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Twenty-Third Highest Shelf Vittles: 3.21.04-12.20.05
Back to Stale Vittles
Tuesday 12/20/05
Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho Ho
That's a lotta ho's! But I've got a lot of maps stocked
up, too, and finally a little vacation time in which to
post them. Break out the eggnog!
Coffee CKMD
(shot)
by Molycoat: Packed arena-ish map with special
three-shot shotgun and mobile gatling gun. There is
gonna be a lot of hurt going on in here, especially in
those narrow tunnels underground. I like how the owl
hoots when you land next to it on top of the fence.
Decaf CTKMD
(shot)
by Molycoat: Version of "Coffee" without the
modified weapons.
Fourbagger CTKMD
(shot)
by plan_9 and Molycoat: Big square caves with
lots of narrow ledges, and platforms having down
from the ceilings. Complex, although it feels a little
blocky.
Twobagger CTKMD
(shot)
by plan_9 and Molycoat: Two caves instead of
Fourbagger's four.
Little X CTKMD
(shot)
by Molycoat: A wintery map kind of in the
shape of a big X, with a square building in the
middle. Thin blanket of snow on everything looks
nice, but don't get too close to those exploding
barrels! Modified from XaviarOlero's X_Villa.
Stockton CTKMD
(shot)
by Molycoat: Snow and ice hit Orleans, along
with a few of Moly's special sprite touches, and
a tricky jumping sequence to get the gatling gun.
Framerate is a little on the lower end of the spectrum,
but Orleans never was that brisk, anyway.
Chateau CTKMD
(shot)
by Dog_Holliday: An amazingly opulent interior--is
that Rococco?--complete with suits of armor, a grand
entryway, a wine cellar, bedrooms, a viewing balcony,
and a kitchen straight out of one of those old Dutch
still-lives, among other things. Amazing overhaul of
the usual Outlaws interior art.
Nowhere TCKMD
(shot)
by Molycoat: Looks like injuns got to this
train car in the middle of nowhere, leaving carnage
everywhere. Don't miss the overturned, er, "office"
nearby.
Main Line CTKMD
(shot)
by Molycoat: A very detailed passenger train
lies in a narrow canyon. The interior is packed with
details and, of course, lots of guns! Framerate dips
a bit at the ends of the canyon, looking back at the
train.
Flatcar TCKMD
(shot)
by Molycoat: Another train and canyon, but
this canyon's a bit wider, and the train is just
a single flatcar now. I like that bristley white
little tree.
Search Sanchez
Truffle has a "Ask
Sanchez" search engine on his OLHideout site that can dial
up all your Outlaws site, screenshot, and map needs in the blink
of an eye. And now those lucky Firefox users out there can install
it directly into their browser as a plugin; get the plugin from
OLHideout, right
here.
Big Pale Head
Becky admired little Matilda, who was not quite
four years old, as the most charming little love in
the world; and the boy, a little fellow of two
years—pale, heavy-eyed, and large-headed—she pronounced
to be a perfect prodigy in terms of size, intelligence,
and beauty.
William Makepeace Thackeray,
Vanity Fair
* * *
Sunday 10/9/05
Gun Gun Gun
People keep emailing me about Neversoft's upcoming Western
game "Gun," which I've already mentioned at least twice
*cough* so I might as well get that out of the way. The
official site
now has three trailers up. Jerky_Villa says that it
is now heading to PC as well as consoles. The console release
date is still November 8th (and then the XBox360 one whenever
that system comes out). Paul pointed me to a
news
post on GameSpot where they reveal the voice cast for the
main characters. Now you know everything!
Wabbits
Molycoat mentioned that he spotted that crazy rabbit
Max over
on
GameSpy in some kind of announcement for a new Sam and Max
game. So it was Max who popped up in Outlaws, or something?
Crazy animals, hard to keep 'em straight.
Three Mean New Maps
Ore Mill CTKMD
(shot)
by Dog_Holliday: Ore processing becomes a lot
more fun once you throw in copious amounts of shootin'.
This meticulous historic re-creation features amusements
such as a conveyor belt, generator, catwalks, easily-accessed
rooftops, and a nifty river for wading.
Jack's Camp CTKMD
(shot)
by Molycoat: Find out how Spittin' Jack
lives his life of outlawry in this small outdoorsy
campsite map. Amusing custom sprites abound in their
high-framerate natural environment.
And remember kids, Paley says: "TNT
can help put out brush fires!"
Flying Outlaws CTKMD
(shot)
by Captain Picky: I like the rolling landscape
in this grassy area surrounded by a cliff wall and
crossed by a little brook. Little spots that look
like horseshoe pits will fling anything put into
them across the brook, into enemy territory.
Pale and Pink Don't Mix
She waved him an adieu from the window, and stood
there for a moment looking out after he was gone.
The cathedral towers and the full gables of the
quaint old houses were just beginning to blush
in the sunrise. There had been no rest for her that
night. She was still in her pretty ball-dress,
her fair hair hanging somewhat out of curl on her
neck, and the circles round her eyes dark with
watching. "What a fright I must seem," she said,
examining herself in the glass, "and how pale
this pink makes one look!" So she divested herself
of this pink raiment; in doing which a note fell out
from her corsage, which she picked up with a smile,
and locked into her dressing-box. And then she put
her bouquet of the ball into a glass of water, and
went to bed, and slept very comfortably.
William Makepeace Thackeray,
Vanity Fair
* * *
Tuesday 8/16/05
Searchin' For Screens
Just a minor site update here: I added a screenshot download
link to the map archive search
results, if a screenshot matching that map's name exists in
my screenshot directory. Fun!
* * *
Monday 8/15/05
Map Onslaught
Deadwood City CTKMD
(shot)
by Last1 & Moly: Good-sized town along
a main street, with plenty of multi-story buildings.
While the lighting in them is pretty uniform, some of
them have noteworthy architecture, particularly in their
stairways. Many also have upper storey balconies or,
at least, sniping windows. A map with good framerates and
a lot of possibilities.
Deadwood City Mods CTKMD
by Last1: Walk the streets of Deadwood City
again, only this time with modified starting pistol
and rifle. They make a different sound and probably
do more damage or something.
DogHouse CTKMD
(shot)
by Dog_Holliday: A fabulously solid old stone
penitentiary, packed with details such as the warden's
office, whose fancy balcony overlooks the gallows, and
a room where inmates make their own uniforms, overseen
by a stern sign saying "NO ALTERATIONS." Wonderful use
of custom textures and sounds to make the place feel
unique. Fall into the inner yard and you may have
a rough time of it before you can get to one of the
two narrow exits.
LaBomba2 TMD
(shot)
by Dog_Holliday & Molycoat: The moonlight lighting
and stone construction of the towers and yard are
as sharp as before, but now you can play with any character,
and you get a mix of goodies to start your evening off
right when you spawn in.
Fire Pond TKMD
(shot)
by Molycoat: Moly indulges his love of nature
with this park-like area of lush lawns and scenic
ponds full of fish and waterfowl. Framerate is
middlin', due to the encircling design of the area—it's
all sort of on a gradual rounded slope—and it looks
bigger than it really is, as you can't get to the
outer "circle" of the park. The action itself should
be pretty thick and fierce, though, as the manicured
area offers little in the way of hiding places, unless
you're prepared to get your feet wet.
Line Shack CTKMD
(shot)
by Molycoat: Hard to say at a glance how this one
might play, but it certainly looks incredibly distinctive.
The waterslide-like waterfall is lovely, and the light
brown hues of the surrounding canyon complement each other
nicely. The titular shack at the bottom (okay, I just like
saying "titular") is absolutely crammed to bursting with
weapons, and several high ledges provide sniping or TNT-chucking
vantages. Details such as driftwood bobbing
in the pool, and working, knotted rope ladders, provide
that necessary touch of wild frontier authenticity. The
readme indicates that the spectacular waterfall was originally
intended as a waterslide, but didn't work out due to
Outlaws' "special" physics.
Rio Nada CTKMD
(shot)
by Molycoat: A dry riverbed winds its circular
way through a smooth, two-tone canyon. Very small and
concentrated; if you run along the riverbed you may
feel like a cyclist going around a track. Nice organic
shape to the rocky walls, and very high framerates.
