Friday, October 23

SHOGO Patch [LATE]
I'll be darned, the SHOGO patch came out on time from the boys at Monolith. Check out www.planetshogo.com for some more details and download info. Here is Kevin Stephen's .plan update:

First off I just want to make one thing about the Alpha patch perfectly clear. It CAN mess up your single player game. Shogo v1.0 saved games WILL NOT work with Shogo v1.1 (Alpha). Period. Jace was smoking crack when he wrote his plan file ;)

Half-Life Interview [LATE]
The boys over at Gamer's Alliance has posted their interview with Ted Backman & Marc Laidlaw of Valve software. This interview of course concerns Half-Life, the new thriller set to come out soon

Heretic2 Reactions [LATE]
3DGW being spanky quick have slapped up their review of the Heretic II demo. I'll be throwing together a look at Heretic2 as well as KHG over the weekend btw. Gamer's Link has posted 42 screenshots of Heretic II. You can check out these high-res shots anytime ya want.

Heretic2 "Lock" Fix [LATE]
Those guys over at Activision informed me that they have posted an unlock and a full-demo version for Heretic II. The demo that you downloaded today is set to expire November 1st, but just download their unlock add-on from this page.

Heretic2 [4:35pm]
Well, the demo was released late last night / early this morning. First thing I'm sure you guys want a list of mirrors to download it from so here you go: ZDNet http://hotfiles.zdnet.com/ GameSpot FTP ftp://heretic.gamespot.com/ Raven Archives ftp://ftp.ravenarchives.com/ Activision http://www4.activision.com/ GameSpot http://www.gamespot.com/ WarZone warzone.com.. /heretic2.shtml PlanetQuake Download NOW! CDROM.COM Download NOW! Gamers.ORG Download NOW! PCGamer ftp://ftp.pcgamer.com/ Stomped ftp://ftp.stomped.com/

Next you may want to read what all the boys at Raven have to say after the release in their .plan updates right? John Slaine updates about the Glide requirements for different 3dfx cards and the patch possibly getting cancelled?

There has been mention of a demo patch. However, Activision now seem to have changed their minds. I think the status of a demo patch is "undefined".

Rick Johnson updates about the networking code included in the Heretic2 demo and how it turned out pretty well but will be improved even more for the final release. Rick also made an update concerning the fact that you DO NOT need a 3dfx card to run the demo. A software renderer is included.

Networking will be addressed further for the final release. The client prediction seems to be working well (good job to Marcus and Gil), though we are going to put some more limits in (sounds mainly). As with anything, real networking situations provide a lot of useful info.

Jeremy Statz updated with word that there are a couple of Heretic2 multiplayer DM servers online at master.ravensoft.com and equalizer.ravensoft.com.

Oh, and no I still havent played it. That oh so perfect IE web browser has crashed twice and screwed my download. I do believe I'm using Netscape again.

SHOGO Patch Tonight [4:35pm]
Word from Jason Hall and PlanetShogo is that the multiplayer patch will be released tonight at 10pm PST. Monolith deserves a cookie if they actually hit that deadline on the head. Here is a bit of the PR:

Dying to play a really hot Shogo deathmatch? The waiting is over! Get your hands on the Alpha version of the Shogo: Mobile Armor Division multiplayer point release. The Alpha patch will be available for download tonight starting at 10 p.m. from http://www.planetshogo.com and http://www.shogo-mad.com/patch/n=7000. Multiplayer servers can be located by using GameSpy, the multiplayer gaming and server support service which is included on your Shogo CD. If you think Shogo rocks in Single-player, you ain’t seen nothin yet! The Alpha patch will IMMEDIATELY improve the performance of your Shogo multiplayer games. Be warned, however. This patch is only an Alpha, which means it remains incomplete and may destabilize single-player games. The complete, finallized patch will still be released, as promised, on November 15th.

