Friday, February 25, 2000

Linux .umod Installer -- 10:29 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

If you are running Linux and want to play the new levels in the Unreal Tournament bonus pack, download this little Perl script that will install the .umod files for you. I can't personally verify that this works yet, but I will be trying it soon. Special thanks to none other than Epic's own Brandon "GreenMarine" Reinhart for the heads-up on that one.

Alan Willard on the Bonus Pack -- 7:06 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Epic's Alan Willard updated his .plan with an easy way to get an extra Domination map with the recently released Bonus Pack for Unreal Tournament. Check it:

FINALLY! Its out, after a long testing process :) The Bonus Pack is out, and can be found at your favorite news site by now I hope. Just a bit of a secret got shipped with this... If you rename DM-Cybrosis][ to DOM-Cybrosis][, the map will play as a Domination map, with named control points and the works! I figured if I slipped the Control Points in like this, it would save a little bit on the download size, so go forth and enjoy.

Extra Domination maps are A Good Thing (tMS).

Bonus Pack First Impressions -- 3:54 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

I just downloaded and installed the Unreal Tournament bonus pack. It is a riot, to say the least. I am now going to play as a Skaarj Hybrid, although the Nali WarCow is very tempting (and hilarious). I fired up one of the new maps with all the runes. They really do add something to gameplay. Heaven help you if you kill someone in close quarters, only to find out they have the Rune of Vengeance. Kaboom! Highly recommended for all UT fans. Special thanks to the good folks at Epic for adding all this cool new stuff!

Not to sound ungrateful, but I hope they can get a Linux version out too. It would be a great addition for the Haus UT Server when we get our new machine.

Update! I've seen some people on various sites wondering what to do with the UTBonusPack.umod file. Simple--double-click on it. The UT installer will automagically run and install the bonus pack in its proper places. The whole .umod thing is my second favorite part of UT, behind mutators. It makes mod, map, mutator, etc. installations so much easier.

UT Bonus Pack Released! -- 2:39 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

As promised, Epic has released their much-anticipated bonus pack for Unreal Tournament on Gamecenter. There are versions available for the PC and the Mac, both weighing in at 13.8M. Here's the goods:

The Unreal Tournament Bonus Pack is a big thank-you from the creators of the game to all who purchased the full version. It includes new character skins: the Skaarj Hybrid, Nali, and the Nali WarCow. It also adds new levels: DM-Agony, DM-Cybrosis][, DM-ArcaneTemple, DM-Malevolence, DM-Shrapnel][, DM-HealPod][, DM-Mojo][, CTF-Cybrosis][, CTF-Hydro16, CTF-Noxion16, and CTF-Darji16. Finally, it adds relics to your game. You add relics into an Unreal Tournament game the same way you add mutators. You can add as many or as few as your heart desires. They each spawn over a random path node and move around the map if nobody picks them up after a short interval. They can be used with any game type that Unreal Tournament supports. There are six relics: The Relic of Strength, the Relic of Regeneration, the Relic of Defense, the Relic of Speed, the Relic of Redemption, and the dreaded Relic of Vengeance. You may carry only one relic at a time.

What are you waiting for? Get those modems going!

Star Wars Quake Update -- 12:32 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

A few days ago, there was a news update on the official site of the Quake II total conversion called Star Wars Quake. In this update, Red Knight announces that they are scaling back the single-player part of game so they can actually get this thing done. They plan on releasing a deathmatch test soon.

This TC has been in the works since Q1--almost three years now (sounds like a game I know *cough*Daikatana*cough*). It is the main reason I bought Quake 2 about six months ago. Here's to hoping it gets done soon! Thanks JediKnight.net for the heads-up.

The incredible, edible 404 -- 10:54 am CST, Update by The Master

When you have some free time to burn, check out The 404 Research Lab, where all the coolest 404 Page Not Found errors hang out and play. Cool site :-)

Hook and Sweeney on Languages -- 8:07 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

VE's new "Ask Hook" column is a series of emails between Verant's Brian Hook and Epic's Tim Sweeney on the subject of programming languages. Is C/C++ still a viable programming language for game designers, or should they start from scratch and write a whole new language to better serve their needs? It's an interesting read, especially if you are interested in the "behind-the-scenes" creation of a game.

