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Extract to Quake folder, run whateversourceportbinaryyoulikethatisnotbaseduponquakeworldsources -game dopa

On the other hand, I've noticed a steady decline in documentation for commercial software too. Manuals have gone from the thick reference books I remember from 20 years ago to little "quick start" books if you're lucky. More frequently no documentation at all.

How I miss the days of fat manuals and binders with software In the old (meaning even up to XP) days they even used to ship comprehensive user guides with computers.

It's even effecting games now, both PC and console. For example The manual for the PS3 edition of the GOTY version of Fallout 3 is 43 pages long. The manual for the PS3 version of the Legendary version of Skyrim is a two page pamphlet directing you to http://manuals.bethsoft.com/ where you can get a PDF version, which is slightly over 20 pages long. That PDF is useless on the PS3 itself, of course. Digital downloads are hit or miss. Strangely the PSP was better in that regard.

One set of well done user documentation I have encountered recently is that for Scrivener. Very comprehensive.

being locked out of DLCs (aka Skyrim)

Skyrim's DLC was a "timed exlusive" for the 360, we had to wait on PC too.

PS3 player had to wait even longer than us because Bethesda had trouble getting the DLC to run on the PS3, not because of any deals with MS.

Bad example. The Skyrim engine is a modified version of the engine used in Oblivion, which itself is a (heavily) modified version of the Morrowind engine. It is not a console port. Yes, the UI was clearly desinged with consoles in mind, but under the hood it is the console versions that are the second-rate ports. Just look at how much trouble Bethesda is having trying to get the Dawnguard and Hearthfire DLCs running on the PS3.

All that aside, it's an Elder Scrolls game... if you don't like something about it use a mod, if you don't like the existing mods then mod it yourself. The ability to tinker is, in my opinion, one of the biggest advantages of PC gaming.

There happens to be an excellent (and configurable) UI mod available for Skyrim:
http://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1433593-relz-skyui/
The beta version linked in that thread is solid in my experience.

Please make sure to read some technical documents about BRINK before posting: http://charles.hollemeersch.net/node/58 Otherwise known as Virtual Texturing see Bethesda Press: http://www.bethsoft.com/eng/games/games_brink.html

Skyrim Creation kit is confirmed to be on the way, and the script extender team is already at work.

Check out the forum thread, there's some really encouraging stuff there:
http://forums.bethsoft.com/index.php?/topic/1255931-wipz-skyrim-script-extender-skse/page__st__40

ianpatt

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Posted Today, 02:40 AM
Looks like the UK runtime is the same as the US runtime. Most likely the German no-gore version is different again, though.

Time to start turning this in to the "Skyrim Internal Technical Research Discussion" thread. This time around, it looks like we have two totally different scripting engines in the game. One is the classic system used in the previous games, it looks almost exactly the same from a very quick lookthrough. Command dump coming shortlyish.

The new one is much more interesting and appears to be called Papyrus or SkyrimVM. We'll probably need to wait for the editor to be released to get any idea about the syntax as the original source code for scripts doesn't appear to be in the .esm (unless they're compressed). However, here's a quick feature rundown from what I can tell. Please take things with a grain of salt for now, this is just a first look.

        core variable types are float, int, string, and bool
        arrays of the above are supported natively
        scripts are interpreted as a list of simpler yet much more powerful set of opcodes
        if the conditional branch opcodes support negative offsets then loops are trivial to implement (and probably have been)
        the new system is object-oriented - all scripts are class instances (UnrealScript influence here)
        compiled scripts are stored as separate files, unpack Misc.bsa and look in the scripts folder
        classes support inheritance, and there appear to be vm-world classes matching the internal form types

So overall this is looking very, very good. I need to write something to disassemble the compiled scripts and take a look at the VM runtime, will know more then.

It looks like a lot of the basic functionality of OBSE (etc) is present, mainly by it being closer to an "actual" programming language than the previous system, however it looks like there's still a lot that we can do to expand on its functionality. Massive thanks to SmkViper on this, it's looking really nice so far (and thanks for the error messages when the script loader doesn't like something).

after this lawsuit is over, is go over to the Bethesda forums and start a thread asking who is excited for "that new 'SCROLLS' game" coming out soon. ;-P

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallout_(series) http://fallout.bethsoft.com/

Pro tip: you can email them.

Check the Bethsoft forums for a fix for the slowdown issue. It involves dumping a DirectX9 dll in your game directory.

I was skeptical about the fix, and about running a random dll from the internet, but it really works.

In busy areas I went from 30fps in Medium settings to 60fps in Ultra settings.

The only side-effect I found was in alt-tabbing out of the game, the audio no longer continues playing, but rather it loops as if the game has stalled. I have no idea what happens if you alt-tab out for an extended period - perhaps the game crashes hard - but I was able to alt-tab out and in for short periods with no problems. There was some very minor audio skipping introduced as well, but you'd be hard pressed to notice it.

