Technical on Treadwell

My Setup

Thu, 24 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Hi. I wrote a post years ago about the tools that I use (which this list has changed) so I thought it’s time to make a post about my current setup and tooling. I’ll keep this post updated with the newest setup that I have to avoid creating a new post for changes.

Workstation

CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7950X
GPU: EVGA RTX 3080 Ti FTW3
RAM: 64GB DDR5
Storage: Various nvme drives

Audio

Headphones: Shure SE215 or ATH-M50x
Microphone: Shure SM7B + Cloudlifter CL-1
Audio Interface: Focusrite Scarlett Solo
Speakers: Mackie CR3-XBT + Mackie CR8S-XBT

until next time

Using AI for Programming

Wed, 23 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

A hot topic as of recent years. It’s a topic that’s discussed by every person right now - especially in tech it seems.

Do I use AI?

100%. Yes. I don’t do the “vibe” coding shit though. I’ll outline some examples of what I’ve used AI for.

Optimization of database queries
Documentation of methods or a feature
Boilerplating - for example writing out a base template for html using.
Translations - I wrote a script to utilize the DeepL API to translate files that I input.

Vibe Coding

Oh shit I hate this. I’ll say I do love that more people are building things, but not understanding anything that the AI is doing isn’t cool. In a logical world people would learn code and use AI to help perfect an implementation. This is how I use AI.

New Site

Tue, 19 Dec 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Update: 7/26/2026….. again. Back to hugo and cloudflare workers.

Update: 7/7/2025… I did it again. lmao. The site is back in Django.

I did it again. I recreated my website. It’s not hosted by me anymore nor do I even have a backend. It’s using Hugo and GitHub Pages.

This allows me to write stuff without worrying about security or maintenance of a system/software.

Here’s the Python code I wrote to export blog posts over to the Hugo format from Django.

The Life of Technical Debt

Tue, 26 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

I’ll be talking about technical debt in general, what to look out for before you fall into tech debt, and my experience with it.

What is technical debt?

So tech debt’s definition on Google is “Technical debt is a concept in software development that reflects the implied cost of additional rework caused by choosing an easy solution now instead of using a better approach that would take longer.” That sums it up lol.

How I Handle Backups

Sun, 02 Jan 2022 00:00:00 +0000

The normal rule is 3-2-1 - 3 backups, 2 onsite, 1 offsite. However I do 2 offsite only. I may do a third offsite, but not sure just yet.

I use Scaleway’s C14 Cold Storage. I used OVH Archive, but the upload speeds were super slow.

In proxmox I edited the /etc/vzdump.conf and added script: /path/to/my/perl/script.pl at the bottom. When I run vzdump from the ui or proxmox kicks off a backup cron the script will get ran.

How I Version Products in Unreal Engine

Wed, 16 Jun 2021 00:00:00 +0000

While waiting for this to be added to Unreal I came up with an alternative. This python script will update the version in your DefaultGame.ini.

 
import configparser

import sys

import argparse

def main(argv):

 parser = argparse.ArgumentParser()

 parser.add_argument('Workspace', help='The path to the project that you\'re wanting to use!')

 parser.add_argument('NewVersion', help='The new version to set for the project.')

 args = parser.parse_args()

 config_file = args.Workspace + '/Config/DefaultGame.ini'

 config = configparser.ConfigParser()

 config.optionxform=str

 config.read(config_file)

 config['/Script/EngineSettings.GeneralProjectSettings']['ProjectVersion'] = args.NewVersion

 with open(config_file, 'w') as configfile:

 config.write(configfile)

if __name__ == "__main__":

 main(sys.argv[1:])

Enter Technical Debt

Tue, 13 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

I’ll be talking about technical debt in general, what to look out for before you fall into tech debt, and my experience with it.

What is technical debt?

Useful Resources for Game Dev

Mon, 12 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Over the years I’ve come across some really good resources so I figured why not dump them on here for other people to benefit from?

Some of this is really targeted at Unreal development, but you can really apply the knowledge to any engine. If you have any resources that you’d like to add to this list them please email me @ [email protected].

These lists aren’t ordered in any specific way.

Tools I Use

Tue, 19 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

So I figured I’d list off things that I use for work since I often wonder what other people use.

