chronicles of a newbie:a beginnAAR's AAR

[Lord Valentine]

There have been plenty of Apulian AAR's, so my choice would be :

Austria in 1066


Haven't seen many of those yet.

I second that! Let's see whether you can make Austria what it became under the house of Habsburg.
And also on this occasion I would like to welcome you on this forum and hope you will enjoy your first venture into the AAR-World.

~Lord Valentine~

 

[LordAumerle]

Veld: Yeah, I realized that afterwards; you can pick it from the list of Duchies to begin with. And yeah, on reflection, when there's no heir of any form it replaces with the same dynasty (which means the only main you can lose is by having collateral semisalic relatives, I guess).

Presumably if you, as Mathilde, marry and miraculously have issue, and its set to semisalic, you'd lose anyway...how ironic.

ON THAT NOTE, the other day, for the first time, I got a son married to a dowager countess (duchess, in fact), our dear Duchess of Salamanca.

 

[LodossKnight]

I'd Vote for Antioch, or somewhere in Byzantium. It might seem "hard" to do...but if you are going for somewher ein the Easiest-Normal difficulty range it is actually one of the best places to learn the game, even if you die off. A lot of political wrangling, a lot of warring...and if you are good enough, A LOT of unification and title grabbing.

And I dunno how you intend to take your AAR, whether to make it narrative or story based, or what...but regardless I'll be reading it! Us beginner's need to stick together! Good luck!

 

[Jestor]

I'd say a Duchy in Ireland. It's a good, safe place to test out things for a new-comer and you've got a goal to work towards in becoming King of Ireland.

 

[Anteep]

And the winner is...


[pause for dramatic effect]



ANTIOCH
Now just tell me how to take screenshots and we're ready to go
Thanks to everyone who voted here.
If I was mistaken about antioch, please tell me before this AAR starts.

 

[Lord Valentine]

I usually use FRAPS to take screenshots. The only problem with the limited (and therefore free) version is that the screenshots are all bmp.'s so you would have to save them as jpg's before uploading them.
And If you are looking for a good picture hosting site to upload your images I would advise you to use Photobucket or ImageShack.

Anyway I am looking forward to your AAR.

~Lord Valentine~

 

[Anteep]

With "how to take screenshots" I meant how exactly do you take them? I think I have to usethe prt scrn button, but what do I do then? Do I have to go to a map? And if I do, which one? And how do I upload the pictures?

 

[Lord Valentine]

With "how to take screenshots" I meant how exactly do you take them? I think I have to usethe prt scrn button, but what do I do then? Do I have to go to a map? And if I do, which one? And how do I upload the pictures?

Well you can take a screenshot by pressing the prt-button but then you have to open a image programme like PAINT and paste it into there and then save it. This of course is a lot of work since you have to return to the desktop and PAINT for every screenshot you take. If you install FRAPS you simply have to run the programme and select a key (for example "a") as your screenshot button and whenever while your in the game you hit the button "a" FRAPS will take a screenshot and save it in his install folder. Of course you can also tell the programme to save it somewhere else. If you use Fraps however you should open the images you would like to use before uploading them and convert them to jpg-files. You can do this by going onto the button "save as" and selecting jpg.

And where imagehosting is concerned simply register at Imageshack or Photobucket and then you and then you can select a image from your PC via the "browse" button and then upload it.
If I find the time I could try to make a short tutorial with some pictures to explain it a little better.

~Lord Valentine~

 

[Anteep]

Well you can take a screenshot by pressing the prt-button but then you have to open a image programme like PAINT and paste it into there and then save it. This of course is a lot of work since you have to return to the desktop and PAINT for every screenshot you take. If you install FRAPS you simply have to run the programme and select a key (for example "a") as your screenshot button and whenever while your in the game you hit the button "a" FRAPS will take a screenshot and save it in his install folder. Of course you can also tell the programme to save it somewhere else. If you use Fraps however you should open the images you would like to use before uploading them and convert them to jpg-files. You can do this by going onto the button "save as" and selecting jpg.

And where imagehosting is concerned simply register at Imageshack or Photobucket and then you and then you can select a image from your PC via the "browse" button and then upload it.
If I find the time I could try to make a short tutorial with some pictures to explain it a little better.

~Lord Valentine~

Thanks

 

[Lord Valentine]

A short tutorial:
How to take Images with FRAPS and uploading them to ImageShack​

Part One: Customizing FRAPS​

After you have installed FRAPS simply open the programme. You should then see this:

​

Then press the button "Screenshots".

