Quake2.com logo by Walter |2| Costinak


Tuesday, November 3, 1998 - Submit News!
Carmack Plan Update
John Carmack updated his plan file today. It's extremely lengthy so I won't post the whole thing here, but there are a few interesting Quake3Arena points, including the decision to use interpreted ANSI C as the Q3A mod-language.

New RAMBOT Released
Version 0.48 of the RAMBOT has been released. Speed has been increased for less lag and smoother playing, along with several other new features.

Official DoD Press Release
press release concerning their upcoming Dawn of Darkness commercial TC release. The official Dawn of Darkness site can be found here along with screenshots and more info.

3DPalette Public Gallery
The 3DPalette has invited everyone to send in their art for display in their public gallery. Their only rule is that it must be digital and it must be game related. If you've got a piece that meets those requirements, be sure to submit it; you never know who might be looking to hire an artist ;)

Giblets.net Poll
Giblets.net has opened a voting poll regarding Quake2 and Sin. Take a look and be sure to cast your vote too!

Hosted Sites Update
QND Software The Makers Of Q2ND - Quake2 Name Designer, is almost Finished with Q2NDv1.8 which will be an Enhanced Version of Q2NDv1.6. Also for the people that like to keep really up-to date, QND Software will be releasing Q2NDv2.0 By Christmas, v2.0 Will be more so of a ToolKit/Studio but will work easier, faster, and it will just look better too.

Help Wanted
Capture the King is looking for people to help them out in almost every category. Please provide a piece of your work when you're applying for their position.

New Sites/Movements/Makeovers
The Locator has its first survey up, as well as a feature on the Weapons Factory as Mod of the Month. Also check out this movie site for a work in progress that will be available in smaller-download-sized "scenes" soon.

Site Stuff...
Thanks to all who applied for the UK/AU news updater position! We had contacted a candidate earlier but they failed to reply to our email, so we welcome the runner-up, Alpha Connect, to our news team!

NetGuy

Monday, November 2, 1998 - Submit News!
Battlefield Real Time Voice Communications
ShadowFactor Software has announced the release of their new Battlefield Communicator Real-Time Voice package. This is one of several attempts at making real-time voice communication during games like Quake2, StarCraft, and others possible. Here's the first paragraph of their press release:
WATERLOO, ON, November 1, 1998 -- ShadowFactor Software Inc. announced today the first release of Battlefield Communicator and the first public beta of Battlefield Communicator Dedicated Server. Battlefield Communicator is a real-time voice communication package designed and optimized for use with multiplayer games. Designed to work with existing and future multiplayer games such as Quake 2, Rainbow Six, StarCraft, flight simulators and many other games, it brings multiplayer gaming to the next level!
New id Demo Analyzer
Version 0.99 of the id Demo Analyzer program is out. The idDA creates states from Quake1/QuakeWorld and Quake2 demos. New features include the ability to bind demo extensions to idDA so they can be analyzed with a simple right-click, more stats (fav. weapon, worst enemy, easiest prey, etc), and more!

New Loki's Missions Screenshots
After working the entire summer on this project, the Loki's Missions team (same people as Loki's Minions) have finally released several screenshots showing off their efforts. One weapon that they've already confirmed is the Doom Plasma Rifle! They also promise it'll be small enough for most people to download within reasonable time, so be sure to check back often for new developments.

Christian Antkow Interview
Pels Interactive has posted an interview that they did with id Software's Christian Antkow. Check it out...

Railbalooza Info
Railbalooza is a new project by Infiniter which is putting together a pak file of multiplayer railgun-only maps. The maps are designed as one large room with different scenarios, like "Stonehenge," etc. You can grab the newly released pak here!.

Hosted Sites Update
ServerConfigMOD v2.5 now offers ZBot detection, notification, logging and automatic booting along with a host of other new features. Some of the new features include server throttling, dynamic name banning, player connect/disconnect logging, cloaking options, and more. Keep an eye out for the Linux version coming soon!

