User talk:RAP

Click one of the four types of discussion you want to initiate communication with User:RAP  ( + Banter / Off-topic discussion) ( + File / Image discussion) ( + NIWA discussion) ( + Wiki dicussion) 

Hello, if you accidentally came here to look at my userpage, click here! Otherwise, welcome to my talkpage. This is where all your comments, questions, and concerns are written here for me to look over them. Here are some guidelines:
 * Add " ~ " next to your sig or comment, that way, I can tell how recent your comment was written.
 * Do not make unnecessary headers/sections. They are likely going to be merged to a previous header.
 * I respond your messages in my own talk page for efficiency purposes.
 *  [NEW]  Put a link to the image instead of outright displaying it.

Upon replying your message, in this talk page, here is my signature:

1
Poor transparencies?-- 03:15, 13 June 2013 (EDT)

File:Golden Apple Bite SPM.png
Can I use for Pokemon (talk) 03:34, 26 March 2016 (EDT)

RE: My old image replace-a-thon pages
OH WOW! RAP LIVES! :P Anyways, I really liked your past work. I found it just by digging around MarioWiki. You have introduced me to the power of PNG compression. I use it regularly for uploads here and other Wikis to reduce bandwidth consumption. You inspired me to learn the ways of better screenshot taking (along with a few other folks). Also I have a few projects of my own. One is an active proposal looking for votes and the other one is a sandbox of how to take better screenshots. -- 05:02, 11 April 2016 (EDT)


 * I'll see what I can do on reading that proposal, it's been a while since I'm on MarioWiki. Unfortunately this week is going to very busy, we'll see. 05:14, 11 April 2016 (EDT)
 * I see you undid my edit (somewhat). I am only aware of the list and images that need replacing, not the rules you set up for the project. :( I apologize. -- 00:24, 13 April 2016 (EDT)


 * It's okay, it's been a while since I worked on that project. I think most of the discussion when that project was happening in 2013 occurred mostly in the forums. I'll give a detailed scan of all the image entries on the weekend and update the percentage to see where my list currently stands. 00:36, 13 April 2016 (EDT)

I have been snooping around your replace-a-thon pages. I think there are a few misconceptions about the correct resolution of N64-related screenshots. The plug-in that angrylion designed (click here) matches the closest to what real hardware produces internally with a few hiccups. Even the black bars are what real hardware produces. Most of the time, the resolution will be 320x237, but there have been some very rare bizarre cases where the resolution took a dip (File:MT64 TitleScreen.png) or went up to 640x474. Just thought you may want to know when you go to reevaluate the images. -- 01:53, 16 April 2016 (EDT)


 * In 2010, I scanned all the images individually and based on my knowledge on dealing with these images, I skimmed each image for a quick judgement on whether it needs to be fixed (and believe me, that's a lot of images!); while I think I did a very good job covering all of them as possible, I knew I'm going to misinterpret some of the images, and passed by images that have emulation errors that I was unaware about. For those Paper Mario images, I didn't realize that the game is supposed to have black borders to reduce the amount of rendering the Nintendo 64 has to do. If you think the image entry I added is not supposed to be in the list, cross the image entry out as resolved and explicitly tell me the reason next to it using Template:User instead of your signature for neatness. This is so that I know the difference between an image that was dealt with, and an image that mistakenly listed there. -- 02:17, 16 April 2016 (EDT)


 * I don't think that is entirely why a black border surrounds some N64 games. I think it was a developer guideline because at the time, the most dominant kind of TV on the market were those old CRT TVs. Those kind of monitors had curves on its glass screen, particularly at the corners, so part of the image would get cut off. This is entirely speculation on my part. Now we have legacy compatibility for those old composite video cables built-in to our HDTVs, so the black border is now going to be visible because the screen is a perfect rectangle. Diddy Kong Racing doesn't have this issue. It uses the full 320x237 frame. There are too many N64 images to re-evaluate and un-strikethrough. Best to call a redo and start over from the beginning sadly -- 02:37, 16 April 2016 (EDT)


 * There are about more than 69,000 images in the wiki. Trying to dig through The 'Shroom archives, my project of checking all the images started in 2010 (but I'm not sure what month I did this). The earliest I can get to is The 'Shroom:Issue LXVI/Pipe Plaza on statistics since the section was discontinued until it was brought back in that issue. There were about 35,000 images in August 2012. That's about more than 34,000 images currently in the database since then!


