Friday, September 1, 2000

UT Linux 428 Patch -- 8:09 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Loki has released the 428 patch for Unreal Tournament for Linux. It brings the Linux version up to speed with the Win32 version and addresses a bunch of Linux-specific bugs. You can download the full binaries for a new install or the patch from current installs. Thanks Blue's News.

NOLF Beta Demo Released! -- 6:31 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Fox and Monolith have released the beta demo for their Bondesque first-person shooter No One Lives Forever. It weighs in at a hefty 107.8M, so modem users should pack a six-course meal. You can get it from Blue's News, 3D Gamers, Shugashack, Stomped, Voodoo Extreme, Monolith, and last, but not least, the mirrors that are FilePlanet.

Remember this is as much a technology beta as it is a demo, so there may be bugs. Caveat downloador.

Amazon May Sell Your Info -- 5:18 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

This Yahoo! News article says that Amazon considers your personal information to be an asset. They updated their privacy statement to reflect the fact that they might very well sell the information, although they currently aren't doing it.

Having said all that, my guess would be that every retailer in the world sells every bit of information they can get on you. A lot of information about you is a matter of public record anyway. Privacy is dead, and has been for a while. Thanks sCary.

Pondering the Imponderable -- 5:08 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

I've had this weird problem with Win98 dial-up networking (DUN) locking up on me. All of the sudden Netscape or my mail reader will bring up the dialog box to reconnect, but DUN just freezes. You can view the connection time and such, but you can't disconnect. Killing RNAAPP causes it to disconnect, but that causes any programs accessing the 'Net to GPF.

I found this article on the M$ support site, which says that downloading an updated version of DUN 1.3 should do the trick. I thought I had a newer version already installed, but a quick peek at c:windowssystem showed me I still had the original installed. I'll keep you posted on whether or not this actually solves the problem.

NOLF Beta/Demo Soon -- 5:03 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Monolith CEO Jason Hall updated his .plan with word that the No One Lives Forever beta technology demo will be released within a couple of hours. Here's a snip:

Special note - When you play through the demo, you will accumulate neat new items and weapons. That stuff becomes part of your overall arsenal, so when you finish the demo - GO BACK TO THE BEGINNING AGAIN, and play the demo through a second or even THIRD time to see what happens when you have all the new items available to you that time around. It is very cool, and shows that there is a lot of replayability in the game.

Links to the demo will, of course, be posted right here on The Haus when they become available.

UPDATE! Hall just updated his update (whew!) with this bit of advice for anyone downloading the NOLF demo:

While playing the technology demo, you are likely to experience MUCH more content and game detail if you spend a lot of time sneaking around, hiding in the shadows, eavesdropping on people and gathering up a ton of clue items and such - as opposed to just BLASTING your way through the whole demo.

If you do just try to blast your way through the demo (which you can certainly try to do), you will wind up missing out and not noticing on a lot of neat stuff (such as enemy A.I. tracking you from the rooftops and then getting shot and falling off...)

Pentium 4 and Cases -- 10:38 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Sharky Extreme's report from the fall Intel Developers Forum show had several interesting comments on the new Pentium 4 and cases. To accomodate the new CPU, Intel had to update the ATX specification to allow for four posts to secure the CPU and a new type of power supply to give it the juice you need. You may be able to alter your case, but you'll definitely need a new power supply if you go with a P4. Thanks Slashdot.

SoF Gold Info -- 10:16 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Soldier-of-Fortune.com got some more information on the upcoming "Gold" edition of Raven's Soldier of Fortune. The first is that most of the bugs are squashed so it should be out soon. The second is that there will be no co-op mode included. I really wish developers would add this. I realize it's tough with all the scripted sequences that are in games now, but there are few fonder memories in my life than blasting through Doom with a friend. Thanks Blue.

The Master comments: I remember tearing through Quake 1 in co-op. That was an excellent experience as well. Made for some awesome teamplay when the two people can yell and scream together at the same game :-) Heck-that was pretty much how Eeyore and I played back in the QW days too-until Skip and Crawl began wooping our 4$$35.

Thursday, August 31, 2000

KISS: Psycho Circus patch 1.1 released -- 9:34 pm CST, Update by The Master

Third Law has released their KISS: Psycho Circus 1.1 patch via the GameSpy network. There are 3 flavors, each around 12mb to download (so pack that lunch).

• US Gold to 1.1
• US Gold with BETA Patch to 1.1
• Collectors Edition to 1.1

Changes include:

• Six new multiplayer maps.
• Optimized multiplayer bandwidth usage.
• Added new connection settings in multiplayer player setup menu.
• Added frame rate limiting for multiplayer to benefit modem multiplay.
• Fixed third person Draco weapon attack not being visible in multiplayer.
• Changed some weapon effects to happen instantly on the client, rather than waiting for the server to send a message back.
• Added GameSpy support for games hosted by a dedicated server.
• Added console vars for dedicated server to start with any equipment/weapons.
• Added gibbing in multiplayer.
• Exit messages are displayed on world changes.
• Added ping display to in-game browser.
• When multiple servers show up in in-game browser, same server remains selected.

UT 4.30 patch news -- 9:29 pm CST, Update by The Master

There's news that the UT 4.30 patch is off to private beta-test. 3D Spotlight has the readme. Here's a snip (it's huge folks):

• Version 430 is completely network compatible with all previous public releases of UT (versions 400, 402, 405b, 413, 420, 425, & 428).
• faster server browser initial pinging of servers. Added a new default property to [UBrowserServerPing], MaxSimBroadbandPing, which defines the max number of servers to simultaneously ping if your netspeed > 6000.
• team scoreboard holds more players (no more names dropping off the bottom for 32 player games).
• faster server ping response for servers with mutators.
• admins lose cheats & die when they log out as admins.
• fixed bug causing player team choice to be overriden (also cause maxteamsize not to work when 2)
• fixed thrown weapons sinking into ground in net play
• fixed listen server crashing with too many serverpackages
• fixed server still sending data on disconnect A.T. Hun comments: I think this was supposed to have been fixed as far back as 405b. This is the single most annoying bug in UT, IMO.
• fixed server not allowing custom skins because of skin cheat fix
• servers are now prioritized by version on the master server
• improved map decompression time.
• slight improvement to server CPU utilization.
• prevent message spamming in net play.
• centered admin messages
• if logged in as an admin, start your message with a # to have it centered.
• voice autotaunts not printed in net games.
• faster menu loading with mods.

I also need to file a complaint of sorts here. Sites that place ALL their content in tables need to make sure said content isn't 7 billion meg to pull down. When the piddly 50k connect is loaded, it's a real bear to get IE to suck those kinds of sites down, you know??? Okay, end complaint.

FAKK2Arena News -- 1:43 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

FAKK You got word of an upcoming multiplayer patch for Heavy Metal: FAKK2. Here's a taste:

FAKK2Arena as its dubbed for now will have clan arena style play with 1 on 1 as well (Rocket Arena style). There will most likely be a mix of new levels and modified single player levels.

This could be great news for a pretty cool game. ETA is the end of September/early October (a date to be taken with the usual grain or 12 of salt). Thanks Blue.

Wolfie "Preview" -- 1:39 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Gamespot UK (milking this Jonathan Wright interview for all it's worth) posted a preview of Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Actually the only thing it previews is the first level, but it is interesting nonetheless. I'm already putting some pennies aside for this one. Thanks Blue's News.

Past Two Days' News

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