Serenity TKMD
(shot)
by Molycoat: A beautiful, naturally finished
wood house sits comfortably at the bottom of a grassy slope,
in the crook of a small stream. Crickets can be heard
in the darkening afternoon, and you feel like you want to
go kick up your feet in one of the comfy chairs in the
upper floor bedrooms—or perhaps play in the sandbox a bit
before the rain comes. It's almost a shame to start raising
a rucus in here. As in Fire Pond, framerate is
a bit lower than usual due to the circular layout of
the area. It doesn't grab me immediately as a great stage
for a firefight, but perhaps that's the point? This is
getting deep.
New Gunslinger Map Loader
Truffle put out an updated version of his
Gunslinger Map
Downloader utility for Outlaws; this new version
fixes a problem for the map list getting too big for
Win98/Me users, and makes a couple user-friendly UI
tweaks. Truffle warns that currently if you click the
"Get Map Info" button with no map selected, the button
is disabled until you restart the utility, but adds that
he will have that fixed in his next update.
Outlaws Mod Server
Crow, beloved news-whore that he is, sent word
that he and TonToE got a server up running the Outlaws
Mod for Half-Life 24/7, "and everyone can find it easily by
clicking the internet tab and hitting "Search" in their
Steam console." He adds that the map switches every
half-hour.
Console Westerns
Speaking of consoles (haha), a few Western games of note
are coming out on those overpriced toys. No sooner did I
post my notes on the "Gun" article I'd seen (see previous
update) than I come across not only
screenshots
and a trailer, but also a full-fledged
preview.
GameSpot lists the PS2 version's
release date as November 8th.
Even sooner comes a dark gothic Western called
"Darkwatch," from High Moon Studios—ooh, comes out tomorrow,
in fact. GameSpot again has extensive
coverage.
I like Westerns, and shooting zombies, and doing that co-operatively
with a friend; and this game has all three, so my hopes are
high.
By the Pale Lamp Light
By the pale night-lamp he could see her
sweet, pale face—the purple eyelids were fringed and
closed, and one round arm, smooth and white, lay
outside of the coverlet. Good God! how pure she was;
how gentle, how tender, and how friendless! and he,
how selfish, brutal, and black with crime! How dared
he—who was he, to pray for one so spotless! God bless
her! God bless her! He came to the bedside, and looked
at the hand, the little soft hand, lying asleep; and he
bent over the pillow noiselessly towards the gentle
pale face.
William Makepeace Thackeray,
Vanity Fair
* * *
Sunday 7/23/05
What Follows Are New Levels
Bankrupt CTKMD
(shot)
by Dog_Holliday: Small dark town that has, I hope,
seen much better days. Lots of custom art touches
to explore here, as well as a fascinating catacomb or
two hidden away below ground. I'm not so fond of how
you start taking damage as soon as you set foot outside
the town walls.
Rimrock CTKMD
(shot)
by Dog_Holliday: Awesome maze of twisting
tunnels and ledges running to and fro in a
donut-shaped canyon. The textures are fantastic.
Many memorable areas, including a lush green pool
with matching waterfall, and a particularly
striking shaded canyon ledge that leads back to one
of the many tunnels criss-crossing the area.
El Segundo CMD
(shot)
by Jalapeño: Unusual space including a large barn,
an old church of some sort, perhaps, and a variety of
tunnels. It doesn't really feel like a natural construction,
and doesn't look like one either, as the lighting and texturing
aren't greatly detailed in many areas, but it will at least
keep you circulating around fairly briskly as you hunt for
targets. Is it just my old Voodoo5 acting up, or does the top
of the stone wall around the fountain ripple like water when you
stand on the water?
Termy CTKMD
(shot)
by Molycoat: Little crossroads town in a very boxy
little canyon, should be a fast fight since you can see
the entire area from just about anywhere. Moly's customary
inventive touches include forced-perspective tunnels and
gates out of town, and a number of mod weapons; I'm particularly
fond of the double rifles (see screenshot). The town itself
feels rather rigidly regimented, but framerates are high. Are
those cat doors on a couple of the buildings?
Truffle Presents: The Gunslinger Map Downloader
Truffle has come up with a unique desktop program that downloads
a browsing list Outlaws maps. You can call up a mini-review
and screenshot of each map, and even download the map directly through
the utility. Pretty slick! He calls it "The Gunslinger Map Downloader,"
and you can find it
here on his olhideout.net
site.
Since the map list gets downloaded off Truffle's server, he can update
the list continually. He's currently up to nearly 200 maps listed,
reviewed, screenshotted, and downloadable. As an added bonus, if
you visit the web site, you can also tap in to a map rating and
review system he's come up with.
Speaking of olhideout.net, Truffle mentioned that he is in the process
of revamping the site with updated content and a brand new news-posting
system, and hints that he may begin doing his "The Three Outlaws" webcomic
again, so stay tuned!
The Shockwave Man With No Name
Lanky mentioned that he's been wasting time with
a web-based Shockwave game called
Most
Wanted. Man, I don't think I knew that Shockwave did
3D now. It runs like a stunned weevil on my old system, but as far as
I can tell, you stand in the street, battered hat on your head and
dirty poncho slung over your shoulder, and plug any varmit who steps
out into the street with your trusty six-shooter.
Lawmaker: The Game
sch52 dropped in after many years to mention that he'd spotted
an interesting game in development:
Lawmaker,
from Darkroom Studios. Visit the web site for screenshots and bullet points.
It looks kinda shaky to me, and I get the feeling that it's more like a
tech demo for their "Omnibus" game engine, which is supposed to be targetted
for "next gen" systems, whatever that means. Darkroom Studios is hiring
artists, but they don't list their address anywhere obvious, which inclines
me to think that this is some kind of fly-by-night virtual company.
But it looks like the game intends to let you use an axe,
which I think we can all agree is a must-have for a proper
next-gen Western.
A Game Called "Gun"
I came across some game magazine or other a few weeks back that had
a story on a game in development by Neversoft (they've done those Tony Hawk
and Spider-Man games) called "Gun," supposedly coming to consoles
this Fall. It's a third-person Western, with a "realistic" style,
"Quick Draw" Matrixy bullet-time mode, detailed physics (the developers
gushed about being able to shoot the gun out of a baddie's hand, then
send it scooting away along the floor with more carefully-aimed shots),
lots of optional side missions across a massive Old West, and
numerous modes of travel including horseback, train, stagecoach, and
canoe. Could be interesting.
Pale? Try Curaçoa
At length Captain Osborne made his appearance, very smartly
dressed, but very pale and agitated as we have said. He wiped
his pale face with a large yellow bandanna pocket-handkerchief
that was prodigiously scented. He shook hands with Dobbin,
looked at the clock, and told John, the waiter, to bring him
some curaçoa. Of this cordial he swallowed off a couple
of glasses with nervous eagerness.
William Makepeace Thackeray,
Vanity Fair
* * *
Sunday 6/12/05
Truffle vs Dead Man's Hand
Truffle offered this mini-review of the
recently-released Western shooter "Dead Man's Hand":
I have DMH also. But we all have to admit that Outlaws
is the best Western shooter out there. The DMH graphics
are unbelievable. Afterall, it's built on the same engine
that UT2004 is. I've also played around with the level
editor and have to say that 3D level editing is much easier
than 2D Lawmakin'. It just has a harder learning curve.
I read and read up on the UT Level editor and could never
figure it out... I had to watch training videos to finally
get going with it... It's a very powerful tool.
Multiplayer gameplay is not as fast paced as Outlaws is.
My main gripe is the walk speed. In Outlaws you walk and
you press shift to run fast. In most UT based games, you
run by default and press Shift to walk slow. Well, in DMH,
you walk by default and then you "tip-toe" when you press
shift, unless the server turns on the fast run mutator. In
my opinion, the slower pace takes the fun out of the game.
Outlaws has its magicical cartoon feel to it. And its
ease of editing. Look at the map Spacewar (author: Molycoat)
for instance, the one where you fly spaceships and shoot
spage-age weapons and stuff. If you try that in DMH you
are going to need 3DS Max or Maya and many hours. In
Outlaws you just need many hours and Paint Shop Pro.