New Sites/Movements/Makeovers
NetGuy

Sunday, November 1, 1998 - Submit News!
Expert for Quake2 v3.0 has been released

-Major new features:
-Vwep
-Observers w/chasecam
-Ammo regeneration option
-New pogo
-Carrier kill bonus proportional to time carrier has survived for
-New alternate restore system
-New powerups with new effects
-Enhanced obituary system
-Gibstats support including Capture the Flag scoring
-Floodprot
-ZBot detection
-Entity map loading for playing on single player and DM levels
-Level scripting enhancements
-Individual weapon removal
-Game pause feature for admins

Tweaks and enhancements:
-Health amounts tweaked to force carriers to use more skill
-Players were previously fullbright (drawn at full brightness) only in CTF. Now they are fullbright in DM and teamplay as well.
-When sky can be hooked, rockets explode on sky instead of vanishing
-Normal "say" messages in teamplay mode have "Team" prefix when a teammate is talking
-New laser railgun trail means less particles
-Hook particle trail changed to red so as to look obviously different from rockets

-Bugfixes:
-Flags can't fall into/through walls anymore
-Grenades dropped by players in infinite ammo mode can be picked up
-Player id in HUD works perfectly now; as of 2.0 it had been intermittent.
-Fixed bug where the hook would open doors that had trigger areas
-Fixed CTF spawning bug where not all spawn pads were used
-Fixed bug where a misc_insane in certain maps would eventually cause the server to run out of entities
-Suppressed harmless "no spawn function for .. " dedicated server console messages
-In teamplay, an unlimited number of skins and models can be specified per team. Previously limited to 54 characters worth of model and skin names.
-For the full story on any of the features about, look in documentation for players and the documentation for server admins.

Server Administrators can get the latest version from the download page at
http://www.planetquake.com/expert
Players can view the documentation for players at
http://www.planetquake.com/expert/user.txt

The Frag 2
Hanif sent word that he has coverage of "The Frag 2", up over at Frag.com.

Help Wanted
Merc248 needs help with modeling, skinning and map making for his mod MercTeam.

New Sites/Movements/Makeovers
routeworx has opened its doors for business.
" Providing a source of high quality routes for the Eraser Bot, a service to route any un-routed maps, and an offer to supply route files for distribution with maps..."

routeworx can be found at http://www.barrysworld.com/routeworx.

The Bullseye now has over 70 crosshairs available for use with Quake 2.

There is a new gaming league forming over at http://www.3d-unlimited.com/ra2bot/league/. It supports Rocket Arena 2, CTF and DM.

Clan Wars is forming over at www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Hangar/3133/index.html.

Blitz

Friday, October 30, 1998 - Submit News!
Roadtrip...
I'll be out of town for the entire weekend (off in the NetJet? ;), visiting some friends at Central Michigan University, so there probably won't be any updates until Monday or so (unless Blitz or Nigel make an update here or there). Feel free to send in your news, and I'll try to get it all up sometime Monday. Thanks!

Ultimate Paintball - Halloween Edition
Quake Innovations has released a special "Halloween Edition" of their Ultimate Paintball mod. This special edition includes a themed map, sounds, and also a Paintball PumpkinBot. The PumpkinBot works with the team that shot it last, and will help out by throwing paintballs at the enemy. Pretty cool ;) Screenshots and other info can be found at their site.

DemLog Released
A nifty little log-extracting program called DemoLog has been released. This utility extracts .log's out of Quake2 demos without having to start up Q2 to view the demos themselves. For more info and for the downloads, check that page (note: it's totally in spanish, give Babelfish a try).

Help Wanted
New Sites/Movements/Makeovers
The Croation QuakeArena Scene has changed hosts, be sure to update your bookmarks.

Count NetGula

Thursday, October 29, 1998 - Submit News!
Beta SGI EraserBot Released
Richard Hess over at SGIQuake has released a beta port that he's done of Ridah's Eraser Bot for the SGI. This release is very stable but still called a beta because of a problem with handling route files (.rt3) that have been previously generated on intel machines. This will be fixed in the next version.

