Archived News:
The official Quake III Arena FAQ
has undergone a minor update (thanks Ryan Stotts). Here's the whole update,
which addresses a common CTF problem: Why does the game sometimes crash
if we callvote to another level while playing CTF?
In version 1.11 of Quake3 the game will crash if players try to run a CTF game
on maps not designed for CTF. Do not perform a callvote requesting a map change
to a non-CTF map without changing the game type first. Before changing maps
always make sure you have the correct gametype set.
g_gametype 0 – Free For All
g_gametype 1 - Tournament
g_gametype 2 – Single Player
g_gametype 3 – Team Deathmatch
g_gametype 4 – Capture the Flag
This crash will be fixed in the first point release of the game.
There is a new preview of Soldier of Fortune up on GameSpot, looking at Raven's upcoming mercenary shooter. As with previous SoF previews, the article is likely based on the OEM version, but it provides a good overview of the background, gameplay and graphics of the game, and sports a couple of new images.
As promised earlier today, the official Counter-Strike site now has the beta 5.0 Windows client available for download, as a 12.6 MB update from beta 4 and 4.1, or as a 31.1 MB full download. Here is the condensed list of new features in this release, which was developed with the cooperation of Valve Software:
- 1 new weapon: The fully automatic shotgun.
- 3 new maps: Back Alley, Train and Iraq, plus updates to existing maps.
- 3 new observer modes: Classic ghost, locked chasecam, and freelook chasecam.
- A variety of new HUD icons, including money display and icons for Buy Zone and Hostage Rescue Zone.
- Auto-find teammate in observer mode.
- Improved hostage AI.
id Software's lead programmer John Carmack updated his .plan with a reminder that Qizmo, the Quake and QuakeWorld proxy, can also be used as an anti-cheat measure with modified versions of those games that are based on the recently released source code:
Several people have mentioned an existing anti-cheat QW proxy that should also be applicable to modified versions:
http://www.students.tut.fi/~zibbo/qizmo/
A new beta 5.0 Linux server port for Counter-Strike, the popular Half-Life mod, has been released on the official site. Thanks Cyco. This 31.1 MB download will allow server administrators to update in time for the general Windows release, which should happen soon.
A new version of SDLQuake,
a port of the Quake 1 source code has been released, and is available for download
on the official SDL site (thanks Jacek Fedoryński). This new version adds CD
music support amongst other changes. SDL (Simple DirectMedia Layer) is a cross-platform
API available for Win32, Linux, BeOS and MacOS.
Nihilistic's Rob Huebner updated his
.plan with a giant update on everything about their upcoming game Vampire:
The Masquerade - Redemption. It's an enormous update, with Rob talking about
their first public testing of the game, and the multiplayer aspect as well (not
to mention his picks for the best games of the year). Here's an excerpt with
him discussing the press demo of the multiplayer component: The other
big milestone was our first demonstration to the press of the
storyteller aspects of the game. Ray was the designated storyteller and our
in-house Activision tester Sion was the "red-shirt NPC" for the evening.
We were working on various aspects of the storyteller system just hours before
the demo, so I wasn't enjoying things too much, always expecting a massive crash
to happen at any moment. Ray was STing (DMing) a pre-packaged chronicle called
"To Curse the Darkness" which will ship with the final game. The interface
was still a bit clunky, and Ray had to manually type a lot of the dialog that
will be "triggerable" in the final version. The chronicle starts in
a tavern in the city of Temesvar. The amazing thing, to me at least, was that
the opening tavern scene, which sets the stage and gets the players started
on the plot, ended up taking more than an hour to complete.
And it wasn't because of bugs or problems, it was because the players were having
so much fun just sitting around in the travern interacting with the various
NPCs (mostly played by the Storyteller, of course), that the story took on quite
a bit more depth than we had anticipated. Watching this, it became clear just
how big a deal an experienced storyteller can be for an on-line RPG session.
I can't remember ever spending an hour interacting with canned RPG NPCs without
wanting to smash by monitor, but this first 'real' Storyteller experience wasn't
like that at all, Ray had to practically have a bouncer come over and toss them
out of the travern to move them along.
Playboy.com has posted an article titled, I've
Got Your Messiah Right Here, which is about Interplay's strange decision
to enlist Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf as their spokesman for the soon-to-be-completed
Messiah. It's entertaining stuff, featuring such quotes from Hank as, "I
don't want to play this f------ game." There's also a sidebar piece on
the game itself, featuring some images from the game as well as quotes from
Shiny frontman Dave Perry.
We've gotten numerous letters informing us that Battlezone II, the first person
strategy/action title from Pandemic Studios and Activision, has been released,
and is available in stores across the US. So if you pre-ordered a copy, head
over there and pick it up.
More FAQing good information on Quake III Arena comes our way, as GameFAQs has posted a new unofficial Quake III Arena FAQ by SilverStream. If you're new to the game (where have you been?), PlanetQ3.com has rewritten and revised their newbie guide. And finally, S.A.S's Guide to Quake3:Arena is the beginning of a comprehensive guide on BarrysWorld.
A post to a thread called Linux Unreal Tournament Status Update
by Epic programmer Brandon "GreenMarine" Reinhart gives a whole bunch
of thoughts on the recently announced plans to release part of the Unreal
Tournament Linux code as an open source release ( story). The update goes into
what you can and can't do with the code, discusses Open Source in general, and
promises a simple tarball release soon. Thanks Jacek Fedoryński.
The RadioActive Software
page has word of the release of episode
one the Chronicles unofficial add-on for Half-Life, an ongoing series of
"what-if" scenarios based on moments from the original game.
Jimmy's Mods
page has an updated version of the new Hunter modification for Sin that pits
a lone hunted mutant against multiple hunters. The new release addresses the
multi mutant bug and the no mutant bug. Thanks Ritualistic.
ACM Quakefest Headquarters has
word of Quakefest '00, the latest in their annual frag-o-ramas. This year's
competitions include a double elimination Quake III Arena deathmatch tournament,
a CTF tournament, and a StarCraft tournament. They have a load of prizes,
including an IBM ThinkPad notebook as the top prize in the Q3A DM tourney. Also,
Countdown to QIL on US and International Quake News
is preparing to offer comprehensive coverage of the upcoming third season of the
Quake Invitation League. Finally, an update on the state of the Unreal Tournament Winter Conquest 2000
has been posted, with stage two of this double-elimination one-on-one to being
today (spots may still be available).
A bunch of folks wrote in to say they thought yesterday's Image of the Day was
faked, pointing out the Q3A textures and jump-pad, but since I can't place it as
a Quake III Arena map, I assume it's a user made Unreal Tournament map. I'll do some poking around
and see if I can come up with a more concrete explanation of what this is all
about, and pass it along. Seems the routing glitch stayed cleared up all day, if
you are still experiencing difficulties accessing this site, please feel free to
drop a line complaining, but things are working fine on my end, and hopefully it
will say that way.
Link of the Day: Metro Nashville Police Department
Rate Your Risk page. Wanna know your chances of being robbed, raped, or
murdered? Here you go... fun for the whole family. Thanks Ant.
Story of the Day: North Carolina enforces Internet tax.
"Moreover, the 'consumer use tax,' due on all out-of-state purchases from
electronic commerce, catalog shopping and other means of patronage, will be
assessed on North Carolina taxpayers -- whether or not the individual taxpayer
actually owes the tax." Ouch. Thanks Sgt.
Hulka.
Bonus Story: Ferrets save millennium concert.
It's like something out of Captain Planet! Thanks Pilgrim.
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