August 2003
| Saturday, August 30, 2003 |
Doomsday v1.7.12 Released
As an early present, Jaakko has released Doomsday v1.7.12. He'll officially announce the release and post the download mirror at SourceForge, probably tomorrow. Before then, feel free to download this 'early' version and report any installation-related problems with it on the Doomsday Forums, so tomorrow's release can go smoothly. Here are the download links:The Doomsday UI theme has been redesigned, so be sure to check out the Control Panel, and thank Dani for the cool logo!
| Thursday, August 28, 2003 |
Larkin Good DOOM
Bob 'Sematary' Larkin has been busy putting together his DOOM and DOOM II wad reviews over at the Doom Wad Station. Be sure to check all of those out. Also, he's got the orginal HACX site back online, but he's looking for someone to redesign it for him. So, if you're interested and will be committed to the task, contact Bob.
Release Of WhackEd2
Dennis 'Exl' Meuwissen has announced the first major release of WhackEd2. If you happen to have installed any previous beta versions, please uninstall them first before installing this one.It's been a while since I released a new version of WhackEd and with good reason; I've been rewriting it from scratch the past few months. The result of that is WhackEd2, which is superior to the original in almost all aspects. The current version is capable of a few more editing features than the original, but it's still far from completed (hence the 0.40 version number). Planned in the future is BEX support and support for the Heretic\Hexen (Strife?) spin-offs. Special source port specific features (ZDoom anyone?) are also things I have in mind for 1.0. In short: Get rid of the original WhackEd if you used that at all and install WhackEd2 instead. Head to the Whacked2 site and look for the Version 0.40.152 Setup package and Changelog.
| Wednesday, August 27, 2003 |
Keeping Up With Kaiser
|
Category: Hosted_ClassicDoom_Editing|x|Hosted_ClassicDoom_SourcePorts|x|Hosted_ClassicDoom_WADS |
What's going on over at the DSV Outworld hosted site? Well, I asked the ever-productive Kaiser what he's been working on lately, and he shot back with this info:I am now working full time on my current megawad, so there will be frequent screenshots and updates on DSV Outworld for every two maps that I complete.
Speaking of this, I am working on a Feature Project section for the site right now with screenshots of the first two maps.
Also included with the update will be screenshots of my latest sp wad built with the Doom Builder, not to mention a soon-to-be-worked patch for the Doom64 TC.
I'll see if I can get this done by Sunday..I hope. That's a lot of good irons in the fire there for Kaiser. Let him know how much you appreciate all of his great work.
Hexen Legacy Stutters
Wonder what's going on with Hexen Legacy? Well, as DarkDruid tells it, he's sort of taking a forced coding vacation this summer, in the hopes of renewing progress on his project in full force, when the coming Autumn winds herald the C++ codebase re-write of DOOM Legacy:Ok some of you might have been wondering where I have been and why I haven't updated the site. Well this summer not really much progress has been made on the C++ side of things. So there wasn't really and news to post. But anyways starting around Fall the C++ version will become active once again since our coders won't be on vacation anymore :). Well anyways I will post back soon. Enjoy the few days of summer left! Well, there you have it. Let's hope we can finally see a playable version of this project soon, Hexen fans!
Mega Building
After some extended Bleagh Time®, during which he did 'jack squat', our pal Doom_Dude has been finally getting back into the DOOM editing swing of things. While currently messing around with Gherkin's Doom Builder, Doom_Dude's in the process of tweaking Map 10 of his Vilecore extravagance. You might also notice his Megawad has seen a little site design tweakage as well.
Discharge Deliverance
Rellik sends word that his Discharge deathmatch level review site has moved to discharge.gginc.co.nz, so change your linkage. There's also 5 new reviews including the must have Beresith levels. If you're looking for some new maps, head on over.
