go to www.shugashack.com for up to date news.
| Saturday, March 20 |
Unreal Patch? [7:15 am]
Oh yeah, you remember the Unreal patch? Well the
folks at Epic of course have been so busy working
on Unreal Tournament and fixing up code that patching the current version of Unreal has
turned into a bit more of an effort that originally planned. It looks like the new patch
will turn out to be quite a big one though. Here is the latest update to the Unreal Technology page
One unfortunate side-effect of the recent UnrealScript improvements (dynamic strings, multi-skin support, other engine enhancements) is that 223 will have to break mod compatibility with previous versions, and require at least a recompile (and code changes in many cases). We hate breaking mods, because we understand how much pain it causes for mod makers and the community to get back in synch with the latest version, but sometimes it's a necessary evil, as a side-effect of progress.
One bonus we're putting into 223 to help compensate for the pain and suffering is Jack "Mek" Porter's windowed GUI code, the high-level UnrealScript windowing framework we're using for Unreal Tournament. This includes the graphical "server browser" for finding good servers to play on -- sort of an in-game GameSpy. The windowing code will give the community a chance to experiment with windowing well before Unreal Tournament ships.
Speaking of which, Mark Rein is interviewed over at Beyond3D talking about Unreal Tournament.
More GDC Reports [7:15 am]
The folks at GameWire are busting out with some coverage on
the Game Developer Conference over in California. Here is the links from yesterday which
are being updated as well : The folks at GameSpot are doing a bang-up job of coverage on the Game Developer Conference.
Thresh's FiringSquad is popping
up articles here and there which are worth reading as well. Also just noticed over at PCGames they have some coverage.
Make sure and check out the GamersDepot
coverage as well.
Speaking of conferences, Fullon3D is reporting that a company called Sparkle is handing out flyers at CeBIT saying they will be shipping a Voodoo3 board, not just STB eh?
Messageboard Watch [7:15 am]
Quite a bit has been going down on the shack.daikatana and shack.quake3 messageboards. The Ion Storm employees have made a number of posts
answering questions and giving details about many changes that are being made to Daikatana
based on all the player feedback they have gotten from people. I'll spend Sunday cleaning
out the "bad seeds" and busting out a few bans.
SIN CTF Beta2 [7:15 am]
Scott Alden over at Ritual has been spending his
extra time working on the CTF patch for SIN. He's cranked out a new beta release for you
kids to play with. Check out the
.plan update which also lists a couple of new console commands you can play with in
CTF action.
03-19-99 (part 2)
-----------------
SinCTF Beta 2 is out!
We're still working on the game code, so this is an update to the client.
Here's the link: ftp://ftp.ritual.com/Sin/CTF/sinctfb2.exe
We set up two servers that you can connect to:
debugctf.ritual.com and sinctf.ritual.com
The debugctf is running under a debugger, so it may be a little choppy. Please send any bugs to sinctf@ritual.com. If you are easily frustrated by beta software, then don't download this yet.
Thanks and have fun!
Q3Test Info [7:15 am]
I've been getting an insane amount of email and
messages from people on ICQ/IRC asking me about Q3Test. Let me try and list off the stuff
I can say I am fairly certain about what will be included in the Q3Test to be released within
the next 11 days:
- ONE level. Just a single level. This test is just that, a test. A possible "demo" of Quake3 aka shareware version may be available at a later date though including more levels. That is just speculation on my part.
- ONE character class. My guess is because the character class stuff isnt quite finalized, and id doesnt want to put something out there that they arent 100% happy with yet.
- Not all the weapons will be included. Just to leave you guys wanting more! That and the same reasoning behind the character classes probably.
- The test level will include the majority of effects you will run into for Quake3. Fog, mirrors, curves, etc. The intention is to test out the renderer which of course means they need to include as many effects as possible.
- The test level will be best suited for about 8 - 10 players.
That is basically what I can say about the demo. I'll ask a few more questions when I get the chance.