In this area there are two important functions. You can change (see red marking) the folder in which FRAPS saves your images. After the installation the custom folder is the same one into which you have installed FRAPS but I would advise you to make a separate one for your AAR. The second important function is that you can chose the key which will command FRAPS to take an image (again see red marking). I for example chose A but feel free to use any key you don't need to play the game and that is easily accessible. When you are in the game you simply have to hit that key and Fraps will make a screenshot.

Part Two: Converting BMP Images to JPG​

Now let's assume you have taken a few Screenshots with FRAPS. That's all wonderful but the free version of FRAPS allows you only to save them as BMPs. BMP pictures in general have a quite good quality but are very large. So if you write an AAR with BMP images in it your reader will have to wait ages until the images have loaded. Therefore it is better to convert them to JPG images which are fare smaller. The easiest way to do this is to simply use Paint. I am going to demonstrate this using one of gigau's wonderful CoA for Crusader Kings.

Now that we have the image you go to the first button in the top left corner (in my case it is "Datei" but since I have the German version something else is bound to be there in your version) and go to the sub-option "save as" (in my case "Speichern unter").

Now there are two things you can do. You can give the file a new name (in my case this falls under "Dateiname") and more importantly you can change the datatype ("Dateityp"). Select datatype and then chose JPEG. Then simply click on "save" (in my case "speichern" ).

Part Three: Uploading images at ImageShack​

ImageShack is a free image hosting site. Although you can upload images without registering I strongly advise you to do so since it doesnt take long and when you are a registered user you can keep track of all of your images a lot easier. So now go to the ImageShack registration.

All you have to do is give them your e-mail address and chose a user name. Afterwards they will send you an activation link to your e-mail address. Simply follow it. Following the link you should get to this page:

At first I would advise you to change your password in the "Password management" area. When you have done this you can move on to actually uploading an image. Click on "My Images", which is situated in the top bar.
Then this page should show up:

On the right side you can see an area named "Action". In this are there is command in bold letters called "Upload Image". Press this button and the following window should appear:

Now click on browse and search your PC for the image you want to upload. When you have selected it click on upload. You also have the option to resize the image so that it fits a certain resolution.

This completes the first chapter of my tutorial. Due to the images limit pro post I will have to put the rest into a separate post.

~Lord Valentine~

 

[Lord Valentine]

A short tutorial:
How to take Images with FRAPS and uploading them to ImageShack​

Part Four: Putting uploaded images into a post​

Congratulations you have uploaded your first image! Now it should appear under "My Images". All that is left to do now is integrate it into a post at Paradoxplaza! To do this we have to take a closer look at the image.

As you should see on this example for an uploaded file there are several small icons next to the image. The only one that interests us at the moment is the one shaped like an I at the top. When you lead your cursor towards it it should say "Share It". Click on that icon and this window should appear:

Now here are several "links" to your image depending on where you want to post it. You can chose in general between a full size depiction of the image or a smaller version of the image (a "thumbnail") which can be enlarged by clicking on it. Since you are posting on a forum you should chose on of the forum links and copy it.

Now everything else is a piece of cake. Simply past the link into wherever in your post you want to have it.

Then press "Submit Reply" (or "Preview Post") and Tatatata!!! Here's the image!

I hope this helped you along a bit.

~Lord Valentine~

 

[unmerged(60841)]

Antioch is a great choice, I'm personally a fan though I would've voted for Karnten if I'd seen it in time!

 

[LodossKnight]

Hooray for Antioch!
I chose Abydos, So yer starting out near where I did for mine. Watch out for those Dirty Turkeys!

 

[Anteep]

I should warn you guys: I have gone over my maximum download limit and it won't be refilled until the 24'th (7 days). Until that time, my internet is SLOOOOOOW, so don't count on to many posts during that time (MAYBE one).

Also, lord valentine, I am in your debt. I would marry you if you were female

 

[Lord Valentine]

I should warn you guys: I have gone over my maximum download limit and it won't be refilled until the 24'th (7 days). Until that time, my internet is SLOOOOOOW, so don't count on to many posts during that time (MAYBE one).

Also, lord valentine, I am in your debt. I would marry you if you were female

Well your sure easy to please! Anyway I am glad that I could help and personally wouldn't mind if the pace of this AAR is not to fast in the beginning since I am away from the 18th to 24th. I hope I don't miss to much.

~Lord Valentine~