Review of SystemRescueCd

Two days ago, I was helping one of my juniors to rescue his laptop. However, I didn’t bring any tools. And I recalled a LiveCD, SystemRescueCd. Then I tried to download it. Luckily the internet connection was good. The file size is 234 Mb (version 1.2.0). And immediately burned it to a CD using CDBurnerXP.

However, I am not familiar to the Linux command. Fortunately, SystemRescueCd provides GUI. So, used the wizard to start X Windows. Then, I needed to copy the data from C: drive. Firstly, I tried to copy the data to a pendrive. But the pendrive did not have enough disk space. Then, I tried to copy to D: drive. But the D: drive is NTFS filesystem. I knew about ntfs-3g before, but I did not know how to use it. The start screen of SystemRescueCd did provide information on how to use ntfs-3g.

Actually, it is easy. Just use the command “ntfs-3g” like using “mount” command. So, I tried it, and suceed. The D: drive became read/write abled. Finally, the D: drive was also out of disk space. But, the problem was logically solved.

Review and cheats of Totem Tribes

I played Totem Tribes 3 times, because I want to see the different endings. Besides that, it is quite a good game, the storyline is good.

It combines War Craft and “seek and find” game genre. But the “seek and find”, is very very difficult. Sometimes, need to search for the solution from internet.

Now, I want to talk about cheating in the game. Because playing it for 3 times, without cheating, it will be very boring. Besides that, remember backup the files before editing for the cheating.

Cheat 1: To make your objects easier to be found.
Just go to “Totem Tribe\data\texture\game\item“, paint the PNG files again, modify the picture, edit it, do whatever you want, then you can see the result if you restart the game.

Cheat 2: Make your building speed faster.
Open the “Totem Tribe\data\cfg\building.xml” with any text editor. Find the “build_points” tag, then change the value in it. Your building speed will be modified. But do not change the value to “1” or “0”, my experience told me “10” is enough. But remember, do not change all the buildings build points, because you might need to build a building slowly in one of the levels.

Since you can change the data about building, you can also change the “observation” tag, so that the map will be shown.

Cheat 3: Make your research faster.
Similar to Cheat 2, but open the “tech.xml” instead. Then modify the “cost” tag.

Cheat 4: Make your magic faster.
Similar to above, but “magic.xml“, and the “cost” tag can be modified.

Cheat 5: Build your units faster.
Open the “unit.xml“. Change the “train_points” tag. You can also change the “damage” tag, “speed” tag, or other else. But I tried to change the “observation” tag, and when I drag my unit, this cause an error to the application. So, try your own.

Note: Changing the data in the XML unlike changing the image file. It will only affect to the units or building or magic after you change the XML. For example, when you build a building with the default HP. After that, you exit the game, and modify the XML and change the HP and start the game. Your building is still the default HP, but the new building you build will be the new HP.

Cheat 6: Find all the jewels.
This is the most difficult part. Because, if you want to unlock the secret level, you need to find all the jewels. How can you do that? My final solution is go to “Totem Tribe\data\level\original”, open one of the level XML. And you will find “item” tag, with the attributes: “sub_id“, “type“, “x“, and “y“. “type” indicates the gem type, there are “RedGem”, “OrangeGem”, “YellowGem”, “GreenGem”, “BlueGem”, “VioletGem”, and “WhiteGem”. “x” and “y” is the coordinate of the gem. And the “sub_id” indicates the level or category of the gem. So, the level 1 start the “sub_id” from 0, and the level 19 ends the gem with the “sub_id” 62. That means, you can create all the gems from sub_id 0 to sub_id 62 in any one of the level with the coordinate x,y you want. So, do this, you can collect all the gems in one level.

Note: But type in all the text from sub_id 0 to sub_id 62 manually with all types of gem is quite exhaustive. I solve this problem by writing a program to generate the text, and copy the text to the XML file. Besides that, I put all the gems at Aruku’s starting coordinate. Then, start the game, and start that level. And you will see all the gems at Aruku’s coordinate. Then, just click the gems until your finger is tired.

Finally, the game is written using several libraries, Audiere, Expat, and HGE. This makes me have the eagerness to write my own game. A simple game with a good storyline, which make me played 3 times. But, I don’t have so much free time to do this. Hopefully I can spend sometimes to write a game.