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- CTF Beta II
The second beta for the Custom Capture the Flag patch is scheduled to be
released on Sunday evening. The beta client patch will be available on CTF's home, Threewave, and here. What's new from the first beta
(from Threewave):
The Beta2 will include...
An Entirely New Level by DaBug.
All New Bases and More Health in DySpHoRiA.
No Hallway Struts, and Better Secrets in McKinley Base.
No Rocket Launchers or Crossbeams in the Bases of the Kiln.
As well as Various Fixes and Modifications, custom tailored to enhance your enjoyment.
11/15:
thanks to Steve Otteson for today's "Cool German word of the day":
Shutzfehlerverletzung - General Protection Fault
With a follow-up from our expert, BiTBUSTER
of Die Fette Faust (that's right, long time readers might remember that this isn't the
first time a German translation has been argued about here at Blue's):
it's not called "Shutzfehlerverletzung" but
"Schutzfehlerverletzung!" ;)
- New Thred Monday
Jim Lowell tells me we can expect a
new version of Jon Mavor's anti-bacterial Quake Editor, Thred, on Monday.
- Ooooh sCary Part II
sCary's is now able, once again, to update the Quakeholio
(but is headed out of town)... Redwood told me
his server was down (conspiracy anyone?), but by the time I checked it was up again
(though Sean sounds a little dubious that it'll stay that way).
- Equal Time in Hawaii
It's true the Volcano Gods were the first Clan in Hawaii, but not the only
one. A bunch of Interpac (I'm told the only two full-time servers in Hawaii are on the
Interpac domain) users formed another Hawaii-based clan, Clan Ajax. Thanks to James (Captain Happy) for setting me straight.
- Fine
I got my apology. Let's consider the matter dropped. I'll be cooled off in a while. If
you're not sure what I'm talking about read this.
- Mail Lag
Unrelated to being mailbombed (which ended shortly after it began on
Wednesday night), my mail has been severely lagged for the last 12 hours or so. I'm told
it was due to a highly CPU-intensive process that was running on the host here (which has
since been killed). I'm still receiving messages from last night, so if you are expecting
a response from a recent mail, hang in there.
- WorldCraft University Curriculum
Oh, yeah, Quake stuff... Got word from USteppin
(Glen Kabis), that the second "semester" of WorldCraft University (IRC-based
lessons in Ben Morris' dolphin-safe Quake Editor) has been scheduled:
When: November 16 - 10:00 PM - Eastern
Where: Undernet IRC - #Worldcraft
The topic for this week is ENTITY and ENTITY PLACEMENT.
They are no longer distributing the "package," because that info is now
available on the WorldCraft University Homepage.
Also be sure to read the WorldCraft
FAQ.
- Challenge?
Oh boy, am I pissed. A webmaster has posted a challenge to me and sCary on
his site (no, I won't post the URL, that's exactly what he wants). I know sCary's pissed
too, but he's having trouble updating the Quakeholio
at the moment to tell you about it (amazing, considering he's an official internet sysop).
Based on the remarkably unethical way in which it was implemented I will by no means
accept this challenge... The challenger never contacted me, but I was mailbombed
yesterday! The full story is in editorial (yep,
that''s right I ranted for the first time in two months).
- LAN-a-palooza III
If you happen to be swimming past Honolulu, Hawaii this Saturday, you
might want to dry off and look up the Volcano
Gods, Hawaii's best (onliest?) Quake clan, since their having their 3rd net party, LAN-a-palooza III. Contact [VG]Bluesman (look at that domain: lava.net -- ROFL) for
more info.
- DC Fragfest
There's a big net party in the Washington DC area, November 22-24. They
say they "have room for literally tons of people." For more info, check out DC-Con.
- Lag City
Couple of funny additions to the High Ping Bastards' Homepage, Lag City: Top ten annoying
things Quake players do on servers, and Clans that didn't make it.