$100 versus $1,000. And while you are at it you might
as well make a full blown mod. Might as well base it off
of UT2004 instead.. It will be more popular :P
Infact most of the great architecture that you see in DMH
is not due to the level editor, but to a thing called a static
mesh, which is infact built in 3DS max and imported into the
level editor.
DMH beats Outlaws as far as Graphics and anti-cheating.
Anyone with the NWX editor in Outlaws can cheat with ease.
Nothing will be as good as Outlaws. DMH is a good game,
but its no Outlaws. The Outlaws mod for Half-Life is close,
but would be better if it were more cartoony, with dynamic lighting.
Coders Wanted
Crow asked me to add, regarding last update's
post about his and TonToE's push for an "Outlaws Mod
for Half-Life 2," that TontoE is looking for volunteer
coders to contribute to the project. You can hook up
with him through his current project site,
Outlaws
Mod for Half-Life (which recently hit version 1.6,
by the way).
All Kinds of Maps
Desert Thunder single-player
(shot)
by Dog_Holliday: Very nice train level where you
start off galloping along on horseback, trying to catch
the train full of no-goodniks. One of the very best
train levels I've seen, I think.
Picorro CKMDT
(shot)
by Captain Picky: Huge ranch house: two main
floors, a basement, an attic, and then don't forget
the rooftop, courtyard and outer yard, and stables. Nice general
layout and texturing, although it could have used a little
more lighting detail to give contrast to the areas, and
running sounds.
Probably want to have a bunch of people for this one.
Looney Tunes CTKMD
(shot)
by Last1stnding & Molycoat: Awesome conversion of
Dog_Holliday's "Cataract" level into a full-blown
Looney Tunes adventure, complete with cartoonish cliffs
and trees, modified
characters, and tons of cartoon sound effects. Oh,
and modified character selection and end score screens,
too! Really extremely cool.
Altar of Stone MD
(shot)
by Jalapeno: The readme says this is an adoption
of a map from the old Build engine game "Blood," and it
does have that certain gothic theme going with a crude
stone altar, winding stairway, torches, and fall-to-the-death
outside. Access to the top is only by two stairways, so
they'll probably see a lot of action. Running sounds
seem to be absent but otherwise seems like a pretty neat
map.
Free Gold
Spikerama has released his previously-shareware
game "Wild West Goldhunter" as a free download! Go
here
to get to it, and you'll find more info there about this
puzzle-heavy first-person Western shooter.
Gun Warrior Western
Speaking of other Western first-person shooters,
Lars Fredriksson tipped me off to
Gun
Warrior, a game from Polish developer Frontline Studios. It
isn't entirely clear if the game is out (and if it is,
then where), but you can read up on the game and view
some screenshots. Graphics look somewhat rudimentary
compared to other recent offerings, but of course you can't
judge a game just by the screenshots.
Pale Fixed Face
Her appearance was so ghastly, and her look of
despair so pathetic, that honest William Dobbin
was frightened as he beheld it; and read the most
fatal foreboding in that pale fixed face.
William Makepeace Thackeray,
Vanity Fair
* * *
Sunday 5/8/05
Cuatro Mapas
Havok CTKMD
(shot)
by Molycoat: Neat little circular map with a small,
refreshing stream running around a sort of open corral.
Somewhat larger than it looks due to the encircling passages
in the hedge. Check out the grazing horse.
Alamo CTKMD
(shot)
by Dog Holliday: DH wanted to re-create the whole
Alamo, but had to settle for the most famous part of it,
the fort's church and a few outlying buildings, due to
the limitations of the OL engine. Very atmospheric with
open horizons fringed with lowering clouds, great custom
textures, and a certain nostalgic ditty if you listen closely.
The author appears to have done his research: check the
readme for a concise account of the fort's history. Don't
try to squeeze through the back of the staircase: ouch!
Vamanos CTKMD
(shot)
by Dog Holliday: Two-bases-separated-by-canyon CTF
map, but brilliantly done, with winding sandy passages
down the bottom of the canyon, a trickier route above
among separated ledges, and a very cool S-shaped
passage through the rock in the middle. Another great
texturing job here.
Dooley CTKMD
(shot)
by Molycoat and...: Reworked from Hooter's
map "Dool," Moly's made a lot of changes, including
gorgeous custom textures, dramatic shadows, an
underground area, and
custom multiplayer characters (additional work
there by chaabo and ElBrando; visible in
this shot that he
thoughtfully sent out with the map).
Dead Man's Love
BT Justice got back to me about the
new shooter he picked up, Dead Man's Hand:
"I have been playing Dead Man's Hand online in DMs most of the day. IT
IS FUN!!! A lot like Outlaws. Guns and health and bullets are
everywhere. My only gripe is that you pick up the items but they are
still there for others to pick up. ... The graphics are awesome!" High
praise indeed from the chief of high-speed pursuit.
Wanted: Outlaws & Lawmen
The Crow pointed me to the
Wanted:
Outlaws & Lawmen site, a proposed Western mod for
Half-Life 2. They list a large team and have some really
impressive concept art. May be worth keeping an eye
on.
Crow also mentioned that he and Tontoe, of
"Outlaws Mod for Half-Life" fame, are scheming up ideas
for a follow-up mod for Half-Life 2. It's a mod war!
Pale Griselda Binkie
She was an ironmonger's daughter, and her marriage
was thought a great match. She looks as if she had been
handsome once, and her eyes are always weeping for the
loss of her beauty. She is pale and meagre and
high-shouldered; and has not a word to say for herself,
evidently. Her stepson, Mr. Crawley, was likewise in
the room. He was in full dress, as pompous as an
undertaker. He is pale, thin, ugly, silent; he has thin
legs, no chest, hay-colored whiskers, and
straw-colored hair. He is the very picture of his sainted
mother over the mantelpiece—Griselda of the noble house
of Binkie.
William Makepeace Thackeray,
Vanity Fair
* * *
Sunday 4/17/05
New Maps
Newcity 2005 CTKMD
(shot)
by Molycoat: An incredibly monumental map
in which Moly has recreated a sort of comic-book
style metropolis on a very large scale. The thing
is constructed to make you feel about twelve feet
tall, but the city itself is far larger, with many
skyscrapers going up to four floors or so. You
feel like a sort of junior King Kong, bounding
across the rooftops, running over the huge
arch, zooming along traffic tunnels, and even
scaling the Goodyear
blimp. The texturing is
brilliant throughout, and as usual with Moly's
maps, the attention
to detail is unsurpassed. The city is probably too
large to have a small deathmatch in, and if you
aren't too good at jumping you're in for some
sore ankles if you try to claim the skyscraper
high ground, but if you're up for a bit, modern-day
challenge, you really can't do better
than this.
Minerva CTKMD
(shot)
by SlyFrawst: An ambitious map for CTF, with
many unconventional elements, including
a bridged road running over the middle of the map and
elevated watery areas with waterfalls down the sides.
Some of the texturing is a little odd, and the map
as a whole seems a tad dark to me, but if you're looking
for something new in CTF, you'll probably find it here.
The Doomed West
David Ferstat pointed me to
The
Doomed West, which appears to be an in-development
western-themed mod for Doom 3. Looks like they can do some
pretty sharp stuff with the lighting engine in that baby.
Dead Hand Again
BT Justice sent me a trifecta of links
relating to "Dead Man's Hand," an Unreal-engine
western shooter
that came out on PC and Xbox last year. The home
page is
here,
and the game garnered fairly mediocre reviews from
IGN
and
PC
Gamer.
* * *
Sunday 3/13/05
New Santa Fe
Cutter, perfectionist that he is, sent in an
updated version of Santa Fe in which he's fixed a bug
where the graphics would go nuts if you got flung up
into the air with TNT at just the right spot. He
didn't say which spot, so maybe you can hold
a scavenger hunt for it. ;) At his request I've deleted
the old version, and I've updated the download link in the
original post below to point to the new version.
Burning Pale
It was the death-warrant. All was over. Amelia did
not dare to look at Rebecca's pale face and burning eyes,
but she dropt the letter into her friend's lap; and got up
and went upstairs to her room, and cried her little heart
out.
William Makepeace Thackeray,
Vanity Fair
* * *
Sunday 3/6/05
Three Big Maps
Bluewater CTKMD
(shot)
by Molycoat: Essentially a re-release
of his "Whitewater" map, with some "improvements
and cosmetic changes." Still a mighty fine-looking
map.
