Yesterday I played in the morning, then after work I came in to find my rear hard drive had been wiped.
The Steam part was on the front drive and got contaminated. So I had to delete it and reinstall everything.
I installed steam & Conan, it was 96 gigs. Then I installed the mods for 3 servers I play on. It was 113 gigs.
The mods are bigger than the program. Just wanted to let you know.
The reason I had to redo everything is.
Microsoft’s AI is targeting PCs that can not be ungraded to their new garbage. They go after the most used programs, which my two games and email have been compromised.
I did programming in the 80s and 90s, Y2K bugs in 99, and have been a network engineer, and have built PCs since the 386.
Checked with a bunch of gamers on different forums and this in the hypothesis.
Well, that will obviously depend on the mod and the servers you play on
I have mods that are 100 KB or less… and most of that size is the thumbnail picture.
The main culprit in mod size is textures, so mods that add stuff… be it creatures, benches, armor… etc… anything that uses textures will have some pretty hefty file-sizes, especially if the author of the mod either didn’t consider that factor or didn’t know any better and used higher resolution textures than what would be needed for the project. (Sometimes people love designing massive 8k textures and then slap it on a tiny placeable where a 1k one would be too big as well)
But at the end of the day mods that add thousands of assets will obviously be large, not much you can really do about it, in fact they’re already compressed.
Modders still try to keep the finished package under 2GB to prevent loading issues though, however if you take a highly modded server, typically they have more than a dozen of these high filesize mods and if you frequent multiple servers that might use some other, but similarly large mods… you can see how that very quickly adds up.
Now as for the rest of the post regarding the evil Microsoft…
But, there’s also this very cool song on the subject
Enjoy!
Pippi, AoC (not the cute New Yorker) and EEWA are huge.
Am not complaining, just letting folks know that have small hard drives.
Funny thing about conspiracy theories in the past 10 years.
They all are coming true.
I gave you my knowledge, told you I have talked with others.
I live in the same area as MS. Worked there for awhile.
Believe what you wish, but dont belittle others, thats just rude.
No, you most certainly have not. You gave a very ridiculous conspiracy theory that does not have any basis at all.
It’s also weird that as somebody who worked in IT you haven’t considered that hard drives tend to die after a certain amount of read / write operations and depending on other factors, like how they’re mounted in a case, how much shock is being absorbed etc. they can very easily get damaged as well… resulting in filesystem errors, bad sectors and ultimately lead to hard disk failure.
Have you considered running an in-depth scan of the disk instead of just reinstalling everything? (open an elevated command prompt and type chkdsk /r)
Citation needed…
There was no belittling happening, and this is not a religion, as such, beliefs matter very little… there’s only so many ways one can react to what you posted.
At best it’s misinformed spreading of further misinformation… at worst it’s malicious propaganda against MS, especially if you have history with the company.
I did not assume either way, I merely choose to use humor as a reaction But since you chose to call me out for that, then I too will call you out on your post…
Also… you do realize this is the Conan Exiles forum though and not the “Microsoft bashing message board” right?
So Microsoft’s AI wrecked your hard drive? That’s what you’re going with? The AI?
That’s just one more sample in a huge dataset that shows how knowledge does not equate wisdom. For some reason, people tend to believe that knowing non-trivial things somehow makes people more rational. After years and years of reading random people’s beliefs on the Internet, I can say that the evidence disproves that notion brutally.
Well we haven’t seen the pot bellied inter-dimensional goblins yet, but yeah, way more often than not conspiracy theories have this nasty tendency of being true. Especially these days.
More to the topic at hand, I know in the past Microsoft was looking into having Windows “helpfully” just quietly delete “illegal” music downloads from your computer.
And yes, Windows does come with a storage management feature that automatically deletes files. It’s supposed to target old (as in 30-60 days+ old) or temporary files, like windows update files that are no longer needed, but there have been incidents where it goes after files it’s not supposed to.
So the real problem here, as far as this theory is concerned, isn’t really whether or not MS is deliberately targeting and sabotaging “obsolete” systems. It’s that I wouldn’t put it past them to do so.
