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Fifteenth Highest Shelf Vittles: 8.15.99-10.18.99
Back to Stale Vittles
Monday 10/18/99
Win98 Second Edition Needs Help
Every person I've heard from about Microsoft's recent "Second
Edition" of Win98 pretty much agrees that it blows big time.
Anyhow,
if you just "upgraded" to Second Edition and now have
trouble with Outlaws, uninstalling SE is probably yer best
bet. :P
That Special Place
Woohoo! Thanks to all those who mailed in with networking
tips, I really appreciate it. Thankfully the two members of
my lil' home LAN are now back on speaking terms after a
good night's rest. See basically there was no way for me to
manually reset the default gateways to match so that they
could talk, and I had to resort to shutting the whole thing
down overnight in the hopes that when I booted back up, they'd
have new, matching gateway addresses. I tried that for two
nights and the second (last night) was the charm. :)
So the Pale's Place hosted game
is back online, currently running a CTF game. Not sure how
popular that will be but what the heck. ;)
* * *
Sunday 10/17/99
New Wire, Karrde Poll
Saw over on
deathriders.org that
Blackthorn has done up a spanking new issue of his
Outlaws scandal sheet
The Wire.
A fun-filled read, as always, and he has help this time from
Deathrider Outlaw.
Karrde just got in under the wire (oh man that was bad)
to let me know that he's started up a new poll topic over on
his
Outlaws site. This one kinda comes straight outta left
field, interesting to think about.
The Agony of Default
So despite my post to the contrary yesterday the "Pale's Place"
hosted game is still down. I could get it running, technically
speaking, but I'm trying to resolve the TCP/IP networking
problem that has developed on my little LAN here. Basically,
after returning from a week away and powering up all the
equipment I found that my computers could not find each other
on my two-system, one hub LAN. Argh.
Much pain and rebooting has finally lead me to the cause, which
is that somehow each system now has a different "Default Gateway"
meaning that they don't see each other as being hooked into the
Internet through the same digital modem. I'm not sure quite how
that is possible, but my suspicion is that it was caused by
one system having a VPN Dialup entry on it with an old IP address
entered, and somehow Windows grabbed on to that and wouldn't
let it go, while the other machine decided to move on to a new
gateway. Or somethin'. Gawd.
Actually microsoft.com's "Knowledge Base" lists this as a
known issue, so now I get to go hammer away with DOS routing
commands and see if I can make any headway that way.
Gahh.
* * *
Saturday 10/16/99
KaRe Closes Cavern
KaReFree wrote me the following today:
please tell everyone that I would not be able to continue on with the site
(well have not been able to update for sometime anyway). I have been busy
with my college life. Studies, studies, studies. Life in college is hectic.
My apologies to all who have been visiting my site that I cannot maintain
it for the time being... for that reason, I plan to put down my site for
the time being....
Well like he said he hasn't been able to update for some time,
so this shouldn't come as a huge shock to anyone, but it is a
shame to hear that the Cavern is gonna be gone for the
foreseeable future. KaRe had a great site back in the good ol'
days an' I know a lotta folks who checked it out on a regular
basis. But you know time marches on, KaRe's got college to
concentrate on so let's all wish him the best! In fact, dunno
if KaRe wanted me ta do this but heck, why not e-mail him at
[removed]
and let him know how much ya appreciate all he's done fer th'
Outlaws community (co-designer of the Outlaws Level Manager,
among many other things). Thanks for KaRing! :)
To Host Better or Worse?
I confess this is something I've thought about vaguely for
a while but the ever-thoughtful Skeeter brought it into
focus today with an e-mail:
While it is a cool thing to go see if a game going on at Pale Serve. Part
of me is glad that it has been down. You see, Kali has had a few more
visiters since there is not the convienient Pale serve I.P. This means that
people have to go to Kali and actualy cordinate a game (chat, debate, and
agree on a game). I am just as guilty of saying screw Kali today and going
to your place. I guess it is a love-hate thing.
Skeeter's got an excellent point there... pretty ironic that
this came today when I spent most of the afternoon trying to
figger out why my lil' LAN here isn't seeing itself through
TCP/IP like it did before I left on my trip—finally got it
going but only by resorting to semi-lame NetBEUI. :P
So the long and the short of it is that the
Pale's Place hosted game is
back up (note the new IP address).
Now yes it has occurred to me that one of the things
I have said I like about Outlaws is lack of a dedicated server
that forces people to get together and organize themselves, and
then I go and make the closest thing to a dedicated server that
is possible with Outlaws. I can only say defense of the Place
that 1) it doesn't rotate maps regularly, so anyone who spends
all day playing on it is a bit funny in the head, 2) at
least in a small way it has gotten more folks accustomed to
playing outside of the Zone and 3) many people seem to like
it and I'm just so eager to please that I'll keep it running
day after day. :j
But Skeeter's point should not be ignored.
I confess that I've been
hosting some "popular" maps lately, but maybe a better
focus for the Place will be on good maps that most people seem
to have overlooked or have forgotten about, to widen people's
Outlaws horizons a bit mebbe. An' heck mebbe jus' ta keep
people from gettin' dependent on it or somethin' I'll throw
in Tag games or somethin', or even jus' shut th' darn thing
down for a day if I don't have time to reset it without being
late to work. ;) Oooo hehe or mebbe I'll jus' start bootin'
people who stay on it too long. ;D
* * *
Friday 10/15/99
Funny Cowboy Stuff
Redrider sent me "a cowboy's guide to life" which
he got from "some one." These tips probably won't help you
none in Outlaws but heck, it's Friday night, let's get a lil'
goofy:
-Don't squat with your spurs on.
-Don't interfere with something that ain't botherin' you none.
-Timing has a lot to do with the outcome of a rain dance.
-The easiest way to eat crow is while it's still warm. The colder it
gets, the harder it is to swaller.
-If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin'.
-If it don't seem like it's worth the effort, it probably ain't.
-It don't take a genius to spot a goat in a flock of sheep.
-The biggest troublemaker you'll probably ever have to deal with watches
you shave his face in the mirror every morning.
-Never ask a barber if you need a haircut.
-If you get to thinkin' you're a person of some influence, try orderin'
somebody else's dog around.
-Don't worry about bitin' off more'n you can chew; your mouth is
probably a whole lot bigger'n you think.
-Always drink upstream from the herd.
-Generally, you ain't learnin' nothing when your mouth's a-jawin'.
-Tellin' a man to git lost and makin' him do it are two entirely
different propositions.
-If you're ridin' ahead of the herd, take a look back every now and then
to make sure it's still there with ya.
-Good judgment comes from experience, and a lotta that comes from bad
judgment.
-When you give a personal lesson in meanness to a critter or to a
person, don't be surprised if they learn their lesson.
-When you're throwin' your weight around, be ready to have it thrown
around by somebody else.
-Lettin' the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin' it
back.
-Always take a good look at what you're about to eat. It's not so
important to know what it is, but it's sure crucial to know what it was.
-The quickest way to double your money is to fold it over and put it
back into your pocket.
-Never miss a good chance to shut up.
Who Needs a Sequel
Now I've said this before, that even though the
Outlaws Sequel Petition is
going quite well and I would be very interested to see
another Outlaws game from Lucasarts, I'm not one of those
who thinks we NEED a sequel—face it, we're all here because
we like Outlaws, not Outlaws 2 or Outlaws Extreme or nothin'
else. :p Truffle sent along a few thoughts in a
similar vein:
I dont mean to be the odd ball of the outlaws community but I dont think that we should bother with the petition. Go ahead, it dont bother me but I think that we are
doing just fine and I dont see how Outlaws can get much better. And with a little use of our imagination we have been able to edit items and nwx files to make our own
characters and our own weapons. So with a little itm editing and a little nwx editing we can pretty much do our own sequel.
But I do think LucasArts should come up with some updates. Like make it more 3DFX compatible so we dont have as many 3DFX errors or make their own level
editor that can detect all problems and make it easier to make maps than Lawmaker. And another useful thing would be to let you change your character in the game so
you dont have to leave and come back and make it display a message like "SO&SO Changed to Spittin' Jack." They could also do a deal like Blizzard Entertainment
does with StarCraft and Diablo, have Battle.net. Would be alot better than zone. Now you probably think im crazy. Oh and of course more historical missions and stuff. I
just thought i might say something about it.
Now, I don't agree with all the lil' suggestions he's got
for updates but I do agree that it would be very, very hard
to make a better game than Outlaws. Then again if anyone can
do it, it's going to be Lucasarts. Just some stuff to think
about... if you've got some thoughts on the matter, why not
go discuss 'em on one of the Outlaws message boards. Th'
Outlaws
Message Board comes to mind as a good spot. ;)
* * *
Thursday 10/14/99
Timber Ho 2.0
Man I swear sometimes these headlines just seem to write
themselves. ;) Runaway Jim was lookin' through my
map archive an' noticed that somehow I was missin' his
Timber
Ho! version 2.0 so he sent it on over. Seems to have
a good deal of small modifications over the original version,
most notably a tunnel extending around the entire "back"
end of the map which effectively opens things up a good
deal, and some texturing improvements. And you know it's
just darn good fun to say "Timber Ho!"
Sites Stolen From OGB
In my bleary jet-lagged state yesterday (which has happily
managed to last through today as well :p) I missed a few
new URLs dished up by Hoss over at
Outlaws Gang
Busters. Here are the two new sites, there's a third
that isn't really a site but more of a preview of things
to come from Fallsdown, you really should head over
to OGB to check that one out... oh then I got a third
site from a link off of the second site, whew isn't
networking fun?
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OBH: Outlaws Bounty Hunters
Nice color management but nothin' here yet other
than a text list of the OBH gang members and an
uncredited link to my ftp server. ;P
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Pretenders TJG Page
Even though he called me "Placeface" in a news post
and the site features lots of typos and a number of
not-so-original pages, the news, updated maps and map
reviews make this a pretty good place to check out
from time to time—the fairly fast and legible design
is a plus as well.
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Toxic's Feed Store
Handy design,
map play tips and reviews and weapon and character info
sections provide pretty good bang for yer browsing buck.
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Outlaws is "Essential"
Computer Games Online
just put up a feature called "The Essentials List - 10 Essential
First-Person Shooters." CGO may be one of the worst-designed
large game news sites out there but you gotta hand it to
'em fer bein' bright enough to list Outlaws in the top 10
fps list. Here's what they say (thanks to the
Doominator fer all this):
"Where are ya Sheriff." Those are familiar
words to fans of this game, which is one of
the most underrated of all-time. Widely
criticized for its behind-the-times technology
that was based on the two-year old Dark
Forces, those people missed the big
picture—the gameplay rocked. It still has the
best setting, excellent cut scenes and an
unmatched sense of a style. Its multiplayer is
also a high-point, with perfectly designed
maps and realistic damage.
Well kiss my grits, I think that just about says it all.
Someone at CGO (looks like Steve Bauman) actually
knows what's what. :)
* * *
Wednesday 10/13/99
All Squinty-Eyed
Yay I made it back. :) Had quite a time out east at
Kate's but I guess it's just as well we hadda come back,
or I'd soon find myself in the poorhouse. But man, that
double-lobster dinner was worth it! :d
Well downloadin' my mails took a bit longer than I expected,
perhaps because I had somewhere over 100 messages. :o Fortunately
for me most of 'em were for the
Outlaws Sequel Petition so I didn't
actually have to respond to them personally. Whew! I did get
around to updating the petition though, so we're now at umm
oh well go and look yourself, it's quite a few more than I'd
expected to accumulate over the past week. :)
Now I think there's also some real news and stuff, the fun
part of this will be to see how far I get through it before
the little characters on the screen run together and stop
making sense. Oh yah, and my hosted game isn't back up just
yet 'cause it seems that after a week of being unplugged, my
two computers just can't bring themselves to talk to each
other. What the heck is up, I'd like to know. Gah. But meantime
on with the rest of the show...
Look: Maps!
Racked up a few maps while I was gone, here they are in hmm
I guess roughly the order they landed in my mailbox.
Gas' latest effort,
The Longwar -
Unleashed Rages may sound like a bad adult movie but in
fact it looks like a pretty good CTF Outlaws map. In the Longwar
tradition there are two bases separated by rolling ground crossed
with bridges but this time Gas has made things a bit simpler
for faster action which is, in general, a good thing. Err.
Ah and he's also got lots of cute custom textures and signs,
and his trademark underground trees. Wahoo! Anyhow yes the
level may look a bit funny if you think about it too hard but
for most of us that's hardly a problem. Huhuhu... fire. Fire.
Oh yah and I took a picture too,
see?
Zeurdoos (is that code for "Zeus door?") sent in another
version of his
My Nature
map. This is one of those funny green sky maps and... umm...
well I confess, I can't tell what's different in this version
though I haven't played the previous one yet. So I'll just
quote ZD when he says "Thanx to Chet
my level now is complete "bug-free" and thats
why I'll sent it again to you." Sounds good. Hey, this quoting
people shtick is pretty handy!
I swiped a map from
Outlaws Gang Busters
which has been seeing some good updates by Hoss in Martone's
absence (he snuck back in on the message board though hehe).
Siesta
is the first map from the team of Desperado and Tippo.
It's got plenty of rough edges but the layout is original
and framerates high. Hard to describe other'n that, it does
sorta ramble around a bit, but here's a
shot to show that I'm not just
making everything up. Looks kinda fun.
Sleepy (uh oh, not a good adjective for me to be
thinking of right now |P) sent along an updated version of
Blast Co.,
his map set in a dynamite factory. A big place with lots of
fireworks, this version ditches the moving conveyor belts and
civilian, which should reduce lag a good deal, and seems to
have improved framerates outside in a major way. Good work
by Sleepy! I renamed this version slightly so it wouldn't
delete the old one. I think Sleepy wanted the old one gone but
you know folks, I'm tryin' to run an archive here. ;) So the
lesson is, if you make a map it's going to be around a long,
long time (unless it really takes up way too much space :p).
Muhuhahaa...
Wear Tights and a Big Skull
Yes, it's nearly Halloween. But this actually isn't about
Halloween, it's a new character file from Joe... (also
known as Peacemaker) based on the Bill Morgan dude from the
regular game. So basically you could download it
here
(for a limited time, ya know), extract it to yer Outlaws
directory, rename punisher.nwx to say sanchez.nwx and then
all the Spittin' Jacks in the game would look like big
buff black-clad men with a skull on their chest. Don't try
to pretend you aren't excited! Oh and the extra-spiffy thing
(Yeah I said "spiffy," you got a problem with that? Do I amuse
you? Do you find my way of talking funny? Do—aww nevermind) is
that you can use this character in a map of your own, as long
as you let Joe... know about it before-hand (see the readme
for details). Now all we need is some good (?) Dolph Lundgren
sound clips and we're all set. Or uh hmm...
