Wolfenstein Multiplayer Test 2 Out

Kallahar writes: "Everybody and their pet will report this, but the new Wolf MP test is out! Get it from Blues News (or many mirrors)." This probably would have been a better submission if it had included a download link of some sort.

Comments

first post!

[Anonymous Coward]

now we can look forward to lots of gaymers soaking up bandwidth for a week.

Re:first post!

[hypreal]

Suck it up Anonymous Coward. We have to do something to keep from going anymore crazy then these times have made us. It might seem a bit barbaric, but destroying without the destruction is a better way to aviod snapping at least in my opinion.

quake3 mods

[fault0]

wolfeinstein test mp2 might be good and all, but it feels like another quake3 mods (after all, it's based upon the q3 engine), and not the best one at that. but i'd suggest looking at some of the other quake3 mods, such as:

urban terror
threewave
(and starting from nov. 14), reAction Quake3.

Re:quake3 mods

[crhylove]

true combat?

that's a hefty and ambitious mod, and what's that western one?

guess there's no counter strikers on /. , eh? well good, god damn half breed game anyway!!

Re:quake3 mods

[jeeryg_flashaccess]

The team is proud to announce that Reaction Quake 3 Beta 1 will be released on November 16, 2001.

There you have it! You heard it hear first. That's a rap. Um.

Re:quake3 mods

[Anonymous Coward]

All the splendor of a mod made for Quake 2, with less functionality than either Urban Terror or True Combat! What a deal!

Re:quake3 mods

[jimsxe]

What? Have you played either one? I think not. You dont have the faintest idea of what you are talking about! It is not a "mod" It plays completely different from any MP game out there. Before you make such a dumb comment, at least have a clue. Im sure you are one of those people that play a game for a few times then act like you know everything about it. "quake is this, half-life is that blah blah blah" shut up

Re:quake3 mods

[DNS-and-BIND]

Nothing wrong with using an already-successful game engine to implement a new work. Re-inventing the wheel is wasteful.

I like the new Wolfenstein because:

• The WWII historical aspect. The uniforms look great. The weapons look great. The Jerries even have the potato masher grenades, and the Americans have their baseball-like pineapples.
• The weapons. Boy, I just love shooting the MP 40...just the sound it makes is great. I guess you have to be into WWII history to appreciate it. Most quake players will probably just say, "it stinks!" and move on to the rocket launcher, but to me, the fact that they took the time to model a weapon near and dear to my heart really makes the game. Don't even get me started on the devastating MG 42.

It's not the engine, it's the game

Re:quake3 mods

[Anonymous Coward]

"but to me, the fact that they took the time to model a weapon near and dear to my heart really makes the game"

You must be a merkan.
War monger.

Re:quake3 mods

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't get it?
Parent comment doesn't make any sense.

-- DNS-and-BIND

Re:quake3 mods

[Anonymous Coward]

MG 42, in this game, is too shaky and too inaccurate for a mounted gun ( not to mention firing flare effect which makes it hard to see anything.)
It is hard to kill anything and as far I know it wasn't the case with the original.

Re:quake3 mods

[Anonymous Coward]

Mixed emotions as I read your post and think of all those who were really slaughtered with these "wonderful details".... Just never forget

Flamebait? whatever.

Re:quake3 mods

[Anonymous Coward]

The same argument can be made for any game that incorporates violence.

They're bits, not real people. Know the difference.

Better submission...

[neema]

"This probably would have been a better submission if it had included a download link of some sort."

Then you should of got the submission from one of the everybody else.

Or their pets.

Re:Better submission...

[ThatComputerGuy]

And how about some info on the linux version?

I've been looking at mirrors, but haven't found it yet. Is the linux test 2 even out yet, or is a date set for it?

Re:Better submission...

[Anonymous Coward]

Besides, the expression is "every man and his dog", which is often (rightly) updated to "everyone and their dog". But "everyone and their pet" takes political correctness too far.

Re:Better submission...

[Cow4263]

or if it had mentioned why exactly this is better then the previous version...

Release Notes:

RTCW MULTIPLAYER TEST 2 NOTES & WHATS NEW:

This is primarily a test of the networking code.

What's changed between Multplayer Test 1 and the latest test? Below you'll find some of the more notable changes.

1) Hud

- On the compass, Engineers can see which direction their dynamite objectives are in the world.
- You'll see a shield icon in the lower left, above your health letting you know when youre invulnerable (when you first reinforce and when revived by a medic)
- Messages have been moved around
- Assorted changes

2) Beach

- The Axis team will no longer have the option to spawn in the forward bunker. They can deny the Allies this spawn position by taking the flag from them and returning it to a null state.
- Dynamiting objectives has been tightened up. It's always best to plant the dynamite if you see the dynamite icon. If you hear the Dynamite planted.. message, your objective will be destroyed.

3) Weapons

- MG42s take more damage
- Ammo count modified for many weapons (depending on class as well)
- Flamethrowers damage tweaked and movement speed reduced

4) Classes

- When revived by a medic, you revive with the amount of ammo you passed out with
- Medics now get 10 revives. Good for altered max lives games as well as Stopwatch matches
- LTs can no longer pick up the Soldier specific weapons
- Engineers now get 8 grenades and another clip
- Engineers must now arm the dynamite they place. When you toss out a dynamite, you will automatically switch to the pliers.

5) Networking

- Wolf MP is now using full TA networking

6) Stopwatch Mode

- Stopwatch mode can be played in one of two ways. ABBA, or ABAB. We recommend playing in ABBA mode as this allows both sides a chance to set the clock.
- Stopwatch is played in two rounds. Which round you are in is displayed on the HUD, atop the Stopwatch icon. Try to beat the other teams time!

