The release candidate (RC) version of Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (SP2) has finally been released to the public. Vista SP2 RC (and Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2) was initially only available to Microsoft Technet subscribers and MSDN subscribers. Although not quite the final release, SP2 RC includes a number of new improvements over the SP2 Beta released earlier. If you are thinking of downloading this release, we’ve included direct download links to Service Pack 2 RC 32/64 bit standalone installer towards the end of this article.

According to Microsoft, Vista SP2 is built with performance enhancements in mind. It’s supposed to include over 650 hotfixes that address various performances, security and reliability issues. Some of the new features you can look forward to in Vista SP2 are listed below:

• Windows Search 4.0 with faster searching and more relevant results
• The ability to record onto Blu-Ray Media through Vista instead of a third-party application
• Bluetooth 2.1 Feature pack to support emerging Bluetooth technology
• Simplified Wi-Fi configuration tool
• Improved file synchronization across time zones
• Support for new 64-bit CPUs from VIA technologies
• Improved performance for Wi-Fi connections after your computer comes out of sleep mode
• Improvements to DirectX multimedia with an improved graphics experience for gamers
• Better streaming capabilities for high-def audio and video
• Improved content protection for TV programs recorded with Windows Media Center

Download

Note that the standalone installer featured here is capable of updating both 32/64 bit editions of Windows Vista (size is ~1.3GB). This can also be used to install Service Pack 2 RC for Windows Server 2008. All download links point to official files hosted on Microsoft servers. Download managers are supported.

[Click Here] to download Windows Vista Service Pack 2 RC 32-bit and 64-bit standalone installer (ISO Image)

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Hello folks here we go again with another open signup and torrent tracker status update. First up is the news on Wild-Bytes, an excellent private BitTorrent tracker. The site has returned after being down for several days due to hosting problems – with a change in URL. There is also some good news regarding Demonoid, SyncTheBits and Radiarchive – all of these trackers are open for signup as of 07 March, 2009. For summarized info about these sites, read on.

Wild Bytes
 
Site Name: Wild-Bytes (http://wild-bytes.net)
Signup URL: http://wild-bytes.net/signup1.php
Stats: 9550+ users and 475 torrents (recovering from data loss)
Description:  Wild-Bytes is a great general/0day tracker with an excellent community. The site is slowly recovering after being down for several days. Also note that they have a new URL wild-bytes.net. You will not be able to access the site using old .org URL. Our previous review for this tracker along with screenshots can be found here.

SyncTheBits (StB)
 
Site Name: SyncTheBits (http://syncthebits.com)
Signup URL: http://syncthebits.com/signup.php
Stats: 1170+ users and 3360+ torrents
Description: StB is an excellent private tracker for cracked applications, games, themes, ringtones, etc for various mobile platforms.  Full tracker review with screenshots can be found here.

Demonoid
 
Site Name: Demonoid (http://www.demonoid.com)
Signup URL: http://www.demonoid.com/register.php
Stats: 233000+ torrents and possibly more than half a million users
Description: We’ve all heard about it, we’ve all seen it, we’ve all used it but there are still tons of new members who seek Demonoid invite codes every day. If you are one of them, here is your chance to get into the tracker without an invite code. 

Radioarchive
 
Site Name: RadioArchive (http://radioarchive.cc)
Signup URL: http://radioarchive.cc/account-signup.php
Stats: ~14000 members and 3300+ torrents
Description: This tracker is rather unknown and has only been mentioned once here on FILEnetworks Blog. Radioarchive specializes in all sorts of free-to-air radio broadcasts – BBC drama, comedy, documentaries, etc. For more details refer to this post.

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Although we’ve posted about a dozen wrestling/MMA torrent trackers, a full review of a dedicated boxing tracker has never been posted here on FILEnetworks Blog. Well here goes - a BitTorrent site that’ll be a great resource for Boxing fans. World Boxing Video Archive is a private torrent tracker specializing in all things boxing. From match videos to TV documentaries, this tracker probably has the largest database of boxing related torrents online.

World Boxing Video Archive (referred to WBVA from now on), is not a new tracker by any means – it’s a well established torrent site with over 9200 active members. As of 7/3/2009 WBVA tracks over 4700 active torrents.

The content on this tracker is pretty huge. It ranges from live match video recordings, highlight videos, TV documentaries (including ones from premium channels such as ESPN, Sky Sports, HBO, etc) to even DVDs related to boxing are shared on the tracker.

Note that some torrents carry the ‘WBVA’ tag – torrents marked with this tag are unique to this tracker. You will most likely not find them in any other private or public BitTorrent site.

If you are a fan of Boxing, this is a must have tracker. Registrations are open so go ahead and check it out.

