Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

The color is too washed, though. Wonder if it could be restored using Photoshop.

Can't really restore actual color detail that's been lost, but you can approximate it and get a visually nice result.
Here, maybe this looks better:

VileRancour wrote:

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

The color is too washed, though. Wonder if it could be restored using Photoshop.

Can't really restore actual color detail that's been lost, but you can approximate it and get a visually nice result.
Here, maybe this looks better:

Not bad, not bad at all. Thanks! How did you do it, by the way? My Photoshop-Fu is kinda weak (beginner level).

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

Not bad, not bad at all. Thanks! How did you do it, by the way? My Photoshop-Fu is kinda weak (beginner level).

There's all sorts of stuff under Image -> Adjustments that helps. Auto levels/auto contrast can do a nice initial adjustment, then with Curves you can calibrate the input/output levels more precisely, for example to make a washed-out grey come out as black (and you can do this per color channel, if needed).

I typically just go into "levels" and set the black and white points for the image. Many half-decent image editors have this capability. I use GIMP.

Make sure you scan to a lossless format (ie PNG). You don't want to use JPEG until the end, and even then make sure you crank the quality quite high. JPEG is very lossy, particularly with reds.

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

Anyway, allow me to show you some of my self-printed game manuals...

Admirable! How many of these have you put together? Spiral bound is such a good format for those thick technical manuals that used to come with advanced flight sims and other war simulators. You must have your own 'spiral binder' to make this come together so well.

EDIT: I just checked to see if I had the box for TAW - unfortunately not or I'd scan it at work. I have boxed copies of F-22 ADF and the Rd Sea Ops add-on, but only a jewelcase and docs for TAW...]

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

My jolly good fellow, if they're easy to find, why bother preserving them?

Indeed! 😀

Apologies if my questions appear a little dense; I definitely have ideas of my own about why things need to be preserved, but I can't make any assumptions. That's why I want to do one on one interviews if at all possible! I have loads of questions to ask.

But I digress; that is a very good reason to preserve something. Would you mind getting into more detail about why you preserve them?

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

if they're easy to find, why bother preserving them? 😉

Steam and Origin games are easy to find but if the economy gets any worse and something happens to those services the games will just evaporate. I say preserve anything you can.

SKARDAVNELNATE wrote:

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

if they're easy to find, why bother preserving them? 😉

Steam and Origin games are easy to find but if the economy gets any worse and something happens to those services the games will just evaporate. I say preserve anything you can.

And this is the big weakness of game publishers going digital download only. If the download service ceases to exist, then your games will no longer be able to phone home for security verification which means they won't run anymore even in offline mode or if your installation is damaged or you want run your games that you paid for on a new computer, you won't be able to re-download them anymore. They could also automatically push updates to your system that break the game's compatibility with your hardware so now you have a broken installation on your system that can't be rolled back to the last version that still worked because the next time you boot up it will just update to the broken version again.

Ideally publishers release a No DRM patch towards the end of a game's life cycle to prevent it's complete demise. More commonly they issue a patch eliminating the need to be online to play - in an effort to keep interest up and goose end cycle sales by attracting the tier of players reluctant to purchase games with overly intrusive DRM. What the ultimate fate is for these types of games only time will tell, but until then, patches, hacks and workarounds will be essential from a preservation aspect regardless.

tincup wrote:

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

Anyway, allow me to show you some of my self-printed game manuals...

Admirable!

Thanks! 😀

tincup wrote:

How many of these have you put together?

Not sure, probably more than twenty. Like I said, there was a time in my life where I was so obsessed with printing and ring-binding game manuals! 😁

tincup wrote:

Spiral bound is such a good format for those thick technical manuals that used to come with advanced flight sims and other war simulators.

Indeed, especially when we need to actually study the manual (as opposed as casual reading) to play the game. Paperback manuals tend to deteriorate as you read them, and I really hate to see my manuals go bad. On the other hand, scanning paperback manuals deteriorates them as well. As such, I always look for already-scanned manuals on replacementdocs.com or other sites.

There are times when I have no choice, of course. For example, quick reference cards are rarely found on replacementdocs and similar sites, so I have to scan them myself. Fortunately, quick reference cards do not deteriorate as easily as paperbacks books after you scan them. Also, manuals are just unavailable for certain games like D.R.A.G.O.N Force, that's why I would have to scan my own manual. Fortunately, D.R.A.G.O.N Force manual is stapler-bound instead of paperback, so scanning it wouldn't damage it too much.

Also, I previously liked to bind supplemental documentations (quick reference cards, technical supplements, maps, etc) separately from the manual itself. Well, not anymore, because those supplemental documentations tend to be lost that way. These days, I bind them all together: manual, quick reference card, technical supplement, and even map in one binding! It is actually more difficult because certain supplemental documents like map and quick reference card often have difference sizes with the manual itself, so I often do size-matching when printing.

Of course, sometimes size-matching isn't just feasible because certain documents will be too small to read when size-matched with the manual. For such materials, I usually have them folded-in so they would fit the same binding with the manuals. I mean, take a look at the Falcon 3.0 quick reference card in the photo.

My self-printed Falcon 3.0 manual has folded-in keyboard reference card.

tincup wrote:

You must have your own 'spiral binder' to make this come together so well.

Not really. Photocopy and binding services are quite cheap here in Indonesia, so I just give them my already-printed manuals with meticulous instruction so that the manuals will be bound properly.

tincup wrote:

EDIT: I just checked to see if I had the box for TAW - unfortunately not or I'd scan it at work. I have boxed copies of F-22 ADF and the Rd Sea Ops add-on, but only a jewelcase and docs for TAW...]

That's alright, and thanks.