7) Max Lives

- Added max number of lives/reinforcements. When this is set, you will only get as many lives/reinforcements as set by the Server. Once you are out of lives/reinforcements, you will only be able to follow the view of other team members. Once a team is out of lives/reinforcements, the round, or match will end.
- We suggest only running with max lives changed during Tourney Mode.
- We suggest playing with an unlimited number of lives during net play.
- Setting max lives to a different value can produce some hectic and frantic gameplay. We suggest practicing safe max lives with only those you know.

8) Tourney Mode

- When playing under this mode, there is an infinite warm-up time.
- Once all players in the game decide that the match should start, someone can callvote for Match Start, if passed, the game will begin.
- Optionally, you can set the minimum number of clients for this mode. This option can be found on the Advance Server Setup screen. Once this number of people have joined the server, the game will automatically force a Match Start, allowing 20 more seconds before the game begins.
- Once the game begins, you will not be able to switch teams.
- If a player tries to connect with this enabled and the game is outside of the warmup phase, they will only be able to join as a spectator.
- This mode can not be played with one person.
- If two people are playing in this mode and one leaves, or joins the Spectators, the game will stop and the match will have to be re-started.
- You can set this mode to be played with all gametypes and settings.
- This is the preferred on-line method to play with Max Lives.

9) Other

- You no longer time-out to the Reinforcement Queue. You must tap out. If you are dismembered beyond repair, you will automatically enter the reinforcement queue.
- If friendly-fire is enabled on your server, when killed by a team mate, the complaint system will pop up. If you vote yes, the team mate responsible for your death will have a complaint filed against them. Once they hit the servers setting for number of complaints until kicked, they will be kicked.
- There is a 30 second delay before you can join a different team as well as the chance of being caught in the middle of a deployment. So maximum time before being able to join another team is 30 seconds +max reinforcement time for the team on the specific level. This is default behavior. By setting Tourney Mode to Yes, no team switching is allowed. Switching teams for an ill-effect is frowned upon.
- Spectators are now listed on the team/score panel.
- Map_restart functions just as warmup mode.
- Spectators can only talk to each other, not to the Axis or Allied teams.
- There is now a callvote menu option. Voting that is in progress will be displayed on-screen.
- Various quickchats moved around.

10) Resetting to Defaults

- If you run into a situation where your config becomes trashed, or you dont like the settings youve created, run WolfMP by selecting "RTCW MP TEST 2 (SAFE MODE)" from your Start menu, under Return To Castle Wolfenstein Multiplayer TEST 2. This will set all settings to their default values.

11) Pure Server

- The Pure Server option for servers is not currently functional for Map Test 2. Do not set Pure Server to "Yes" when hosting a Map Test 2 server. It will prevent any clients from joining your server.
- A client trying to join a Pure Server will receive the following error:
VM_CreateOnCGame
If you get this message, try another server.

Re:Better submission...

[Lussarn]

Stealed this link over at linuxgames.

wolf3d-20011028.tar.gz

Re:Better submission...

[chuzwuzza]

errr, that's the original Wolfenstein -- not Return to Castle Wolfenstein

Re:Better submission...

[Imperial Tacohead]

"Everyone and their dog" makes no sense. Does everyone share a single pet?

Re:Better submission...

[dalesc]

Should of? Should of?

Should HAVE.

Wolfenstein = Q3 + WW2 Patch?

[Levine]

Does it seem to anyone else that the gameplay in Return to Castle Wolfenstein seems - or is - Quake 3 all over again, with different weapons? Quake 3 is fun in its own respect, but slapping a World War 2 mod on top of it and marketing it as something brand new is pushing it a little, methinks.

Of course my gameplay has been slightly limited - I certainly haven't logged more than a few hours at most - but I can't help but compare it to the superbly executed (and free) Day of Defeat. I guess it has more to do with realistic damage than anything else; I like the (generally) one shot one kill rules of DoD, and it seems silly that in Wolfenstein I have to shoot you with a Thompson or MP40 many times before you go down.

Anyone else care to confirm or deny my suspicions and thoughts?

Cheers,
levine

Re:Wolfenstein = Q3 + WW2 Patch?

[Anonymous Coward]

Hmm, not that id Software hasn't been making the same basic game for something like 10 years anyway...

Re:Wolfenstein = Q3 + WW2 Patch?

[mobets]

I thought I heard somewhere that the final was going to have a singel player game with an actual plot. If not, it is kind of pointless to make a new game out of it. Would have been easier to just make it another expation to Q3.

Re:Wolfenstein = Q3 + WW2 Patch?

[Anonymous Coward]

true, but I still prefer the more "realistic" online games such as CS and DOD. Probably coz I've got a crappy imagination and can relate to such games more easily???
It would be much better if developers were able to put there efforts into developing more CS and DOD style games on an engine that is better (less cheating, better graphics support) than Half Life.

Ultimately I dont care if it takes 30 shots from a thompson to kill someone, it's still more realistic that a BFG ;-)

Re:Wolfenstein = Q3 + WW2 Patch?

[dimator]

Does it seem to anyone else that the gameplay in Return to Castle Wolfenstein seems - or is - Quake 3 all over again, with different weapons?

Many people use the game engines from iD; I think RCW does too. However, by calling it "Quake 3 + MOD," you devalue the amount of work it takes to create the sound, art, maps(!), effects, and tweaked gameplay that goes into such games. I'd wager that the non-engine work is just as hard/involved as the engine/game system work, and deserves credit.

Re:Wolfenstein = Q3 + WW2 Patch?

[RestiffBard]

well I would agree on the merits of the multiplay alone but thats not all there is. we have as yet to taste the single player experience. Thats what I'm waiting for. I prefer a single player game though i doubt anything is going to bringa candle to the experience of max payne anytime soon.

id has fallen out of favor with me of late. I miss a single player game. and what they've been doing with the last four games has simply been rehashes of doom. I beat doom years ago. why does id keep making me play it?