Site Name: World Boxing Video Archive (http://www.worldboxingvideoarchive.com/)

Signup URL: http://www.worldboxingvideoarchive.com/signup.php

Categories:

• Amateur
• Clip
• DVD
• Full – Fair
• Full – Good
• Full - Poor(e)
• Full-Excellent
• High Def
• Highlight Video
• Misc
• Non-english

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I’m pretty impressed with the speed NVIDIA releases new driver updates. Whenever a major PC title hits the market, they release a new set of drivers that are aimed at minimizing problems with the latest release. Just after Empire:Total War was released, NVIDIA have released ForceWare drivers v182.08 (release 182) to the public. If you are playing ETW or any other new PC game, upgrading to 182.08 is recommended.

I’ve installed these drivers and tried playing Empire:Total War but I could not observe a noticeable performance gain over 182.06 drivers. Release notes for this version are given below:

New in Release 182.08:

• Added support for GeForce GTS 250.
• Added SLI profile support for some newly released games.
• Additional information on specific bug fixes can be found in the release documentation notes.
• Users without US English operating systems can select their language and download the International driver.

So maybe 182.08 does not include any performance enhancements over 182.06 at all? Only way to decide which version to keep is to try several drivers with a new PC title (that is optimized) and observe the results.

Download

Direct download links for v182.08 are given below. All links point to official NVIDIA servers – no 3rd party links have been provided.

• Windows Vista 32-bit
• Windows Vista 64-bit
• Windows XP 32-bit
• Windows XP 64-bit

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Several years ago, almost all movie rips circulating on the internet were those released by groups in the warez scene. This scenario is now different; over past few years popularity of p2p technologies such as BitTorrent have increased and this has given birth to entirely p2p based releasers and crackers, forming the p2p scene. The subject of this article, Superfundo, is a public BitTorrent index which indexes a lot of movie rips by p2p rippers such as aXXo, KLAXXON, FXG, FxM, leetay, iPAPULA, DEViSE and many more.

 

Unlike private torrent trackers that are frequently featured here on FILEnetworks Blog, SuperFundo does not operate its own BitTorrent tracker. Torrents indexed on this site use external public trackers such as the one from ThePirateBay. One of the advantages SuperFundo has over other public torrent sites is the low number of fakes present. I’ve used the site for around an year so far and none of my downloads have turned out to be fakes, not yet anyways.

As mentioned above SuperFundo is a movie torrent index. It however does not only index scene releases like some private trackers. If you are looking for some of the finest p2p rips of movies around, this is a great place to find them. Rips by following p2p rippers/releasegroups are indexed at SuperFundo:

• aXXo
• DEViSE
• FLAWL3SS
• FXG
• FxM
• greenbud
• KLAXXON
• NewArtRiot
• nHaNc3
• RoCK
• DragonRipper
• iPAULA
• kidzcorner
• leetay
• maelstrom
• Rod
• SecretMyth
• VixenOfVenus

You can either search for a specific release or can simply view a list of newly released movies along with ripper names on SuperFundo homepage:

 

SuperFundo, being a public torrent index, seems to be mainly funded by advertising – the site has lots of advertisements, some of them adult in nature. Anyways if you use public torrent trackers, SuperFundo should be a good resource of you. Even if you are a private torrent tracker user, this site still might come in handy since most private trackers do not index rips by p2p rippers.

Site Name: SuperFundo (http://superfundo.org/)

Forum URL: http://forum.superfundo.cc/

SMS Updates: Yes. SuperFundo’s RSS Feed is compatible with SMS Updates. Read how to set up free SMS updates on new torrent releases in this article.

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Here is another addition to the list of HD torrent trackers featured here on FILEnetworks Blog. If you’ve been downloading Blu Ray movies or other HD content via BitTorrent, the name EuReKa might sound familiar. EuReKa is a p2p based HD content releaser who was also an encoder at HDbits.org. This post is about Awesome-HD, a new private torrent tracker specializing in non scene HD content which was started several weeks ago by EuReKa himself.

Although it’s only been a short time since Awesome-HD went online, the site has already attracted over 2500 members (EuReKa’s popularity on various BitTorrent trackers may have had an influence here) and tracks close to 140 torrents (stats as of 6/3/2009). Note that this tracker specializes in HD content only – almost all the included releases are x264 encoded Blu Ray movies. Another interesting fact about Awesome HD is that it only allows non-scene/p2p releases to be uploaded. Expect to find a lot of releases by p2p groups such as ESiR, CtrlHD, BTT, DON, iLL and of course EuReKA on Awesome HD.

One great thing I noticed about this tracker is that unlike most other start up sites, Awesome HD did not have any trouble with seeder activity; There are plenty of seeders for most of the popular movie torrents indexed. At last check, there were lots of torrents on free leech as well.