Snapshot: Particles and Cheats
Jaakko has updated the snapshot for the Doomsday engine. Now the only things still on his version 1.7.12 To Do list are the correct handling of Hexen's ANIMDEFS and updating the Direct3D renderer. New stuff in this snapshot:Model particles use the model definition's parameters. The particle's blending flags have no effect on the model. The particle's radius is used to scale the model.
Model particles can spin in random directions. Set spinning speed with Generator -> Stage -> Spin. It's a 2-float vector (yaw, pitch) and the values are angular velocities (angles per second). A random initial yaw/pitch can be set using the ptf_rndyaw and ptf_rndpitch flags.
Model particles can be animated by setting Generator -> Stage -> Frame and Generator -> Stage -> End frame. During the stage, the particle will interpolate from the start frame to the end frame. The frames are specified using the frame names.
Model particles support all the normal model rendering features, including shiny skins.
The automatically generated RGB lightmaps for heavily decorated surfaces were scrapped when it turned out the benefit is negligible when comparing to the cost of processing all the light sources themselves.
Version 1.7.12 enters feature-freeze. No new features will be added (only fixes to existing stuff). It'll take a few days to sort out the D3D renderer, but then it's time for the release. If you're into beta testing, this is the time to start torturing the snapshot.
| Saturday, August 23, 2003 |
Opulently Busy
|
Category: ClassicDoom|x|ClassicDoom_WADS |
There's a gi-normous set of updates over on Opulent's Doomed Speed Demos Archive, including some amazing stuff from some Compet-N regulars. Opulent has also kindly agreed to take over maintaining the DOOM Tool-Assisted Speedruns as part of his excellent DSDA site.
DOOM & Rocket Science
|
Category: Doom_III|x|id_Software |
CNNMoney, who recently interviewed a few other id guys who attended QuakeCon recently, has done the same with with John Carmack. John addresses some of his design philosophies (keep it simple, stupid!) and what's next after DOOM:"We're not doing another sequel next," said Carmack. "We will do a new title. It will be a shooter, with a different antagonist and protagonist. ... People who have been working in the company for a long time don't want to continually rehash their old work."
With the new game will come a new engine, meaning Carmack's oft-rumored retirement will remain a rumor for the next few years.
"In the coming years, I have things I want to do," he said. "The next generation of hardware and the next engine is very exciting. There's little doubt I'll be doing that." Carmack also says he's still thrilled when he sees the impact his titles have on the gaming community. "Aerospace is more exciting now – because I've done the game thing seven or eight times now," he said. "[But] walking around Quakecon is the point of maximum pride in the gaming process. You see people still playing a game that was made several years ago."
Server Back Up!
That went a LOT faster and smoother than expected, I'm very glad to say!
Thanks to everyone who made this transition go so well -- you know who you are!
Enjoy, everybody!
| Thursday, August 21, 2003 |
Server Downtime
We'll be moving our co-located server to a new ISP, starting at 11:30am central time (8/21/03).
This means all of the sites will be down during this period, as the server has to be physically shipped to the new location.
Then the DNS's need to be reconfigured for all of the sites on the server.
Hopefully this won't cause too much downtime, but it could be as many as 2-3 days, or as much as a week at the most.
It will take one day for the server to be physically shipped to the new location. Reconfiguring the new IPs and allowing time for the DNS changes to go through are the most time-consuming aspects.
All of the sites will be back online just as soon as possible.
(Updated:) DOOM 3 At QuakeCon
|
Category: Doom_III|x|id_Software |
Here's the updated and bumped-up list of hands-on impressions the DOOM 3 multiplayer demo garnered, shown at this year's QuakeCon:I'll keep this section of links updated as I find more disparate D3 impressions and id interviews not already covered, from this year's QuakeCon.
Updated jDoom Snapshot
Jaakko made an announcement on the Doomsday Forums that an updated snapshot is available. - Vertex arrays are disabled by default if your OpenGL driver reports a version lower than 1.3.
- The option -novtxar can be used to disable the arrays. -vtxar enables them.
- Texture compression is not done for flare textures (for better visual quality).