Besides, they would be far from the first company to pull a stunt like that.
We also haven’t seen any actual evidence for chemtrails, flat Earth, HAARP being used to trigger earthquakes and storms, or FEMA’s emergency alert activating the nanobots in the COVID vaccines to turn everyone into zombies.
Let’s get one thing straight: conspiracy theories are not the same thing as leaks, whistleblowing, and investigative journalism.
When people were talking about global surveillance network in the 80s, that wasn’t a conspiracy theory, that was investigative work that started with an ex-NSA analyst who blew the whistle on ECHELON. For a long time, discussions of that tech were laughed off as a conspiracy theory, but the key difference is that a conspiracy theory is not based on actual facts.
People seem to forget that nowadays. For some reason, there’s this notion that you can come up with some half-assed theory based on some incomplete and somewhat related knowledge that you happen to have, then run that idea by a bunch of even more tenuously related randos on the Internet, and that idea now has the same weight as actual investigative effort to uncover facts.
That notion is plain bullshіt. I shouldn’t have to spell it out for anyone, but here we are.
Of course they would be capable of doing that. Planned obsolescence is one of the more toxic and shady anti-consumer practices that we’ve seen many companies engage in.
So yeah, Microsoft could “use AI” to “go after the most used programs” on the systems that “cannot be upgraded to their new garbage” . And unless someone has some actual facts that point to them doing so, the claim that they’re doing so doesn’t even deserved to be called a “hypothesis”. It’s a conspiracy theory.
Oh, and by the way, every time an actual conspiracy theory was proven true, it was through real investigative work based on facts. What I’m getting at is the following, and if anyone takes anything home from this rant, I hope it’s this:
Every time a conspiracy theory happens to be proven true, that proves that investigative work is essential, not that the conspiracy mentality is valid.
And how much investigative work has been dismissed as just another conspiracy theory or “misinformation” even though it was 100% accurate? You shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss something out of hand just because you think it sounds like some crazy internet rumor.
The truth is that most of what people call conspiracy theories are based on actual facts. Even some of the really outlandish sounding ones. You just said as much yourself.
No, I most definitely did not say that “most of what people call conspiracy theories are based on actual facts”. I said something quite different and you’re trying to misrepresent it.
You know what’s similar between people propagating a conspiracy theory and people dismissing ECHELON as a conspiracy theory despite the testimony of whistleblowers? Both are based on ignorance and on overestimating the importance of one’s own opinion. Which leads me to:
I’m not. I’m dismissing it because of the utter lack of evidence. If it sounds crazy and you don’t present a shred of evidence, I’m not going to think twice before dismissing it.
If you bother to at least produce some evidence, then I’ll go look at the evidence before forming my own conclusions about it. If you don’t, you don’t deserve anything beyond a dismissal.
Oh, and by the way, “I talked to a bunch of gamers and they all agree this theory is a good one” does not count as evidence.
Now, for the last bit:
I don’t know, you tell me. You seem to have strong opinions about this, but so far I haven’t seen anything other than hand-waving about how we shouldn’t discard bullshіt because it might be true.
Are you actually talking about the OP here or is this a hypothetical discussion?
Because this specific topic is not “100% accurate” nor is it “based on actual facts”…
Now if you have some beef with Microsoft and you jumped in to take an additional stab, then I would remind you as well that this is STILL not the “Microsoft bashing message boards”…
Other than that you could also think for a second and consider how many people are using Windows worldwide and if this was in any way factual and actually happening, then it wouldn’t be the topic of some backwoods “other gamers on different forums” but you would see news articles on it with verifiable sources.
Not to mention that not even “big evil corporations” do “big evil stuff” for absolutely no reason… If microsoft wants you to update… all they have to do is stop supporting stuff on the old versions the moment you couldn’t even open your favorite websites, you would immediately rush to update… they don’t need to go and use an AI to figure out which one is your favorite game and then delete that…
If you believe the above in any way, then I would like to quote @CodeMage and afterwards we can all sit down and fold a nice hat for you as well, there’s still some foil left over.