Re:Wolfenstein = Q3 + WW2 Patch?

[Anonymous Coward]

We are only seeing the mulitplayer aspect of a game whose target is single player. Of course it feels like Unreal Tournament or Quake 3. Once the actual game comes out it will change because neither of those games had a strong single player mode.

Re:Wolfenstein = Q3 + WW2 Patch?

[Sycraft-fu]

As another poster mentioned, ID engines are very, very popular for 3d shooters. Probably because they are all very extensible, run on multiple platforms, and are very, very well written.

Alice is another Q3 engine game and Half Life was just one of the many games based on the Q2 engine.

Now if you feel that there is a mod for Q3 out there that is better than Castle Wolfenstine, then by all means, go and play it. Personally I've been pretty impressed with CW so far. I'll have to consider if I want to buy it, but all in all it looks like a very solid game.

As to the damage thing, I think that is an intentional thing. The two online FPS's I've played with any amount of regularity in the past are Quake 1 with the Team Fortress mod and Quake 2 with the Action Quake mod. Action Quake is a fairly realistic damage game (one shot in the right place kills) with real weapons, and that's one of the things I like about it. However, because of that it lends itself to team based skirmishes and not really to CTF kind of things like CW does. I think the CW guys have tried to strike a balance here and so far it seems ot be a good one.

Re:Wolfenstein = Q3 + WW2 Patch?

[htmlboy]

Return to Castle Wolfenstein is actually primarily a single player game. You play an army ranger who wakes up in a mysterious german castle. You fight your way out, see firsthand the nasty secret weapons of the nazi's, and (presumably) play a major role in destroying the nazi regime. So there is a rather extensive single player story to the game.

However, with the sucess of Half-Life (decent multiplayer on its own even before team fortress and counterstrike), they're including a rather sophisticated multiplayer side to the game. I got the impression that it was a side project...just another selling point to what looks to be an excellent game.

All this is based on my interpretation of the information on the official site (http://www.activision.com/games/wolfenstein/home. html) and a video I found somewhere with interviews of the developers.

Re:Wolfenstein = Q3 + WW2 Patch?

[Anonymous Coward]

Oddly enough Half Life was actually based one Quake, not Quake 2. They brought the engine back to the future, which is why the game was late in shipping. Also the engine is really quite a bit nicer than Quake 2.

Re:Wolfenstein = Q3 + WW2 Patch?

[tarkin]

you're absolutely right ;-) I guess we'll just have to wait for the multiplayer Medal Of Honour Allied Assault for some real WW2 game that makes excellent use of the Q3 engine !!

Re:Wolfenstein = Q3 + WW2 Patch?

[Nullsmack]

Don't feel bad.

You're wrong.
Actually, Half-life was developed in the Quake1 engine for most of the dev cycle, but then Quake2 came out in Dec 1997. After ID Software began licensing the Q2 engine, Valve bought a copy and integrated alot of the enhancements into their copy of the Q1 engine.

There is always someone that tries to continue the myth that HL is based entirely on the Q1 engine. Please educate others.

Re:Wolfenstein = Q3 + WW2 Patch?

[spyderbyte23]

Quake 3 is fun in its own respect, but slapping a World War 2 mod on top of it and marketing it as something brand new is pushing it a little, methinks.

Well, the retail version of RtCW is going to include extensive single player action, unlike Quake3, which really only allowed mulitplayer and playing against the bots.

Of course my gameplay has been slightly limited - I certainly haven't logged more than a few hours at most

When I had only played Wolfenstein for a few hours, I didn't like it either. It grew on me.

- but I can't help but compare it to the superbly executed (and free) Day of Defeat. I guess it has more to do with realistic damage than anything else; I like the (generally) one shot one kill rules of DoD,

Really? That just frustrated me about Day of Defeat. Especially as most servers have friendly fire turned on; the complete and utter cockmongers who plague most online games tend to blast you before you ever even see an enemy. Even if you don't get tagged by a teammate, though, I still find it frustrating and not fun -- but realistic, I'll grant you that! -- that so much of the action consists of "walk three steps, get fragged by an enemy you never saw."

and it seems silly that in Wolfenstein I have to shoot you with a Thompson or MP40 many times before you go down.

Yes, this is one of the sillier things about Wolfenstein. Example: it takes about nine body shots at close range with the Colt .45 to frag an enemy. The clip holds eight rounds. This makes the weapon less than useless, and not terribly realistic either. I suspect that there will still be some rebalancing coming on the weapons -- I'll probably try the test out later today and see how it goes.

Re:Wolfenstein = Q3 + WW2 Patch?

[gleam]

Try Urban Terror (Beta 2.3) for Q3, www.urbanterror.net

A fantastic mod, in the vein of AQ2. I came from AQ2 and am more addicted to UT2 than I ever was to AQ2.

A better damage system than AQ2, and trust me, UT2 plays very well as CTF. There may be a more "objective" style gamemode in beta 3, but I gather that's still in the planning process.

Check it out, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

-gleam

Re:Wolfenstein = Q3 + WW2 Patch?

[Nematode]

well I would agree on the merits of the multiplay alone but thats not all there is. we have as yet to taste the single player experience.

I'm not sure how you can agree on the "merits of the multiplay" alone...the mod isn't really like anything that was included in the Q3 box - it's got most in common with CounterStrike. Unless the "merits" you're talking about are the idea of shooting other people from the first-person view, online. I suppose it's a "q3 clone" to the extent that it is based on the q3 engine, but of course being developed under license and supervision by iD, that's hardly surprising...