Mike Dussalt has some more details on the patch in his .plan file

The Shogo alpha patch is done! Should be a matter of hours before it's downloadable. We got a ton of cool little things in there at the last minute:
- GameSpy/Shogosrv player ping viewing
- Connection time much faster
- Each client can control the rate they get updates at
- Updated Shogosrv UI
- MaxFPS
- Gamma fixes for PowerVR and Permedia2s
- Spawn in effects

Unreal [4:35pm]
Tim Sweeney is still updating the Unreal Tech page with information on the work he's slaving away on in fixing up Unreal for all you peoples. He's also excited about Hired Guns:

Want to see something cool and unique that's being done with the Unreal engine?   Check out the Hired Guns preview.  The Devil's Thumb team is really pushing the engine, and has implemented a beautiful user-interface design featuring multiple game windows. I look forward to playing this game. (Thanks PlanetUnreal for pointing out the preview).

Deus Ex [4:35pm]
Warren Spector, the head-honcho of the Dues Ex development team (Unreal engine based game) , has asked that question on the Ion Storm Bulletin Board. Here is his post:

Do you folks feel it's important that you get to pick your character's name in a roleplaying game?
Do you mind when a game hands you a character with a strong personality and a name (Lara, Duke, etc.)?

Blood2 Demo Next Week [4:35pm]
Brian Goble of Monolith made another .plan update hinting at the release of the Blood2 demo next week. Monolith is working with the GameSpy guys to have support out the door so things should be cool.

Views [4:35pm]

Tech Etc [4:35pm]

werd
Ok, looks like a reasonable amount of news posted.. Gotta hammer out that weekly section for you guys. I'm feeling much better and thanks for all the get well wishes. :) We're back on track now!

 

Thursday, October 22

Heretic2 Demo [LATE]
Well, here you go kiddies. The Heretic2 demo has finally been released. ZDNet has posted it. Here is a list of mirrors: Check out the GameSpot and ZDNet for fastest. PlanetQuake has some mirrors listed as well.

Quake2 v3.2 Beta [3:17pm]
Some beta releases this afternoon;

q2-3.20beta-x86.exe
q2ded-3.20beta-glibc-5.alpha.rpm
q2ded-3.20beta-glibc-alpha-unknown-linux2.0.tar.gz
quake2-3.20beta-5.i386.rpm
quake2-3.20beta-glibc-5.i386.rpm
quake2-3.20beta-glibc-i386-unknown-linux2.0.tar.gz
quake2-3.20beta-i386-unknown-linux2.0.tar.gz

**NOTE: Please note that 3.20 is a beta release. This is an interim release to allow wide testing of the new patch. 3.20 will fully interoperate with 3.19 servers. You will lose previous save games when upgrading with this patch, however. We encourage testing of this new patch. Please send any bug reports directly to Zoid at zoid@idsoftware.com

Heretic2 [2:16pm]
Keep an eye on www.hexen2.com for the release of the Heretic2 demo this evening. There are a number of interviews with different members of the Raven staff to celebrate the big upcoming release. Today features some chat with Mike Gummelt, programming dude.

NT4 SP4 [2:16pm]
Most people couldnt seem to get to the packed FTP sites yesterday for Microsoft's release of Service Pack 4 for NT. Here are a few of the mirrors listed thanks to TookyCat.

Intel x86 Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 4.0 (32,767,904 bytes)
ConXion San Jose
ConXion Washington D.C.
ConXion Chicago
Microsoft Software Library on web

System Shock 2 [2:16pm]
Through the Looking Glass (http://www.ttlg.com) has posted the first version of its unofficial System Shock 2 FAQ, compiling all currently known knowledge about the upcoming title from Irrational Games, Looking Glass Studios and Electronic Arts.