Webshlingers
Crazy web stuff with cowboys:
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Magz's Outlaws Post
Scary layout but some handy stuff with taunts, cheats
and Magz's analysis of the weapons as well as keyboard
config tips and so forth. Also home to the "Outlaws
Mail Service" where you can keep in touch with yer
favorite gunslingers with the help of a pretty slick
web-based e-mail service.
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Violent Outcasts
Nice fast glow-in-the-dark design makes this an easy
site to read. Not a whole lot here as yet but a list
of the Vo members, mini-bio of the gang and a download
list of their favorite levels makes it worth a small
trip.
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You know, I am really starting to regret my old decision to
go with custom fonts on this site. Well, not that it doesn't
look okay if you don't download them, but in general it is
not a good idea to mess with that kind of thing (esp since it
IS technically illegal to redistribute most fonts) and I didn't
count on it catching on quite like it has. Oops. Uh well so
if you webslingers get sued, don't blame me. :P
Terminater sends word that he's put an index page on
his
site which if you'll recall I just introduced the other day...
err, week. Anyway, index pages are by and large a fine thing
to have and this one could be cleaner but hey it's got those
Nintendo Koopa guys on it. Or are they Troopas? I always get
those confused.
salmoides found a link to an old
Game-Revolution.com
Outlaws review. And I do mean old. Still, always nice
to see what "people" thought of the game at the time especially
since they had no way of knowing that a non-perfect score would
make them flame targets a couple years down the road—kidding!
Har! It's an Outlaws review, what more d'ya want?
Well, after much hullaballo and suspense, the Mystery LawMaker
who completed the "Fort McHenry" map has revealed himself on
Karrde's
web page (no no, nothing like that ;P). Yes, the weeks of
agonizing mystery are finally over. Go check out the full
confession. ;)
* * *
Wednesday 10/6/99
Pale's Away!
Yessiree, I'm off on another cross-country jaunt with
Slack-Jawed Pete, this time we're flyin' over to
th' east coast to hang out with Big Nose Kate for
a week. Should be quite a hootinanny. :)
So, obviously there won't be no news fer a week. In the mean
time I heartily encourage y'all to mosey over to the links page
and do a bit of exploring around the online Outlaws world.
Also, if you haven't yet or if you have Outlaws-lovin' friends
who haven't been, get on over to the
Outlaws Sequel Petition and show
yer support fer another Outlaws game from LEC. Someone asked
how many signatures I have in total (counting those that I
haven't had time to post yet) and let's see... looks darn
close to 650. =) Keep 'em comin'!
Those with levels and news kin still e-mail 'em to me an'
I'll do my best to catch up when I get back next week. In case
yer wonderin', I don't give more advance notice of my lil'
absences 'cause I don't want to be flooded with "oh Pale post
this before you go!" mails—I always come near enough to missing
my flights as it is. ;)
I'm taking the "Pale's Place" hosted game off-line for the
duration, for safety reasons and because there's no way it
would run in any sort of stable fashion for the entire week
on its own. Yeah I know some of ya will miss it but it should
be back when I am—'round about next Thursday. Toodles!
* * *
Tuesday 10/5/99
Naughty "My Nature"
Zeurdoos sent me his new map,
My
Nature. An open valley with twisty walls and green
sky much like his last map, but bright sunlight and a
distinct building in the middle make it a bit clearer.
Some very low tunnels go across the middle underground.
Framerates are very high throughout though things could
look a bit better with some texture aligning and minor
adjoin work. Also, is it just me or is two gatling guns
side by side in a dead-end tunnel a little overkill? ;)
Of course, some people like that kind of thing (better
than underkill, I suppose).
* * *
Monday 10/4/99
Gun-runnin'
A new site for your perusing pleasure today:
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The Gunners
Not much here on Outlaws specifically, but a pretty
thorough history of the posse for those who are
interested.
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* * *
Sunday 10/3/99
Linky Dinks
Quite a few web-happenin's lately. Fer starters, an anonymous
web author sent me their new URL:
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Outlaws
Sometimes you CAN tell a site by its title. Tons of Java
junk and animations make this a real pain to load, and
the cluttered layout of the first page doesn't help. A few
links, taunts and cheats as well as N64 stuff (???) is all
you'll find here.
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Chet is back on track after the whole "Gothem" thing,
working on a single-player series called "BigHeist." He plans
on having "at least 7 maps in the series" and adds that all
his fellow SWL posse members will be helping out as well. Look
for a big update on this project at the
SWL page
sometime soon.
I managed to screw up the link to the CBO site that I posted
earlier in the week. They've got a new shorter one now anyway
so if you missed it before, try
www.surf.to/cbo.
Blackthorn dropped just let me know that issue #7 of
his Outlaws e-mail 'zine,
The Wire,
is up. The Wires just keep getting bigger and bigger, #7 has
a guest-(co)editor, typically profanity-laced Zone chat
transcripts, self-promoting (I love it! ;) posters, the
ever-popular hardware/skill debate, high-brow prose (attempts)
and too much other stuff to list so let's just sum up by
saying it is "packed with goodness." When he plugged the first
issue in the Zone Blackthorn hyped it by saying "I'll print
what Pale won't" and I have to say, man that rocks. ;)
Don't Disable Active Scripting for Zone
LoneStarJim passed along the tip that if you
disable "Active Scripting" in IE 5.0 (for security reasons,
presumably) you won't be able to play in High Noon. Yet more
proof that if you go into the Zone you're taking your life
into your own hands...;)
"Undergrounds" by Machine
Machine (used to be known as KC_Shaggy) sent me a new
map of his,
Undergrounds.
He wants to give a big thanks to Chet who helped make
part of the map. It's a subterranean boxing ring with a locker
room and no guns--you start with bare fists and there ain't no
firearms to be found. There's some TNT though, you'll probably
want to pick that up. On my Voodoo3 the canvas in the ring
and parts of the locker room wall texture came out bright
purple for some reason. Ouch, my eye!
* * *
Thursday 9/30/9
What's a Weekend?
It's been a while, think I may have forgotten. Anyhow I just
wanted to say that the
Outlaws Sequel
Petition is still going strong, even if I haven't gotten
around to updating it for several weeks. Remember, of course,
that you are more than welcome to encourage anyone you know
to pitch in with the petition so long as they really would like
to see another Outlaws game from Lucasarts. Counting the mini-rush
of new signatures today it will have well over 600 signatures,
at least, when I do get around to an update. Probably won't
be this weekend which is already looking largely shot to heck.
Just hope I can get my laundry done at some point...
* * *
Wednesday 9/29/99
Danger Lurks in "Lynchburg"
Not the most welcoming name for a town, perhaps, but
Lynchburg
is a very welcome multiplayer map from
Nowhere_Man. He's made a full-sized old west town
that in many ways calls to mind Dry Gulch and the single-player
version of Sanctuary, but succeeds in being a completely new
place altogether.
The texturing and lighting will catch your eye immediately.
NM has paid extraordinary attention to subtle use of shaded
areas, creating gradual lighting gradations that really give
the map a near photo-realistic quality in many areas. He makes
great use of different wood textures for all the buildings that
make each one separate, but part of a whole. Awesome work. In
addition he's done wonders with the framerate compared to an
early version I saw, and now even in the most detailed part of
town framerates remain quite acceptable. Hoorah!
One final thing I want to note here is the scale of the town.
And I don't just mean that it's big (and how). I mean that he's
built the structures on a slightly larger scale than we're
used to seeing, a scale that in fact makes the map feel
somehow monumental and more realistic. That sounds silly when
I say it but believe me you'll see it right away. Reminds me a
lot of the scale of things in Cutter's excellent
"New Cariboo" map.
One small thing I don't like too much is the inclusion of a
couple of AI bartenders. These are neat touches to look at but
I still think will add lag to online games. More on that in
the next vittle... And if you think you can just kill these
guys off, well, try try again. ;)
Still not satisfied? Try some screenshots on for size:
shot 1,
shot 2 and
shot 3.
AI and Bandwidth in Multiplayer
Nowhere_Man had some interesting input on the AI lag issue.
As far as he could see in his own tests of Lynchburg, the
AIs didn't increase the bandwidth requirement. Most surprising
though was his finding that the positions of the AI characters
do not match on different players' computers!
Well I jus' hadda check that out. So I hosted up Lynchburg and
went in to check out a bartender on both computers and took
a simultaneous screenshot from opposite ends of the bar. Here's
the view from "Paleface" and
then the view from "PaleHost."
Note how the bartender is at the far end of the bar in both
shots, even though they are taken from opposite ends!
Weird stuff. Somehow the game doesn't try to keep the positions
consistent. Still data is being passed for the AIs; my bandwidth
meter indicated that for a one-on-one, Lynchburg has
0.1 Kbps more upload AND download than non-AI levels. That
doesn't sound like a whole lot, but there are some things to
keep in mind.
First, every bit of bandwidth counts. Outlaws handles latency
pretty well but even so it's almost inevitable that modem users
will experience at least a little lag in crowded games. In these
situations, just a tad more data transfer can make things a lot
worse.
The second thing is just a hunch, but since Outlaws is
peer-to-peer, each computer might have to send the AI data to
every other computer. This would mean that a three person game
would take 0.2 Kbps upload and download
for two AI characters, a four person would
take 0.3, and so on. That's starting to get pretty significant
indeed.
The Outlaws Message Board
Martone tells me that the
OGB message board
has grown and spawned off on its own under a new universal
name, the "Outlaws Message Board." This means it gets its very
own entry on the link page:
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Outlaws Message Board
A simple, elegant message board interface for all Outlaws
players to use. Thanks to the generosity of the OGB crew,
any Outlaws site is free to link to this message board
so that players will have a central meeting place for
ongoing messages, debates and whatnot. Great idea for
this already popular watering hole.
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Bye to Martone?
Martone also tells me that he will be without internet
access for a while, starting soon. Doh! What will we all
do without this helpful, ornery rascal around? Shoot,
things just won't be the same. :[ Let's all thank Martone
fer all th' time an' effort he's put into the Outlaws
community, hope that he gets his access back in
short order, and wish him well no matter where things
take him. Thanks Martone! Don't be gone too long, y'hear?
Nighty Dishes on Templar, "Sandhills," Tourney
Nighty crowded into my inbox with quite a meaty chunk
of e-mail. First, she says her dear Templar has pretty
much retired from Outlaws mapmaking (dagnabbit!) but he's okay
with the use of his custom sand texture in Grifter's
"Sandhills" map. So after a quick trip to snag the map at
Gryphon's Outlaws
Surf Shack I'm now quite happy to be able to host
Sandhills
without worrying about the state of the credits. Whew! For
those who never picked it up, this is a very smooth looking
map (thanks in no small part to Templar's sand) with some
deserty bluffs and two buildings at opposite sides of a circular
canyon. Lack of running sounds is a bit puzzling but otherwise
this looks like a fine, fast small deathmatch map. Lots of nice
jumping from canyon to canyon. Here's a
shot.
Finally, Nighty vented a bit of understandable frustration
with tryin' to wrangle Outlaws players into a tournament each
week. So she's ditching her tourney in order to just get
back to playing with friends herself. Man, I can sympathize
with that, let me tell you. So the winsome Nighty should be
gracing more Outlaws games in person from now on, sounds like
a good deal to me.
"Checkers," Mate!
Man it's going to be rough with Martone out of action for
a while. Fortunately his latest post at OGB had a new level
that I could mooch,
Checkers.
Did you ever dream of being a piece in a giant checker board,
bounding gleefully over enemy checkers as you leap from tile
to tile across the game board? No? Hmm, how odd. Well maybe
now you will because that's exactly what you do in this map.
To shake things up, some tiles have water, bunkers, pits and
so forth. LOTS of high-caliber weapons scattered around will
certainly keep things hopping. Of course it's one big area so
framerates get a tad low, but you can't deny this is a unique
approach for an Outlaws map. Hmm I'm already way over-quota
on screenshots today but heck, gotta have a
shot of this thing.
New CBO Site
smac wrote of his just-finished posse site, so dig
in:
|
|
CBO - Cold Blooded Outlaws
A bit uneven and bandwidth-heavy in spots, but the
large amount of resources here and the frequent updates
make this CBO site worth a visit.
|
Oh yeah, if you haven't check it yet go see the
"Mystery LawMaker" poll over on
Karrde's site
then go check it out... hehe I'm not gonna say nothin', nope
nossir I'm not... ;)
* * *
Monday 9/27/99
Gothem is Back
Well this version seems to have been o-kayed so you can
grab a new version of
Gothem
City here if you want it. I'd go for it, despite the
controversy it looks like a pretty good map and of course
has a certain caped crusader by Peacemaker in it...
sshep Needs Pics
ssehp is thinkin' of makin' a site just for pictures
(pics like Wildbill had when he has still updating his
"Outlaws Bar" site). So what he would like is if people can
send him their "action photos" of Outlaws matches in progress,
he'll post 'em up. Or somethin'. Oh yah his email would be
[removed].
He's also got a LawMaker question about making lanterns go out
when you shoot them, but I'm going to refer that over to the
official LawMaker board at
DarkJedi.com. ;)
* * *
Sunday 9/26/99
Controversy Embroils "Gothem City"
Mebbe if I was better with names this kind of thing wouldn't
cause me so much trouble. Anyhow you'll notice that the link
to the "Gothem City" map posted yesterday is no longer
functioning. I've removed it due to feedback from three
persons claiming that both the map and the custom character
in the .lab file were not the creations of the person who
sent in the map. Looking back through my old mail I see that
two of these fellas noted a while back they were indeed workin'
on a map remarkably similar to Gothem an' even sent me an
early version of the custom character to check out. So I've
yanked the map, looks unlikely that it will be back at least
in its current state.
See folks, it just don't pay to getcher credits screwed up.
Now I don't know all that went on here, but somethin' is
definitely not quite kosher. Hopefully the parties involved
can sort this out themselves, I don't have time to do a whole
lot of hand-holding at the moment. :p
* * *
Saturday 9/25/99
The Cactus Avenger
Now I'm not a big believer in coincidences, but today I
got two new maps, both with modified characters that
provide hilarious twists on normal Outlaws play. Can
you beat that?