- jDoom precaches fonts at startup.
- jDoom now has a feature called Patch Replacement. It allows you to replace the menu/UI graphics in jDoom with text strings. For instructions, see Defs\jDoom\Values.ded.
Jaakko adds that you still need to use the -pwadtex option to see the hires fonts. This will change when you get the updated jDoom.wad in the 1.7.12 release.
Convo With Carmack
|
Category: Doom_III|x|id_Software |
GameSpy interviewed John Carmack, who opted to stay in his hotel room rather than attend his own QuakeCon. Those things are madhouses, so speaking from previous experience I certainly don't blame him. Reading this interview, it seems apparent he's got his head more in outer space than making computer games these days. DOOM 3's going to be great, and Carmack said he's not going to retire after the game's out the door, but I just don't see the real passion for discovery in creating game engines that he obviously had some 5-10 years ago. Life is like that; Schwarzenegger is running for Governor of California, and Carmack's working on a team to send a rocket into space. Quite understandably, making games seems so easy for him now, he's obviously looking for new challenges elsewhere. Nevertheless, the interview's a really good insight into his thinking process, as any interview with the ever brilliant, honest and straightforward John Carmack always is. Here's a bit of particular interest:I thought it would be kind of neat if we took the DOOM renderer, and we had a team take previous games-don't touch the game, just revamp it graphically. Just take Quake II, and just use the DOOM engine to make brand new graphic models and everything. But don't spend time messing with the gameplay because we know that is pretty good. Just release it as Quake II Remix with brand new graphics technology and sell it at a middle-level price instead of a boutique price.
I thought that was a pretty good idea. Indeed, that's an excellent idea, I hope they do it.
Interview Time With id
|
Category: Doom_III|x|id_Software |
Thanks to sLydE for letting me know the guys over at tomshardware.com interviewed id's two T's, Todd Hollenshead & Tim Willits. Included in the informative discussion at the QCon2k3 event was an explanation from Todd Hollenshead about why programmer John Carmack wasn't there:I think that's a good question, and there were actually a few reasons that John didn't attend this year. I knew that people would be a little disappointed that he didn't deliver the keynote this year, but he really didn't see any reason to. We're still working with the same technology, and he has not come across any technical revelations, so to speak. So he really didn't have that much new stuff to talk about, and he didn't want to present another version of the Quakecon 2002 presentation. We also wanted to do something a little different this year with the keynote, in order to give some other elements in the company the opportunity to talk about what they've been working on. When John presents things, they're very technical, and this was more ranged. So I think it gave people the opportunity to hear about some different things. Besides all of the reasons about, the main reason that he couldn't make it though, is because he's been sick. So he really wasn't in the kind of physical condition that he needed to be in if he was going to give a presentation. In the end though, I think it was for the better. If John had actually decided to give the keynote, it wouldn't have been too long, due to the fact that he wasn't feeling well. As for when's DOOM 3 coming out, Todd adds, "We really don't know when it will be ready for release. When you're dealing with bleeding-edge technology, you sometimes run into problems that you weren't expecting to run into. We don't want to announce a release date and then not deliver on that date. So we're just focusing on completing the game and making sure that it's up to our standards."
Nico Takes The Red Out
Visine's got nothing on this guy. Nico over at GameWallpapers.com has done us a great service by filtering all that red out of one of the QuakeCon DOOM 3 DM Demo screeshots:Both QuakeCon shots from Doom 3 were completely red. With a little tweaking the original(!) colors come up giving us the 'third' official screenshot. The result is quite impressive. Head on over to the excellent Game Wallpapers site, and tell them your buddy Phoebus sent ya.
Strife Editing Progress
Gokuma sends word that he has posted some Dehacked-like specs for Strife. Also:... the Strife Editing Package now contains a wad of Strife's texture1 (plus probably everything from texture2) in Doom format therefore allowing any level editor to correctly display Strife textures and not crash!