Views [1:35pm]

Tech Etc [1:35pm]

werd
Got one of the most incredible fevers I've had in a long time today.. Gonna grab some chicken soup and get some more rest. I'll try to keep an eye out for the Heretic2 demo this evening for you guys. (Assuming I dont die)

 

Wednesday, October 21

SHOGO Patch Friday [9:43pm]
Looks like the already much hyped SHOGO multiplayer patch will be seeing the light of day this Friday. Here is a snip from the Monolith SHOGO page forum:

Unfortunately, they left out one important piece of info...the version of the patch we are talking about releasling on Friday is an *ALPHA* version. The internet play is awesome--but it's not totally finished and/or bug-free yet. There(ure also tweaks we're making to the single-player game as well. :)

FRAG2 [9:43pm]
Several more announcements have been made by the CPL boys concerning Quake2. Most recently this Starsiege Tribes presentation announcement and the posting of the schedule. For the curious I'll be sporting the microphone during the event ridiculing players for poor performance and insulting their families.

Wheel of Time Shots [9:43pm]
The VUP3D guys have gotten a hold of 12 new screenshots of Wheel of Time from Legend Entertainment. These are the guys that will be handling the Unreal2 project next so go take a look at their handiwork.

Ultimate Poll Results [9:43pm]
Methos has finished up compiling the results from his most recent bigass Quake "community" poll. Now is where I say thanks for all you people who were fooled into thinking I'm a nice guy and voted for me. Blue got the shaft on that annoying vote.

Heretic2 [3:43pm]
Demo comes out tomorrow, so since we all know the most exciting way to have a party is on IRC why not participate in the festivities tonight?

To celebrate the release of Activision / Raven's Heretic II, HereticII.com will be hosting an online release party in #heretic2 on 3DNet IRC tomorrow, so drop in any time before 6:00pm Pacific / 8:00pm Central / 9:00pm Eastern. Don't be surprised if the Raven team shows up, they've been given the royal invite to join in the fgstivities and might be on hand to answer some questions and experience the day with us. Speaking of HereticII.com, Phoebus and Ancient1 have gotten the site up at http://www.hexenworld.com/hereticii/. Problems getting the actual domain functional will hopefully be fixed up soon, so for now use that URL. Features of the site include Richard "Sat" Connery's Official Heretic II FAQ, The Official Heretic II Webring, and to kick things off, a tag-team interview with the Heretic II Design Team.

NT4 Service Pack 4 [3:43pm]
BetaNews has word that the official NT4 Service Pack 4 from Microsoft has been released on their overpacked ftp site. Thanks shawn.

Improved reliability. Service Pack 4.0 improves the reliability of the Windows NT platform by providing all the current updates for Windows NT 4.0. Service Pack 4.0 also includes Windows NT Support Tools, such as Kernel Debugger Extensions, Pool Enhancements and the Kernel Memory Space Analyzer, which enhance supportability of Windows NT by providing advanced tools for crash dump analysis. With these tools, Windows support professionals can easily diagnose system problems and resolve issues quickly.

Deus Ex [5:23am]
Looks like the Dues Ex development team has been making use of the bulletin boards at Ion Storm to keep readers informed on all the latest. Witchboy on Dues Ex Gameplay:

regardless of whether each and every obstacle hallows for multiple solutions--which is, as warren said, The Goal(tm)--one thing we really want to support is multiple, cusotmized approaches based on play-style. in other words, if you like sneaking, then you should be able to sneak, spy and steal your way through Deus Ex. we don't want to get to the last 20% of the game and suddenly force the stealthy player to become 'rocket man' or whatever. as much as i loved Fallout (a great game), i was angry near the end when i could not continue sneaking along and instead had to start slugging it out more. i want Deus Ex to do a better job of allowing players to express themselves through

Prey? [5:23am]
Had to happen.. GameSlice has posted a new editorial speculating about the impacts that will be made to 3DR with the departure of the main programmer and project manager.

However, there is cause for concern about why the game would get to this point, especially considering the fact that Schuytema had been on the project for over a year. Usually creative differences are evident very early on, and that’s why the announcement that he had left came as somewhat of a shock to the industry. One has to wonder what was the straw the broke the camel’s back so to speak. Why did what happen occur when it did? What could have been done to prevent it? All valid questions that are virtually unanswerable based on that current information

Q2 v3.20 Soon [5:23am]
Saw this quote on VE from Chris of PlanetQuake on Zoid's work on Q2 v3.20 nearing completion

We are working hard on a 3.20 patch now that addresses issues that appeared in 3.19. There are several fixes to the game library, so we're holding after that.

