Yankidank

Yankidank.com - It's Finally Here!

2004-11-04T04:53:00.000-05:00

Important information for everyone! I got fed up with the free server I was using to host the Gamer's Radio .RSS file, so I got a real web page! Please forward all of your Bookmarks to www.Yankidank.com. I have decided to combine both my Gamer's Radio blog and Yankidank Technology blog into the new site. I won't have a chance to produce a radio show until Friday afternoon 09/05/04. But I promise to get the ball rolling soon. I have spent a lot of time preparing the site, but it's still a bit empty. That's where you guys come in. Please contribute to the site! Join the site and contribute your thoughts, photos, whatever you can think of. Soon I will have a new .RSS link. Make sure that you will update it from the Yankidank.com page so that you will be able to get the upcomming episodes.
Be sure to check out the forums and gallery at Yankidank.com they can be found here:
http://www.yankidank.com/forum/
http://www.yankidank.com/gallery/
The Photo Gallery is a little glitchy still when it comes so submissions, but the forum is awaiting some posts!
I will also work on some tutorials for Xbox Mods this December.
Thanks to those who have emailed me with comments and suggestions, I really appreciate it. Hope to hear from you again soon!

A Brief Pause

2004-10-26T06:41:00.000-04:00

I apologize for not updating lately, I spilt Gatorade on my Keyboard a few days ago and had to send off to NewEgg.com for a replacement. I could barely survive those few days without my wireless keyboard, it drove me to the brink of insanity. But now that I have a new one I'm okay.
I spent the better part of the day designing a new web page, that is going to completely change the face of my sites. I am headed in a new direction, in the direction of internet radio broadcasting! I'm hoping to start with broadcasting shows about Games and Consoles, then maybe work my way to a second broadcast focused on Computers and other such technologies.
I discovered an amazing thing today called iPodder. You guys will have to check it out on your own because it's getting close to my bedtime. Basically it lets you gather internet radio broadcasts and it will stick them in iTunes for you. So that you can listen to Personal Blogs, Tech Blogs, News Blogs, or whatever you want on your iPod. It will automatically download new content as it becomes available. I'm already hooked on the show GAMERadio. I plan on making my first Podcast (iPodder Broadcast) similar to that show. I have a lot of game news that I want to get to, but don't have the time with this new site. I will make sure that my first episode will quench your thirst.

Google Desktop

2004-10-19T02:55:00.000-04:00

DOWNLOAD THIS PROGRAM NOW!
This is not a suggestion, this is me telling you that you need to download this file now! I just downloaded Google Desktop about twenty minutes ago, and I think it is the greatest thing in the world. I downloaded it, walked away from the computer to get some work done, and when I came back my computer had taken a step to the next level. Google Desktop is EXACTLY what Microsoft has wanted to do for the past 5 years, but never perfected. Instead Microsoft decided to put it off until Longhorn comes around in 2006. Google Desktop categorizes your computer just like how it categorizes web pages. It searches through your files, sorts them out into keywords, stores the files according to date and relevancy, and places it all in an amazing interface just like its online companion. The page that Google presents for the program doesn't do it just. It says that it will sort through your AIM, Outlook, Internet History, Text, Word, Powerpoint, and Excel files. That is only the tip of the iceberg my friend.

Google quickly categorized 19,892 files on my computer within 20 minutes. By the way, it only searches for new items when the computer is idle, so that it won't take up your precious system resources. The result of the system scan looked like this. Pardon the messed up formatting.

Number of items Time of newest item
Total searchable items 19,892 --2:22am
Emails 0 ---
Chats 2 --1:52am
Web history 851 --1:30am
Files 19,039 --2:22am

Then Google seamlessly integrated the search function right into their web page. So that when you use your web browser (it better be Firefox!) you have a "Desktop" tab to search your computer.

When you are reading an AIM conversation, it even gives you a link to "chat with [whomever]", and the link will start aim and bring up an IM to send to the designated person.