Tech [3:45 am]
Gaming [7:15 am]
werd
Hopefully Clay will make a return with the hardware
section this weekend. I've been pretty out of touch all week (As you guys have noticed)
but have some plans for some pretty cool stuff next week.
| Friday, March 19 |
Valve's Mod Interface [7:45 pm]
Robin Walker of Valve Software sent out this email talking a bit
about the new interface they have been working on for the Team Fortress Classic port of
Half-Life. This interface will also help out all the other 3rd party mod makers for
Half-Life as well. Here it is all chopped up for you guys:
To make it easy for players to find Mods, we invented the Mod Browser. We created a Mod Master Server that keeps track of every Half-Life Mod in the world, what version it's up to,where it can be downloaded, and so on. Using the Half-Life launcher, you can simply browse the list of Mods, pick the one you want, and hit the Install button. The Mod is downloaded and installed automatically. If there's a new version of a Mod you've already got, the Mod Browser automatically warns you, and asks you if you want to download it.Each Mod has a link to it's web page so players can more easily find the type of Mod they're looking for. Here's a screenshot of the Mod Browser: [ See modbrowser.jpg ]
Running a Mod is just as easy. In the Mod Browser, you just pick the Mod you want to play, and hit the Activate button. The Launcher now enters Custom Game mode, where every piece of art and data can be replaced by the Mod. Here's a screenshot of the Mod Browser after Team Fortress Classic has been activated: [ See tfcactive.jpg ]
We've made it easy for a Mod maker to distribute his/her Mod. A Mod maker now only needs to make a Mod, tell the Mod Master Server that it exists, and bang, everyone in the world knows about your Mod. Players simply hit the Install button, the Mod is downloaded, and all files are placed in the right directories. You're ready to go!
Next problem: How do we make it easy for players to play Mods? We knew from the feedback we'd got from Half-Life that players found the Launcher easy to use, allowing them to play multiplayer without having to use other programs to find servers or setup keys. The most obvious thing to do was to let Mod makers use the same interface. So we enhanced the Launcher's Custom Game interface, allowing a Mod to completely customize not just its graphics, but it's content. If you go to the Customize->Controls section of the Launcher while a Mod is active, you can customize all the new commands and settings the Mod needs,
including default key settings for new players. Here's a screenshot of the Customize Controls screen while running Team Fortress Classic:
[ See tfccontrols.jpg ]
Finally, Mods can also customize the player setup sections, adding new player settings specifically needed for this Mod. Team Fortress Classic uses these to allow players to automatically have config files executed when they change classes, among other things. Here's a screenshot of the Advanced Customization for Team Fortress Classic: [ See tfccustomize.jpg ]
We're very happy with how the Mod interface has turned out. Team Fortress Classic has been the ideal test case for it. Wherever possible, problems that cropped up for Team Fortress Classic were solved in generic ways that will benefit Mod makers everywhere. As a Mod maker, I'm very excited to see the Mods that'll come out of this. Making it extremely easy for Mod makers to get their Mods to the players, and for players to get in and play them can only be a good thing for the Mod community.
Team Fortress Classic [4:45 am]
The Sierra folks have opened up the official Team Fortress Classic website
which features quite a few new images and details on the very impressive conversion of the
original TF mod for Quake1.
Here are shots of the engineer, heavy weapons man, medic, pyro, scout (cool pic), spy, and sniper as well.
Quake3 Images [3:45 am]
The Game Developers Conference is playing host to
Quake3 Arena being shown off by id Software. A few people out there were on hand with
digital cameras to snap a few shots of the game in action. These are much higher quality
than the recent AVI/MPEGS. Have a look at the GameFan pics, as well
as the Gaming-Age images.
I've of course got a few images myself hidden away in the screenshots section.
KingPin Demo Soon [3:45 am]
Well we had a false alarm last week, but it looks
like this time it is for real. We should hopefully be able to get our hands on a demo of
KingPin from Xatrix Entertainment this weekend. It's
gonna be almost 100megs though. BAH. Here is the email I got:
The unedited version of the Xatrix chat that took place last night is up at Gangland.org unedit.shtml The big news that was revealed is that the demo will be out sometime this weekend and will be about 100 megs (also sounded like it would be distributed through digex). http://www.gangland.org
Also, here are a few more details that were revealed in the recent chat thanks to Gangland.org
* 6 tracks total from Cypress Hill will make it into the game (no lyrics)
* A special weapon will be hidden in the demo
* Code has been added that will allow you to REMOVE various body parts with your weapons
* Reaction animations are based on targeted damage
* Looks like there will be throwable explosives in the game
* The pipe, crowbar, pistol (with mods) & shotgun will be the weapons in the demo (along with the above mentioned secret weapon)
GDC Reports [3:45 am]
The folks at GameSpot are doing a bang-up job of coverage on the Game Developer Conference.
Thresh's FiringSquad is popping
up articles here and there which are worth reading as well. Also just noticed over at PCGames they have some coverage.
