It’s been awhile since I posted anything here, but the reality is I was somewhere else, hehe For awhile now I’ve been having my main blog site on finaltemplate.blogspot.com. The reason for that was hat blogger is easier to navigate and has automatic Adsense integration. So see ya there:

http://finaltemplate.blogspot.com

Without warning Global Internet Solutions (GISOL) , a wannabe hosting company has shut down my website cyrell.net as of today, which I had well established since 2003, and put it in ‘redemption mode’, whatever that may be. They have not notified me of this action, and the reasoning behind it is unclear. They will not respond to emails I sent to admin@gisol.com or sales@gisol.com. They hold my domain hostage so I can’t transfer it to a real provider. In other words, it’s done and over with! After 7 years being their loyal customer, and idiot that I am, they have brought cyrell.net down to it’s knees and destroyed it. An action that was unsuccessfully executed many many times up until now…
This of course will not go unpunished and I will do everything in my power to keep people away from GISOL.com.  There are many  anti GISOL sites out there and I’m gonna add one to that! This ‘company’ cannot do these illegal actions for many years unpunished by law. Hopefully other victims will stand up and break GISOL apart and make it a step closer to a better internet.

We’re done!

I have always been a huge fan of the Soldier Of Fortune series, mainly because the action in the first person shooter is so realistic! It’s first release for PC in 2000 was a huge hit, and I can’t remember how many hours I played single player and above all multiplayer… the game was just flat out fun! Then came Soldier of Fortune Double Helix, and now a brand new game is in the making; Soldier Of Fortune: Payback!

Little is known about this game other that it’s going to be released November 13 of this year for the PC, Xbox360 and PS3. I’m eager to see what kind of game this is going to be!

The following screenshots are from the PC version (so far only screenshots have been released)
Click on the image for a much larger high resolution version.

This update was made through my Nintendo DS! I got the wifi connection to work after switching my router to the old network setting that the DS is compatible with. So far I haven’t been able to find a working wifi location other then my house. I’m going to be in a different area tomorrow and hopefully it will work there… If not I have to return the software to the store because I thought there were way more hotspots available..

we’ll see

A quick GTA IV update! The natural motion provided by the euphoria engine (which is by the way not a graphics engine but a Dynamic Motion Synthesis (DMS)) is amazing! No more pre-animated material! I can’t wait to see this in the actual game!

A brief intro about DirectX. Directx is created by Microsoft code named Directx, a collective name for a programming interface, Direct3D, Direct Draw, DirectSound etc, and is used to handle tasks in multimedia applications. Mainly used with video games. Basically how well a video game looks. It started with Directx 1.0 in 1995 and we’re up to version 10 now.
DirectX10 has arrived with Windows Vista! (a Vista exclusive, stupid move on Microsoft’s part but I’ll talk about that later).

Although a few video cards actually support it (Nvidia 8800 series / ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT, and not many games are out that actually take advantage of it, the results are stunning!

DirecX10 is only with Vista. Problem is, Vista and DirectX9 (version 9c) gaming don’t get along with each other although Microsoft’s claim that they are backwards compatible. They are simply not. DirectX10 is built from ground up, on a totally different architecture. They started with a clean slate with means that more then half of the games and applications you used to run under XP with good old DirectX9 simply don’t work anymore with DirectX10 installed.

My old computer has XP with DirectX9, my new one has Vista with DirectX10.
So far I can’t tell the difference with directx10 because for the simple fact I don’t have any games that support DirectX10. And even if I did, I need to get the right video card in order to support it! So basically I have to spend a lot of cash to see stunning quality graphics. That’s right, even more stunning and realistic then XboX360 (once again Microsoft made the mistake here that the XboX360 cannot be upgraded to DirectX10! There were rumors that ATI was going to release a patch but that’s unfortunately untrue)

Some images so you can see the power of DirectX10.

Flight Simulator with DirectX9

Flight Simulator with DirectX10

Age of Conan with DirectX9

Age of Conan with DirectX10

Some video samples: (pardon the shitty low YouTube resolution)

Looks awesome right! The only problem is that you need Vista and a high end video card!
I don’t see why they don’t make it compatible with XP or even XboX360! It’s their own product line! They can’t even make it compatible?!