I'm going to get to work on a strife.wcf for WadAuthor later.
See my previous update for beastly Dehacked-like specs so far and a new version of my lamasery.wad More info and some screenshots are found at pit.condemned.com.
jDoom Resource Pack (jDRP) Update
|
Category: Hosted_ClassicDoom_Editing|x|Hosted_ClassicDoom_SourcePorts |
Dani J made a quick update to the Modelyard site (complete redesign coming soon), in reference to when the first release of his official resource pack file for jDoom will be available:Work is progressing really quickly on the first release of the jDoom Resource Pack (jDRP). Everything is now included in one addon archive, which should make it simpiler for both installing and maintaining. I estimate ver 1 of the jDRP will be ready for download in about a week. The reason for this is that there is some new effects I want to incorporate into the pack, as well as a handfull of new models. BTW All alternative models/effects/mods etc have now been removed from the pack. I will make these available as seperate addons but not till the jDRP has been released. Check back soon... Be sure to add The Modelyard to your list of favorites, if you haven't already done so.
| Saturday, August 16, 2003 |
QuakeCon DOOM 3 Keynote
|
Category: Doom_III|x|id_Software |
HomeLan Fed reported that id Software's panelists at this year's QuakeCon included CEO Todd Hollenshead, Lead Designer Tim Willits, Programmer Robert Duffy and Lead Animator Fred Nilsson. Here's a bit of the highlights:The single player aspect of the game is central to DOOM 3 and Hollenshead said that the game will be id's best single player game the company has ever created. The team is working with a novelist on the storyline and working with storyboards in order to make the game a solid single player experience.
Hollenshead said he was not worried about other highly anticipated games like Half-Life 2 and Halo 2 taking away some of DOOM 3’s thunder, saying, “We don’t need other games to suck for ours to be good.” The formal panel discussion was moderated by Steven Kent, who is working with id Software on a 'coffee table' book about the making of DOOM 3.
PS - You guessed it, GameSpy has posted their own QuakeCon keynote highlights.
Face To Face With DOOM
|
Category: Doom_III|x|id_Software |
CNN Money's self-described "hands-on look at next year's biggest game – and likely biggest moneymaker", contains a short interview with Todd Hollenshead and Tim Willits at the ubiquitous QuakeCon, along with commentary on the multiplayer DOOM 3 demo at the show:While the multiplayer aspects of "Doom 3" might lack a little of the suspense, they still offer plenty of insight into the game's technological leaps. The graphics are smooth and on par with the film "Shrek" (even at low resolutions) – although instead of a loveable ogre, you'll face off against deformed zombies and demons. The physics are incredibly lifelike, with windows shattering realistically when shot and objects reacting to gunfire much as they would in real life. Tim Willits also commented briefly on the DOOM movie (Warner Bros. is reportedly still working on a script), and how embarrassing it would be if it was just another "mediocre movie based on a video game license".
PS - GameSpy also has a Willits/Hollenshead interview from the same event.
