Diy bifold closet doors makeover

The clinic i work at is trying to remove these doors from the track and we can't quite figure out how. Is anyone familiar with this hardware?
image 1: top latch 2: floor bolt

So I (25f) just moved into my boyfriend’s (31m) apartment in January and brought my switch over bc we are both Zelda fanatics and he wanted to play BOTW which I was cool with because it was my all time favorite game, and I love watching game play just as much as actually playing. All was good… until… they released TOTK.
He works during the day and I’m a streamer so I work at night, but I’m spending my days running our errands so I don’t have much time to play during the day.
But man when I tell you…. TOTK absolutely SHITS on BOTW. In the beginning I was only letting myself play for 2 hours before he got home from work then I would cook dinner.
That slowly crept into me playing more after he went to bed. Then i started playing after dinner while he was watching tv, i would bring the console out on the porch so we could still spend physical time together. Then it crept into me playing on the tv in a different room completely neglecting him. When I tell you, there is absolutely NO sense of time when playing this game. It just basically doesn’t exist. I feel like I’m on it 45 minutes then boom - it’s 5 am. I basically am getting in bed when he’s getting up to go to work. I just downloaded it last week and I’ve already logged 50 freaking HOURS!
This happened three nights in a row, and it’s starting to be a problem obviously… but last night was the last straw. As he was going to bed he told me it was time to get off and I should go to bed, he tried to physically grab my controller and I YANKED IT OUT OF HIS HAND LIKE A CRACKHEAD. It’s getting so bad I’m also not streaming hardly at all and I’ve been canceling all of my plans with friends, family, etc.
I kept playing that night until 1 am when my TV started tilting off the mount. I’ll try and paint a picture here, but there’s like a big glass tv stand under the Tv that’s also mounted to the wall that’s a fire place and holds our consoles.
Anyways, I’m pretty short so I had to put my knee up on it to tilt the TV back and the whole glass stand fell off the wall and SHATTERED ALL OVER THE FLOOR!!! ALL BC I COULDNT GET OFF THE GAME.
Obviously he heard this loud ass bang and came out and just laughed at me (like when you’re so angry you just laugh instead of scream) and told me to leave (I have a 2nd apartment in the same building where I do my streaming) so I went down there and was freaking out.
So what do I do? It’s 2 am, I refuse to leave that mess just sitting there for me to wake up and see and be reminded of my severe TOTK addiction. So naturally, I call my usual handyman and shockingly he answers!!! It’s 2 am! He said he can be there in 30 minutes.
I meet him in the parking garage and he brought this huge truck with a trailer of tools hitched up and it was a nightmare getting him to park!!! Finally we get up to the sh*tshow of destruction apartment and… boom.. he locked me out…
So I have to start banging on the door waking this poor man up AGAIN and he answers the door NAKED AND SEES ME STANDING THERE WITH A RANDOM GUY AND A TOOL BOX AT 3 am!!!!!!
He just looks at me shakes his head let’s us in and goes to bed. I tell handyman we gotta be quick and quiet but this has to fixed asap. he started to fix it but begins DRILLING IT INTO THE WALL WHICH IS THE WALL CONNECTED TO THE BED ROOM (what a nightmare)
Obviously bf is beyond pissed. Whatever, tv stand fireplace thing is fixed. But guess what I decide to do? Take my switch and KEEP PLAYING IN THE CLOSET. I black out at some point, probably around 5 am,with no recollection of anything after I got in the closet, sprawled out on the carpet floor, controller STILL IN MY HAND and a side of ranch and a quesadilla in the other. I crawl into our bed and woke up at around 10:30 am.
I start looking for my switch. I look in the closet, the bedroom, the living room, ….. it’s no where.
I go down to our second apartment where my boyfriend is working, we both use it for work, thinking maybe I brought it down there? Nope.
I sit down look him in the eyes and go “where’s the switch”he just smiles…. And says “you know where it is :)”
Then it dawned on me. “You put it in your f*cking safe didnt you”
“Yup :)”
I LOSE MY MINDDDDDDDDDDDDDD.
Like I know I was getting realllly addicted, but I’m mostly pissed bc ATLEAST LET ME BEAT THE GAME AND I PROMISE ILL NEVER PLAY IT AGAIN. The thing about these Zelda games is is that they’re really never over lol. When will I be getting back you ask? We may never know…
I know it’s probably for my own good and the good of our relationship, but I’m so pissed right now I can’t hardly speak to him I wanna cry and scream and I feel like I’m going through withdrawals. I love him but I also want to unalive him and myself.
If you care about anything good in this world, don’t download TOTK because you WILL care about Hyrule more.
TLDR: severe Zelda addiction making me broke financially, romantically, and physically (broke our tv console stand). Bf locked it in his safe and now I’m grieving and depressed. play at your own risk….