First came
Gothem
City from Chet_R1. Is it a coincidence that the
name sounds very similar to the fictional haunt of a certain
Dark Knight? Holy Cacti, man! Who could that be up on that
there ledge? It certainly isn't that Anderson guy we were
expecting. Take a look and see
if you kin make out who it is...
Then Slaters_dog sent in his latest,
The Last
Gunfight. Now the unsuspecting will jump in to this map
thinking, hey, where th' dickens is everyone? Well now take
a closer look—see that suspicious lookin' cacti in front of
me here? Well let's jus' give
him a poke an' see if he squeaks... hey, well lookee
there! Could it be that all
th' characters have been replaced by gunslinging desert
plants? Oh oh, this could get real tricky...
I think Gothem succeeds in creating a big-city type feel, even
with the desert theme. Some parts are a bit plain (hehe) but
framerates are high. TLG, on the other hand, has some very nice
detail touches (like the squeaking, animating windmill) but like
Slater's last map "Guadalcanal" it uses a concentric circle
type of layout that gives very low framerates around the outer
areas of the map. This is, of course, a "trick" map and not
a serious one but shoot, low framerates aren't all that funny.
Then again I could just be grumpy from havin' to work all
weekend (griping about it does help though ;).
* * *
Friday 9/24/99
Nibbles an' Bits
A lot of little news bitzies today, nothing earth
shattering. Updates may be a bit more sporadic than usual
this weekend 'cause well I have to work all weekend, boohoo.
:P And in case my boss is reading this, no I don't update this
page very often, it's mostly all done by a fancy-schmancy
automatic web script. ;) Haw.
CL Voodoo2s for $20
Creative Labs is selling their 8 MB Voodoo2s for $20, $30 for
the 12 MB version. Go
here
for more info. Now you got NO excuse for not havin' a
3dfx card in yer computer. ;) Thanks to salmoides for
pointing out that I oughta post this.
Buford Gets Verbal
BTJustice slung me a taunt pack with a bunch of
ol' South style taunts appropriate for many situations in
Outlaws multiplayer matches. Most of 'em sound like they're
from th' good ol' Smokey and the Bandit movies. Ya kin
pick this taunt pack up fer a limited time right
here.
Karrde Gets Web Poll Goin'
Karrde has indeed gotten his web poll workin' again
so if you haven't yet, go sound in on his latest where you
kin vote fer who you think the Mystery co-author of the recent
"Fort McHenry" map may be, all at
Karrde's
site.
Sleepy Makes New "Trouble"
Sleepy sent along a new version of his map
Trouble.
Seems the version I posted yesterday hadn't been meant fer
release yet. Sleepy notes that the map is made for
"those all tnt wars and 1 on 1's." So forget the version
you got here yesterday, get THIS version. Hmm still no
running sounds though.
* * *
Thursday 9/23/99
Get Lost in "Museum"
Cowboy Bob sent me a new map of his very own,
Museum.
Not sure what's on display here, in fact there's barely anything
to be seen other than a nice wall texture and what seems like
mile after mile of twisty turny maze. It's even been done in
such a way that your map is nearly useless. Yeeow. Well if you
want to get lost, or look for other people who are lost, this's
th' map fer you.
Gaskar Has "Trouble"
Gaskar mailed me recently with the news that he's been
up to some things at
Gaskar's
Outlaws Page. Fer one, he's got a nifty random tip
generator under his logo with lots of Outlaws play tips.
He's also revamped his site to work well on large resolution
displays. And finally he's working on a poll where you can
vote for who you think the mystery co-author of "Legend of
Fort McHenry" could be. All good reasons to go check out his
lovely and quite frequently updated site.
In fact I just snagged a map from him,
Trouble
by Sleepy. Sort of an odd one, .txt says was designed
fer all-Sanchez battles. Twisty orangy canyons with big
crates and some freestanding brick walls. Hmm okay.
Another Mystery Poll, DX7
Well those two things have almost nothin' in common but
it's late, I'm tired and cranky 'cause it's lookin' like I'll
have to work all weekend. Gahhh... you don't really realize
how nice weekends are until you don't have them. :P
Let's see oh yeah,
Karrde
has another poll for us, likewise on the McHenry mystery man.
Hmm okay so I can't quite fit the poll on my screen to vote,
I'm sure he'll have that fixed up by the time you read this.
;)
Pixo thought I oughta post that you can now get DirectX 7
from Microsoft
here.
Haven't heard much on how good/bad it is yet, I'm thinkin' I'll
wait a week or two ta make sure they get any kinks worked out
'fore I inflict it on my system. But you know I'm just a bit
paranoid and for some reason I always believe everything
Microsoft says right away. And that doesn't have anything to
do with the fact that Outlook totally blew up on me just when
I needed it at work last week. No-sir...
* * *
Wednesday 9/22/99
"Legend of Fort McHenry," "Mutiny" Maps
Got an impressive map with a big of mystery to it,
Legend of
Fort McHenry by HeavyGear. The thing is, HeavyGear
was unable to complete th' map hisself due to computer troubles,
and so the map was brought to completion under his watchful gaze
by a... DunDunDUN: "Mystery" LawMaker. WoooOooOOo!
So part of the fun will be checkin' out th' map ta see if you
kin figger out who done it. ;) But of course most of the fun
comes from actually playing the map and in terms of playability,
this one is a real doozy. Fort McH is downright huge, with a
train station, canal, steamworks, armory, jail, sawmill and more.
The brilliant thing is how it is all packed in to the compact
fort without leaving any low framerate spots at all, not to
mention that it's just gosh darn lovely. I ain' gonna say no
more, I'll jes roll out th' shots:
shot 1,
shot 2,
shot 3 and
shot 4.
Gas has another tropical getaway map for us in the
form of
Mutiny. Though
it sounds rebellious this one follows the Gas tradition of
packing a lot of very smooth gameplay into a single large
area, in this case a large desert isle with several small buildings
in the central clearing surrounded by higher cliffs. A good
lookin' island it is too, spruced up with some very exotic
looking palm trees. As he notes in his .txt file, framerates
drop off a bit when looking across the interior from the
fringes, but those with pokey systems should be okay if they
stick to the middle, which is where the action is likely to
be found anyhow. Check out the
screenshot.
News Roundup?
Well I'll be gosh darned, people actually had mercy on my
inbox while I wuz away. Had a fun weekend, the weather here
stayed beautiful too which was very nice. Gettin' up at 5:00 am
to take my friend to the airport wasn't exactly my idea of a
good time but I guess you gotta take a lil' bad with th' good
sometimes. :P
Hmm whoops I had a new link but it doesn't work jus' now.
Nertz. Well, RedRider pointed out that you kin pick up
copies of Outlaws in auctions at
eBay fer as little as hmm
looks like a dollar, mebbe. 'Course ya kin get brand new versions
by ordering from jus' about any large online software store but
an auction could save ya a few bucks, who knows?
Sharp-eyed Rust noticed that over on
AMD's
3DNow! Optimized Games List there's an entry for Outlaws
with a link to
KO Interactive as
the developer. Huh? Err... well so far as I know Outlaws doesn't
have or need any additional 3DNow! support but if anyone
has any leads about this, I guess it would be interesting. As
I think I've mentioned b'fore, I loath K6-2s with a passion.
;P
* * *
Thursday 9/16/99
See Ya On Wednesday
Yeah you heard right, I'm not gonna be able to do another update
'til next Wednesday as I'll be showing an old chum from the
east coast around 'til then (assuming he's able to escape
Floyd :p). Seems to be a pretty good time to pull a stunt
like this anyhow, as things are a tad slow with people getting
used to having to go back to school (ha haa hah.. eheh.. oh
shoot). I'll try ta keep th'
Pale's Place server runnin'
right in th' meantime. Heck you never know, I may be usin' it
a bit ta show my friend th' ropes. ;)
If you haven't done so already, you kin use yer newfound
freetime to sign the
Outlaws Sequel Petition. We'll
have darn near close to 600 signatures by the time I get back
and get it updated. An' if you have Outlaws-lovin' friends
well you kin get them signed up too.
'Course there are still plenty o' places ta go ta getcher
daily dose of Outlaws news'n'stuff. Explore my
links page
for places you've never been, or haven't been to recently.
OGB, The Wire, Gaskar, DrDeath2 and others have all been
doin' a great job with frequent Outlaws news updates.
You kin still send me maps an' stuff in th' meantime an'
I'll do th' best I can to get everything properly posted
when I'm back next week. 'Til then, adios!
* * *
Wednesday 9/15/99
Won't You Take Me To... "Snipe'N Town"
Danger is really cranking out the maps lately, his
newest goes by the handle
Snipe'N Town.
Sort of a semi-arena type of affair in a small rectangular
valley with a small cabin, some rock formations and a river
down the middle, with firepower-packed nooks along the sides.
Framerates aren't the highest here because of all the
open-sided structures in the same area, and many things have
kind of funny little edges or lips to them as if the parts don't
quite line up, but overall the layout is pretty playable and
the custom grass texture is simply splendiferous (check the
screenshot). Mmmm... custom
gra-a-ass... :d
Longstreet to N. Virginia
Longstreet sent me the URL for his site based on his
gang, "The Army of Northern Virginia:"
|
|
Longstreet's ANV Outlaws Page
Small site mostly with a listing of "Army of Northern
Virginia" posse members. The irrepressibly peppy old
Dixie polka music on the first page will have you
smashing your speakers to tiny little pieces after
a few minutes but hey there's a funny picture of a rotund
Confederate general on there too, can't be all bad.
|
Wired Four Action
At the rate Blackthorn is coming out with new issues
of his endlessly entertaining Outlaws web-zine,
The Wire,
he's just going to have to rent out permanent advertising
space here on my first page. Or err rather he won't, because
I'll always have a "new Wire issue out today" notice somewhere
up here. Well actually that would be great, the Wire (certain
posse members seem to have mistaken it for "The Ire") kicks
some hot stuff around each issue. A lot of posse mudslinging
again this time around, along with some good healthy Bill
Gates bash—
Oh err yes, be right with you Mr. Gates sir, just as soon as
I wrap up this errm... project status report here. I've just
got a few closing asterisks to type
* * *
Tuesday 9/14/99
"Crossed Identity" Single-Player Saga
Raf sent me the LONG awaited
Crossed
Identity four-level single-player adventure by the
Outlaws
Editing Team. The levels
were made by Raf, ShotgunMC and Picante. These
levels are big and mean—I got to beta test this sucker a while
back and whew! Tons o' single-player fun, and I mean that.
If you've been lookin' fer a new single-player fix, this is
your bag.
Shack is Back, Wire Strikes Again, Gaskar Shoots
Gryphon's
Outlaws Surf
Shack is back at a new address. Always controversial,
usually silly, makes for a great change of pace from heavyhanded
fuddy-duddies like me. :P Glad to have the Shack in town
again.
Blackthorn let me know that Issue #3 or his Outlaws
Zone scandal-rag,
The
Wire, has hit the web. This is getting better and better
with each issue, people sending in emails batting debates back
and forth, with Blackthorn hopping around the fray and inserting
pointed comments better'n Jerry Springer himself. It can get
ugly but man, what a read!
Gaskar
has been updating his site like the dickens lately, posting
along with up to the minute Outlaws news pictures of himself,
Ms. Gaskar and lil' Gaskar. Awww what a cutie! And the baby
has some charm, too. ;) Don't forget, this is also the site
of the world-famous Outlaws hangman game.
Oops, almost overlooked this, shame on me! Jad has
revamped the DTG
gang site, looks very nice. If you'll recall I said the first page
was originally a bit multimedia heavy, and it still kinda is,
but this has the distinction of being one of the few sites
that, as far as I'm concerned, gets away with doing that. ;)
Excellent site, check it out.
"New" HOT_Town, ThaPower Maps
Two multiplayer maps that aren't exactly new, but well
you'll see. Interesting thing is they're both pretty
darn hefty, .zip files over 200k a piece. Oof!
Mercedes sent in
Hot_Town,
a conversion of the big town of Sanctuary from the main game
(you know, the level in the demo). He's changed it a bit though,
most obviously removing a couple buildings which improves the
framerate somewhat and makes the map a bit faster. The underground
area has also been enhanced a bit. Fps in the
complicated town aren't the greatest, but it is of course a good,
solid and large map, pretty good job on the conversion—one small
missing texture spotted, heeh.
Zeurdoos has updated his map, now he's got
ThaPower
v1.9. Takes that funny map with the green sky over a small
dusky canyon and adds hmm well some bunkerlike areas around
part of it, for one. Map has gotten a good deal bigger, you'd
better be ready for sniper fire if you're gonna try sneaking
across the middle area. I think I liked the earlier one better
(less chance of gettin' my heiny sniped down).
Be a Beta Tester for Fun and Fame!
Moose has another level that he'd like folks to help
him test out. Just download
Mranch,
install, and check it out. Then send any comments, questions
or bug reports to
[removed].
A great way to participate in Outlaws level development and
even, if you're really helpful, get your name in the
credits...
* * *
Saturday 9/11/99
Two Out of Four :P
Uh-oh, one of those days where only half the maps I get
even work. Gah.
Well let's focus on the positive. Mullyvan sent
me two new maps,
Around
the Corner and
StrongHold.
"Around" is a big multistory, windowless house with large,
low, rather bare rooms. Lots of ammo and weapons packed in
there, and a little bit of yard around three sides of the
building. "StrongHold" is quite a bit more varied, an
outdoor desert/canyon affair with lots of secret areas,
lots of weapons (sort of clumpy item placement in some spots)
and stuff like a lake, bunkerlike building, etc all spread out
through some small twisty canyons. Both of these maps have
very high framerates and though they may not be the most
interesting maps to look at (Around is a bit cramped and
repetitive, SH has the sky set too low so the skymap sort
of winks in and out of existence, and you jump out of the top
of the map pretty often) they're pretty solid efforts. Heck,
I'm just happy to get maps that work some of these days.
Man...
Wired Two Go
Blackthorn let me know that the second issue of his
Zone scandal rag,
The Wire,
is up and already drawing scathing comments from Zoners everywhere.
Well okay I dunno about that, but it is a great read to see
what's been happenin' around the Zone lately or, more specifically,
what new stuff people are finding to bicker about. A very
fun read, indeed. He's even got a little Kali stuff that slipped
in there by accident, I guess. ;) Go pick up a copy, you'll
enjoy it.
