see why we should change the rules. Athletes don't ask the IAAF is they can run 80 metres instead of 100 and still let it count, right? |
02/21/01 01:51:29 PM | |
Name: | Damien Moore |
Best expert: | 53 Oh ya |
Comments: | Oh ya. (Yep, I screamed that for 3 minutes at the top of my lungs just now and I'm afraid my dog is really confused). That feels good...I finally beat Joao and by two seconds! Too bad that Sriram had to get a 51 yesterday...it's getting hot (Lasse 66 Sriram 67 Myself 68 total). Interesting question Lance...I've kept track of every score I've had within 10 seconds of whatever my records were at the time since June 1999. I've been ignoring expert lately so I've only finished 63 games this month and the average was 66.58secs. This month I averaged about 20.5 int and 4.5 beg. |
02/21/01 01:36:01 PM | |
Name: | Lance Votroubek |
Best expert: | 81 |
Best intermediate: | 25 |
Best beginner: | 2 |
Comments: | Hi there everyone, I have a couple of fun questions for you guys. 1) when you guys lose a (decent) board, about how many bombs do you have left? How much time? and I'd like to encourage everyone to write down all of the times that they win an expert game for one day, and find your average sweeping time. I think that'd be interesting. So here's my input, so far on the day. When I lose a game, usually between 45 and 50 seconds have elapsed, and I usually have about 40-45 bombs left, although there are some significant deviations in some games. My average winning time for the day, so far, after about 1 hour 15 mins playing and 10 games won, is 92.9 seconds. I have no homework this evening, so I'm not sure how many more games I'll play, but I'll update at the end of the night, after the Iowa Hawkeye basketball team beats Purdue, and my fav tv shows, etc take some of my sweeping time away. Anyway, yes, today I do have too much time on my hands, even though I have a life. Lance |
02/21/01 12:31:14 PM | |
Name: | matt mcginley |
Best expert: | 81 |
Best intermediate: | 17 |
Best beginner: | 1 |
Comments: | If we're going to accept 9x9 boards, then someone please tell me. I'm neutral about the situation, I dont care either way....but 9x9 would be better..... |
02/20/01 11:47:25 PM | |
Name: | Wen Gao |
Best expert: | 94!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
Best intermediate: | 27 |
Best beginner: | 5 |
Comments: | Haven't been here for 3 months and my god has it changed a lot. As for myself, i've just got a new expert record 10 minutes ago. I'll send the pic to u later damien, since i've not been playing the game for almost one month now and actually forgot how to save my screen shoot! Which is why i had to come back to this site to find out. |
02/20/01 05:53:05 AM | |
Name: | Dan Cerveny |
Best expert: | 57 |
Best intermediate: | 16 |
Best beginner: | 3 |
Comments: | A 9x9 board would have 17 more non-mine squares than a 8x8 board. I would think the chances of getting a 1 second game are a fair amount higher with the 9x9 board. |
02/20/01 12:22:45 AM | |
Name: | Khor Eng Tat |
Comments: | Is a 9x9 board much more easier to play than an 8x8? |
02/19/01 11:55:21 AM | |
Name: | matt mcginley |
Comments: | If we make 9x9 boards acceptable, then much, much, much more people will be getting 1 sec. and 2 sec. times.......MUCH more. |
02/19/01 07:52:38 AM | |
Name: | Damien Moore |
Comments: | Darn...that sounds bad Khor. I'll have to ask Rob Donner about that (I'm talking to the guy who made minesweeper...that's another page to be on this site). Does W2000 also occasionally skip the first second? |
02/19/01 05:04:23 AM | |
Name: | Khor Eng Tat |
Comments: | Hey guys, I just realised that some of my beginner records were 9x9 too!! (including my recent 1 sec). Funny that I didn't notice this, until i read the message by Philip. I'm not sure about all my older screen captures cause I don't have them with me right now. But this is simply baffling! Currently, I'm using Windows 2000 Professional, and it's Beginner minesweeper has 9x9. I've checked it again and again to be sure. And the minimum size I can custom my board is also 9x9. Anyone can provide me with some insights as to why there are 2 versions of beginners here? |