I couldn't possible imagine a program more essential for just about any computer user. Whether you are a business person, who needs to keep track of records scattered all over your computer. Or if you're a teenage chatter who wants to check what Jessica said last week about Danny on AIM. There are a million reasons to use Google Desktop, but the one thing that makes me secure about using this program is that it is made by Google. The people who changed the face of search engines, email, blogging, and many other things. And this is going to be the next big thing.

Windows XP SP2 Networking Problem: Part III

2004-10-17T19:35:00.000-04:00

Somehow the Windows Networking Problem has evolved into something tremendously horrible. I was able to get Windows (XP Pro, SP2) to connect to the Xbox by setting the Xbox in the Netgear main ethernet port, then making my computer the slave in any of the 1-4 slave slots. This way, my computer thought that the Xbox was the internet, so windows configured itself to be able to access the Xbox. At this point Windows properly applied itself to the router IP. Only I was not able to talk to the Xbox in this configuration (probably because of a bad router setting), so I removed the ethernet cords and connected the Xbox and computer directly with a Cat-5 cable. When I did this I had a connection with my Xbox up and running for about 30 seconds, then Windows would reconfigure itself to what it thought I wanted (which I don't), and kick me off my Xbox.
So after all of this, I have concluded that the only way to talk to the Xbox, besides Microsoft fixing the problem, is to properly use a router and connect through the router ports. I love how Microsoft thinks that it's best to let the computer configure itself, and completely took away my ability to modify my internet connection. Thanks again Microsoft!
For now, I am going to try to deal with just not connecting to the Xbox, unless if I have an urgent need to fix something. The only items that need to be placed on the hard drive are Nintendo 64 roms and some updated XBMC files. Speaking of which XBMC just upgraded to v. 1.1.0 today!

iPod Agent

2004-10-17T19:19:00.000-04:00

If you have an iPod, old or new, do yourself a favor and download Ipod Agent right now as you read this article. It is critical that everyone gets this program because it may one days save your very life!...Or at least make your life a tiny bit better.
iPod Agent software allows you to do the folling with your ipod/computer:

* Transfer songs from your iPod to your PC
* Transfer Outlook contacts, appointments, notes, tasks, and mail to your iPod
* Fetch weather forecasts and put it on your iPod
* Fetch RSS news feeds and make them viewable on your iPod
* Fetch local movie showtimes and make them viewable on your iPod
* Fetch daily horoscopes and make them available on your iPod
* Transfer the contents of any folder on your PC to your iPod
* Copy any text file to your iPod
* Create listings of the songs on your iPod in plain text, HTML or CSV formats.

So if you have two computers at home, and want to transfer your music library from one computer to the other, you can easily download the songs from the iPod using iPod Agent. There are lots of fun little things you can do using this software, but I am sticking with the basics (weather forecast, movie showtimes, and news feeds). Check out the iPod Agent website for more information.

Soon to Come!

2004-10-12T03:46:00.000-04:00

I just started a Gmail account, yay! So as soon as I get a chance to test the waters out enough to give a fair review, I will post a review and comparison to Yahoo! Mail. I have a feeling Gmail is going to win.
Also on the horizon, I'm going to mention the Ipod Agent software, which allows you to make the most out of your Ipods. I will also leave some praise of Doom 3, for the PC. When I'm not doing school work, I'm probably playing Doom 3 (or Call of Duty, I love it too!). I have a lot of great Tech stuff I want to post about, but so little time! Well, I'm off for bed this evening. I have been trying to update some minor flaws in the site template, for this site and 2 others that I'm working on. As a side note Blogger supposedly updated their tech support. Have a good night all, and I look forward to posting soon. This weekend at the absolute latest.