he, my soulmate, loves me on most days peering over the hindustan times when my eyes desperate distract his wandering gaze from a disheveled tie and towards hide-and-seek his favourite game my mother once told me counting his footsteps should be mine (anything to make him smile) and so I spend the day hiding in the corners of our home where before our marriage he used to conceal poems in my remembrance (I suppose they collect dust since) performing his innumerable chores listening in silence for when he’ll seek me from behind the door but in reality I know he is everywhere comfortably watching from his armchair comparing the arch of my corset with the women on the internet but it’s okay, I swear for my lover unleashes his fury only in jealousy from haunted sidewalks to crowded parties he’ll count the glances strangers stole from my body and when we’re home alone he’ll tie me onto the chandelier and burn my closet down with all the pretty dresses he bought to make me the talk of the town just when I think it’s over he’ll bring the newspapers, his letters, my forgotten degrees and our grocery lists I thought he’d thrown out in vain I celebrate-maybe he loves me after all even when he glues them onto me with fevicol covering my skin with paper maché he always loved pummelling piñatas on his birthday if only my insides were made of candy and before he struck I hear my mother sigh for she’d told me a thousand times he’ll only smile when I’m away and until he finds someone new to erase
1)https://www.reddit.com/OCPoetry/comments/13yfh2n/comment/jmneqky/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
2)https://www.reddit.com/OCPoetry/comments/13yg78o/comment/jmnewkv/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

Background: I live in CA with my family in an apartment. My brother is on probation from some troubles a year ago or so, I share a room with him. Almost every time the p.o. comes around to heck for any prohibited items, the entire room is ransacked.
The first visit they asked me (I was home at the time)to point out what my belongings were, which bed was mine, where my clothes were kept, if I had any blades or weapons, etc. They rummaged through my brothers belongings, found nothing of note, told me I was not allowed to keep my box cutter (needed for my job) inside my backpack in the room, and left. But now they seem enraged that they haven't found anything he isn't supposed to have and are searching more aggressively?
My understanding was that his belongings and the direct area around his bed were liable to be searched. This is not the case any more as every cabinet/drawer in the room is left open, belongings are thrown all over the floor, bedsheets are ripped off the beds, toiletries are on the floor, and clean/dirty clothes are left spilling out of the closet. I've had to replace toothbrushes multiple times, had highschool certificates bent from sticking out of drawers when they were closed, and almost lost a check from work during one visit, and am generally miserable about when the next search might be. During one of the earlier visits they also searched the room that we are renting, and asked for access to my parents' room (parents keep it locked, and only they have the key to the door).
In addition to this, they has expressed that they want us to remove the cameras we have installed within the apartment. One if them asked if they were functioning at the moment, we said we needed to update the software, and they replied "okay well, it's not a problem right now because they aren't working. But in the future, if the cameras become an issue, we will ask you to take them down." I fail to understand how having cameras stops them from doing their searches or restricts them in any way?
In my opinion they just want any plausible reason to lock up my brother again, and I want to know if there is any legal options available to protect ourselves?

I am in love with a woman I have never met. I long to know her name. I saw her in a vision a few years ago, and I still fell a strong connection. I know she is short, svelte, a brunette, much younger and with full lips.
She is my soulmate, my twin flame, the one I've been longing to rejoin for many lifetimes, over many centuries. In our first lifetime together we were in a per-christian Celtic like tribe, and she died before we had children. In another lifetime, in England, I saw her two or three times at a dockside pub but she was with some higher class people and I stood no chance.
I know, or think I know, a few other things about her like she spent most of the summer of 2020 at the shore being at least one time on a golden and brown fiberglass small boat; she has all four twilight movies on DVD and so I've held off watching those to watch them with her. During that time she or her family had a small tan colored dog which I saw in her bedroom which was mostly filled with a queen or king sized bed. There was a closet to the right of the door. One of her favorite musicians was Lorde.
I've also seen a small house with brick front steps that have round shaped sides. She has two older aunts/mother(s) who are supportive of her.
She has frequented South Street Philly recently.
I am confident that she can already feel our heart's connection.
Does this sound like you?
My name is Evan. Most of what I could say about myself is on my website. But I'll summarize: 5'11, Libra, old soul, no tattoos, full bearded, long haired Wiccan, a few extra pounds, divorced w no kids. I'm friendly and the kind of person that would rather be kind than right. I'm very low drama, loving, loyal, sigma personality type, and open minded. I love PathfindeD&D, sci-fi and movies in general. I'm rebuilding my life waiting for SSD and working on being an author while looking for my forever girl.

I am in love with a woman I have never met. I long to know her name. I saw her in a vision a few years ago, and I still fell a strong connection. I know she is short, svelte, a brunette, much younger and with full lips.
She is my soulmate, my twin flame, the one I've been longing to rejoin for many lifetimes, over many centuries. In our first lifetime together we were in a per-christian Celtic like tribe, and she died before we had children. In another lifetime, in England, I saw her two or three times at a dockside pub but she was with some higher class people and I stood no chance.
I know, or think I know, a few other things about her like she spent most of the summer of 2020 at the shore being at least one time on a golden and brown fiberglass small boat; she has all four twilight movies on DVD and so I've held off watching those to watch them with her. During that time she or her family had a small tan colored dog which I saw in her bedroom which was mostly filled with a queen or king sized bed. There was a closet to the right of the door. One of her favorite musicians was Lorde.
I've also seen a small house with brick front steps that have round shaped sides. She has two older aunts/mother(s) who are supportive of her.
She has frequented South Street Philly recently.
I am confident that she can already feel our heart's connection.
Does this sound like you?
​
My name is Evan. Most of what I could say about myself is on my website. But I'll summarize: 5'11, Libra, old soul, no tattoos, full bearded, long haired Wiccan, a few extra pounds, divorced w no kids. I'm friendly and the kind of person that would rather be kind than right. I'm very low drama, loving, loyal, sigma personality type, and open minded. I love PathfindeD&D, sci-fi and movies in general. I'm rebuilding my life waiting for SSD and working on being an author while looking for my forever girl.