Santa Fe CKMD
(shot)
by Cutter: Stupendous job of re-recreating
a locomotive parked on the tracks in a narrow
canyon. Cutter's handling of the train cars is
superb, his texturing sublime. Nice winding
tunnels through the surrounding canyons and ledges.
Down side is that the detail of the train and
cliffs lowers framerates more than usual, but they
remain playable even on my ancient system. But
I suppose if anything was to tempt me to upgrade,
it would be maps like this.
La Bomba TKMD
(shot)
by Dog_Holliday and Molycoat: All
the characters here,
apparently,
take on characteristics of Spittin' Jack,
namely, an armload of TNT. Other than that,
there are just a couple guns and knives scattered
around so, if you're not adept with dynamite, you
may be in some trouble. Gorgeous effects of moonlight
and torchlight illuminate the spacious, balconied
villa courtyard, and framerates stay nice and high.
This and That
The irrepressible Crow sent me
this
link, apparently a long downloadable movie showing what
happens when a Counter-Strike
gamer reaches meltdown. It's in DivX format or
something, and I don't have whatever codec it needs (oh, how
I hate codecs), but I don't imagine that'll be a problem
for most of you. The low-quality version is a mere 200 MB.
Now, I haven't watched it, so if it turns out to be
hardcore pornography or something, please send your
hatemail to dear old Crow. I'm not sure why I'm even posting
this really, but I suppose that I get little enough email
these days that I'm getting a little soft.
Speaking of pornography, did you know that there's a
naked man mooning you from the middle of the back
of every American penny? Shocking
but true.
I had no idea.
"Mine a yellow face? Stop till you see Dobbin. Why, he had the
yellow fever three times; twice at Nassau, and once at
St. Kitts."
"Well, well; yours is quite yellow enough for us. Isn't it,
Emmy?" Mrs. Sedley said: at which speech Miss Amelia made
only a smile and a blush; and looking and Mr. George Osbourne's
pale interesting countenance, and those beautiful, black,
curling, shining whiskers, which the young gentleman himself
regarded with no ordinary complacency, she thought in her little
heart that in His Majesty's army, or in the whole wide world,
there never was such a face or hero.
William Makepeace Thackeray,
Vanity Fair
* * *
Sunday 2/20/05
One From Truffle
Noxion C
(shot)
by Truffle: According to the readme written
by Crow, Truffle lost this map when he reformatted
his machine, but fortunately Crow had a copy. That's
more drama than you normally get with your OL maps
now, isn't it? Well the good news is that the map was
well worth saving; it's a good ol' CTF-only map with
two bulky forts facing off across an icy river. Now
that may all sound quite standard, and so it is, but
the frozen river is particularly well done, there are
some pretty nice spot lighting effects indoors,
and the forts have an unusual heavy frontal construction
with no windows or roof access, and a big sort of shield
wall in front of the doors, so much of the gunplay will be
at relatively close range around the bridge and gorge.
A few spots could use some texture stitching, but they
don't stand out too badly. Framerates are excellent.
Go It, Pale
Figs's left made terrific play during all the rest of the
combat. Cuff went down every time. At the sixth round, there
were almost as many fellows shouting out "Go it, Figs," as
there were youths exclaiming "Go it, Cuff." At the twelfth
round the latter champion was all abroad, as the saying is,
and had lost all presence of mind and power of attack or
defence. Figs, on the contrary, was as calm as a quaker.
His face being quite pale, his eyes shining open,
and a great cut on his underlip bleeding profusely, gave
this young fellow a fierce and ghastly air, which
perhaps struck terror into many spectators. Nevertheless,
his intrepid adversary prepared to close for the
thirteenth time.
William Makepeace Thackeray,
Vanity Fair
* * *
Tuesday 2/15/05
Cutter Rides Into Town
Deadstone KMD
(shot)
by Cutter: Medium-sized little town
in the wide-open desert, with Cutter's trademark
high framerates, tough jumps, detailed interiors
and custom sounds. Some of the interiors are pretty
tight, so be careful. A really splendid-looking town,
with an unusual brownish look as opposed to the
yellow sandy style usually seen in these sorts of
stages. You can run way the heck out into the
desert for sniping purposes, if you like.
Pale Fired
She was small and slight in person; pale, sandy-haired,
with eyes habitually cast down: when they looked up
they were very large, odd, and attractive; so attractive
that the Reverend Mr. Crisp, fresh from Oxford, and
Curate to the Vicar of Chiswick, the Reverend Mr. Flowerdew,
fell in love with Miss Sharp; being shot dead by a glance
of her eyes which was fired all the way across Chiswick
Church from the school-pew to the reading-desk.
William Makepeace Thackeray,
Vanity Fair
* * *
Sunday 2/13/05
Something for Everyone
Saints and Sinners CTKMD
(shot)
by Molycoat: CTF map with a neat rich custom
color tone and cool covered wooden bridge over
the river between the two bases. Nice flow on the
interiors, too.
Striking Pale
Thou durst not slumber; see thy two sons' heads,
Thy warlike hand, thy mangled daughter here,
Thy other banish'd son with this dear sight
Struck pale and bloodless, and thy brother, I,
Even like a stony image, cold and numb.
Ah, now no more will I control thy griefs.
Rent off thy silver hair, thy other hand
Gnawing with thy teeth, and be this dismal sight
They closing up of our most wretched eyes.
Now is a time to storm, why art thou still?
William Shakespeare,
Titus Andronicus
* * *
Saturday 2/12/05
Petition Signatures Updated
I finally got around to updating the
Outlaws Sequel Petition
signature list: nearly 200 sigs were added.
* * *
Sunday 2/6/05
M-m-maps
Indian Mound CTKMD
(shot)
by SlyFrawst: Seems like somebody's large, contemporary
house, complete with many rooms and props. The intricate interior has
some scale issues, and is curiously devoid of normal doors and
windows, but the outside, if you can overlook some low-framerate
spots near the edges, looks very nice--check out the birds in
the trees, for instance.
The Wharf CTKMD
(shot)
by Last1Stndin and Molycoat: Another conversion of the
"Wharf" historical level to multiplayer, but this is more of
a switchup than others have been, with the water frozen over
with ice, Moly's trademark wildlife touches, puzzling beer
mugs and dead fish everywhere, and a nifty island with lighthouse
blinking away in the distance.
Mod Wharf CTKMD
(shot)
by Last1Stndin: Same as "The Wharf" above except with
modified weapons.
That's a Lot of Urchins
Have I not reason, think you, to look pale?
These two have 'ticed me hither to this place:
A barren detested vale you see it is;
The trees, though summer, yet forlorn and lean,
Overcome with moss and baleful mistletoe;
Here never shines the sun, here nothing breeds,
Unless the nightly owl or fatal raven;
And when they show'd me this abhorred pit,
They told me, here, at dead time of the night,
A thousand fiends, a thousand hissing snakes,
Ten thousand swelling toads, as many urchins,
Would make such feaful and confused cries,
As any mortal hearing it
Should straight fall mad, or else die suddenly.
William Shakespeare,
Titus Andronicus
* * *
Sunday 1/17/05
Wanted: Another Game
Larry (Spikerama) sent word of a new western game that
slipped out under the major media radar:
WANTED: A
Wild Western Adventure seems to be an adventure game with
cartoon-style 3D characters. A downloadable demo is available.
A Map Holliday
Dog_Holliday sent in some new maps to keep us busy through
the post-X-mas duldrums:
Dust CTKMD
(shot)
by Dog_Holliday: Small cluster of buildings in an "open plains"
style layout, and if you wander to far outside the town you literally
start to roast from the heat. Lots of nice shady places to hide,
custom sprites a-plenty, and good framerates.
Tortilla Flats CKMD
(shot)
by Dog_Holliday: Medium-sized pueblo town with lots of rooftop
access and a strategically-placed gatling gun. You can snipe from a
rooftop but since they're all open, you can never be sure that someone
else isn't aiming at your back.