For me, this was a small price to pay for the massive performance increase. This makes me suspect that the slowdown issue is due to some horrible DX10/11 "optimization" of background tasks or something, or maybe a change in the way the engine's subsystems are threaded.

Either way, it's well worth a try.

Give FO3 another go, but first install these:

DarnUI - a UI designed for PC instead of the console.
FWE - this is a big overhaul that makes a ton of changes, I advise configuring it to "harsh" settings.
MMM - among other things, this adds new enemies and adds variety to existing enemies. You can also set increased enemy spawns.
FOIP - patches to make FWE and MMM play nice together.

The game will be a lot more difficult and fun :)

No, it is a flaw in the engine, one that is corrected by a mod called Oblivion Stutter Remover.

There's no such thing as "exclusives" in the game world now... only "timed exclusives". Fallout 3 DLC for PS3.

Here's the guy who's destroying that company. How about you do your job and listen to your customers every now and then? Let's have a look at what your customers are saying about your product:

"If you want to send a message to BethSoft, bellyaching about it will do little. The best way to make them take notice is to vow not to buy any DLC. If they break and don't fix one of the main features advertised for the game, one that is noted prominently as such on the back of the box, why should we buy more of their stuff?"

http://www.bethsoft.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=973957

It's pretty clear that Pete's idea of PR is to stonewall and try to shout down critics with more marketing BS. Till this asshole is replaced with someone who can actually do the job, I think that company is going to see a lot more long-term problems.

Too bad Bethesda can't seem to patch their games. VATS (the over-hyped, poor attempt at appeasing turn-based combat fans and only marketable aspect of the game's combat) has been broken for months now. I'd take "see you in a year" if it meant they actually fixed more bugs than they made. http://www.bethsoft.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=973957

go to any video game website, try to find some meaningful discussion there related to the bigger issues of life.

To find such a discussion, shouldn't you search in a place about the real world?

Also, http://www.bethsoft.com/bgsforums/index.php?showtopic=913782

Oops, correction: the latest release thread for Unique Landscapes is here

Point taken. I actually feel more that way about Oblivion than I did about Morrowind, but only because I found much of Vvardenfall to be a bit too "alien" for my standard high fantasy tastes. Whereas Cyrodiil fits my minds eye image of, I suppose, the world I'd want to immerse myself in. However that's just a matter of taste.

If you liked stock-Oblivion in that way, you'll love it with the Unique Landscapes mods. They're kind of a pain because you have to download a separate one for each region, but it's well worth it.

(I think that This forum post may contain more up-to-date info and download links for UL than the wiki does)

To Bethesda's credit, one thing I just thought about but initially forgot to include that I consider if not somewhat revolutionary then definitely unique and innovative is the implemenation of V.A.T.S. in Fallout 3. I really enjoy how they blended the strategy and roleplay of the original Fallout games with the FPS style. I know many people think Fallout 3 is a terrible game compared to Fallout 1 and 2, but I personally disagree and am having a great time with it, and really love how V.A.T.S. is used.

I love the first two Fallout games, and that's actually one of the things I think they did right in F3. I've got loads of other complaints about it (the poor writing in the main storyline and the scarcity of interesting, important non-storyline quests relative to F1 and F2 being the main ones) but VATS isn't one of them.

If you're on PC, a new patch came out on January 13th. You can find it here. It fixes a lot more than alt-tabbing, but I don't think it fixes all the bugs found by the community.

I looked through several comprehensive lists of mods to find all of the ones that sounded like things I wanted and which would play nice together, and dumped them all in at once, so I'm not entirely certain which one added the regional quests, but I think it was the super-famous and certainly must-have Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul (OOO). It may have been an improved landscapes mod that I use, though.

Oscuro's Oblivion Overhaul

A meta-list of Oblivion mod lists

Unique Landscapes -- Scroll down to Section 2 for download links for completed landscape areas. I use all of them, and it's made it much more fun to run around new areas rather than just fast-traveling everywhere.

or the first time I played SoF and actually shot the gun out of the bad guys hand(is there even a game you can do that trick with now?)

Fallout 3 allows this, both in VATS and in realtime combat. Doing so even destroys the weapon, making it useless until repaired.

According to posts in Bethesda forums (see http://www.bethsoft.com/bgsforums/index.php?showforum=36 ), some people have got their game not to crash by tinkering with ffdshow settings, installing codec packs, (un)installing seemingly random programs. Some people have reported the game not working when a not-so-common sound card is installed.

Just for reference, the game doesn't work in Wine either. See
http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=15839

I do have the PC version, and they did not remove any of the lameness for it.