Windows 10 (main OS for everything) and FreeBSD, CentOS, Ubuntu (servers)
Visual Studio - Main IDE for C++ and C#
VSCode - Main Editor for everything and Python
Fork - Git Client
Bitvise - SSH/SFTP Client
Affinity Photo - Photo Editor
Unreal Engine - Game Engine
PlasticSCM - Source Control Client
dnSpy- .Net Decompiler
MusicBee - Music Player
EmEditor - Large File Text Editor
Divvy - Window Management
ShareX - Screenshots (I also use Ctrl + Shift + S or Win + Shift + S)
Invoice Ninja - Invoicing software
Flyspray - Bugtracker/project planning software (personal projects)

How to Fix VAX Suggestions

Mon, 11 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

So your suggestions from VAX aren’t updated or are wrong? Look no further!

Navigate to Extensions -> VAssistX -> Visual Assist Options

Then go to Performance and click Rebuild and Clear. (then reset your Visual Studio)

until next time

Using GoAccess

Wed, 16 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000

**UPDATE: I recently changed from a crontab to using the websocket and it works great. This post was extremely useful when setting up the websocket. (also some nginx info around the web) **

 
goaccess /var/log/nginx/access.log -o /var/www/report.html --log-format=COMBINED --real-time-html --ws-url=wss://domain:443/ws --port 7890 --daemon

This year I built a middleware for Django to store data on visitors to websites. It would store things like the page they view, the site that referred them, and their IP address/country. This worked fine for the longest time, but it’s very redundant since I already have this information in my Nginx (HTTP server) logs and it was stored in my database for my website. I still have one model (table) that I store just to keep a copy of it in case I delete the logs from Nginx.

Jenkins and UE4

Wed, 04 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000

NOTE: This guide assumes you already have a machine with Jenkins on it.

Prerequisites

Windows machine (or you can use a Windows agent)
UE4 and Jenkins installed
Patience

Create a new job as a freestyle project.
Choose “This project is parameterized.”
Add 1 choice parameter and 2 string parameters.
Fill in the content as follows.

 
 
 
==== Choice Parameter ====
== Name ==
BUILD_CONFIGURATION
== Choices ==
Development
Shipping
Test
DebugGame
== Description ==
Development = This configuration is equivalent to Release. Unreal Editor uses the Development configuration by default. Compiling your project using the Development configuration enables you to see code changes made to your project reflected in the editor.
Shipping = This is the configuration for optimal performance and shipping your game. This configuration strips out console commands, stats, and profiling tools.
Test = This configuration is the Shipping configuration, but with some console commands, stats, and profiling tools enabled.
DebugGame = This configuration builds the engine as optimized, but leaves the game code debuggable. This configuration is ideal for debugging only game modules.

==== String Parameter ====
== Name ==
ENGINE_PATH
== Default Value ==
C:\Program Files\Epic Games\UE_4.25\
== Description ==
The path for the engine install.

==== String Parameter ==
== Name ==
PROJECT_NAME
== Default Value ==
MyProject
== Description ==
This is the name of your project and the folder that it's in. (they need to match)

Set up your Source Control Management. We use PlasticSCM (requires you to install a plugin).
Check Poll SCM and put @hourly
Under Build add 3 Execute Windows batch command.

 
FOR /d /r . %%d IN (Intermediate) DO @IF EXIST "%%d" rd /s /q "%%d"
FOR /d /r . %%d IN (Binaries) DO @IF EXIST "%%d" rd /s /q "%%d"

@RD /S /Q "Build"
@RD /S /Q "Saved"
@RD /S /Q ".vs"
del "Shifted.sln" /s /f /q

===============================

"%ENGINE_PATH%Engine\Binaries\DotNET\UnrealBuildTool.exe" -projectfiles -project="%WORKSPACE%\%PROJECT_NAME%.uproject" -game -rocket -progress
"%ENGINE_PATH%Engine\Binaries\DotNET\UnrealBuildTool.exe" %PROJECT_NAME% %BUILD_CONFIGURATION% Win64 -project="%WORKSPACE%/%PROJECT_NAME%.uproject" -rocket -editorrecompile -progress -noubtmakefiles -NoHotReloadFromIDE -2019

===============================

"%ENGINE_PATH%Engine\Build\BatchFiles\RunUAT.bat" BuildCookRun -project="%WORKSPACE%\%PROJECT_NAME%.uproject" -noP4 -platform=Win64 -clientconfig=%BUILD_CONFIGURATION% -cook -numcookerstospawn=8 -compressed -EncryptIniFiles -ForDistribution -allmaps -build -stage -pak -prereqs -package -archive -archivedirectory="%WORKSPACE%/Saved/Builds"

Done.