The site is currently open for signup. If you have an interest in HD content released by p2p groups (which are not available on scene trackers such as SCC or ScT), go ahead and create an account.

Site Name: Awesome-HD (http://awesome-hd.com)

Signup URL: http://awesome-hd.com/index.php?page=signup

Categories:

• x264HD (720p)
• x264HD (1080p)
• Audio Streams

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About a day ago Razor1911 cracked and released the highly anticipated Empire : Total War for the PC. The DOX division of Razor1911 (RazorDoX) have come up with a money trainer for the game. When run in background, this trainer adds $10000 money to your empire every time the user presses the F1 key. Note that using trainers with games such as Empire : Total War can really kill the gameplay value.

Below are the install notes from RazorDox NFO:

Install Notes

1. Unpack
2. Start the game and run the trainer
3. Use this key: F1 - Add 10000$ to money

Download

This small 335KB file can be downloaded from MegaShare.

[Click Here] to download Empire Total War Money Trainer

Related Articles

• Pirates crack Empire : Total War steam protection
• Solutions for Empire : Total War sound problems, crashes, display issues & errors

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Older readers of FILEnetworks Blog may recall a general/0Day tracker called SceneLinks.Ro. It was a decent general tracker back in its day but the site went offline sometime in mid 2008. Then it came back online last August but this revival was only short lived – the site was down again in a few days (mobile.scenelinks.ro was the only part of SceneLinks that remained online – a mobile appz tracker with open reg). Now in 2009, SceneLinks has re-launched under a new name, AlfaScene.

AlfaScene too is a General/0Day tracker. It retains the sleek looking user interface which was one of the positives about old SceneLinks.ro. AlfaScene however is a brand new site and has had to start everything from scratch (perhaps the old users of SceneLinks.Ro who were directed to BitShock tracker may want to check this out?). The site currently tracks about 100 torrents with new ones being added all the time.

Nothing much can be said or predicted about AlfaScene at this point since it’s a brand new site. But keep in mind that back in its day SceneLinks was a good general tracker – if the same folks run AlfaScene, the site is in good hands.

This tracker is currently open for registrations. Every new user starts with 10 invites and the entire site is on free leech till the user base reaches 2000 members. IF you are interested, sign up and check it out.

Site Name: AlfaScene (http://www.alfascene.ro)

Signup URL: http://www.alfascene.ro/signup.php

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Several hours ago we reported about the leaking of Empire : Total War on BitTorrent. Although the game is undoubtedly a great hit, it isn’t without its share of issues. A lot of people who are using the pirated (cracked) version of the game by Razor1911 seem to be having problems. Those who actually purchased the game on Steam have reportedly run into a few problems as well. Given below are some of the issues reported by users of both the cracked and legitimate versions of Empire : Total War.

UPDATE: An update patch has been released for this game. Before you try any of the fixes mentioned in this article, update your game to the latest build and check if the problems are fixed. If you are using the pirated version, a cracked patch has been released by RazorDox – read all about it here.

Note that you may not encounter none, some or all of the problems mentioned below – user experience seem to vary from each installation. Also, not that some of these problems may exist in the legitimate version of the game as well. We cannot guarantee that the fixes mentioned in the article will solve all your problems – sometimes they will and sometimes they won’t.

Sound issues, missing sounds and other audio related problems

Problem: Missing sound effects. You may encounter missing or no sound effects with Empire : Total War. For example, when you give the command for a unit to march, you may not hear the corresponding sound effect. Some have reported missing sounds from horses, swords, cannons, etc as well.

UPDATE 8/03 (Working Solution): Search TPB for "etw_sounds_sfx.pack", download it and replace the sounds_sfx.pack file in the game's installation folder.

Solution 1 (Untested): Note that I have not tested this solution myself. Backup all replaced files before testing his method.

1. Download the Empire : Total War Demo and install it (It’s a free Steam download).
2. In the Demo installation directory, locate the file demo3.pack. Rename the file to sounds_sfx.pack
3. Browse to the installation directory of the full game (not the demo). Replace the sounds_sfx.pack file located in the full install dir using the renamed filed created at step 2.
4. Run the game

Solution 2 (New/Updated) : Download the “Empire: Total War sound fix for all releases” which can be found on public BitTorrent trackers.

Problem: Missing voice acting and missing/skipping advisor messages

Solution: See solution 2 for Missing sound effects problem (above)

Crash to desktop (CTD), freezes, installer issues and hangs

Problem: Some users (both pirated and legitimate) have experienced crashes with the game when trying to start a new campaign (for example when trying to start the road to independence campaign) while some have reported crashes after the first battle. Some others have experienced the game crashing or freezing at the loading screen or just randomly.

