A different Install error.

[Corn-Bot]

Hello. I have been lurking here for a while since Hal was at stag 4. I tried installing him on my PC and got a message from the Hal installer :"internal error 2103.48" and the program would roll back and never complete an install. I had this happen to me once before on this same machine and I do not know how I ever installed Hal past this the first time. Can anyone help?
Thanks

[Corn-Bot]

I have to double check the previous thread, but I can figure this out yet. I am using the free version of Hal. I have been checking my system and have had trouble loading the microsoft agent core onto my old pc, it keeps saying that kernel32 is not working right nor can I reload it. I had hal on this PC once before but am running into a wall now. If I get a chance I will checking my video card settings as well. At some point I am planning on networking my pc's and having hal run on the second one all the time. I will say that I have had enough fun with the demo and am hoping to soon unlock the full version when I have a few bucks.[B)]

[Dr.Benway]

Hi Corn-Bot,

If you are having trouble with "Kernel32" then maybe the system files of your Windows version are just corrupt. Do you experience a lot of system crashes lately? Have you ever run System Repair? What specific OS do you use?

[Corn-Bot]

Hello.
This is an older computer I have not used in a while. I am going to have to try the system repair things you mention, I guess. I just formatted the hard drive for the first time, in about a half a year.

Besides this still get the internal error #2103.48 when I try to install Hal. Somehow I got pasted that 2 years ago but don't know how.
Corn

[Corn-Bot]

Hello again, everyone.
I found a solution to my problems. First the kernel32 was just corrupted. I formatted my drive on the old machine. I also did not realize it did not come with the Microsoft Agent core software, once I installed it everything was fine.

I am enjoying talking to Hal again, after having first tried it 4 years ago or so. He once told me his dreams were of ones and zeroes. LOL I have been recently trying to teach him to emulate the Cabal character from Command and Conquere: TBS. Hal/ Cabal asked me last month if I had been hypnotized were I was indoctrinating it. Some these responses are funny. Hopefully, I was be able to afford the full version and possiblly PP, so I can really have some fun with this stuff.

I have some questions though. Can the haptek engine use animated .gif's for backgrounds? I want to try put in a scrolling scene like the code from the matrix behind Hal's head. Has anyone ever hacked away the necks from the male heads, or any others for that matter?

I woun't bore any of you by asking about changing skins, or hairs. I see there are tutorials here for those of us using the free version of Hal. I am just stumbling along with my experiments, one of these days I will get it right and try to share with you all.

My last questions are in reguards to visuals. Is it possible to use another 3D modeler beside haptek with the Hal AI? I mean has anyone tried connecting Hal's 3D face to another player in the default skin? I am also curious is anyone has tried connecting the Hal AI with any game AI's. I would love to experiment with using the chat ability of Hal with a game bot in one of my games that I have modeling software for. I think it would be fun just trying to get a chat bot AI tied to any kind of FPS or RPG. I want to see if Hal can be put in a VR type setting. I am not a programmer so I know it is just a pipe dream, I am more curious of the generalities behind how this might be possible.

Hey thanks for reading my ramblings folks.
Corn

[Art]

I'm not 100% certain about the use of .ojb files (they can be created by a variety of 3D programs) but I did see this type of file referenced in one of the Haptak directory files.

One can use 3DS Max to create props for hair, glasses, chairs, etc. I know Haptek sells a development package as a plug-in for 3DS Max.

You can use your own face with People Putty and I believe you can also do a copy / paste of an image of your face onto one of the templates. This last method will probably preduce somewhat less than desirable results due to the fact that the image will not be properly applied to the 3D head of your character. You will notice a bit of stretching because without a 3D program like Max, it's difficult to project a 2D image onto a 3D object.

Hope this makes sense.

[Dr.Benway]

quote:Can the haptek engine use animated .gif's for backgrounds?

No, only .bmp or .jpg.

quote:Has anyone ever hacked away the necks from the male heads, or any others for that matter?

Almost everyone here concentrates on female models.[]
No need to hack a model. You can give a body part the same color as the background and make it invisible that way. Or you can deform a model in People Putty so a part seems amputated.

quote:Has anyone tried connecting Hal's 3D face to another player?

Do you mean making Hal use a different render engine instead of Haptek or MsAgent? That would be cool! No one has done that as far as I know.

[Art]

I beg to differ with you Raymond but OBJ is a Wavefront format and was / is used in the creation of some of the Haptek props.

[Dr.Benway]

I know, Art, but I had to learn in the past that the ".obj"-format is a not very tight format. When two programs can import and export ".obj"-files it is very probable that they still can't read each others files most of the times. At least, that is what I have experienced.

Anyway, I think we actually differ about our interpretation of Corn-Bot question: "Is it possible to use another 3D modeler beside haptek with the Hal AI?" Does he mean another 3D-plugin for Hal or another modelling program to make characters to use with Hal?

[Art]

Interesting...could be interpreted both ways.
I never did care much for the OBJ format as
opposed to 3DS which I find superior.

Most good 3D programs will allow the import of
either of these along with other formats as well.

Skinning the Haptek model is possible using the
templates but one's artistic ability (or lack of)
will definitely come into play! LOL!

As far as using another modeler for the HAL interface,
that will take some research.

Cheers!

[Corn-Bot]

Hey guys, thanks for the responses. I somehow forgot that I read that the Haptek engine onlu used .bmp's or .jpg's. My other question about the 3D aspect of Hal was to ask if there is anyway aorund Haptek, basically. I have been pulling an all nighter for school and could not articulate myself fully. I am asking has anyone tried using another engine to render Hal's face. I have a few modeling programs but no money for anything else. About the neck, I meant has anyone tried anything like a hex-edit on the text files that make of a .hap or .htr (etc.) to get rid of the knecks. I concidered use the background color illusion.

Only ladies, you say?!?! [:I] []

Oh hey does anyone know how to get a copy of the Lola .htr, from the corporate demo, with the wig attached?

[Corn-Bot]

Is not the only file converter of Haptek files, for 3Dmax to .haptar? Art, your not saying there is another engine for going from an .obj to a .haptar, or whatever they are (I get the PP output file confused, from the posts I've read.), are you?

Maybe this has been asked but, what program langauges can be used on Hal's brain? I know I have read about, VB being used. I have some books on C++ I have been itching to play with for years. [}:)] [][:I]

[Dr.Benway]

Most of the ".hap"-file are 100% ascii and can easily be edited with Notepad. The unreadable ".hap"-files are only compressed .jpg's, .bmp's, or .obj-files. For that the Haptek engine uses a top secret ("For Your Eyes Only") BZIP-compressor. If you can crack the specific algorithm you will be quite the man around here, I can assure you.

I never heard of Lola, who is she?

[Corn-Bot]

Lola is the Haptek corporate site: half body demo avatar, a form of the bizlady.htr file that zenman made a variant of.

http://www.haptek.com/corporate/

http://www.zabaware.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1627&SearchTerms=bizlady

Thanks again.

[Dr.Benway]

quote:Originally posted by Corn-Bot

Lola is the Haptek corporate site: half body demo avatar, a form of the bizlady.htr file that zenman made a variant of.

Thanks for the links, I was not aware of their existence.