Chaos Deathmatch v1.1
Version 1.1 of Chaos Deathmatch has been released. Also, keep your eyes peeled for a stand-alone version of the Havoc Bot (currently only available bundled with Chaos DM) that's coming soon! v1.11 fixes some minor bugs in v1.1 and comes with a new grappling hook.

BarrysWorld ZBot Detection/Plugin
BarrysWorld has released a transparent DLL that plugs right into any existing mod and provides ZBot detection. Features include: ZBot detection and kicking with option to log offenders IP, Rate capping (really helps to reduce lag on busy servers!), Player IP and NAME banning, Player server admin capababilites, and configurable weapon / item spawning. They have released versions for both Windows and Linux, so if you admin a server, be sure to check it out!

Win A Copy of Extremeties
Sluggo's Mod Central is giving away one copy of id's internet addon pack "Extremeties." Here's the lowdown:
Win a copy of "Quake II Internet Pack No. 1: Extremities" from Mod Central! Do you like mods? I mean, do you REALLLY like mods? Can you prove it? How about for a copy of id's new Quake II Internet Pack No. 1: Extremities? I thought so! I'm very happy to announce that courtesy of id Software, Mod Central will be giving away one free copy of id's upcoming Extremities mod compilation pack to the person who can prove themself more mod-happy than anyone else! "What do I have to do!", you say? The rules are simple: send in an email listing every Quake II mod you can find, along with the homepage for the mod. In two weeks, the entry with the most mods correctly listed will be announced as the winner! (Check the official contest page for full details.) Thanks again to id Software for being the coolest company on the planet - get those emails rolling!
Q2Gamma Released
Q2Gamma, the "Quake2 Image Enhancement Utility" has been released. If you're into the tweaking and image quality aspect you might be interested in this release, so be sure to check it out.

Impulse Map Making Competition
Final entries for the Impulse Map Making Competition are due in, as the competition closes in one week. The top 3 entries will be used in Quake2 Duel matches at Impulse 98. The winner will also receive a Diamond Monster Fusion 2D/3D combo 16MB Video Card and 32MB of SDRAM.

Help Wanted
New Sites/Movements/Makeovers
NetGuy

Tuesday, October 27, 1998 - Submit News!
A Fond Farewell - LadyICE
I'd just like to say goodbye to one of the best people that I've ever had a chance to work with - LadyICE. She's been an invaluable addition to staff, and she will be sorely missed by myself, and the rest of us here at Quake2.com. I want to wish her the best in whatever she goes on to do in the future. I'm sure she'll make us all proud to have worked with her (heck, we already are!). Everyone be sure to send Lady some mail and tell her what a great job she's done. See ya on the flipside, Lady.

Nigel

id Extremeties Follow-Up
Anna Kang sent along a more detailed press-notice about the upcoming Internet Expansion Pack for Quake2 from id:
Just wanted to drop a line that we're nearing the final packaging design for Extremities. Activision has been very supportive of our efforts and Focus2 has created some of the coolest designs for this compilation. Extremities will introduce many people to the works of some very talented authors. We hope this cooperative effort will be the first in a line of products that increases public awareness of the Quake online community. We've gotten great responses from the mod authors. Each of the chosen authors will be receiving royalties in addition to the well deserved credit for their great efforts. We are all looking forward to the release of Extremities.

The following is the list of contributors to Extremities:
---------
Player models and skins by: Rowan "Sumaleth" Crawford
Deathmatch Maps by: Sten 'Ztn' Uusvali and Daniel 'Trebz' Nolan


The mods:
- QWar2
- Kick
- Capture!
- PowerBall
- Rail Arena
- Red Rover
- Rocket Arena 2
- Action Quake 2
- Eraser Bot by Ridah
- Jailbreak by Team Reaction
- C.H.A.O.S. Deathmatch by Chaotic Dreams


* CTF will be included with the latest patch update of Quake II.
She also sent along the box art for the release, you can view it here.

