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.plan Wagon
Yea, pretty slow day.. the .plan wagon of all things is headlining today :)
Q2 CTF is the result of about two and half months of work. I'd like to thank the beta testers for working out most of the bugs (the release seems to be pretty stable 'cept for the server crashing problem that isn't Q2 CTF specific), Kevin, Adrian and Paul at id for putting out some amazing art and models for the pak, and Tom 'Bjorn' Klok for putting together some kick ass grapple sounds. <snip>
As for Linux, I'm working on a point release for it right now. I've already fixed the save game problem that plagued Linux 3.10. I'm working on fixing some of the security problems mentioned on rootshell--quake2 will refuse to run if it's setuid since loading shared libraries under that condition is evil and bad. You will have to su or login as root to run the SVGALib (soft) or MesaGL (gl) renderers. Since they only work on the system console there isn't much problem with that. As usual, the X11 version doesn't require any special permissions. This isn't an ideal solution. The ideal solution is for the next GLIDE that uses /dev/3dfx so you don't need root to do 3DFX GL stuff, and for software, supporting a ref_ggi that doesn't require root. These won't be in my next release, but I'm still planning a ref_ggi in the near future.
Preview / Review Land
What everyone else is saying about the games you play and the hardware you use:
Interviews
Patches
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Quake2 PR Server Prob
Disruptor over at id has already updated about a small bug they have found in the point release:
We have encountered a problem with the latest release (3.12) Dedicated servers may crash once in a while. We are looking into the problem and hope to release a small fix soon.
Quake2 CTF
The Xenocide guys have already updated their Xenocide Flag Academy page with help on Capture the Flag strategies to be used in Quake2. They offer Basic Training as well as Officers Training. (heh)
.plan Wagon
Well, all the .plans are firing away.. dig em:
Patches
werd
Good lord guys, the traffic has finally died down a tad so that I can safely update the page. Talk about saturating a T3.. jeeze. I havent been able to get to my email all day either. At any rate.. well, the point release is out now for Quake2, whatcha think?
The new maps struck me as pretty cool for the standard FFA matches, I was trying to imagine team games, or 1on1's in these maps though and I'm just not really sure any of these maps are suiting for that purpose or not. dm1 and dm5 seem small enough maybe for 1on1, and I'm guessing dm8 may end up being a clan level.
Quake2 PR Download Sites -Updated
It's here! w00 the Quake2 point release. In a nutshell, you are wondering what's new right? Well there are several bug fixes, Cooperative play, and.... 8 NEW DEATHMATCH MAPS! Here are some locations to download from:
VRGN - http://scary.vrgames.net/shack_files/id/q2_312.exe
Blue's - http://www.bluesnews.com/files/idstuff/quake2/q2_312.exe
Warzone - ftp://ftp.warzone.com/pub/quake2/patches/q2_312.exe
Frag.com - ftp://ftp.frag.com/pub/quake2/q2_312.exe
PlanetQuake - www.planetquake.com/cdrom/quake2/q2_312.exe
id - ftp://ftp.idsoftware.com/idstuff/quake2/q2_312.exe
Op3dfx - ftp://ftp.op3dfx.com/pub/game_patches/quake2/q2_312.exe
Frag.com - ftp://ftp.frag.com/pub/quake2/q2_312.exe
Quake2.com - ftp://ftp.Quake2.com/pub/q2_312.exe
UK:
Lancashire - http://landau.lancs.ac.uk/~sweeney/q2_312.exe
UMIST - ftp://ps.cus.umist.ac.uk/pub/fnjordy/q2_312.exe
Exeter - ftp://p0024.ex.ac.uk/quake2/q2_312.exe
While you download.. check out this nifty new URL.
Quake2 CTF Patch!
Don't forget the big release of the Quake2 CTF pack from Zoid:
WarZone - ftp://ftp.warzone.com/pub/quake2/mods/ctf2/q2ctf10.exe
PlanetQuake - http://planetquake.com/cdrom/quake2/q2ctf10.exe
id - ftp://ftp.idsoftware.com/idstuff/quake2/ctf/q2ctf10.exe
Stomped - ftp://ftp.stomped.com/pub/redwood/ctf/q2ctf10.exe
Op3dfx - ftp://ftp.op3dfx.com/pub/game_patches/quake2/q2ctf10.exe
Quake2.com - ftp://ftp.Quake2.com/pub/q2ctf10.exe
Telefragged - ftp://ftp.telefragged.com/pub/quake2/ctf/q2ctf10.exe
Gamesnet - ftp://ftp.gamesnet.com/pub/quake2/mods/ctf2/q2ctf10.exe
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Patches -Updated
SiN
The feature that I mentioned yesterday to be posted on www.gameslice.com is now available. It's about 6 pages long and takes a look at the "newest bad boys of the industry" with several quotes from members of Ritual. They talk about well, SiN, the previous success of Quake Mission Pack #1, and a touch on g.o.d. as well. Mitch from aCtivision had a great quote talking about g.o.d. that you'll want to check out.. heh.