Sleepy Time
Sleepy tells me he's got a new message board up at his
Outlaws Lawmakers
Hideout. I'm sure he'd really appreciate it if y'all would
well head on over there and start heatedly discussing all things
Outlaws. ;) Ooo he's also been goin' nuts with screenshots
lately, including an action shot of him blowing up ranger
rick that is just hilarious. Well, it looks funny. Oh
yeah AND he's got a "question of the week" type of poll
thinger, those are fun too. So to sum up, for good web-type
Outlaws-related fun, you darn well can't go wrong by popping
by Sleepy's pad. Doooo it!
:P
Yahg. It's looking like I'm going to be a bit busier than
usual for the next week and a half, what with a nasty deadline
approaching, my boss cleverly sneaking off to Hawaii and leaving
me in charge, and an old chum coming for a long visit
on top of all that. Woo too much fun. Well so all I'm sayin'
is that if I miss a few days updating or get behind on my
email for a bit this next week, don't like break out the champagne
and think I've gone toes up or anything. :P
* * *
Thursday 9/9/99
"Adobe" by Tuco
Tuco sent me a new map called
Adobe.
Very nice looking map, reminds me of "Simms at Night" in
many ways—that's a good thing. Only problem I have with it
is that there are no running sounds—blah. Looks nice though
and runs fast, check the
screenshot.
Force is with DarkJedi
"Luke, I am your father..." err wait what I meant to say
is that DarkJedi.com,
home of the LawMaker editing program and lots of other cool
LEC-game related stuff, has apparently found a host and will
remain online! Yay! Among those generously offering to lend
a hand was our very own Martone, what a sweetie.
:)
Speakin' of other LEC-game related stuff at DJ, anyone try
out their web-based "ReconDroid" game-reporting app yet (under
the "Games Serv" menu item)? The
standalone utility sort of petered out as far as I knew, but
it seems to be back and mebbe even operational. Somebody check
it out an' lemme know what's what.
* * *
Wednesday 9/8/99
Four Shiny New Maps
Pretender sent me his new map,
SancTown
(credits read Pretender and Hawk). Sort of a scaled
up version of "Sanctuary" with largish buildings in a very
big valley. Nothing too exciting about the texturing, lighting
or architecture, but "Sanc" buffs may get a kick out of seeing
the old standby totally reworked. Framerates get a bit sluggish
out of doors because of the way the valley has been divided
up into separate sectors. Check the
screenshot.
Snagged two maps by Mercedes from
GDO_Darling:
Hotfort
and NoahsArk.
Hotfort is a very unusual CTF style map with bases facing off
across a series of precarious columns high above a valley floor.
The bases each have two elevators that are required for access,
and the center column acts as a shaft for a large elevator.
Interesting design, elevators will add to bandwidth requirement
though and all the separate columns in the middle causes fps
to get downright boggy at either end.
NoahsArk isn't brand new, but this is a new version that
removes the chickens to improve Internet performance. Yay!
If you'll recall I thought this was a pretty solid map, aside
from the chickens. Oh whoops almost forgot a
screenshot for
Hotfort.
Snatched a map from OGB.
THAPOWER
is an odd one, a bland-colored dimly lit canyon under a glowing
green sky. Check the shot.
Construction is very smooth and framerates are high, gameplay
should be pretty fast as the map is fairly flat, though it has
some twists hidden in the cliffs surrounding the irregularly
shaped valley. Did I mention the sky is green?
Last Month for DarkJedi
Headed over to DarkJedi.com
to check the action on the official LawMaker message board and
found a notice on the front page that DJ is going offline at or
near the end of September. Dang! Well now would be the time to
snag all the LawMaker files b'fore they're gone... DarkJedi isn't
just Outlaws either, they do Jedi Knight and XvT stuff as
well, so a lot of folks are going to be bummed about this one.
Who knows, mebbe they'll find a sponsor and stick around.
Oh yeah but I did get in to the LawMaker board and found that
the thing has downright blown up with close to 30 posts today!
Whoa! Them LawMakers have a lot to argue about I guess... but
it's not just map-makers who are involved, heck they even have
their own spammers now, hehe. Shows how popular the board has
become I guess. Shame that this may be its last
month... :(
What Th'?!?
Hmm well okay I'll tell a story to get you ready for bed.
I was checkin' out "Blue Jeans 2" t'other night and found myself
playin' Bob (heh I've been givin' th' slow old bastard a workout
lately) against two Mary's, a Doc and an Anderson or two. Well
th' Marys was givin' me a hard time which was sorta frustrating
me, specially seein' as how one was my brother Slack-Jawed
Pete (I think the other was Shadow or some name like
that, he was good :P). Experienced folks playin' Mary in
close-quarters maps kind of irks me on the best of days, and
heh I'd swear these two had pegged big ol' Bob as their whuppin'
boy that evening.
(you know, is it just me or should the shotgun ammo for Bob and
Mary be switched? I mean, Bob has a double-barrel which takes
two shells to match the damage of just one shell from Mary's
single-barrel shotgun, and yet Bob starts with just 8 shells
while Mary gets 16—meaning Bob runs out of ammo four times as
quickly! Jus' switch 'em around I say—THEN we'd have a whole
new ballgame! :P)
So yeah I was havin' a hard time of it, an' ev'ry time I'd
think I was holdin' my own against th' two Marys (rare)
well that Doc (Tolyra) would
pop me off with his six-shooter or the James'
(Muckmeyer and DeadEyePhil, I think)
would snipe me. Gah! And darn those Marys—here's an example of
how overpowered she is: Shadow was on a far ledge and I dropped
a stick of TNT right at his feet which hurtled her through
the air, landing her on the ledge I was on, still alive, and
he just blasted me down with one shot easy as you please.
Argh.
Anyhow there's a happy ending here, or at least a moment that
made the pain worthwhile. Trying to take down a Mary yet again
and having her shrug off a few shotgun blasts, I gave chase
back into the canyon. Just as I was pulling the trigger to
give th' old battleship another treatment, a stick of TNT
flew between us thrown, no doubt, by some clever varmit
behind us. I seemed to see it all in slow motion: Mary
escaping, me chasing, the stick of TNT gracefully revolving,
suspended in air between us,
my finger inexorably pressing down on the mouse button... then
BOOM! My shot hit the TNT in-flight, flattening the Mary, giving
me a good jolt but leaving me pretty darn happy. Always nice
when you get a "You blew up ____!" message when you weren't
the one who chucked the stick, even (or mebbe especially)
if it was completely accidental. And brother, at that point
I really needed it, too!
* * *
Tuesday 9/7/99
Getcher Zone Scoop over "The Wire"
Blackthorn has been workin' away on a lil' project
fer a bit now an' he's finally unleashed his creation: a
new Outlaws site! This one's a bit different as you'll see:
|
|
The Wire
Blackthorn's periodic Zone newsletter, a compilation
of reader/player submitted emails on various topics of
interest to those folks who play Outlaws in the Zone.
A fun read, informative, attractive and loads lightning
fast with Blackthorn's usual obsessive attention to
fonts and formatting. Don't miss an issue!
|
Two New Sites Jacked from "The Wire"
Yes I'm shameless, hijacking two new URLs from the maiden
issue of Blackthorn's fledgling newsletter. I just don't
know how I'll sleep tonight (in my bed, probably :p) but
oh well here they are:
|
|
TGC - The Gentlemen's Club
Heavy use of style sheet formatting in this highbrow
posse site leaves my Netscape 4 out in the cold—CSS positioning
is jus' fer lazy people who can't make imagemaps if ya ask
me. :P Anyhow it's set up like a virtual tour of a swank
British club house, or something. Non-IE 4+ browsers
need not apply.
|
|
|
Mista's Place
Weekly news, info on Mista's NBK posse, "Top 15" list
of the deadliest Outlaws, links, etc. Easy to read in
a fast, Frontpage-generic layout.
|
Petition Breaks 500, Thug Moved to Speak
Some may say it's a coincidence, but on the very same day that
the Outlaws Sequel Petition breaks
through 500 with a smashing 20 new signatures (no they're not
added yet, I update the thing in big chunks :P) that guy who's
always lurking in the Kali Outlaws server, The Big Thug,
was seen to speak. Well actually the only one who saw him there
was me, 'cause I was lurking around as well. I didn't say
anything (being as how I was nowhere near my computer) but
here's what the "Thug" had to say:
{TheBigThug} Jay is watching...don't worry
* TheBigThug doesn't have to ignore Nailz! anymore :)
{TheBigThug} (I see all so my reply might be to someone on another
server...sorry)
{TheBigThug} oh come on...I talk allthe time! Just not when you're here
:)
* TheBigThug is testing new code...anti-ekt code...and don't ask what
ekt is
{TheBigThug} Mix emails me too much...
{TheBigThug} You would have to see this screen...scrolling about 100
lines per second from 100 different servers...I cannot read anything
{TheBigThug} I have etk already...and tested it already
{TheBigThug} If you see anyone post a WX server let me know
* TheBigThug is pissed as the extra work he's doing today and wants to
go home
{TheBigThug} Do you know we get at least one complaint every day from
people thinking I stalk them? ;-)
* TheBigThug holds the record for most complaints filed against him
* TheBigThug has to go now...it's been fun...later all...thx for using
Kali...and not abusing
* TheBigThug is away (taking notes).
So there you have it, the "Thug" is "pissed" and wants to
"go home." I would guess that he is also Jay Cotton,
the engineer behind Kali and the guy I had a little help
from in gettin' info fer my
Kali Outlaws page. He makes
a swell (if rather demented-sounding) Thug. :)
Other Sites Gettin' Uppity
Well no not really, I just wanted to say "uppity." Let's see
real quick now... the discussion of 3dfx LawMakin' continues
on the official LawMaker board at
DarkJedi.com, Raptor
pointing out that 3dfx map errors stem from what is actually
a bug in LawMaker itself. Whoa never thought of it that way.
Danger has a signup for a "Outlaws News Mailing List"
going at his MOB Outlaws
Posse site, not really sure what news you'll be gettin'
but hey, mail news is better than no news? Or something. And
finally, Beignet
not only has more photos from the recent Outlaws shebang
(that's one word, not two ;P) in Vegas, she's also got info
on the year 2000 Outlaws Bash in... no I'm not gonna blow the
surprise, you just go to her site and check it out.
* * *
Monday 9/6/99
Nearly 500 Signatures on Sequel Petition
Just updated the
Outlaws Sequel Petition, now at
496 signatures—wait make that 498, two more came in while I
was workin' on this. :) Pretty good for just over one month, keep up
the good work people! And don't forget, while you may have
signed it yourself, you've probably got folks in yer life who
would be up for an OL sequel also, if only they knew of the
possibility... go get 'em!
The link is always sittin' there under the menu on the left
of this page, and if you've checked it out before you'll notice
that I've reformatted the petition to look a bit more like a
big letter. Am I clever or what?—Don't answer that!
Three More New Maps
Boy these are coming in bunches lately. Three more little lands
to cavort in:
Truffle got in first with
OLRanch,
a large town spread through a couple of canyons. Framerates
are very high here even with a good number of buildings in
the map, impressive job with keeping things fast. The buildings
themselves run on the simple and rectangular side of things
but hey, fancy angles cost money back then. Counted 3 gatling
guns on a quick run-through, hehe this is a dangerous
map. ;) Check the screenshot.
sshep clocked in next with a new version of the maps
that ended up running for almost the whole long weekend on
"Pale's Place," making this one
Blue
Jeans 2. sshep decided to take out the water to prevent
people from bobbing around in there (dang, I liked blowin'
'em up, an' it looked pretty) but he's also made a whole lot
of additions, with new ledges to climb up and a whole new
area down where the waterfall used to go, plus tunnels running
around making things a lot trickier. Yessir, BJ2 is dryer,
faster an' sneakier'n the first.
Actually I kinda like both of 'em, they really are pretty
different-oh here's a
shot from a new ledge in BJ2.
I started out the weekend checkin' out new maps but when I got
to Blue Jeans, well, it was just so fun that I couldn't bear
to take it down, and actually I barely had any chances to
reset the host machine 'cause th' Place was packed nearly
non-stop. In fact I was gonna change maps when I uploaded
this update but there were seven people playin' on it still.
Darn fun map. :D Heh, I think I particularly enjoyed
it 'cause nobody else seemed to figger out where the gatling gun
was hidden. ;)
Danger comes in on the other side of the water issue
with his new map
Water
Front. Sort of an arena-style affair with a square
TNT-loaded pool surrounded by various nooks with weapons and
equipment as you can see here.
Article on Network Coding at Lucasarts
Noticed on VoodooExtreme
a link to a Gamasutra article by Peter Lincroft called
The
Internet Sucks: Or, What I Learned Coding X-Wing vs. TIE
Fighter. Mr. Lincroft was an engineer on quite a few of
Lucasart's X-Wing games and this is a fascinating article
describing all the trials and tribulations that went into the
network code for XvT, which LEC put out just a month or so
after Outlaws. While the XvT networking is significantly
different from OL (I'm pretty sure that OL sends positional
data rather than player input data, for instance) this article
covers many aspects of peer-to-peer networking, latency, warping,
and the Internet as a medium for gaming in general... probably
the best discussion of peer-to-peer network gaming that I've
ever come across, actually.
More on 3dfx LawMakerin'
Well we have a running discussion now on how to avoid 3dfx
errors in OL maps. This could be better discussed on the
official LawMaker board at
DarkJedi.com but eheh
mebbe this will be the last of it, who knows. Actually the
DarkJedi LawMaker board has been getting a heck of a lot of
posts lately, nice to see map makers discussing stuff.
Anyhow here's what TJHoenecke has so say on the 3dfx
issue:
Several times now I have read people claim that the chief cause of 3dfx
errors was the use of subsectors, but this didn't quite ring true to
me. After all, the main game levels use subsectors all the time, mainly
for doors, and they don't cause any such errors.... In my experience, such errors
occur mainly when you have two unadjoined walls/sectors too close
together. As long as you have at least .05 between them, things usually
work fine. Any closer than that, though, and trouble usually starts. I
noticed this when you pointed out the 3dfx errors for me in Breakout; I
don't have a 3dfx card, but the errors you pointed out also showed up,
albeit less noticeably, even in Direct Draw.
Part of the problem also seems to be that people don't understand how
the Consistency Checker works in Lawmaker. A "lie detector" does not
actually work by detecting lies, but by registering changes in
heartbeat, respiration, blood pressure, etc., when certain questions are
asked or certain answers are given; thus, it only indicates the
possibility of a lie, and not an actual lie, etc. Well, the checker in
Lawmaker sometimes finds "errors" in the main game levels, even though
you'd never be able to spot them in play, and sometimes it says there
are no errors, even when the level clearly has some that make it look
all wrong. People have got to realize that they need to use their
COMMON SENSE, and that the checker is tool that only works about 90-95%
of the time....