02/18/01 04:45:08 AM | |
Name: | Andrew Washburn |
Best expert: | 74 |
Best intermediate: | 21 |
Best beginner: | 4 |
Comments: | I haven't checked here for a while...I can't believe what I'm hear(read)ing!! Joao a fraud?? Mandatory videos?!?! I can't even get the damn program to work on my comp, and believe me I have tried. The thing about editing boards is sadly true though...minesweeper uses only the basic 16 colors in windows paintbrush, so it's fairly easy to 'edit' your screenshot to desired times/appearances. One could draw an entire board from scratch that is totally indistinguishable from a real one At least for now, we're all on the honor system here. The way to get into the record books (by the way, Damien, my total time is 99) is to work hard at sweeping. Those who got in otherwise know who they are and should be ashamed, but I won't mention any names. Proud 2 B A "Pimp Daddy!" |
02/17/01 06:11:50 PM | |
Name: | Damien Moore |
Comments: | A lot of interesting stuff in here...the page will be updated this week with a few surprises. First, Khor recorded on video a 1sec game and I made a 2sec. I've written Joao...see what comes of it, and Gernot. Also, I unfortunately can not claim to be 2nd best, because Sriram went and whipped me again on expert...oh, well, good luck all. And Cowley, please write me with your e-mail..are you related to the stuart on the page? Thanks. |
02/17/01 05:43:43 PM | |
Name: | matt mcginley |
Best expert: | 81 |
Best intermediate: | 17 |
Best beginner: | 1 |
Comments: | Come on Patrick, with an expert 72, you could easily sub-30..... |
02/17/01 11:00:27 AM | |
Name: | Patrick Crowley |
Best expert: | 72 |
Best intermediate: | 30 |
Best beginner: | 6 |
Comments: | for what it's worth... |
02/16/01 11:07:40 PM | |
Name: | Joe Nuss |
Comments: | anyone know where gernot went? with the cluster of 59's all dropping and lasse breaking their tie for best overall in the past few months, youd think hed want to try to focus on his expert time. unless he retired or something. |
02/16/01 10:55:43 PM | |
Name: | Joe Nuss |
Comments: | ok, joao=fake. that 9x9 beginner proves it. thats pretty funny, too :). take him off the lists, damien, you're second fastest sweeper in the world now, man! good job! :) |
02/16/01 05:08:05 PM | |
Name: | Dan Cerveny |
Best expert: | 57 |
Best intermediate: | 16 |
Best beginner: | 3 |
Comments: | Just got 16 on intermediate. I'm liking my pattern of record breaking on intermediate. For several months last year my record was stuck on 21 because I only played expert. I started playing intermediate again in early December because many other people were sailing by me. On day 1 of intermediate I got a 20. On day 2 I got a 19. On day 3 I got an 18. I didn't break it again on day 4 so I went back to playing expert only up until today(about 2 months of expert only). My hand and wrist have been tired and sore lately so I decided to try intermediate again today(expert is much harder on the hand). Day 5, today, I get a 16. It sure would be great if I can continue this pattern. |
02/16/01 03:11:00 PM | |
Name: | Lance Votroubek |
Best expert: | 82 |
Best intermediate: | 25 |
Best beginner: | 2 |
Comments: | It doesn't run perfectly smooth on mine... It is still a little slow, but it's about 20 times better than before. Games that I would have considered an 89 without Camtasia got me about a 96 while recording, whereas before (on true color) they were 105-110. Just for a frame of reference. I still don't think that videos should be the norm though, because I play perfectly legit, and I run faster times w/o Camtasia. Anyway, that's my opinion. Have a great weekend all, since I probably won't post (I'll be at home all weekend on a computer with only AOL "access" to the internet!). Lance |
02/16/01 02:00:32 PM | |
Name: | matt mcginley |
Comments: | Wow! I changed the colors to 250 or whatever in the display settings and now Canstasia runs perfectly smooth! I had my colors on true color (32bit). But this seriously is the best thing to do if Cams. slows down your computer. Damien, you should post a note or something about that on the video page. |