CeBIT 99 Reports [3:45 am]
Got a couple of reports from the huge CeBit 99
convention going on right now. Sander over at 3DN, and Fullon3D have both done
their parts. Here is a bit from the 3DN report:
We did see some other nice things. For example, we saw a LOT of very cool LCD monitors. One of them, from a company whose name I forgot (doh!), had a 23" 1600x1200 LCD screen that was cool beyond words. And I mean so cool that NONE of there other monitors even came remotely close, and you could tell just by looking at them. Mark my words, 1999 will be the year of the LCD monitors.
3DRealms & Corrine [3:45 am]
Corrine Yu over at 3DRealms updated her .plan file with a bit on what she has been up to recently
over there at 3DRealms. Corrine is working on the future 3D technology over there.
Coded several cool new 3D engine "things" (not telling ya ;p yet ), and spent the last couple of days to make all of them go "very fast". (Some of them were very sloow when I first put them up.) And coded several "givens." Onto coding more "givens" and more "new things." The new 3DR engine I am coding does not use and is not based on Prey code. It does not use portal nor BSP for visibility. It uses CCP. What it stands for, I am not telling yet. ;p Though the letters really do stand for something. (Hint : they are mathematical terms.) The code, or rather system, I am building now is more useful, less hackful, and more innovative/creative than what I could do hacking (and losing :( ) pieces here and there into Q2. Am not going to show new engine for E3. All of you should check out and concentrate on Duke Nukem Forever, which is going to be a very fun game at E3! Almost the entire company is working on DNF, except for Tom helping me out. DNF would be very fun. There would not be a word of info on the new engine, not a picture of screenshot of the "new game", until DNF is near shrink wrap. :)
Windows98 SE [3:45 am]
Well look at this, Microsoft is just hurting for that
money so they have decided to charge more bucks to everyone who wants to patch Windows98
to the SE version. Here is the
news story. Thanks to ActiveWin for the word.
Views [3:45 am]
Tech [3:45 am]
Gaming [3:45 am]
werd
I CANT WAIT ANY LONGER. QUAKE3 MUST BE RELEASED NOW.
PLEASE.
Q3Test is within 12 days. Can you feel it?
| Thursday, March 18 |
Quake3 Editing [5:15 am]
Fishman over at gamedesign.net
sends word of an interview with
Christian 'Disruptor' Antkow of id Software, a level designer over there who took the
time to do an interview and even provide a couple of images of the Quake3 editor in
action. It's pretty technical, fair warning.
IE5 Available [5:15 am]
The official release of Internet Explorer v5.0 is now
available on the net. I've been almost happy with the Outlook Express from IE5 that came
with the betas (aside from not showing multiple mailbox indexes at once) Grab it from the MS Update Center or www.tucows.com. Snagged that link from VE
More Quake3 Footage [5:15 am]
The Extreme
Annihilation Tournament played host to a quick visit by id Software to show off a deathmatch demo of Quake3
in action. Weapons that you'll see in the demo are the default machine gun, the rocket
launcher (at 16sec mark) the plasma gun, and the super shotgun. I totally dig the new RL
model but gotta say that shotgun still does nothing for me. Oh well, Check out this 2nd Q3 MPEG.
Other stuff you might notice are the brightly colored ammunition boxes, the infamous quad power glow, and the fact that players names pop up in front of you as you spot them on your screen. A couple of comments about the +showscores table you'll see when the player dies. For one thing it looks like it will only handle showing about 6 players (maybe they ditch those faces for 8-16 player games), and secondly they dont appear to be indicating connection quality or packetloss anywhere. Zoid had the right idea in adding that to the QW code, hopefully he can get the guys at id to do the same for Quake3. Oh yeah, and that crosshair is still icky. :)
As everyone should probably know by now, Q3Test should be on the net within the next 2 weeks.
Unreal Tournament Stats [5:15 am]
As many people first discovered at the EA Tournament
last week, NetGamesUSA will be providing all
their great statistics tracking services to be built
in to Unreal Tournament. Here is a bit of the press release from PlanetUnreal, and a pic of just what it
will look like.
NetGames USA proud to announce that the upcoming release of Unreal Tournament from Epic Games will include built in support for all of NetGames USA systems, ngStats, ngTCS, and ngWorldStats.
Because support for ngWorldStats is built right into Unreal Tournament players will be able from day one of its release have access to their every kill, death, and even every power-up use and much more. Players can see this by visiting NetGames USA after game play to see a detailed breakdown of up to their last week's worth of games played.
Plus every players stats will also be accumulated into a permanent "Career Totals" database, keeping track of exactly how many frags, kills, deaths and much more that they have ever accumulated while playing Unreal Tournament online. ngWorldStats is so much more than a simple ranking system.