Well there you go. To go fight this stuff out more, use the
LawMaker board on DarkJedi.com. ;)
Web Photos, Polls, Forms and Cards
Beignet
has another bunch of pictures from the recent Outlaws blowout in
Las Vegas. She'll be adding even more in the next couple of days
so keep checkin' in with her to see some of yer favorite Outlaws
players caught in various compromising positions.
:P
Karrde
has his new weekly Outlaws poll up, interesting question for
this week, especially for those just getting in to LawMakin',
go check it out.
Truffle has added a Kali feedback section to the
SBD site where
you can getcher thoughts on Kali posted to share with other
umm people. He's also got a poll of his own, the old Kali/Zone/IRC
issue again but this time in handy interactive web form for
you to participate in. Click click click!
Raf sent me a "Virtual Outlaws Card" telling me that
if you go to his
Gamestopper
site (home of the Outlaws Editing Team, among many other
things) you can now send anyone their very own "Virtual
Outlaws Card" (oh eheh) as a unique greeting or whatever you
want to make it. These feature great Outlaws "vacation photos"
artwork by Fallsdown and will, no doubt, prove the
perfect vehicle for whatever message you want to send that
certain someone: "Dad? Send money fast," for instance. I think
Sanchez makes for a pretty good icebreaker, personally.
* * *
Saturday 9/4/99
Three New Maps
Well, here I went fer three whole days not gettin' a new
map an' then POW, my inbox got decked this morning.
Gas has made another new map, this one's called
Star Dust.
It's a small deserty map with a few twists, looks like a good
fast deathmatch level. Mebbe this
screenshot will give you an
idea of where the name comes from. I see he's also got one
of his signature subterranean trees in there. :P
Chet_R1 sent me his new map,
Bird Home.
This is the second birdhouse-themed map we've seen, isn't it?
Weird. Well this one is way up high on a post, and if you fall
yer in fer a nasty landing. Multiple feeders in this two-story
deluxe wood home make for some tricky maneuvering. It's for
the birds, baby. Check the
screenshot.
Mason sent in
Morning
v2.0, an update to a pretty old map. So old that frankly
I don't trust myself to take a guess at what's changed, but
it's still a rather unique town-in-a-box-hole type of thing
with a rim around the top sporting a couple fortifications.
The town is pretty detailed and as you might expect the framerate
around the top gets fairly low, but that's what you get for
trying to be a sniper. If you don't remember the old one here's
a screenshot of the new version.
[update: Martone noticed that the new version added
new characters and mebbe a pcx or two. Since this is a hefty
version (591k) I'm moving it to my "temp" directory and it will
only be available for a few days, so get it now.]
3dfx LawMaker Tips from Chet_R1
In addition to a new map, the Chetster had some tips for
LawMakers that should help you avoid those pesky 3dfx graphical
hiccups in yer maps. Take it from a guy who's learned these
things the hard way, if you ain't got a 3dfx card to see these
things for yerself you'll want to bear by Chet's advice:
1) If 2 sectors are overlapping, (I.e. , if you have a hole in the
ground, and a box beside the hole, make sure that no part of the box
s touching the hole sector, or that will cause an error!)
2) BIG AREAS. If you have a REALLY big, open area, then you will
find that LARGE errors will occur,and not only 3DFX, either! Take
my OLD, OLD map; "FortMatt" for example". It
used to be twice that size, but no matter where I walked, there was a
glitch on the outer wall, or to my left.
3) RIVERS. Don't forget those rivers. If you want to make a
river that is too shallow to swim in, make it REALLY shallow. In
Pillage, I made it the depth of one, (at first), but if you died in
it, you couldn't go all the way under water, and yet, you were not
above it. (you would be in between the 2)... SO, there would be a hall
of mirrors, for all the 3DFX guyz. I made it deeper,
but I suppose I could have made it less than 1.
4) There is such a thing as too much of a good thing. And by
good thing, I mean Flags. every one loves 'em. They make the sky
3d, make doors open. And make secret areas. But, if you
put too many in your map, you will get some serious glitches! And I
don't just mean the hall of mirrors effect. Sometimes the TEXTURES
actually change on there own! (and for 3DFX
card owners... yup, glitches).
Hoorah, now I don't want so see any more maps with 3dfx
problems. :P Of course, one thing Chet didn't list, probably
the most important thing, is to thoroughly test yer maps
in actual game sessions with other people. If you don't have
a 3dfx card yerself, grab some people who do an' make 'em
take a look at yer map.
Wild West Web
Gee lots of web-stuff to check out. Oh but first I should
mention that I got last update's "Baby's Crib" link from
Outlaws Gang Busters,
that excellent site by Hoss and Martone that
you should all be visiting on a regular basis.
Blackthorn disbanded the "LJP" posse in May and has
taken down their old site (darn, it was neat) but those who
are interested can find their final posse standings
here.
That rascally Beignet has updated her
webzine
with a bunch of scandalously decadent photos from the recent
"Vegas Outlaws Bash '99." My favorite is the one where they're
all laying on the floor, waiting to respawn. ;)
Danger just keeps doin' stuff. He sent me two URLs, the
first for his own MOB site:
|
|
The MOB Outlaws Posse
Darkly stylish posse site by Danger, solid layout with
a good deal of info on the MOB posse and a couple other
spicy morsels.
|
|
|
The Warrior Ground
An almost totally incomplete site but the handsome
blue-on-black design, nearly listenable MIDI background
music, huge link list and extensive menu seem promising.
|
* * *
Wednesday 9/1/99
See the Sites Sleepy Baby
Two new sites for your viewing pleasure:
|
|
Outlaws Lawmakers Hideout
Helpful site by Sleepy with Lawmaker tips from the
pros, handy Lawmaker stuff to download, a nice page
featuring Sleepy's own maps, map reviews and well some
cartoons thrown in for the heck of it. A little heavy
on pictures and the layout is a bit inconsistent, but
good info makes it worth a visit.
|
|
|
Baby's Crib
Stylish individual site by BadBaby features a lot of
Java stuff, some of which is put to interesting use.
Layout is a bit rough after the opening but you'll find
Outlaws news, links, a photo gallery and of course
lots of personal touches from BadBaby herself.
|
The Small Little Section at the End
A number of folks let me know that the new Zone makes
URLs that are typed into the chat into hyperlinks so a click
will take you to a page, download a file, etc. Of course Kali
and some IRC clients do that too, and it's not equivalent to
allowing direct file transfers between users, but definitely
a step up for the Zone interface, hooray.
007 mentioned that the apparent "end" of his
Powder River 2
single-player mission isn't quite the "End"—if you kill
(*spoiler approaching*)Dynamite Dick(*spoiler finished*)
the mission will end, but he's really just guarding a key...
so don't kill him and see where you can go.
* * *
Tuesday 8/31/99
"Chu's Place" and "Old Fort"
Chu sent me what I think is his final version of
Chu's
Place, a multiplayer map based on the old
Dog's Hood.
He's re-textured it and added in some interesting things,
fans of Dog's Hood may even dig on it. He worked real hard
in the past few days to get it in shape, and also wants me
to mention a big thanks to Chet_R1 for his help.
Danger sent me another new map of his,
Old Fort.
An odd one this, sort of a long narrow grassy field with underground
bunkers in the four corners and a building at one end. I guess
you could call this arena-style. The open field will probably
suit rifle-buffs, though close range weapons would work in
the bunkers. Item placement is a bit clumpy in spots and this
level screams for some texture alignment/stitching, but it
is a new idea that's for sure.
"Powder River 2" Single-Player Mission
007 sent me the second episode in his single-player
Historical Mission series,
Powder River 2.
This is quite a change from the first big long sunny mission:
it's dark, close-quarters and compact. You'll spend
time sneaking around in pitch-black tunnels and out in the
very dim twilight with crickets and such, which is rather
exciting in a suspenseful sort of way. The layout isn't
spectacular but runs very quickly and does the trick, and the
dark outdoor areas are actually quite effective. In fact the
only regretful thing about PR2 is that just as you're getting
in to it, you reach the end. However, the text files hint at
a third episode, so maybe it isn't really "The End."
Ooo.
3dfx and Non/3dfx Tips
Janitor has a tip that may prove very helpful for
some Voodoo2 card owners. He was on the verge of retiring from
the game because he couldn't get it to run on his Monster2
anymore. The good news is that he found a solution:
I finally figured out what it was after many times uninstalling, upgrading,
reinstalling etc...
There was one corrupt inf file in my which would not get erased
or written over when I would uninstall and reinstall the drivers. I owe
that one
to Avenger. He had the same problem... I
have heard
that this same problem has baffled many people that play Outlaws. The trick
is to get rid of
every single file the pertains to your monster2 and DX6 driver files. I
believe that installing
EverQuest somehow screwed me up. Also, You always have to reinstall the
Monster Drivers
after you install or upgrade Direct X.
Hot-dog. Always nice to know there's a way to get things
workin' again.
Ever-helpful Raptor has some tips for LawMakers
without 3dfx cards that may very well save them much frustration
and hairpulling in trying to figure out what's causing the
3dfx problems that players complain about:
- 95% of 3dfx errors occur becuase of sub sectors, the solution
is never use
sub sectors. With the possible exception of moving doors everything
can be made without subsectors.
- The only other one I can think of is where you have building
where the inside
is bigger than the outside. For example if you type the wrong
value for the
ceiling height. Can't really think how non 3dfx guys can avoid this
one, just
be careful I guess. I was working on level based on Dr Who's
TARDIS at the time
I got my 3d card only to discover this problem.
- Never use sub sectors.
- Some errors which you can actually see under software mod
become very visible
under 3dfx. So if you see a minor bug in your map dont
ignore it as they may not be so minor under 3dfx.
- Never use sub sectors.
Yippee! Let's all chant together now: "No more 3dfx errors!
No more 3dfx errors! No more 3dfx errors! No more..."
New Zone Gets Easy
Checked out the new
Zone a bit today on my
lunchbreak. The new layout looks a lot more streamlined,
a definite improvement I'd say with the compact "List View"
of current games. There also seem to be a lot of small interface
changes to make it easier to use, and other small additions
like the "Profile" system to track players, the chat language
filter (mebbe that's why the chat doesn't seem to be quite
as moderated as it was before) and the ability to sort the
lists by name, ping and so on. Good changes, of course if
they'd improve the occassional play crashes and of course
the old "Zone Lag" well then we'd really have something. Oh
yeah they could stand to have file transfer support too.
;) Anyhow, new version seems for the better.
New Web Shenanigans
I'm not quite sure what a shenanigan is, but I have a feeling
the following sites may be involved in them somehow:
|
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G4H - Guns 4 Hire
Unusual concept--a site dedicated to a posse that isn't
really around anymore. But webmaster Trooper is still
wearin' th' letters and has put up a slick memorial
page to his old gang. Some good info on the old members,
and a stylish layout (doesn't work too well in my old
Netscape 3, but new browsers won't have a problem).
|
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Zeurdoos' Outlaws Archive
One-pager with some selected maps to download and favorite
Outlaws links. Loads fast, easy to read.
|
Thanks to Danger for sending that last one in. For even more
web-doin's, you'll want to check the
Outlaws
Party Pictures posted over at
The
James Gang's site. Save that link over at
deathriders.org. Whoa,
looks like some of 'em got a lil' liquored up an' decided to
play dress-up down in Vegas. ;)
* * *
Monday 8/30/99
The Other Two Maps
Doc (of the QOT) sent
SilverCreek.
This map seems to crash on 3dfx cards—I get a blue screen
Windows crash when it loads if I run in Glide, but DirectDraw
is fine. So those with 3dfx cards will probably want to give
it a miss. I only looked at it briefly as DirectDraw sucks on
the Voodoo3, but looked like a medium-sized town in a big
valley.
The other map is still being worked on, which is good to
hear...
Shag the Zone
Shaggy is lookin' fer new crosshair and map ideas,
if you've got some thoughts on cool stuff he could make go
ahead and email him at
[removed]. And
no, I don't run a dating service. Oh, Shaggy also mentioned
that the Zone has been updated and that the new version is
"slower then hell on loading." I also saw that some people
were complaining about it in Kali. Tried to go check it out
but it seems the whole darn thing is down right now. Doh!
Ah progress.
* * *
Sunday 8/29/99
1 Out of 3 Maps
Sigh. Another of those days. Received three new maps but
only one passes very basic rules of thumb. Geez. I hope
the authors get the maps fixed up... since it seems that
not everyone caught them the first time, here are the
very basic guidelines a map must pass:
- It has to run when I try loading it in Outlaws.
- It better not have any duplicate files in the .zip.
- It cannot make unauthorized use of other people's
stuff and must note sources of legitimate material in the
text file.
- It has to be a sincere effort on your part.
See my original 8/23/99 post (now in
Stale Vittles)
for more details, note that
I broadened #3 a bit to mention that you have to give credit
for stuff you use in your text file. I don't mean necessarily
every little prop or whatever, but if you are using another
level as a base, for instance, and your text file says "new
map from scratch" well that's just not cool, even if the other
level does not prohibit re-use.
Ironically, the map that made it is really just a test version.
Moose has an idea for a new map and wants to see how
it will fly so he's sent me a test copy for folks to try out:
get the
Pillars
beta and let him know what you thought (check the readme).
Since this is a beta it's in my "temp" folder and will disappear
in a couple days, so get it now if you're interested. I noticed
that there are a couple small 3dfx glitches, I'm sure he'd
appreciate having someone help him out with that. And who knows,
if yer a good beta tester you just might get yer name in the
credits. :)
* * *
Saturday 8/28/99
DirectPlay vs Winsock Measurements
The feedback I've gotten about the recent post I made
regarding Kali got me
to thinkin' about the old "DirectPlay vs Winsock" debate
again. Well it occurred to me that now that I have two
computers networked here at Casa Pale I could compare the
network traffic pretty easily with a bandwidth meter running
with Outlaws on one machine, and me running around and
shooting on the other. So I gave it a shot and came up
with the following graph—see the
DirectPlay vs Winsock page
for more details:
Outlaws Bandwidth Usage
DirectPlay vs
Winsock
(lower is better)
K
b
p
s |
| |
1.9
 |
1.7
 |
|
|
| |
2.35
|
1.85
|
|
|
| |
shootin'
|
explodin'
|
| |
Kinda looks to me like Winsock wins the networking battle by
about 10-20%—in case some of you are scratching your heads
over what this is all about, the Zone uses DirectPlay while
straight IP games are generally held with Winsock.
