Error al instalar los drivers de Flashtool en Windows 8 / Windows 8.1 64 bits

Tratando de rootear mi Sony Xperia ZL, me encontre con un problema al instalar los drivers de Flashtool en Windows 8.1 64 bits.

Googleando un poco me encuentro con que el problema se debe a que Windows 8.1 64 bits exige que los drives esten firmados por lo que lo único que habria que hacer es deshabilitar temporariamente esa exigencia y listo.

Hacerlo es muy sencillo, simplemente hay que:

1. Presionar WIN+C asi aparece la barra de opciones sobre el lateral derecho
2. Luego hacer click en CONFIGURACION
3. Cambiar configuracion de PC
4. Actualizar y recuperar
5. Recuperacion
6. Inicio Avanzado --> Reinicar Ahora
7. Troubleshoot
8. Opciones avanzadas
9. Opciones de inicio
10. Reiniciar
11. Finalmente, se listarán una lista de opciones de deshabilitar. La que buscamos es "Deshabilitar firmado de drivers forzoso" (en Ingles: “Disable driver signature enforcement”). Lo deshabilitamos presionando F7

Listo, eso es todo! ahora ya puedes instalar los drivers.

Para volver a activar el firmado de drivers, repite los mismos pasos.

Enjoy!

Fuente:

1. How to Install Flashtool Drivers on Windows 8 (64bit) https://theconfuzedsourcecode.wordpress.com/2013/10/13/how-to-install-flashtool-drivers-on-windows-8-64bit/ 
2. How to Disable Driver Signature Verification on 64-Bit Windows 8.1 (So That You Can Install Unsigned Drivers) http://www.howtogeek.com/167723/how-to-disable-driver-signature-verification-on-64-bit-windows-8.1-so-that-you-can-install-unsigned-drivers/

Solution to error updating to Windows 8.1 Update KB2919355

The other day I was trying to update my Windows 8.1 Pro to Windows 8.1 Update 1 but I had no luck.

Searching the web I found no solution until I arrived to this article http://netscantools.blogspot.com.ar/2014/04/windows-81-update-kb2919355-woes-and-my.html

Basically my problem was the order which Windows Update applies the updates. As the blogpost says  "the order of the KB's being installed on April 8 was SUPER IMPORTANT and the automatic Windows Update didn't know that so it installed the others first, then tried to install KB2919355 out of order."

What I did, was (a system backup is highly recomendable):

• Went to http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/search/DownloadResults.aspx?q=KB2919355 and downloaded all files

• Then, went to Control Panel/Recovery/Open System Restore and chose a Restore Point that was BEFORE the April 8 mess.
• Did the System Restore.
• Manually installed msu in the order above. I had each in Downloads and I simply double clicked to run them. These KB's must be installed in the following order: KB2919442, KB2919355, KB2932046, KB2937592, KB2938439, and KB2934018

Each one required a reboot. Fortunately SSD reboot time is super fast.

Enjoy it!

PS: The main update is KB2919355, so if you install it without problem but you have other problems installing the other MSU, just run Windows Update as normally

Epidemic: using a resource pool system

One of the biggest problem in game development and specially in mobile game development is memory allocating and deallocating. Some OS like iOs let you take the memory you need but doesn't like the idea allocating and deallocating continuously and makes your app or game to crash.

Always a profiler (eg: Unity Profiler) is needed to see how your game do its job under the hood.

A bad practise is Instanciating and Destroy objects because they are expensive task, they do a lot of memory allocating and deallocating, generates garbage (that the garbage collector needs to collect).

So what can we do if we need to Spawn and Despwn objects in our game? The solution is the use of some kind of resources pooling.... This mean, load everything you can / need when you game is starting - instanciate objects - and mark then as Inactive. When you need one object, just look for one Inactive object in your pool, mark it as Active and use it. When you don't need anymore, mark it as Inactive. That's all.

In the case of my game, I just start using resources pools for bombs and explosions because at this moment, they are the only objects that Spawn and Despawn.

I was looking for a free, open source and easy to install / use resources pool and the solution was Prefactory_v1_0, a simple object pool manager for Unity3d. Just visit Prefactory_v1_0 web site to download it and for instructions how to use it.

I just want to thanks Boon Cotter for his excelent Pool Manager and for sharing it!

Remember, here http://bit.ly/1beCGTg you can see a live version of my game. Also, there is a new dead sound! Enjoy it

SkyDrive in Windows 8.1 pause and resume

Windows 8.1 introduces a new a very improved version of Skydrive. Now we dont need skydrive desktop anymore and it's integrated deeply in Windows.

But, what's going on when we need to pause skydrive sync temporally? eg: Today I'm on an internet call with some clients and I need more bandwith.

In desktop version of Skydrive, we can simple close the app, and sync will stop / pause but things are different in Windows 8.1. It's seems Microsoft forgot to put a pause / resume button in the new Skydrive app.

Searching the internet I found a simple but effective way to pause / resume Skydrive sync. It's all about executing a VBS script to pause Skydrive sync and executing it again to resume Skydrive sync.

Just copy and save this VBS script

'version 1 by Max Grass
strin = inputbox("For resuming type something")
if (strin = "") then action = "suspend" else action = "resume" : end if
strComputer = "."
process = "Skydrive.exe"
Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:" _
    & "{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" _
    & strComputer & "\root\cimv2")
Set colProcessList = objWMIService.ExecQuery _
    ("Select * from Win32_Process Where Name = '" & process & "'")
Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")    
For Each objProcess in colProcessList
WshShell.Exec("C:\Path to\ProcessHacker64\ProcessHacker.exe -c -s -ctype process -cobject " & objProcess.ProcessID & " -caction " & action & " ")
Next
wscript.Quit

*Process Hacker is required, please change the path to processhacker.exe in the script (line 13)

Launch and leave it empty, press OK to PAUSE SkyDrive (wait 10-15 sec), launch again and type any symbol to RESUME.

Source and full explanation at http://maxgrass.eu/blog/skydrive-in-windows-8-1-anhalten-und-fortsetzen/?lang=en

Enjoy it