Restoring Penny preferences

1st February 2013 – 5.37 pm

Damn, this Minmatar technology is flaky. After spending a day trying to get my ship on-line I've had to restore all of its systems to the factory default settings. This is going to be painful. At least I'm somewhat prepared, after previous failures, with a saved overview file that I can import. Even then, not all overview settings are exported to that file, which can make the process of importing again awkward, when trying to work out which settings need to be tweaked and which ones are just the way I like it.

The overview may be the most complex interface to configure, and so the best to be able to export as a file, but there are plenty of other settings that will niggle at me. I don't mind getting window placements back in approximate positions, rather than just where they were, because if I can't tell the difference between then and now it can't matter too much. I just wish most of the damned windows didn't open right in the middle of the screen by default. No, I don't want you to obscure my ship, or whatever may be attacking me. Appearing near a corner would surely be better.

But what is getting on my nerves the most is a bit of a surprise. I am having real trouble replicating my colour scheme from before, and although I can get close to what it was this appears to be the setting that is causing most discomfort. It just doesn't look right! That the four different pane options don't seem to relate directly to their names isn't helping, and the choice between several equally dark and muddy colours adds to the confusion. Thankfully, taking lots of screen grabs, including my interface, pays off at last. Window: Nero; Background: Oil; Header/Subheader: Black Pearl. I won't forget again.

Actually, the worst part about resetting everything is the modal components that can't be modified until they happen. Or, at least, until they crop up and I'm reminded that they exist. Why, yes, I would like to delete these bookmarks, you stupid system. And, no, please don't ask me again. I do it at least once a day, it's a part of w-space life, and having a confirmation box pop up each time would drive me slowly mad.

And I have to recreate my scanning filters. At least I realise this whilst scanning a home w-space system that contains only one extra signature, and not when I want to achieve a direct goal. I dread to think what issues will arise when I am in the middle of an important action. I can only hope that the first wreck I open, thus putting the hold to be looted in a stupid position right in the middle of my view, will be a Sleeper wreck and not that of a salvager whose friends are dropping out of warp around me. Actually, popping a salvager would be soothing right now, like playing with bubble wrap.

Right, back to the task at hand. I resolve our static wormhole and jump to the neighbouring class 3 w-space system, where a tower and a couple of ships appear on my directional scanner. I'm not expecting much from the Thanatos and Chimera carriers, particularly as I appear in the system seven kilometres from the wormhole. Launching probes and blanketing the system gets me five anomalies to bookmark and seventeen signatures to sift through. I suppose scanning is better than making minor adjustments to settings and window placements, as scanning is a means to an end.

The signatures continue to resolve to the standard sites for a while, which I discard as soon as identified, right until my probes spot a wormhole and ship simultaneously. That's bad timing. A competent pilot will already have seen my probes, and as I shift to d-scan too slowly to see the ship type, I suspect the ship has already cloaked. I may as well keep scanning. The wormhole turns out to be the U210 static exit to low-sec, which must have been opened from the inside, making the ship's appearance on it interesting. Continued scanning reveals a second wormhole, probably the source of the ship, which is only a K162 from null-sec k-space.

I've run out of w-space already, which is always a risk with a static connection to a class 3 system, but before I go looking for the other pilot I'll see where the low-sec exit takes me. Aridia. It's been a while, which may explain my recent positive outlook and calm approach to resetting to factory defaults. But I'm here now, and the one other pilot in the system—cloaked or docked—won't stop me scanning. I forget about that null-sec connection soon enough with a K162 from class 2 w-space carrot dangled in front of me, and I jump back to w-space to see what I can find.

A tower, with no ships, in a tiny system where there's nowhere to hide is not the best result. But the wormhole I entered through is only one of the two static connections present, and the other will lead to more w-space. I would say that's worth scanning for, and I launch probes and start sifting through the thirteen anomalies and ten signatures. There's not much to find, but the connection to more class 2 w-space continues the increasingly promising constellation. Onwards!

This looks better already. A Sabre interdictor, Ferox battlecruiser, Vagabond heavy assault ship, and Cormorant destroyer could be getting up to all sorts of shenanigans, although the presence of a tower and lack of canisters and wrecks isn't a positive sign. Still, I ignore the negatives for now and concentrate on finding the ships, which doesn't take long. They're at the tower, unpiloted. That's a shame. But there's still more w-space to find, once I work through these nineteen anomalies and thirty-two signatures.

Thirty-two? You know, I'm kinda peckish. Fiddling with settings will do that to me. The wormhole will still be here later, and it may even be joined by pilots. I'll head home for now, grab a sammich, and come back to continue exploring the constellation. Then again, not all wormholes will still be here later, as it looks like some damned blues opened our static wormhole before me. The connection is now wobbling away on its last legs, and I've been away from it for a while, so it probably doesn't have long to go. New plan! Go off-line, grab a sammich, and start from scratch later, once our wormhole's died of natural causes.

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