OurTunes 1.3.2

2004-10-04T23:50:00.000-04:00

Considering that most of my friends are in college, I thought I might do them a favor and forward them to a little program called OurTunes. What does OurTunes do, you might ask? OurTunes allows you to download music from other computers on the same network that are sharing their music through Apple's iTunes. Here's what you need to do to get it to work. First, download iTunes from Apple.com. Second, open up the Preferences and set it to allow your computer to share and look for shared music. Third, download OurTunes. Assuming that you have a recent version of Java running on your computer, which the majority of people will, run OurTunes and iTunes at the same time. OurTunes should automatically find the shared music and let you get downloading immediately. But make sure that you are able to listen to other people's music through iTunes prior to downloading, this way you will know whether you are able to get a connection to the networked computers. This is just a fast runthrough of what to do, for more information about OurTunes or iTunes check out the links.

Halo Mods for the Xbox

2004-09-29T14:50:00.000-04:00

I have been using different Halo editors for a few months now, and it has been a pain to creat and upload a new map every time that I want to play a new modded level. I am sick and tired of Halo PPF's!
If you agree with me, or if you have never tried to mod Halo on the Xbox, now is the time! With the release of CXE1 + NMP2 with HMPi you can easily play modded levels without the wait. This program installs ontop of Halo on your Hard Drive and allows you to play preloaded maps and mods for Multiplayer. There are some amazing Gametypes too! Check out the Site Here for more information, or download it from below.

Download Full .Rar

Download .Torrent

SP2 Networking Problem: Part II

2004-09-29T14:31:00.001-04:00

I found a temporary fix for the disabled LAN icon, but it uses a router. For those of you who need to fix the LAN icon problem mentioned in the previous article and don't have a router - GET ONE! Routers come in handy!
I was up all night working on this problem, and figured out that there's no way to solve the LAN problem, short of some advanced computer coding and a team of specialists. So I thought to myself, "why not work around it"? And I did.
I luckily had a spare Netgear router sitting around just asking to be used. So I plugged it into my computer and Xbox and went at it. Three hours later I figured what IP address to use and found a temporary solution to my LAN problem. Unfortunately, to access the internet, I have to unplug from the router and I didn't write down the configuration before doing to. So part three of the SP2 Networking article will come this weekend, I will give all of the configurations and perhaps some pictures and a tutorial.
There's always hope when there's a router.

Windows XP SP2 Network Conflicts

2004-09-27T20:07:00.000-04:00

I made the update to Service Pack 2 (SP2) a few weeks ago and
I am just now seeing some pretty big glitches caused by the update. Prior to
updating my computer I had no problem tweaking my network configuration to communicate
with my Xbox. I was able to simple open up my LAN Connection and set the IP
adress manually. But with the recent update, I have completely lost my LAN Connection
icon. When I turned to Google for the answer I found out that this is not just
a simple error caused on a few computers, and it's not something that easy to
fix. In fact, there is no solution for the problem that I know of just yet.
When I wrote Microsoft about the problem, they wrote back to me...

Thank you for contacting Microsoft Online Support Service.
My name is Walter, and I'm glad to work with you. For your reference, the case
ID for this service request is SRZ040923001108.From the case log, I understand
that some network connection cannot be shown in Network Connections. I am sorry
for the inconvenience this issue has caused to you. Please understand Microsoft
releases SP2 to fix known issues and increase the stability and security of
Windows XP, and we have tested as much of the software environment as we could
to improve the performance of SP2. However, we cannot guarantee that SP2 can
install perfectly in all computers because every computer has different software
and hardware environments.Thank you for your understanding. Since from our customers'
feedbacks, a few customers encounter the similar problem as you have encountered.Based
on the current situation, I have reported this issue to our Product Group. Since
SP2 was released recently, our developers are collecting users' feedback and
put emphasis on the information you have provided. At this point, I suggest
we temporarily with SP2 uninstalled and wait for the hotfix which I believe
will be released soon to fix this problem. Please also be assured once there's
a solution to this problem be found on our side, I will notify you as soon as
possible.