Keys2 Final Version #2 Released
The *FINAL* version of Keys2 has been released. This version (1.93) was required to be compatible with Quake2 v3.20's new shell rendering stuffs. The Sparc Solaris version is available now, with the Solaris x86 version coming soon.

New Generations Released
The Generations Quake2 team has released version 0.93 of their way cool combo "id tribute" mod. This version includes more bug fixes, including the class menu bug, and also is packed with more maps!

New Battle of the Sexes Maps
Spinoza has released four new maps for his Battle of the Sexes mod. Three of them are by Kevorkian (eek) and one is by heXum.

Q2 Female 1 on 1 Forum
Aurora over at GameGirlz dropped us a note to inform us of a new Female Q2 forum they have up and running:
To provide some assistance to girlz who have entered the OGL for the first time under the Q2 Female 1 on 1 Ladder, GameGirlz has started a discussion group for this on the GG public forums. We invite anyone who is taking part in this ladder (or who is thinking about it) and organizers of the OGL to stop by, post Q&A, provide any information you can to girlz, and also use it as a possible venue for working out details of your matches.

To get to the GameGirlz forums go to: http://www.gamegirlz.com/forums/ The OGL topic is listed under: Topics: Everything Gaming: OGL - Q2 Female 1 on 1 Ladder
Help Wanted
New Sites/Movements/Makeovers
NetGuy

Monday, October 26, 1998 - Submit News!
Holy Wars Interview
Sluggo over at Mod Central has been busy...he has a new weekly feature called the Monday Morning Interview, and this week, he interviews Paolo "Nusco" Perrotta and Roberto "TaZ" Bettazzoni, the creators of Holy Wars. He gets the guys to touch on subjects like their recent 2.1 release, what they see in Holy War's future (including the possibilty of a HW3), their advice to other mod makers, and a few other subjects. I read it, and I say "don't miss this one!"

New 3D Game Search Engine
Looking for some sites dedicated to that new 3D game you read about? Or how about sites for your current favorite? You can find a new search engine to help you find what you're looking for on the new Stroggos 3D Game Archive.

Assimilation 2.0 Released
The newest version of Assimilation is out and has a ton of new features. If you are not familiar with Assimilation, it is a Borg-based team play mod where you assimilate an enemy by killing him any way necessary. Upon death, the player is assimilated to your team color and joins the battle for your team under your chain of command. Sound fun? You can find all the details, as well as the download on the Assimilation website. Resistance is futile. You knew I was gonna say that, didn't you? ;)

LadyICE

Sunday, October 25, 1998 - Submit News!
New DoD Screenshots
Ward Six Entertainment has released three new screenshots from their upcoming commercial total conversion, Dawn of Darkness. You can see the newest screenshots, as well as screenshots of the characters and objects in the DoD Gallery.

Q2FE Update
Q2FE 3.0 SR1 Final has been released to fix a minor bug with the master servers. Q2FE (Quake2 Front End) is a program which enables Quake2 server administrators to configure their server fast and easily without having to remember pages of Flag settings or commands. You can read the FAQ and get the download here at the Q2FE website.

HMS:RiGoRmOrTiS Wants Your Demos
HMS:RiGoRmOrTiS, a UK Quake2 site dedicated to Q2 demos and pics, is looking for your demo submissions. Stop by their site for info on submitting demos and pics.

WebDog Released
WebDog v0.50, which will take the place of the QBS2 tracker, has finally been released and is available for download from www.webdog.org. This version is required by ALL QBS2 users and is available in both upgrade and full installation formats. The QBS2 tracker will be switched off in a couple of weeks time and will no longer be updated with new sites, so if you wish to continue to receive update notifications, you will need this new version. The new Webdog tracker is now fully functional with both .plans and news pages, and has a whole array of new features and bug fixes compared to the last version of QBS2.