More DOOM 3 Impressions
Alright, it's a new day and the power's still not completely back on in NYC, but it looks like all the looting's going on in Dallas, within the virtual kill-and-collect-thy-neighbor's-booty zone of DOOM 3. There's another multiplayer impressions article, this time on GamePro.com, based on their first-hand experiences at the big QuakeCon to-do, currently in progress:The level of detail is simply insane. Remember those screens from a few months ago that looked too good to be true? They're true, and they move. This is mostly due to John Carmack's latest engine, which enables all kinds of new interactions and special effects. Curved surfaces abound, and the dynamic lighting and distressed metal walls give the game (or at least this multiplayer level) a strong Aliens feel (appropriate enough for a space Marine setting—back in 1992, id wanted to do a licensed game, but it didn't work out with Fox). There are areas that have been warped by the dimensional portals, so you'll find yourself walking through a UAC corridor that suddenly evolves into a fire-red hallway of Hell. Just to show off the physics with a twisted sense of humor, there's a Marine's corpse suspended upside-down from the ceiling in unspeakable red goo; shoot it, and the rag-doll physics set in, causing the dead body to writhe and sway. Nice and disgusting. The rag-doll physics apply to all other bodies in the game too. The green player’s Marine model only looks like Master Chief through the lens of recent history; really, it's a higher-poly update of the original Doom armor. The coolest power-up—and the only one on this demo level—is called Berserk. The icon is located at the bottom of a large cylindrical pit, with rotating platforms. If you can navigate those and avoid the enormous lava spew that sometimes issues forth from the center, you'll grab a power-up that doubles your speed and damage—and makes any weaponless punch an instant kill. More disconcerting is the sense that you are actually possessed by demon energy. The screen swims and warps, and a truly disturbing scream issues forth the entire time that you're powered up. Others can hear it too, so they know you're raging and should be avoided—but it only serves to increase the tension even higher, especially when you're looking for someone to destroy during the powerup's limited time. Sounds like we're to be rewarded for our patience, and the wait until sometime next year for DOOM 3's release will be well worth it.
| Thursday, August 14, 2003 |
More D3DM @ QC2k3 Impressions
DoomCon? FragaDoom? Just doesn't seem to have the same ring as QuakeCon, somehow. Anyway, I guess we're really missing out on the treat of the century, as it were, since we didn't make it to the Big Event this year. Fortunately, there's been no shortage of fanfare concerning DOOM 3's multiplayer coming-out party. Right on cue, GameSpy chimes in with their first DOOM 3 deathmatch impressions, amongst the rabid horde loitering id Software's two booths at the show. One noteworthy point was such:id programmer Robert Duffy pointed out that there isn't a "use" key -- the game realizes when you're near an item to interact with, lowers your gun automatically, and allows you to interact using the primary fire button. After years of using special keys to interact with objects in FPS games, it felt refreshing to walk up to a light switch and watch my player instinctively lower his gun sight to allow me to flip the power on. The rest of the article touches on pretty much the same bulletpoints that were covered in C&VG's impressions we already mentioned. I'm sure there'll be more hands-on blather to come, so stay tuned and I'll let you know.
DOOM 3 Hands-on Report
Assuming you didn't get caught in one of those massive spiraling power outages that hit much of the northeast, midwest & some parts of Canada, you'll be interested to know Computer and Video Games has posted their first impressions from watching DOOM 3 multiplayer in action at the aforementioned QuakeCon 2k3 event (see screenshots). They had a lot of great things to say. Here's but a piece:In terms of general impressions, it's a far cry from Quake III - it's not like pure skill-based deathmatch. It's set at a much slower pace, and there's so much going on that it's also quite disorientating. There's really is an enormous amount happening at once in the environment. There's a lot more description of that only one level they're showing, like the steam coming from the walls, what that gigantic laser thing is, the Berserker power-up, the available weapons, the per-poly hit detection, headshots, and how DOOM 3 is "a lot darker than any game you're used to".
First DOOM 3 Multiplayer Shots
We've got the First DOOM 3 Multiplayer Shots for you, sent to us by Activision, straight from QuakeCon 2003, right here!
DOOM 3 Fireworks Fun
And now for something completely different...(BerneyBoy:) I invite Doom 3 players to a fireworks party. The party is happening here. Pick your game of choice from the menu here. Get some mouse click action happening and sit back to watch the show! Take your pleasures where you find them, folks. You can also check out some of BerneyBoy's Jedi Outcast, Elite Force, SoF 2, RtCW, Q3A, & MoH:AA maps while you're there.
QuakeCon 2003 Has Started!
Todd Hollenshead, CEO at id Software, updated his .plan to comment on the imminent QuakeCon 2003, and makes mention of DOOM 3 multiplayer being unveiled for the first time at the event:Here it is already time for QuakeCon 2003. While the festivities officially start on Thursday there are quite a few folks already helping with setting up what will be the biggest QuakeCon ever. It looks like the weather is going to give us a break this year and we'll mark the first QuakeCon I can remember where we won't hit 100 degrees.
