Archived News:
Shane "Fishman" Sherman sends word that WorldCraft 2.1 is out, and
available for download over at GameDesign.net. You'll note that this version is only for Half-Life.
Here's a list of changes in the new version:
- Fixed crash when selecting large entities (the TFC entities for example)
after placing them in the map.
- Moved registry keys to be independent of Worldcraft 1.6, so now 2.1 can
coexist with 1.6.
- Added a new mouselook navigation system. Press 'z' to toggle it on/off.
ASDW keys work like in Half-Life. This system can be disabled from the 3D
options page and everything should work the old way.
- Streamlined memory allocation to be more economical.
- Fixed a crash when an entity in the game data file had a type "flags"
or "choices" variable and another variable of the same name but
with a different type. The only way to test this would be to add this error
to the FGD file.
- Added an autoupdate utility so that Worldcraft can be updated over the
internet.
- The old lights.rad has been renamed valve.rad. The new lights.rad contains
only one entry (for +0~WHITE). If you want the old lights.rad file, copy valve.rad
over light.rad.
He also points out a few caveats: this is a full install (so it's a beefy 8 meg download) and it'll overwrite your CmdSeq.wc, so back that up if you're installing on top of an older version (if you make Half-Life levels, that makes sense, i'm sure).
The QuakeCon homepage was updated with the news that the registration (originally scheduled for tonight) has been pushed back to next friday at 9:00 EST, due to hardware issues with the registration server.
Sony Loses First Round to Bleem is a GameSpot article announcing
that Sony was not awarded a restraining order this afternoon to hold back distribution of the upcoming Bleem PlayStation emulator ( previous story). Thanks Davos.
There is an English-language version of GameStone's
interview with Wesley Davis (the site is Russian), a conversation about Project V1,
Digital Platoon's upcoming Unreal-engine game. The piece is illustrated with a few new
screenshots.
2015's Tom Kudirka sends word that he's updated
his .plan with word of a day versus night trick you can try while playing their Sin add-on, Wages of Sin:
For those of you that didn't know this, a big part of the plot in Wages of Sin
changes depending on what YOU do. You will visit levels at different times of the day and
in a different order. You will see different cinematics, even the location of where the
hostage is held changes.
If you KILL Dr. Lansing, or leave the room before he gets a chance to talk to you (or if
you never find him) the order of levels is as follows:
- Warehouses will be visited in the daytime
- Shipyards will be visited in the daytime
- Ship will be visited in the daytime
- Nightclub will be visited at night
- Vacant Building will be visited at night
If you listen to Dr Lansing, the order of levels is as follows:
- Nightclub will be visited during the day
- Vacant Building will be visited during the day
- Warehouses will be visited at night
- Shipyards will be visited at night
- Ship will be visited at night
Whether you visit a location during the day or night will actually change the gameplay.
For instance visiting the Shipyards at night makes for a stealthier mission since there
are fewer workers at night than in the day, whereas visiting the Shipyards in the day
requires you to keep your gun holstered in order to prevent the workers from freaking out.
Check it out!
Ear On Games, the "game audio
reference," has an interview
up with Lee Jackson, the sound designer for Duke Nukem Forever, talking about his work
on the audio from 3D Realms' upcoming Unreal-engine game.
With Half-Life's emphasis on its story, which was written by noted cyber-punk author Marc Laidlaw, it's little surprise it has inspired others to take up the characters involved in the incident at the Black Mesa facility for stories of their own. In that vein,
there are four new stories posted on Twisted
Half-Life, three about Half-Life and one TeamFortress2 story (one, The Chaotic
Factor, is a nine chapter work in progress that has earned a 10/10 rating from their
crack staff). They are now ready to accept and distribute other story submissions.
Games Domain
Review's Slave Zero Interview offers a conversation with Accolade's Matt Powers talking about their upcoming
Slave Zero discussing the gameplay, game's "ecstasy engine," and its
development. Thanks Billy at Voodoo Extreme.