Anachronox Footage [5:15 am]
Well the Anachronox
page went live yesterday, and I finally got a chance to check out the footage that they
posted. I just wanted to say "wow" that is some great looking stuff. I havent
really been sucked into an RPG in a long time but the environments those guys are creating
just look incredible. It is about 17mb but well worth the download. Damn fine sound
effects as well.
Overclocking? [5:15 am]
The ArsTechnica
folks dug up this
link at ZDNet which talks a bit about overclocking CPUs and the Intel stance on the
issue. Here is a quote from ArsTechnica:
The good news, however, is the article's report that the bus lock is still not implemented yet. Even more interesting is the article's headline: Intel will release software that can determine a processor's factory MHz rating. Of course some of us have been saying from the beginning that this is the best way to do it.
TRIBES 2 [5:15 am]
MGO has posted a new interview with Scott Youngblood
of Dynamix asking a few questions about TRIBES2. Here are the quotes VE snagged and I'm gonna use too:
MGON: So what's in the future for Tribes?
Scott: In about 14 months, Tribes 2 should be out.MGON: What are some of the key enhancements from Tribes 1 to Tribes 2?
Scott: The terrain is going to be changed a lot; no more 'growing' mountains and obvious visual changes will be present. We're coding a new terrain engine that is possible of creating much more life-like scenes, including rough-looking areas, like ridges. Also, we'll be able to put water in the levels as well.
Speaking of which, how many of you guys want a TRIBES messageboard? Drop me a line and say so. If I get enough mail on the subject I'll go ahead and open one up for ya.
Heretic2 EP Released [YESTERDAY]
From yesterday since it's a big deal: Goth sends word
that he dug up the Heretic2
Expansion Pack in the aCtivision download section without any official notification.
Here are all the files guys, have fun. Thanks also to ^Drag0n^ for the link. Keep in mind
the FTP is loaded, so you'll probably have to try a few times.
Toolkit: Toolkit_Updater_v1-04.exe or Toolkit_Updater_v1-04.exe
Heretic II Enhancement Pack EP_v1-04.exe or EP_v1-04.exe
H2 EP Deathmatch Maps Ht2_EP_DM_Maps.exe or Ht2_EP_DM_Maps.exe
werd
Eh? I dunno what I'm doing awake. Feel like crap. But
damn, you dont look so hot yourself this time of night either.
I thought I was gonna come up with some wisdom yesterday, but I guess it didnt happen. I'm a rat bastard once in a while, ya know?
| Wednesday, March 17 |
Q1Edge [8:15 pm]
Tim Willits of id
Software has released his conversion of the ever popular Q2DM1 map for Quake2 on the
Quake1 world. Check out his .plan update, here ya go:
I had an old Quake 1 map lying around so I thought I would release it. This map was originally built for the Quake 1 arcade game, a conversion of "The Edge" for Quake2. I added some teleporters to it in hopes of speeding up gameplay and help prevent camping. For those of you who like to play Quake 1 I hope you enjoy this. q1edge.zip
Thanks, Tim
Anachronox Page & Trailer [6:15 pm]
The official Anachronox
web page is now online and looking pretty sharp, they have also posted a new trailer
with footage from the game to check out while you're there. Here is a direct link for the video.
Unreal Tournament [5:15
pm]
Stallion from PlanetUnreal
sends word of a huge 80mb video with footage
from Unreal Tournament posted over at GameSpot UK. There is also a playtest report
as well as PCGW
preview.
EA Finals Q2 Demo [5:15
pm]
The NetGamesUSA
guys send word that they have put together a re-cam demo of the immortal / RIX finals
match.
Zarathustra Studios is proud to unveil a recam of the one-on-one finals match between Rix and Immortal, which was played this past weekend at the CPL Extreme Annihilation event in Texas. Info on the CPL event can be found at NetgamesUSA or the recam itself can be found at Z.S.
Sorry about the server down time today.
Team Fortress2 [7:15
am]
Valve Software,
those folks behind the ever cool Half-Life have made the announcement that TF2 will be
using the Intel's Multiresolution Mesh technology as described in this
ZDNN article I spotted on Blues. What, you
want screenshots? Well here are a
few screenshots for you to check out which are pretty smooth stuff.
Valve LLC, the makers of the blockbuster PC game Half-Life, announced today that they will be using Intel’s Multiresolution Mesh Technology for their upcoming title Team Fortress 2. This technology will allow Valve to create a "scaleable" game with highly detailed, realistic looking models that automatically adjust performance to the gamer’s PC.
