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Jun 1st 2003 - 02:29:02pm
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Dick Dastardly . Plan Update
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Hi all,
Well, I thought it was time I let you all know what I've been up to since joining SID: Firstly, I've released a couple of early versions of my new map ut_nimrod to the QA team. As you may have read elsewhere, this map is (very loosely) based on the storming of the Iranian embassy in London by the SAS back in 1980, although the action takes place in a hotel rather than an embassy. This map contains a few suprises which I think you're going to like and I'm really pleased with the way it plays, but I still need to add quite a bit more detail and new textures.
The three screenshots below show some of the areas which are closest to being final, although there are still some temporary textures in them. The first shows one of the hotel bedrooms (which contains what I think I'm right in saying is Urban Terror's first trouser press); the second shows part of the library and includes some of the new sofa and chair models I've been working on; and the third was taken in the TV room, and again shows some more new furniture.
I've also been lucky enough to have a chance to update one of my favourite maps, ut_casa, for beta 3. (Although as |NV|S pointed out, given the map's popularity, people are likely to show up at my door with pitchforks and lanterns if I screw it up, so I've been spending a lot of time on it). The new version supports all gametypes (including the new bomb mode) and also features new routes and quite a few minor graphical tweaks. Thanks to the new func_walls entity, the layout changes depending on the gametype, enabling me to keep the map's great TS play whilst opening up some new areas for CTF.
In the first shot below, you can see the red flag and the exits from the new CTF spawn rooms; the second shot shows part of one of the new routes; and the final picture is a view from near the fountain in which you can see the distant rooftops are now being drawn properly (no more flickering in and out of sight). N.B. The skybox in these shots is still very much a work in progress.
Anyway, that's about it from me, I'll just close by saying you have a real treat in store with beta 3.0 - the whole team have been working their asses off to bring you great new gameplay, features, weapons, sounds, skins and maps, and if you enjoy playing it even half as much as I do, you'll have a hell of a good time.
Cheers,
DD
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By : Pingvin
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May 30th 2003 - 10:11:21pm
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Get Wet & Wired
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One level designer who has not received much attention recently has been WetWired. For those new to Urban Terror you might remember some of his Action Quake 2 levels, for example beer and nobeer. After some persuasion during the early years of Urban Terror, he was asked to join the development team and lend his talents to the mod.
His release of ut_revolution, at the time of Beta 2 was the "flagship" level for our release. Unfortunately, with some changes in development the level never really got the credit it deserved. The level was meant to be played in a game mode form, for example an attack/defend type of scenario. Since that was not included in Beta 2, the level received some bad publicity and really just faded away.
For Beta 3 WetWired's level, ut_precinct will be making its Urban Terror debut. By far one of the better all around levels that will be release. One thing WetWired can do is take all the aspects of level design into account and release a damn fine level. Revolution is a testament to that, except the timing was off.
There has not been much mentioned about Precinct from the band of testers helping Silicon Ice Development play test the build before it is released. The level is comparable to that of ut_swim by NRGizeR. How's that you ask? Well, first off it is a completely indoor level, with narrow hallways, stairwells, offices and an elevator. Snipers will tend to shy away from this level as it is probably going to feel a be "tight" to them. This is a true shotgun level! At last check, the level was set up for Team Survivor, Capture & Hold and CTF.
SID has not decided on the full complement of levels to be included in the distribution...yet. This list will be made public shortly. I mentioned this on the Urban Terror web site. Right now, there are MANY levels being tested, tweaked and updated. Probably more than should have. But nonetheless, the entire level design team has really come together and are working collectively as a group, it's awesome to see. Props to Dragonne, BladeKiller, RabidCow, Dick Dastardly, SweetnutZ, Bar-B-Q, INVIS, with help from thnom and QueenBee.