Coincidentally enough, the latest weekly Outlaws poll on
Karrde's
web site has to do with the DirectPlay/Winsock question as
well, asking which you find less laggy. "Mortars" was the
big winner—check his site out to find out what the question
was hehe.
While I'm on the topic, let me thank Lando242 for
pointing out that you can change the chat font in the Zone
(for the whole
display, not to give yourself a unique font that others can
identify you by as in Kali)
by holding SHIFT and double-clicking the little bar above the
names list. Also I forgot to mention that one of the things
I really like about Kali is the easy of sending each other
files—you can even post a hyperlink for a file transfer in
an /away message that everyone will see when they join the
channel.
Oh and Sleepy and Karrde showed me this neat
feature of the new 1.99 beta Kali—custom name icons for posses.
Basically you can make a lil' graphic icon that will replace
a posse prefix. So for instance the [COW] posse might make a
lil' cow icon, and everyone who downloaded it and stuck it on
their Kali image directory would see say "[COW]JoJo's" name
replaced by "JoJo" with a lil' cow in front, that scales to
match the size of his font. Pretty snazzy—the ZZZ and HSS
posses (well okay ZZZ isn't really a normal posse heh) have
some pretty sweet lil' icons already.
Voodoo3 Info, and Another Graph
Oh yeah baby we're goin' whole hog today, not one but TWO
shiny new graphs. Okay so graphs are boring. Well I'll keep
this short: I updated the
Outlaws Video Comparison page
with V3 info, a great V3 overclocking and tweaking utility
and, of course, the following graph comparing framerates
I get with my old Banshee and the new Voodoo3:
|
110mHz Banshee
vs
170mHz Voodoo3
|
|
Outlaws video frames per second
|
512
x
384
|
A
| 60
 | | 61 |
|
|
B
| 120
| 192
|
|
|
C
| 189
| 243
|
|
| |
640
x
480
|
A
| 60
| | 61 |
|
|
B
| 83
| 135
|
|
|
C
| 129
| 204
|
|
|
800
x
600
|
A
| 60
| 60 |
|
|
B
| 53
| 89
|
|
|
C
| 86
| 137
|
|
|
|
Nasty Security Hole Found in IE 4 and 5
Thanks to Karrde for sending this along. A university
research group just found a security hole in Internet Explorer
4 and 5 that could allow a malicious Java applet to take
complete control of your system. That probably wouldn't be a
very good thing at all. You can check out the
article
in Wired for more info. Fortunately Microsoft has rigged
up a fix in the form of a 6 MB patch, go get it from Microsoft
here.
Blast, Pillage Fortress Maps
Moose sent along a new version of his
Fortress
map. You may remember the first version had what in the bug
testing biz we call "issues." Well nice guy that he is,
Martone took a crack at the map for Moose an' fixed
it up, hey it doesn't crash on me anymore! :) Framerates are
still exceedingly low but at least she runs.
Sleepy just finished up his latest map,
Blast_Co.
This one was delayed for a month while Sleepy tried to figger
out how to get sticks of TNT to move down a conveyor belt, but
it seems that LawMaker isn't down with that. So instead there
are crates of TNT moving along the belts of the dynamite factory
floor. Big map with an eye to CTF, a factory and a warehouse
on opposite sides of a storage lot. Framerates are mostly
quite high, just getting a bit low in the middle of the outdoors,
but really quite good for the amount of detail Sleepy has
put in.
Martone
points out that the inf scripting of the moving belts may
act funny in laggy games, and the AI character in the factory
won't help either, but neither should make things TOO bad.
The map on the whole looks good, with an impressive amount
of custom textures and objects and, of course, TNT galore.
Those looking for a good bang will want to pick this one
up. Here's a
screenshot.
Chet_R1 sent along
Pillage
This is another CTF-style one, with two forts around a bend
with a mine in between. Texture stitching, as in Sleepy's
map, is very well done here, though occasionally Chet's choice
of texture seems a little odd. Then again the whole map is
a bit odd, feeling slightly abstract, but you can't argue
with the solid construction or multiple paths between the
forts that will keep you scrambling to get, or defend, those
darn flags. Check out the
screenshot.
Pale Tests the Arena
I have something to confess folks: I spent a little time this
afternoon trying out the latest Quake3:Arena test. Yes I know,
how could I? Well... everyone at work plays it all the time
(in preference to our own games :p) an' I figgered I'd see
what all the hoopla was about. So I downloaded it, installed
and after some fussing with my configuration, there I was
"fragging" away.
I figgered I'd pretty much get whupped, being new and all,
and indeed I didn't do too well in the first few quick matches
(Quake folks don't seem to like playing a match for more'n
15 minutes at a time). But then a funny thing happened... I
started to win, handily. I mean, I didn't really even have the
weapon buttons down, was just usin' th' "autoweaponswitch"
(which blows) but there I was at the top for about three matches
in a row.
Then another funny thing happened—I lost all interest in the
game. I suddenly had no more motivation, I wasn't winning
anymore, and I didn't really care. After a while I quit (and
had to reboot as my desktop got stuck at 640x480) and now I
can really say that I've had enough "Q3A" to last me
out.
Not really sure what it was that turned me off. Mebbe it's
how even with all available bells and whistles turned down all
the way, there's still so much weird lighting and weapon effect
stuff filling the screen that you can't even see your target
half of the time. Couple that with dingy, dark levels and well
it's depressing. Then there's the matter of the gameplay, which
comes down to finding the area with the most big weapons,
picking them up, holding down the fire button (no alt-fire
in this game, that would be too complicated I guess :p) and
waving the mouse around. I'm dead serious, that's all you have
to do to succeed. It got to be a drag pretty quick.
At the end I just felt like I was slogging through a dull
hell of "gibs" and flash-guns. I'm sure there's going to be
more to it and all but man, it just doesn't grab me. Sure it's
got great graphics and networking code... but I feel like
I was playing an engine, not a game. Well whatever.
* * *
Thursday 8/26/99
On Using Kali
Seems that a lot of folks these days don't really know about
Kali, or why anyone would want to play Outlaws there. Well
here's a refresher.
Kali has a very friendly
user interface. Registered users can customize their own
chat font, so chats really have personality. There's a ton
of games that you can play with Kali, but for the purposes
of Outlaws all you really need to do is pop into the Outlaws
game server and round up a couple of players. It's easy to
check pings and give out IP addresses, so setting up a fast
Winsock game is a snap.
But my favorite thing about Kali has to be the "/away" messages.
You can post a message that everyone joining the server will
see, providing an excellent way for you to get people into
a game you host—just leave an /away message with your IP
address and the name of the map, plus mebbe a friendly message
to convince people to give yer game a try. Now a lot of folks
have decided not to use /away messages because they figger
since they'll have to leave the chat open while playing it
will cause lag, but even back in my modem days I never saw
a case where closing the Kali chat reduced my lag in the
slightest.
So anyhow Kali is fun and very user friendly. Yes it does
cost money if you want to register it, but you don't have to
register if all you want to do is hop into the chat real quick
to look for a game or round up some players. And the latest
beta
version 1.99b is really slick, letting you customize the
looks and layout to yer heart's content—well okay you can't get
a custom chat font of yer own until you register. :P
Check it out if you haven't given it a shot before, Winsock
games really do lag less than the Zone. I'm gonna try to post
my "Pale's Place" game in an /away message during the day (the
Place is running 24-hours but I shut down my main computer
at night) so look fer my /away message when you drop by. :)
Ah just a little aside here, some folks may be confused by the
little bullet signs next to reviews on my site, like the ones
accompanying the links on my link page. Just to clarify, they
are meant to represent mathmatical symbols: +, = and -. So the
"=" is not a "double negative," it's an "equals" which sorta
means that I give that item a decent or average rating. Boy
double negative... no wonder some folks think I'm an ogre! :P
* * *
Wednesday 8/25/99
Publishing Your Map in LawMaker
Thank goodness for Raptor. After I went on at length
yesterday about how to pack up yer new map before sending it
around, he writes up a lil' guide for doing it the right
way—in LawMaker itself. Yep, LawMaker kin pack yer map up
into a nice .lab automatically—which
makes it all the more baffling to me as to why I keep getting
maps that obviously haven't been prepared and finished up
correctly. So new LawMakers, follow along with Raptor's quick
guide:
You don't need to use conman or anything like that, LawMaker does
it all for you. Here's what to do...
-
Under Lawmaker go to the LEVEL tag and press on the MISSION button.
This will bring up your the "Mission Edit" diag box.
-
(assuming this is a multiplayer level)
1. Check the "multi-player" check box...
2. Press the "Edit RCM" buttun this will open up a text file..
-
within this file...
1. Set the name of your level (as it will appear in OL)
2. Set the mode flags - ie what the level supports (deathmatch, teams,
CTF, KFC, etc)
3. Save and close this file
4. Press the "Edit ITM" button - a new text file opens - save it and close it
5. Press the "Edit CHK" button - a new text file opens - save it and close it
-
Now close the "Mission Edit" diag box, you only have to do that stuff once for
each level.
-
Next create a new empty directory on your computer...
Then go to the "PROJECT" menu and slect "PUBLISH..."
A save diaglog box will appear - save the level to this new directory.
When you do this Lawmaker will put all the required files in this folder
for you
(LAB and RCM) zip these up add with your txt file and thats it.
-
Lawmaker will automatically combine all the files within your map's project
directory into your LAB file - so just put any new images etc in there and
when
you publish the map they'll end up in the LAB like they are suppose to.
Also to save space take out any pcx, wav, nwx that you've made but are no
longer
used within your level.
Thats it.
Now this worked out well 'cause Hoss picked up the
process at just this point:
When the map is complete
and ready to publish, simply go to your Outlaws directory {c:\programfiles\lucasarts\outlaws} and select the .lab & .rcm ( along with the already prepared .txt file that ya placed in yer
Outlaws dir) and zip them up.
Well now isn't that jus' as easy as fallin' off a log? The
answer yer lookin' for is... "yes." So while makin' a good map
may be tricky, wrappin' it up to send off to folks should be
a snap. :P
Conman Wants to "SnipeYa"
Conman sent me his first map,
SnipeYa.
He mentions that he may do some texture stitching on it in
the future, but the construction of the map is such that it
doesn't really scream for it (couldn't hurt though). Yer in
a big irregular canyon with lots of—guess what—sniping holes
surrounding you. This isn't a map where yer gonna wanna run
around in the open much. Interesting how the lighting level
varies depending on where you are. Good looking map with
high framerates, a bit
heavy on the secret walls and stuff for me, but I know there
are lots of down'n'dirty sneaky fellers out there... Check the
screenshot.
On a side note, Shaggy let me know that he made the
trees in his "Flat Lands" map disappear on purpose, to give
the effect of trees being cut down. Now that's a new twist
on things.
Billy Kidd's Outlaws Page
Billy the Kidd sent me the URL for his new Outlaws
site:
|
|
Billy Kidd's Outlaws Page
Informative site with the Kidd's own evaluations of
the weapons and characters. Very large list of posse
links, decent map selection and list of cheat codes
round out this helpful site.
|
* * *
Tuesday 8/24/99
Shaggy's "Flat Lands"
Shaggy sent along his new map,
Flat
Lands. Now I'll tell you that this is one the the maps
that I didn't post yesterday because it just didn't work, but
Shaggy's been workin' hard at it and came up with a version
that did. And I'm glad that I got a chance to see it because
it's a pretty well done map, basically a big two-story house
at one end of a very large valley. Rifle folks are going to
LOVE this map, and non-rifle folks are probably going to
hate it hehe.
Noticed an interesting thing in this one: disappearing trees.
See, the valley floor is dotted with dead trees—but only when
you look one way down the valley. Look the other way and the
trees wink out of view magically. My HUNCH is that this is
happening because there's a huge collection of tall weeds at
the far end of the valley, and Outlaws has some sort of limitation
on the number of simultaneously visible sprites. So once all
the weeds start to come into the picture, some of the trees
have to go. Or something. Anyhow it's kind of weird to run
one way down the valley and keep running into invisible
trees. ;) Now
you see them and now
you don't.
Cool Crosshair Craziness
Joe... sent along a
custom
crosshair pack with eight luscious custom-designed crosshairs
to choose from, all designed by Joe... himself. These are
amazing crosshairs folks, I don't usually use 'em myself but
as you can see if you look at the "Flat Lands" screenshots above
I hadda try at least one of 'em out—that beautiful lil' number
you see above is called "Shellshock." Now even better news is
that Joe... has lots more of these up his talented sleeves and
will hopefully get 'em packed up for us in the near future.
'Til then I highly recommend you grab these, they even come
with a handy installation guide. Note that because they are
so intricate they will get blurred on a 3dfx card unless you
are running at 640x480. Get 'em soon 'cause they're
in my "temp" directory and as you know stuff only stays in there
for a week or so.
More Sophisticated Mousing
BTJustice sent me a mouse utility known as
PS/2
Rate Adjuster PLUS 0.4. As the name implies this actually
contains the same "PS/2 Rate" utility that you'll find on my
other useful files page, great
thinger that increases the sampling rate of PS/2 mice to give
glassy smooth mouse movement at game speeds even up to 200fps.
Simply priceless. Well the "Adjuster PLUS" part here as far
as I can see is a second lil' utility that actually counts yer
average mouse sample rate for you, and a normal Windows install
program for the whole shebang. So there you have it, a few more
bells and whistles if you want 'em. This one's in my "temp"
folder also so get it fast...
Vodka Update
SilverZ has been continuously updating his
Vodka 4 Ever
posse site like a man possessed... or mebbe just drunk.
Whatever it is, keep it coming—there's so much to see here
that you really should take the trip... unless you think yer
frail heart can't stand it. Live a little.
Some Map Preparation Tips
Got a lot of feedback regarding yesterday's rant
about sloppily assembled maps. Now just to clarify, I did
not mean to imply that I thought making maps is easy. Quite
the contrary. Years of looking at maps and doing a good deal
of beta testing has shown me that map making is a time-consuming,
complex process that takes a high degree of both technical
skill and intuitive design. Which is why I stick to webslinging
hehe.