3.20 addresses most of all the current outstanding bugs and issues with Quake2. We are currently in internal testing and will be releasing a 3.20 as a public beta (it is fully interoperable with 3.19).

Speaking of Q2, PingTool has a new filter which checks for servers with the ZBot checker. Check out the new version of Generations for Q2 as well.

Half-Life [5:23am]
Lookie, a press release from Sierra for the release of Half-Life. Thanks to Gamers Alliance

BELLEVUE, WA - October 20, 1998 - Sierra Studios announced today their upcoming 3D action thriller, Half-Life, one of the most anticipated titles of 1998, will be in stores by Thanksgiving weekend. The game will go gold later this month, and retail outlets will start seeing the game in mid-November, just in time for the busiest buying weekend of the year. Pre-orders have given the heads of corporate offices within Cendant Software all indications that Half-Life will be the biggest product launch of 1998 for the company.

Blood2 [5:23am]
Jay Wilson made another .plan update with some more info on the Blood2 demo

The demo will include 2 single player levels, about a half dozen creatures, around 8 weapons, Caleb as the playable character, and a few other surprises. It will feature most of our gameplay features, like guns akimbo, hit location, and limb loss. We're still speculating on what the creatures and weapons will be, so again, don't ask. :) It will be a good mix, though.

The demo will not include multiplayer or save/load. This is to cut down on the demo size and testing (so we can get it to you sooner). We will most likely release a multiplayer demo after the game is completed.

SIN [5:23am]
Wanna test SIN? Well you could be in luck if you live in Dallas. probably a bit late but check out Don's .plan but keep in mind you have to be hardcore and a fan though. Perhaps if you're lucky you can pick up some game design tips from the master while you are there.

Weekly Section [5:23am]
Missed it yesterday from being gone all day.. oops. Here are todays wacky links though and I hope you guys still like me? <pout>

Tech Etc [1:35pm]

werd
Guys chill with all the emails about hardware please. I dont remember seeing a sign on my page that says "email Steve Gibson, your hardware guru" because guess what.. I dont know a hell of a lot about this stuff either. Speaking of which got a spiffy new cpu coming in today so I will probably dissapear again for a while. :) About time for a shack.hardware forum on the msgboard eh?

 

Tuesday, October 20

Doh [10:43pm]
Got yanked out of the house all day.. Just got in. I'll play catch up for you guys in a bit. Shit happens.

Blood2 Demo Soon [12:43pm]
Brian Goble updated his .plan over at Monolith with word of the pending Blood2 demo to be released on the net for all the good boys and girls to download.

Over the weekend, I some how volunteered myself to lead the task of putting together the Blood2 demo. That's right, there will be an awesome Blood2 demo coming your way soon! Should be out early next week at the latest. (once I get something into QA's hands, I'll have a better idea--it could be sooner)
This wouldn't be so bad except that we're also going to be putting together the gold master CD for the full version of Blood2 this weekend as well! There's Blood everywhere!

After you check that out have a look at Jason Hall's .plan update:

Blood 2 is officially in Beta testing. Actually it's been in testing for awhile, but as of last Wednesday we locked the code and are now concentrating on bug fixes, game balancing, and optimizations. Gold is not too far off! You'll definitely be playing B2 well before Thanksgiving. :)

SHOGO Multiplayer [12:43pm]
PlanetSHOGO has posted a preview of sorts with very optimistic reports of how well SHOGO plays over the internet. To say I'll be awful surprised if it comes out as good as Quake2 net code on the first try would be an understatement.

I just spent 3 hours, possibly longer, on the phone with Jason Hall, Mike Dussault, and Brian Goble of Monolith Productions while testing the alpha of the Shogo patch. I was absolutely stunned.