"We believe the PC is the ultimate entertainment platform," said Gabe Newell, Valve co-founder and managing director. "By combining Intel’s new MRM technology with our own Parametric Animation skeletal modeling system, we’re able to create realistic-looking models that move the way real people do. This represents a huge advance in terms of making PC entertainment more appealing for a broader spectrum of users."
Force Feedback Mouse? [7:15 am]
Oh jeeze, a force feedback mouse it is now. Chris
Geroux spotted this press
release over at the Logitech page and um, I'm gonna have to check one of these things
out. Sounds pretty interesting to say the least. It would go perfectly with that
overpriced $40 mousepad that I use.
Intel Merced [7:15 am]
Just because I find this stuff so damn interesting,
the next-gen CPU's that we'll all be pulling 900+ fps with Quake2 with and stuff. I'm
gonna quote the always cool ArsTechnica cuz
these guys know more than me :)
More next-generation CPU dirt from the VLSI Microprocessors site, but this time it’s a Merced preview I combed through a lot of material for my own IA-64 preview, so I’ve read most of what’s out there right now, and I can say that this is one of the best pieces of work on IA-64 I’ve seen.
FiringSquad GDC Report [7:15 am]
The FiringSquad guys just got home from day1 at the
GDC event and have done up an
article. They got a look at Quake3, TNT2, Rage128, Permedia3, and TFC among other
things. Here is a bit on his Quake3 blurb:
The rocket launcher model was complete, looking very much like a mix of the Doom and Quake 1 RL (look at the recently released pic of the Doom marine for a good idea of how it looks), and the SSG model cleaned up. I love the look of the SSG and RL! They're not fancy, animated doo-dads like Quake II, but rather beautifully solid, shiny thick metal gun-barrels - simple but elegant
Ass-Wack Links [7:15 am]
I'm just falling behind this week eh? Well I slapped
together the wack-ass links for the day
for you guys, I may have to be exposed to sunlight a bit today and run some errands, but
I'll try to make my way back to the house to bust out some words of wisdom at a reasonable time.
SIN CTF [7:15 am]
SIN CTF is out. Scott Alden of Ritual Entertainment updated
his .plan file with the news and download
information. There are a couple of servers up and running for you guys to check it out.
Views [7:15 am]
Tech [7:15 am]
Gaming [7:15 am]
werd
Ok I'm pretty much done dissapearing for several
hours at a time now. Sorry about leavin you guys hangin like that. Check back later and
I'll have some stuff for ya for breakfast. Also catch up on the wack links and wisdom :)
| Tuesday, March 16 |
Wheel of Time Footage [4:55 pm]
Demandred (BORK BORK BORK) sent word that the Legend
Entertainment folks have updated their Wheel of Time
project page with some new AVI
footage of the game as well as a boatload of new screenshots for you to check out
to boot. I've snagged a couple of my favorites here. There is a new preview at PVR Revolution as
well.
Quake3 Footage [3:55 pm]
Quake3 was showing on the big screen at the Extreme Annihilation, Jams from Q3Arena.net was the first man to send word of the footage.
Here is the quote from Redwood who also posted a
mirror on Stomped:
Avault has posted a Quake 3 Arena AVI (15.7MB) with footage from the Q3A demo shown at Extreme Annihilation. They also have a bunch of pictures up from the event now. I have mirrored the movie on Stomped (15.7MB). It's filming of the big screen it was displayed on but it's still cool.
Romero on Daikatana [6:15 am]
Seron from WiredNews
was kind enough to forward part of a Q&A with John Romero concerning some of the
negative response Daikatana has gotten after the MPlayer DM demo release. A few Ion Storm
employees are also answering questions and asking for feedback over at the Daikatana messageboard.
WN: What would your response be to people claiming the Daikatana DM demo is mediocre at best?
JR: I say they should wait for the full demo of the game (it will be released this summer, just before the game ships) and not base their purchasing decision off a demo that was created for a tournament.
WN: Will there be any significant changes to the way Daikatana DM plays between now and the retail version?
JR: Oh yes, there are four time periods and each one has its own look and feel and style. Also, there are numerous options that will be included in the final that aren't in the MPlayer demo (which did not warrant all the options, only the ones needed for the tourney).