02/16/01 01:22:38 PM | |
Name: | Lance Votroubek |
Comments: | Dan, In my display settings, it says I the display is a Compaq v410 on Rage LT Pro AGP 2x. I'll verify that when I go home this weekend and look at the specs (I'm at college right now, and my info is at home). But I'm pretty sure that's what it is. BTW: I have tried lowering the colors down to 256 while recording, and I have noticed a world of difference. Maybe others should give this a shot? Lance |
02/16/01 12:14:50 PM | |
Name: | matt mcginley |
Comments: | Good point Philip, I made a 9x9 board w/10 mines and within 5 minutes I had four 3 second times. If he is the fast sweeper he claims he is, then he could have made some 2's or a 1 on a 9x9 board. Especially that board he has for his 3. At most that is a 2 second board. Come on, if that doesnt push his accountability over the edge, I dont know what will........ His 55 is a fast board though |
02/16/01 10:52:11 AM | |
Name: | Philip Culp |
Best expert: | 71 |
Best intermediate: | 20 |
Best beginner: | 3 |
Comments: | Not to be a dork or anything but I read some of the quarrels about Joao's 12 on intermediate and I also doubt it because on the screen shot of his beginner the board was 9x9 and all the others are 8x8 which makes it hard to believe the 12 and his other scores. But I am not say that he didn't get it. I'm he is better than I am at any of the levels. |
02/16/01 10:01:15 AM | |
Name: | Dan Cerveny |
Best expert: | 57 |
Best intermediate: | 18 |
Best beginner: | 3 |
Comments: | Lance, what video card are you using? I don't remember seeing that information in any of your posts. |
02/16/01 09:26:53 AM | |
Name: | Lance Votroubek |
Comments: | here's the remainder that was cut off from that last message: I switched to a PIII 800MHZ system with an S3 Savage 4 video card. Now under the same conditions I can only record 1 fps and the system is so bogged down the mouse is so jerky that it's almost impossible to use. You might try Options>Preferences>Program and uncheck Boost Priority During Capture. That might make your background app run more smoothly. You may also wish to visit http://www.techsmith.com/techsupp/camtasia/camtasiafaq.asp and review the section on how to achieve the best frame rate. Thanks for using Camtasia and let me know if you have further questions. Mark Please Include Previous Messages When Replying =========================== Mark Brembeck TechSmith Technical Support WWW: http://www.techsmith.com Phone: 517.333.2100 x 118 =========================== -----Original Message----- From: LCV3@aol.com [mailto:LCV3@aol.com] Sent: Tuesday, February 13, 2001 5:28 PM To: support@techsmith.com Subject: camtasia problem Hello, I have been using Camtasia for seven days, and I have noticed that, while recording, the mouse disappears occasionally, and the program I am running slows down. It is important that I record the program at full speed. If you can tell me a way to decrease the resolution that Camtasia records at or something that would speed my program up again, please tell me. I am very familiar with computers, and have tried everything else, and do not understand why else it would slow down. So please tell me how to decrease the recording resolution or something. Thank you, LCV3@aol.com |
02/16/01 09:25:30 AM | |
Name: | Lance Votroubek |
Best expert: | 82.... |
Best intermediate: | 25 |
Best beginner: | 2 |
Comments: | ok ladies and gentlemen... I wrote Camtasia asking about my problems with the program and system speed. The following is the response I got. I haven't tried any of these yet, but in case some of you want to give them a try, here we go: Hi LCV3@aol.com- Video screen capture is very demanding your system, so you need to take steps to attempt to reduce the load. First, use as fast a computer as possible. Notebook computers are generally not a good platform for multimedia authoring as they have slower video and hard disk subsystems. Many of the things that you can do are the same things that help reduce the size of the video file size: The variables that effect file size are: 1. Size of the area of the screen that is being recorded. Smaller area = smaller file size. 2. Color depth of the screen. Use 256 colors. More colors = larger files. 