I didn't mean Bethesda removed the lameness. I meant modders removed the lameness. There were mods within a few weeks that fixed most of the most egregiously bad gameplay issues. They've evolved tremendously over the last couple years. There's mods to change practically anything you want about the game, as well as adding so much new stuff that it's a whole different (and vastly improved) game.

They've fixed the stealth system, the magic system, there's improved combat mods, archery mods, tons of improvements to the NPCs, many new quests, dungeons, improved graphics if you like, seriously, I couldn't possibly even scratch the surface of everything that is available. Go browse the forums for an idea of how much has changed. It's really an incredible game once sufficiently modded.

Check it out:
Oblivion Mods Forum

At least, the parts we've seen so far. /sadface

hummmmm..... Fallout 3... I got to admit that, while I like all the options in SC4, the game was lacking in some RL options that really killed the balance. I could deal with the level of Micro-Management if they could fix the balance of the game. While it is difficult to balance a city's budget, yes, IT'S DONE ALL THE TIME. I look forward to SC5/Soc with hope, but I'm not going to hold my breath. It's going to have to be like a brand new Sale, all over again.

This sounds almost like the Slow Animations bug that happens after roughly 200 hours of gameplay and has never been fixed. People playing on the PC can hack their saves to reset a 32bit float value to temporarily work around the problem, though those with the Xbox (and probably PS3 too) version of the game are SOL.

Caching to the HDD is a developer's work around to shitty read speeds on the optical drive. That's why Microsoft installed a higher speed DVD drive to eliminate the need to cache to the HDD.

Okay, you're obviously an Xbox fanboy. Many, many articles were written about Oblivion caching to the HD on the 360. There's no way they could use the textures they were using due to the low read speeds of the optical drive - a DVD is never as fast as a hard drive, which is why it's not necessary to do this on the PC - the game is already installed on the drive!

In case you really doubt what I say, let's see what Bethesda has to say about the problem:

Oblivion uses the Xbox 360 hard drive extensively to cache (copy and reuse) game data. This is done to optimize all loading the game does. It has been found in rare cases on some Xbox 360s that the cached data can get overly fragmented. This exhibits itself by the game taking a long time to load anything from menus, dialogue, sounds, objects, levels, and more.

You're leaving out a quite a few titles. There are some great mods in the works as well.

The Black Hound - Originally was in production at Black Isle as Baldur's Gate 3 (though it has nothing to do with BG1 or BG2) but was canned when it was nearly complete. Josh Sawyer, the original game's Lead Designer who's now working at Obsidian, is recreating the game as a mod for NWN2.

The Planescape Trilogy - Three large campaigns for NWN2 in the Planescape setting that look promising, despite the obvious titles (from the Divine Comedy, CLEVER!). The first part, Purgatorio, is almost done.

Dragon Age - Bioware's mystary PC RPG base on original IP is, well, a mystery. All previous work and screenshots have been scrapped and the project started anew, but some hints by Dave Gaider lend some hope to this possibly turning out decent. Unlike Mass Effect.

The Broken Hourglass - An infinity engine RPG by the best infinity engine modders out there. Whether that means that they will be making a great RPG with the engine remains to be seen. Based on original, non-DnD setting and rules.

Age of Decadence - An "isometric, turn-based, single-player 3D role-playing game set in a low magic, post-apocalyptic fantasy world, inspired by the fall of the Roman Empire." Currently under development by an asshole. He's also a purist, though, so it may turn out respectably, if it ever turns out.

And of course...

Fallout 3 - Bethesda has it. They say it won't be "Oblivion with guns", but they lie frequently. I still have a sliver of hope, though. We'll see if it's still there when they release some concrete info/screenshots.

Lastly, The Witcher looks interesting as well. A lot of actual "Role Playing" for an Action RPG, which can only help.

You are thinking of Tactical Assault for PSP and DS. When Bethesda got the Trek license, they made 3 games Legacy, TA, and Encounters (PS2). They are all drastically different games.

http://startrek.bethsoft.com/games/ta-overview.htm l

Ahem, what? I thought Bethesda bought the fallout franchise. http://www.bethsoft.com/news/pressrelease_071204.h tm

Actually, Fallout 3 has been licensed by Bethesda Softworks. They are working on it.
2004 Press Release
Bethesda originally claimed a Nov 2005 release, but it was (as understood) to not be accurate. Actual release date is still up in the air, but I would rather they take the time to work on it and do it right.

Jeremy Soule is the first to come to mind, and while I like Jesper Kyd's work, I think Soule is better. The music for Oblivion was so-so, but I think that the music in Morrowind is some of the best I've ever heard. It's amazing. Compare the Oblivion title and the Morrowind title and tell me that Morrowind's is not better.

Jeremy Soule is the first to come to mind, and while I like Jesper Kyd's work, I think Soule is better. The music for Oblivion was so-so, but I think that the music in Morrowind is some of the best I've ever heard. It's amazing. Compare the Oblivion title and the Morrowind title and tell me that Morrowind's is not better.