He then goes on to explain how to remove Service Pack 2 from my
computer. So I removed SP2, which took a very long time to do. Then I found
out that removing SP2 didn't do a thing. It actually made my network even more
messed up and I lost the one visible icon that I had when I had SP2 installed,
the wireless connection. Then I reinstalled SP2 to get my wireless icon back,
and that took longer than uninstalling it. So after installing SP2, uninstalling
it, then reinstalling it, I have been stuck without a connection to my Xbox.
Luckily I'm not at home because I need to alter my LAN to access the internet
from my router. So I can see how big of a problem this can be for some people.

I am doing my best to try to resolve the issue on my own, because
Microsoft doesn't help you online, and the Windows XP Help Center is a piece
of crap that only answers basic questions. I have come across several forums
that discuss this problem, but I have yet to find the answer. When I do find
the answer, which I pray will be soon because I can't live much longer without
communicating with my Xbox, I will post an article here and on every forum possible.
If anyone out there comes across this article before I find the answer, please
post the answer as a comment as a favor to others.

Create a Blog Button! (free and easy)

2004-09-27T20:00:00.000-04:00

I found a spectacular site that will create Blog
Buttons for you. All you need to do is pick out the words you wish to use
and the colors. I made two Yankidank buttons that can be found below. The page
I had been using for lots of my sidebar blog buttons has exceeded it's bandwidth
images, and I was being dumb by linking directly to them rather than saving
them to one of my own servers. So now I have a large blank space to the right
side of the page until I am able to find worthy buttons to replace the old ones.
If you have any suggestions for blog button sites, leave a comment below. I
will leave a comment with the former site that hosted the majority of my buttons.
I appologize for not posting in a while, I just started school and I have focused
more on my personal page. I have also had some problems with my computer communicating
with my Xbox, so I can't post many tutorials on new items, even though I really
want to. More on that in the next article.

Girl Version

Boy Version

http://kalsey.com/tools/buttonmaker/

Mozilla Firefox 0.9

2004-08-24T16:36:00.000-04:00

I can't see why anyone would use any other browser.

I recently made the switch from Mozilla to Firefox and I couldn't be happier. About a year ago I made a browser leap from Internet Explorer to Mozilla and thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. Mozilla's open source framework and tabbed browsing have kept me loyal to Mozilla.org for so long. Just a week ago I made the upgrade from the Mozilla browser to the newest Firefox browser. I had once before attempted to make the switch to Firefox several months before, but Firefox didn't seem polished enough. Today Firefox is years and years ahead of any other browser out there. This is coming from a person who has tested just about every browser with the exception of Safari, but that's only because I haven't had a Macintosh to test.

Here's some specs that will convince you to make the switch to Firefox:
- Open Source Structure
- Tabbed Browsing
- Bulit-in Popup Blocker
- Google Search bar (and "I feel Lucky" style Google Location Bar)
- Customize just about Everything with Themes!
- Spectacular Extensions and Extension Manager

I could not possibly emphasize how great it is to have so many Extensions to add to the Firefox Browser. They Extensions customize the browser to suit you. There are Bible scripture, bandwith tester, IRC client, password generator, translation, image zoom, popup count, and many other extensions. Do yourself a favor and make the Browser switch now if you haven't already.

Get Firefox 0.9 Here
Get Firefox Extensions Here

Free Ipods!

2004-08-19T20:30:00.000-04:00

Recently Wired.com posted an article about the site FreeIpods.com (Site link HERE). Revealing that you really can get a free Ipod if you play by the rules. All you need to do is get 5 friends to sign up by you refering them and take a pick of a trial offer that the site offers (I'm going for the 45 days of AOL). Once you have successfully completed all requirements, they will ship you an Ipod. Below is a referal link from my account, so if you feel kind sign up using the link below and I will be happy to sign up for your account. If anyone else signs up, feel free to post a referal link in the comment section below.

http://www.freeiPods.com/default.aspx?referer=8153552

Sitemeter and Logo

2004-08-18T02:30:00.000-04:00

I posted a few pics of the Yankidank Sitemeter Statistics on a web page to encourage others to use sitemeter.com as a web traffic monitor. I use it on this blog, and you can see some circle graphs on the results in this link. Note that 12 percent of visitors are from overseas. 3 perent are from New Zealand (the most beautiful country I have visited so far), thanks Kiwis for your support.