- Yet More Games That Aren't Quake
Another 3D first person shooter, the ZPC Demo for PC has been
released. This game contains artwork by Brute, the artist behind KMFDM's cover art, and
music by Paul Barker of Ministry. Thanks SiN13 - [Dark
Messiah]
- CTF Overload
Not terribly surprisingly, there is a huge crush of people trying to get
on the server running the beta of the new Capture The Flag patch (see story). Zoid has informed me that there are now several servers
running the patch to try and fill the need:
204.191.124.66
204.191.124.67
204.191.124.57
206.126.33.31
194.72.76.229
204.210.192.115
129.120.44.101
192.139.199.52
141.211.30.118
205.246.42.31
- Slipgate Central
Now it can be revealed. As you should be aware, Joost Schuur, originator of one of the finest
Quake sites on the 'net, the late, lamented Aftershock, has been working on a new project
(which he has been very tight-lipped about). He has seen fit to finally reveal his master
plan, which is to create a listing for Quake sites, with ratings, descriptions and a
search engine. It very much fulfills its ambition of being the Yahoo of Quake. I am quite
sure that after this site is opened (currently scheduled for "late November") it
will quickly become an essential bookmark for every Quake player. There is a little teaser for the new site posted, just to
whet your appetites...
- New Reactor Windows Drivers
Thanks to Randy Perry for pointing
the way to a set of updated Windows drivers for the Reactor that have been posted on Intergraph's website. These
apparently are not the drivers that provide enhanced 2D acceleration, but they do fix the
color cursor problem, as well as add a few resolutions.
- CTF Beta Test
Thank you to Dave "Zoid"
Kirsch, originator of the now legendary Capture the Flag mod, sends word that the
eagerly awaited update to CTF that includes the client-side patch will be issued for a
beta test sceduled for this evening:
BETA TEST TONIGHT!
I'll running a beta test of the new custom ThreeWave stuff
tonight at 7PM EST on quake2.threewave.com. The new BETA pak will be available here for download. The beta test will be
up for at least tonight and possibly tomorrow. The test includes the new skins, models,
sounds and three new levels (McKinley Base, The Kiln and DySpHoRiA).
The BETA pak file will be made available here shortly after 6PM EST. The
server will be switched to using the new levels at 7PM. The download is expected to be a
1.5MB ZIP file.
I'm looking forward to this people. Custom CTF will rock!
- Cash's .plan
Don Petersen (thanks Don) points
out that John Cash updated his .plan with what he's been up to, as well as to plug a
couple of web pages:
11/13:
still alive, working on Quake2
if you're using winded for servers, check out qhost/qview at
http://wasatchfault.com
speaking of cool stuff, check out the Quake Comics at
http://www.webframes.com/quakecomics/
- New Tournament(s)
Clan Ash is gearing up to run
tournaments (they will not participate, except to organize them). One of the events
they're planning is a new kind of competition they call the Ironman Tournament,
which has nothing to do with ][ronMan's
Server Listing, but rather is some sort of "last man standing" deal.
From earlier today: Check out Descent
to Undermountain a first-person fantasy game using the Descent engine (due first
Quarter of '97). Also, the interactive demo
for SkyNET, the Terminator
3D shooter, is available on the PC Release List.
Thanks for those items to Bill Mull (Phoebus) of (Crazed & Quakin) and Buke (of Kwiart's Korner)
respectively.
- Definitive Quake Server List
In a story familiar to readers of this very WebRag, SkyLord's awesome Definitive Server List is having DNS
problems. If you can't reach the site, try this URL instead:
http://206.40.48.68/quake/servers.html
While you're there, check out their player search page... I don't think I mentioned it
when it was implemented (so much news, so little time), but in addition to supporting
wildcards, their player search function can also find multiple players. Pretty stinkin'
cool. Never one to sit on his laurels (or anyone else's for that matter), Sky says to look
for a major revamp in the coming weeks.
- Hipnotic Beta Party Postponed
The event to show off the beta of Hipnotic's upcoming Quake add-on pack,
tentatively titled The Rift, has been postponed. I just received the following
announcement from Mark over at Hipnotic:
After long discussion with Microsoft, Hipnotic Beta
Party 86'ed, nix'd, flushed, terminated, gibbed etc.
