Archived News:
Aureal Semiconductor's David Gasior sent along an updated list of console commands for Sin now current
through the 1.03 patch.
John Carmack updated his .plan with a discussion of Quake III Arena Weapon balance, addressing
some of Thresh's comments about
the weapons. Here's the full Carmack update:
On the issue of railgun firing rates -- we played with it for a while at the
slower speed, but it has been put back to exactly Q2's rate of fire.
I do agree with Thresh that the way we had it initially (faster than Q2, but with the same
damage) made it an overpowered weapon in the hands of highly skilled players, which is
exactly what we should try to avoid.
An ideal game should give scores as close to directly proportional to the players reletive
skills as possible. The better player should win in almost all cases, but the game will be
more entertaining if the inferior players are not completely dominated.
Quake 1 had really bad characteristics that way -- Thresh can play extremely talented
players and often prevent them from scoring a single point. We wouldn't put up with a
conventional sport that commonly game scores of 20 to 1 in championship matches, and I
don't think we should encourage it in our games.
Eliminating health items is probably the clearest way to prevent blowout games, but that
has never been popular. Still, we should try to avoid weapon decisions that allow the
hyper-skilled to pull even farther away from the rest of the crowd. They will still win,
no matter what the weapons are, just not by as wide a margin.
A .plan update
by Mitch Shaw talks a bit more about TRIBES 2 (or II), as well as word that the tool
release will be soon, including the release of the mission editor and ZED, the interior
editor. Also, Tim Gift's .plan has more on what's upcoming, including word on what's
in store for version 1.4 as well as a 1.3.x beta:
Patch 1.3 is out. Dave Moore posts an update on OpenGL in his plan. We've
received a lot of feedback over the last few days :) Some of which has has led to
significant improvements in the performance of our driver. OpenGL is starting to look much
better. Soon as Dave get's it all sorted out, we'll release a 1.3.x beta for more
feedback.
We are starting to QA our tool patch today, this will probably be included in one of the
upcoming betas as well. Eventually there will be a Tribes 1.4 release, though I don't see
any major features being added at this point. There are a lot of ideas bouncing around for
TRIBES, but after 1.4 we'll have to see how many of those we want to implement. At some
point we'll move into more of a support role, fixing and addressing issues as they occur,
but mainly shifting our focus on to the next TRIBES product.
Some of the other issues still being thought about:
- Australian master server
- Expanding our dedicated server base
- Dedicated server stability
- Scripting/Mod documentation
- Better support for mod writers
- Better support for dedicated server operators
- Linux port - Patch/Update process improvements
- A number of improvements to the web site
A lot of it comes down to better community support. Comments? Feedback? I can't always
answer every email that comes in, but ideas are always welcome.
Tim's email is tim.gift@dynamix.com.
Something New to Do With Voodoo
2 is an article on GameCenter giving some new
tips on how to tweak some of your V2's settings, including settings to increase image
quality, all the way through the possible benefits of underclocking (that's right, under).
Dynamix' Dave Moore updated his .plan with what he's working on for TRIBES currently, with an
update on the status of the OpenGL code, which, as he says, did not hold up the release of
the 1.3 patch (next story). Additionally, among the subjects covered in Dave Meddish's .plan, is a bit on TRIBES II:
As of now, the Tribes team is starting to ramp up for Tribes II (or
2--personally, I prefer the Roman numerals), deciding what we can cram in for the sequel.
We'll no doubt have some things that didn't make it in the first game, and some wondrous
new things as well.
The Starsiege TRIBES 1.3 patch is out on Sierra's
FTP site. Thanks Sixxo from Insomniax.net.
Here's a local copy of the
1.2-1.3 patch (475 KB), and a local copy of the 1.0-1.3 patch (639 KB). Here's a list of what's new
thanks to schnoz at Datumplane::Starsiege:
- PrefPlayerFOV can now be set to change the client's first person FOV.
- The server menu ban feature has been remove for voted admins, but is still available for
Super Admins.
- The Join Server List now stores off game type between sessions. This allows filters
based on game type to work when the client is first started without having to refresh the
servers.
- Beta OpenGL support for i740 and TNT cards.
- Memory management has changed slightly to help reduce the amount of swap space being
used by the client.
Deus Ex Incarnate
interviews Harvey 'Witchboy' Smith, design team leader at ION Storm for Warren
Spector's upcoming Unreal-engine action/RPG, Deus Ex.
