As the new Quake3 release gets ever-so-close to release Disruptor has this short little Q3Arena web page update just to mess with your head a little bit before all hell breaks loose.

In anticipation of a new release of the Win32 version of Q3Test, I've moved the current release to the old directory on the FTP server. So if you were trying to download Q3Test, and couldn't find it, that's why =) Stay tuned...

Some of you are totally nuts about more than Q3Test phase4 eh? PlanetFortress puts the spotlight on Robin Walker and John Cook (with pics), working on TeamFortress 2 of course. It's just a small ditty about how they got things together:

Some years before that, Robin and John were just two casual Australian students who are fond of playing computer games, when they accidentally came upon a multiplayer map called plain "Fortress" where players grab their weapons of choice from rooms accessed via several teleporters.  Players pick the teleporter they want, then whisked to a room where they grabbed the weapons, and the game is on by working a series of buttons that would open the enemy base.  The technical concept of it all stuck in Robin's and John's minds.  It was just the sort of LAN game they wanted to play.  Said Robin, "...It's more fun to play with people to accomplish a specific objective than to just shoot  (at) things indiscriminately."

I've updated the Q3Test Phase4 article with a couple of new screenshots of the 1on1 tournament map made by Disruptor that will be included in the next release. I'll also post them here on the front page for you guys so you dont have to dig back through there again looking for them:

Here you go guys, I got the low-down on the next version of Q3Test to be released "soon". Actually I even have a specific date listed in the article but I'm a turdburgler and will force you to read it to find out. The article will also includes a couple of new screenshots of the new 1on1 map and railgun effect later today. It's 5 pages long packed with info like this:

Q3Test1 teamplay layout:
Along with the new rules, Tim Willits has also adjusted the weapons and powerups settings. Also of note is that the switch that opens up to the basement area below the RL on the bridge is now always open. Since I'm so horrible at describing item placements and whatnot, I ran around and took some screenshots of where all the new placements for weapons are. The powerup count is as follows:

• 2 Plasma Guns located here and here
• 2 Super Shotguns located here and here
• 1 Red Armor located here
• 1 Yellow Armor located here
• 1 Rocket Launcher located here
• 1 RailGun  located here
• 1 Megahealth located here

Hope you guys enjoy the article, I realize the grammar is filled with run-on sentences but I had to crank this thing out as fast as possible and fit as much information in there as I could remember. Please feel free to email me any feedback on what you liked and didnt like about the article. Be sure to check out the Quake3 messageboard when you are done. A 24hour turn-around isnt too bad though ya dig?

Well, I just got home from several hours of testing up at id Software on the latest build of Q3Test. We checked out the new weapons, a few new maps, played around with the 1on1 tournament stuff on the new tourney map, and most importantly had a look at the new rules and item placements for clan matches on Q3Test1. Tim Willits was kind enough to take a lot of input from a few of top level clans and players and came up with a setup that I think clan players will love. Also had a look at the lightning gun which is just about done, there is all kinds of cool / interesting stuff to tell you guys about. Graeme gave me the go-ahead to write up anything I want so I'm gonna give you guys just about all the details I can. I'll spend most of the day tonight / tomorrow writing stuff up and checking my facts with Graeme. I imagine it will be done by late in the evening Wednesday, more realistically though I'll have it online Thursday. Depends on how fast I can work and how quick the id guys are at responding to email :)

Feel free to post in the comments section any questions you have and I'll try to include it in the mini-article.

Couple of strategy guides for you less experienced gamers out there looking for a edge. Quake3Source takes a look at Q3Test2 and gives the run-through of all the possible tricks you can pull on your unsuspecting friends (or enemies) Also, FiringSquad has a new Aliens vs Predator Marine walkthrough guide that is pretty handy.

Tim Willits over there at id Software has a .plan update for those of you wanting to send in bug reports for the next version of Q3Test which is nearing release, checck it out:

As you have heard, we are working on releasing another version of the test. This new  version of the test will require you to download all of the data again. Many of you might not immediately see this as a good thing, but it is!!! This gives me the opportunity to make some minor bug fixes to Q3test1. If there is anything in the map that you feel is a "bug" please drop me an email and I'll try to fix it before the next test release.

Examples of some good bug fix suggestions:

1. Sometimes when I round the corner out of the rocketlauncher room towards the plasma room I see a vis error at the top of the steps.
2. I get stuck when I back into the corner on the left side of the steps leading up towards the rocketlauncher in the courtyard.

Examples of some bad bug fix suggestions that I DON"T want you to email me:

1. This map plays nothing like Q3test2 and it basically sucks.
2. Make it more like the Edge, that's my favorite map!!
3. I can't believe you put two rocketlaunchers in the map.You are dumb!!

Thanks again for everyone's feedback on the test and the levels.

The 10Questions with SamHell of the week is a interesting new feature with with Mike Fricker.  Who is Mike Fricker?   This is the guy that is doing the online-only freeware FPS called Exist.  This guy is single handedly designing an entire FPS game. How good is he? Well here are 3 screenshots. shot1 shot2 and shot3. Check it out:

Graphically, I think mine is on par with Q3Test, with the exception of radiosity and volumetric shadows on moving objects--I just haven't had time to get to those yet. Everything else is there. I haven't seen the latest from Epic yet, so I can't make a fair comparison with Unreal. I have dynamically tessellated curves (via LOD and framerate), specular / bump mapping and fast dynamic lights but, as far as I know id plans to implement those, if they haven't already.

Graeme Devine updated his .plan with the results of a little internal Quake3 tournament they just had at the offices. It looks like not only can John Carmack hax0r like a champ, but he's pretty handy with the rocketlauncher to boot. Also in the .plan update is this bit about the pending release of "Q3Test 2"

So where’s that darn test?

Like the Great Prophet Zarquon said, “all sorts of things popped up”. It’s still “soon”. We need to merge code, test, and do a drop to IHVs to make sure everything is hunky-dory with them. The tourney map needs a wee bit more tweaking, and some of the tourney code needs a little bit more work and testing. There’s a lot of new stuff in there!

All you guys holding back on TNT2 since you saw those Q3Test scores are in for a review of the G400Max (hey waitta minute... ;-) from FiringSquad. As usual, Tim runs though the good stuff and likes the card as much as the other guys do.

The Girl in sunny California sends word that GX has finalized the GX Quake 3 Guide. She describes it as something that "covers everything the serious Quaker needs to know including hardware, config options, weapons, items and advanced strats". This is the first GX Quake guide that wasn't written by FiringSquaders, Thresh and Kenn (formerly known as Spear)

FiringSquad has written up a pretty guide about tweaking Q3Test...it's the whole usual speed vs. visual candy kind of deal. All the way from all features on to "it-looks-like-soup" mode:

The key to getting more frames per second is to make everything ugly. We're talking serious "got hit with an ugly stick, fell off the ugly truck, and into the fugly lake" ugly. We have to turn off almost all the pretty graphics settings. Some may say the whole point of Q3 is the purty graphics, but here at FiringSquad, Q3's all about the gameplay. How else are we supposed to enjoy the networking code if our systems keep on chunking up on us because of all the nice textures and 32-bit colors?