UT 406 Patch Fixes -- 8:02 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Unreal Universe got a complete list of all the changes and fixes in Epic's forthcoming 406 patch for Unreal Tournament. It's a pretty long list, so I'm not even going to try to quote it all. As always, the patch is due "real soon".

Thursday, February 24, 2000

OK Again -- 11:37 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

UGO must have gotten their DNS situation straightened around (finally). Blue's News and Webdog are now functioning properly. And not a moment too soon . . .

UT Bonus Pack Soon? -- 9:16 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Gamecenter posted this very good piece of news today:

Gamecenter will team up with Epic Games to premiere the Unreal Tournament Bonus Pack on Friday, February 25. The free bonus pack will be available as a download to all Unreal Tournament fans. It includes three new skins, 11 new multiplayer levels, and a new feature, Relics. These are special items that grant special powers. Relics will grant increased strength or speed, or even explode after you die in order to avenge your death. So check back here on Friday for your chance to download this exciting new development for Unreal Tournament.

Thanks, Evil Avatar, for the link!

John Carmack .plan update -- 6:03 pm CST, Update by The Master

John Carmack updated his .plan (and since I can't get to Webdog, I had to get this old-school). Here's the word:

Some people took it upon themselves to remotely wreck Slade's development system. That is no more defensible than breaking into Id and smashing something.

The idea isn't to punish anyone, it is to have them comply with the license and continue to contribute. QuakeLives has quite a few happy users, and it is in everyone's best interest to have development continue. It just has to be by the rules.

A.T. Hun comments: You can also view this update on Stomped finger tracker. I was able to get through on that one. Leave it to someone to punish Slade for doing something stupid by doing something stupid. Is this what we've come to as a society?

Q3A Meatpak -- 5:23 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Evil Avatar pointed me to this Quake III Arena map pack called Meatpak. It was made by one of the designers working on Electronic Art's Q3A-engine-based James Bond game. The levels have all new textures and some pretty interesting design (including a couple sweet traps). You can get the levels from FilePlanet. Check out the MOBS Review Crew review of the pack. These are some of the coolest levels I've seen. They very likely will end up in the rotation on the EZ-Net Q3A server.

New Skout Demo -- 3:35 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Blue is reporting that there is a new Skout demo available. You can snag it from 3D Action Gamers (19.7M). It's in English this time and everything! I'm going to snag it and see if has improved any since the German beta version I tried (story).

Thanks, Santana -- 3:25 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

A special off-topic thank-you to Carlos Santana for proving that cool music can still sell and still be rewarded. He tied a record last night with eight Grammies. Thankfully, his success kept Ricky Martin, Britney Spears, and Backstreet Boys away from the podium. Hopefully they will be long since forgotten by next year. My wife bought my Santana's Supernatural for my birthday (my second Santana CD). For my money, the best songs on the album are ones that will probably never be on the mainstream radio, such as (Da Le) Yaleo. Cool stuff, highly recommended.

Quake II Under Linux, Revisited -- 2:59 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

A couple of days ago (story) I said I was going to try to get Quake II to run under Linux. At the cost of way too much time and far too many brain cells, I finally got it going in OpenGL (or, more appropriately, Mesa). Once I stop weeping uncontrollably, I'll post the steps I went through to get it to work. In the meantime, check out Loki's NVIDIA driver support pages. This page was the key to my success. LinuxQuake's Quake II HOWTO was also helpful.

QTest Birthday -- 12:36 pm CST, Update by The Master

QTest is 4 years old today. Wow. I remember downloading that puppy from cdrom.com and thinking "this is REALLY cool". I wonder if I have that on a zip disk somewhere. Ah, nostalgia. . .

Borkage -- 9:42 am CST, Update by The Master

I've fixed the trackers by pointing them at webdog's IP addresses directly, since it seems webdog.org won't resolve on The Haus's DNS right now. Hopefully this problem will go away soon :-)

Past Two Days' News

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