TFC LAN Test [6:15 am]
Here is an email from Gabe Newell of Valve Software on the release of Team Fortress
Classic for Half-Life. I had a chance to check it out at the Extreme Annihilation tourney
and it was indeed very cool looking. I'm sure I'll waste many hours playing it when the
patch is finally released. :)
Once we have a Team Fortress Classic release candidate, we'd like to have interested people put together LAN parties to test TFC and get us their feedback. This is separate from the Primary Server Program. People who have enrolled in the Primary Server Program will also be receiving the release candidate. This is also separate from the release to the games sites, which will go out before the LAN Party test so the game sites will have a chance to do their previews. Everybody who receives this email directly from me should already be getting their press copy from Jenni Gant which should go out on the 19th.
People who are interested should send mail to LANParty@valvesoftware.com and include a URL pointing to a website that describes their LAN event. This will happen the week of March 22nd.
So the schedule is:
- March 19th, TFC release to game sites for previews
- Week of March 22nd, TFC release candidate for LAN parties
- Week of March 22nd, TFC release candidate for Primary Server Program
- March 26th, current planned general release date via Half-Life's autoupdate or download from game sites
LithTech2 [6:15 am]
Mike Dussalt of Monolith has a pretty lengthy
.plan update talking about developments for the next generation LithTech engine that
so many games were based on.
Matrox G400 [6:15 am]
All kinds of info on the new Matrox G400. The official press release
is over at MURC, also there is a preview of the card over at
GA-Source as well. Don't forget the guys at 4-gamers.net and
their info to boot.
Matrox has been a bit less specific when discussing clock speeds. The fill-rate should be in the 250-300 Mpix/s range (which corresponds to 125/150 Mhz). They're not rejecting the idea of producing chips with multiple clock speeds, similar to the TNT2 and Voodoo3. They have, however, indicated the 3D performance of the G400 at 3 times that of the G200. 150x2=100x3 (150 MHz, single pass multitexturing, 100 MHz). This estimate seems to confirm 150 MHz.
Views [6:15 am]
Tech [6:15 am]
werd
Yeah, I dissapeared all afternoon. Had to take over
the Ion movie room to watch some Big Lebowski action, then head over to the local
Humperdinks and down a few drinks. Alcohol is great, but only when you drink a lot of it.
Like the moron I am I forgot to upload the suckage before I took off. Here you go, sorry about the delay. I'm
going to pass out now thank you.
update: Bah, ended up doing a morning update instead. Call me crazy.
| Monday, March 15 |
More Quake3 [3:35 pm]
Got a few more Q&A's with Disruptor and Zoid of
id Software concerning a number of aspects of Quake3 over at the shack.quake3 board. Thanks as
always to Caleb Moore.
Q: Can I convert old Quake1/Quake2 maps easily to Quake3?
Answer: Q3Radiant can read in either Q1 or Q2 map files, so you should be able to convert your existing maps with a bit of work (mainly retexturing)
-Xian
note: speaking of Quake3 editing, Fishman at Gamedesign.net has some tutorials on getting started with QERadiant.
Q: Is strafe jumping from Q2 in Q3?
Answer: Yep. Strafe jumping is in Q3A at present.
-Xian
Q: In Quake3 CTF, will blue team guys spawn in the red base sometimes?
Answer: Q2CTF pretty much followed this rule as well. The only exceptions where q2ctf4 (just outside the actual 'internal' bases) and q2ctf5 since the base room was a big huge room to begin with. The usual way my CTF worked was everyone spawned in their base at start, but respawns occur whereever the level designer put deathmatch spawn points in the map. This gives a good random distribution of respawns, but also removes the problem of you assaulting an enemy base, killing everyone, only have them respawn in the base you killed them in (StarSeige Tribes does this alot and drives me bananas). It's really up to the level designer for the spawn pads. This is message is discussion about previous CTF versions--we'll see how Q3A's method works out. :)
/// Zoid.
Answer2:I agree with this. The way we have it is that the red and blue team spawn on team specific pads that should be placed in their bases or close to them.
-Xian
Daikatana [3:35 pm]
GA-Source has a pretty good interview
with Larry Herring of Ion Storm, level designer on the Daikatana project. There is a
fair amount of information discussing the different time periods etc.
Soldier of Fortune [3:35 pm]
Emu-Land has posted an interview with Kenn Hoekstra of Raven Software
discussing the Quake2 engine based Soldier of Fortune title that is in development over
there.
TNT2 & Diamond etc [3:05 pm]
Mike Chambers from Viper3D
dug up several press releases today for those of you who just cant wait for that TNT2
card. Here are the releases from both nVidia and Diamond:
nVidia TNT2: http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/990315/ca_nvidia_2.html
Diamond Viper V770: http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/990315/ca_diamond_3.html
Diamond InControl Tools 99: http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/990315/ca_diamond_1.html
Elsa Synergy II: http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/990315/il_elsa_gr_1.html
Yeah, I just woke up.. hehe. Gonna eat then get some suck done.