I am in love with a woman I have never met. I long to know her name. I saw her in a vision a few years ago, and I still fell a strong connection. I know she is short, svelte, a brunette, much younger and with full lips.
She is my soulmate, my twin flame, the one I've been longing to rejoin for many lifetimes, over many centuries. In our first lifetime together we were in a per-christian Celtic like tribe, and she died before we had children. In another lifetime, in England, I saw her two or three times at a dockside pub but she was with some higher class people and I stood no chance.
I know, or think I know, a few other things about her like she spent most of the summer of 2020 at the shore being at least one time on a golden and brown fiberglass small boat; she has all four twilight movies on DVD and so I've held off watching those to watch them with her. During that time she or her family had a small tan colored dog which I saw in her bedroom which was mostly filled with a queen or king sized bed. There was a closet to the right of the door. One of her favorite musicians was Lorde.
I've also seen a small house with brick front steps that have round shaped sides. She has two older aunts/mother(s) who are supportive of her.
She has frequented South Street Philly recently.
I am confident that she can already feel our heart's connection.
Does this sound like you?
​
My name is Evan. Most of what I could say about myself is on my website. But I'll summarize: 5'11, Libra, old soul, no tattoos, full bearded, long haired Wiccan, a few extra pounds, divorced w no kids. I'm friendly and the kind of person that would rather be kind than right. I'm very low drama, loving, loyal, sigma personality type, and open minded. I love PathfindeD&D, sci-fi and movies in general. I'm rebuilding my life waiting for SSD and working on being an author while looking for my forever girl.

I am currently in Maryland, USA and I noticed that most liquor stores here and in DC close at 10pm even though their license allows for up to 2am. I would sell other things as well. So I thought up an automated convenience store that functions kind of like a vending machine… but today upon more research, I shouldn’t have been surprised to find out Chinese companies are already doing it but surprisingly they seem to be missing one key piece that mine addresses. Mixing both unmanned retail stores with the vending machine experience. For example an unmanned store in Korea allows people to walk inside the store and shop alone and the payment is automated… that concept requires a lot of faith whereas mine eliminates any possibility of shrinkage/theft.
You browse through the app/website, select your product and pay. You can have it delivered or pick it up. Let’s say you decide to pick it up. You drive up, park, and walk up to the small structure. So imagine a small detached structure similar to those some banks have to access ATMs. You scan your phone, input your code, and the door unlocks, you walk in and it locks. You step up to the glass screen and have the option to add more products to your order. The lobby is very small. If you need help, you can press help and a customer service representative will assist you via audio. There are cameras inside and outside the structure. For sensitive products such as alcohol, this representative will confirm your ID/age. You complete the checkout and your order is dispensed similar to a vending machine. You pick it up, unlock the door and leave.
So the whole building is very small, maybe the size of a US walk-in closet. Merchandise is stored underground, 1-2 stories, in box containers and brought up automatically. These structures would be either next to shopping centers/strip malls or next to neighborhoods. Ideally it can hold 100 different products, and about 3,000 items. The size of store could be bigger, like the size of a 7-11 or bigger. Also the number of products depends on item size and the structure size. There will be a person who loads inventory when trucks arrive, daily or weekly.
Business model
Either charge a $5.99 convenience fee per order or a $19.99 monthly membership fee.
$14.99 delivery fee. Most, if not all of that money goes to the driver.
Charge delivery service companies such as Uber and Doordash a fee to use the platform. $1,000 per month, plus 20% revenue split on whatever they charge customers for delivery.
Charge CPG companies $500 per item, per location slotting fees when legal, plus 10% sales fee. This is meant to keep prices down. So if product X sells for $100, we get $10, while the company gets $90.
My target customers could be anyone with weird work schedules, family’s, and people inconvenienced by early store closures. One example is, say you get off at midnight, almost every retail store will be closed. But you can do your shopping on your way out of work, and pick up your goods before heading home. Or you could place and order and pick it up early in the morning, say 5am. Another example is people who want to drink but don’t want to go out to bars now that liquor stores are closed. Or people needing over the counter medicine for things such as a cold that’s keeping you up, etc.
My big problem is I don’t know how much it would cost to build this out. Ideally, I would want it under $50,000, preferably closer to $30k all in. And yea I know the liquor license and having over the counter medication and maybe even weed would come with their own challenges, regulations, and headaches but I think the trade off is worth it. I can easily see a scenario where each location clears $1,000,000 annually with say a 70% margin.
What do you guys think?

Hello! After getting a larger television, I decided to remodel my living room to do away with my 1970-80s-era built-in entertainment center. The initial demo and finishing work went well enough, but now I'm needing to add some new cabinet doors.
I am looking to do full overlay, with flat/slab doors, similar to this entertainment center from Ikea.
I've had several folks out to quote creating doors for this, but almost everyone seems to be at a loss or they want to do a complete teardown and rebuild of the existing cabinet.
The entire thing seems to be built out of 3/4" stained pressed particle board, and it's some seriously study stuff. The front of the cabinet does have a sort of trim or fascia that can be removed if needed.
So, I'm at a bit of an impasse. In my mind, it should be as simple as getting a bit of 3/4" plywood, ripping it down to the dimensions needed, and then snagging some 1.5-2" overlay hinges to mount it all up. But what am I missing?
Am I oversimplifying the undertaking?
Disclaimer: I'm a complete novice. I own just about every tool I could possibly need, but I'm entirely unskilled with them. I do lack a table saw, but I believe I can do any necessary ripping with my circular saw + a kreg rip jig.