The surprising part for me is that Gray Matter is doing the single-player component while Nerve Software is developing the multiplayer. I don't know if this is the very first time that the single- and multi-player modes have been divided between different development houses, but it's definitely not a common practice. Normally this would be a good thing, since multiplayer is usually treated like an afterthought, but in this case....Gray Matter are many of the same people who made Kingpin, which had a flat single-player mode, but very good multi. Having a demonstrated aptitude for online multi-player FPS, I'm surprised it's out of their hands...and kind of disappointed. But hopefully Nerve will get the job done right. I hope the multiplayer isn't limited to the CounterStrike clone from the test...as fun as it can be, I never really understood the appeal behind CS and its knockoffs....

Re:Wolfenstein = Q3 + WW2 Patch?

[Control-Z]

To me a good engine is a good engine, what you do with it makes all the difference. Lots of first person shooters are based on the Quake3 or Unreal Tournament engine.

Day of Defeat is a Half-Life mod, and Half-Life is based on a heavily modded Quake (maybe you could call it Quake 1.5) engine. So both are basically Quake mods.

I love Day of Defeat, but I also think RTCW has potential, partly because of the newer engine and larger outdoor environments.

I'm also eagerly awaiting Medal of Honor: Allied Assault. And Ghost Recon. And Soldier of Fortune 2. And Team Fortress 2 if they really are making it (I wonder sometimes). The list goes on.

Re:Wolfenstein = Q3 + WW2 Patch?

[NanoGator]

Have you even played the first tech demo? It represents a departure from traditional multi-player games like Capture the Flag or fortress. In the first tech demo, you had one team trying to defend documents inside a base for 8 minutes, while the other team was trying to steal them and transmit them in the radio room. Think about this for a second. Instead of having two teams starting on equal footing and having exactly identical bases, now you have two teams with somewhat different goals. Now you pick your team based on what your mission objectives are. This gives the game a rather interesting new dimension to explore. This game, so far, is not a 'Run around and kill Nazis' game, and it's not a WW2 skin for Quake 3. It's a very different multiplayer environment. I, for one, am very excited to see it develop. I can only imagine what other missions they have in store for us.

Re:Wolfenstein = Q3 + WW2 Patch?

[Pxtl]

This is a departure? Have you played an FPS game in the past 4 years? UT, Q3 and Half-life both have numerous mods that fit that description. This sounds like Counterstrike's gameplay with TFC's classes and respawning. Or UT-Assault (part of the game, not even a mod) with player classes. Its not innovative at all. Whether or not its a good game I'm not discussing - but innovative? They're just the first to build the whole main multiplayer game mode on that one concept. There are plenty of others with similar styles.

Re:Wolfenstein = Q3 + WW2 Patch?

[Anonymous Coward]

not i, i found it to be fun.

Re:Wolfenstein = Q3 + WW2 Patch?

[Anonymous Coward]

So it's not innovative.. who gives a fuck as it's more fun than all the other games you mentioned.

The dilemma...

[NecroPuppy]

Civ 3, or Wolfenstein test...

Wait, I've got two computers!

Re:The dilemma...

[Anonymous DWord]

This question from a guy whose sig is a link to how many jobs he hasn't gotten? Hmm... :-P

Re:The dilemma...

[Anonymous Coward]

Dude, just some friendly advice, your resume needs some serious spiffing up if you want to get any callbacks for jobs these days. It's just too bland and uninteresting. If you were a PHB/HR puke getting stacks upon stacks of resumes, you want to see something impressive, something that makes you say "wow, this guy is a good programmer" or "this guy really loves what he does" or something along those lines. My advice is to get a book on successful resume style and try some reformatting/reworking, adding some detail that makes you sound more exciting, improve descriptions of projects you've worked on, then give it a little test - fire it off to some recruiters and see if you get any callbacks from them. If you don't, it still needs work.

Just friendly advice from somebody who's been on the other end, as the pseudo-PHB responsible for hiring people - in the old, desperate job market I might possibly have interviewed somebody with your res, but these days with the glut of really talented people, I would just pass it over.

Re:The dilemma...

[deepsea007]

Gee, sure is nice to see that you have so much time for gaming and posting. My first suggestion is that you try to put together a decent resume before blowing all of you time on /. Just a suggestion though!

Re:The dilemma...

[Anonymous Coward]

be nice.

the kid is just a junior level programmer, with some college-intern style employment experience...

seriously tho, the reason nobody will hire you is the partially due to the fact that your employment history is horrible.

Your most recent job doesn't even have a date range, and there is some 'mystery time' in between your first and second job.

Word of advice, lose the "Senior" off your title in your job history. With 3 years of C/C++ you're pretty much entry level... and if your experience is less than 1 year, forget it.

I've seen hundreds of resumes like yours over the past 9 months. They all end up in the round-file, because it sounds like you are lying and hiding stuff in your resume.

The generic opinion I get is, "This person was hired in the heat of the dot-com-boom, and would have never even been interviewed if there were other unemployed candidates.".

Truth can hurt sometimes.
Sorry.

In-N-Out in Mountain View pays $11.75/hr...

Re:The dilemma...

[Anonymous Coward]

Along with what everyone else said, I would like to stick in a suggestion for getting your resume down to 1 page.

There is absolutely no reason why your resume needs to be on 2 pages. 2 pages is a huge turnoff - unless it is totally warranted. And the fact that you (appear to) haven't taken the time to make it fit on one page and still look good will make it end up in the trashcan pretty quickly.

At one point in my life I used to create resumes for people - so I know what I'm talkin about.

Other than that - Good Luck!

Derek

Re:The dilemma...

[NecroPuppy]

To all the people commenting about my resume, that it doesn't have enough flash, that it needs to be done by a professional, etc.

It was. When I was laid off from my last job, the company was nice enough to pay for a two day "how to find a job seminar".

I took in my resume, and they modified it to this. When I commented that it wasn't flashy enough, they said that flash was for graphic artists; with computer people, you have to look professional.