Actually they are doing Fallout 3...

http://www.bethsoft.com/news/pressrelease_071204.h tm

Just in case anyone is interested there are 2 other non-RPG TES games:
battlespire
Redguard

I stil maintain that daggerfall was the best, barring it's incredibly nasty habit of eating your saved games every 10 minutes or so. I really liked the ability to buy horses with wagons, houses, and boats (I haven't played Oblivion yet so I'm not sure if they brought those features back).

I don't have a specific game in mind (well, I do, BurnOut Drag Racing, but it's hella old), but bracket drag racing in reality is a competitive game that is able to pit any two cars against one another, regardless of how much faster one is than the other.

Each driver has a dial-in time, which is what they expect to be able to run in a quarter mile. The tree lights at the starting line are timed so that each car starts at a different time, depending on the dial-in time. If each driver gets off the line exactly when they get a greenlight, and runs exactly their dial-in time, both cars will cross the line at exactly the same time.

So, it comes down to reaction time at the tree, coming as close to (but not under) your dial-in time as possible, and beating your opponent to the finish line.

So - an expert driver with a finely tuned car and good reaction and driving skills can compete against a novice driver with a showroom stock car, and the novice has a chance to win.

This may not have been the genre of game that anyone was thinking about, but it qualifies.

Supposedly, although Bethesda Softworks licensed Fallout almost 2 years ago, it was not exclusive license, with Bioware still retaining MMO rights.

As much as I'd love to see it come out, I just know that if it does, it's going to suck days or weeks of my time that could be spent more productively.

Fallout 3 is now being produced by bethesda.
http://www.bethsoft.com/news/pressrelease_071204.h tm

The title is named Star Trek: Legacy. It's been first revealed by Game Informer Online. The day after, Evil Avatar posted some more some more informations. The game is planned for Xbox 360 and PC, scheduled for a september 2006 release, and is developped by Mac Doc Software (known for Empire Earth, Dungeon Siege and ... Star Trek Armada). The publisher is Bethesda Softworks, known for The Elders Scrolls series, among other titles. An interesting thing to note is that the game will cover the whole Star Trek timeline, from the Enterprise era up to the Voyager's.

No pirate applications? Darn, I was really hoping...

Forgive the horrible humor.

Now let's hope that Bethesda employs people from Troika to work on Fallout 3.

Call of Cthulhu

I think Bethesda Softworks have been creating games similar to the ones you want to see. Try playing Daggerfall and now Morrowind. I haven't played Morrowind personally, but it looks incredible :-)

Do you remember Xcar? It was too realistic, it just wasn't fun. It was technically amazing, but you had to tweak the hell out of your car before it became interesting. Too much realism can take away from gameplay (which is arguably more important).

I just started grad school and I buy myself a game whenever I take a test.

Anyway, someone allready mentioned Civ III, and I second that. A design decision was made that simple-is-good, so in terms of the number of things that exist in the game, techs, units, bells and whistles for units to have, there are far less than in, say, Alpha Centauri. But, it's a big improvement in many, many, fundamental respects - it has whole new dimensions of play, which are simple yet profound. Personally, there are certain realism aspects (taking years for ships to circumnavigate the globe) that really annoy me, but the games very deep. It's also really difficult.

Art of Magic: Magic and Mayhem II is an attempt to make Sacrifice (nearly a great game) playable. Unfortunately, it fails and completely lacks the entrancing graphic artistry of sacrifice, so don't bother.

Pool of Radiance is a cute time waster. The game is a bit buggy, even with the patch, and their implementation of the D&D 3rd. ed rules is deeply flawed in a couple of respects (for those of you who are familiar, it won't let you pick your own skills and feats, and none of the really fun feats are even implemented.) Still, the parts of the game that take place on the surface are gorgeous in a technically uninspired kind of way, and the designs on the monsters and effects are solidly handsome and fun to look at. The big downside of the game is that big parts of it are just a dungeon crawl. There's a lot of very frank discussion abuot the merits of this game on the forums page (link above) which you might read before forking over fifty bucks.

One game that has seen surprisingly little hype is a Diablo clone called Throne of Darkness. The game, while once again not a technical breakthrough in the graphics department, is just beautiful. Really, the graphics are art. They've done something so that everything looks like it was drawn with those ink brushes - it looks like those highly detailed japanese landscape paintings, except unfortunately for the grass which is ugly and over-detailed like in Diablo (ah well). Unfortunately, the game play is just diablo. In fact, it is exactly diablo; Sierra has some kind of deal to copy the engine (I forget where I read this.) You get four guys at once, but the only summonings suck.

Finally, if you don't want to spend money, cosmic encounter online (which I tried to shamelessly promote as a Slashdot story, but it was rejected) is in development, and you can play as several races for free. No flares yet, but still.

Sam