I am also starting to design a Yankidank Logo, any ideas or submissions would be appreciated. The next update will probably be a week from today, I plan on talking about Mozilla's FireFox Browser (the best web browser to date), and perhaps I'll mention Call of Duty because I am now addicted to that game. See you all around the 24th.

2004-08-17T01:39:00.000-04:00

I posted some Pics of the newest version of the Xbox Emulator MameOX. The current version is 0.85.b3. I'll post a small review on the HUGE improvements when I get a chance (I'm going on holiday for a week starting Wednesday). But if you are considering updating from the old version or not, or whether you should get it for the first time, get it now! I used to hate this emulator, but now it is probably my favorite (out of the 10 or so emulators I have for the xbox). I will list the features in the future article. Until then check out these pictures of MameOX at This Website.

2004-08-16T23:54:00.000-04:00

While shopping for a new cell phone on Amazon.com today, I noticed that the website never mentions a 1-800 number so that you can talk to an actual person rather than sifting through their hundreds of help webpages for a brief answer. So I did some digging and found out that Amazon does indeed have a 1-800 number available so that you can talk to a human being. The number is 1-800-201-7575. Next time that you are shopping Amazon and have a question, save yourself a lot of time and give customer service a call. And if you have a specific question (such as my question about cell phone rebates), call them between the hours of 7 am. and 4 pm. and you can talk to a specialist.

Hiren's Boot CD

2004-08-04T19:34:00.000-04:00

If you consider yourself a computer nerd, you NEED this CD.

Hiren's Boot CD.

The website only gives the specifications for the program. You will have to find your own source for downloading it, I suggest using bit torrents.

SYSTEM PERIL DISTRIBUTED REFLEX

2004-07-28T05:11:00.000-04:00

If you haven't heard this little tib-bit yet, lean forward in your seat now. Halo 2 released a demo trailer online recently, and at the end of the trailer the Halo 2 logo switches to a url for ilovebees.com for a split second. Check out this quote from halomods.com

"If you go to http://ilovebees.com/, a message pops up that something inside the system is degenerating it - a virus or other proggie. But, if you looked closely at the "SYSTEM PERIL DISTRIBUTED REFLEX", you would notice that those first letters can also spell something else - "Single Player Demo Release". Yep, we believe that on August 24, 2004, at 00:06, A Demo of Halo 2's Single Player Experience will be made available. There are also other allusions to other dates (on the 27th, "network throttling will erode", possibly AKA "beta-testing will finish", and on the 10th, "this medium will metastasize", possibly AKA "Copies will start being made"), and a whole barrage of other extremely odd clues ("Seek the truth, Behold the truth, Reveal the truth, That is the law and the whole of the law").
Now seeing as Halo 1 had a massive amount of bible references, we can only assume that that is the source for all of these wierd clues, so I whipped over to http://crosswalk.com/ to search thru the bible for clues, I think this might be a The Da Vinci Code-type clue system set up by Bungie."

After investigating a link from ilovebees.com, ilovebees.blogspot.com, I discovered on his third post down he goes through different years in history that featured something great on August 24th. Below is the ilovebees.com message that probably has a few secrets yet to be found within the phrasing.

"HALT - MODULE CORE HEMORRHAGE

Control has been yielded to the
SYSTEM PERIL DISTRIBUTED REFLEX.

This medium is classified, and has a
STRONG INTRUSIVE INCLINATION.

PHASE 1 COMPLETE: Network throttling has eroded.

In 13 days this medium will metastasize.

COUNTDOWN TO WIDE AWAKE AND PHYSICAL:

Make your decisions accordingly."