  As you may know from my multiplayer Shogo review at LANparty.com, I love the gameplay. Kicks it live! And now those of you poor critters who can't go out and LAN can have your multiplayer Shogo and frag it too.

Trespasser [12:43pm]
For those of you who havent heard yet, Trespasser has gone gold. Here's a bit from the Trespasser.com website:

There's GOLD in dem der hills. It's official.. Trespasser is gold. You should see it on the shelves by Halloween, perhaps earlier at Target. It actually happened last week, but we're cleared to officially announce it now.

ZBot Defense [12:43pm]
Check back at the Lithium page often, it looks like WhiteFang is making it his hobby to make life a bit less fun for those poor fools that want to use a ZBot when playing Quake2. Grab a copy of his latest defense and install it on your Quake2 server.

Anachronox Input [12:43pm]
Tom Hall and the rest of the Anachronox team from ION Storm are looking for your input on their upcoming 3D console-style Sci-Fi RPG. In order to contribute your thoughts and ideas on this matter, visit the Anachronox Developer's Board and post under one of the following threads:

LEVELS AND ENVIRONMENTS - Tom Hall
MUSIC AND SOUND - Tom Hall
CHARACTERS - Tom Hall
CONTROLS - Tom Hall
GENERAL RPG IDEAS - Tom Hall
BATTLE MODE STUFF - Tom Hall

SIN Editing [12:43pm]
Charlie W over at Ritual updated his .plan with a bit more info on the tools release yesterday for SIN.

We released the tools to Sin earlier today (without too much hoopla or fanfare). They let you do anything you want with Sin that is within the bounds of the demo (any weapons, monsters, blah blah blah). So go make some DM maps in the short time you have left before the full version of Sin is done and in your hands. Go check out Ritualistic and The Node for places to grab them

New Frogbot [12:43pm]
The bot that seems to have risen to the top of all Quake1 bots has been updated again. A new version of the Frogbot was released this weekend and what is most impressive is the release of the source code. All you guys out there looking to do cool AI better have a look at this.

NT4 Service Pack 4- NOT [1:28am]
Ok damn it this is two in two days.. Originally I said Thanks to Rob for the word confirming the "rumors" floating around earlier yesterday. But... NO Check it:

I originally mailed you saying that it was released, but due to a misunderstanding with the moderator of NT bugtraq (my source) and an network outage between myself and Microsoft, which I mistook for high latency on their end.... to cut to the point,  SP4 is not out yet... MS had the final bug-test version for beta testers at that location in the AM, but it was removed. Providing no bugs crop up, the rumours are a Wensday AM release.

Views [1:35pm]

Tech Etc [1:35pm]

werd
Just scored one of the larger 3M mouse pads in the mail. Much larger, a bit thicker, and smooth as hell. Grab one and impress your friends.

Er, its 4:55am and I'm just now getting to sleep. Hope nothing exciting happens in the morning.. I'll be up at a reasonable hour for you guys.. gotta revamp my sleep schedule again. joy.

 

Monday, October 19

Get The Shaft From Carmack [11:38pm]
Word from Cyberathlete Headquarters is that John Carmack of id Software has offered up a prize to the winner of the CPL Tournament FRAG2 to be held at the end of this month in Dallas, TX. In addition to the $5000 cash and various computer parts Mr Carmack is offering a special engraved piston from his Ferrari. Probably one that he blew so you cant use it in your own Ferrari though, sorry kids.

Wheel of Time [7:48pm]
The WOT website has been updated again this Monday with some nifty new screenshots of the game as well as some chat on what the team is up to right now in development. Here's a couple shots for ya:

Basically, the good news is that everyone's doing great work.  James just created this kick-ass world level which connects three citadels--definitely the best world map I've seen to date (from which the above thumbnail is taken).  The level is to be combined with Scott's upcoming citadel variants to produce a polished, shippable multi-player map.

SINED [2:18pm]
Ritualistic hosted site The Node has got the exclusive release of Ritual's SinED + compiling tools. This version will only work with the demo. Check the bottom of scripting.htm

Suck! [4:08pm]
Aha! Check out the suckage for today before you head home eh?