And, as a side note, most of the headhunters I've worked with thought it was a good solid resume.

But keep the criticism coming.

Back in the day...

[Powercntrl]

I remember running Wolfenstein 3D on my Tandy 1000RLX (286/10MHz XT, yes, a 286 with an 8-bit bus and 256k VGA graphics). Man, that was *the* shiznit back in the day. I have a feeling the latest versions will fail to capture the awe I felt when seeing what was actually possible with the processing power of a 286. Quite a legacy to have to live up to, if you ask me.

To relive the experience, a newer Wolfenstein would have to again push current hardware beyond what is currently viewed as possible. It's quite a shame this is unlikely to happen - Makes me feel like "future generations" of computer users are missing out on something.

Re:Back in the day...

[jeeryg_flashaccess]

Acctually much to YOUR surprise they are coming out with a version of this new Quake 3 powered game for the Tandy 1000RLX (286/10MHz XT, yes, a 286 with an 8-bit bus and 256k VGA graphics). What a delightfull surprise!

Crazy!

Re:Back in the day...

[PlaysWithMatches]

> I have a feeling the latest versions will fail to capture the awe I felt when seeing what was actually possible with the processing power of a 286.

Heh unfortunately for us, you are almost guaranteed to be right. Why? Consider what Wolf3D was when it came out: it was the (semi-)3D shooter. There were no others, and nobody had expectations for what it should be, since it was unprecedented. Now we've got Unreal, UT, Tribes 1 & 2, Quake 1-3, Deus Ex, Fakk 2, Red Faction, Rainbow Six, and a billion other first person shooters.

And sadly, at their core, they're really all the same. Sure, they have varying levels of strategy and tactics required, but when you get down to it, you're killing people/creatures in first-person. Yeah, you may be grabbing a flag, or destroying an objective, or searching for a key card. But those are all simply extensions of what began with Wolf 3D, DOOM, etc.

So yes, Return to Wolfenstein will almost certainly not be as breathtaking as the original was. But that's because, in the grand scheme of games, it's just another approach to a formula we've been playing with for the last decade.

Don't get me wrong - Tribes 2 and the new Wolf are awesome games, and I love 'em to death. But if you're looking for awe-inspiring innovation similar to what Wolf 3D brought to the gaming industry in the days of yore, it's not likely you'll find it this time around. Doesn't mean it's not a great game though. ;)

Re:Back in the day...

[mrogers]

To relive the experience, a newer Wolfenstein would have to again push current hardware beyond what is currently viewed as possible. It's quite a shame this is unlikely to happen

The reason it's unlikely to happen is that current PC hardware was designed with 3D games in mind. The game designers aren't going to come up with any new 3D tricks that the hardware manufacturers haven't thought of, because there are so many brains focussed on that area. The next big innovation in game design will probably come from a relatively neglected area: input devices, speech, plot structure, emergent behaviour etc.

The original Wolfenstein was written for a platform that nobody ever expected to use for 3D games. To create as much of a stir, the sequel would have to do much more than push the limits of the hardware within the FPS genre: it would have to create an entirely new genre.

Re:Back in the day...

[perrin_harkins]

That's nothing. I remeber running the ORIGINAL Castle Wolfenstein in 2D on my Apple II+. Now that was a great game! It was the first computer game I played that could really keep you on edge the whole time, worried that the SS would show up and kill you. It wasn't about shooting, since shooting would usually get you killed. It was more about stealth. I wonder if this is available for one of the Apple II emulators. I'd love to play it again.

Mad Rush

[the_burton]

And now, the mad rush.. who can download first! Who can get in queue! It'd be interesting to see a traffic schematic to see if releases like this actually produce significant bandwidth bottlenecks... Or is the internet flexible enough that just those wanting to download the file are being hassled?

Re:Mad Rush

[chronos2266]

And now, the mad rush.. who can download first! Who can get in queue! It'd be interesting to see a traffic schematic to see if releases like this actually produce significant bandwidth bottlenecks... Or is the internet flexible enough that just those wanting to download the file are being hassled?

damn and all I wanted was my daily dose of the pr0n.

Re:Mad Rush

[Anonymous Coward]

Gee! I downloaded it several days ago. I would think the rush would be over by now.

Opinion.

[MindStalker]

Ok to me, the updated networking code has some bugs. As a medic I need to see your health level quickly. It used to show me your health level instantly, now there is a wait :( Is this purposful?
On the topic of weither this is just another Q3 mod.
1. Yes it is.
2. The full version is going to include a very expansive single player/co-operative game, plus many muliplayer DM modes.
The single player game will be played carefully/tactically as opposed to run around and shot everything you see Q3.

Re:Opinion.

[jimsxe]

1. No it is not a "mod"
2. There is no single player game for Q3 so you are trying to compare apples to oranges.
3. Play it first before making dumb comments

Re:I have been doing it wrong the whole time!!

[Anonymous Coward]

the bible quotes link is no longer working, please update the howto

Just in case

[SynKKnyS]

ftp://ftp.bluesnews.com/rtcw/demos/wolfmptest2.exe
http://www.3dgamers.com/games/returnwolfenstein/
http://www.shacknews.com/files/fileshack.x?wolfens tein/wolfmptest2.exe
http://www.fileplanet.com/index.asp?file=69443
http://ftp.fragzone.se/index.php?s=&p=rtcw/
http://files.ausgamers.com/?agn=details&id=1016
http://www.planetmirror.com/pub/bluesnews/rtcw/dem os/wolfmptest2.exe

Not karma whoring, moderate with moderation. =P

Re:Just in case

[Nailer]

Not karma whoring

Especially when half your links end in .exe rather than .sh :P

Re:Just in case

[Anonymous Coward]

Did you notice the nice big print at the top of the download page?