New for this year will be the location in Downtown Dallas at the Adam's Mark Hotel and Conference Center which gives us tons more room for more cool stuff. And our sponsors are really outdoing themselves to help us make sure that everyone that comes out sees cool new games and gear, has a good time, and probably picks up some free stuff, too.
The BYOC will be the biggest yet, with room for up to 2000 PCs. The reservation list is booked up, but first-come-first-serve starts Thursday afternoon if you didn't get on the list. The keynote is Friday afternoon, and tournament finals, awards ceremony and party are all Saturday night. But the fragging is non-stop Thursday to Sunday 24 hours a day.
And, of course, we will be unveiling DOOM 3 multiplayer for the first time. And everyone will be able to play it, too. For more info on QuakeCon 2003, check the website.
| Wednesday, August 13, 2003 |
More Doomsday Linkages
Fallen Man has added more items to his Doomsday Links site, including Deathmonkey7's zombie skin, more of Gamedude's various textures, and Nephil's TITLEPICs and hi-res logos.
Grapple Hook Fever
Gokuma did some Dehacked-like editing and gave players a more useful version of the grappling hook normally used by an enemy. Strife may indeed have been the only DOOM engine game with a grappling hook of any sort, and now players can use it with this mod. Head to the Pit of Grotesque Abominations for the info and download.
No Poets Society
The No Poet has made a massive update to his Pray for Death site, adding four new reviews and a Weapons page. Check 'em out!
Doomsday Modelyard News
As a follow-up, skyjake made an update to his previous announcement. The latest news is that Dani is taking over the Doomsday Modelyard, and will be maintaining the (as yet unnamed) official model pack as well:I'm happy to announce that Dani is the new maintainer of the jDoom model pack.
However, since nowadays the pack includes much more than just 3D models, it should be renamed. We need a name to describe the pack's status as the standard resource package, stuff that stays true to the original Doom but enhances every aspect of the game's graphics (and sounds?). How about the Doomsday Resource Pack?
Search Engine Feature Added
Well, we've finally added a neat search gadget to the site. This was implemented to help you, our valued visitors, find what you're looking for. There's a lot of great info built up over the three-plus years NewDoom.com has been in existence, so we wanted to unlock that plethora of info for you, and help make this site an even greater community resource. Special thanks to Atomz for the great user-friendly search tech they possess. Just use the simple search box there on your left, and happy searching!
Doomsday Model Pack Maintainer Needed
skyjake made a post to the Doomsday Forums to announce someone's needed to take over maintaining one of New Doom's hosted resource sites, Cheb's Modelyard:Cheb is currently unable to work on the jDoom model pack, so it's time to find a new maintainer.
What does the job entail?- Keep the model pack files up to date and prepare patches when necessary.
- Improve the existing models, skins and definitions. There are a lot of talented people around here in the forums, and lots of stuff could be integrated into the official model pack.
- Make sure the pack is working with the latest release of jDoom.
- Find and fix DED conflicts.
- Make a PK3 of the model pack. Patches can be released as small PK3s, to be loaded in addition to the main PK3.
- Optionally update the Modelyard.
Things that will be helpful:- Sufficiently fast internet connection. The model pack needs to be uploaded to the Fourwinds FTP server and the DHQ Mirror.
- Some artistic eye.
- Experience with working with models and definitions.
Huge thanks to Cheb for the time he has contributed into working on the models!
BTW: I plan to make Subwolf's detail textures part of the default distribution, so those need not be included in the model/resource pack. If you're willing to join the Doomsday project as a model pack maintainer, please contact skyjake or post a reply here.
Building DOOM, One Sector At A Time
An alpha version of Gherkin's Doom Builder map editor in progress is available for download. There's also a Doom Builder Sneak Preview thread in the Editing section of our Forums, where Gherkin's already posted a step-by-step tutorial on how to split a sector.