P2-450 for P2-300 Price [4:08pm]
Well I just scored one of these today and figured its such great stuff all you guys would want to know. Intel apparently remarked a large shipment of p2-450 CPU's as p2-300's for either market or manufacture reasons. At any rate they are out on the market now. Check out www.tweak3d.com for some good details. Here's the skinny:

There are a few specific step #s that indicate that the P2 300 has the .25 micron and 4.5 ns cache. They are SL2W6, SL2W7, SL2W8, SL2YK, SL2VY, and SL35V. The most common of which, and most likely to reach 450+ is the SL2W8... keep in mind, Intel is trying hard to get rid of these fast so people don't remark them and sell for a huge profit.

So if you can dig one up, grab it.. slap it on a good ol Abit BH6 board or your choice and crank it to 450.. Most likely will run stable at 504mhz as well.

DX6 for NT4? Er.. no [1:38pm]
Um, oops.. hehe thought it was DX6 for NT4, one moment getting spammed with how DX6 for NT4 is out, the next moment getting spammed with how I'm wrong. oh well. Here is one of the many correction emails I received:

This is not DX6 for NT4, its Direct Media
NT4 will never have anything higher than dx3, although MS claims SP4 will have DX changes that allow all DX6 games (that dont use d3d) to run, but that remains to be seen :)

Speaking of which over at BetaNews there is this:

Microsoft has created some additional hidden directories on their FTP, this time with a few text files. Rumor has it that the final release is going to be posted there sometime today, but there isn't any hard proof. Check it out:

microsoft.com .. /ussp4/

Heretic2 (3 Days!) [1:38pm]
Hexen2.com has posted an interview with Jeremy Terata of Raven Software who did a large number of levels on the soon to be released Heretic2 project. (3 days till the demo!)

The camera's cool, have no fear.  The Man, Marcus Whitlock, has it working really well.  Aiming is fairly Doom-style -- It autoaims up and down, and somewhat left and right, but you've got to be fairly lined for it to take over.  This isn't a Tomb-Raider "if you can see it it'll aim at it" setup. Personally, I disable the autoaim and don't have much trouble hitting things, either with or without the crosshair.  Preferably, you'd use the mouse and mlook to aim, but it's pretty playable with a gamepad and keyboard, too.

You can still specify an FOV, I believe, and there are console commands for setting the camera's distance, damp factor, etc.  The dampening, at least, will also be menu selectable.  If you want it real mushy or not you can tell it so.

Speaking of which, did you guys know they are switching to the Unreal engine? Funny that Rick mentions "net traffic" in his update. :)

Hook's 3D Roundup [1:38pm]
Brian Hook covers all the bases in his latest Grandmaster B rounding up the 3D accelerators out there and pretty much saying you guys are goofballs if you dont buy a TNT. He also says you guys better have a Voodoo2 though if you are gonna play glide games.

SHOGO Net Code [1:38pm]
Jason Hall is feeling brave and decided to compare the yet to be released and widely played SHOGO net code to Quake2 v3.19 which we are all playing.

I tested out various ping times while connected to the server over my modem ranging from 50ms to 300ms, and although you can obviously feel a difference between a 50 and 300 ping in any game, you can't really tell a difference in lag between a 300 ping in Shogo and a 300 ping in Quake 2 3.19!!! So I think we are there! Not bad for a first pass! OF course we'll still improve it...

FRAG2 [1:38pm]
AVault has begun their pre-game coverage of FRAG2 for this Halloween big LAN party CPL action with $5,000 in cash going to the best Quake2 player who shows up in Dallas at the end of this month.

Views [1:35pm]

shot1 , shot2 , shot3 , shot4

Views [1:35pm]

werd
Bummer the moment I get a 300a I hear about those remarked p2's.. oh well. Got a couple of changes I wanna make to the suckage before posting today.. It'll be up before you leave work though dont worry!

 

3DNews.net Last Weeks News copyright Steve Gibson 1998