Insomniax.net sends along the latest copy of their
InsomniaX mod for Starsiege TRIBES, version 0.6b. In addition to features in previous
versions, the new release adds a new backpack (a "Heat Sink" which removes the
heat signature from your Jet Pack), weapon (the IX-2000 Sniper Rifle which kills lights in
one head shot, and is restricted to five rounds without the aid of an ammo pack), and a
new Vehicle (the Firestorm Bomber, a modified scout with a Multiple warhead bomb
launcher). There is also a new map included with this release called IX_Frostbite,
described as a large CTF Map that requires a lot of teamwork to defend successfully. The zip of InsomniaX posted here
(225 KB), mirror courtesy of the courteous folks at Walnut
Creek CDROM, also includes InsomniaX Admin Enhancements v0.6b, an additional Mod for
running a TRIBES server with the InsomniaX Admin Options added (Anti-TK, Out of Bounds
Kill, and Public Admin Controls) with none of the items or gameplay changes.
Version 1.0 of WinGlide is up on Chris' WinGlide Page
(the 1.0 is not meant as a significant release, it's just the number after 0.99). This
version adds new capabilities to the Overlay WinGlide modes so that it can use the ET6000
chipset and the PERMEDIA 2 chipset. WinGlide allows 3D in a window using a Voodoo
accelerator.
The Werewolf The
Apocalypse site has been updated again on the occasion of the full moon, with more on
their upcoming Unreal-engine werewolf ("there wolf!") game, adding part four to
the The Heart of
Gaia prequel story, two
new screenshots, the fourth Travis Rants,
talking about character development, and a new BBS where you can rant back.
Arcadia - Interviews
T.Elliot Cannon, talking to Epic Games' own Myscha the sled dog in a conversation that
starts up front with Myscha's warning that "these replies contain profanity."
Rage In A Cage: MechWarrior
3 is an interview on Next-Generation Online
with Zipper Interactive's Vice President of Technology/co-founder, Brian Soderberg, and
company President/CEO, Jim Bosler with all the skinny on the upcoming installment in the
MW series. The piece details the game's enhancements since MWII, and offers a page with
" tons of shots."
Tweak3D's Quake II
Autoexec Creator and Tweak3D's Sin Autoexec
Creator have both been updated with new commands, better explanations, and code
changes learned from updating the Half-Life version.
deConstruct has an updated release of
their BeerDM mod for Quake II, adding a beercan shooting grenade launcher to this mod that
replaces your health with beer. At 100 health you're totally drunk and have a swimming view,
at 1 health, you are cold sober and have the normal view. Definitely one that justifies
wearing the Homer Simpson skin.
The QuakeMovie page has a classic Quake mod
called Saturn Quake that allows you to play as Sailor Saturn, described as a must-have for
Sailor Moon fans. Includes a chasecam mod so you can see your sailor self in single-player
play.
The Sloshy Software Inc. page has a new version
2.34 of the QuickStart Eraser Bot Wizard. The new release of this front-end that allows
control over every Eraser bot option offers a bunch of fixes for various problems.
This md2 viewer is an OpenGL model
viewer from chUmbaLum sOft that can view models in
Quake II's .md2 format.
GA-Source's
Mini-Interview With Joe Lau of Hercules talks about the current happenings in the
graphic accelerator market.
Eric
Biessman's .plan has details of how to apply for an opening at Raven Software for a designer. The Want Ads are going to become
automated, and aren't very up to date, but I added this to the Help Offered Paid section.
More praise for GamesCon, this time in a debriefing in Pat "CodeKing" Lipo's .plan, he mentions the lounge singer
mpeg I said I may post... the video turned out too dark, but maybe I'll excerpt a bit in
an .mp3. Hmm, would I need his permission to do that? I want to throw out one of my
occasional heartfelt thank yous to Wouter 'JinXter' Teeninga, who diligently corrects
every typo I make (which can add up), right down to double spaces between words (and
English is his second language, no less). Thanks JinXter, I don't know how you do it.
Link of the Day: CNET News.com - Windows may crash
after 49.7 days (thanks Ant) which says that if
you can get Windows to run for 49.7 consecutive days without rebooting, it is possible
that it will crash on its own. This seems like warning people that if they flap their arms
fast enough to leave the atmosphere, they will suffocate, but Microsoft has nonetheless
posted a patch for affected users. No word on whether anyone has downloaded it yet.
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