Leah Belle CTKMD
(shot)
by Cutter: A massively detailed steamboat dominates
the dock at the center of this ambitious map. Dog_Holliday sent it
in, apparently he and Molycoat assisted in finishing it up. Framerates,
especially around the boat in the middle of the map, are not very good
on my ancient machine, but if you've bothered to upgrade anytime in the
past five years you'll probably be fine ;). The three-level boat overflows
with details, from a tiny privy to nautical instruments in the pilot
house. Warehouses bursting with crates flank the ship. Some clever jumping
can let you scale to the top of the ship from the outside, although I
kept running into a weird invisible wall when trying to jump off the ship
onto some nearby crates. Oh, and you can jump into the water and swim around
under the boat, which is neat.
Why?
'How you frightened me!' she said, breathing heavily, still
looking pale and stunned. 'Oh dear, how you frightened me!
I'm scarcely alive! Why did you come? Why?'
Anton Checkov,
Lady with Lapdog
translated by David Magarshack
* * *
Sunday 11/21/04
Diggin' Up Maps
Crow sent me some old maps by Who and one by
himself, then The Blinker or Jalepeno (?) sent me a ton of
maps by Jalepeno and The Blinker. So:
Repair at Dusk 2 CTKMD
(shot)
by Who: Pattern Repair at nice red dusk, I'm not
quite sure at a glance what's different in this version.
Laser Tag CMD
(shot)
by Who: I'm not sure that this map was finished.
You start with no weapons and you get ammo but no weapons,
or something? I may be missing something, but I did find a spot
on the lip of one of the many little wooden ledges in this
mazelike area where I got stuck and couldn't get out (it's
where I took the screenshot from).
Race CK
(shot)
by Who: Clever gimmick
map with an oval racetrack that shoves
you along at top speed. Maneuver left and right to dodge
barriers and lava, and hit jumps and boost pads. Outlaws
meets F-Zero!
DeathDome CKMD
(shot)
by Crow: Looks like one of the large rooms
from LEC's "The Granary," sealed off as a small DM map.
BoDiEs CKMD
(shot)
by Jalepeno: Conversion of a smallish DM map from
the game "Blood" (and Blood 2). Texturing isn't very attractive,
and the scale feels a little too big for the OL characters,
but as long as you don't mind running a lot the flow works
pretty well.
Click! CKMDT
(shot)
by Jalepeno: Another Blood map conversion, the scale
feels a little more comfortable here, with lots of twists
and turns in little tunnels and big rooms. Texturing is
somewhat monotonous, which actually makes it feel more mazish.
Explosive barrels from Molycoat.
CornerSide CKMD
(shot)
by The Blinker: Neat, very small roundish rocky canyon,
with very well-designed ledges and jumps. I also like the
strong shadows cast by the rocky outcroppings.
Crypt CKMD
(shot)
by Jalepeno: Big cavernous map, the readme says it's
intended for CTF, with an unpredictable asymmetric layout.
Flat and again very mazelike, with the same texture throughout.
Has more of those explosive barrels.
Midway CKMD
(shot)
by The Blinker: Another asymmetric CTF map, this
one relatively small and narrow, with creative bunkerlike
base areas. The wooden support beams in the rocky tunnel
are a nice touch.
War Ground 2 CKMD
(shot)
by The Blinker: Asymmetric CTF map lovers rejoice!
Another one here, this time a larger grassy affair with
a large building in the middle. The architecture here is a
bit blockier than The Blinker's other maps I've seen today,
but that doesn't keep this from being a solid map.
Pale Books
Her pale face, her slender neck, her slender arms, her
weakness, her idleness, her books - everything about her
was so touchingly beautiful.
Anton Checkov,
The House with an Attic
translated by David Magarshack
* * *
Sunday 10/24/04
One From GravEs
Classic CKMD
(shot)
by GravEs: Pretty good-sized town arranged
along a long, wide street. Interiors are a little plain
but the framerates are good. Not very many ways to get up
onto the rooftops as far as I could tell, and passages
between many buildings are just small enough that you can't
fit through--all of which seems to limit the flow of movement
a bit.
* * *
Sunday 10/17/04
The Moly Mapfest
Crow was kind enough to alert me to the fact that
my so-called spam filters had been blocking Molycoat from
sending me new maps. Yikes! I suspect it's because his
emails have a green background. ;) Anyway, thanks to Crow
and Moly for keepin' me honest,
and I've also switched to a real anti-spam
program (the freeware Spamihilator,
check it out it's wonderful but be sure to get the patch
which you'll find
here) so this
kind of fiasco shouldn't happen again. Without
further ado, on with the magical Molycoat show!
Reel West TKD
(shot)
by Molycoat: Little one-road town that's entirely
sepia-toned, so you feel like you're living in one'a them
old-time movin' pitchurs. Great idea, and the little town layout
is very well done too with lots of angle of fire and fast
framerates and, of course, Moly's inimitable custom graphic
touches, including most spectacularly here the painted-on
horizon, giving the small level space the illusion of
stretching way far off into the distance.
Big Stick TKMD
(shot)
by Molycoat: Colorized and mod-weaponed version of
"Reel West," with lots of ammo and super-deadly pistols, rifles
and TNT.
Carnival TKMD
(shot)
by Runaway_Jim and Molycoat: Moly took a layout
by Runaway_Jim and converted it into a crazy Outlaws
carnival, complete with shooting games, a Mary dunk tank,
a refreshment stand, a merry-go-round, a "test your strength"
thing where the weight zips up to hit a bell, and a crazy
Fun House with magical mirrors and a maze of psychedelic
zip-tunnels. This is Molycoat at some of his most roguish.
All the stuff outdoors lowers the framerate a bit.
Robots2 TMD
(shot)
by Molycoat: Complete mod map with a sci-fi theme,
everyone gets to live life as a laser-rifle-wielding battle
robot! Not only that, you get to cavort up and down the faces
of two live volcanoes! Fortunately the lava doesn't hurt
your metallic feet. You are a mighty killing machine! Medium
framerates, but those volcanoes are so neat.
Sam Hill CTKMD
(shot)
by Molycoat: Gorgeous little desert-country church
and cemetery. I love the twittering birds, the autumn leaves,
the tall fence you can stand on, and the nice stained-glass
windows that you can shoot out in such intricate detail. Very
high framerates too in this small area. I hope those old boys
at Lucasarts have seen the stuff that Moly has been doing
with their engine.
A Delightful Pale Dream
At the white stone gates, which led from the courtyard
into the fields, at those ancient, sturdy gates adorned
with lions, stood two girls. The older of the two, slender,
pale, very pretty, with a great shock of chestnut hair and
a small, obstinate mouth, had a very severe expression and
scarcely took any notice of me; the other, a very young
girl — she could not have been more than seventeen or
eighteen — also pale and slender, with a large mouth and big
eyes, looked at me with surprise as I passed by, said something
in English, and was overcome with embarrassment; and it seemed
to me that I had known those two charming faces, too, a long,
long time. I returned home feeling as though I had had a
delightful dream.
Anton Checkov,
The House with an Attic
translated by David Magarshack
* * *
Sunday 10/3/04
GravEs and Co. Make Maps
GravEs sent me links from
The Outlaw Dad's site
for three new maps developed by himself and people he knows.
Forts2 CTKMD
(shot)
by SlilVlShady: Fairly standard across-the-river
CTF layout, with wellwater forming a secondary connection
between the sides. Simplistic buildings but the framerates
are high.
GnAsManr CKMD
(shot)
by Spiffyangel_3: Very large funny-shaped building
with halls and large rooms every which way. Architecture is
very much on the big-and-plain side except for a secret door
or two, and the expansive and empty
exterior feels like an afterthought.
GravEs TKMD
(shot)
by GravEs: Tiny box with ammo and letters spelling
the author's name. Self-indulgent tripe any way you slice it,
but I suppose you could dodge around the letters a bit.
'Good, Bad and Ugly' Flash Game
Huju sent me a link to a
Flash game
celebrating the release of "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly"
on DVD (extended version, I think), or something like that. TgtBatU of course is
the last of Sergio Leone's famous trio of sphaghetti
Westerns, a major source of the inspiration for Outlaws.
The game doesn't seem to want to work in my creaky version
of Opera but it probably works if you have a nice shiny new
browser.
Archived Screens
TheCrow has renovated his
Screen Shot
Archive some, browsing is much easier now with the hyperlinks
on the main page. Also features some smack-talkin' by
his Crowness.