3. Content of the video. This can make a BIG difference. One customer had a video that was 70 MB. The first 10 frames or so was a gradient filled background. Actually a was a picture of a drop hitting the surface of some green liquid. Removing those 10 frames reduced the video size by 50MB. Don't use gradient filled backgrounds, dithered backgrounds or real world photography with the TSCC codec. 4. Frame rate. Slower frame rates = smaller files. 5. Audio quality. Use compressed audio. The audio portion of an AVI with high quallity uncompressed audio can be many times the size of the video data. 6. Keep the amount of movement, i.e. zooming, panning and transitions, to a minimum. Lots of changes in the screen makes larger files. 7. Use the TSCC codec. As a rule of thumb you can expect about 1MB / minute when recording 800x600, 256 colors, 5fps and using compressed audio. The video card can make a tremendous difference in video capture. For instance, I had a 400MHz PII 400 with a STB nVidia ZX card. It could record 13-15 fps @ 1280x1024 / 16 bit color. Background applications ran smoothly. I |
02/16/01 02:31:51 AM | |
Name: | slylock magnavox |
Best expert: | 89 |
Best intermediate: | 33 |
Best beginner: | 6 |
Comments: | just wanted to say that i like your authoritative minesweep page, so i felt compelled to sign the authoritative minesweeper guestbook. over the past year or so, i've been playing minesweeper more and more, focusing mainly on expert (though i can't seem to get close to my top score again... oh well) and was very interested to see you had setup this whole page about it. i really liked the videos (...damn) and overall the site was an interesting visit. my friend thought i was some kind of mutant when he watched me beat expert in 100 seconds or so, glad to know i'm not the only one, even if i am far from the best. |
02/15/01 06:22:29 PM | |
Name: | Joe Nuss |
Comments: | i agree with you, but why, dan? any other reasons besides that it slows down some peoples' computers? |
02/15/01 06:35:25 AM | |
Name: | Dan Cerveny |
Best expert: | 57 |
Best intermediate: | 18 |
Best beginner: | 3 |
Comments: | Videos are very nice, and I always have Camtasia running while playing minesweeper, but at this point making videos mandatory is not a viable option. Happy sweeping, everyone. |
02/14/01 11:54:26 PM | |
Name: | Joe Nuss |
Comments: | matt, you're right about going through the 20's, i would imagine its very slow to go even from 16 to 14, much less from 20 to 12. i think it probably is a fake the more that i think about it. lance, you're also right, it would be unfair to those with weaker computers (myself included) to demand videos, but if this page is still going in a few years, i bet damien will change his standards to videos only, as computers will be considerably faster than they are now. one threat against fair scores that i bet few of you have even considered is a completely drawn board in a program like paintshop pro. my friend edited pictures to make them look like very wide open 1 and 10 second boards on beginner and intermediate with paint shop pro, and it is virtually impossible to tell the difference. i was completely convinced he got those times. ill send the screen shots if anyone wants them. i think in the end lance is right, we should be scrutinizing rather make videos mandatory, though. right now videos only just doesnt seem feasible. |
02/14/01 09:07:01 PM | |
Name: | Lance Votroubek |
Comments: | Joe, I'm definitely not in favor of the whole movie idea. My computer apparently can't handle Camtasia without doing dumb stuff. And since I am continually improving my records, it would be unfair to me (and to many other people as well). I think we just have to be cautious and skeptical, but not overbearing or condescending. Lance |
02/14/01 05:15:51 PM | |
Name: | matt mcginley |