I made a Jenkins CI monitor

Thu, 29 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Now that we have Jenkins running for Shifted I wanted to have the stats displayed easily. I set up a grafana dashboard in a vm on my server and hooked up Jenkins to it.

I got this idea from the Sea of Thieves talk (Automated Testing at Scale in Sea of Thieves) by Jessica Baker. (specifically the timestamp (1504)).

This probably isn’t the most ideal way to do this, but it works. For this build, I just used one of my old Raspberry Pi’s (the 3B) and I picked up a 5" screen from ELECROW. I installed Raspbian, connected to Wifi, and then opened the grafana dashboard via Chromium. (then full-screened and used Kiosk mode in grafana)

New Server and New Network

Wed, 28 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0000

UPDATE 12/26/2020: I’ve changed the drives in the server to be 2x 3TB (raid 1) and 2x 1TB (raid 1).

I recently set up CI (Jenkins) for Shifted and I thought why not have a machine that I can use as a server for various things such as Jenkins? A few years ago I had a full-fledged homelab that contained 6 1U servers (3 Supermicro and 3 Dell). I used only 1-2 of these servers and the rest - well, collected dust. I ran ESXi, pfsense, and a ton of other random things. I got into network security and let’s skip a year. I didn’t use them that much so I started shutting them down. I moved to more consumer-grade networking gear and again lets fast forward to the present time.

Visual Studio Settings

Tue, 06 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I also did a post on the extensions that I use.

Shortcuts

Some of these are default in Visual Studio and some others aren’t.

Collapse all code (Ctrl + M + O)
Uncollapse all code (Ctrl + M + L)
Rename method (Ctrl + R + R) - set using Visual Assist
Change method signature (Ctrl + R + E) - set using Visual Assist
Encapsulate member (Ctrl + E + E) - set using Visual Assist
Set block to inactive (if 0) (Shift + 3) - set using Visual Assist
Move lines (Alt + Up or Alt + Down)
Multi-select lines (Alt + Shift + Up or Alt + Shift + Down)

Choosing a License for Your Open Source Project

Mon, 04 May 2020 00:00:00 +0000

There are soo many licenses for open source projects and it can be confusing to choose which one you should go with. There’s 2 sites that I use when deciding on a license or if I just want to read about said license - tldrlegal and choosealicense.

I usually choose either MIT or BSD 3-clause for most of my projects. Both of these licenses allow the end-user or anyone to do whatever they want with the code as long as they provide attribution.

How to Setup Your Own VPN

Wed, 08 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0000

With security and privacy being a major thing nowadays I figured I’d write up a short guide on how to set up your own VPN.

For this guide I used Vultr (affiliate link) since I had some credit left with them and only needed a VPS for an hour max. The main thing with this is you’re going to want at least a 1Gbps connection on your VPS, 1GB ram, and no less than 1 core. The VPS cost me $0.02 for the hour that I had it online.

Visual Studio Extensions That I Use

Sun, 29 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000

These are the extensions that I have in my Visual Studio install.

Visual Assist
Visual Studio IntelliCode
Live Share
VSColorOutput
Indent Guides
Trailing Whitespace Visualizer
Entrian Source Search
Entrian Inline Watch
Open Command Line
Markdown Editor

until next time

How I Take Screenshots

Tue, 17 Mar 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Depending on what the screenshot is for will determine how I take the screenshot. If I’m sharing the screenshot via Discord etc then I’ll just use vgy.me by using ShareX. If I’m sharing via this site then I’ll just use the snipping tool that’s built into windows.

A note on ShareX, it’s crazy bloated with tools that shouldn’t be in the application - but it works just fine. In fact, I built a tool a few years ago called CaptureThat (I doubt it still works lol), because ShareX is just bloated with stuff that I didn’t use. One great thing about ShareX is it supports a TON of sites to upload your screenshot to and it also supports recording video.

Version Control

Tue, 25 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I hear stories about people not using a Version Control System (“VCS”) and how they are having an issue with new code, lost all of their work, or just don’t use one at all. I remember back in 2014 (I believe) I joined a team that was working on an FPS game. I quickly found out that they were using Google Drive as a VCS. lol wut? This happened again last year in 2019 when I joined a team that was working on a survival game - they were also using Google Drive. The team behind the survival game switched to Git after I had joined, but even Git isn’t the best for a UE4 project.

