Titanfall Tips

Its been a long time since I’ve played First Person Shooters and I’ve been playing the production release of Titanfall since it came out on March 11, 2014.  The game is definitely fast-paced and the graphics are enjoyable to watch. 

When I first started to play the game, I was averaging 0 kills most of the time especially when I played Attrition.  Talk about frustrating!  Now, I currently average between 2-4 kills per match.

Most of the time, I play Hardpoint.  I find it more enjoyable since there is a goal I can work toward besides just killing the enemy.  I’m nowhere near being a good player yet, so I’m using NVidia’s ShadowPlay to help me improve my game.  ShadowPlay is used to record the game from beginning to end so that I can watch the replay afterwards. 

Here are my notes after studying my replays.  I’ll continue to update this page as I play more. 

Things to practice

1. Jump and spin around to see who is shooting at you
2. Use the “Q” key to camouflage as often as possible especially when entering into another room through the windows or doors.
3. As soon as you see someone, shoot!  Don’t wait to recognize whether it’s a teammate or enemy.
4. Reload while running.  I’ve gotten killed several times while I was standing still reloading.
5. If you are a Pilot and a Titan sees you, just get out of there.  Don’t go head-to-head against a Titan if you are a Pilot.
6. Don’t reload while in a firefight.  I got caught up in the heat of a battle that I run out of bullets and I’m reloading in the middle of a fight.
7. Learn to keep moving while shooting the enemy

Hardpoint tips

1. Don’t reload at a Hardpoint.  Switch to Secondary weapon after using Primary weapon.  In this way, you won’t be caught off guard when the enemy pops into view
2. Don’t be out in the open on the ground especially if there are enemy Titans nearby
3. Although I hate campers, defending a Hardpoint could potentially increase your kill count
4. Arcmines are great for defending a Hardpoint

Microsoft needs to fix SkyDrive so that it works 100% of the time!

I’m running the 64-bit version of Windows 8.1 Pro.  I noticed that there are times when SkyDrive in File Explorer won’t upload files even if SkyDrive Sync Engine Host is running.  I see this complaint everywhere on the internet.

In my particular case, I had a PDF file that was 8,264 KB in size.  For some unknown reason, SkyDrive simply didn’t upload the file no matter how long I waited.  I ran skydrive.exe /reset many times and also ran their SkyDrive troubleshooter but to no avail.  I even ran the SkyDrive App and clicked on the Sync button.

The only way I was able to get SkyDrive to upload the file was to go to my online account, select OneDrive and upload the file using the browser!

For the most part, I enjoy Microsoft products but its times like these that make me really pissed off about using their products.

My suggestion would be that they add a way to force uploading/downloading files in File Explorer.  Using the SkyDrive App just doesn’t cut it when I’m in desktop mode.

Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client VPN slow using AT&T U-verse

Problem:

I was recently struggling with a slow or unusable VPN connection when using Windows 8.1, Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client VPN version 3.1.04066, and a Wireless connection to a 2Wire Gateway 3600HGV. 

Without VPN, my speedtest.net results are:

With VPN, my speedtest.net results are:

Solution: 

The solution that I found so far was to edit a field in a file called preferences.xml.  This file is found under

/<Username>/AppData/Local/Cisco/Cisco AnyConnect Secure Mobility Client

Originally, there was a line that showed this…

<SDITokenType></SDITokenType>

and my performance results were…

I edited the file using Notepad to look like this instead…

<SDITokenType>none</SDITokenType>

Now, my performance results are…

Then I removed

<AutoConnectOnStart>false</AutoConnectOnStart>
<BlockUntrustedServers>true</BlockUntrustedServers>
<LocalLanAccess>true</LocalLanAccess>

Now, my perfomrnace results are…

When VPN doesn’t work, its frustrating to figure out what has gone wrong.  This solution worked for me so far.  I hope it works for you.