I'll just echo it here:

Note: Other websites, please link to this page, rather than the files directly. Thanks.

... and your first link ... to the ftp server on the same domain at the site with that message.

Re:Just in case

[emc]

MCSE

Must Consult Someone Experienced

Re:Just in case

[Anonymous Coward]

such is the life of the karma whore. see, posting one link to the proper page doesn't get nearly as much lame moderation as a bunch of links.

anything to score a point.

Re:Just in case

[Anonymous Coward]

A much better source of the binary is Morpheus. Try searching for "wolfmptest2". You'll probably down load it in half the time.

Leibowitz

Re:Just in case

[btlzu2]

MCSE

Minion Certified in Satanic Expansion

Re:Just in case

[Anonymous Coward]

I wish I had some mod points left to mod this up.

Re:Just in case

[Anonymous Coward]

Minesweeper Consultant, Solitaire Expert.

Linux?

[Gaccm]

anyone have any news of whether this one will also be ported to linux? if so, then it would be almost 100% chance that the final version would be out for linux too. If not, well, thats one less game which takes me away from Half-life and Alpha Centauri

Re:Linux?

[Anonymous Coward]

Go flip a burger!

Re:Linux?

[Anonymous Coward]

anyone have any news of whether this one will also be ported to linux? if so, then it would be almost 100% chance that the final version would be out for linux too. If not, well, thats one less game which takes me away from Half-life and Alpha Centauri

Since when is there a version of Half-Life for linux?

Re:Linux?

[Anonymous Coward]

There was a Linux test 1 version. I can only assume in a few days they will release the Linux version.

Re:Linux?

[subnet533]

the first version was done by a guy at ID software in his spare time. So I'm just crossing my fingers here for this test, and the full version

Re:Linux?

[Nullsmack]

Half-life is like fine cheese.

It goes well with WINE.

Re:Linux?

[nft]

Yes, it is. Here's a link for the really lazy... Wait, it didn't work. 3d gamers has it, though. Follow the clicker on Blues News if you think you're smart enough, jackass.... :)

New maps?

[Evro]

Before I waste 20 minutes looking for a mirror, can anybody tell me if they've included any new maps? That one they have really sucks after like the 10th time you play it so I haven't touched the game since the week it came out.

Really needs more maps.

Re:New maps?

[Anonymous Coward]

No new maps, just the same beach one from the last release.

Re:New maps?

[Electrum]

Before I waste 20 minutes looking for a mirror, can anybody tell me if they've included any new maps? That one they have really sucks after like the 10th time you play it so I haven't touched the game since the week it came out.

Really needs more maps.

It's an engine test, not a demo. They will more than likely release a demo shortly before the final version is released, just like with Quake III. The test isn't supposed to reflect final gameplay. It's purpose is to test compatibility and networking code.

Re:New maps?

[batesman1]

I played the first demo for quite a bit....up until about an hour after the test2 came out.....just played test2 for about 2 hours.

The cinematics and actual in-game graphics and textures are almost night-and-day. Like comparing Quake to Quake 3. Seriously....if you play the test1 at all, it's worth the 60MB DL to play the new one. seems to run smoother too.

I'll be the l33t Panzer soldier named ValhallaPrime that will continually smack you from afar.

Re:New maps?

[Anonymous Coward]

Panzer soldier? Panzers are tanks, and have "crew", not soldiers as such. The infantry that accompanies the armored regiments are known as "Panzergrenadiers".

Just sounds like you're using the word "Panzer" to try and be cool.

Re:New maps?

[Reductionist]

Bah Panzer tanks suck.. It was the Tiger tanks that really kicked ass and made the allies shit in their pants. Lucky for them the Germans couldn't build enough of 'em or scrounge up enough petrol at the end to keep 'em running.

Re:New maps?

[batesman1]

Actually, no, it was for anyone that's played the game. For in-game chat, to tell others what you're equiping yourself with-you abbreviate. In this case it's the Panzerfaust 100 anti-armor rocket.

No, I'm not using it to sound cool. If i wanted to sound cool, I would initiate a discussion on, say, the post-wartime trial of U-Bootwaffe Kapitanleutnant Heinz Eck with regards to the Laconia Affair and the sinking of the Peleus. Or perhaps British special services Jasper Maskelyne's ingenious techniques for making the Suez Canal "disappear" to german fighter-bombers and it's ultimate strategic importance to british supply lines against Rommel's own lines.

Don't get cocky for the sake of getting cocky.

Crap

[ekrout]

There goes another two weeks at least of my life. Damnit, I was just kicking my Diablo II+ addiction.

Changelog?

[acm]

What's changed between Multplayer Test 1 and the latest test? Below you'll find some of the more notable changes.

1) Hud

- On the compass, Engineers can see which direction their dynamite objectives are in the world.

- You'll see a shield icon in the lower left, above your health letting you know when you're invulnerable (when you first reinforce and when revived by a medic)

- Messages have been moved around

- Assorted changes

2) Beach

- The Axis team will no longer have the option to spawn in the forward bunker. They can deny the Allies this spawn position by taking the flag from them and returning it to a "null" state.

- Dynamiting objectives has been tightened up. It's always best to plant the dynamite if you see the dynamite icon. If you hear the "Dynamite planted.." message, your objective will be destroyed.

3) Weapons

- MG42's take more damage

- Ammo count modified for many weapons (depending on class as well)

- Flamethrower's damage tweaked and movement speed reduced

4) Classes

- When revived by a medic, you revive with the amount of ammo you passed out with

- Medic's now get 10 revives. Good for altered max lives games as well as Stopwatch matches

- LT's can no longer pick up the Soldier specific weapons

- Engineers now get 8 grenades and another clip

- Engineers must now arm the dynamite they place. When you toss out a dynamite, you will automatically switch to the pliers.