I have the greatest respect for those who take the time
and effort to make maps for us to enjoy. But that's precisely
why I'm continuously baffled to receive maps in shoddy condition,
with odd files and such sticking out all over the place. You
took so long to make yer map, don't blow it on the packaging
folks. So keeping in mind that I know almost nothing about
actually making a map, here are some tips for getting the
final version of your map shipshape to send out to the world:
- Your map should consist of just two files: a .lab file and
a .rcm file. LawMaker will have made quite a few files for you,
like a .lvt, an .obt and so forth. This can be a little
messy to work with but fortunately by using the ConMan tool
built into LawMaker you can pack all but the .rcm into a nice
tidy .lab file. Just click the tools tab, click the ConMan
button, select "New Container-->LAB" in the ConMan window,
give it the same name as your other map files (ie if yer
.lvt is "mymap.lvt" then the .lab will have to be "mymap.lab")
and then pick all yer map's files except the .rcm. They get
packed into the .lab and yer all set.
- Put yer .lab and yer .rcm into a new folder along with
your readme text file if you have one. Now run Winzip (get it
from www.winzip.com), make a new archive with the same name as
your map files (ie "mymap.zip"), select Maximum compression
and select to add in the .lab, .rcm and .txt files (do NOT just select
the folder they're in, this can screw things up). Save it somewhere
on your hard drive. There you go, your map is all packed up
and ALMOST ready to send off.
- Delete all the spare copies of yer map files that may be
in your Outlaws folder. Now double-click your .zip to open it
and look at what's inside. You should have just two or three
files: your .lab, your .rcm and your optional .txt. If the
.lab or .rcm is missing you'd better get 'em in there. If there're
some other files in there, delete 'em. Check the "Path" column
at the far right in the Winzip ("Classic") display: if you see
ANY entries in that column you'll have to add those files again,
this time from the same directory as all the other files and by
selecting them one by one.
- Once yer .zip looks straight, unzip it to yer Outlaws
folder. Here's the acid test: run the map by launching a
multiplayer (or single-player if yer map is a single-player,
or course :P) game. Did it load up? Then you've probably got
it as organized as can be.
That should do it. Of course, this doesn't cover all the stuff
that comes BEFORE your map is actually finished. Playtesting
a map before you release it is vitally important. Test it in
both DirectDraw and 3dfx modes—if you don't have a 3dfx card,
make friends with a helpful person who does. Playtesting is
the ONLY way to catch all the problems with your level and iron
them out before you unleash it for the judgement of the
masses.
Now Martone is an honest-to-goodness LawMaker and he
had some very good input on this. He recommends that
...new LawMakers take a look at the works of some of the great LawMakers of the past. Names like Smo, Templar,
slaters_dog, Cutter just to name a few.
When I run into a problem in LawMaker or want to find out how something was done in a particular map, I go into that map with LawMaker and find out. And the standard LEC maps are a
wealth of information too,
I can't stress enough the importance of new LawMakers to go through the LawMaker tutor, as it was intended, step by step, and not just haphazard or even not at all.
Here is are a few quotes from the tutor itself.
"This tutor is designed to be completed in the order of the contents below. If you don`t, things may not work out."
and
"Ive put things for you to practice with in a box at the end of each small section, each section will use some of the skills learned in the previous section. So i would suggest you stay in
that section until you can do the exercise without difficulty.otherwise you may get totaly lost and fustrated."
In my case, if I hadn't gone through the tutor step by step, I would never have published a map. As a matter of fact, my first map, Neighbors, was based directly on the test level they start
you with.
Yes, listen to the man he's been down this road. Of course you
can get your daily dose of Martone at the great site he runs
with Hoss,
OGB Headquarters.
* * *
Monday 8/23/99
Before You Send Me Your Map
Sigh. There's been a real disturbing trend lately of
mapmakers, mostly new ones, sending me maps in horrible
condition. I mean these things won't even run.
[rant mode]HOW IN HECK
DO YOU EXPECT ME TO POST A MAP THAT DOESN'T WORK??
Gadzooks people. I mean really. If you're a new mapmaker
and aren't sure how to fix it, find an experienced LawMaker
and ask for some help. I am NOT an experienced LawMaker and
getting these maps is driving me nuts!
Here are some things that
a map has to have for me to consider posting it:
- It has to run when I try loading it in Outlaws.
- It better not have any duplicate files in the .zip,
like a second .lvt file in a subdirectory for instance.
- It cannot make unauthorized use of other people's
stuff, like textures or map layouts that have been declared
off limits to 3rd party use. That's called plagiarism and it
is not okay.
- It has to be a sincere effort on your part. If I've seen
a high-quality map from you and then you try sending me a
level with substantially lower production values, I am going
to send it back and say hey, what's the deal? I know you can
do better than this. Examples include later maps with 3dfx
problems, missing running noises or a complete lack of
texture stitching when it has been demonstrated by you in
previous maps that you know better. :P
So why am I going off on this now? Well as I said this has
happened in the past but recently I've been dealing with
maps like this on a daily basis, and it is taking up almost
all my time. This is ridiculous people. I am not a map doctor.
Do not send me a sick map and expect me to make it better,
because I won't. I won't post it, either. The kicker today
was that out of 4 maps received, only half passed the above
basic conditions. So I happily present you with...
The Two Maps that Made the Cut
Grifter sent me
Sinkhole
2, an update to his "Sinkhole," an old favorite of mine
set in a hole in the ground. ;) Very small, this new version
is even smaller as he removed the upstairs room. Also stitched
up some textures. A fun small DM map.
Popeye sent me
Texas Town.
This map only passed the basic guidelines because I haven't
seen a tidy map from Popeye yet, but I think he's trying.
Actually okay I cut him some slack and deleted a duplicate
.lab file. Anyhow this map shows up in the list as "Untitled,"
again that's something I think I could have fixed but that is
not my job. ;P Lots of 3dfx errors in this large, one street
town in the desert with a gatling gun in the middle of the
main street. Texturing in general ain't the prettiest, and the
map is really flat. But if you don't have a 3dfx card it's
fairly fast and big.
Those two were the survivors. I'm not going to talk about
the other two... ;[
But you know most of all I always wonder WHAT IS THE BIG
HURRY TO RELEASE YOUR MAP? Do you folks know why companies
come out with bad games? It's because they have deadlines and
they have to produce something within a set limit of time, they
don't have all the time in the world to spend making it perfect.
Well I don't see no LawMakers under deadlines out there so
as far as I can see there's no excuse for coming out with a
map that's only half-baked. But time and time again I see new
maps being released prematurely, with problems that could have
been taken care of easily with just a little more time on the
part of the author. Take some responsibility for what you do
folks, after all people will remember you for it.[/rant
mode]
* * *
Sunday 8/22/99
Outlaws Sequel Petition Signatures Added
Finally got around to updating the signature list on the
Outlaws Sequel Petition, now up to
407 signatures! Pretty good so far but my goal is
at least 1000 by the end of the year so there's still a good ways
to go. If there are any folks you know who would like to see
LEC make a sequel, that haven't looked at it yet, well tell
'em to check it out for gosh sakes, even yer loving family
members who probably sort of resent how much time you spend
playing this darn game hehe. Hmm mebbe if they make a sequel
we kin convince 'em ta call it "Outlaws: Widowmaker."
;)
New Maps (Mostly from Chet_R1)
Chet_R1 sent in a bunch of new (or sorta new) maps.
Frostbite
2 and
Dive 2 are
both updates to recently released maps, Frostbite now having
all the textures stitched amongst other fine-tuning changes
(darn fine lookin' map) and Dive has a fix for getting stuck
in the sky and a small hall of mirrors problem in the
elevator.
Quick note with Dive, there was another map with the same .zip
file name almost exactly a year ago. I didn't notice that at
first so I overwrote the older one yesterday. I've restored it
and renamed Chet's first Dive to "dive_.zip" but of course now
that the improved version is out, who
cares?
He also sent in a brand new map,
RunOff.
This one is set in the spring when the snow is melting so
in the outdoors parts there will be patches of snow and patches
of bare ground, not to mention sort of squishy running sounds.
A few small 3dfx glitches around some of the holes and tunnels
running underground slightly mar the otherwise solid construction.
Good sneaky level mebbe, darned if I can figger out how to get
into that bunker. :P
Moose sent in a new one,
Fortress.
Very big map with lots of open stuff at the top for fairly low
framerates. Also some chickens in this medieval-style thing. Oh
boy. I confess though that I didn't get a solid look at it because
in NT Outlaws crashes every time I look across the rooftop. That
won't happen in
Windows 9x (there are a few other maps that do the same
and only in NT, not sure why) but it did sort of tick me off and
prevent me from gettin' a real long look at it.
A Save Game and a Lens Flare
Wzerw sent me a
save game file
that he made when he had the demo, but found it also works in
the full version. Now I dunno if this is really the case but
it seems like there are a lot of extra baddies in here, mebbe
th' conversion to the full game did something... anyhow it's in
Sanctuary, saved in the middle of the big hotel. Bad guys come
from every direction and it really feels like they're coming in
after you. He's also used cheats to give the save game all the
weapons and ammo. Pretty fun to fend off the whole town full of
baddies. That's in the "temp" folder so get it now if you want
it, to install just unzip the "save001.osg" to yer Outlaws "Save"
folder, keep in mind that this WILL overwrite yer second save
game file.
Gas mentioned that his recent map
Savage Arena
actually has a lens flare, as if from the sun I guess, in the
sky texture. Well yeah it sure does, looks kinda neat except
of course sometimes you can see more than one at once. Pretty
funky, and of course this is a darn fine map in any
case.
The Old Montana Territorial Prison
A lil' while back I mentioned that while in Montana Slack
Jawed Pete and I took a tour of the Old Montana Territorial
Prison in the little town of Deer Lodge. I was very
impressed by the huge stone walls of the prison, in fact they
reminded me of nothing so much as an Outlaws level come to
life. Built in 1893 with convict labor, the outer stone wall
still presents an imposing site. Pete took a picture for me
and just got them back, so here's a
composite shot of the prison walls.
Behind the stone wall you can see the large brick Cell House, built
in 1912 again by convict labor. I won't go on about the
various stories and such surrounding this old facility (or their
most renowned inmate, Paul "Turkey Pete" Eitner), just wanted
to show the pic. Well... okay just one—the brick Cell House
tower at the right was the one hit by a bazooka fired by the
National Guard in preparation for their blitz to stop a
large riot in 1959 which left the deputy warden and the
two ringleaders dead. Wild stuff eh? Just a little slice of
Montana for ya.
By the way folks, if yer lookin' fer a darn fine movie to go
check out you can't really go wrong with "The Sixth Sense."
Now I'm a lil' miffed 'cause I resisted going to this movie
for so long, mostly because I read a dreadful review of it
on mrshowbiz.com and because from all I heard and read it was
a "scary" type of movie, which I don't really care
for.
Well the guy who wrote the mrshowbiz.com review must be burnt
out or something, it's an extremely well done, uplifting movie.
Yes I could've done without the sort of shock-value presentation
of some of the ghosts the boy sees, but the development between
the two main characters is wonderful and just as you're feeling
like the film has done it's thing and yer sort of wondering
where the heck it could go now and what's up with all the
slightly odd gaps in the plot, well along comes a wonderful
twist at the end that you really don't see coming but which works
beautifully. And if you try to tell me that you did see
it coming, I'm going to reach out across the internet and punch
you ever so gently in the nose—okay so I admit I feel silly that
I didn't guess what would happen but as far as I could tell
neither did anyone else there seeing it for the first time, and
they really do it all very well.
So go check it out, a great, moving film, I confess I almost
got misty at the end where the boy tells his mom grandma's
answer. *sniff* Aww shucks here I go again...
* * *
Saturday 8/21/99
Get in on the Action in Orleans
Rat_Filthy has updated his
Orleans
Seafood House & Tavern with a huge listing of news, rules
for official tourney competition and a long list of
recent battles in his favorite map, Orleans. I'll confess
I had no idea the action was this big, but it seems that there
are a good deal of top gunslingers heatedly shootin' it out fer
th' title of King of Orleans. :) In fact the update also includes
a ranking ladder for the current top 15 contestants, with detailed
scouting reports—the "weaknesses" are particularly interesting.
Most of the goodies can be found
here,
go check it out!
This got me thinkin', what would my weaknesses be? Hmm...
"Tendency to panic" would be up there, along with "shoots with
the accuracy of a senile albatross" and "blows self up constantly."
Oh and we can't forget my favorite, "spends too much time typing
and not enough dodging." :)
Dive in with Chet_R1
Chet_R1 sent me a unique new map,
Dive. Dive is a
big pit. You jump in. :) The point is that because he fiddled
with the gravity and wind settings you fall for a good 18
seconds or so (at least I do) before landing softly in a deep
pool of water, so you can have midair shootouts with other
fallers. Neat eh? Will take some coordination but could make
for a pretty fun way to duel. Quick elevators zip you back to
the top quickly, and there's a level of pit-stop caves in
between where you can grab a few handy items or perhaps lay
an ambush. Check the screenshot,
and jump right in!
Posses Posses Everywhere
A while back, Wildcat wrote me to let me know that I
could use the posse lists on his excellent
Wildcat Country
site to fill in the list on my
posse page. He doesn't have that
account anymore and though the provider has yet to close down the
page he cannot update it. He's moved out to Arizona and should
in fact be back online and building a new web site as soon as
next month. :) In the meantime, enjoy the huge addition of
posse names (242 total now)
gleaned from his massive site!
You Say It's Your Birthday
Uh oh. Okay, just to let y'all know that I am not going to be
able to be the official birthday announcer fer Outlaws players. ;)
But sshep got in a mention that today's Scuba's
birthday before I laid down that lil' ultimatum, so more power
to 'im! (You know mebbe I'd do it if I could get a slice of
cake :d) Oh and heck while I'm at it, happy birthday to my
dad too. Hope you like Swedish roast coffee. =)
* * *
Friday 8/20/99
Three Little Mappies
Aren't they cute? Awww...
Gas got in quick with an update to his just release
map, makin' this
Savage Arena
2. Basically he added CTF play and switched a few items
around. Go ahead and grab it, you know you want to (the map,
I mean :p).
Scooter (?!?) sent me a small map called
NiteKill.
I hadda do a bit of file cleaning on it... grrr. A roughly
circular valley with irregular walls, some ledges, and a bunkerish
low structure in the middle with firing windows on all sides,
all under a dark sky. Fast, suffers from lack of stitching and
a 3dfx error like a big gap in the ground along one side. Doh
well.
Danger sent me his first map, a self-titled one:
Danger.
Unique item layout here, all in two big separate, semi-fortified
clumps—gives you something to go for, I guess. Very basic layout
of a one-room building with basement next to a lake. Not a lot
to see but it's fast, anyhow.