Accessing Your GameLift Instance

Thu, 20 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Prerequisites

AWS CLI
A GameLift fleet already created
Patience

This guide is assuming you’re on Windows as your main OS, but if you’re using Linux then the commands will be the same for AWS, but the system commands like changing the ssh key permission for Linux would be chmod 400 gameliftkey.pem.

Windows

Open Command Prompt (cmd) and type in aws gamelift describe-instances --fleet-id <your-fleet-id>. Replace with your actual fleet id which you can find here.
Now in cmd run aws gamelift get-instance-access --fleet-id <your-fleet-id> --instance-id <your-instance-id>. Again replace the contents in with the details from the command above.
Excellent, now you can log into your instance. Open Remote Desktop Connection (RDP) on Windows (Windows key and type in RDP). Log in with the details from the command above.
To access your game go to C:\Game.

Choosing Workstation Specs

Sat, 15 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0000

An updated version of my workstation is listed on this post.

I used to get asked often about pc specs for various things and I’ve spec’d out some systems for some friends over the years. Recently I was speaking with someone on Discord and I asked what they think that I should write about on my blog - you know useful stuff. So here’s one idea from them.

When building a workstation or a pc the first thing you need to figure out is what you’re going to be doing with it specifically. This is an important thing to think about because it could save you some money and even a headache down the line.

Secure Password Storage

Fri, 07 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Once upon a time, I used a text document with all of my passwords and I stored this on a USB flashdrive. Before you ask - no I didn’t keep it plugged in.

For several years now I’ve been using KeePass and VeraCrypt. I have a flash drive that I used VeraCrypt on and I store KeePass on it. I only mount my flash drive when I actually need a password or an ssh key etc. I don’t keep it decrypted either - once I’m finished I encrypt/unmount it.

Debugging the Speed of Websites

Tue, 04 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0000

When developing a website one main concern should be is performance. Here are a few tools to help you debug what could be causing speed issues. (load times)

These sites are basically the same thing, but it’s always a good idea to use different references when debugging.

Using these sites I was able to speed up this site by a good amount. At the time of writing this I could still strip out some of my css from bootstrap that it’s being used, but I think it’s ok enough.

Server Providers

Fri, 24 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I get asked about providers or who I use or even when I see people using an expensive provider for what they get. So this post will talk about what providers I’ve used.

Notable providers that I’ve used.

OVH

One of the best providers I’ve used and I’ll always go back to them. They’re crazy cheap for what they offer and they’re just great. The way they do their networking is weird for consumers especially if you want to do ESXi etc and have multiple machines. My friend Jack found out that doing Ubuntu etc and then KVM machines are easier.

Installing Python 3 on CentOS 7

Tue, 15 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000

CentOS 7 ships with 2.7.5 and that’s not the best when you’re wanting to use Python 3.x so I’m going to teach you how to install 3.x.

This will work for any python version so you don’t have to use 3.7.5 like I did here. You can go and use the latest instead.

Run python -V and see what it says. If it’s not 3.x then continue to step 2.
Run whereis python, if you don’t see any python3.x binaries then continue to step 3.
Run as root/sudo yum groupinstall -y "Development Tools" then run yum install gcc openssl-devel bzip2-devel libffi-devel -y
Jump on over to the Python download page and find the link for the Gzipped source tarball. For this guide we’re going to be installing 3.7.5.
Run wget https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.7.5/Python-3.7.5.tgz or upload the source to the machine.
Once the source is on the machine then run tar -xvzf Python-3.7.5.tgz.
Run cd Python-3.7.5/ and then run ./configure --enable-optimizations
Now that you’ve configured the build for Python you can build and install it by doing make altinstall. This process will take some time so let it run. You don’t want to do make install, because this will mess with Python 2 which is required by most of the components of CentOS 7.
Python 3.x should be installed now so now you can do python3.x -V (in this guide should be python3.7 -V)

Django Review

Wed, 19 Jul 2017 00:00:00 +0000

Now that imglnx is released I can finally talk about Django since I’ve used it in a proper project now.

Docs

Django’s documentation is some of the best that I’ve ever seen while doing software development. They go in great detail and even have some quick tutorials.

Security

Out of the box Django adds protection for multiple things. I remember the days of writing PHP and using PDO - but then even having to write a simple wrapper to handle sanitation before even sending to my PDO query. With Django you don’t have to do that at all. Just allow anything in the DB and make sure you don’t mark stuff safe in your template.