Solution: No direct solution yet. Keep in mind that updating DirectX, Microsoft .NET Framework and your system drivers will always help at least minimize the chances of random crashes.

UPDATED Alternative Solution: Here is something you can try to avoid the crash at road to independence campaign as well as maybe installer crashes. This is for the pirated version of the game. No guarantee that this’ll work – worth a shot anyways.

1. Uninstall the game if you have already installed it. Delete all copied cracks or any other modified files.
2. Create a new folder for the game to be installed. Copy all modified/cracked files to this location before installing the game.
3. Install the game to the folder created at step 2. When the installer prompts for files on disk 2, point to them in the following order: 1. _0.sid 2. _1.sid 3. _2.sid 4. _2.sid
4. Rename and Replace the sounds_sfx file with the one in demo as per instructions given in the sound issues section above.

Problem: Installer crashes before completion. If you are using Windows 7 Beta (and even on Vista and XP in some instances), you might experience crashes with the ETW installer, specially at the end of disk1 or disk2 installation.

Solution: When the installer prompts you for the installation disk, make sure you type the full path (Ex- X:\Empire Total War_disk1_0.sid). If you press the browse button or type and incomplete path, the installer will crash. May or may not work for OS versions other than Windows 7 as well. Keep in mind that the installer may take a long time to complete – this is normal.

Steam related errors and issues

It’s not only pirates who are suffering from ETW glitches. Legitimate buyers who downloaded the game from Steam have had their share of problems as well.

Problem: Missing textures, cannot launch the game from Steam, error messages ‘empire.exe caused an error….’, etc

Solution: The above problems may have something to do with Steam not downloading all of the game files correctly. Launch Steam, Right click on Empire: Total War, go to properties. Open the ‘local files’ tab and verify the integrity of game cache. Re-Download any files if required.

Performance enhancements and software/drivers for error free Empire : Total War game experience

Make sure you have the following software installed on your system for optimal game experience

NVIDIA Drivers: NVIDIA have released 182.08 drivers which are recommended from Empire : Total War. Direct download links are given below:

• Windows Vista 32-bit
• Windows Vista 64-bit
• Windows XP 32-bit
• Windows XP 64-bit

ATI Drivers: Download the latest ATI Catalyst 9.2 drivers from this link: http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx

Motherboard and sound card drivers: [Click Here] to download 3DP Chip for Windows Vista/XP – This program will automatically detect your hardware (video card, sound card and motherboard) and find available driver updates.

Latest Microsoft .NET Framework: Download the latest .NET Framework from http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/default.aspx

Latest Microsoft DirectX Runtime: This is very important if you are using Windows XP, download the latest DirectX runtimes from this link.

Related Articles

• Pirates crack Empire : Total War steam protection

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Year 2008 could be termed as an year when SecuROM DRM got pwned at the hands of scene and p2p groups. It looks as if year 2009 will be the year that Steam got raped. One of the most anticipated games of this year, Creative Assembly’s Empire : Total War has been cracked by veteran scene group Razor1911 and leaked on the internet right on the game’s North American release date. It looks as if the leaked version is the Special Force Edition of the game which has some additional elite units not present in the regular Empire : Total War.
Update: Those having sound, crashing, missing textures and other problems with the game, read this article.

Empire : Total War is distributed exclusively via Steam, the digital content distribution platform which was once thought ‘uncrackable’ by many.  Razor1911’s release includes a full DVD Image of the game (2 DVDs – 11.8GB), a custom installer as well as a cracked exe which either bypasses or removes the Steam protection altogether.

Razor1911’s release was leaked from scene topsites into private torrent trackers just a few minutes after it was pre’d:

[ Empire_Total_War_Special_Forces_Edition-Razor1911 15 ] [ Uploaded first @ ScT 13m 21s after pre, followed by RBy, ScR, ScL, TV, PTM, TD, TGB, ACE, ST] ]

Source: Torrent-Racers IRC Channel

The release has now spread to public BitTorrent trackers, one click hosting sites such as RapidShare, public FTP servers and so on.

Personally, I’ve been dying to get my hands on this game ever since it was announced several months ago. If you think turn based strategy games are not your thing, just give this one a go – chances are that you’ll get addicted to it. Highly recommended title for any PC gamer folks (watch the trailers here)!

Minimum System Requirements

• OS: Windows XP/Vista
• Processor: Pentium 4 @ 2.4 GHz
• Memory: 1 GB
• Hard Drive: 15 GB Free
• Video Memory: 256 MB (Shader Model 2.0)
• Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
• DirectX: 9.0c
• Keyboard & Mouse
• DVD Rom Drive

An article addressing various problems and errors you may encounter with the game (non crack related) will also be published. Keep checking the homepage.

Related Articles

• SeedGames – PC and Console games torrent tracker – Signups open

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