Funny Pawe Peopwe
He was of about medium height, rather lean, bald, with the
face of a good-natured shopkeeper, not interesting but
impressive, pale, with a stiff, carefully tended
moustache, the skin on his neck covered with goose
pimples, and a big Adam's apple. He wore a pince-nez
on a wide black ribbon and could not pronounce either
r or l, so that, for instance, the
word 'really' sounded 'weawy'. He was always cheerful
and he thought everything funny.
Anton Checkov,
Ariadne
translated by David Magarshack
* * *
Sunday 9/5/04
Levels and Things
Whitewater CTKMD
(shot)
by Dog_Holliday and Molycoat: A CTF-style
valley-split-by-river thing, although you'll notice that
the river water is milky white color. Nice natural feel to
the layout of the tunnels, bridge, and ledges, and attractive
texturing. [I sorta swiped this one from theoutlawdad.com
after my mail filters or something ate the copy Moly appears
to have tried sending my way. My mail filters are nasty
these days.]
Fockers CKMD
(shot)
by TheCrow: Two-level very long desert canyon,
with sort of a two-bases-at-end CTF style (why CTF styles
have a lot of hyphens, I'm not sure, but they do). The
rocky bridges, sniping windows and ledges of the upper
level could use a little more height variation to seem
natural and provide interest, but the lower part is
pretty nice, with neat views of all the bridges as you
look along the canyon (and watch out for snipers, of course).
barn1 CKMD
(shot)
by outlaw_ky: A big blue-roofed barn dominates
this medium-sized desert canyon, although the very
long winding ledge above it might contest that claim.
Some nasty sniping points if you can hold them. The
interiors feel a little rough and the exteriors a little
plain, but the map as a whole has a nice contained
character in which the odd bits sorta balance each other
out. Not ML and I think it may have modified weapons or
somefing. [Thanks to TheCrow for sending me this one.]
Sitings
|
XoL CowboyClown
Some maps, posse lists, and links in a readable,
consistent layout.
|
|
|
Crows Post Screen Shot Site Archive
An unusual concept, a site purely of screenshots of
OL and related games that are amusing to Crow and
his buddies for various reasons. Sorta hard to browse
because for some reason the site abstains from those
gauche old "hyperlinks" and makes you resort to the
good ol' "cut'n'paste" style of web browsing.
|
TheCrow (being a particularly
busy fellow in my inbox these past few weeks) noticed
this
very old Outlaws preview that is sort of stuck in an internet
time-warp. Some interesting comments from various members of the
Outlaws design team in there.
WildBill has got hisself his own domain, you can now
access his "Outlaws Bar" site right at
www.olmaps.com. And
he does have a lot of maps.
Take Your Vitamin C
He was always pale and thin and subject to colds;
he ate little and slept badly.
Anton Checkov,
Ward 6
translated by David Magarshack
* * *
Sunday 8/22/04
Hats Off, Gentlemen
The widely feared and famed
DirtyDon, leader of the JOE posse of old, passed
away last Sunday, the 15th. I hadn't run across Don all
that frequently in recent years but when I did, he was
the same old irascible son-of-a-gun that he was when I
was a wet-behind-the-ears rookie on Kali and he was
already, somehow, a seasoned veteran, and an inspiring
leader for a lot of folks playing OL at the
time.
Thank you
Doominator for sending me the unfortunate news of
his passing. Doomy also pointed out Don's
obituary and guestbook, which is right over
here.
A Few Links
WildBill has moved
his longstanding site
WildBill's Outlaws
Bar to the new location linked right there. Broken
links and such have been fixed, and that Britney thing seems
to be long-gone. :)
TheCrow's news often comes in flurries, and indeed
he has another URL for me to advertise. It directs to
a page that looks just like
the last one he gave me, but it's a shorter URL.
In the Pale Moonlight
I opened the window and thought I was dreaming: under
the window, clinging close to the wall, stood a woman in a
black dress, brightly lit by the moon, looking at me with
wide-open eyes. Her face was pale, austere, and looked
unreal in the moonlight, like marble.
'It's
me,' she said. 'Me — Katya.'
In
moonlight all women's eyes look big and black, everyone
looks taller and paler, and that was probably why I did not
recognize her at first.
Anton Checkov,
A Boring Story
translated by David Magarshack
* * *
Sunday 8/8/04
BaD Tourney Stuff
Maximo is working on
turning the BaD posse tourneys into somewhat regular weeklyish
events. You can check out the
2 on
2 Teams results, the 2
on 2 CTF results as well as the
Standings
and Brackets from the recent tournament.
XoL Site
|
|
XoL's HomePage
Pretty thorough posse site by CowboyClown with
info on the Xtreme Outlaws clan, map, file, and site links,
as well as a message board. Style varies somewhat from page
to page but they're fast and share consistent navigation.
|
Don't Mention It
TheCrow is always up to something, and his latest
endeavor appears to be the rebirth of the
"Silent But Deadly" (SBD) gang, which you can see shaping
up right
here. I'm
supposed to "advertize" but not "talk about" the site yet,
so there you are.
Turnin' Pale
I expect my face must have looked terribly distorted,
and my voice must have sounded very strange, for my wife
turned pale and also uttered a kind of frenzied desperate
scream.
Anton Checkov,
A Boring Story
translated by David Magarshack
* * *
Sunday 7/25/04
Tequila!
Tequila CTKMD
(shot)
by Cutter and Molycoat: Swell-looking adobe ranch
begun by Cutter and finished by Molycoat. Lots of cool
rooms and stairways to run around in with plenty of custom
touches such as bead curtains in doorways, shatterable pots,
nice carpets and wall hangings, etc. I also like the elevated
edges on the rooftops. Framerate is on the medium to low side,
of course everyone else probably has systems about ten times
faster than mine now so that isn't really a problem. The readme
says it doesn't do DirectDraw, so if your system is even
weaker than mine you might want to think twice.
I'm Just the Messenger
B.T. Justice mentioned in regards to issues with
Windows Messenger and Windows XP (see three or so updates
back), that
"If you have Windows Messenger disabled and completely don't use
it, be sure to go to C:\Program Files and delete the Messenger
folder then reboot. A one-time only message will come up about
failing to load a .DLL file for Messenger. This is completely
normal. Also its a good idea to have the latest official service pack
installed which is Service Pack 1a and have the latest updates from
Windows Update."
He also wanted to mention
that for those folks who want to use a browser other than Internet
Explorer, he has his custom version of FireFox available
here.
One Outlaws to Rule Them All
Yackin has quite the project on the burner. I'll
just let him talk:
I am planning out the begining stages of recreating Outlaws. I don't know if I'll be able to
pull it off (probably not but I can try). I myself have experience in 3D programming however
its a lot of work to do it alone so..
I am looking for developers whom are experienced with GLUT/OpenGL on the platforms of
Windows and/or Linux with knowledge of the MinGW compiler and/or one of the following
developement IDEs: MinGW Developer Studio, Bloodshed Developer C++
My ultimate goal is to clone Outlaws and create a playable game for both Linux and
Windows with support for a dedicated server. (24/7 multiplayer games like Half-Life. WooHoo!)
Its not immediately important but experience with Windows/Unix Sockets is a plus.
And one more thing that MUST be made clear. It is a requirement that developers
wishing to help out know C++.
Whoever is intrested can contact me via email yackin89 [at] yahoo [dot] com or
contact me via MSN "RazorSharp89", AIM "JimmyGuy89", ICQ "123680863", or
Yahoo! "Yackin89".
Belated News: BaD Tourney
Well I'm mad at myself because during the past month or so
of not squeezing in enough time for an update I missed posting
an announcement
of the 2on2 TMS blind tourney hosted by Maximo
and the BaD
posse on Sunday the 18th at 7pm EST. Dang! I hope it went
good.
Big Bear Teeth
|
|
XoL BearTracker
Stylistically challenged but personable little site
with some utilities for download, ramblings from
BearTracker, some amusing chat logs and a few links.
Has music.
|
Pale Watchin'
Ilyin poked his stick angrily into the sand. Mrs
Lubyantsev listened to him without understanding much
of what he was saying, but she liked his conversation.