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By : Pingvin
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May 30th 2003 - 07:41:08pm
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Beta 3 User Interface
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In order to simplify console commands and allow better match control, we have updated the user interface to include some of the more common commands that will be used in the upcoming release. As we discussed in our last update, we enlisted the services of thnom from the community to help update our existing game menus to allow for better interface and more functionality.
The START SERVER menu now has a new layout that includes a preview of levels, along with color coded bot support for team games. PLAYER menu has changed within the code, for gamers to select sex and race, not allowing them to have all the control selecting individual skins as in previous versions. A new addition under the PLAYER is a menu for our newly coded match mode. There are three commands that will be listed: READY, CAPTAIN and SUBSTITUTE. The READY command tells the server that you are ready to begin the match. CAPTAIN will let the server know which team member is in charge, while SUBSTITUTE will allow a gamer to spectate and talk to their team without being selected to play.
We have taken some of the hassle of using console commands and included those in the OPTIONS menu. The new commands include MINI-MAP POSITION that allows you to toggle all the screen positions for the mini map. You will also be able to change your field of view (FOV), set to the default of 90 to the medium (100) or low (110) setting. Finally, the DRAW HUD will let you toggle the heads up display (HUD) from the menu. The 'ENABLE PB' and 'CROSSHAIR SETUP' shown in the bottom right of the OPTIONS menu will let you toggle PunkBuster and configure the type and size of your crosshair.
The RCON menu now has four sub menus included: ADMIN, PLAYER, PB and OPTIONS. The admin will now be able to control the match from the user interface. Common admin commands include: reload map, next map, map pause, swap teams, shuffle teams, match mode (on/off) and the rcon password. Some of these new admin commands were discussed in the previous news post.
The second tab under RCON is labelled, PLAYER and will allow the admin to slap, kick or ban a given gamer on the server. The admin selects a name from the list of gamers on the server and the appropriate action. There are some basic PunkBuster commands listed under the PB menu. For a description of their use read PunkBuster for Server Administrators. The final menu is the OPTIONS tab, with five options: toggling friendly fire, allowing voting on the server, provide respawn protection, force spectating and flood protect.
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By : Pingvin
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Source : Urban Terror
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May 27th 2003 - 09:42:23am
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Where is Urban Terror 2.7?
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The question on nearly everyone's mind is, "Where is 2.7?" Let me be the first to break the news. There will not be an Urban Terror 2.7. The overall scope of this current development cycle has undergone changes in the course of the last four months. Originally, the "next" planned release was to be called "2.6b", that addressed bugs and server side issues. That plan was revised and we decided to move ahead with what the community came to know as Beta 2.7. At this point in the development cycle, we are much further along (we'll get into details shortly) in development that we have decided to call the next Urban Terror release, Beta 3.0. So what does that mean to you, the community? Keep reading and we'll shed some light on what we've been working on since our 2.6a release in January.
First off, Beta 3.0 will be completely repacked; gone are the seven pak files from your 'q3ut2' directory, replaced by a single, trimmed down pak file. Right now, we only have estimates for the final release, but once it's confirmed we will pass along the total size. Remember by repacking the files, many duplicate files will be removed, including .tga, .jpgs and .bsp files (ever see the size of some of those .bsp files for the maps?). So, while this new pack will be a considerably larger download than an update, it will allow us to clean up much of the mess we have made getting to this point. Now, onto some of the details from the development team.
Let's start off by debunking some of the "myths" between ARIES and ARIES2. When completely rewritten by TwentySeven, the new hit detection will be dubbed, "ZEUS" (that's ARIES father). But, for Beta 3.0, ARIES has been updated.
"ARIES is ONLY responsible for determining which part of the player model gets hit once the bullet has already hit the players bounding box. Yes, it's not entirely perfect, but it's not the cause of "missed shots" or "ghost bullets" or "@!#?$& hit detection", says TwentySeven.
He continues, "You can pretty much test it yourself. A player standing still means the bounding box is not moving around, so it eliminates the rest of the net code being a factor. If you goof around and stick god mode on, you should be able to find a few areas on the hit meshes which allow you to put a bullet through the very edge in certain places of someone's arm or kevlar without it registering a hit. Pretty much all center-of-mass stuff works as expected, however.