Bottom line is, if you have XP it stops at DirectX9, to take full advantage of DirectX10 and all it’s components you need Vista.
Directx10 is NOT backwards compatible as they claim at Microsoft. It’s as I like to call it ‘artificially’ backwards compatible which means it will ‘emulate’ DirectX9, but that’s not the real step back since it’s built on a totally different architecture.
It should’ve been named something completely different since it’s a different software driver. DirectX 10 has nothing to do with the previous versions of DirectX!
I tried it myself. Most of my games that had no trouble with XP, simply won’t run under Vista.
It will take years for most gamers to catch up with the latest technology to take advance of DirectX10. Especially since they excluded XP and Xbox360.
Way to go Microsoft!

Some performance (FPS) benchmarks with the game ‘Lost Planet’ DirectX9 vs Directx10

oh yeah and check this out too:

Sure, three weeks ago, when I got my new Microsoft Windows Vista Gaming system in, I was very excited! Can you imaging playing all these games with the latest OS (Operation System) technology that has full support of DirectX10, more beautiful, easier to use and more secure? Wow it does look nice! Runs great too! So far in OS applications have never crashed. As a PC gamer I have alot of PC games in my arsenal and I couldn’t wait to finally play some games in high res, full screen and in a proper FPS (frames per second) on this.
Of course my old computer could do it but not ‘the way it was meant to be played’. Out of all my original games (without patches or mods) only 2 games run on windows’ ‘great’ new OS! WHAT?! Only two out of the tons of PC Games I have?

Yes, only 2. The Sims 2 and World of Warcraft.

Call of Duty, Heroes of Might and Magic V (although as advertised on Vista), Soldier Of Fortune and the list goes on DO NOT RUN UNDER VISTA!
I do not have the newest games available to me such as Bioshock and they of course will run under Vista. But I’m talking about the ‘older’ games that Windows XP had no problem with running.

Now Windows Vista is still relatively new and is still updating quite frequently but I don’t see why they can’t put out an system that is, like the new generation of console gaming systems, backwards compatible?!

Microsoft has always done that. Also in the past I noticed, and I can’t seem to understand why.
Back in the day I was one of the first ones with Windows 95, but my old MS-DOS games didn’t run anymore. (Although it’s MicroSoft Disk Operating System), Like “Transport Tycoon)

Then I had Windows 98 and 98 SE which seem to be more backwards compatible with eachother (Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior)
And then came XP, now XP was way more solid and reliable in a way then Windows 98 SE.
But the latest and ‘greatest’ installment of Microsofts operating system is when it comes to games not so great. Even their ‘compatibly mode’ remains to be seen. ( I’ve never gotten a game to run under that)

So basically you’re in a catch 22 in a way…  I bought this new system with Vista thinking the older programs were going to run a lot smoother, but the older programs don’t run under the new Vista. Only the new programs do that demand so much from your system that it runs slow. Now only if I spend a lot of money on upgrades I can get it to run normal. So, if Microsoft comes out with a new operation system in the future (which by the way they’re currently working on) the designed programs for Vista won’t run under the new OS anymore since it’s not compatible? That’s so rediculous! If it was from another company, like Apple Macintosh made the application and it doesn’t run, I can understand that. But it’s the same company!!
I did some research on the internet and noticed a lot of people are having the same problems!
I don’t understand why they don’t make all these applications backwards compatible! If I want to play Duke Nukem 3D on my new Vista machine I have to be able to do that! In fact, the installation has be be so smooth that it blow the old operation system that the game was made for away! And the way it runs? Man with all the new technology out it has to run smooth as hell! Not a single flaw or crash. Why not?
Because you had plenty of time to perfection the system that it’s running on!
This is all too good to be true, instead I have to deal with patches, self programming and a lot of frustration!

(“Going Downtown” is a customized Duke Nukem 3D level I made back in 1997, downloadable from cyrell.net, too bad I can’t run it anymore because of my new Vista)

After a hard days of work I want to be able to play a game I just bought from Gamestop. Instead I have to figure out that it doesn’t run under Vista unless I download 5 patches, modify the executable file (some anonymous tip from a shady website said that it might work), just a whole lot of horse crap you don’t want to deal with. It’s not so much the game programmers fault I don’t think since they designed the game to run under that particular OS, it’s Microsoft that is messing around, somehow not include a proper backward compatible mode or emulator (of their own OS) in the latest release of their Vista.
It just amazes me that after all these years of programming and development they still can’t get a simple computer game such as,

I don’t know, Tex Murphy: Under A killing Moon (an old detective game) to run under Vista, because they claim Vista is too advanced to run Under A killing Moon because that game wasn’t built with DirectX9 / 10 architecture.
Bullshit! It should run any old dos game because the shell (Operating System) is so far ahead of the game that it should handle anything!