Ok so I have a cat introduction situation and I was hoping I could get some advice or guidance from anyone on here.
I am currently in the process of introducing a new cat (2.5yrs female, spayed) to my resident cat (5yrs, female, spayed). Things seem to be going fairly normal/well but I think we have made a step back in the past day or two. The new cat has been here for 9 days now, they did see each other initially (unintentionally) but this didn’t seem to be a negative interaction (no hissing, just apprehension from both cats).
I live in a large loft with lots of space for the cats, but not many options for separation. I have put the new cat in the front hall closet, open halfway with a plastic barrier so the cats can see each other. She has been in here for the past week and seems to be getting quite comfortable with her surroundings in there although she generally sleeps in her little bed all day and I don’t see much desire to leave the space.
The new cat is quite timid, she is super affectionate and loves it when I go into her space to give her pets, I see her coming out of her shell when I do this so I have been trying to do it quite often. It took her a couple days to get comfortable in her new environment and she didn’t eat or use the litter box for about 2 or 3 days, but since then has been eating regularly and using the litter box with no problems.
The resident cat has been cautiously apprehensive regarding the newcomer, she is quite jealous and I have been trying to make sure I give her lots of love (when she lets me) if she sees me go into the other cats space she wants nothing to do with me for a few hours and looks at me with eyes of pure betrayal.
Scent swapping - they have no problems with the scent swapping, no hissing when exposed to each others blankets, just lots of sniffing and my resident cat will be distant from me, not the blanket. I have been doing this daily.
I have had the door open a crack a few times and both cats have been relatively fine, I play with a feather wand toy alternating between the two cats with the door open and as long as they’re not face to face they can sit there for 20 mins just watching the wand. The times they have come face to face through the door there has been some hesitant hissing from both cats (resident cat more so), but nothing too much more than hissing and then I close the door, it seemed like we were making some progress.
SO, the problem comes in when I attempted to space swap so the new cat could get more comfortable with the whole space, give her a chance to explore before they’re in the space together. Well the new cat was very scared walking around the new space and my resident cat was NOT happy being in the new cats space, she sniffed around for a while and seemed fine but soon became quite uncomfortable. Scratching at the door and then swatting at me and avoiding me for the rest of the night, the space swapping only lasted about 10 minutes because of this.
Today as soon as I opened the door to see the new cat (after I had given resident cat a lot of love) the resident cat hissed aggressively and lunged into the closet to swat the new cat (nothing major but unsettling for the new cat for sure). She had never done this before so I think were taking a step back as the aggression has increased. The problem is the new cat is a lot less assertive and more timid than my resident cat and I don’t want her to retreat more.
The new cat is not food motivated at all and wont eat any treats in the moment, I feed them on a schedule but the new cat will pick the time when she wants to eat, so the feeding on either sides of the dootreats doesn’t seem to work or help. I do have feliway friends plugged in close to the area where they would be in contact.
Does anyone have any advice? Do they need a day off from any exposure to each other? Do I have to restart the whole process? I just don’t want my new cat to get too comfortable in this closet because I fear that may be what’s happening.
Thanks!

Ok so I have a cat introduction situation and I was hoping I could get some advice or guidance from anyone on here. I am currently in the process of introducing a new cat (2.5yrs female, spayed) to my resident cat (5yrs, female, spayed). Things seem to be going fairly normal/well but I think we have made a step back in the past day or two. The new cat has been here for 9 days now, they did see each other initially (unintentionally) but this didn’t seem to be a negative interaction (no hissing, just apprehension from both cats). I live in a large loft with lots of space for the cats, but not many options for separation. I have put the new cat in the front hall closet, open halfway with a plastic barrier so the cats can see each other. She has been in here for the past week and seems to be getting quite comfortable with her surroundings in there although she generally sleeps in her little bed all day and I don’t see much desire to leave the space. The new cat is quite timid, she is super affectionate and loves it when I go into her space to give her pets, I see her coming out of her shell when I do this so I have been trying to do it quite often. It took her a couple days to get comfortable in her new environment and she didn’t eat or use the litter box for about 2 or 3 days, but since then has been eating regularly and using the litter box with no problems. The resident cat has been cautiously apprehensive regarding the newcomer, she is quite jealous and I have been trying to make sure I give her lots of love (when she lets me) if she sees me go into the other cats space she wants nothing to do with me for a few hours and looks at me with eyes of pure betrayal. Scent swapping - they have no problems with the scent swapping, no hissing when exposed to each others blankets, just lots of sniffing and my resident cat will be distant from me, not the blanket. I have been doing this daily. I have had the door open a crack a few times and both cats have been relatively fine, I play with a feather wand toy alternating between the two cats with the door open and as long as they’re not face to face they can sit there for 20 mins just watching the wand. The times they have come face to face through the door there has been some hesitant hissing from both cats (resident cat more so), but nothing too much more than hissing and then I close the door, it seemed like we were making some progress. SO, the problem comes in when I attempted to space swap so the new cat could get more comfortable with the whole space, give her a chance to explore before they’re in the space together. Well the new cat was very scared walking around the new space and my resident cat was NOT happy being in the new cats space, she sniffed around for a while and seemed fine but soon became quite uncomfortable. Scratching at the door and then swatting at me and avoiding me for the rest of the night, the space swapping only lasted about 10 minutes because of this. Today as soon as I opened the door to see the new cat (after I had given resident cat a lot of love) the resident cat hissed aggressively and lunged into the closet to swat the new cat (nothing major but unsettling for the new cat for sure). She had never done this before so I think were taking a step back as the aggression has increased. The problem is the new cat is a lot less assertive and more timid than my resident cat and I don’t want her to retreat more. The new cat is not food motivated at all and wont eat any treats in the moment, I feed them on a schedule but the new cat will pick the time when she wants to eat, so the feeding on either sides of the dootreats doesn’t seem to work or help. I do have feliway friends plugged in close to the area where they would be in contact. Does anyone have any advice? Do they need a day off from any exposure to each other? Do I have to restart the whole process? I just don’t want my new cat to get too comfortable in this closet because I fear that may be what’s happening. Thanks!