Speaking of SIN, OGR has posted part 2 of Levelord's essay on character development in their hot SiN title.
Duke Movie
As we should all remember, there was talk a couple of months ago about a motion picture based upon the Duke Nukem universe. Looks like that has come a reality with the recent press release issued by 3D Realms. A Join effort by Threshold Entertainment, GT, and of course 3DR.
Heavy Gear
A playable demo of Heavy Gear published by aCtivision is finally available for download. This thing weighs in at a hefty 43 megs, (I sure aint downloading it) but I'm guessing if you are into mech games, and happen to have a lot of spare time to download (or a t1) go for it. Grab the demo from the aCtivision homepage, or well, I'd suggest AVault's PC Release List.
Q2 Fun Names
Well, I saw a post on PlanetQuake that apparently the petetion that was sent to id Software about "fun names" for Quake2 fell upon deaf ears. Here is my reasoning why it should be included.. Ok, say I don't use fun names, I don't really care about it, right? It was in Quake1, many people enjoyed it, it was in the Quake2 code but was pulled out. Now, if there are some people out there who enjoy it, and it's easy to change, why not switch it back? Hello? Isn't the goal to please as many game players as possible? You've got a few hundred enthusiasts out there you can make peachy happy by just spending 5 minutes to write some code.
Unreal
Tim Sweeney addressed a question that a lot of people have been posing in response to the recent set of screenshot released of Unreal with that crazy lookin lighting.:
Anisotropic texture filtering is a feature that 3d hardware makers will be building into their future hardware. As soon as they have it, Unreal and most other 3d games will support it (it's automatic).
GLDoom
Bruce Lewis is still updating his web page on the progress of the GL Doom project he is working feverishly on. He says that he considers his progress about 50% complete now. There will be a beta application form posted for people who just cant wait to get a copy.
3D Stuff
Couple bits of new for you 3D card owners:
Q2 Point
Yet even more news sent along by Phoebus concerning the immenent Quake2 point release:
Here is the word on the official Quake II demo...
Activision QA is currently testing the official Q2 demo (not the bugged version from before).
It will be available packaged in the Wolfenstein 3D reissue BUT we'll have it live on our site within the next few days.
I currently don't know when it's coming out of QA... Probably tomorrow.
Preview / Review Land
What everyone else is saying about the games you play and the hardware you use:
Drivers
.plan Wagon
Modem Standard
Wow, they have finally agreed on a standard for the 56k modems instead of all this X2 / K56 Flex stuff. 3Com will be the first company out the door shipping modems based on the new "v.90" standard that Rockwell and USR agreed upon. Check out the article posted on news.com
werd
Well, here's a little story for you guys. I had told my apt management at my old residence that I would be moving all my furniture out of their this past weekend even though I had payed rent up until the end of next week. When I called to reserve the freight elevator though I had found that the elevator was already reserved for the whole weekend. So of course I said oh well and reserved it for the weekend after. No big deal, right?
Yesterday evening I get an urgent message to call my apt complex. Apparently they had rented out my apt to a new tennant starting this friday!? They said I had no choice but to move all my stuff out within the next 24 hours or they will change the lock. I told them of course that the elevators were reserved, and that I was legally not obligated to move out until the end of next week anyways. This didnt seem to do much except piss the lady off.
They were holding me to my word of moving out the past weekend. Even though the elevators that I needed, were not available that weekend. wtf?
So... with the help of 3 Ritual employees (thanks guys) We went through the marathon of what should have been 2 days work moving furniture all in one day. Lucky Wieder bought that truck. So.. well, I wasnt around today. I actually just finished coming back from my final trip to the old place around 2am. Ugh.
I would like to take this moment to tell Manor House of Dallas Texas to KISS MY WHITE ASS. I did make sure they will be mailing me a check refunding me for the rent time that I didnt use. Man, I am so damn sore from carrying furniture. That stuff weighs a ton. Yea.. solid wood, all of it.. like 400 pieces.. 2 beds, a few dressers, etc etc...
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Unreal
Thanks to Demandred for the word that OGR has finally posted their big Unreal preview that they have been releasing screenshots of each day building up to it.
Point Release
John Cash updated about all the buz of the Point Release for Quake2:
Point Release (3.12)
--------------------
It's still in testing. Real Soon Now. Special note to "spies": RSN does NOT mean 48 hours - I wish it did, but it does not. It does not mean it will be longer than that either. The last couple of fixes have been quite trivial. Special thanks to Zoid for being amazingly patient. CTF is dependant on this version, so I am sure he is going crazy waiting for us to release it.
SiN
Although this was mentioned months ago, it seems everyone is making a big hubub about it. SiN will feature location based impact in the game. Take this into account along with the fact that Ritual also announced heiarchial models a while ago and I'm sure you can expect to see the occasional limbs blown off. (Not the canned style like Quake2 either) Here is a quote from Beau Anderson on the SiN Message Board:
Q:Will the game feature the ability to shoot enemies in certain places (e.g. the head), so the enemies will die instantly or quicker?