It is true that we announced the party 2 days ago and are now
canceling it, but it is for a great reason. We have been working on some new technology
for Quake for the past month and were quite unsure whether or not we would be able to pull
it off. Well that time has paid off, and the technology works! Now, we have to go back and
add it to all the levels. Needless to say, we don't have enough time between now and
Saturday to complete that work. Without this feature, our level pack would have been
great, but with it, the pack will be awesome. Thank you to everyone who responded and was
willing to help our cause. We have your email addresses and will contact you when we are
ready ... again.
- Aftershock CD
I have received many questions from readers concerned about the legitimacy
of the Aftershock Quake add-on CD currently available in stores. Specifically many are
asking about the included editor, listed on the box as the "Aftershock Quake
Editor," but quite obviously Jon Mayor's Quake editor Thred. I wrote to knower of all knowable
Thred-related information, Jim Lowell, who responded
that the deal was in fact legit:
Yeah, they licensed it. It should have said Thred on the box,
but the publisher (in his infinite wisdom) thought that it would be better to call it the
Aftershock Quake Editor. It's the v0.6b version of Thred with my tutorial for
documentation. The publisher did pay Jon both up-front money and royalties for it, and we
used it to make all of the new single-play maps on the CD. The whole deal is completely
legit.
- Worms TC
There is a beta of the Worms Quake Total Conversion (still
looking for a new name) available on the Worms TC page. (Thanks to the author,
sadman for letting me know.) This
turn-based game is as unusual sounding as any Quake project as I've heard of...
- Equal Time for BSP
Steve "Dipper" Towle
points out (since I mentioned the Ben Morris
Interview) that there's an interview with Yahn Bermier, creator of the famed
flourocarbon-free Quake editor, BSP, on Quake
Level Editing News (check out the names for the interview's two sections--wild stuff,
huh?). Steve also notes that his site, Putz, has undergone the patented
Blue makeover (including the ole spinning globe).
- WorldCraft FAQ
I get word from Chris Bokitch
(-Autolycus-) that he's putting together an HTML WorldCraft FAQ, which is already
starting to come together nicely. No word on whether it's the "official" FAQ
yet...
- Terminator Updated
There's a new version of Olivier
Montanuy's cool client-side bot the Terminator. Client-side means that unlike QuakeC
bots like the reaper, this bot doesn't need to be run off the server. It just logs into
the game like an ordinary player. Here's the Terminator Bot Version 0.9.
What's new:
Changes since version 0.8
Not much, mostly bug fixes. The bug that plagged the
Unix/Linux/WindozeNT version seems dead. You can now customise the name and color of
the bot, and in automatic mode, the bot will try to reconnect every minute (in case the
server goes down).
Thanks to Joe E. Powell for sending the word
(yep he does stuff other than code QSpy... I even played him in QuakeWorld the other
day!!).
- War is Declared
A certain biz dude at a certain software company who shall remain nameless
(Mike Wilson at id Software), has suggested that a certain arist, who will also receive
anonymity (Adrian (no relation) Carmack) would
really enjoy receiving some email from everyone in earshot. (Apparently Adrian
was responsible for Tim Willits' suggestion yesterday that Mike deserved congratulatory
mail about the Cowboys). This is a family show, so I can't go into explicit detail about
the types of binary attachments Mike suggests, but the word explicit should help (Mike
also used the word wrong in an amusing context...). Just thought I'd pass that
along (/whistles innocently...). He said you can tell him Mikey sent ya.
- Hipnotic
Thank you Ryan Egginton for
pointing out that there are screenshots of The Rift, Hipnotic's upcoming Quake
Add-on on the Hipnotic Homepage, which I now see is
also the source of the public invitation to their beta party (I was kinda wondering why it
wasn't sent here, and that's why...):
Attention Quakers,
As many of you know we have been working fast and furiously
on our Quake expansion pack tentatively entitled "The Rift." We think the pack
kicks ass, but we want to get some unbiased opinions. So here's the deal:
The Rift Beta Party
Hipnotic Interactive Inc. Headquarters, Dallas, TX.
