Friday, November 26, 1999

UT Patch News -- 11:21 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Voodoo Extreme pointed to this news on Barry's World regarding an upcoming patch for Unreal Tournament which will lower CPU utilization for servers. Here's the deal:

The server patch posted a couple of weeks ago approximately halved server CPU utilization compared to unpatched demos. Since we went gold, I`ve been working on further optimizations and have halved server CPU utilization again. We`ll release a patch with these optimizations and other enhancements shortly.

Based on my testing:

Patched demo server with 16 players takes about 60% CPU utilization on a P2-400.

The new code with 16 players is about 30% CPU utilization on a P2-400.

More details to follow, no doubt.

D3D Problems with Retail UT -- 10:40 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Several people around the 'Net have been complaining about substantially worse performance in the full version of Unreal Tournament than they had with the demo. Epic's Mark Rein addressed this issue on the GT Interactive forums. Since it will be a slow news day, I'll post the whole thing:

There were NO differences in the D3D code between 348 and 400. What happened unfortunately is that the Safedisc copy protection, that GT added to the master disk after we gave it to them, caused our very good D3D configuration detector to time out, therefore assuming that D3D wasn't present and not setting the various quality and resolution settings to match the performance of users' PCs. This was noted in an insert GT put in the UT box. This has since been fixed in masters now in production but unfortauntely the first batch of UT's had this problem. The Safedisc process also introduced some sort of application error on exiting UT on Windows NT and Windows 2000 systems. I don't know if we've found the cure for that one yet but it's just an error message you have to cancel and doesn't cause any problems. Neither of these problems happened in the demo of course because they're not problems in our code.

Once again, copy protection only serves to screw legitimate customers. At any rate, the newer copies of UT are fixed in this regard, but if you got one of the original pressings with this error, make sure to look for the little insert from GT.

Steve Polge (also of Epic) posted a workaround for people with the original, problematic disks:

The installer for the full version fails to detect D3D for some configurations. It sounds like you are using software rendering. To change to D3D, go to options/preferences/video menu and hit the change video driver button. When UT restarts, click on select all video devices to display D3D as an option, and choose it as your driver.

Good luck! Despite these problems, I may try to pick a copy of UT up today if I can find it anywhere amongst the maddening crowds.

Final Q3A Character Shots -- 10:15 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Redwood has posted the final three Q3A character renderings he was given by id software. The final three are: Gorre, Wrack, and Xaero who is your final opponent in the Q3A single-player ladder. For a listing of all the shots he's posted, click here.

Thursday, November 25, 1999

Annihilator Production -- 9:55 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Redwood pointed me to this news blurb on 3D Spotlight regarding the production of Creative Labs' GeForce-based Annihilator video cards. Here's the news:

It is true that at the moment we are not making SDR Annihilators but have shifted production to the DDR (Pro) cards. That doesn't mean there will be no more SDR cards made. Nor does it mean that stores will not get any more. We have not made the SDR Annihilator product EOL (End of Life). EOL would mean it would be history with no more to be made again.

Looks like Creative wants to make sure that there are plenty of DDR boards out there. Drooling yet? I know I am!

ToddH on Q3A Linux -- 9:41 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

id's CEO, Todd Hollenshead, updated his .plan with good news for Linux users. Here's the poop:

Great news for Linux users: I just received word that the Linux version of Q3A *will* use the limited edition tin box that everyone has been clamoring for. We should have an announcement on Monday with the expected availability date.

Diakatana gold this week? -- 10:09 am CST, Update by The Master

The Shack has a rumor posted in yesterday's news that Daikatana (remember Daikatana??) may be going gold within the week. Heh. When hell freezes over it is :-)

Gamesvoice scored some screenshots as well. Thanks sCary.

New Gamespy -- 10:07 am CST, Update by The Master

Gamespy Industries has released a new version of their uber-game-browser, Gamespy. I've been a registered user since early in Gamespy's development, and it is a nice way to browse any of the major online games. And a decent price, too :-)

Happy Thanksgiving -- 10:02 am CST, Update by The Master

Happy Thanksgiving to all our Haus readers! Both me and A.T. will have tenuous ties to the internet for the next couple of days, so please bear with us. We will be updating the page, but not with the usual regularity. With an expected newer Q3ADemo release, things could get interesting.

A.T. adds: "me and A.T."?!? Obviously The Master is a computer guy and not an English major :) Anyway, I'll be checking in from time to time on my sister's Prodigy connection (which is hella slow, may I add). Looks like things will be pretty slow though.

The Master retorts: Yeah, yeah, A.T. and I. I knew I blew it when I typed it-I was in a hurry, alright?!? :-)

Webdog on Hold? -- 9:59 am CST, Update by The Master

According to the frontpage of Webdog, the Webdog service has been put on hold. I think he's making some serious changes to his site, but this could make out news/finger trackers a bit flakey over the next couple days. Please bear with all of us if it happens :-) Here's the whole post:

Webdog

(that's us - fact fans)

The Webdog service has currently been put on hold.

Client software and .plans will continue to be available.

We will explain all in due course.

Don't think the worst.

Past Two Days' News

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