Ok so I have a cat introduction situation and I was hoping I could get some advice or guidance from anyone on here.
I am currently in the process of introducing a new cat (2.5yrs female, spayed) to my resident cat (5yrs, female, spayed). Things seem to be going fairly normal/well but I think we have made a step back in the past day or two. The new cat has been here for 9 days now, they did see each other initially (unintentionally) but this didn’t seem to be a negative interaction (no hissing, just apprehension from both cats).
I live in a large loft with lots of space for the cats, but not many options for separation. I have put the new cat in the front hall closet, open halfway with a plastic barrier so the cats can see each other. She has been in here for the past week and seems to be getting quite comfortable with her surroundings in there although she generally sleeps in her little bed all day and I don’t see much desire to leave the space.
The new cat is quite timid, she is super affectionate and loves it when I go into her space to give her pets, I see her coming out of her shell when I do this so I have been trying to do it quite often. It took her a couple days to get comfortable in her new environment and she didn’t eat or use the litter box for about 2 or 3 days, but since then has been eating regularly and using the litter box with no problems.
The resident cat has been cautiously apprehensive regarding the newcomer, she is quite jealous and I have been trying to make sure I give her lots of love (when she lets me) if she sees me go into the other cats space she wants nothing to do with me for a few hours and looks at me with eyes of pure betrayal.
Scent swapping - they have no problems with the scent swapping, no hissing when exposed to each others blankets, just lots of sniffing and my resident cat will be distant from me, not the blanket. I have been doing this daily.
I have had the door open a crack a few times and both cats have been relatively fine, I play with a feather wand toy alternating between the two cats with the door open and as long as they’re not face to face they can sit there for 20 mins just watching the wand. The times they have come face to face through the door there has been some hesitant hissing from both cats (resident cat more so), but nothing too much more than hissing and then I close the door, it seemed like we were making some progress.
SO, the problem comes in when I attempted to space swap so the new cat could get more comfortable with the whole space, give her a chance to explore before they’re in the space together. Well the new cat was very scared walking around the new space and my resident cat was NOT happy being in the new cats space, she sniffed around for a while and seemed fine but soon became quite uncomfortable. Scratching at the door and then swatting at me and avoiding me for the rest of the night, the space swapping only lasted about 10 minutes because of this.
Today as soon as I opened the door to see the new cat (after I had given resident cat a lot of love) the resident cat hissed aggressively and lunged into the closet to swat the new cat (nothing major but unsettling for the new cat for sure). She had never done this before so I think were taking a step back as the aggression has increased. The problem is the new cat is a lot less assertive and more timid than my resident cat and I don’t want her to retreat more.
The new cat is not food motivated at all and wont eat any treats in the moment, I feed them on a schedule but the new cat will pick the time when she wants to eat, so the feeding on either sides of the dootreats doesn’t seem to work or help. I do have feliway friends plugged in close to the area where they would be in contact.
Does anyone have any advice? Do they need a day off from any exposure to each other? Do I have to restart the whole process? I just don’t want my new cat to get too comfortable in this closet because I fear that may be what’s happening.
Thanks!

I bought 64 gigabytes (wow!) of RAM (randumb access mummery), which is like a kind of food for your computer, and now vrad3 doesnt crash when building 8k lightmaps. Other than 2 junk and 2 fully outdoor environments, I remastered the rest, again.
​
This isn't (intended to be) self promotion nor do I recommend you actually boot these up in your goggles (though they do look better and if you had to pick one it would be #9), but just some kind of self reward system to cap off what amounted to being much more work than I thought, and of course, reapplying new skills (lighting, texturing, etc) to old releases is very satisifying.
​
It takes like 18 hours to build each map (though you can more or less do two at a time) and I thought that would be fine and I would just hit a button on each, but of course I wanted to do more rehabs and wasn't disciplined enough to check every little thing before building, so I wasted alot of build time. I certainly got my fill of the '3d or media asset takes forever to render and you have to adjust your whole work/mindspace to deal with it' aspect of digital media production just before everything starts using raytracing hardware. CS2 vrad does this I'm told. Still, I could have been much more diligent and avoid many, many wasted full 8k final builds. I've learned I don't have to upgrade my CPU cooler though, so that's positive.
​
I also did my best to codify all the things I learned from the steamvr lightmapper into an expansion of the lighting wiki article. The instructional tone clashes somewhat with the more technical breakdown of the original contents, and it was written by someone whose basically never touched the HLA tools, but I think it's still very useful as there are alot of caveats using vrad3.
https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/SteamVEnvironments/Adding_Lighting#Lightmapping
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I'm too lazy (atm) to actually make new screenshots, not that you could tell from most of them the difference between 4k and 8k, but I think it is worth it. I might have missed by chance by updating the submissions to get proper before/after, shucks. Anyway, a lot of really minute shadow detail does show up in the higher resolution and it seems like indrect and AO all gets nicer. Switching some lights to fully baked will also help performance. I think it was worth it because I really like the look of nice lightmaps both for VR experiences and in regular games -- incidentally, the original Rage now works on Steam Deck. Thanks for reading!
CHANGELOG:
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================================================================================ #1