LadyICE

Saturday, October 24, 1998 - Submit News!
Chaos DM v1.1 Release
The newest version of Chaos DeathMatch has been released and includes some cool new features like: You can download Chaos DM here, but if you wish to skip the large download, and have the patience to wait...you will find Chaos DeathMatch v1.1 on the upcoming iDSoftware release of the Internet Pack "Extremities".

New GibStats II Ver 2.4 RTS Release
GibStats II Ver 2.4 RTS has been released and is available from the GibStats II website. This new release features RTS (Real Time Stats), which brings a new dimension to Quake2 stats. You can now display the scores of players of an ongoing match as a table or graph, and spectators and players can follow the course of a match at all times and have results instantly. For full details, visit the GibStats website.

UQSA Releases Zbot Detector
The United Quake Servers Administration team have signed up Shane "Killerbee" Powell, who has released his Zbot Detector v0.94 to the UQSA for redistribution. This server side mod, named UQSA Zbot Detector, can be used with EVERY mod out there including the standard Quake2 setup. It has the ability to notify everyone in the game that a specific user is using a Zbot, and can also kick them out within a predefined time limit set by the Server Admin. Also, the UQSA is making the Z-Bot Detector available to ALL, with no membership or fee required. Product support can be found in the Members Forum on the UQSA website, along with additional information on the UQSA Z-Bot Detector.

New PBall Reviews At Mod Central
There are two new Q2 Paintball mod reviews up at Mod Central : one for Quake Innovations 'Ultimate Paintball', and the other for Digital Paint's 'Paintball II'. Sluggo's Mod Central offers reviews of the best mods, so be sure to check his site out often :)

Mplayer League News
Mplayer's Quake League, the Mplayer Xtreme League, has been restructured and improved. They are currently offering Divisions in Quake: DeathMatch, Q-Ball, Team Fortress; Quake 2: Deathmatch, CTF; and a Rainbow 6 division within the next couple of weeks (which will be free). Mplayer has recently improved their server infrastructure to get rid of the problems they were having by increasing their servers by 2 fold, restructuring their network, and have plans to quadruple it's capacity in the next couple of months. You can find out more about the new changes and signup info at the MPlayer Xtreme League website.

Help Wanted
The Oddyssy Interactive Entertainment group is looking for 4 experienced C++ entity programmers to code weapons, enemies, level design entites, vehicles, objects, etc.; 2 character modelers who have 3D Studio Max 2.0 and Character Studio 2.0 experience; 4 experienced mappers to do the 20th Century based maps, and mappers with texture art experience. For more details on these positions....you can check out the OI Entertainment jobs page.

LadyICE

Friday, October 23, 1998 - Submit News!
New Diamond Drivers For Monster Fusion
Diamond has released new drivers for the Monster Fusion, along with a custom MiniGL driver for Quake/Quake 2. You can download these from Diamond Multimedia's Monster Fusion Drivers page found here.

New Left-Handed Config Script From Indy
Indy has finally completed his Left-Handed Configuration Script which is based on the IJKL movement system - the left handed equivalent of ESDF. It has a master.cfg in baseq2, called by all the mod autoexecs, which are DM, RA2, Lithium II, and Q2CTF. He has also provided a very detailed readme which covers everything about the script. I highly recommend that all you lefties out there give it a try...and all you righties will also find some very useful stuff in there as well. You can find this and more of Indy's custom configs at The Bind.

GameStats Now Offers A Gaming Career Search Page
Yay! Ever since PCGamer took down its JobBank page, I have been at a real loss...until today. GameStats sent word that they have put together the most comprehensive listing of gaming career job pages anywhere online, and after checking it out for myself, I have to say that I agree. If you are interested in a career in the gaming industry, or if you are a game developer looking for talent, then this is the place to look. There are several different options available for searching for that perfect position, with even a way to research the companies themselves. I like it, and I think you will too...so go check it out for yourselves :)

New Sites/Movements/Makeovers
LadyICE

Thursday, October 22, 1998 - Submit News!
Quake2 v3.20 *BETA* Released
Christian Antkow updated his .plan file to announce the release of a public beta-test of the new Q2 v3.20 patch. Here's a direct link to the files he mentions, but his plan also includes the readme file contents so check that out as well. Action Quake2 1.1 Beta 2
Version 1.1 beta 2 of Action Quake2 has been released. The AQ2 page states it as being mostly a bugfix with only "partial implimentation of what will be in the final 1.1 release." Versions for both Windows and Linux are currently available. Thanks Alpha Connect.