Business News from Wired News is reporting that Sony Computer Entertainment will appear in a San Francisco courtroom this afternoon attempting to obtain injunctions against two software companies: First they are seeking a preliminary injunction preventing Connectix from selling the Virtual Game Station for Apple Power Mac G3 that emulates a PlayStation (on March 11, Sony was awarded a temporary order "preventing Connectix from using a specific piece of software to develop a Windows version of the emulator"). Second, in a separate action, Sony will try to get a temporary restraining order this afternoon against Bleem
that would prevent the release of the Bleem emulator (this Tuesday, Sony filed a lawsuit against Bleem, claiming infringement
of Sony's copyrights). Thanks JimmyPop (no relation to Iggy AFAIK) and, of course, Wired News for this story.
A bunch of bit-based stories for your viewing pleasure this afternoon. First
up is Viper
3D's comparison of Quake 2 benchmarks at 16 and 32-bit color, and then there's
Gamer's
Depot's comparative screenshots between a Voodoo 3 and a TNT2, both at 1600x1200,
with the V3 in 16-bit color and the TNT2 in 32-bit. Lastly is Beyond3D's article on 3DFX's 22-bit color, which explains how 3DFX manages 22-bit color from 16-bit input.
In a wacky sort of follow-up to yesterday's Q&A
with Graeme Devine, Computer Gaming Review
has posted a quick Q&A with Stephen Polge, master of all things AI at Epic
Games regarding the bots in Unreal Tournament. Here's a quick excerpt:
I've rewritten most of the bot AI for Unreal Tournament. I was only
able to spend a little over a week focused on the Unreal I bots (although they
also shared a good bit of their AI with the Unreal I monsters), while I've been
able to devote a substantial part of the last 10 months to the Unreal Tournament
bots. As a result, I've been able to really tweak and improve them in a lot
of areas. Their navigation is much more polished. They feel a lot more human,
in terms of how they make decisions about what to do, how they use weapons and
inventory items, how they hit or miss targets, and how they have different personalities.
Another significant improvement is their vastly improved team AI support. The
bots play the Unreal Tournament team games (Assault, Domination, and Capture
the Flag) very well. They work together and support each other, as well as changing
strategies based on the situation. Players can also give them orders on the
fly. The code is also designed so that mod authors will be easily able to extend
the AI support for new game types.
I never really enjoyed playing the reaper bots or the Unreal I bots, because
I was always too cognizant of their flaws, which really distracted me from the
game. I do really enjoy playing against the UT bots.
UnrealTournament.Net has posted some new
in-game screenshots from Epic's upcoming Unreal Tournament. The new images can be found in
the Weapons section under the Gallery link, and they show off the Ripper and the BioRifle.
GA-Source has
posted some Loose Cannon Screenshots showing off action from this upcoming car combat game from Microsoft and Digital Anvil.
This Italian-language Mortyr preview
offers a whole load of new shots from this upcoming World War II inspired shooter, as well
as the opportunity to brush up on your Italiano.
The MacGamers Ledge (don't jump!) has posted some benchmarks of Q3A Test running on a Mac and an ATI accelerator, along with
some comments from id's John Carmack about the new ATI drivers.
StormTroopers has word of tonight's monthly
chat with the Anachronox team. The chat starts at 8:00 PM CST in the ION Storm chat room,
accessible through the ION Storm web page
and clicking chat lobby, or via an IRC client via IRC server "www.ionstorm.com"
room #ion.
The MADHUD Home Page has a new version
of their cool HUD add-on for TRIBES that's compatible with the newly released version 0.93
of the feared Presto Pack for TRIBES.
A new version 0.13r007 of the Crystal Space 3D
Engine is out, offering a newer version of this free 3D engine after the 0.13r006 "disaster release," which suffered from some severe bugs. Thanks Billy at Voodoo Extreme.
The Adrenaline
Vault News has posted the news that Revenant's planned 3D action game Akolyte,
has been cancelled. Here's a bit of the announcement:
The Adrenaline Vault has learned that Revenant’s 3D action game Akolyte
has been cancelled. According to our source, the development team has separated after an
arrangement with a major publisher did not go through in the time the team wanted to have
a deal in place...
GameSpot has posted the latest Homeworld
Developer Diary, Beyond3D
has some new screenshots, and a clarification about the WON.net
beta has been posted to homeworld.org,
that explains that it is only to test the multiplayer, and that a forthcoming
(public) demo will show off the single player game as well. (Thanks to homeworld.org
for all those.)