 * The reason I didn't suggest a do-over of the list is that 1) The images that are in the current list may not be caught by my eyes this time, this is complicated by the fact that 2) Since I was out of the loop, I may be unaware of what's considered quality on newer games (like are 3DS screenshots uploaded to Miiverse from 3DS devices considered highest quality as proposed emulation?), and 3) One thing you brought up is that emulation errors complicate matters in that it requires someone else who played the game to spot those inconsistencies from playing actual hardware (or using second-hand sources like videos, but that may be too tedious since someone else is playing it, and you're not in control of playing the game first-hand).


 * I don't remember how long it took to finish that scanning portion of the project, a month probably, definitely not a week. I had to do the scanning manually in Special:AllPages since I didn't have productivity time savers at the time. If you really want me to do-over, it would be encouraging to kickstart the 2016 version of this project if can whip up a text file of all the files in the wiki instead of me fetching them even with time saver tools. Unfortunately, I have other things preoccupied in my space of time compared to many years ago. -- 21:52, 16 April 2016 (EDT)


 * OK then. Your replace-a-thon project has been very insightful. It has its pros and cons, just like tagging with . I don't think angrylion's pixel accurate N64 plug-in was around at the time of your scan back in 2010 and knowledge about reverse engineering the N64 hardware for emulation wasn't as well understood as it is now. I also think the most accurate N64 emulator (Project64) was abandoned at the time, any competitor emulator was simply not as advanced because it had several bugs in it, and the most stable public release was Project64 1.6. Today, the project has been revitalized and is now on v2.2. There is also Mupen64Plus, but I have very little experience with it as I trust Project64 more. -- 22:53, 17 April 2016 (EDT)

About My Proposed Tags
I thought I give you some clarification on that so I can bring you up to speed what my plans are. You can see my sandbox tags being transcluded on my personal image here. -- 00:44, 12 April 2016 (EDT)
 * PNG vs. JPEG My PNG template idea has a list of what type of images qualify for the template.
 * High quality screenshots See User:Wildgoosespeeder/sandbox on standards for each system. The only problem is that I encourage . Some people dislike that, which is why I wanted the other proposal to pass first so I can make adjustments for the screenshot standard proposal. That is where my tweak template idea comes into play. There are also people taking issue with GCN/Wii screenshots but there are flaws with the emulator's screenshot code. If that flaw didn't exist, I wouldn't be uploading oversized screenshots and that section would be radically different.
 * User talk:Wildgoosespeeder/QualityRequestTypes/sandbox Talk created to work out kinks in my proposal. -- 03:40, 12 April 2016 (EDT)
 * At the very end of User talk:Wildgoosespeeder/QualityRequestTypes/sandbox, I put in a comment about where to find saves/savestates/passwords. Thoughts? It's been a while since I last heard from you. I get you are a busy guy. -- 01:32, 8 May 2016 (EDT)

PNG Monster
Did you create PNG Monster or did you just create the page for it for MarioWiki? -- 00:07, 17 April 2016 (EDT)
 * Just the page. I can't code! :p If you read the FAQ in that page, a user named Spodi created that program, along with a link to it's webpage. -- 00:13, 17 April 2016 (EDT)
 * Hey RAP! If you are still around lurking in the shadows, created ExplodePNG and I created an update to PNG Monster called PNG Monstrous. ExplodePNG modernizes the interface while PNG Monstrous has similar features to that of ExplodePNG but includes the latest optimizer zopflipng, which beats pngout by 3-8% better compression (or 5-10%, I've seen both figures). ExplodePNG will eventually have zopflipng at some point according to  . -- 14:40, 11 July 2016 (EDT)

RE: Regarding your Pipe Plaza section "Projects Seeking Contributors"
Hey. Apologies, but I sent the section in to Paper Yoshi on May 11th. The collaboration was created on May 13th, and the talk page question at Category talk:Staff was posted on May 14th. I'll ask if I can edit the section to incorporate these additional two points.

