January 1st, 2003Happy New Year!Well, a new year calls for a new version, right? :)
Sit tight. We're getting ready to leak an alpha. ;) This will basically be a test run for compatibility issues with the standalone client. Many features still haven't been implemented. Check back in a few days... September 8th, 2002Paintball2 v1.751 Server UpdateI know; it's not 2.0, but it will at least fix some bugs and add some features in the meantime. This build includes all the server updates mentioned in the June 8th news update, such as .ent file loading, spawn jiggle fixes, etc. Read that news post for all the details. Some other features have been added since then:
- func_getoutofjail entity (for jailbreak style maps), complete with customizable "noise" (wav played when people escape). - CO2 inventory reduced to 1 canister (really 2 -- one loaded and one held). Stops the CO2 hogging. :) - "passwordtimeout" cvar -- time, in minutes, to clear the server password when there are less than 2 people on. Useful if you want to set up a public/match server.
...as well as a bunch of other minor things not really worth mentioning.
Linux and windows builds are in the Files section. July 14th, 2002Sunday Night SurvivalZimbu has put a little Survivor style twist to a tournament. It's at 9PM EST tonight. No signups are required; just be sure to be at #dpsurvival on irc.EnterTheGame.com before the tourney starts. http://armagetron.2y.net/survival.html for more details. June 8th, 2002Progress Update!Well, I was hoping this would be a little further along by now (i.e., some kind of release out by now), but oh well. A lot more is going into it than simply making it standalone. Sad (our mysterious behind-the-scenes linux guru) is working on setting up compile-time keys and encrypted client-server interaction to prevent the use of wallhacks, aimbots and the like.
I've mostly been working on beefing up the Quake2 engine and making some bugfixes. Here's a list of what's new so far:
Client side executable: - Now completely independant of Quake2! - intensity and vid_gamma cvars have been replaced with a better brightening system: * gl_overbright - doubles the brightness of the world (very similar to the r_overbright in Quake3, only it takes advantange of some of the newer blending options available and looks nicer). * gl_brightness - blends another layer of brightness. It's not really necessary unless the video card doesn't support the texture combining methods used with gl_overbright. * gl_autobrightness - controls what percentage of the gl_brightness is adjusted automatically (in real-time) according to the surrounding shadows. - Paint grenade particle effects match up with paint physics. - Paint stains, which remain on the map for an entire match. - Sky bounds increased so large maps don't get chopped off in the distance. - WSAECONNRESET doesn't drop listen servers (that always bugged me when testing things). - Framerate display. - Timestamped messages. - Custom keyboard layouts supported. Raw scan codes stored in .kbd files (qwerty and dvorak included). - r_speeds display in lower left of the screen (rather than spamming the console). - Aliases are now saved when quitting. - "exec" command reads files out of the pball/configs directory (keeps the main folder neater). - Screenshots saved in .jpg format. - New smoke grenade effect -- renders a little slower, but looks pretty realistic. - Textures can be loaded from .tga or .jpg files. - 44khz sound enabled and used by default. - Purple splat tiled background in the menu fixed :) - Lots of other things I can't think of offhand or are too small to bother mentioning.
Not all of those enhancements were coded by me. A big thanks to all the guys over at quakesrc.org who have been working on making Quake2 a better place... I mean, engine.
Client side data: - The map textures have been redone (most redone from scratch) in 24bit. They are also much brighter. - New carbine model. - New player model (made by Shine, snagged from polycount.com and reskinned). - HUD and menu GFX resized to be powers of 2 (OpenGL friendly). Fixed a lot of the blur/distortion effects sometimes present. - Lots of new sounds -- all the sound effects used from Quake2 were replaced (doors, menus, footsteps, water splashes, etc., etc.) as well as a couple of elimination/flag sounds added (including flagpass.wav!). - Current sounds touched up -- removed some snap/crackle/pops here and there (I hear my sound effects speaking to me!) - New paintball model (whooptydoo). It doesn't have the black half and is a little more reasonably sized. - New map: "Bombs Away!" (a couple more maps are in progress)
Server updates/bugfixes: - .ent file loading (uses entities from mapname.ent instead of mapname.bsp if there is such a file) - "noclip" switches observer mode instantly and maintains position - No more "jiggly" spawns/teleports. Players start on the ground. - Siege timelimit reduced to 90 seconds (was 120) - 20oz CO2 dropping bug fixed - Randomness fixed for dropping items, etc. on unix servers. - Grenades spawn in DM mode - Grenade deathmsgs reflect client gender setting (eliminated himself/herself). - client side msg cvar now taken advantage of: * 0 = display all msgs * 1 = display everything but weapon pickups * 2 = display deaths and chat msgs only * 3 = display chat msgs only - "join" command works for abbreviated (or mistyped, as long as they start with the correct letter:) teams, ie: "join b" - Smoke and paint grenade code adjusted for new clientside effect. - The color of paint pools (lava) can be set with different flags (so it's not just orange when you fall in): * LAVA = purple * SLIME = blue * SLIME&LAVA = yellow * SLIME&LAVA&WATER = red - Outside of level color changed to black (from orange - I just thought that was ugly, heh). - Observers don't play in the jail anymore on forcedjail maps (i.e. dodgeball and bombsaway).
Express your thoughts over at the BBoard, or email me: jitspoe at planetquake dot com (Klez taught me to NEVER put my email ANYWHERE), and check back soon for some kind of alpha/prerelease May 10th, 2002Back and Gone AgainWell, I'm back from college, so that means more time to work on 2.0, yay! But... I'm off to visit relatives, so it'll be a few days before I can start. Cal's still finishing up, so he's uberbusy.