5) Networking

- WolfMP is now using full TA networking.

6) Stopwatch Mode

- Stopwatch mode can be played in one of two ways. ABBA, or ABAB. We recommend playing in ABBA mode as this allows both sides a chance to set the clock.

- Stopwatch is played in two rounds. Which round you are in is displayed on the HUD, atop the Stopwatch icon. Try to beat the other teams' time!

7) Max Lives

- Added max number of lives/reinforcements. When this is set, you will only get as many lives/reinforcements as set by the Server. Once you are out of lives/reinforcements, you will only be able to follow the view of other team members. Once a team is out of lives/reinforcements, the round, or match will end.

- We suggest only running with max lives changed during Tourney Mode.

- We suggest playing with an unlimited number of lives during net play.

- Setting max lives to a different value can produce some hectic and frantic gameplay. We suggest practicing safe max lives with only those you know.

8) Tourney Mode

- When playing under this mode, there is an infinite warm-up time.

- Once all players in the game decide that the match should start, someone can callvote for "Match Start", if passed, the game will begin.

- Optionally, you can set the minimum number of clients for this mode. This option can be found on the Advance Server Setup screen. Once this number of people have joined the server, the game will automatically force a Match Start, allowing 20 more seconds before the game begins.

- Once the game begins, you will not be able to switch teams.

- If a player tries to connect with this enabled and the game is outside of the warmup phase, they will only be able to join as a spectator.

- This mode can not be played with one person.

- If two people are playing in this mode and one leaves, or joins the Spectators, the game will stop and the match will have to be re-started.

- You can set this mode to be played with all gametypes and settings.

- This is the preferred on-line method to play with Max Lives.

9) Other

- You no longer "time-out" to the Reinforcement Queue. You must tap out. If you are "dismembered beyond repair", you will automatically enter the reinforcement queue.

- If friendly-fire is enabled on your server, when killed by a team mate, the complaint system will pop up. If you vote yes, the team mate responsible for your death will have a complaint filed against them. Once they hit the server's setting for number of complaints until kicked, they will be kicked.

- There is a 30 second delay before you can join a different team as well as the chance of being caught in the middle of a deployment. So maximum time before being able to join another team is 30 seconds +max reinforcement time for the team on the specific level. This is default behavior. By setting Tourney Mode to "Yes", no team switching is allowed. Switching teams for an ill-effect is frowned upon.

- Spectators are now listed on the team/score panel.

- Map_restart functions just as warmup mode.

- Spectators can only talk to each other, not to the Axis or Allied teams.

- There is now a callvote menu option. Voting that is in progress will be displayed on-screen.

- Various quickchats moved around.

10) Resetting to Defaults

If you run into a situation where your config becomes trashed, or you don't like the settings you've created, run WolfMP with the following option:

"wolfmp safe"

This will set all settings to their default values.

Not to rain on anybodies parade but..

[loraksus]

It's been out for over a month. WTF?
I really dislike the gameplay, although it has potential. The crosshairs on the sniper rifle suck and the engine is slow.
Oh well..

who gives a fsck?

[Anonymous Coward]

Who the hell cares? This thing is ugly and behind-the-times. Anyone ever hear of a REAL multiplayer FPS? Something like UT or maybe Q3 or T2?

Re:who gives a fsck?

[Nullsmack]

Interesting that you call a new game behind the times.. especially since a combo pack of Unreal and Unreal Tourney is $20 and a combo pack of all Quake games is $30...

Quake 3 has been around since 1999 (if you count the test too), Unreal tourney has been around just as long. It's still going to be awhile before newer "versions" of these games come out, so why not have something new to pass your time with?

Submission

[smoondog]

"This probably would have been a better submission if it had included a download link of some sort."

That is pretty harsh coming from someone whose career has been developed by volunteers who send you submissions on a daily basis.

-Sean

Re:Submission

[Cow4263]

Whenever I think of what the slashdot editors actually do, I'm oddly reminded of this t-shirt

Re:Submission

[Anonymous Coward]

"First you bitch about the baby...then you bitch 'cause we're not married".

Re:Submission

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, God fordid the editors ever giving the submitters constructive critizism.

OF COURSE THERE SHOULD HAVE BEEN A LINK!

Re:Submission

[Plutor]

On the contrary. I think his criticism was perfectly appropriate considering that his career depends on the quality of the aforementioned submissions.

They're making you play?

[Anonymous Coward]

So, you have no free will of your own in the matter? That's so sad. Repeat after me: I am addicted to gaming and I cannot help myself.

Damn you slashdot!

[netnerd.caffinated]

I have a compsci exam in 7 days. I spent about 6 hrs on the weekend playing the RTCW multiplayer test...
Now I'll have to d/l the update & do some more "TESTING" damn you slashdot!
I would have been better off not knowing!

Re:Damn you slashdot!

[abolith]

Maybe you should stop reading slash all the time and do some studying... : )
oooo look arcanum mods.......

Re:Damn you slashdot!

[feldkamp]

Ugh! Me too!!!
I have a philosophy midterm today, and an algorithms midterm tomorrow!!!

id really needs to poll students to find out when the best time for major releases should be :P

"Improved" Netplay

[CheSera]

Something went seriously wrong with their update here I think. In RTCW test v1 I could run it fine at 1024x768 at 32 bit textures, now anytime I push the rez over 640x480 I lag obscenely. My ping times remain decent, but the game is unplayably slow. Especially when I dare to leave the confines of the bunker. I wonder if there are any v1 servers left.

Re:"Improved" Netplay

[Colin Bayer]

Heh... a new one's born every minute.

I can't believe you haven't cracked the nerdss' code yet: "improved" means "it works better on our machines, but we're on dual P4 Xeons wired together with Gigabit Ethernet" (remember the "Improved" new Coke?). Likewise, "feature" implies "... for our competitors' marketing departments," and "security" means "thing that our support department can charge $10 a call to fix."