The causes behind most of the "missed shots" in the game isn't ARIES, it was the rest of the system that positioned that bounding box in the first place - the "anti lag" system. Now THAT has had a lot of attention paid to it in the last development cycle (2.7) and the issues we've encountered and fixed have made "us" (SID) and "them" (QA) pretty damn happy with where we're at."
To summarize what you can expect in the next release: no longer an issue aiming between LPB's and HPB's, no longer an issue having a full server and the hit detection going to @!#?, no longer an issue of having ghost bullets, unless you really are just crap or the person you're shooting at is 999'ing out. There will still be a small issue with certain animations not having a flawless hit mesh to work off of (climbing and swimming being the worst), those will be addressed at a later date. "The real reason ARIES2 was being implemented was not solely to address the flaws in ARIES (which aren't really that big a deal in 99% of play cases). We simply lost the ability to produce ARIES hit meshes (they were made two years ago!), so we had to come up with something new so we could include the new player models in the game," concluded TwentySeven.
In order to make player models more visible, BladeKiller and Miles have been working on cleaning up and modifying player skins. As you can see from the screen shots, both team skins stand out against a background environment like ut_casa. The skins pictured above are called TAG and SWAT. Once we have all the skins completed, we will show you all three sets together. Along with the new skins, TwentySeven has completed coding the skin set per map code that loads the skins according to the set.txt file. Miles adds, "sleeves and gloves have been added to the cobra team (all teams infact) and replaced their knit-caps with wetsuit hoods. Currently I am redoing the desert team and its looking really good so far. I may have the G36 finished once player skins are done...also a possible shoulder patch to identify a player as a medic rather than the backpack."
We have enlisted the services of thnom, from the community, to help update some of the 2D graphics, including the user interface (UI). Some of the new features include a new layout with map preview and color coded bot support when starting a server. He added a new "matchmode" menu (under PLAYER) that is controlled from inside the game to allow you to "READY," when you are set to play, "CAPTAIN" tells the server you are the captain and "SUBSTITUTE" meaning you can only spectate your team and talk, while not being selected to play. Under the 'MENU' tab you now have the option of changing weather effects, positioning the minimap, resizing the FOV and drawing the HUD. You can also enable PunkBuster from inside the menu, no more typing, pb_cl_enable in the console.
For the admins, we have implemented some new features in order to make their job easier when involved in a match. The new commands consist of: restart map, reload map, next map, map pause, swap teams, shuffle teams, matchmode (on/off) and password (rcon password). Some of these are new for the upcoming release, swap teams will do just that (mainly for bomb/defuse mode). Shuffle teams will take the current player list and shuffle them, while matchmode (including auto demos) will assist in league play and organized scrimmages.
Many of the levels that will be included in Urban Terror Beta 3 are still being finished. Many have seen some sort of modification, due to the implementation of the new bomb/defuse gamemode being introduced. Other levels, such as ut_village2 and ut_casa have been updated to include CTF. Fear not, as I can see you cringing about the update to ut_casa. The coders have created a new tool called a func_wall that will allow a level designer to close off areas of the level depending on what gamemode is being played. So you purists who yearn for the original ut_casa in Team Survivor need not worry; the original is still there.
The list of levels to be included for Beta 3.0 has not been finalized quite yet, but you can expect to see approximately five levels per gamemode (TS/TDM CTF, Bomb) along some other "new additions" for the distribution. Pictured today, we feature screen shots from ut_siberia by SweetnutZ, ut_streets2 and ut_crenshaw by INVIS. These are some of the modifications we have made to the existing and new levels. You will also see some of the original levels, such as ut_docks updated for CTF, thanks to the use of the func_doors in GTKRadiant, we now have the ability to make one-way doors, that will allow teams to spawn in safety, without having to contend with grenade spam when they respawn. Another level getting an update is ut_ricochet, originally designed by WetWired. Dragonne has made some changes to the level, adding the new bomb/defuse mode, along with updating the spawn points, adding some new access routes and removing that red car, in favor for a white truck. Bar-B-Q has been quite busy, revamping ut_mines, ut_rommel and and ut_sanctuary, by adding the new bomb/defuse gamemode to them.