22:19, 18 May 2013 (EDT)
 * I Just checked. Thanks for the late additions. Let's hope both of these are resolved in the meantime. -- 23:25, 23 May 2013 (EDT)

RE: Minimum resolution
I don't think we've ever consciously discussed tailoring the wiki for any given resolution. For what it's worth, I think 1024×640 is the bare minimum nodaway. --Glowsquid (talk) 23:50, 25 May 2013 (EDT)
 * Thank you very much Glowsquid (before the current username: Blitzwing, and the first username: Gofer...I kinda liked Blitzwing better than Glowsquid, but that's just me). I've hijacked Tucayo's wiki collaboration regarding relocating in-game text content from the template to the article, with express approval from him of course. Can't wait to finish the hard ones and set up the list so the wiki collaboration can finally be done. -- 23:58, 25 May 2013 (EDT)

RE: Staff activity
Hello RAP. I discussed your message with the other admins, and I am responding on behalf of the staff. The Wiki Collaborations board is indeed frequented, but some projects may simply receive minimal input, whether it's because of a lack of time, motivation, or knowledge about the subject. There isn't an issue with the level activity of the staff, and such concerns shouldn't really be posted in public. We appreciate your enthusiasm in bumping older projects to try and reform collaborations and fulfil goals, but please be less intrusive when it comes to asking people for responses to posts. Thanks.

06:37, 3 July 2013 (EDT)


 * Oh...okay. Sorry... . . . -- 07:13, 3 July 2013 (EDT) Acting like a rather energetic Pinkie Pie at times. I feel sorry for you guys for fearing me for my enthusiasm potentially being destructive. Though being alone, if I have to be honest, I actually kinda want to talk to someone...that's why I tried gathering attention from you guys to make chat and have a conversation. Sigh...

Userspace Policy
As per Userspace Policy, I don't think you are allowed for: Please build those subpages into the User:RAP itself, and then tag them for deleting. -- 01:43, 4 July 2013 (EDT)
 * User:RAP/S/1-Status
 * User:RAP/S/2-Joined
 * User:RAP/S/3-Contact
 * User:RAP/S/4-About Me
 * User:RAP/S/5-Records
 * User:RAP/S/6-Userspace
 * Is there any way to implement subsections but the text is invisible or completely hidden, yet lets me edit the sections seperately? It'll be like List of Tayce T. Recipes but more complicated. I can plug in a new table with dedicated edit buttons to those particular sections. -- 02:10, 4 July 2013 (EDT) I'll definitely do it around Saturday, assuming that I'm not preoccupied, and that I have to do creative thinking if this idea I made is not possible because I don't want to edit the whole page each time.
 * You could build User:RAP/S/2-Joined, User:RAP/S/3-Contact, User:RAP/S/4-About Me and User:RAP/S/5-Records.. on your userpage..(because they won't be changed much) and keep User:RAP/S/1-Status (but use it on the top of your talk). You can keep User:RAP/S/6-Userspace (but use it on the bottom of every other page of your userspace)

-- 02:16, 4 July 2013 (EDT)
 * Done (even though I said I would do it on Saturday). That was a lot of hard work. I actually managed to executive the idea perfectly with flying colors; with little to no hiccups at the very end. Check the userpage! -- 05:22, 4 July 2013 (EDT)