Saturday November 16, 1996.
3:00PM till we throw you out.
Only the 24 most worthy Quakers may attend.
If you are interested in attending this shindig, send us
email at betaparty@hipnotic.com. We only have
room for 24 people (we wish we could invite everyone), so you need to show us why you
would be a good beta tester and how you plan to be in Dallas by Saturday (We want to make
sure you show up). Please send all requests by Wednesday, November 13.
The Hipnotic guys were also nice enough to extend an invitation to ole Blue here, and
I'm busy trying to see if I can make that happen (the fabulous Bluejet is in for repairs
at the moment, complicating travel arrangements...). I'll let you know what happens there.
- Reaper 0.8 This Weekend
Kris Bowen, one of the proprieters of QHQ informs me that there's exclusive info about version 0.8 of everybody's
favorite bot, The Reaper. The new version is expected sometime this weekend...
- Quest 1.093 Virus
There was a virus in the new version of the popular DOS-based Quake editor
released earlier today. Version 1.093 fixed problems some users had with SVGA modes in
1.092, but was also inadvertantly contaminated. More details on the Quest Homepage. Thanks to Paul Hoskinson for passing along news of the
new release, and dakiller of Frag.com for word on the virus.
- No NiN in Quake II
Someone recently asked me a question that I hadn't heard asked before
(much less answered); whether Trent Reznor was doing any of the sounds or music for Quake
II. For the answer I went to someone who should know, American McGee, who was nice enough
to send back a response:
No, he will not be doing anything for the Quake II project.
He is way too busy working on his new album, not to mention a couple of other projects.
- Oh Yeah...
More equal time... spanning the globe in search of clan info... don't
forget the Nordic Clan Newspage.
- Cowboys Fan? Gag...
I see on sCary's
'leetassframedpage that Tim Willits updated his plan with a new scheme to get a
co-worker mailbombed:
Wow, what a game last night! The Cowboys stomped all over the
49s. Our very own Mike Wilson is a huge Cowboys fan. I know he would love to hear from all
his fellow Cowboys fans. Drop him an e-mail (mikew@idsoftware.com)
and congratulate him on his team's huge victory!!
Hell, I'm a Giants fan, and where we come from the kind of mailbombing Cowboys' fans
get is the Unabomber special (for the humor-impared, just kidding, I only advocate virtual
violence)...
- WorldCraft University Home Page
The first "classes" on IRC for Ben Morris' popular Quake editor
were a success, and the effort has given birth to a homepage, where info about the project and
a text file of lesson one is available. The "faculty" even liked my name for the
project (WorldCraft University) so much that they're calling it that. That's it: I want
10% of everyone's tuition 
- UK Clan Council
Equal time for the UK Clan Council (after mentioning the North American
War Council earlier). The UK Clan
Council Automated pages are now up and running, so any UK Clan wishing to join should
go check it out. (Warning - heavy Javascript zone: Requires Netscape 2.0+ or IE3.0 to
run.)
- Quake Wins
But you knew that already, right? Yup, the results of the
Quake v. Duke vote on CNET's Gamecenter are in,
and the inevitable happened, Quake wins by a 2:1 margin. Thanks to Randy Perry for letting me know.
- Death in Texas
The 'Tards are trying to organize a carnival of carnage in Texas
(Houston), and are polling players to gauge the interest level. Read here for further info.
- North American War Council
Embrionic Pete dropped a line to
let everyone know that the North American War
Council Page is up and running. The page centers around clan activities, and will show
matches, results and clan news. They plan on keeping stats on clans, as well as what
channels they hang out on, and what servers they match on. As Pete points out, this is an
attempt to bring the community closer. Also, it will be the Hub for #war_council (efnet)
and Clan Senate (found on the ClanRing
Site).
- American McGee Interview
There's an interview with American
in hope and vaseline: an online magazine about
nine inch nails in which he describes working with Trent Reznor and being the proud
papa of the nail-gun. Thanks to Tokay himself for letting me know. The people who put
together that article obviously have good taste, interviewing American, linking a certain
news page, and one of the two clans they mention are my bros, the fabled(?) Brothers
Gib... (Hey to the Amish, BTW).