The Aliens vs. Predator Network has posted
two screenshots from AvP's multiplayer game, and promises more sometime today.
My Trip to id Software is a
feature on Q3Arena.com offering a report on a visit to Mesquite to do some hands-on play-testing Quake III Arena (not by me: "My Trip..." is part of the title of the story).
General registration for QuakeCon '99 begins
tonight at 9:00 PM Eastern time.
Tweak3D interviews David Gallay of Nevolution who are working with Instant Access to create the forthcoming add-on for Shogo: Mobile Armor Division titled Shugotenshi. The interview discusses the story behind the mod and discusses its progress, offering several new screenshots along the way.
A bunch of new Holy Wars releases are up on the Holy Wars for Quake II page, including new
versions of Holy Wars for QuakeWorld, the Holy Wars FrogBot for Classic Quake and the Holy
Wars Solaris Server for Quake II.
A beta 5 (bugfix) version of Terror Quake2 is
now available, which fixes the "grunt" problem (of course bran can often help
with this, as well).
CrazyPete´s Toolbox has posted
Quake2Runner, revision 1, a simple Quake II launcher which can manage and launch several
mods. Crazy Pete's is also the home of the just-released Grissly Half-Life front-end ( story). I mention this because I failed to include the link in that
story at first, so that may help if you saw the story before it was added.
Vate Powell points out that by scheduling their NYC competitions on the weekend of the Star Wars Episode One release, it has become PGL versus Darth Maul. Bug update: We've now got both Furn and Webdog's Bagpuss tracking the blues being sung by the BlueTracker, so
I'm hopeful that will go away today (that's my roundabout way of saying it's still
broken). Happy birthday to ace Blue's News proofreader Wouter 'JinXter' Teeninga.
Link of the Day: Beat up the Backstreet Boys
(an earlier, funnier, effort from the same folks that brought the kill the Ham(p)sters
dealie).
The Burpfish Network (the Burpfish
lives?) has posted a new screenshot from Daikatana
that was obtained during tonight's chat. The shot's from a level by
Stevie "KillCreek" Case, and here's the quickie description I got
from ION Storm's Bobby Pavlock:
That's a scene from the loading bay of E1M4 - the crematorium, I believe.
The monsters you see hovering are the DeathSpheres, the robot is the RageMaster,
and the fat guy and skinny guy are 2 worker NPCs.
AllGames gal Bobbi sends along word of a new
LAN party/online competition being put together by the CPL,
HEAT.NET, and AllGames.
It's an all Female Quake 2 tournament called the Female Frag Fest, and the whole thing starts as an online tournament, but the finals are being held at a LAN party here in NYC. Go get the scoop from the press
release.
The PGL finals have been announced (see press
release) along with the finalists in both the Quake 2 and Starcraft categories. The
finals will be held on May 21 - 22 at XS
New York, right here in sunny Manhattan. Profiles
of all the winners can be found on the PGL's site as well.
chUmbaLum sOft (jeez, and I thought
my caps were weird) has released v1.0 of their Open GL Half-Life Model Viewer,
along with its corresponding source code, which according to the developer is
ready to port to X11.
Computer Gaming Review (newly spun off from Warzone) has posted a short Q&A with id's Graeme
Devine about Q3A. So short in fact, that Apache fired the whole thing off in his mail, so
with thanks to CGR, here's the poop:
CGR: How will Quake3 Arena's bots raise the bar in terms of AI and
performance over exisiting bots?
Graeme Devine: Our bots don't follow set paths or "waypoints", they have
the luxury of being able to work with the level designer's map data directly to preprocess
their data, something existing bots cannot, and that gives us a database which has
superior information.
CGR: How are the physics going to be different in Quake3 Arena compared to Quake
and Quake 2?
Graeme Devine: Obviously being the same brand name as Quake and Quake 2 we've not
messed with the physics too much. We've added jump pads and acceleration pads to speed up
navigation around the levels and that makes the biggest difference to gameplay physics. A
jump pad replaces all ladders in the game by blasting you off the ground and into the air,
while an acceleration pad accelerates you in the direction it faces.
An update to the Starsiege
TRIBES Status Page by Mitch "Skeet" Shaw gives the skinny on what to expect
from the tools that will be released with the upcoming TRIBES 1.4 patch (now in Q/A).