• rebuild lightmaps with 8k resolution
• reapplied and scaled down plaster+carpet textures
• deinstance frames for wood texturing and soft lines (and fix bottom of door frame)
• hide steamvr dome prop on the wall
• correct steamvr panel plasment
• revamp lighting in closet and bevel wall edges
• bake green light under desk
• animate bird
• turn off biasing

================================================================================ #2

• rebuild lightmaps with 8k resolution
• removed last hidden teleport entity fixing inability to for the user to teleport
• heavily reworked all geometry, splits and texutring to fix remaining errors with added curves and increased polygon counts throughout
• baked and relight kitchen area, losing spooky flicker
• further reduce outside black mesh and remove more trees
• set ambient boosts 1.5 on pool lights, 1.25 on upper passageway
• moderate prop shuffling, reductions, and color grading
• aggressive campaign to rebias everything

================================================================================ #4

• rebuild lightmaps with 8k resolution
• baked (turning off flicker) and fixed angle of garden light
• backside blocklight>concrete retextur with biasing to -8),
• new concrete roof texture now biased
• grass displacement, down scale, and bias -3>-4,
• reduce water particles,
• removed ambient_color = "35 35 48 255" on directional,
• other minor bias adjusts
• new geo rework on bar table
• shrunk all shelve objects and other minor prop fiddling
• softeded red valve
• bulged brown beams
• adjusted beveling and split at top window outsides
• moved some props out of of the way inside to avoid some weird shadowing

================================================================================ #5

• rebuild lightmaps with 8k resolution
• turned off bathroom flicker and bake light
• fix some outside blocklights
• adjust position of hanging weed near bathroom door
• higher stalagtite res
• minor prop fiddling
• adjust reach of lightmap space mesh to include marble window sill
• brighter sun 0.8 to 1.2 and tint adjustment

================================================================================ #8

• rebuild lightmaps with 8k resolution
• redo kitchen scene texturing and texutring,
• ensure+sweeten lighting now baked and
• reconfigure directional and like priority
• trimmed selection sets
• added critters
• meaningful and fixed biasing collates
• large campaign to buldg and curve window frames,
• cut outside dust particles and terrain subd in half
• missing flower pot now upscaled
• deinstance and merge walls for seamless retexturing,
• moderate prop fiddling and grading
• (re?)added steamvr tv panels in bar tvs
• added new flower pot mesh and hover junkers statue at red curve
• added more music (HIA)

================================================================================ #9

• rebuild lightmaps with 8k resolution
• enabled rocking critter,
• fixed gap in terrarium window side curve
• rehabbed all window frames and glass ensuring proper reflection/lighting origina assingments
• widened and simplified window beams to floor at concrete ingress in computer entrance
• reverted to dual cubemaps in computer hall
• rescaled cubemaps to present correctly in player visible glass reflections
• soft-harded gold beams and beveled metal beams in cave
• softened concrete at inside windows and outside bevel as well as brick+concrete top ribs
• minor prop fiddling with some added bushes
• disabled cubemap render on splotchy water pool
• added additional displacement mesh using translucent foliage materials for ground detail
• ripped new portugese_laurel texture to disable wind
• beveled and retextured concrete flower beds
• increased volume of music to 0.2>>0.8

================================================================================ #10

• rebuild lightmaps with 8k resolution
• scaled down plaster
• softed gold edges on railing
• biasing adjustments and corrections
• adjusted moon tint
• spreaded outside trees and other minor prop fiddling

================================================================================ #11

• rebuild lightmaps with 8k resolution
• changed indirect light multiplier on dark side from 0.8 to 1.2
• used darker material under grate
• safe now static prop
• connected (hastily) lines on either side of book shelve
• removed soft normal line at wall>trim intersection
• bias now -1 on floor faces
• fix some marked texture errors and reapplied with scale down

First off, happy pride month. This month is special to all LGBTQ+ people, such as myself. And I wish everyone a wonderful month!
However, I’m here to discuss the pain that revolves around it for me. I joke around a lot, claiming I’m a Facebook mom in the making. I scroll through it when I wake up and when I go to bed, mainly sharing music quotes and songs onto my timeline. It’s also worth noting im from the south, where..well..I’m surrounded by people who aren’t very fond of LGBTQ. As I scroll, I find more and more posts/comments of my friends who are making homophobic comments or forcing a bible down the throat of those who are merely trying to celebrate the one month they get.
I’m bisexual. I’m not out of the closet officially, but my immediate family just knows. However, one of the members is not very fond of me being the way that I am. I have a rainbow in my room, and they suddenly think I’m hitting them over the head with the fact that I’m gay. I’m getting tired of being someone I’m not. For years and years, I’ve been closeted and hurting every pride month. I celebrate privately, like hiding little pins around my room or making my own flag to tape to my wall (behind my door, where no one can see). But every year it’s the same thing.
My friends who are also gay, mostly having girlfriends or boyfriends, are already posting about it. They plan to join the pride parade this year, and i sit at home. wishing I could join. Wishing I could do something, anything. All i want is support.
I want to know I’m supported. But I can’t even like the posts of my older friends that support it. I can’t even thank them. I cant do anything. I feel so empty.
Anyway, that’s my little rant for today. Thanks for reading