Happy Birthday to Vesuvio
Thoughtful Grifter let me know that today (the 20th) is
the birthday of Vesuvio, one of the founding fathers of
the #outlaws_players IRC channel on the Undernet, a source of
Outlaws multiplayer fun since well farther back than I can
remember. So if you should HAPPEN *hint hint nudge nudge* to
wander over to his channel be sure to wish him a very happy
birthday, and many more to come! :D
New Outlaws Poll at Karrde's
Karrde
just let me know that he's got a brand new weekly Outlaws poll
question up at his site. The last question, on which type of
OL game you like the best, went to Deathmatch but really a few
votes either way could have swung it. This week's question is
a really neat one: "What would you like to see most in the
WWII maps?" My vote is for mortars. =) Agree? Disagree? Too
tired to care? Well then go vote!
Ash Outlaws Taunts
Badre199 sent me some
Ash Outlaws
Taunts. These are lines by the character "Ash" from the
cult classic horror spoof movies "Evil Dead" and "Army of
Darkness." Pretty good, a few are kind'a long but I think
most of 'em should work fairly well in multiplayer. These are
in my "temp" directory so get 'em while they're hot.
* * *
Thursday 8/19/99
Revenge of the Savage Arena
Woo! Two impressive maps sent in today by veteran LawMakers,
both sportin' BIG MANLY names. Grr! ;O
Gas was first in the gate with the map wanted in two
Texas counties for aggravated assault,
Savage Arena.
Well yes it sounds like another "arena" style map from Gas
but this one actually has a bit of an old west flavor to it,
though it doesn't really make complete "sense" as a real area.
Still this square valley divided into quarters by a shallow
stream and rocky ledges plays very smoothly with very high
framerates—no small feat considering how open the map looks.
And it's got cows, yay! 'Cause real men eat STEAK THREE TIMES
A DAY. :d Okay so this looks like a fun map, see I even took
a screenshot.
Grifter made it in late with an update to an old map,
Revenge 2.
Rrrrow! Yes, unsated by initial vengeance this map stalks the
wilds again, waiting to wreak unspeakable violence on its
unlucky victim. Shaboom! But now Revenge is leaner, faster,
more focussed than ever. Grifty's whittled the map down to the
essentials and man this thing flies. Very high framerates,
woohoo! And as you can
see,
the texturing and structure is very south-of-the-borderish,
with a good use of vertical space—perfect for the TNT lovers
among us. ;D Looks like we have another big STUDLY winner
today. Har!
Go Blind 2 on 2 with Nighty
Well Nighty wrote me a long mail which of course I
treasure along with the other mails she's sent me, but this
one was a bit hard to make out. Seems Nighty's a bit put out
lately by a number of things including her new computer not
running Outlaws (doh!), people telling her Outlaws is dead
(shows what they know) and trouble gettin' large masses of
warm bodies to participate in her weekly
Blind
2 on 2 Tourney meat-market Outlaws slaughterfest. A tourney
hosted by this lovely young fraulein (I sure hope
that means what I think it means :p), who could resist?
So, if I can decifer this message it looks like she's gonna
be doin' th' Tourney in the Zone in coming weeks rather (or
perhaps in addition to) Kali. As
for the usual Zone policy of not allowing tourneys well
apparently it went off last week without a hitch and besides,
I'm pretty sure any Zone op who objected would simply get
hugged (or growled) to death. :o In case you've been in a coma
for the past year or so, the Blind 2 on 2 Tourney sets all
comers up with a random partner and unleashes them against another
similarly paired team. You never know what will happen. So,
Saturdays, 7:30 PM EST, signups at 7:15, the Zone, be there!
Check the site for rules, brackets, past winners, etc...
Another NBK Site
Danger wrote to tell me of another Natural Born Killers
site, by himself and MistaMan:
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Natural Born Killers
Another NBK page, this one by MistaMan and Danger.
Covers all the bases with news, member info, map
reviews, message board, links and so forth. A few
small rough edges but all in all a very good
posse site with solid design.
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Oh and I should mention that I was mistaken about the
Zz posse site
by Wildarms, it does look fine in Netscape as long as you
have style sheet support enabled. Now what kind of twit
would willingly disable style sheet support? Jeez, some
people... :I Now of course I normally use Netscape
3 for browsing, which has absolutely NO style sheet support.
Muhahaha! ;D
And for those looking for holiday gifts for Outlaws addicts (it's
never too early to start lookin' :p) I think we've got a winner
here: the
vibrating mouse pad. Sure it'll throw yer aim off and make yer
hand numb after extended use but gosh who wouldn't want one?
Ooooo baby.
* * *
Wednesday 8/18/99
New Version of "2 Towers"
Feca sent me a new version of his recent CTF-style
map, "Two Towers," makin' this
2 Towers
v1.0. Or something. Anyhow framerates are vastly improved.
Just one thing I noticed is that the sky turns light
milk-chocolatey brown if you face in a certain direction. Pretty
weird but better'n low framerates I'd say.
Old Posse Story Time
A big thanks to all those who continue to help me build up
a comprehensive
posse list. Red Dragon just
sent me a very helpful email with some now-extinct posses from
the good ol' days. The names have been added to the list but
I'm gonna paste in his mail here b'cause he's also got lil'
bios for each of the old gangs:
AoO - Army of Outlaws (Consisted of all the people who lost in the RDG
tournament for membership in Kali when we formed. 2nd posse to exist in
Kali. Only surviving member still playing is LordDrunk who is with HSS now)
HHC - Head Hunter Crew - (Consisted of Degenerate and Ktoomba for a while
during a conflict in HSS with certain issues)
DD - DynamicDuo - Bioxid and Beast's group name. Probably the 1st 2 on 2
player posse created. Not to be confused with Deadly Duo which I think was
run by Ringo at the time.
BAM - Bad Ass Mexicans - Can't remember who started this gang but they were
strict Sanchez players. I think Ktoomba and Draco may have been in BAM but
it's hard to say since they've been gone so long.
T3M The 3 Musketeers - Bioxid, Swifty and Ringo I believe formed this group
for a few weeks at best.
SOS - SOS - No Special meaning I can't remember but I think this was a 1 or
2 man group as well. Long time since I spoke with the leader but I think he
plays Everquest now. Pretty sure Webby may have been in this group at one
time.
Yeah, it was the BAMs that I've been tryin' to remember ever
since startin' up my new list. I think it was KainX who
started them, and they didn't last very long at all but it was
during my days of playin' exclusively as Two Feathers, an' I
was in knife-wieldin' heaven with all them fragile lil' Sanchez's
runnin' around. Of course, they were actually pretty good which
made 'em tough to hit, but still... ;)
Two New Sites
Yee-up, more sites comin' outta th' woodwork:
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The Horsemen
The Java buttons slow down navigation and the bright
chunky background makes some text a bit tough to
read, but despite those issues the Hmn posse site
remains fairly compelling, with details on the members,
news, some of their favorite maps and players and very
large, quick-loading graphics featuring some great
Old West scanned images.
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DGG
Umm... arg? High bandwidth, with that sort of thrown
together in a vertical column feeling. The stolen or
stale graphics don't help none either and the slow-as-syrup
server is the icing on the cake. "Just the sound
of the name makes people quiver in fear?" So how
about mentioning what DGG stands for? Nahh that might
be too useful.
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Hey a Screenshot of the Day and a Top 10 Challenge
Haven't had one in quite some time but
DrDeath2, bless
his heart, sent me a
screenshot of the day. This is
an action shot from a game in his own "Fred's Farm" map. Ooo...
action!
Savior
has decided that he wants to
start a TOP 10 ladder—to get on you have to
successfully challenge one of the 10 current members. Folks
interested in bein' one of th' first 10 should
mail Savior or jus'
check things out over on his site.
* * *
Tuesday 8/17/99
Outlaws Editing Team Moves
Raf has moved his "Outlaws Editing Team" site to
a new, larger site called
Gamestopper.
Not only does this include all the OET stuff (the news page
indicates that their long-awaited "Crossed Identity" single-player
saga is nearing completion) but it's also got a section
dedicated to Raf's future project, an online-only western shooter
called "Wild West Mercenary," based on the Genesis 3D graphics
engine. Now that's a big undertaking and he is lookin' fer folks
to help out, since this is still in the planning stage now would
be the time to get onboard. Ah and must'nt forget the other
part of Gamestopper which is the game news and review site.
In fact he's lookin' fer someone to write a nice review of
Outlaws, if yer innerested in that go check it out!
Climb Savior's Ladder
Savior wrote me wondering how interested people are
in Outlaws ladder competition these days. He runs his
excellent
Savior's
Outlaws Ladder but says that it's a lil' slow these days,
what's the deal? Beats me... but if yer innerested in gettin'
into hot-an-heavy competition to find out who the best really
is, Savior's ladder is just the thing for you, check it out!
* * *
Monday 8/16/99
Sssssites
Sites come and go... seems like more are coming than going
these days. :) New arrivals:
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Palace Royal Emporium
He goes by the handle "Luke Short" in online Outlaws
play and in real-life Old West re-enactments. Luke's
site has a real old time feel and plenty of great
photographs of Tombstone and Western movie sets he
has worked in. You'll find a great deal of old west
history and stories alongside the photos--you'll
even learn about the real-life Luke Short of the 1800s.
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Zz Home
Whoa. Dark electric design of this site is a real
jolt, and a welcome one. The elite Zz posse site
features great design by Wildarms, details on the
legendary members, map play tips and analyses of
the 6 characters, news and well... more.
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Army of Darkness Home Page
Uh, one page with a skull graphic and the skeleton of
a posse member list.
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ICP KC Clan
Uh, one page with a list of posse members.
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Don't You Forget Those Unicorns
My dear Darlin'
sent me a level I'd been missin',
NoahsArk by
Mercedes. Now the ark itself here is a pretty neat place,
a big wooden vessel with lots of places to run and shoot and
good framerates throughout. Only problem is that Noah seems
to have slipped up and taken more'n two chickens—he's got a whole
darn flock of 'em and he KNOWS each one creates more lag. :P
Hmm mebbe he took the extras fer dinner. Well I took a
screenshot anyhow, I jus' can't
resist takin' pictures of chickens fer some reason.
Back Up Your Desktop
Danger sent me an Outlaws background fer yer Windows
desktop. It's dark, and an odd resolution (600x275) so you'll
have to stretch it or tile it or something. Snag it from
my temp folder here.
Riva 128, Web Ring Good News
Yay nice to have a cheery note to finish the day on. Make
that two cheery notes. First, Yoda tells me that he
got the XGL200 Glide emulator (see my
helpful files page) to run Outlaws
with 3d acceleration on his
Riva 128 card (Diamond Viper v330). Here's how:
Riva128 does work with Outlaws. I was astonished, as I
tried an earlier version of it, and everything was
white. But I said, "Acck, what the heck. I'll try it
again." My card is the Viper v330, which is controlled
by the Riva128. Oh, by the way I get about 30 fps with
my AMD K6-233, and 32 megs of Ram. Here are my
settings for all the Riva128 users out there:
The only settings I changed were:
1. Changed Z Buffer to 16 bit
2. Hit ATI Fix
3. And for ColorOps, the check on it
should be grey. Click the 2 of 'em twice so its a
black check.
Voila! The Riva128 should work okay in
Outlaws. Now just gotta buy me a new Voodoo3......
Cool news for Riva 128 owners indeed. Second, Raf
mentioned that the Outlaws webring places as the 94th most
popular computer game webring on the net according to the
official
WebRing.com stats. Who would have thought? Dooh and only
narrowly beaten by the "Worldwide Norn Association." You've
won this round Norns, but the fight isn't over... ;]
* * *
Sunday 8/15/99
Oh Man It's Late
I should be getting my beauty rest about now but I'm gonna
try to get at least some of the news done before the big
hectic week starts...
The Outlaws Sequel Petition got
a lot of signatures today, hooray! Again to remind those who
didn't see what I said yesterday, there is no "one per household"
policy with the petition, so get out there and harass people
who you know deep in their hearts would love to see an Outlaws
sequel, get 'em to help the cause. Not, as I've said before,
that I feel we NEED a sequel, but if the same folks at LEC did
it who did the first well gosh that'd have to be a darn fun
game. So anyhow now I got 70 signatures to add as soon as I
have some time this week.
Martone released a new version of his
Tahoe map,
with a few stitching tidy-ups and filename changes so that the
map appears in alphabetical order. Yay!
Clint Cartright (hope I spelled that right) reminded
me that even though the custom textures in Tahoe don't look so
great in software mode, many of ya without a 3dfx card may still
be able to enjoy 3d accelerated graphics in Outlaws with the help
of the "XGL200" Glide wrapper which you'll find on my
other helpful files page. It doesn't
seem to work on a Riva 128 (long story, basically I thought I'd
screwed up my Voodoo3's picture through overclocking but turned
out the old "Rayovac" style industrial strength monitor that
holds Pale's Place was just a mite too close to my main computer's
monitor :p) but word is good that it works on TNTs, G200s, ATI
Rage 128s and a bunch of other Direct3D compatible cards.
Chet_R1 is workin' on a new version of his just released
"Frost Bite" map to get all the textures stitched and other
good stuff like that.
Karrde has added the fabulous "Outlaws Weekly Web Poll"
to his
site, you can vote on Outlaws issues and see yer input
calculated right away. Current question is which style of
multiplayer Outlaws do you prefer?
Beignet has a new Top 10 List at her
WAW
Webzine and yes you know that "Ms. Badhabits" has been a bit
naughty yet again... ;)
Sleepy sent me two screenies of a map he's working on,
"Polar 2." Whoa, a lot of cold maps lately, I think people must
be lookin' fer ways to beat the August heat. Check out the
arctic wildlife in these shots:
shot 1 and
shot 2.
Mallard has shut his excellent
Saddlebag site down,
though you can still see his parting message. He wants to devote
more time to playing, a sentiment I can certainly appreciate.
Thanks to Hamdrad for the tip. Well Mallard had a darn
neat site, I always enjoyed catching his updates and reading
his map reviews. Mebbe the web bug will bite him again one of
these days.
Man now I know how to pack folks into my hosted game, all
I gotta do is host "Junction." Sheesh! Well I guess I kin leave
that up on Pale's Place fer another
day. ;)
That ain't all I got, but th' rest (mostly new web sites) is
stuff that takes me longer to do so it'll hafta wait fer th'
next update. Vaya con Dios mis amigos (and I say that in an
emotional rather than spiritual sense, just seemed like a nice
way to end the update :).
* * *
Back to Stale Vittles
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