August 1999
News
08/29/99
Missed a couple
update here they are
Name: John Carmack
Email: johnc@idsoftware.com
Description: Programmer
Project: Quake 3 Arena
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8/28/99
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* spinning machinegun barrel
* changed q3data -origin option to -offset, defaulted to
0 0 24 for all player grabs
* removed second parm from -lod in q3data
* fixed 0 ping on last player killed before fraglimit
* better ping calculation right after transitions
* add time back to scoreboard
* sv_maxRate option to force all clients to play with a max
rate. This can be used to limit the advantage of
LPB, or to cap bandwidth utilization for a server.
Note that rate is ignored for clients that are on the
same LAN.
* fixed bad name vs name in tourney after first player left
* added hitch warning messages to server console
* new time clamping rules for net play
* avoid sending usercmds during connection
* send explicit heartbeats to the master server when
a server transitions to or from empty or full
* shaders that aren't found will return index 0, but
still keep the allocated slot to prevent
rescanning if registered again
* use nextSnap for player prediction when available
* removed teleport dest invisible objects
* reduced client to server bandwidth by 35%
* changed logging for chats to guarantee parsing properly with
names that conflict with commands:
from: G_LogPrintf( "%s say: %s
"
to: G_LogPrintf( "say: %s: %s
"
8/26/99
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The current plan is that we will have another test release around the middle
of next month. This version will be running game/cgame/ui with the virtual
machine, and will include single player play against bots. No new maps.
I will be releasing the source for all the VM modules with it, and
setting the executable up so that it will allow modified modules to be used.
The modified LCC and q3asm will be available both in source form and
precompiled, so a professional development environment will not be
requried.
Using MSDEV to debug binary dll's does make exploration a lot easier than
adding prints to interpreted code...
Some minor porting work on the tools will be necessary to do development under
linux. The effort would be greater for mac development, because the tools are
inherently command line based.
The map editor and tools will not be released until after the game hits store
shelves. To be completely clear: you are not legally licensed to create or
use addon maps with the test.
I am hoping that this public review will turn up bugs before we complete the
game. 50k lines of code is quite a bit to go over, but people familiar with
previous games will have a good head start in the game module.
The best possible situation would be if exploration of the code evolves into
a tier system, with either moderated or limited access lists that I can
follow without being swamped. I can't afford to be too involved in helping
everyone figure out the basics. I have plenty of confidence in the mod
communities ability to work that out. :-)
---------
Some people have been mistaking memory swapping in 1.08 for network problems.
We did controlled, back to back tests against the previous versions, and the
networking is identical if you have enough memory.
The addition of the new character model and all the new menu code and
graphics has caused the game to begin to have some swapping problems on 64mb
machines if you have all the quality options up high or are running other
things.
I am looking into what I can do to reduce memory consumption for the next
release, but in the meantime, you can turn down sound quality, geometry, or
texture detail to get rid of it.
If you have less than 64mb, go buy more memory! The final game will have
an option to run in less memory, but the graphics and sound quality will
be a lot lower.
----------
I made a simple change in the file management that I think is clearly a big
win.
Instead of scanning for pak0.pk3, pak1.pk3, ... pak9.pk3 in game directories,
I now scan the entire directory for all .pk3 files, and add them to the
search path in alphabetical order.
This gives us the same needed functionality we have now -- overriding things
in pak0.pk3 with updated data in pak1.pk3, but it also gives a signficant
benefit to the user community.
There has been a lot of requests to have textures inside maps like Quake1 did,
but I was not willing to do that. Having the files separate saves an immense
amount of duplication, and keeps the internal architecture uniform.
Now, you can just add all your new art into a pk3 (zip) file along with your
map and users can just drop that single file into their quake3/baseq3 directory
as a single operation.
This will also be nice for custom models, which require several component
parts: legs, torso, head, animations, levels of detail, and skins.
So, if you are strictly ADDING media (models, textures, maps, etc), then you can
just drop the pk3 files in the normal directory.
If you are REPLACING data (code modules, menus, etc), you should make a new game
directory and put the pk3 there. Starting up with "quake3 +set game mygame" will
make all the mygame pk3 files override anything in baseq3. You could do it by
just naming your pk3 file "zzzstuff.pk3", but then you wouldn't have a way to
run the game without the addons.
A prudent person might choose to put ALL addons into a separate directory and
leave baseq3 pristine for official additions.