Soon to be searching for a luxury apartment will be a Middle aged Australian woman with a PHD in her field with initials AVD. Her story will be that she recently moved to be near her newborn grandchild and has no landlord references because she owned her own Condo in Australia for many years prior to selling. Makes over $200k a year as a consultant. She passed credit, criminal and financial checks. She will try to rush you by saying her short-term sub-lease is ending. Being a first time landlord and not having had a landlord in over 20 years myself I bit sink and hook. now 8 months later I have had to take her to Housing Court for non payment of rent in April. Won by default in mid-May and Marshal posted notice on apt door 3 days ago that she has until 6/16/23 to leave voluntarily (I did not hire a lawyer but used NY Court’s DIY forms). Horrible tenant as soon as the ink dried on the lease. Even wanted the real estate broker to come and clean the window sills 3 weeks into her lease. She repeatedly refused to allow access for inspections and repairs (which she herself had initiated) so I suspect that she has damaged my furniture but I won’t know until she leaves which fingers crossed will be this weekend. She owes me over $17k in unpaid rent and I’m suing her in Small Claims Court and already have a scheduled date for next year in February. Rushed to file so that she could be served while still in my apartment, she should be getting served today. I filed for the max: $10k for unpaid rent and $10k for damages + court costs. I vowed to be her last victim since I suspect she’s done it before and has figured out that if she waits to stop paying until after the 8th month into the lease the landlord probably will wait until end of lease and won’t evict due to the fact that the court system is designed in such a way that the best case scenario if you file immediately like I did it will be at best 3 months before you get an eviction warrant. Even though her Lease ends June 18th and the Marshall is coming on June 16th she needed to be taught a lesson and needs to stop this outrageous behavior. Her name has now been entered into the NY Unified Court System for both an eviction and my 2 pending Small Claims cases. Once I win in Small Claims (she won’t show up) I will also send information subpoenas to the references she gave me on her application so that her reputation will also get dinged. I am retired and have the time to spend in teaching this deadbeat the lesson she needs to learn. The irony is that she is a professional with a doctorate degree and is reknown in her field of expertise. DO NOT BE FOOLED. No landlord references, no apartment. I know it may be tempting to rush to get the tenant out (cash for keys) and avoid court and rush to put a new better tenant in, but that only hurts other landlords and encourages the outrageous behavior.

Looking for some education on next steps for my front stoop/porch in hat I’ve been hiding with a rug 🤪. Obviously, the stone farthest from the door is cracked and the one on the right closet to the door wobbles if stepped on a certain way. On top of that, they are overall unlevel and have some sizable gaps between. What material am I looking at here and what is the best course of action for repair? I want to be somewhat knowledgeable before I start reaching out to masonry contractors.

I (2M, SIC) am a kitty living with my human mommy.
My mommy has an extremely dangerous habit where she goes into the rain room and stands under the rain. I watch in horror as she puts her head under the rain and tries to drown herself! Then she comes out with her head-fur all wet and nasty. I try to warn her of the mortal danger, but once the rain starts, it’s too late, if I swoop in and save her, I might drown myself too!
Luckily I am a smart kitty and I’ve figured out that when she starts picking up her towel and rummaging in the closet, she’s getting ready for her drowning ritual. So I stand in the hall and ambush her, I pounce on her and claw and bite her legs, trying to save her from certain death. Then I yell at the door when she’s inside the rain room, begging for her to stop and come out.
But alas, now she puts me in the carrier before preparing to drown, and lets me out again after it’s over. I don’t mind being in the carrier, I often hang out in there myself. But I can only watch helplessly as she sends herself into a watery grave!
I don’t know why mommy does this, she says she’s trying to clean herself, but then why doesn’t she just bend over and lick herself clean like a civilized being? She says I am the cloaca because I “won’t let her shower”. But safety comes first and I’m trying to stop her from drowning! Surely I can’t be the cloaca?

I got cussed out and was told I wasn't family by my parents for telling them I didn't want to lock my cat into the bathroom again. My parents are moving and I have been having my siblings over with their dog in my studio apartment whenever they asked. Yesterday I texted my sibling they can come over but the dog wont be coming this time around since whenever it comes I have to lock my cat into the bathroom since my cat is scared of dogs (cat was bitten by a dog). I sent this text thinking nothing of it. An hour later my sister calls me. I say hello and the only thing I hear is my parents yelling at me asking why the dog can't come over, this is the only thing we ask and you can't even do it, they even "threatened" to have somebody else watch my siblings and the dog. I said that I cant lock my pet again in a bathroom. More yelling came and once they were done my mom asked my sister to end the call. I was left in distress. I was shocked by what just happened and couldn't believe they were yelling at me for that. My parents tried calling me but I broke down crying after they ended the call. I couldn't answer the phone worried they were going to yell again. Both of them sent me separate messages one asking to answer my phone and the other saying they couldn't believe what I was doing. Once I answered his call crying he goes off saying he didn't know if I'm dumb or what since I don't understand that they're moving and locking my cat in a closet for 5 hours was nothing to cry about. I told him that the cat is my pet and nobody even asked me if my siblings and the dog can come. He says the phone call prior when they called and started yelling at me was them asking. I told him no they called and started screaming. I was crying during all of this and can barely speak. He says if i'm fucking serious and says that they're moving, it's raining outside all the doors are open and I cant even take the fucking dog. I couldn't stop crying and kept telling him that they were the ones asking why were they so mean and kept crying. He told me that your mom doesn't even want to give you any of the stuff we were planning on giving you. I told him I didn't want it if every time I say the slightest bit of 'no' they blow it out of proportion like this. He ended the call after telling me to fuck off. My mom later sends a text that I always had excuses either my cats or my boyfriend and that family helps each other and since I couldn't do that I wasn't family. I cried all day about what happened. I've never been talked to like that before. Making them my parents do not give them the right to berate me in any way. My dad texts me sorry he yelled and he was stressed. I found out that he only apologized because my fiance called them out for disrespecting me. They have never apologized for anything before. I haven't answered the text or given them a call back terrified of what else they can say.