Comments: | Joe, I went from 32 in September to 18 on Nov. 21. A considerable jump in a short amount of time, yes, but listen here. I got 17 on Jan 2. I havent been close since. Yes you can go quickly thorugh the 20's, but once you get into the teens, breaking your records every month (or less in this case) is nearly impossible. Yes, you can get very lucky and get a great board and take off three or four seconds off your PR, but Joao's board is not great. A sweeper with an expert time of 38 would have a hard time playing through that board in under 15 seconds. Yes I may sound harsh, but there is no way, ANYBODY can get through that board in 12 seconds! Ive been thinking about this a lot. Ive even brought up a minesweeper game, started the timer, and mimicked my way through Joao's board. I clicked every square that needed to be cleared and skipped over a few that couldve been cleared by double-clicking. Guess what? The clock on the minesweeper game said 18! You try it for yourself! Its a fake |
02/14/01 05:01:12 PM | |
Name: | Joe Nuss |
Comments: | matt, i agreed with everything you said until that last thing. you of all people should know that yes, you can go from 28 to 12 in a matter of months. didnt you go from like 30's to 18 in a few months? i dont think its normal, but i think its certainly possible to do. as far as whether or not he's a fraud, who knows. i guess this is the first minesweeper scandal, huh? ;) maybe damien should only accept videos for records from now on....personally i wouldnt really like that, the frame for camtasia kind of distracts me, and i know a lot of people have talked about it slowing their computer down, so i dont know if its workable. still, it would be virtually impossible to cheat then. what do you guys think? are we in for world minesweeper reform? we could officially rename the best players list "the pimp daddy stud list" too! yeah! :) |
02/14/01 03:00:14 PM | |
Name: | matt mcginley |
Comments: | Another thing: you dont go from 28 to 12 in a matter of months...... |
02/14/01 02:52:32 PM | |
Name: | matt mcginley |
Comments: | I noticed Joao when he was at 3 in beginner but not in the intermediate section unti he got that 12. However, every once in a while (maybe every other update) I scan through the lists to see the names of new people and I havent noticed his name up there for very long at that 28 when he got 12. And Im fairly sure he had some sort of internet access before, so he had to have come upon this page earlier. Most people start searching when they get below 200 on expert. It's very fishy how he was on the beginner list just a little while ago, then all of a sudden he's the second fastest player in thw world! I wasnt going to jump to conclusions, but Im thinking hes a fraud..... Then again, people like Steve Welch and others who have retired then came upon this site with incredible socres. Thats entirely possible......but I dont think so! |
02/14/01 12:45:05 PM | |
Name: | Lance Votroubek |
Comments: | Has anybody else noticed that Joao was already in the record books... with an intermediate 28???? Lance |
02/14/01 12:27:19 PM | |
Name: | Ryan Peckyno |
Comments: | Yes, once summer rolls around and I can play this game for more than 30 minutes-1hr. or so a week to play this game...I too will be on the "pimp daddy playaz list." |
02/13/01 11:46:51 PM | |
Name: | Marc Schouten |
Best expert: | 59 |
Best intermediate: | 19 |
Best beginner: | 2 |
Comments: | When did we become 'Pimp Daddies'?.... :) |
02/13/01 11:22:34 PM | |
Name: | Lance Votroubek |
Best expert: | 82.... temporarily |
Best intermediate: | 25 |
Best beginner: | 2 |
Comments: | Ok, here's the deal with my records situation... I just need to take off 10 seconds total. So what happened yesterday? Oh, Lance came down to two 50/50 guesses, guessed wrong, and noticed that the timer said 69 seconds. That would have been a 72 board at the very worst! Oh, I was disappointed. I have a screen shot to remind me of how close... but I WILL get a 72 before I slow down on the playing. Just think... if I would have won that board, I would have been ON the pimp daddy playaz list. Anyway, I thought I'd vent that frustration with the world. Have a good night, and happy sweeping, all! Lance |