Keys2 Final Released
The final version (v1.91) of Keys2 has been released. The latest features include Eraser Bot Support and Zbot detection and correction.

Battling the ZBot...
There's a feature up at Dimension128 by Bill Farmer that talks about steps that can be taken to battle against people who use the Zbot while playing. This article includes specific info including the strengths and weaknesses of the Zbot, and provides tips for competing against them.

United Quake Servers Administration
The United Quake Servers Administration site has opened up, geared towards providing a "private" place for server admins to discuss different issues from the technical-side of things to the user-side of things. They also provide a forum to discuss abusive users and Zbot prevention.

FragII Rules Updated
Those of you involved in the FragII Quake2 tournament will want to take a look at the revised rules they've posted, including the edition of "Extended Rules" which is a very detailed set of rules for the tourney.

New Sites/Movements/Makeovers
NetGuy

Wednesday, October 21, 1998 - Submit News!
Fun Name Support for Quake2
Our very own QND Software has released an updated beta (beta 2) of Q2ND v1.6. This mod includes their new Funname Name Animation and Standard Name Animation code! The Funname animation uses special characters and thus only works on servers running the Funname standard, however their Standard name animation stuff uses the basic characters but works on all Quake2 servers! Drop by their site and be sure to grab a copy of their software.

New Generations Release
The Generations team has released version 0.92 of their ultimate id-tribute mod. Currently available in this preview version are the Quake2 and Quake sections, with the Doom2 and Wolfenstein3D sections being prepared for the final release. This update is mainly a bugfix, but keep watching for a Generations map-pack coming sometime this week!

QBS Webdog
Everyone's favorite insta-news-update utility QBS2 has undergone several significant changes, including a new name, now called "Webdog." Along with the name change they've also relocated to their own domain at Webdog.org. Because of the changes, current versions of QBS2 will cease to function sometime during the next week. In order to keep everyone up to date they have released a v0.50 Webdog interim-update to tide everone over until the official Webdog client is released. Version 0.50 is available in both QBS2 upgrade and full-install packages.

New Phaser Frag Released
Version 0.95 of Phaser Frag has been released. This release includes support for all the original CTF maps, new sounds, a simplified scoring system, a new lights-out/flashlight mode, and more. Check their site for the files and for the entire changelog.

New Lithium II and ZbotCheck
Version 1.23 of Lithium II and version 1.01 of ZbotCheck have both been released over on the Lithium site. Zbot detection has been improved and some bugs in the high-scores feature have been corrected.

Win John Carmack's Piston
John Carmack has been gracious enough to offer a specially-engraved piston from his Ferrari Testarossa as a prize for the Frag II CPL Quake2 tournament. Definitely a prize worth shooting for (ya, pun intended ;).

New Crush Depth
4th Dimension Interactive has released version 1.0F of their Crush Depth mod. This mod puts you behind the wheel of a submarine, and the update has a couple new features including better multiplayer support, additional player class goodies, and the obligatory bugfixes.

Renaissance Screenshots
Ward Six Entertainment has released some new screenshots of their proprietary 3D game engine called "Renaissance". This engine is still in early development, and no specs are available but they say it will be designed as a hardware-only engine, meaning there will most likely not be any software renderer. Keep checking that site for pictures of the engine after they've integrated it with their world interaction engine!

Pels Interactive Updates
Pels Interactive has updated several things on their site. Among the new additions is the feature site for their new game "Giants". They've got the storyline and some screenshots posted, so be sure to check that out.

New Sites/Movements/Makeovers
The Quake2 Bot Emporium has just opened and is preaching all things bot-related.

NetGuy

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