To begin with, she was pleased that a gifted young man
should speak about 'intellectual' things to an ordinary
woman like her; then it gave her great pleasure to watch
how this pale, animated, and still angry young face was
working.
Anton Checkov,
Misfortune
translated by David Magarshack
* * *
Sunday 6/27/04
Turnips!
Shrek CTKMD
(shot)
by GravEs: Small level supposedly based on the
Shrek movies. I haven't seen any of those, but the green
building is sorta cute, and I like the big turnips. There
are medieval-style weapon pickup icons and I think the character
art may be modified too, although I haven't gone in with
multiple characters to take a peek.
Pale, Caesar
Woo, that might be one of my best titles yet. Anyway, this
week is special on the quote front since we have a guest
contributor, His GoJoness. Here's the quote he
sent:
It is not these well-fed long-haired men that I fear,
but the pale and the hungry-looking.
Plutarch,
Life of Caesar
And according to the
internet,
there's another right before that one:
What, think ye, doth Cassius want? I like him not over much,
for he is much too pale.
Plutarch,
Life of Caesar
* * *
Sunday 6/20/04
Modding the Mod That Mods Us
The Outlaws Mod for Half-Life mod for Outlaws DMKCT
(shot)
by Truffle: Little circular canyon with Sanctuary-esque
buildings. The characters, I'm told, are taken from TonToE's
OL Mod 4 Half-Kife—that is, they're rendered sprites of 3D
characters that were based on OL's 2D sprites. Make sense?
Sure it do. Some character pictures are
here
on Truffle's site.
Gunslinger Rides Again
Truffle has also released
Gunslinger
2.0, the update to his all-in-one Outlaws utility. This one
has map tokenizing built in, and a nicer UI, and probably other
stuff (Truffle says the documentation may come later). Check
Truffle's olhideout.net
for more.
Pale Contortions
I looked at Savka's face. It was pale and contorted
with distaste and pity, as happens with people who watch
animals being tortured.
Anton Checkov,
Agafya
translated by David Magarshack
* * *
Sunday 6/13/04
Maps Maps Maps
OLMuseum CTKMD
(shot)
by Dog_Holliday: A regular modern multi-media
wax museum of your favorite Outlaws characters and
settings, how delightful! Touches like the animating
wheels in the train diorama and the lighting effects
around the besieged town house make for memorable
scenes, and each is accompanied by some kind of
appropriate music and/or sound effects. Particularly
ingenious is the way in which each boxed scene connects
to the others through a series of galleries. Can
you guess which are the wax figures and which is a
yellow-bellied lagger waiting to shoot you?
Forts CKMD
(shot)
by GravEs: The readme's description itemizes
the level's attributes as "2 Forts with a river in the
middle and 2 spots to snipe from," and that's about
as accurate a description as you can hope for. Sorta
low on detail, but good on framerate, and although
the two-mirrored-little-bases-across-river CTF-style
has been done time and again, it's also been done
worse plenty of times.
South Park CDMT
(shot)
by Truffle: Lots of appropriately crude
sound clips highlight this cartoon-themed level,
although come to think about it the terrain here,
an icy pool and sort of rocky stairway with
crosslinked tunnel, doesn't
have anything in particular to do with South
Park. Well, maybe the snow. Anyway, the show's
cast have been sprinkled around the place for
your amusement, particularly clever is the Jesus
walking on water. Custom taunts appear to have
been included.
Horses5 CTKMD
(shot)
by Molycoat: Moly adds his clip-cloppery horse-riding
effects to another map, this time his own "Crevasse"
gets the equine treatment and a somewhat overhauled
look (and your hands don't show on the screen).
Crevasse wasn't his favorite map of mine (too mazey
for my mouse-brain) but now you can gallop around it
at high speed, which makes it better. I swiped this
map from
Gravey
Land (see below).
Messenger eXPress?
Bruce Kuenzli has noticed that Outlaws
sometimes runs slow and stuttery on his XP
system, with doors for instance opening very
slowly (doors certainly open slowly in my WinNT
install). This ticked him off, so he did some
investigating, and concludes that this slowdown
thing only happened if he had Windows Messenger
disabled. Leave it running and *poof*, no
slowdown or stuttering. Says
Bruce:The
bottom line is to simply open or start
Windows Messenger before playing Outlaws.
You do not have to log on to Windows Messenger.
The program just has to be running while you play.
I have tried it on three different computers running
Windows XP with the same results. So there is some
unknown (to me) relationship (and possibly a
dependency) between Outlaws and Windows
Messenger.
So if OL has been runnin' slow for ya in XP, give
that a shot before ya take it out on yer horse.
The Land of Maps and GravEy
GravEs has revamped his latest site as
Gravey
Land with an eye toward making it a top-notch
map-posting site. Says the GravEster:
"Attention All Lawmakers GravEs is now hosting a site
with maps he would apreciate it if you guys sent him
your newest maps at 'GravEyLands' [at] 'msn' [dot] com"
(that's my own anti-spam attempt there, I can't stand the thought
of people attracting spam because of my little site). So there
you go, send GravEs some maps to post. I've already snagged one
new map off him (Horses5) so his site is tops in my
book.
Made Pale Peas
Tell Bullingbrook—for yon methinks he stands—
That every stride he makes upon my land
Is dangerous treason. He is come to open
The purple testament of bleeding war;
But ere the crown he looks for live in peace,
Ten thousand bloody crowns of mother's sons
Shall ill become the flower of England's face,
Change the complexion of her maid-pale peace
To scarlet indignation, and bedew
Her pasters' grass with faithful English blood.
William Shakespeare,
The Tragedy of King Richard the Second
* * *
Sunday 5/30/04
A Two Horse Race
Iron Horse Station CMDK
(shot)
by Captain Picky: Very clean multi-level
train station, has a lot more interior open space
than you find in most maps. I like how you can jump
in the caboose. Most of the detail is actually outside
the playable area, blocked off by invisible walls—a
convention I'm none to fond of, although in this case
you learn pretty quickly that you're confined to the
station grounds.
Beer for my Horses CTKMD
(shot)
by Outlaw, Hooter, Molycoat, Dog_Holliday: A
smallish town map packed with a lot of personality.
Just look at the detail in the tablecloths and dinnerware
of the Timbuctoo Hotel's dining room, for instance,
and it also makes for a nice open fighting area. A
couple other single-story buildings and a water tower
round out the place—and of course the horses and their,
er, golden troughs.
NAT Without Peer
Martin Jackson found an
informative
article on Microsoft's info network thingy about
playing peer-to-peer games, such as Outlaws, behind
a NAT (see my babbling about NATs and firewalls in
last week's update). Unfortunately, the outlook isn't
exactly rosy. For instance:If your game is not able to follow
these rules, for example if it is a peer-to-peer game,
then that game will have problems with most NATs. There
is simply no way to implement a true peer-to-peer
networking session where arbitrary users are behind
arbitrary NATs.
Well how do you like that. The article mentions that
you might be able to get something going by using
Windows Me's "Internet Connection Sharing" as your NAT,
I'm not sure how many people would be willing/able to
go to that length, though.
Big Pale Blot
But now the blood of twenty thousand men
Did triumph in my face, and they are fled;
And till so much blood thither come again,
Have I not reason to look pale and dead?
All souls that will be safe, fly from my side;
For time hath set a blot upon my pride.
William Shakespeare,
The Tragedy of King Richard the Second
* * *
Sunday 5/23/04
Nuts 2 You
Nuthouse 2 single-player
(shot)
by Molycoat: Moly gets barmey with the custom
fx in another bizarre single-player adventure. Multiple
levels of nonsensical madness will assail you with
miniature cars that honk at you and spit out a fightin'
mad miniature Sanchez when you blow them up, bullet-shootin'
sharks, cussin' outhouses, strafing helicopters,
gunfightin' ghosts (they pop out of the body after you
kill a badguy, brilliant idea), little flying devil women,
and many other mindblowing effects. Moly really has
all four sheets to the wind this time and although I
got frustrated a few times by nasty deaths, the thing
was so amazing I kept going back for more.
NATs: Bane of Outlaws?
Clint P. recently mailed me about some trouble
he's having getting Outlaws multiplayer working through
his new internet connection which, like many home and
business connections these days, is behind a firewall.