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Other stuff that has been done lately:
* don't clamp dedicated server or client times until much
later -- prevents time resets under ordinary conditions
* fixed CG_ProcessSnapshots: cg.snap->serverTime
* only drift time on receipt of packets with
a steady ping -- improve catchup after drops
* fixed players getting stuck together
* new pak file support
* derez mac resource file
* intro/loop option for music files
* fixed lerp-through-world when changing teams
* show ping and netgraph for spectators
* fixed timescale off by one problem
* tracked down player count wrong on server list
* info_spectator_start entity
* shader language change: clampTexCoord removed, added clampmap
* r_debugSort cvar for working on transparency sorting problems
* changed minimum cl_maxpackets to 15
* fixed can't-respawn-when-someone-is-on-your-body
* fixed dlighting over alpha tested surfaces
* z_stats lists all blocks >= given size
* fixed wasted model slots
* increased com_hunkmegs
* com_buildScript cvar to force loading all media and quit on errors
* fixed bad playerstate interpolation across teleporters
* converted local sounds to sfxHandle_t
* new fog code doesn't require subdivisions
* fixed sun positioning problem
* added fogging of triangle objects
* fixed devmap issue
* make g_log a filename instead of a 0/1
* g_logsync option to force a flush after each write
must be set at time of log file creation
08/26/99
Seen in the Gamers Gazette (Something for warz sites to
think about huh)
Don't Do the Electronic Crime If You Can't Do the Real-Time -- Aha,
the first trial of its kind regarding the No Electronic Theft Act (NET)
has ended. The conclusion--Jeffery Gerard Levy plead guilty to illegally
posting computer software programs, musical recordings, entertainment
software programs and digital movies on his Internet site for anyone to
download and copy. According to the Justice Department and the District of
Oregon, this is a criminal infringement of a copyright, in violation of 18
U.S.C. ss. 2319(c)(1) and 17 U.S.C. ss. 506(a)(2). Levy is the first
person convicted under this NET act that was enacted in 1997. Levy is
scheduled to be sentenced on November 2 in the U.S. District Court in
Eugene, Oregon. What makes this case even more interesting is that this
information was brought to law enforcement officials by the University of
Oregon when an unusually large volume of bandwidth traffic was being
generated from a web site to the university's server.
08/25/99
Quake3
Center has posted the
first wave of rail pics from there contest.
Just got back from surfing the
news, and Trendkill is smoking
with news go check them out if you haven't already.
Nullsoft Winamp 2.50 released
Available on their Homepage,it is now freeware
go get it and play your favorite songs while fraging in Quake 3 test (sounds like fun are
you still here go go now).
3dfx Straps Up to Meet Competition
Source:ShugaShack
Greg Ballard, the CEO of 3dfx, did a thought provoking interview with CNBC
discussing various issues concerning 3dfx (dropping stock values etc). He mentions that
they are currently working on a new product (voodoo 5?) that is intended to launch in the
first half of the year 2000.
Loonyboi's Day 3 Q3A Bus Trip
Source:BluesNews
Loony, has posted day 3 of his trip
with the Quake III Arena Tour Bus. He brought back another pic of "Orbb"
along with a mysterious snapshot of a female
character. go check
it out.
08/24/99
I wish I could do this I
don't even have one yet (well maybe someday when my site is real big)
What
you ask give away a Voodoo 3 3500 TV card like Quake3 Center is doing !!!
If more people would click on my add at the bottom of the page and buy something I
could do the same.
08/23/99
I am back did I miss much I
don't think so (surf more tonight) I did see the
trendkill.net pimped my site (thanks) Go check his site out and bookmark it. I also
added a link to it on my links page don't know how I forgot to do this earlier.
On a side note I just bought Descent 3 dam the game is very
cool. If you have the system to run it I recommend it. I guy needs a break from Quake3
once in awhile.
08/19/99
I will be gone for three days so
there won't be any updates until Monday. Keep sending in the
news,art,comments.
08/18/99
Q3 level comparisons
Thresh's Firing Squad
has posted side by side
comparisons of the Q3test 1.08 Q3test1 and Q3test2 maps with their old versions it's a
cool read with pic. that show the differences. go here
08/17/99
A new version of Q3Tweak has been put up on
Q3Center in one day. Fixed some bugs in last one and add a installer. Go get it here
Id. site Quake 3 Arena has photos of the
tour bus and Blue News has the official message
board for the tour. Go check them out. Its to bad for me they are not coming close to
were I live.
Quake3Nation, managed to get a list of all the characters
that will be in the full version of Quake 3 Arena. The list includes about, 60+
characters, go check it out here.
08/16/99
CTC Servers up and running now, (now I can
almost be a low pinger check them out maybe I will cya there)
3 servers running the 3 levels; all version 1.08
206.10.20.6 27960
206.10.20.6 27961
206.10.20.6 27962
Added a new pic of the day-week. I need
more pics.
New Q3Tweak
A new version of Q3Tweak has been put up on
Q3Center. The guide helps people optimize Quake3 so it will run better performance wise
and graphically. Check it out here.
I new up date from John its a bit
on the technical side. Here is part of it go to plan updates
then John to read more.
Name: John Carmack
Email: johnc@idsoftware.com
Description: Programmer
Project: Quake 3 Arena
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8/16/99
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As I mentioned at quakecon, I decided to go ahead and try a dynamic code
generator to speed up the game interpreters. I was uneasy about it, but the
current performance was far enough off of my targets that I didn't see any
other way.