Hexen Soundtrack For Doomsday
Sycraft made a post on the Doomsday forums to announce he has completed a Hexen soundtrack, custom-made for use with the Doomsday engine.Though I was never as big a fan of Hexen as I am of Doom, it is still a great game in its own right, with some really cool music. Up to this point, I have been unable to find any soundtracks for Hexen like there are for Doom and Heretic. So, with a little encouragement, I went ahead and made one. Like with the Doom soundtracks, it is made to work with the Doomsday engine.
A good deal of time has passed since I did the Doom soundtracks, and the equipment I own and have access to has changed significantly, therefore this soundtrack is version 3.0. It sounds quite different from the Doom soundtracks since it was made primarily with Roland hardware, whereas the Doom soundtracks were done exclusively with Creative Labs (Emu) hardware. I will be redoing the Doom soundtracks to version 3.0 in time. There are three different versions of the soundtrack available: normal, high and low quality, depending on your bandwidth concerns. Head to Sycraft's Hexen Soundtrack page for the info and downloads.
Descent Mod Using Doomsday
Fans of the Descent series rejoice! Thanks to BAM for bringing to our attention over on the Doomsday forums, the existence of a source port mod called Descent 32. The team is using a modified version of the mighty Doomsday engine to help bring the venerable flying robot smashing first person shooter, Descent up to today's standards. This is the first known Doomsday engine mod that's not for a DOOM-engine game. Here's what they have to say:Well, we might not be making updates as regularly as others, but when we do it's usually something important, just like now. All of your waiting has finally paid off, for the render has been completed. It's basically a heavily-modified version of a similar project, JDoom's Doomsday engine, which I think suits our purposes well ... And do not worry, levels are coming soon! Progress already seems to be going well. Here's hoping we'll be playing this mod soon. Be sure to visit the Descent 32 site, and let them know if you'd like to help!
Hosted Site Update: Legacy v1.41.rc1 Released
As he hinted about earlier, Hurdler has gone ahead and released Legacy v1.41.rc1. There's just a small announcement on the Legacy Forum for now, but more info will be forthcoming.
No Poets Pray For Death
The rise of Pray for Death continues with some further changes to the site's layout and a couple of updates to the Alien Vendetta and Requiem reviews. They're mostly clarifications of why No Poet gave the wads their respective scores. There's also the long-awaited Monsters page, with an Armoury page soon to follow. All review requests have been completed, but may take some time to show up on the site, as No Poet has a lot of commitments. So he asks for your kind patience.
Hosted Site Update: DSV Outworld
Kaiser has added some info to the DSV Outworld site. Contrary to his recent intentions, he hasn't completely abandoned his efforts towards a CTF Legacy mod. He's decided to toss out the current source code and start again from scratch. He's got some new ideas that may increase his chances for success this time around.
Kaiser's also made yet another change to DSV5. It will now have 32 singleplayer maps instead of the deathmatch variety. Two deathmatch wads were taken out of the DSV5 project, and are now wads by themselves, which you can download now.
Last but not least, Kaiser's added a new option to the Doom64 TC, to turn on or off the recoil effect. There are also some additional map fixes here and there.
That's all for now, so head on over to the DSV Outworld site!
| Wednesday, August 6, 2003 |
Playing DOOM Online
Super Jamie has recently compiled a Beginner's Guide To Setting Up Doom Connector, with plenty of links to help people successfully get started playing DOOM online. A worthy effort indeed, so be sure to check it out.
Hosted Site Update: DOOMSDAY LINKS
Fallen Man has made it through the other side of his little updating hiatus, and added quite a bit to his incredible list of user additions to All Things Doomsday:Added Deathmonkey7's Cacodemon and new Chainsaw skins, David_OSU's light decorations .ded, draconx's various textures, Chilvence's texture and fonts, Saint's texture fixes, Gamedude's various textures, and Nephil's TITLEPIC's for The Plutonia Experiment. That's a lot of additions. Better head to DOOMSDAY LINKS and get all caught up!