The New and Improved Ipod

2004-07-25T02:14:00.000-04:00

I see an Ipod in the near future for myself. With the new updates to the Apple Ipod, I can't see any reason to put off buying an Ipod. The battery life has been improved (now able to last up to twelve hours), the dialing jog has been updated (now clickable), and the price has dropped ($100 difference!). If you have been putting off getting an Ipod check out the new model

Click for Apple Ipod Wallpaper #1. Ipod + Dock.
Click for Apple Ipod Wallpaper #2. Ipod + Earbuds

An interesting side-note, Duke University is in talks to provide each incoming new student with an iPod, or an iPod mini. Duke will hand out approximately 1,800 iPods that will be pre-loaded with Duke-related content and will allow students to download supplementary university material in addition to being able to play music.
To find out more information about the Apple Ipod check out there site here.
Ipod Specifications (Mini, 20 GB, and 40 GB.)
For more information about upcoming Apple Software and Hardware, bookmark MacRumors
and don't forget to check out the Ipods Around the World Page

New Features, and articles to come.

2004-07-21T01:38:00.000-04:00

Coming Soon:
I have been focusing on building a good frame for my blog to stand on, so sorry about the lack of articles lately. I'm preparing a couple more computer and Xbox tutorials to be added in the near future. Any requests for articles please leave a comment for me and I'll either answer the question myself in a tutorial or stick a link to an existing one.

The New Stuff:
A Site Poll - located in the sidebar to the right, currently there is one poll up, but as soon as I submit this blog I will add a second.
Email Subscription - If you want to keep up-to-date with new things from this website, but you don't want to check back every day, sign up for the Yankidank Email Subscription. It will email you with a blog every time something new is posted on the site.

2004-07-09T14:27:00.000-04:00

P2P is at it's finest these days. With the invention of Bit Torrent Clients (often spelled Bittorrent), P2P sharing has evolved into something spectacular. What you aren't able to find on the normal P2P clients (Kazaa, Bearshare, Limewire, Grokester, etc...) you can find on Bit Torrent networks. Not only are you able to find more of what you can't find on Filesharing Networks, but you have a better chance of actually downloading the files. Before I get into why this is, let me show you how Bit Torrent clients work (taken from http://bitconjurer.org/BitTorrent/introduction.html)...
A normal computer server can only serve so much information to computers.

But P2P clients help to solve the problem of bandwidth limitation by having the customers share information with each other.

Now here is how Bit Torrent differs from regular P2P networks. Clients such as Azereus read a Bit Torrent file (which you can download from many different web pages) and search for others sharing that Torrent. Think of the torrent as a bookmark for filesharing. Then as you are downloading from the Torrent file, it puts together small pieces of the file starting with the rarest files.
Azereus is the client that I am currently using, it allows you to pause downloads, reorganize the files, set download priorities, and view the download status (which is a really impressive feature). For more information about what Bit Torrents are and how to use them please visit these sites:
Bit Torrent FAQ
What's so great about Bit Torrent's?
Azerues Bit Torrent Client

[Listening to: Raindrop prelude - Chopin - (06:09)]

XBMC v 1.0.0 Final Images

2004-06-30T03:23:00.000-04:00

I have posted a site with plenty of XBMC (Xbox Media Center) Images that I took earlier today. XBMC v.1.0.0 Final was released June 29th. For more information about XBMC see this site.

Check out the Images HERE! Beware that the Images are pretty large and all thrown together into a single page. So be prepared for a +1mb page.

2004-06-30T02:50:00.000-04:00

Your Xbox does not require a router!

2004-06-28T01:07:00.000-04:00

Despite what lots of people say, you don't need to go out and buy a router to communicate with the Xbox. People tend to forget that you are able to use a Cat5 Cable to network devices such as the Xbox.
For those of you not familiar with Cat5 cables, they are basically the same as your normal ethernet cables, only the wires are mixed up in a different order. If you have the supplies to create your own ethernet cables (like me ) you can make a Cat5 cable. just follow the directions listed in this link.