Thanks Datumplane::Starsiege.
Welcome back to Skeet's Update Corner (the acronym says it all). By now, you
probably all know that the 1.3.12 patch is finished and distributed, and now we're getting
busy working on 1.4. The tools package is in QA right now, and we should be edging ever
closer to giving that bundle over to you folks. I've heard some concern over what might or
might not be in this tools release, so here's a quick rundown: MakeSkin -- the utility we
released a couple of months ago to process your custom skins (just in case you didn't grab
it the first time)
Matilda -- this creates DMLs, which ZED and other utilities use.
MaxShapes -- contains the 3DStudio Max plugins to export DTS shapes, along with a heaping
helping of the MAX files and bitmaps we used in TRIBES.
Missionlighting -- the executable and script file needed to relight missions. These were
also in the 1.3.12 patch, but in case you didn't get that patch, here they are again.
PicaNew -- an advanced utility that allows you to process 24-bit textures into 8-bit
textures, create palettes or remap textures according to an existing palette.
VolumeTools -- utilities for manipulating .VOL files. Includes VT (create volume or add
file to volume), VMerge (add the contents of one volume to another), VTList (list contents
of a volume), and Extract (I think you can guess what this one does).
ZEDTools -- the set of programs that allow you to create interiors (buildings, rocks, etc)
and process them for use. Includes ZED (actual interior editor), ZEDbuild (interior
processor), ZEDlight and ZEDshape (two programs called internally by ZEDbuild), some
example shapes, and a nifty HTML manual cooked up by Diamondback himself. Consider
yourself warned.
MiscTools -- all the stuff that didn't get lumped in somewhere else. Includes Mipmake
(create mipped versions of bitmaps), TexTable (generates a DML and lookup table for
terrains), and a HTML manual for the mission editor.
For the 3D strategy fans out there, WON.net is looking for a few beta testers
for Homeworld. Here's the details:
We're looking for a few good space soldiers to shake out the Homeworld
Vessels and the new WON.net multiplayer system in a live environment. Beta testers
are expected to play a lot of Homeworld on-line over the next two weeks and
report bugs, discuss issues on the WON.net message board dedicated to Homeworld
and tell us what you think.
If that's up your alley, head over to their sign-up
page and apply.
Mod Central's Guide to Team
Fortress Classic to help get you going in the right direction in Valve/Team Fortress
Software's just-released add-on for Half-Life.
There's a Drakan
Order of the Flame Preview on GameSpot UK and
an Oni Preview on PC Paradox,
looking ahead at these two third-person action games. Thanks Billy.
According to The Adrenaline Vault News, recent rumors of a delay in system Shock 2 are not true (thanks
again Billy). Here's the poop from AVault:
First Electronic Arts announced that the 3D action-adventure System Shock 2
had been delayed until the fall. When we contacted them to obtain a comment regarding the
reasons, we were directed to TSI, the game's public relations agency, which today told us
"The game will be shipping this summer." Now that is a release date confirmation
we can smile about.
The loonster has definitely come up with a handy way to compartmentalize some of the day's doings in the world of hardware by combining a few bits into an afternoon byte (don't spoil your dinner): First, there's a Voodoo3 Overclocking Guide & 3500 Info article on Sharky Extreme
discussing planned availability of 3dfx's top-of-the-line V3 accelerator, as well as the first info on how to overclock a V3 for the true performance freak. Similarly, the front page of Hot Hardware has some info on their experiments in overclocking a pre-production TNT2 they've gotten their hot hands on, showing results after pushing the memory clock up to 180 MHz. Finally, Matrox G400
Screenshots with Environment Mapped Bump Mapping is a piece on GA-Source showing off the Matrox G400's environmental bump-mapping feature with screenshots of Descent 3, Slave Zero and Speed Busters.
There are eight brand-new Hired Guns
screenshots on GA-Source showing off this upcoming Unreal-engine game from Psygnosis and Devil’s
Thumb Entertainment that follows up on the old Amiga game of the same name. This action/strategy/RPG hybrid that divides your screen into four first-person views (to allow you to act as any of the four members of your team), is expected to be released sometime this Spring.