02/13/01 10:01:54 PM | |
Name: | Joe Nuss |
Best expert: | 85 |
Best intermediate: | 22 |
Best beginner: | 3 |
Comments: | 11 more total seconds and im on the pimp stud list... |
02/13/01 06:11:21 PM | |
Name: | matt mcginley |
Comments: | My mistake, I have 128mgs RAM. I was thinking of my video card....... |
02/13/01 03:23:33 PM | |
Name: | Damien Moore |
Best expert: | 56 |
Best intermediate: | 14 |
Best beginner: | 1 |
Comments: | Matt: I've played some narkomania as well...besides the facts that it starts counting at zero and that it always gives you an opening before you begin, as well as that it opens more squares when you double-click than does the windows version, it is not surprising you got the good score. I got a 56 on it several months before I beat 62 on windows, and the hour or so I've played int I got several 17's, 18's etc way faster than I should have, but the thrill is worth it. (Just, remember, it doesn't count for the records :) Lance: Camtasia occasionally seems to overload on my comp when using quickcam but it's is almost smooth when I use the standard 9-frames a sec. When the reg is overloading, I switch to the worse quickcam which really overloads, then I go back to reg and it works fine. Hope it helps you. |
02/13/01 02:40:11 PM | |
Name: | Dan Cerveny |
Comments: | Matt, you need much more than 32 megs to run a smooth computer today. I wouldn't run a computer with less than 128 megs(That's what I have). My setup again: *Celeron 300a MHz *128 MB pc100 sdram *nVidia TNT2 32 MB video card(1024x768 res., 100 Hz refresh rate) *IBM Deskstar 8.5 GB 5400 rpm hard drive(mostly full) *Windows 98 |
02/13/01 12:24:26 PM | |
Name: | Marc Schouten |
Best expert: | 59 |
Best intermediate: | 19 |
Best beginner: | 2 |
Comments: | Dan: Yeah, it really has. It got me started again, which is something I thought I'd never do, after getting Carpal Tunnel Syndrome from playing too much... Lance: When I first used Camtasia, the program worked fine. After some time, though, the same problems arose that Matt just described. I don't know why this happened. My computer shouldn't be the problem. I have a Thunderbird 700 with 128 megs of memory and a 32 meg GeForce 256. I don't think a meagre screen-capturing program should have the right to disagree with that... :) |
02/13/01 12:11:00 PM | |
Name: | matt mcginley |
Comments: | Dont know if anyone plays narkomania, but I just got a 9 second intermediate game. It was an incredibly fast board, that given the sparatic nature of the minesweeper clock, any fast sweeper could have gotten at most 12-14. The game number is 1497261338. Its a great board. |
02/13/01 11:57:06 AM | |
Name: | matt mcginley |
Comments: | Wow, I have the same trouble as Lance (or was it Ryan? Sorry) with Camstasia running real jerky while playing mines. My mouse dissapears too. It works fine on beginner, a little worse on inter., but absolutely horrid on expert. Maybe it's that size of the screen the computer has to refresh every frame. My computer's speed shouldn't matter. I have 650mhz, 20g Hard drive (13free) w/32mg's RAM, and a 32mg video card which can support extremely good quality games and multimedia, but not Camstasia........and my mouse is the windows standard pointer. Any help would be great.. Wish I could compete wit' yous guys, but my I cant go buy a new mouse for a week...... |
02/13/01 11:19:17 AM | |
Name: | Dan Cerveny |
Comments: | Lance, My computer is almost exactly the same as yours. Celeron 300, 8.5gig drive(~1.5 left). Camtasia works perfectly for me, I am not sure why it is messy for you. Have you tried going over Camtasia's settings to make sure the cursor stuff is set right? I don't know what else would be causing your problems. |
02/13/01 11:07:02 AM | |
Name: | Lance Votroubek |
Best expert: | 82 |
Best intermediate: | 25 |
Best beginner: | 2 |
Comments: | Good question, I was about to come back and repost that info anyway. My computer really isn't that slow, it's a P2 300mHz, with a 7gig harddrive, with 1.4 gig left. Anyway, any help is appreciated! Lance |
02/13/01 10:51:53 AM | |
Name: | Dan Cerveny |
Best expert: | 57 |