Actually, like I said, Windows does include a feature that automatically deletes files and it has malfunctioned in the past. Some security updates and Windows Defender have also had issues with deleting files that they shouldn’t. Furthermore, Microsoft has looked into automatically and purposefully removing music files deemed “illegal”, got called out on it and did some backpedaling. That was something like 15 years ago, though I have seen more recent (as in within the last five years) reports of music and other files being selectively deleted by Windows. Microsoft has also been pushing hard for OEMs to kill off the HDD by the end of this year. Understandable though it may be, it does indicate motivation.
The point here, gentlemen, is not to prove Microsoft is committing some grand, malicious scheme to destroy people’s data and force them to upgrade. (I mean, they kind of are, but not in the children’s cartoon evil villain sort of way.) The point is to get you to realize that maybe you shouldn’t automatically trust so willingly in the goodness of a gigantic corporation. Any gigantic corporation.
I’m not naive, but I do prefer to keep an open mind. I haven’t seen anything that says they definitely are targeting and sabotaging certain systems by somehow breaking the most frequently used programs. But I also haven’t seen anything that says they definitely wouldn’t, nor can I honestly say that there is an “utter lack of evidence” for such scummy behavior. If you put a gun to my head and forced me to vote on it one way or the other right now, I’d say no they aren’t. But unless I’m somehow in a situation where I have to deliver a verdict on the subject, I remain neutral.
Wow. My subscribed mod folder is 13GB and I thought I was past the limit if I loaded them all at once.
What is the limits these days, I knew going above 2GB (at once) used to be a bit of a ‘softcap’ back in the day and that going above that is more or less fine but still cautioned. What is the limits these days?
Ah, yes, the perennial comeback of those who can’t be bothered to distinguish between reasoning and tone.
I phrased my arguments in a certain way, therefore I must be unsure of them. It can’t be that I’m passionate about this for some reason. No, it’s because I’m wrong
Sure, I’ll happily acknowledge the vitriol in my post. Are you going to acknowledge the lack of actual arguments in yours?
If you still think that I’m denying the possibility that Microsoft is doing something unethical or that I trust any gigantic corporation, then I’ll assume you’re not bothering to read anything I wrote, because any other explanation is less kind.
But just in case you somehow genuinely missed my point despite reading my posts, I’ll say it again: I’m arguing against people spreading bullshіt theories that aren’t based on any evidence.
There’s plenty of evidence that they engaged in similar scummy behavior before. There is no evidence presented here whatsoever that they’re engaging in scummy behavior described in the opening post.
Your arguments in this thread are far from neutral. Hell, they could hop on a plane and fly for 6 hours and they still wouldn’t be in the same postal code as neutral.
Let me put it this way. Imagine you knew a person who has a track record of armed robbery, and someone says “I found my wife beaten to death and I saw him near my house, therefore he must have done it.” Then someone else points out that there’s no evidence of that.
Would you really say that “well, he fits the profile, so you should keep an open mind” is being neutral?
Before you point out that I’m not being neutral either: no, I’m not. The difference is that I’m not pretending to be, either. But since you already questioned my tone, maybe I should explain why I’m so passionate about this discussion here.
First and foremost, conspiracy theories are incredibly bad for the society. I should know, I originally come from a society where conspiracy theories are very popular and those in power regularly exploit that to manipulate the masses to obfuscate the truth, distract people, and shift the blame. It took me years of living abroad to develop enough critical thinking and start questioning things I took for “self-evident”.
And it’s even worse now than it was when I was in my 20s. Ever since the “success” of the anti-vaxxer movement, it has become popular for the worst kind of idiot to wear their conspiracy theories as a badge of critical thinking. Do Your Own Research has become the rallying cry for all sorts of anti-intellectualism and quackery. To this banner flock all sorts of chucklefuсks, from those so entitled that they can’t stand the thought of suffering even the slightest discomfort to protect those less fortunate, to those pathetically desperate to prove they’re unique. And they’re all being gleefully manipulated by those who know how to exploit this for their own gain.