I am Barton, a pilot of an Emergency Dispatch Ship (everyone calls them an EDS). My job is to pilot tiny EDS vessels from our main ship (the Stardust) to the frontier planets in emergencies. Usually, serums that can cure dreadful diseases.
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The ships are small and compact, and they use rocket fuel. The trouble is that all the margins are very very tight. We calculate for everything -- from the weight of the pilot to the weight of the serum.
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So if somebody sneaks on board, their weight will change everything. Once the ship gets to the planet, the ship will crash, and the serum will be destroyed -- so the people who need the medicine will die.
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That's why, if a stowaway sneaks on board, the law says I must eject them into outer space.
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But this time, it turned out to be a girl. Marilyn (18F). In white sandals. She didn't know about the law, and she was so upset. She snuck onboard so she could visit her brother on the planet I was headed to.
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I contacted the Stardust, but they said there was nothing I could do. I had to jettison her into outer space. There was nothing I could do. Even though she weighed just 110 pounds.
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I'm not a total jerk. I let her write letters to her parents. I even radioed her brother on the planet's surface so she could talk to him for a few minutes. And say goodbye. But he knew the law, too.
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Then, she went into the airlock and said "I'm ready." It's not like I forced her or anything.
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So I shut her in the airlock. Where it was pitch black. And I pushed the red lever that ejected her into outer space.
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I felt something bump against my ship, and I knew it had to be her body, and I try not to think about it.
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And I still feel really bad about it. But it's the frontier. Bad things happen.
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The regulations say I am not the asshole. Even her brother understood. But I'm feeling torn about this.
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After it happened, some other pilots told me I should have tried something else first. Like removing the seat and the closet door and ejecting them to compensate for her added weight. Some lady pilot suggested we could cut off our legs and eject them to make up the difference!
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So am I the asshole for ejecting Marilyn into outer space?

I am a victim of domestic violence. I stayed with a man for six years and had three children with him. During this year I endured physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. A neighbor called cps on us claiming that we abused our children. I lied to protect myself and my children, saying he never abused us. After this, I became depressed; I lost fifty pounds in three months. I became suicidal because I was in a terrible situation and didn't see a way out. I noticed I would lose my life to this man and wanted to go out on my terms. Either way, I knew I would die. I could not go through with it, however. I had four children (one from a previous marriage), and I didn't want anything wrong to happen to them after I was gone. I decided I needed to get off all my anti-depressants, mood regulators, and the like. My psychiatrist at this time was piling on the medication so I could cope. I was taking close to twenty pills a day. The side effects were horrendous. Once I quit all that, I could pull myself out of the brain fog I had been under all those years. It was at his insistence that I needed medication. Now I see it was just another way to control me. I got a job and put my money back. It was a text that finally sent me over the edge. He talked about how he was tired of me. Tired of my depression, of my pain, all of it. Of all the people in my life...he was tired of me. I decided to leave him at that moment. He found out, and shit hit the fan. He pulled a gun on me one evening, trying to convince me to stay. The more adamant I was about leaving, the more out of control he became. One day, I came home from work early, and he had already taken the children and hidden them. He started getting angrier and angrier, destroying the house, breaking my phone in my hand by crushing it and my hand. He refused to let me leave without writing up some custody thing. I tried to leave, but he caught me each time. Eventually, I sat at the computer, started typing out what he wanted, and bided my time. When he went out the back door, I went out the front and escaped. I ran to my best friend's house, the next street over, and called my sister from their phone to rescue me. I felt guilty about leaving my children but thought I would lose my life. I attempted to go to the police, but they wanted nothing to do with it. C.P.S. did not want to get involved. I tried everything. He did not allow me to see my children for nine months (except my oldest, I threatened to get him for kidnapping, and he reluctantly handed her over). I started over in another county and moved in with my sister. I came out of the closet and healed myself while fighting to get my kids back.
I was granted temporary visitation nine months later. We, through mediation and the lawyer I had, had me convinced that I would not get custody of my children because of my mental health history. I was in a lesbian relationship and had a medical marijuana certificate. I caved and handed custody over because I was convinced I would not win. Four months later, my children came to my house on the weekend, bruised and beaten. I called the police; I let cps know to investigate. I got an EPO, then a preliminary, and now it got moved to the city I used to live in, where the children had been residing with their father. I filed a motion to amend custody and asked for an emergency hearing.
The judge declined and instead wants to send us to mediation to "work out our differences" I am terrified of what will happen if I lose this and my children have to go back. They were being abused by their sitter both physically and sexually. (the other kids that are there were sexually assaulting my older boys) C.P.S. will not do a thorough investigation, and no one will take my calls, including the detective supposed to be investigating. No one will help me. I am getting a lawyer, but that is over four grand, and I already work three jobs to keep afloat. This is easily the hardest thing I have had to do, and I do not know what other resources to contact. If anyone here can please help me or point me in the right direction...