- WorldCraft University II
Got word from USteppin that he and
four of his fellow denizens from UnderNet IRC, firenze, JAR, alex1, and DR_Destruc are
going to be holding a WorldCraft Class tonight. They plan on having these `classes` daily,
starting from the basics, and advancing from there.
Date: November 10
Time: 11:00 PM Eastern Time
Place: #WorldCraft, UnderNet IRC
They're also looking for WC `experts` to help out, so if you're interested and
qualified email USteppin. If you are unable to make
it to the channel live, but are interested, then email USteppin for "the
package" which includes:
.Logs
.Maps (if any)
.Txt (of something)
Like a correspondence course...
- Void in Motion
Check out the new location of the
Void, one of the seminal Quake pages (I can hear those dictionaries flapping...). The
move should allow for local files, more frequent updates, and all sorts of good stuff.
- Contest Update
Lots of entries already, some great, some not so great, and some...
interesting. Two things I should clarify. One is that the first entry with an idea is the
winner (in case of multiple entries with the same idea), and yes, you can send as many
enries as you want. Read the rules here. Just one
more reminder, sCary's demo contest ends today.
- Um, Trigonometry?
Email Billy Zelsnack with ideas
for a new name for the editor previously known as Geometry. Apparenty someone else owns
the Geometry trademark...
- Not Out of Town
Change in plans. I thought I'd be on the road all day, but it turned out
to be a false alarm.
- QuakeWorld
It's a little slow, so I thought I'd take a break from dropping water
balloons from the window (Bluesnews-room is on the 111th story of the fabulous Blue Tower)
and give a little QuakeWorld beta progress report.
Since my last QuakeWorld report I've received a new beta of the client, as well as a
couple of beta releases of the front end. The new front end is just what you'd expect from
the people that brought you QSpy; very slick and feature rich, it works like a charm.
QuakeWorld will be a snap to use (the front end can also be used to find non-QW servers,
it's a QuakeWorld-enabled QSpy). The exciting news is the further improvements to the new
client. All of the smoothness of the prior releases remains, but no more of that annoying
feeling that objects in the QuakeWorld environment were less tangible (mushy). There are
two servers running at the moment, and for the first time, I got into a game on the second
one (which I had avoided because it's ping was twice the other one's), and was I really
impressed. At no time did my ping get below 400, yet I found the game smooth and
playable throughout, better than any normal game of net Quake I've ever played.
There seems to be a bit of a problem with dropped frames during hairy firefights (very
oddly I found this a bigger problem on the server where I had the lower ping), but I'm
told that John Carmack is aware of it, and working on it.
Warning: Since I've raved about QuakeWorld's smoothness here, I have to stress once
again, that it has been stated that if you've got a really crappy service provider, then
QuakeWorld is not going to help you much. My results are pretty dramatic, but I've always
gotten a smoother connection than 90% of the 28.8 users out there. Your milage may vary.
- D'oh!
I keep meaning to mention that id has fixed up their email support pages, long
delayed by contractual details.
- Contest
Okay, here's the deal: It's the Make a Contest Contest.
Send me your ideas for a cool contest.
The winning entry will be my next contest.
Hints for winning:
- Suggest a contest that's easy to judge (no viewing demos, maps, etc.).
- It should be worth a SpaceOrb (cause that's the prize for both contests).
Here are the rules:
- All entries must be sent to contest@bluesnews.com.
- All entries must be received before 11:59 pm EST Saturday
November 16, 1996.
- Winning entrant wins a SpaceOrb 360
Controller courtesy of SpaceTec.
- Decision of the judges (me) is final.
While I'm on the subject of contests, sCary's
demo contest ends tomorrow (talk
about viewing demos... I don't know how he does it). Also, remember, Redwood is having a logo contest for you artistic
types.
Quake and the
stylized "Q" are trademarks of id Software, used with
their kind permission
All rights reserved. Copyright © 1996 by Stephen Heaslip |