This is the culmination of the past four months and there is still more information we did not discuss, along with rounding out all the levels. There have, and continue to be bug fixes and modifications to the game code, including new animations (Negev) and sounds for the AK-103, IMI Negev, the SR-8 and the explosion of the bomb, courtesy of Bar-B-Q. As we get closer to our "code freeze" we will release more screen shots, videos (DiVX required) and information about the upcoming release.
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By : Pingvin
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Source : Urban Terror
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May 25th 2003 - 11:49:13pm
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Call For Help
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When is comes to online gaming communities, the development team believes the Urban Terror is one of the best, well manored going. No, really! There are many great people in the community who continue to support and assist the community, a testament to the relationship between the gamers and the development team.
While we are still working on the "next" release, we put out a small call for help. As you know, most of what you see from the development and community sites comes to you without having to shell out any cash. I even commented on it during my recent trip to San Francisco, for the in studio taping of The Screen Savers.
Many have help to shape the community into what it is today, but we are looking for some help to finish out the year, without having to resort to "other means" when it comes to continuing to host our forums and urbanterror.net web site. The donations we received last year via our PayPal button on urbanterror.net were able to succesfully pay off about 90% of our hosting costs.
We again turn to the community in order to help offset some of the costs we continue to incur as development rolls along. I can already see some of the comments rolling in, "Well, where is 2.7?" "Give us something before we give you money!" And in due time we will, as you will read on the Urban Terror web site in the next few days.
We do not require anyone to donate. If you do not want to donate, that is fine, continue enjoying the mod and playing in the leagues and community. But, we are thankful to those who help SID offset some of the costs. If you feel the need to donate, then click the PayPal button on urbanterror.net.
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By : Pingvin
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May 7th 2003 - 10:30:36pm
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Cover this !
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This started as an april fools joke, but we thought we would modify it and release it to the community. It's a little thing that me and [Laus]Rednex whipped up in a matter of minutes or something 
You can download the cover in full resolution (300 dpi) here (approx. 8 MB). Anyone is free to mirror this if they want. Our server sux!
Don't forget to read the fine print on the back !
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By : Pingvin
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May 7th 2003 - 12:52:41pm
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Enhanced Bot AI
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Since the early days of Urban Terror, there has been a continued interest in the development team improving the current bot code. Not since GottaBeKD, that is going back to 2000 have we had someone whose primary focus was bot AI. I guess we can all agree that some bot code is better than none, but it could be better...
Recently, we have been in contact with a coder who goes by the name of AxonMisFire. His interest is two fold when it comes to AI and the implementation, or shall we say enhancement of the bot AI. Currently, he and his research team at the University of Texas, Arlington are working on bots in a given environment. Based on previous conversations, getting the bots to move and act in the Urban Terror (Quake 3) environment is something that is of interest to both his personal research and the development team.
Currently, he is working with the code base. While no real window has been set or talk about merging the current code base with that of the bot code, the wheels are in motion to bring "smart" bots to life in Urban Terror. No more seeing Chicken running around in circles shooting at the ground or Cockroach running right past you, until you fire a shot. We will update you on the process as it relates to the bots and get AxonMisfire to give you a bit more information.
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By : Pingvin
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May 5th 2003 - 09:26:45pm
Apr 22nd 2003 - 06:17:58am
Apr 21st 2003 - 06:32:16pm
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Welcome
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Once again the membercount has risen, so the clan now has 12 members.
The 2 new members are [Laus]Slayer and [Laus]MasterEP.
WELCOME GUYS!
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By : [Laus]Rednex
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