More Hook on Q3 Benchmarks [3:05 pm]
Seems a number of people are crawling up Brian Hook's
ass about these benchmarks for all sorts of reasons. Brian has posted
yet another .plan update explaining why they should just take a chill pill:
Seems like every product I have to go through the same Q&A with benchmarks and deal with the same stuff. I think I'm going to save this update for an FAQ next year :-)
1. "Why don't you test on a Pentium/PentiumMMX/K6-2/P2/Celeron/Linux/WinNT, is it because your engine sucks?"
No, it's because John hired me as a programmer, not a professional benchmarker. I could easily spend weeks doing nothing but benchmarking in every conceivable configuration. The last round of benchmarks was attempting to show what a high end configuration is capable of. We will likely run some benchmarks on a lower end CPU at some point, but this type of stuff pretty much eats an entire day, and Q3TEST is a bigger priority right now.
2. "Dude, Q2 benchmarks shows XYZ running faster than ABC, so obviously you're screwed up"
Q3 is not Q2, and has a different set of performance criteria than Q2. Just like Q2 was different than Q1.
3. "It's not fair that you were comparing an overclocked XYZ vs. an underclocked ABC"
The benchmark numbers were on a preliminary build of an unreleased game running on pre-production hardware using beta drivers. In other words, this stuff is subject to change. That said, both the TNT2 and V3 were running at their lowest common clockspeeds (125/150 on the TNT2 and 143 on the V3).
Alien vs Predator Gold [3:05 pm]
Alien vs Predator has finally gone gold according to
the folks at Alien vs Predator Network. -Blues
TFC & Valve Hirings [4:30 am]
Valve Software
has added 4 new members to the roster over there. Charlie Brown, Gary McTaggart, David
Speyerer, and Dhabih Eng. Gabe Newell also mentions they are still on the hunt for a
project manager and level/game designers. Here is the part of the letter sent out which
also mentions TFC will be going gold in a couple of weeks.
We're planning on releasing Team Fortress Classic in two weeks. We had 18 PCs running TFC at the CPL Extreme Annihilation tournament (thanks to everyone involved). The feedback from the TF clans who played gives us more confidence that we are on track to go gold in 1 week. After we go gold we'll get it out to a bunch of people to test in real-world environments, and then release it broadly on the 26th via the Half-Life autoupdate mechanism as well as download from any sites who want to host it. Doug Lombardi at Sierra is working out the details of the test release, and which will be going out to members of the Primary Server Program, and to people who are willing to put together a LAN event to put TFC through it's paces.
Quake3 & Classic Maps [YESTERDAY]
Carried over from yesterday since the interest in
this is so high: Disruptor from id Software made a couple of postings to the shack.quake3 board of interest. Here
is his post that started it all:
I saw a few posts about people wanting older maps in Q3A. We don't have any concrete plans, but *IF* they were to be included in Q3A, it wouldn't be in the single player rotation. They'd probably be included as "easter egg" maps for net/lan play only.
And yes, Tim has done a conversion of Q1DM6 to Q3A. As stated above, it's unknown at this time if these maps will ever be released
He also makes an incredible prediction on the Q3Test release date. Thanks dogweazle for spotting the posts.
Views [4:35 am]
Tech [4:35 am]
Gaming [4:35 am]
werd
Whew, pulled an all-nighter catching up on email as
much as I could. That is the most I've dealt with in a long damn time. I'm gonna pass out
now for a little while then wake up refreshed and ready to post the monday bitch session
about stuff that sucks. :)
Maybe I'll get to finally play Daikatana today.
| Sunday, March 14 |
TNT pushing .plan [10:40 pm] - Marcus 'Majesty' Yam
All of this talk about 3D cards on upcoming games has
made me kinda...amazed and giddy. Ridah has updated his
.plan on why TNT might do the Kingpin dance a little prettier than the V2:
Just to add to Brian Hook's recent comparisons between a TNT in 16bit mode versus the Voodoo2.. the TNT will deliver quite a large visual quality difference over the V2 in Kingpin. The TNT can handle dark textures much better, and also will store textures using 32bit texels, so for some weapon skins that have an alpha map, they'll look better on a TNT in both 16 and 32 bit color depths.