A wiki chat with the one and only !
-- 09:41, 11 July 2013 (EDT) -- 03:44, 12 July 2013 (EDT)
 * It is very good, I just feel like I'm looking into 3D files. Good work.
 * Oh, I answered your question here, however I couldn't find 3DS mic icon at all. If you could provide it, I could Implement it.
 * Why do you have many headers (1,2,3,etc.) for your talk?, any one can just make a new easily.
 * What is your name based on? R A P
 * Could you describe this for me?
 * Why not make File:RAP.png Transparent? so it will show on all other themes. Like my Night-Owl theme
 * Empty headers
 * It's due to the type of discussion setup.
 * Four of them are in order: Banter, File, NIWA, and Wiki discussion.
 * My username
 * Based on my initials
 * Wanted to permanently change it to something else.
 * "Raw Data" page
 * It's supposed to be a wiki collaboration dedicated to mining data and put it into the wiki.
 * I was also thinking of having a dedicated team with flexibility on responsibilities on: data mining, info communication (how the info is displayed), and info content.
 * Due to lack of activity or assistance from potential participants at the time, I held off and stopped updating it (main reason).
 * Another reason is the lack of article structure standards; it's simply infuriating (secondary reason).
 * With tons of links leftover, with NIWA in mind (Nintendo wikis and StrategyWiki) I decided to expand from Mario content to Nintendo content, and then expanded to video game content. Having tons of content, sharing the lists publicly would undermine my work over the past couple of years within minutes.
 * Unlikely to relaunch it again as of now. That's saddening; I found a ton of obscure stuff I still didn't go into yet; I remember seeing Mario Party N64 beta content with footage, a japanese Mario dictionary database, and countless merchandise that leaves the Merchandise yet to be updated.
 * Also applies to the Mario Party series mini-game articles wiki collaboration.
 * I didn't put transparency on the image because I didn't know how to at the time; you could do it if you want but I'll change it to something else.
 * No problem, I added transparent for you. And I bet you know but, you could enlarge your image a bit more if you want. You could replace  with  . And you will be still adhering to the rules. P.S: Are/Were you a sysop?-- 09:44, 12 July 2013 (EDT)
 * How does adding an "x" before the #px change anything? I'm curious to be frank. Yes, I was previously a sysop. -- 02:13, 13 July 2013 (EDT)
 * Sorry for late response, "35px" changes the width. "x35px" changes the height. and you are limited to 35 pixels in height not width. You used "20px" because if you used "35px" it would be large.


 * -- 09:10, 24 July 2013 (EDT)
 * Just asking, I'm now making a program to compress images, which will be probably easier in usage. Would you be the first one to use it?
 * -- 16:49, 24 July 2013 (EDT)
 * Easier, not necessarily improving compression (wouldn't mind making compresion process faster, or have new compression techniques; especially on larger images)? Gaining some interest; what makes it better than the one I'm using (PNG Monster)? -- 16:55, 24 July 2013 (EDT)
 * I will add Many compressing options, Here is a list of what I'm currently planning:

Do you have any suggestion?
 * better explaining error messages (done)
 * Reading Files:
 * A BROWSE button to choose files from. (done)
 * Drag n' drop into the program itself. (cannot be done because of Portable: 1 file only!)
 * Portable: 1 file only! (done)
 * Coding detection for real png files (thanks goes to RAP, for the idea) (done)
 * An option to backup file if you want. (not yet)
 * Progress bar for the current file and the overall progress (done)
 * Shows compression ratio for each file (thanks goes to RAP, for the idea) (done)
 * An option to disable some external programs -like PNGCrush for example- (not yet)
 * -- 17:01, 24 July 2013 (EDT)

It is only for PNGs only? By the way, you're coding all of this? -- 17:10, 24 July 2013 (EDT)
 * Three things:
 * 1) Before and after compression for each file (PNG Monster only percentages all the files and not individually; it's great to see how much the file has been compressed)
 * 2) Coding detection whether or not a PNG is actually a JPEG (Might cause a reverse compression if not tackled)
 * 3) The ability to remove transparency (Working on a variety of images, there are images that don't seem to have transparency, but a program I use like GIMP tells me there's transparency; removing it reduces the filesize).
 * Sorry, 2 and 3 are pretty hard. But I will try to do my best. and even if so, step 2 and 3 will take some time. I will try to make #2 but I won't be able to use #3-- 17:26, 24 July 2013 (EDT)
 * Ah, and one other thing: detect if the file is actually a APNG; however, I understand that you may have trouble implementing this, in addition to the JPG detection thing. -- 07:31, 25 July 2013 (EDT)
 * Don't worry, it is easy, the secret is : all png images has "�PNG" as the first four characters. Trouble now is, when reading big pictures, my Program will be out of memory. I'm still checking everything, I got a headache. But I'm still working. I hope it deserve it. Oh, by the way. Options got changed a little check it out above.-- 11:26, 25 July 2013 (EDT)