Best intermediate: | 18 |
Best beginner: | 3 |
Comments: | Marc, this website has really rejuvenated the minesweeper-playing crowd. It is great to have so much active competition motivating us all to improve our records. Lance, what speed is your computer? |
02/13/01 10:25:49 AM | |
Name: | Lance Votroubek |
Best expert: | 82 |
Best intermediate: | 25 |
Best beginner: | 2 |
Comments: | Thanks to everyone who replied to me via email and in this post. The only problem with my plan is that apparently I can't use Camtasia and Minesweeper at the same time without having my mouse disappear for about 2 frames of every five, making it extremely difficult to navigate. The best time that I have had while trying to record is 99, and my average without is 93, so it certainly wouldn't be accurate if I posted the video(s), since it is not representative of my times. Does anyone know a way that I could make Camtasia capture at a lower resolution or something? I imagine that would speed things up a lot. Otherwise, my good idea (which I have been catching heat for here at home as being too addicted :) is going to have to be dropped, at least by me, unless a friend of mine would let me use his computer, install the program, use my mouse, change his speed settings, etc...... anyway, if someone could help with this camtasia problem, I would greatly appreciate it!! Thanks so much for the response, Lance |
02/13/01 09:25:22 AM | |
Name: | Marc Schouten |
Best expert: | 59 |
Best intermediate: | 19 |
Best beginner: | 2 |
Comments: | Congratulations, Dan! And just when I equalled you on the best player's list with my beg-2 :) I'm gonna be right on your tail, count on that... |
02/13/01 09:05:01 AM | |
Name: | Dan Cerveny |
Best expert: | 57 |
Best intermediate: | 18 |
Best beginner: | 3 |
Comments: | 57!!! Woohoo!!! After two months of getting one 59 after another, I just got a 57. FINALLY! However, I'm still trailing Damien's record of 56, and that is my number one priority at the moment. |
02/13/01 05:50:00 AM | |
Name: | Marc Schouten |
Comments: | Did I just type Matt? I'm sorry, Lance. I've just gotten out of bed. Not quite awake yet, I guess. And your times and Matt's are quite similar... :) |
02/13/01 05:48:05 AM | |
Name: | Marc Schouten |
Best expert: | 59 |
Best intermediate: | 19 |
Best beginner: | 2 |
Comments: | Hey Matt, I'd be happy to help you out. Why don't you post your movie to the files section of the Minesweeper-addicts group? That way you won't have to email them to others who might want to comment on your style. They can just download them for themselves. |
02/12/01 10:33:25 AM | |
Name: | Lance Votroubek |
Best expert: | 82 |
Best intermediate: | 25 |
Best beginner: | 2 |
Comments: | Hello. I am looking to improve my times (duh), and I was wondering if anyone out there, preferrably with a score of 69 or better, would look at a video of me playing a few games, and tell me if they see anything in particular that I could improve on. I know of a few things, but any advice would be appreciated!! Thanks so much! Post here or email me please!! Lance |
02/12/01 12:39:43 AM | |
Name: | Khor Eng Tat |
Comments: | Matt, I don't quite remember my first 1 sec, but i think that was all cleared with just 1 click. Can't remember, I'll need to look back at my screen capture (if i can find it) But the one I just got a few days ago required 2 clicks, so it could have easily been a 2 sec record, but luckily enough, the clock was on my side. |
02/11/01 09:05:26 PM | |
Name: | Joe Nuss |
Best expert: | 96 |
Best intermediate: | 22 |
Best beginner: | 3 |
Comments: | for what its worth, i think joao did it. a lot of the board openened with that one click, and i think if he played a near flawless game he could have done it. however, that would raise the question that if he got a 12 on that kind of crappy board, how did he not get even better on a really good board? you'd assume he's gotten a better board than that in the time he's been playing, which is probably a lot if you believe how good he is. i mean, ive gotten better boards than that before. so, i dunno. he should come on here and settle it, eh? |