Since major projects like Firefox keep getting mentioned, I’ll throw a shout out to Ant Renamer.

It’s simple, it’s FOSS, and it just works. I often - ahem - acquire a number of files from various sources that are labeled like “Mission.Impossible.7.Complete.zHD.2022.xReloadedx”, and an application like Ant Renamer can batch rename files into whatever you need.

For example, if I need to backup or copy a set of game saves in a folder that all need to have the same prefix like N007 from N002, I would have to manually change 10K files from one prefix to the other. Ant Renamer can do everything in a batch that runs quicker than the blink of an eye.

So, Ant Renamer for the win!

Howdy!

The Sims 2. I’ve played a fair amount of all four Sims games including their mobile editions, and Sims 2 remains my favorite after a near (yeeesh) 20 years.

The modding community is still relatively robust, especially for a game that’s so old and out of the four, I feel like I can enjoy even the basic gameplay as a storyteller in Sims 2 more than in 3 or 4. In Sims 3, the focus was less on playing multiple families, so it had to be modded right out of the gate to get back to its foundation and I never liked the way the sims looked. Sims 4 “feels” a lot more like Sims 2, which a lot of people hated, but its expansion and content packs are a complete joke. It costs like $2K to have everything, and they’re still releasing packs. I know it’s just the state of gaming these days, but it just sucks the fun out of a lot of the game.

Half the fun these days, though, is just getting the game up and running on modern PCs. I installed a new hard drive a few months ago and it took the better part of a weekend to get the game fully installed and running. I do have Ultimate Collection, but the less time I have to spend in that stupid EA app, the better.

Here’s an “episode” I loaded earlier this year. It’s still a little rough in parts, so it’s not really a public link and I was just sending to a couple friends to get some thoughts. This is generally what I’m going for when it comes to making it into a Mass Effect “show”: https://youtu.be/TndVqwA4NBI

When I’ve finally got it polished, the plan is to put all the episodes on YouTube, but hopefully this will give you some inspiration for your own project. Cheers!

For Mass Effect, I’ve played the game enough times that I have my “ideal” story in mind each time I play. I’ve had to re-record playthroughs multiple times so that I can maximize the dialogue options and include everything that I’d like. For example, when it comes to the ME1 Virmire survivor, I decided that I liked a mix of the Paragon and Renegade responses when choosing to leave them, so I recorded with the Paragon response and then replayed that mission so I could do the Renegade response. Then, I edited the two so that it looks like a single cohesive scene.

When it comes to the combat, I’ve had to re-re-re-record some missions to ensure that I 1) didn’t die and 2) didn’t seem to be getting my butt kicked too much that it became distracting. For example, in ME2, I’ve had to record Jack’s mission a nauseating six times because I either got killed or there were just too many instances where I nearly died, even on Casual. I’ve also had to re-record missions because my first attempt had the “camera work” a little too janky and too hard to follow when just watching. I’ve since learned to play with a cinematic eye so that the combat is a lot smoother.

In the combat, I’ve also tried to minimize the “game” aspects wherever possible which meant editing around bringing up the different menus like changing weapons or directing powers/attacks. I’ve also spent a lot of time adding in some crossfades to speed up movement where applicable. For example, in ME1, running across the Citadel once can give a nice view for the first time, but there’s no reason to just watch my Shepard running back and forth across missions, so I’ll fade leaving Chora’s Den and running back to C-Sec or other places.

Overall, it’s been a pretty fun project. I’ve had to teach myself how to play with an eye for cinematography and how I’ll eventually edit things. It’s also been interesting to notice super niche things about how the games are put together because I’m observing scenes down to single frames when I’m editing.

I’ve been doing my recording off the original Mass Effect games since I’ll likely play Legendary Edition far more often than I’ll revisit the originals, so I’ll have my “show” for some added nostalgia as well. Right now, I’m in the middle of editing a full “re-record” of ME2’s combat to reduce some of the jankiness while also going through a first run of ME3. I’ll need multiple runs off what I loaded from ME2 to get all the right armor and weapons and play/record with reduced pop-ups for leveling up, etc.

If I can make a recommendation, I’d definitely recommend doing everything on PC if possible. I’ve done mine off Xbox which kept the files limited to 1 hour at a time, which has helped keep things easier to find, but it’s been heart breaking to get through a mission and then realize the recording stopped 10 minutes before I’d finished.

I’m unsure if this counts as a “hobby”, but I absolutely love the Mass Effect series so much that I enjoy just watching it as much as replaying. I love it so much that I’ve been recording my gameplay and editing it into a sort of Mass Effect “show”.

I could just watch the handful of streamers out there who play it, but few people play as FemShep and I’ve never seen anyone play a Shepard looking anything like mine let alone take the “right” choices and actions, so this Mass Effect “show” gives me a way to watch my Shepard’s story as often as I’d like.

The whole project has evolved into learning how to polish things in Premiere Pro and Photoshop, so I’m self-teaching as I go.

Accepting the “missing out” part is the hardest battle to overcome, but I like to think of it in terms of active versus passive.

There are only so many minutes during a day and every minute spent doing one thing means that is a minute not doing something else. If I have to choose how to spend one minute or sixty, I choose between active and passive activities. It’s perfectly fine to do a passive activity, but every minute spent in something passive - that is, something that does not require you to entirely engage - is a minute away from something active - that is, something that does require your full engagement.

Obviously, you can’t spend a full day on “active” activities or you would readily burn out, but life is generally more pleasurable when we engage in something active versus passive. It’s more “doing versus seeing. So, take an hour and watch something on YouTube, but make it a relaxation from a number of active activities rather than endlessly watching without getting anything else out of it.