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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

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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

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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!
 

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.
 

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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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