After getting over being sick the start of the week (someone from QC must
have brought me a flu present), I decided to dive in to it.
At first, I was surprised at how quickly it was going. The first day, I
worked out my system calling conventions and execution environment and
implemented enough opcode translations to get "hello world" executing.
08/15/99
Worked on my reviews of
the maps some more today if you want go check them out.
You know you play Quake too much when...
...you strafe up and down your staircase.
...you occasionally do a 180 to make sure no one is on your tail.
Check out more of these quake funnies at Quake 3 Mania
Check out this site Called The chop shop
Fraggin while laggin
Exxtreme3D's Fragging While Lagging
is an article that tries to give modem players tips on how to try to overcome their
disadvantage on Internet Q3Test servers against players with lower pings.
08/14/99
Q3 Demo is next
According to Graeme Devine of id. seen at Blue's, there will be no fix or update to get the Quake Con demos
working - the next version of Quake 3 coming out will most likely be the full demo and
after that, the full version!
Name: Graeme Devine
Email: zaphod@idsoftware.com
Description: Some Guy
Project:
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8/13/99
BTW. You can search for Q3A Internet Servers using the keywords "ffa",
"tourney", "deathmatch", "team" and "tournament"
in the Internet game
browser screen to only show specific types of maps.08/14/99
The linux 1.08
is out click on the link for q3test on your top left.
Q3Center is looking to host more sites! They
host sites completely free of charge
A new Quake3 site well I just
found it anyway go check it out http://www.cached.net/
08/12/99
Introducing the World's Fastest
PC Processor!
The 650MHz AMD Athlon™ processor is the world's fastest and highest-performance
microprocessor for x86 computer systems ( I wish I had one of these)
Check out the Paul Steed Quakecon 1999 Wrapup.(seen
at Stomped)
PlanetQuake
has released this weeks Tech Tips. This
week they cover, how to optimize your system to turn it into a gaming machine. If you feel
your system is running to slow then you should check out this weeks Tech Tips.
08/11/99
Missed a day still loading
everything back on to my computer.
08/10/99
PCGamer just got a hold of some pictures of the
Quake3 bus, that will be roaming around the western part of the US. The bus will be making
a lot of stops so keep your eyes peeled for it, view shots here.
I am back looks like I missed some
news too. Been doing some surfing this is what I found.
Try out this
all of
the items replaced by simple two-dimensional icons. Type "cg_simpleitems 1" in
the console (no quotes) and you'll see, up to a 30% boost in game performance after doing
this.
3D Action Planet has a
great article about what John Carmack had
to say at the Quakecon (This is a must read)
A few of John answers
Number of Maps in the Test: No more levels will be
released for Quake 3 Test.
Locational Damage: He has no plans to incorporate
locational damage into Quake 3.
Read more at 3D Action Planet
New QuakeStarter
(seen at Bluenews)
QuakeStarter's Official HomePage has a new
version 0.72b of this front-end for Quake, Quake II, and Q3Test. The new release adds a
password field to the deathmatch options; adds the gametype options for Q3Test; adds a
server MOTD option; improves Quake II Gladiator bot support; and fixes bugs in the SOCKS
options, dedicated server options, and MaxFPS option.
QuakeCon Photos
(seen at Bluenews)
The Shugashack's QuakeCon 99 Picture Page
is up with some reminiscences from the event, and over 70 photos Huntsman took along the
way, all with captions.
Congrates Diehard on
the win. I think
I have played him before and he is very good I felt like a newbie that night.
George Myshlyayev aka Diehard of Clan r3v has won the QuakeCon '99 tourney 18-5! He played 1134-Bane in the
final.
Quad God movie trialer
TRITIN FILMS - teaser.asf
MOVIE-LIST.COM - teaser.asf
SQUAREGAMER.COM - teaser.asf
CODENETWORK - teaser.asf
FF8LEGENDS.COM - teaser.asf
08/06/99
I have been having computer problems looks like I
will have to reformatt. It could be a few days until I return.
08/05/99
I just made a Sarge pic above.
Also archived the rest of the July news.
Mac users voodoo 3 is coming for you also.
3dfx Broadens Commitment
to Macintosh Market
New Drivers
Enable Macintosh Developers to Deliver Applications For Voodoo3-Based Graphics BoardsSAN
JOSE, Calif., Aug. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- 3dfx Interactive® Inc. (Nasdaq: TDFX - news) today announced that it has broadened
its commitment to the Apple® Macintosh® market with the release of new Voodoo3(TM)
developer drivers, available today at http://www.3dfx.com/view.asp?IOID=306.
The new drivers will enable leading game developers to create Macintosh versions of their
best-selling Windows® PC games and harness the power of Voodoo3-based graphics cards for
the Mac.