But that’s not the only reason why this thread put a bee in my bonnet. There’s also the fact that someone is spreading bullshіt and trying to do so authoritatively on my metaphorical turf.
I’ve dedicated a very large part of my life to software development. If I told you that I’ve been programming since “before the Internet”, that still wouldn’t be accurate enough, because I’ve been at this since DOS was still widely used.
I’ve been all over the place when it comes to programming, but for the last 2 years I’ve had the privilege to go back to one of the two kinds of software development that I love the most: systems programming.
In other words, I’ve seen some shіt.
And along comes a dude with a theory cobbled together from buzzwords that might have come straight out of the habitual techno-confusion that my septuagenarian mom sinks into every time she has to deal with a computer, and then that same dude starts dropping credentials to back this tinfoil-hattery:
The fascinating thing about modern tech is that it advances much faster than technology ever did before in the history of the humanity. That quote up there, that’s the equivalent of saying “I was in the Guild of Doctors and Apothecaries in the 15th century Florence, and that’s why my opinions on mRNA vaccines are well-informed.”
No, they’re not. I don’t mind being mistaken and talking out of your ass, but if you’re going to pretend you’re someone who understands my profession well enough to be trusted with what you say, then you should back your claims with something more substantial than “checked with a bunch of gamers on different forums”. Otherwise stay in your lane.
Yeah, Microsoft is capable of doing shady shіt. Yeah, planned obsolescence is exactly the kind of shady shіt that Microsoft would try to get away with. But no, “Microsoft’s AI” didn’t wipe your rear hard drive and “contaminate” your front drive any more than my son’s ADHD could be cured by bloodletting and leeches.
I had to push down the play or record button on my tape recorder to load and save my work. I had just enough space in 4K memory to work on programs. One of the basic programs just made stick men walk across the screen. It’s really basic.
Considering I was never actually making an argument beyond countering people like yourself being so vehemently dismissive, yes of course I do.
Aren’t you? The OP put forth an idea, silly as it might sound. You and Xevyr responded with mockery and tinfoil hat gifs and have now repeatedly, forcefully denied the possibility due to lack of evidence.
Do you realize how often the words “there is no evidence presented here” have been used to dismiss and discredit even the most concrete proof of wrongdoing? And I’m not even talking in the context of defense lawyers. It happens all the time. Especially in settings like this one.
It’s one thing to say something didn’t happen or that there is no direct evidence of it happening. It’s another to be hostile and close minded about it.
One more thing:
Yes, I would. He’s a legitimate suspect in a murder investigation. A good investigator will leave that person on the suspect list until he can either be ruled out or proven guilty. A bad one will either lock him up right away or ignore him entirely just because there’s no video of him committing the crime while looking straight into a camera and holding up his ID so everyone can see it clearly.
There’s no judgement on the person being passed, regardless of how anyone feels about it. He merely fits the working theory.
Cybercrime is currently the most profitable branch of crime in the world, exceeding even drugs.
Cybersecurity experts worldwide are keeping a close eye on all popular software products.
Microsoft products are ubiquitous. They’re being constantly used and inspected everywhere in the world, including by cybersecurity experts not affiliated with MS.
Microsoft would take an incredible risk by choosing to use their products as targeted malware.
Sure, they’re walking on a tightrope with a lot of stuff they calculate they can get away with, but blowing up people’s hardware is so far off that tightrope that it’s not even in the same room with the safety net. The EU, with its occasionally draconian regulations regarding what megacorporations are allowed and not allowed to do, would not stand for that. If found out, it would cost MS billions, and would probably finally convince EU operators to start looking for a European alternative to the big four.
Of course, absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, but there’s also “innocent until proven guilty”, and the likelihood that if it was happening, in all likelihood they would’ve been caught by now.
I started as a professional dev in the mid 80s with a focus on large scale systems and real-time client/server design. NO DEVELOPER would ever refer to their drives as ‘front’ or ‘rear’. seriously, wtf.
But since you chose to call me out for that, then I too will call you out on your post…