Running the original Doom under Vista should be no big deal!

I never understood why this is and this trend is continuing and it’s sad, because I like to archive my game collection (in a way that I should be able to play the game whenever I want after I install it, like a console game, you pop it in and it runs) and I have many games at the moment that I can’t even play because the operating system changes to often..

I’m not saying not to buy games for Vista, I hope Vista goes well and I wish it all the best, just a little bit more ‘compatible’ would be nice.

I was just getting used to Windows XP…

After the major server crash and no replies from GISOL I did some research on GISOL it self. Now for me I never signed up with GISOL! I want and need everyone reading this know that, I need that for my reputation

I signed up with Ireg.com for a hosting package that was back in the day (year 2000) the best deal. And they were good! Ireg (I believe it standed for ‘Iregistered!’, back then a big deal to register your own domain) they delivered what they promised and never really had a big issue with them.
Then Ireg became ‘Ampira’, and Ampira even wasn’t all that bad, although they had some blackout issues now and then, but their uptime was still above 90%!

Then Ampira became GISOL.

Global Internet SOLutions was the new web hoster for my website cyrell.com (year 2001).

Then all shit started to hit the fan! Horrible customer support, poor uptime (lucky if your website was up 20 days a month, with slow server speeds), and server crash galore. Almost like if it was some kind of dude, lonely sitting in his basement with an old server that he bought from a yard sale and hooked up somehow, providing ‘customer service and hosting service’.
Of course I don’t know for sure it’s a one man  operation although I’d like to believe that, but I do know that he uses several different names in ‘live chat’ support. (the same person)
Yes! Almost like someone with multiple personality disorder, hehe . Sometimes I catch him saying information that only a ’senior techician’ would know and the next day he pretends to know nothing about databases or, even simple html setups.

But in the end you always try to be a good person and think; ‘the guys prolly busy’, or he must have had a bad day.

Until you type GISOL in GOOGLE

hnmmm

let’s see, first search result,.

gisol.com “Global Internet Solutions offers affordable web hosting with powerful servers. Our current SPECIAL for $7.95 offers you 100MB of space, 90 DAYS FREE, …“

alright,.. the main site to gisol.com, nothing weird about it, just to promote their business.

second:

GISOLSUCKS.com

They said there was a court order to take down gisolsucks.com as well as other anti-gisol websites. I called my ISP a few days ago and they said it wasn’t …

gisolsucks.com?  let’s have a look! It’s about this poor guy having all sorts of issues with GISOL.. I’m starting to sweat, because my precious website is hosted with these ^$!%$#@ !

oh well, maybe it’s just an angry dude that did something stupid and never got his money back because he went over the ‘90 days money back guarantee’ line..

3rd result

Global Internet Solutions – incompetent!!! GISOL.com – awful web … – Sep 9
GISOL (Global Internet Solutions) is a terrible web host!!! GISOL DIDN’T deliver its 99.999% uptime guarantee; The servers were always down.

holy crap! the first couple results were not all that positive about this webhost…

how about the next:

Ahh,.. a hosting review site:

OMG,.. all lawsuits against GISOL

“This company needs legal action taken against it. If you have had bad dealings with GISOL please report it to the LA better Business Bereau, the LA District Attorney’s office, the FBI’s IC3 internet crimes unit and whomever else will take a complaint against these thieves.
This company thrives on unethical and fraudulent actions. They charge your card with out warning, bait and switch plans. Hijack domain names and avoid all calls like the plaque.
I have had two accounts suspended without warning for so called AUP violations. Hosting multiple apparently are a no-no even though the plans i have state unlimited domains.” 

and mind you there are about 50(!!!) negative reviews!! (sweating more!)

nervously I click the back button on my Firefox tool bar,.. back to the search results: because maybe, just maybe some has something positive to say about my hosting company that’ll make me feel good, and I can finally get a good night’s sleep.

“Beware of GISOL (Global Internet Solutions)

I can’t believe the things these crooks are doing to their customers. Read the story, but more importantly, read the comments, and see how many people they’ve swindled. They should not be in business. Please spread the word about them. It’s just not right.”

by raoulpop

by now I realized that my website is doomed! The first couple of search results are so incredibly awful that I can’t believe my eyes!