Yes, this WILL be in. Along with the ability for enemies to target specific portions of the player, in single player games, and deathmatch.
Can you say headshots? The addition of location based impact is a great addition. Make sure and check out the message board as most of the Ritual guys do read it. :)
Speaking of SiN, Phoebus sends word that GameSlice has posted a feature on SiN that will be updated on Wednesday at 12:01am with even more info.
Hexen2
The boys over at www.hexenworld.com have gotten a hold of the latest Play Testers Diary.
Unreal vs Quake2
Unreal.org has posted a funny (but short) editorial on why people should not argue about Unreal being worth buying, with reasons on why Quake2 is also worth buying ... check out http://www.unreal.org/features/scandalon_930.phtml (Yea, we havent seen enough people slamming each others games in a while, lets start it all over again!) -Hanif
.plan Wagon
Doom Source
Couple of bits of news from people working with the Doom Source:
Preview / Review Land
What everyone else is saying about the games you play and the hardware you use:
BetaBitez
Beta Bites http://www.gamegirlz.com/betabites is an indepth section which focuses on beta game releases and beta (and alpha) game news. This section is updated daily with all the info on companies seeking beta testers for games, and information on newly released betas (and alpha versions) of games.
werd
Yeesh, ask for email and ye shall receive. Appreciate everyone's input on the weekly sections that I wish to revive.
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Hardware Review
GameCenter has posted their opinion on the best hardware of the year. Some interesting choices made, guess it all depends on just what you want from your hardware though eh? :) Thanks Hanif.
More Carmack on Hardware
Since people seem to love to email John Carmack with hardware quetions, he has updated his .plan again. This is an attempt to get people off his back, not an invitation to email him btw.
8 mb or 12 mb voodoo 2?
An 8mb v2 has 2 mb of texture memory on each TMU. That is not as general as the current 6mb v1 cards that have 4 mb of texture memory on a single TMU. To use the multitexture capability, textures are restricted to being on one or the other TMU (simplifying a bit here). There is some benefit over only having 2 mb of memory, but it isn't double. You will see more texture swapping in quake on an 8mb voodoo 2 than you would on a 6mb voodoo 1. However, the texture swapping is several times faster, so it isn't necessarily all that bad.
If you use the 8 bit palettized textures, there will probably not be any noticable speed improvement with a 12 mb voodoo 2 vs an 8 mb one. The situation that would most stress it would be an active deathmatch that had players using every skin. You might see a difference there.
A game that uses multitexture and 16 bit textures for everything will stress a 4/2/2 voodoo layout. Several of the Quake engine licensees are using full 16 bit textures, and should perform better on a 4/4/4 card.
The differences probably won't show as significant on timedemo numbers, but they will be felt as little one frame hitches here and there.
Sith FAQ
The FAQ for the Jedi Knight add on pack has been posted / updated. Check it out if you have a question about the Jedi Knight mission pack.
werd werd
Well, I'm sure many of you have noticed that the old IP address that so many people bookmarked no longer works. The page is now hosted on a nice big T3. They are reworking the routing a bit though to eliminate having to run through BBN Planet. (No comment) which should speed things up considerably.
So... if you know people bitching about not being able to get here, tell them to start using http://scary.vrgames.net again.
Trinity
Trinity: The Site has been updated with a Q & A from John Carmack, lead programmer at id on the Trinity engine project. It's pretty technical stuff so if you are fairly stupid like myself, get a friend to translate for you.
QTracker v1.6
Yup, another new version of QTracker has been released. QTracker boasts support for all the games that GameSpy does plus the addition of Jedi Knight.
LAN FAQ
Devon sent out mail that all her hard work is now available to the public. The LAN FAQ courtesy of the http://lan.gibbed.com page.
Tech Q&A
A new section on PlanetQuake that is well worth reading by that Loon over there. It's a hardware oriented Q&A talking about Matrox stuff etc. If you are in the market to buy a new vid card for your Quake addiction, check it out.
Patches
Preview / Review Land
What everyone else is saying about the games you play and the hardware you use:
Interviews
Video
werd
Sorry bout being a little late today, computer problems abound. (I pay for my sins of installing beta software)
I've been working out the new categories for the weekly
sections. (I wrote up a few more for the old ones but was never happy with them. Kinda
played out those categories) I guess I'm looking for some new ideas. Here are the sections
I have planned so far:
- "If I was King"
- "Demos"
- "I wonder what would happen if.."
- "Wack Links"
That leaves one more slot. Just drop me a line at smiles@vrgames.net
if you have a swank idea. Hey, Ill send you those unreleased sections I wrote up in
thanks. (You can chuckle at my feeble attempts of humor)
Oh, check out these pics of the ultimate BFG blast btw.
| Older News | Copyright Steven M. Gibson - VRGN |