Hosted Site Update: DOOM Legacy
I asked Hurdler for an update on what's going on with the DOOM Legacy source port project, as I haven't had a chance to hit him up with a progress report in a while. What I got was more than I'd hoped for!Legacy 1.41 RC1 (which will become eventually 1.41 final) will be out this week. It should have been released already a few days ago (the CVS is frozen since last week and the package of the new Solaris port is already built) but due to Real Live it was impossible.
If no major problems are found, Legacy 1.41 should be out before the 17th of august. No major new features will be present except this version will include bots. There are lots of minor things added and lots of bug fixes, though.
The next big step is our C++ version which will contain lots of new things and lots of rewritten code. An alpha version (which means it won't be as stable as our current version) should be out a few weeks after the 1.41 release.
I don't know yet what will work at that time (especially as I'm not the main developer since I was working on the update of the good old C version), but there should be support for Hexen, MD3, a new OpenGL renderer (with features supported by "new" hardware, while keeping compatibility and performance on older 3D cards), Quake/Q2 map format (I haven't said Quake level yet!), hi-res textures. All that should be available in the alpha version but some of those things might be still in early stage. That alpha version should work well with official IWADs.
After that, I suppose we will start to work on a new netcode (the alpha version shouldn't work in network game). I'll be doing more updates like these with our hosted site developers periodically, so be sure to stay tuned for more! In the meantime, head to the DOOM Legacy Forums and join in all the productive activities that are constantly buzzing about.
Testing, Testing
PumpkinSmasher is really getting into this map making thing, and he's asking for help in getting better at it.I have uploaded a test version of the March to Hell Deathmatch WAD. Please Test it and write you feedback in the review section at the bottom of this page. Remember this is only a Test Version, not a final version. I need it to be tested so that I can fix all problems and make the final version the best it can be. That's all he says about it. See if you can be of assistance.
DOOM To The Sixty-Fourth Degree
The Doom64 TC has been updated with a couple of fixes and additions.The newest version of the Doom 64 TC, version 2.1.5, is released. It fixes many nasty bugs that popped up with the recent snapshots of Doomsday that we missed (including one that made it impossible to beat the game without the Pentegram Keys). Also, you no longer have to pick up the Pentegram Keys in order. NOTE: Please allow the Halobunker mirror about a day to be updated. Head to the Doom 64 TC download page to enjoy, and comment about it here.
WhackEd2 beta
Exl is of on his Holiday's, some where hot I expect, and has decided to release a workable version of Whacked for us all to test. He does point out that this is only a beta and also says that you can ignore the first paragraph in the readme which is the one about not sharing the setup executable. You can get the link on the Forums.
Captain CoreHelly
Mr. Spencer has let us know of an update over at the Hellcore site. There are three new members who go by the names of Joe Pallai, Nigel Rowand, and Qingshuo Wang. Joe Pallai has worked on projects like 2002 A Doom Odyssey, and Plutonia 2. Nigel rowand is better known as Enjay and is helping with the DeHacked stuff. Fianlly Qingshuo Wang is better known as Pixel Rex, some of his stuff includes Jagged Edges, Gothic99, and Slaughter DM. There is more so read on.
Doomsday Reports In
Skyjake has updated the Doomsday HQ website with the latest information on the popular Doom port. Here is a portion:In the last news post, I discussed the poor performance of multitextured lights. It appears my musings were a tad premature: further investigation showed that the greatest cause for slowness was the locking of the vertex array. When the locking was not done, framerate nearly doubled. I guess I was trying to lock too many vertices. There is plenty more reading over at the Doomsday HQ.
Pumpkin's Labrinth
Pumpkinsmasher has let us know, via the Editing Forum, that he has completed Labrinth v2. The wad is available from the downloads page and there are also a few pics from the wad in the screenshots section.
|
Posted
by