Monday, September 25, 2000

ToddH .plan update -- 9:58 pm CST, Update by The Master

Todd Hollenshead of id made a mondo .plan update with some responses on the beta 1.25 Q3A patch release. I'm going to summarize since this thing is hege.

• 1.25 is a beta release. So don't install it unless you like being a beta tester.
• A new release is planned shortly to correct issues being brought to id's attention now.
• Mods are broken until the next patch release since source needs to be rebuilt.
• The global ranking stuff will be better documented shortly.
• Diagnostics will be fixed in the next release.
• Physics issues that everyone has been flamebaiting on will be reworked in the new patch.
• CTF scoring will be returned to more of the retail CTF scoring model instead of the 1.25 model.
• Demos are broken.
• Don't use compiled DLLs. They are bad. Harmeless mods can also cause problems in the current 1.25 release.
• id has a short list of additional issues with sounds, callvoting, rankings, and more that are being fixed.

Havok Physics -- 7:59 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

TF2 Bunker posted an interview with Dr. Steven Collins. His company, Havok, has made a physics engine which sounds like it will have some impressive capabilities for games. Valve is reportedly using it on Team Fortress 2. That's one thing that I've always thought could be done better in games. Why won't that door blow out when I shoot it? Why won't that mirror break? Why can't this barely-standing garage be knocked over? Of course right now all this is theoretical. We'll see if any of the games that use the Havok engine live up to the hype. Thanks Shugashack.

The Master comments: Hey, A.T. Remind me when a game using this engine comes out that I need to go pick up that 8-way P3-1ghz overclocked to 1.5ghz with 2 gigs of DDRAM so I can play that game with the "cape floating in the water behind me".

Elite Force CD Keys -- 11:16 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Raven's John Scott updated his .plan to remind people with exceedingly small brains that they shouldn't give out their Star Trek: Elite Force CD keys to anyone.

Just a reminder, do NOT send your CD Key to anyone. No one at Raven or Activision will EVER ask for it. Any request for your CD Key is a ploy to steal it from you.

Treat the key as you would your car keys.

UPDATE! Raven's Rick Johnson updated his .plan with the text of an email going asking for CD keys under the guise of being from an Activision representative. I suppose someone who is really ignorant of how the authentication process would work could be fooled by it.

Video card thread on SlashDot -- 9:32 am CST, Update by The Master

Slashdot has an awesome thread on "The Good Old Days of 3dfx", which has two posts from John Carmack, one on Rendition and the other on consumer-level video cards in general. Yummy stuff in here-tho it does tend to run on forever, in the tradition of /.

Sunday, September 24, 2000

NFL Week #4 So Far -- 7:02 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

I'm kicking myself because I had initally picked Green Bay and Kansas City, but decided to switch them when I posted my picks. Doh! At any rate, I'm 7-5 and Eeyore is 5-7 with two games left.

XBox interview -- 2:19 pm CST, Update by The Master

There's a huge interview with Seamus Blackley, product manager for Microsoft's Advanced Technology Group, and one of the driving forces behind the XBox. This thing ranges all over the place, there's a lot of good XBox info in there. Go read :-)

Guiding Planes with GPS -- 11:57 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

A subsidiary of the United Parcel Service (UPS) is developing a new way to track planes using GPS systems rather than radar. This sounds like a profoundly cool use of the technology. I just don't know what will happen during those times of day when GPS doesn't work so well. Thanks Slashdot.

Super Secret CTF -- 11:48 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

I'm not sure what this means, but my guess would be that it is very, very good. Thanks Blue.

Past Two Days' News

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