For those of you that don't have access to a home networking kit, you can buy Cat5 cables at most electronic stores. Below are some links to online stores that carry them. I suggest Newegg.com, they are inexpensive and have very fast shipping.

Radioshack
Circuit City Kit
New Egg

Be sure to check out the other Newegg Cat5 cables, they sell it in a variety of lengths and all are great deals.

By purchasing a Cat5 cable for 3 bucks, you save yourself at least 20 dollars by not purchasing a router. It also helps save space, and doesn't require a power outlet. But I do still suggest that if you ever think that you will ever want a router, go ahead and buy a cheap router from Netgear of Linksys. Routers are great hardware firewalls and come in handy in the long run.

Xbox N64 Emulator Tutorial

2004-06-27T17:59:00.000-04:00

I posted a tutorial in the Ozxodous Forums today, and thought that a copy of it would be fitting in here. To check out what the posting is all about check out the forum thread here.
For those too lazy to click on the link, below is a guide to getting the xbox program Surreal64 to recognize ROMs.
___________________________________________________________________

For a while I had the same problem as everyone else in this forum. My ROMs wouldn't show up in the game list when using the Surreal64_V1.0 Emulator. But after an hour of fiddling around, I found the answer to why the ROMs weren't being listed. So here is a guide for you guys to follow, hopefully it will get at least a couple of your ROMs to work.

First...
I am assuming that you have already downloaded Surreal64_V1.0 and installed it in the proper directory. So if you don't have Surreal running on your Xbox, look somewhere else for that tutorial. I'm going to walk through this in 2 main steps, the first is editing the config file. If you have already done that, skip to the second step.

So, open up the Surreal configuration file...
Set the Rom path to whatever you want it to be. I'll use mine as an example: Rom Path=F:\Apps\Emulators\Surreal64_V1.0\roms Make sure that the media path corresponds also
example: Media Path=F:\Apps\Emulators\Surreal64_V1.0\Media Then open up the ultra config file, scroll down to where they have the rompath command and fill in the same location so...
example: rompath=F:\Apps\Emulators\Surreal64_V1.0\romsand that's it for editing the config files.

Next I'm going to cover the big problem.
When you download/create a rom for a N64 game you need to name the file so that Surreal64 can recognize it. If the name is not exactly what Surreal is looking for it will not recognize the file. This is the big problem that needs to be fixed. And here's how you can fix it.
Figure out what games/rom you have, for example lets use the game Wipeout 64. You know that you have the ROM for this game, but it's not showing up in Surreal. So open up the 1964 config file with notepad and go to the Edit tab, then select Find.... Type in Wipeout then click on find. You will find two paragraphs using the word Wipeout. The second paragraph should look something like this...

[132D2732-C70E9118-C:45]
Game Name=Wipeout 64
Comments=Playable!
Alternate Title=Wipeout 64 (U) [!]
EEPROM Size=1

This bit of info is very important. If your ROM file is named "Wipeout 64" and it isn't running, try renaming it to "Wipeout 64 (U) [!]". Sometimes it will recognize the normal game name, and other times it will accept the alternative title. It's all a matter of trying out different titles for the ROMs. You can also try using the Surreal64 config file. The search results for Wipeout 64 using the Surreal64 config file should look like this...

[132D2732-C70E9118-C:45]
Game Name=Wipeout 64
Alternate Title=Wipeout 64 (U) [!]
Comments=

After you have renamed some of your files, transfer the roms to the rom folder listed earlier in the tutorial. Then load up Surreal64 on your Xbox.
Make Sure that you click on the REFRESH ICON on the lower right hand side of the screen, this will relist your files. It took me a while to figure that one out. If the file doesn't work try sticking it in a .zip folder. Placing games in a .zip will save you lots of space anyhows.

Below is an image of my games, to help you see what some of the titles are and what format they need to be (.n64 or .zip).

Okay, that's it for this tutorial, so I hope I have helped you out. If you get your ROMs working let me know. If not, good luck to ya.

[Listening to: Optimistic - Radiohead - (05:17)]