In cases like this you often have to program your
local NAT ("Network Access Table" if I recall correctly)
to allow the game's traffic through the firewall, but
Clint has done that for the port we know Outlaws uses,
5310 (both TCP and UDP), and still can't connect to
games outside the firewall.
I had this problem back when I had DSL and, due to
my extreme ignorance in the intricacies of firewalls and
NAT routing, gave up on
it—fortunately cable came along to my neighborhood back
then and I just switched over to that. But with firewalls
and NATs becoming pretty much de rigeur these days, this
problem is not gonna go away.
Now a while back, Who sent me a solution to his
particular NAT problem, although it allowed just one machine
behind the firewall to play (see the update titled
"Who's Got LAN" back in
this old news page).
Still, it'd be nice to have get around that one-machine limit,
and also different firewall configurations may require
different solutions. So if you have been able to get Outlaws
working through your firewall, using a method different
than Who's, gimme the details of your
success story and I'll post them here, where they will
hopefully be some help to others stuck in similar
firewall situations.
Truffle Gets Fancy
Truffle has taken his
Outlaws Hideout
site upscale with a snazzy automatic script thingy
that lets him accept uploads, news posts and other
stuff from people who want to contribute, and he's
broadened his coverage to include various other
Western games out there.
Bloody Lookin' Pale
The bay-trees in our country are all wither'd,
And meteors fright the fixed stars of heaven,
The pale-fac'd moon looks bloody on the earth,
And lean-look'd prophets whisper fearful change,
Rich men look sad, and ruffians dance and leap,
The one in fear to lose what they enjoy,
The other to enjoy by rage and war.
These signs forerun the death or fall of kings.
William Shakespeare,
The Tragedy of King Richard the Second
* * *
Sunday 5/16/04
Maps of Might
Holes TKMD
(shot)
by GravEs: GravEs says this is supposed to be
like some movie named "Holes," that I've never seen,
so I'll have to guess by looking at this map that the
movie involves a small sandy box canyon little holes
dug out of the ground, and shovels that give you
ammunition. I guess the idea is that you hide in a hole
and shoot stuff, and if you're in to that then is this
ever the map for you. Framerate is high, and the holes
look nice and holey.
BellTowers CMD
(shot)
by GravEs: A CTF mirror-like map involving two
big square wooden towers in funky canyons, connected
both by a long tunnel at one end and by a perilous
levitating plank bridge running in to a camouflaged
tunnel high up in the wall between the two towers. I
can't get across that bridge to save my life, but in
theory someone who was good at jumping could use it to
get between the bases likity-split. Not really long on
looks or variety, but again the framerate is very
high.
Eagle Eye CTKMD
(shot)
by Molycoat: Moly calls this something of a
"concept" map, and indeed while it features some
impressively lifelike birds flying across the sky,
in what looks to be a method similar to what Moly used to
animate the deer in his "Deerhunt" map, it's also a
little too obvious that the "sky" is actually walls
and pillars in the middle of the map. I like the funky
round structures with their big round windows. Watch
out for exploding powder-kegs.
Truffle Gives Out Shootout
Truffle has put up a demo of his
standalone side-scrolling, Outlaws-inspired game
"Dr Death's Shootout," you can snag it over at his
domain olhideout.net.
It's playable, but not quite done, and he's holding
a contest of sorts to find someone who wants to continue
developing it, so also check that out (in the readme)
if you're interested.
Update Me No Update
Well I've been busier than a spit-bug in spring for
the past month or so which, as you will notice, nicely
corresponds with a certain gap in the frequency of my
updates of late. But I actually got two days off this
weekend, so it's party time! Ahem.
At some point in there I got to play the PS2 version
of the new Western third-person shooter
"Red Dead Revolver" a bit, and it really surprised me
by being thoroughly good. I mean really really good.
It's got a great gritty dusty atmosphere to it that
hasn't been done before, nice fast gameplay to go along
with it (and then again the slow-mo dueling mode is
neato too), and a soundtrack of actual spaghetti western
tunes by actual Italian-sounding composers, including
two Morricone tracks. And a split-screen multiplayer
mode for up to four people/bots, which is surprisingly
fun. Oh and the voice acting is great.
I snagged a few dark and blurry screenshots:
my
first duel, a
multi-player map, sniping
mode and multi-player
character selection (you'll notice that I still have
to unlock a lot of the characters). Anyway I recommend
that you give it a try if you've got a PS2 or Xbox--even
though without internet play it doesn't have the legs of
Outlaws, I think OL fans will enjoy it for a quick shot
of the Old West from a slightly different angle.
Tut, tut!
Grace me no grace, and uncle me no uncle.
I am no traitor's uncle, and that word "grace"
In an ungracious mouth is but profane.
Why have those banish'd and forbidden legs
Dar'd once to touch a dust of England's ground?
But then more "why?"—why have they dar'd to march
So many miles upon her peaceful bosom,
Frighting her pale-fac'd villages with war
And ostentation of despised arms?
William Shakespeare,
The Tragedy of King Richard the Second
* * *
Sunday 4/10/04
Lest Ye Be GoJo
Judge Not... CKMD
(shot)
by GoJo: One hesitates, perhaps, to try
rendering even a preliminary verdict on a map with
a name like this one. But onward! Before absconding
for the golfing season GoJo leaves us with a mighty
map--not just one map, really, but three: you see
a different version of it depending on what game
type you select, similar to the method used by GravEs
in his recent "Tree House," though it's worth pointing
out that "Judge Not..." was in production well before
"Tree House" was released. So, three different maps,
generally featuring a feuding town theme, red town
vs blue town, depicted in unmistakably color-coded
custom textures. The buildings feature GoJo's trademark
attention to realism and detail, including multiple
stories and many custom props--in fact there's so
much going in indoors that I get feeling a bit
claustrophic. He's also tucked away
convenient little sniping points in some of the upstairs
rooms for those snipey rascals among you. The CTF version
has an impressive rocky hillside to creep over or through.
On top of all this, the map features the latest revision
of GoJo's "HR" system of cheat prevention--this version
in particular is quite smooth, as you pop in to the map
through invisible chutes, automatically being armed with
your cheat-free weapons so quickly that if you blink
you won't even notice that anything unusual has occurred,
only perhaps that your opponents cheat less. ;)
Framerate, of course, is quite good throughout the
map(s). It's a thoroughly impressive production and yet
another feather in GoJo's very large sombrero.
Hola Amigos!
Truffle has taken to doing "comic strip style
cartoons" over at his outlawshideout.net, in fact
he's even made a custom URL for 'em,
amigos.olhideout.net.
Now, as I write this, that server isn't responding, but
I caught a brief glance at them earlier in the week so I
know they at least exist, and you'll probably be able to
get through by the time you read this.
Red Dead URL
Doc wrote to say that the upcoming Western
console game "Red Dead Revolver" has its own official
site at
www.rockstargames.com/reddeadrevolver.
The 27th is coming up fast!
Pale Breasts
That which in mean men we entitle patience
Is pale cold cowardice in noble breasts.
William Shakespeare,
The Tragedy of King Richard the Second
* * *
Sunday 3/21/04
Outlaws In Trees
Tree House CTKMD
(shot)
by GravEs: Map with two versions: a big
reflected one for CTF and smaller one for everything
else; you can see both on the map if you zoom out but
you start in one or the other depending on what game
type you selected. The titular trees are roomy and
cylindrical and framerate is pretty good. Non-solid
walls provide access in to the side tunnels from the
river.
Red Dead Download
Mr. Ferstat sent me
this
link to a page on FilePlanet where you can download
a massive 80 MB gameplay video of the upcoming
Western game "Red Dead Revolver." You need to register
with GameSpy to get access, I think, so I haven't actually
watched the thing.
Pickin' On Pale
Pale trembling coward, there I throw my gage,
Disclaiming here the kinred of the King,
And lay aside my high blood's royalty,
Which fear, not reverence, makes thee to except.
If guilty dread have left thee so much strength
As to take up mine honor's pawn, then stoop.
By that, and all the rites of knighthood else,
Will I make good against thee, arm to arm,
What I have spoke, or thou canst worse devise.
William Shakespeare,
The Tragedy of King Richard the Second
* * *
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