According to FGN Online, Unreal version
224 is on its way Real Soon Now, and Unreal Tournament will not ship before
E3. Here's the skinny:
The release of the 224 version of Unreal in nearing. In addition, despite
a tentative March or April release expected for the obviously excellent Unreal
Tournament, Epic has confirmed that the game will not ship before E3. Mark Rein,
vice president of the developer, has given details as to a demo release, as
well as the emergence of the latest version of Unreal. "There will be a demo
of Unreal Tournament sometime prior to it's retail release," he confirmed. "I
don't know if we'll do a public beta or not. We'll be releasing the 224 update
for Unreal sometime soon and it's got a lot of the same underlying code as the
current build of Unreal Tournament, so it should serve as a pretty good test
for shaking any engine-related bugs out of Unreal Tournament. We'll certainly
be watching for bugs with much enthusiasm.
According to an interview with the Daily
Dementia with Oddworld head Lorne
Lanning, the next title from the company will no longer be using the Unreal
engine (thanks FGNOnline). Here's a quote:
The problem with licensing game engines in general, is they're very
highly and specifically designed to specific performances, and the reason Unreal
shined well in its day, was because it was very hard-wired into a specific way
of utilizing its own world and the hardware specifics of that time...but when
you want to extrapolate and make more complex worlds, and really break a lot
of the rules that have existed, then those tools don't seem to have as great
of an impact as you hoped they would, because they're kind of embedded in a
history...in the final analysis, it looks today as though we will not be using
Unreal.
If you're one of those people who's planning on upgrading from a Voodoo 1 to
one of those newfangled Voodoo 3 cards, take note of this bit sent along by
Mark Muller of Volition:
I added a few Voodoo 3s to our stable here today and when upgrading
from voodoo 1 to the 3, I encountered problems if *all* voodoo 1 driver files
were not removed before installing the new card. This includes, but is not limited
to the following: glide.dll, glide2x.dll, glide2x.ovl, sstinit.dll, dd3dfx.drv,
dd3dfx16.dll, dd3dfx32.dll, and fxmemmap.vxd. If these files aren't removed,
chances are the machine will lock on running any 3d accelerated game. Upgrades
from Voodoo2 went smoothly with no extra steps needed.
I'd suggest doing a HD search for these files before you install that new card, as Voodoo 1 uninstall programs have been known to leave these lingering around.
Presto sends along word that version 0.93 of the Presto Pack for Starsiege:
TRIBES is available, adding a new feature (a client-side muting menu) and fixing
enough bugs that anyone who's got an earlier version will want to upgrade as
soon as humanly possible. Snag that over at the Presto
Pack Page (try saying that six times fast).
There's a big Quake III
Arena feature on PC Zone offering a look at
id's upcoming shooter ( note: since this story was posted, they've
added a registration form, so you have to submit info enter the site now). The piece
has a Q&A sidebar with John Carmack that includes some subjects like John's favorite
games, and his one fight in high-school (a victory no less), as well as a load of answers
from members of the id crew to various questions about the game. Also included are several
screenshots of action from Q3A. Here is a quote from John Carmack about the state of
progress in Quake III Arena in the war against 'net lag:
Carmack: "Jerkiness is the characteristic of Net play that has been most
improved. Almost all visual effects are either cued for local running, or presented in a
parametric or other extrapolatable form, so that when packets fail to arrive on time, most
of the world continues as expected without a visible hitch. Of course, if your Net
connection really craps out and you don't receive any new packets for several hundred
milliseconds, the action will reach the reasonable limits of its predictability. Perceived
lag has been decreased by allowing more actions to be handled completely on the client
side, without having to make a round trip to the server. Weapon cycling, falling/stepping/
walking view feedback, and weapon muzzle flash/sound feedback are all done locally now.
The actual effects of your actions on the world and other players still requires a round
trip to the server, so lag isn't gone, but it is improved over all previous
efforts
You read that right. A public grudge match has broken out, thanks to LamingInsider,
id Software's Paul Steed, and Ritual's
Murphy Michaels. The challenge? To create the best sub-1000 polygon female model in an, "interesting pose." The first round is to create the model, the second, to create an original skin and 90 second animation. The stakes as set by Paul Steed are:
If I don't win then I'll convert, animate and deliver the winner's model as a Q3:A md3 before the game ships. Note, this model will be game-ready but not ship with the game.