Also, the V2 doesn't like blending a dark texture into the scene using a low alpha modulation, due to the way it calculates the blend result. For this reason, effects like smoke will use a different blending method on V2 (additive) rather than the TNT's more realistic blend. The end result, is smoke on a V2 looks more like steam (since it's brighter), whereas the TNT shows a thick dark-grey smoke effect.
Nevertheless, we're still seeing more robust performance during large battles using the V2, where the TNT can struggle to keep up the pace. I'm currently working on optimizations for this though, since we still consider framerate the #1 priority.
Okay, so maybe it looks like "massive .plan attack" and "praise TNT" weekend...
Hook, .plan, 3D cards, etc... [10:00 pm] - Marcus 'Majesty' Yam
This is getting nutty. I love it!! (really, I have a
thing for video cards ;) More .plan updates
from Brian talking about Voodoo.
Another common question is "If V2/V3 are so fast, why would anyone want to get a TNT/TNT2/R128/S4?"
The biggest downsides to running on a Voodoo vs. a 32-bit accelerator are:
- blurier textures (both because of gl_picmip 1 and the 256x256 max texture size)
- reduced image quality because of banding
- no stencil buffer volumetric shadows (which aren't a first tier feature of the graphics engine anyway)So if you have a V2, you're not missing out on THAT much compared to a TNT, but the TNT will definitely look better in 32-bit mode. The only thing a TNT in 16-bit mode offers over the V2 are A.) no need to gl_picmip and B.) larger max texture size, which translates to crisper textures.
CPL Tournament [2:45 pm]
Ah, fully recovered from the CPL Tournament. Congrats to immortal for the
win. You can check out
the full brackets and stats over at the NetGames
USA page. I dont know when all the demos will be online. Here are the top finishers:
1st:immortal 2nd:RiX 3rd:Makaveli 4th:Unholy 5th:Waterboy 6th:Silkk
Daikatana [2:45 pm]
John Romero has a .plan
update following up the release of the Daikatana demo and the playing at the CPL
Tournament. (I hope to play it tonight or tomorrow) More interestingly though are a pair
of answers from Romero to 3DNews.net:
Q:With the release of the Daikatana demo there was a flurry of downloads to get it. However, the mass of the players reactions to it is negative.(looking at the usenet I have yet to see a completely positive review) Many feel it is dated and uninspired. Others just didn't find it all that fun with the one hit kills. What are your thoughts about all these negative feelings about the demo?
A:"The internet breeds negativity, so I usually disregard posts on it. I've gotten a few negative emails and more positive ones than negative ones. I'm confident that when people see the the full game this summer, they will love it."
GamePost has posted a review of the demo if you are having problems developing your own opinion of the game.
Diamond TNT2 & Savage4 [5:15 pm]
Fastgraphics has gotten a hold of the spec sheets for the upcoming
Diamond TNT2 and Savage4 based 3D cards. I had been under the impression that the TNT2
would be king for Quake3. However looking at the recent
.plan update from Brian Hook that might not be the case.
The specs of Diamonds new consumer level products, the Stealth III S520, the Stealth III S540 and the flagship, the Viper V770. The specsheets had the word "confidential" written all over them, and I must also emphasize that the (preliminary) sheets were dated Feb 27 1999. I'm pretty confident however that these specs are reliable and that they represent the final products
More Hook on Q3 & 3D Cards [5:15 pm]
Brian Hook posted some benchmarks and comments on
several 3D accelerators and how they perform with Quake3 the other day. He's been
following up with a couple more
updates concerning Voodoo2 stuff which was the surprise of the bunch. Basically
keeping up neck and neck with next generation cards from other vendors amazingly. Here are
his latest comments on SLI:
Went and bought two STB Black Magic Voodoo2 boards and put them in an SLI configuration. Tested out at a little over 36fps, putting it in the same ballpark as a single V2. However, since you can't disable vsync in an SLI configuration, it actually runs SLOWER than a single V2 since it's formed to vsync.
So at this point I think the V2 is driver limited at 640x480, not fill limited. When I cranked the res to 1024x768 the performance dropped about 19% even though the number of pixels over doubled, so they're definitely throughput limited. So, unfortunately, at this point a V2 SLI won't buy you much, if anything, with Q3 until 3Dfx's drivers are optimized a bit more.
werd
Yes I missed a few things I'm sure, we'll just save
that for the massive Monday update though ok? I'll continue to stumble through all the
email this evening. Things will be back on track by Monday and of course now that I'm home
the weekly sections will resume as well. :)
I ordered a Dominoes pizza today and it arrived in like 20 minutes today, freakin amazing.
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