 * Here is an image of the program looking until now-- 11:37, 25 July 2013 (EDT)
 * Luckily, I fixed the out of memory problem, almost there, Trouble now is, it still doesn't very compress like PNG Monster.-- 09:49, 26 July 2013 (EDT)


 * I suggest looking in the source files of PNG Monster to see how it works. Oh, and sorry to drop in yet another idea: The option to remove metadata info from the image file. I'm not sure if PNG Monster has the ability to do so; it doesn't mention it in their own page. -- 20:45, 30 July 2013 (EDT)
 * I checked the page, and I do use the same external programs, and the same arguments , but still, it doesn't fully compress. There must be a secret in the PNGMonster, or some external programs that are used differntly from what appearing in the site, and the source code included with the program.
 * Sorry about this weird summary!-- 04:14, 1 August 2013 (EDT)

Just saying HI-- 17:07, 11 August 2013 (EDT)
 * I'm a bit more preoccupied than usual. College is coming up. The table comparison will probably have to wait as a result. -- 04:11, 20 August 2013 (EDT)

Template Renaming
Er, you might wanna check back on the Wiki Collabs thread before you sink too much time into that Gadd/Gaddget template converting: technically, it should all just be merged into ... - 15:39, 24 July 2013 (EDT)
 * (The user has made a response post in the Wiki collaboration thread.) -- 15:51, 24 July 2013 (EDT)

Re:Checkmark table in Mario Kart series' Playable Characters section
-- 20:28, 28 July 2013 (EDT)
 * "Can you explain your reasoning and mindset for making this edit?"
 * I liked to see those images better. beside they were there all the time.
 * It looks a lot more cleaner without utilizing those images - check marks for "confirm", blanks for "not in the game at all", and question marks for "yet to be said"
 * Opinions are always different. I like the current design.
 * It's a lot more easier to maintain and edit
 * I know but It looks better the way it is now. You could put a on it's talk page, then wait for additional opinion.
 * For the third bulllet...like a mini-proposal? Or just more opinions from other users than just us? It appears we both have opposing sides to how this type of table should be presented. -- 20:34, 28 July 2013 (EDT)
 * More opinions from other users than just us is the best choice-- 20:46, 28 July 2013 (EDT)
 * Weird!-- 08:54, 6 August 2013 (EDT)

7
Hi I was wondering can I use TheYoshiFamily PNG Image for a T-Shirt I'm designing on custom ink. my name is Ryan McDonald thanks.

RE: Disappearing and reappearing
There's nothing to really compare because both programs were made using the same development environment (Visual Basic 6). The only thing you are going to notice is some more GUI elements, a newer optimizer that the older version never had, and some user-friendliness improvements.

As for higher levels of compression affecting processing time, I don't really understand the impact because I think I have a fast enough processor to load the files with no errors in decompression. It just feels near instantaneous (unless the file is hundreds of KBs or a few MB). I can kind of get if a max compressed PNG is already available for use, it could increase load times, but for something as a webpage, you have to account the time it takes to download the file as well as processing time to decompress. That I can say with some certainty max compression can lead to friendlier internetting for all users.

returned, the software that MarioWiki uses was upgraded, and was created, if you count those as noteworthy. To tell you the truth, the reason I am very active here is that I am finished with my college education and in the process of trying to find a job in my field of study. I'm finding it rather difficult. I really hope I get hired soon. It's been over two years since I last had a job. -- 04:40, 7 October 2016 (EDT)


 * By comparing between the two programs, I meant comparing how much an image is compressed when feeding into the two programs. It's probably a few kilobytes, but that's an improvement netherless. Needed to clarify that. o:
 * True, I brought it up as a thought if there was an extreme case for a reason that compressing images doesn't help at all. I really hope that isn't true for the forseeable future.
 * Oh nice, and ah, that sucks~ Hope you're doing off-stuff that benefits your skills when you eventually land for a job.
 * I knew there was something we were talking about beforehand, something involving images.
 * -- 05:13, 7 October 2016 (EDT)