Entries for the first round must be received by May 1, so get cracking. The winners will be determined by the public, but the artist's names will be withheld until the contest is over (so no stuffing the ballot for Steed, ladies). If you're wondering how this whole thing started, read up on the history, it's definitely entertaining.
Very hot on the heels of the release of the Half-Life SDK come a pair of Half-Life editing
stories: First, Wavelength,
the Half-Life editing site, has posted a pair of new tutorials on creating Half-Life mods,
one on getting started, and the other on creating a three bolt crossbow. Second, the Rust editing site, has begun the Gamedesign.net
Half-Life Forum where mod makers can exchange ideas and such on Half-Life programming.
Dr. Uwe Girlich updated his Demo Specs
page with new versions of a couple of his comprehensive demo utilities:
Dr. G also passed along the following about duplicating his prodigious efforts at doping out the innards of demo recording in the future for Quake III Arena (this is a reference to how the data provided by his work can possibly be used by those looking to
exploit the game code):
I would like to use the opportunity to make clear that I wont publish any
information on the upcoming Quake 3: Arena demo format without an (at least half-)
official approval of id software. This may harm the movie community but whoever heard the
(leaked) interview with John Carmack (2nd file, last 15 minutes) knows about the problem.
I wont risk any legal consequences.
Tonight at 8:00 PM CDT (9:00 PM EDT), Planet
Daikatana will be hosting the April edition of the monthly Cabana Chat with the
Daikatana team members to discuss Daikatana's status and more. The chat is in IRC at
'www.ionstorm.com' #ion, or you can connect through the online button on the Ion Storm website.
There's a gl editor screenshot on the 4D Rulers page showing off the 24-bit color OpenGL editor they are using to create their upcoming first-person shooter, Gore.
Frans from 3D Action Gamers sends word
they've posted the German/French/Italian/Spanish Half-Life v1.0.0.9 patches with Team
Fortress Classic to the 3D
Action Gamers' Archive Half-Life page. Frans says these files are also on ftp.won.net/pub/half-life/.
The Song Of Death Homepage has version 1.2 of the Song
of Death teamplay mod for Quake/QuakeWorld. SoD offers Capture the flag with six different
player classes, 19 new weapons, and new Song of Death maps.
Sloshy Software Inc. has the new version
2.38 of their Quick Start - Eraser Bot Wizard, their front-end for the Eraser bot for Quake II.
- In print: Several readers have written in to point out John Carmack and his fabulous Ferraris are featured in the May issue of Car & Driver magazine.
Also, Jeff sends word that the "Readings" section in April Harper's Monthly
(pp 30-31) includes several bios from the PGL page in an article titled "She Got Game." Included are Kornelia, Pookie, Mystique, and Jasp...
- GameCenter's 3D Graphics
Chip Scorecard has been updated...
- Blizzard Chat Session 7
April 1999 transcript is online with all the Diablo II discussion...
- Just Coolin
Around is an article on HardOCP's recent success
overclocking a 300 MHz Celeron to 600 MHz, now offering benchmarks...
- The Glide Underground has news of their
tangles with 3dfx that has resulted in the removal of all their Glide wrapper emulators...
BlueTracker is only partially fixed -- the .plan files no longer generate an error when
there's a database problem, but rather display the last .plan posted by that author. But
it is still messing up the new .plan entries, so I'm hoping we can fix that today. The new
LAN Parties page is shaping up quickly, I think that will be up soon too. Phoebus passes
along word that once you make one of those IE5 icons for a site, it doesn't change even if
you switch the file, so I don't know how to update it to the transparent version for those
who already have it (oh well). Someone wrote in saying it was 'ironic" that I used an
IE5-only icon with my "any browser" stance. That's that cheesy form of Alanis
Morrisette kind of irony: The site has images, but supports text-only browsers too
(yeesh). By the way, I changed the link on this page, but I want folks to be aware that if
they send in news and they want both loony and myself to receive it, please use the news@bluesnews.com email, rather than the blue@...
one. Thanks!
Link of the Day: Anvil
Firing. It's been a while since we've had dangerous experimentation on the LoD.
Today's edition is a bit more low tech than the usual fare here, but still fun. Thanks
Rich LaPorte.
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