I’m not making this up,.. search GISOL in GOOGLE and see the results for yourself, if that many people, including myself have that much trouble with a hosting company how the hell can they still be in business??! In my opinio, GISOL is a scam, and I can get out of it because they hold my domain cyrell.net hostage. Hopefully they will do better in the future, but for about 4 years now they have made my hosting hellish with them.

People need to be aware of this! If you want to create a domain and hosting, please do yourself a favor and save yourself alot of trouble by signing up with…. I don’t care, Yahoo or 1&1, or even GoDaddy whatever the case is never, ever, ever sign up with Global Internet Solutions (GISOL),……

unless you want to talk to Neo (the technical support guy that always refers your to his ’senior technicians’)

then it might be a good idea,. but he is not very friendly past 11am PST.

What a week it has been. After a huge struggle with my hosting company we are finally back online (not wordpress, my main hosting website). The good news out of all of this is that I upgraded my main website to the latest version of that particular OS, and that went flawless. The bad news is that a very important module is not functioning properly. Hopefully it will get resolved soon. But for right now, the way I see it everything is back to normal. And that means back to blogging again! Posting about things that I find interesting, etc. I missed that!
I’ve been around for sometime on the internet and particularly  blogging and creating content. In fact I even tried to establish the biggest websites on the internet (a Yahoo like interface with more interactivity) which of course failed miserably because I don’t have the knowledge or cash to setup something like that, but hey the thought was there and I must say from so far what I’ve seen this place (WordPress) has amazed me, it’s community is awesome, very responsive and versatile, not afraid to speak their minds and it’s moderators are carrying the same ideal as me, and that’s one of the reasons why I got myself here!

I look forward to write to my readers!

This turns out to be a daily blog about the battle between me and my ‘hosting company’. When things get resolved I hope to get back to normal and post what I actually wanna post. Until then I need to keep my readers informed on what’s going on behind the scenes.

Another day! Ahh, I don’t even check my website anymore since it’s always down and save myself some time by logging in directly to chat support, a ’secret link’ (because they took off the  live chat support link from their side bar) I still have on my Firefox top bar from last time I had an issue with them that lasted a month (in May).

Here goes:

info: Welcome to Technical Support. A  representative will be with you shortly.  You are number 1 in the queue. Your wait time will be approximately 0 minute(s) and 23 seconds. Thank you for waiting.
info: You are now chatting with ‘Sonny’
Sonny: Hello and welcome to GISOL Live Chat Support.
John: hi sonny
John: my website has been down now for 4 days, I was wondering is there was any progress
Sonny: Please allow a couple of minutes to check this.
John: sure, thank you
Sonny: Are you using phpbb2 script?
John: i don’t know, i just noticed my site’s down
Sonny: Ok.
John: ever since your update it hasn’t ben working anymore
John: I guess I do because it says ” fisubsilver shadow phpbb2 style by Daz ” at the bottom by the credits
info: There may be a problem communicating with Sonny. Please wait while your chat is transferred to another operator.
info: You are now chatting with ‘Sonny’
Sonny: Sorry for the disconnection
John: no problem
Sonny: Let me check this.
John: great, i appreciate it
Sonny: Thank you for you patience.
John: sure
Sonny: This issue would require senior tech. to look into.
John: dude, I thought they were already working on it
Sonny: As ticket is already been created. they will reply to it.
John: everytime you give me the exact same answer
Sonny: I checked it. But I don’t have proper tools for this issue.
John: ‘your senior techs’ that’s all you always say
John: ok.. I’ll give you 3 hours to resolve this otherwise i need to cancel my account
John: i hate to do this but I have to
John: i need a website and a reliable hosting company
Sonny: We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused.
Sonny: You will get a reply very soon.
John: i don’t think you are that sincere since you don’t do anything abou it, I’m chatting with you every day man
John: and every day you say that you’ll reply very soon and 4 days later still not even a trouble ticket was created
John: this is from 2 days ago: “John: www.cyrell.net is down still (sql) but www.cyrell.net/News.html is working and that?s sql based too Sonny: As I have checked you have already created ticket for this. Sonny: Our senior tech. are working on this. Sonny: They will reply you very soon.”
John: you tell people always the same story… omg
John: my website is down.. and you are you ‘hosting’ company right? WHY is my website down?
Sonny: Please be patience, I have passed your issue to higher level right away.
Sonny: Your website will be pulled up very soon.
John: ok thank you
John: that would be great

I’ll talk to him tomorrow again.