Re:"Improved" Netplay

[Colin Bayer]

Erp... just found the typo, so don't complain about it. :D

Re:"Improved" Netplay

[odaiwai]

Improved New Coke ran on P4 Xeon's with Gigabit ethernet?

Chilled liquid processors. They do their own cooling. Neat.

dave

Re:"Improved" Netplay

[Anonymous Coward]

Too bad net and video aren't linked in Quake 3 or you might have a point.

Now if you're dropping frames because your computer is a piece of shit, that's not lag, that's your shitty computer.

Re:"Improved" Netplay

[Nullsmack]

No, it was those damn, pesky, 14.4'rs lagging all the decent cable users to death.

I love that myth.

Thank you Blizzard for making Peer-Peer games that make everyone accuse the lonely 56k'rs whenever they lag to hell, no matter what kind of game they're playing. (yes, I'm a cable user)

Re:"Improved" Netplay

[Anonymous Coward]

I played Test 1 everyday and I think I'm going to go back 'cause the pathetic performance of test 2 make sit unplayable half the time, and yes I have a decent machine and 'DSL.

Re:"Improved" Netplay

[Anonymous Coward]

Obviously you don't have a decent machine because you can't play it.

"My Pentium III 500 is decent!"

Re:"Improved" Netplay

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't forget Tribes too, as any server with high ping bastards would slow to a crawl.

Test 2. Duh.

[Hatter]

Notice it's Multiplayer Test _2_. This is an update.

Doesn't anyone read anymore?

Re:Test 2. Duh.

[loraksus]

yes people do. _2_
1 was out about 3-4 months ago.
I guess I had a special copy.

Re:Test 2. Duh.

[Bradee-oh!]

Well, you're very special then.

MP Test #1 version and build date, as shown in game - 0.7.15, Sept. 15th

MP Test #2 version and build date, as shown in game - 0.9.20, Nov 3rd

So if you were really playing #1 3-4 months ago, that's fabulous. Playing #2 a month ago? Great! But this release is news because it's when us common men were allowed to start playing. :)

What part of "test" did you not understand?

[Silver222]

It's not the full version of the game. Yeah, it would be nice if they put 5 new maps in this one...oh wait, then you'd be whining that the release of the game keeps getting pushed back, wouldn't you?

Re:What part of "test" did you not understand?

[Evro]

Well q3test came with 3 maps. I think asking for a single non-crap map isn't that much. I guess you're right, though; now my impression of the game is such crap because of that one lame map that I don't give a fuck when it's released. I think that's really best for all, don't you agree?

Re:Are you looking for a job?

[kalleanka2]

Hehe, funny.

But don't forget the dot com people, they are in the same boat as OSS developers these days.

How is this a troll post?

[i0n]

This person has a perfectly valid and on-topic comment on this topic. Why is it that he was labeled as a troll?

Re:How is this a troll post?

[shani]

Indeed.

But isn't this why God invented metamoderation?

Re:How is this a troll post?

[shogun]

Hemos is a God? Can I be the first to join the Church of Hemos?

Re:How is this a troll post?

[Anonymous Coward]

Because Tandy 1000's didn't have VGA graphics - they had their own special Tandy 1000 graphics chip. And because Wolf 3d would only run on a 386 (check out the min. sys. req. if you don't believe me).

Obviously the meta-mods / moderators that came later were clueless teenagers who don't remember anything earlier than a Pentium.

Re:How is this a troll post?

[Anonymous Coward]

Bah. I played it on an 80286. Not a Tandy, though.

Re:How is this a troll post?

[Bert64]

A 386 or higher was the recommended spec, a 286 with vga card and 2mb ram would handle it just fine. AFAIK most 286`s had 16-bit ISA slots, or atleast some of them did... And it`s possible to insert a VGA compatible card into a Tandy 1000, I even put a VGA card into an old amstrad 8088 based machine running ms-dos 3.x, not that it was very fast or much software could take advantage of it, but still..

Re:How is this a troll post?

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, however I doubt the original post did.

q3/wolfenstien

[Anonymous Coward]

Well i think multiplayer might be same as quake 3 but single player hopefully the AI is good, it better be, the movies make it look good but we can only hope

I loved the original..

[Reikk]

I loved wolfenstein 3d - it was the first computer game I ever really played. I spent hours totally immersed - the sounds, the german, everything made it a totally great game.

I did cheat slightly though - I could tell if there were a lot of guys in the room ahead before I opened the door. If I walked up to a door (before opening it), my hard drive would grind and the LED light would flash like crazy if there were germans in the room ahead.

This version though doesn't seem to be as groundbreaking or entertaining as most other games currently on the market. Quake 3 took the first person shooter as far as it could go. I think that genre has perhaps reached it's peak.

I think there are some really great games out right now. Games like starcraft, the sims, rollar coaster tycoon and nhl2001 are some of my personal favorites.

I just wish more of those bastard software developers would port their software to linux and/or solaris so I wouldn't have to reboot as much :-)

Re:I loved the original..

[Bradee-oh!]

Quake 3 [idsoftware.com] took the first person shooter as far as it could go. I think that genre has perhaps reached it's peak.

WOW! Surprised a /. would be so lacking in vision, overwhelmed by such shortsidedness :) Let's remember you said that, then in 5 years, we can show how wrong it is. In 10-15 years, the games we play will make us wonder why we thought Wolf3d->Quake3 were "first person shooters." :)

By no means am I claiming RTCW is more advanced than Quake 3, but indeed we have alot farther to go. When I can be an actor in a computerized reenactment of the D-Day invasion and not realize the difference from reality, THEN we'll talk about the FPS genre having reached its peak :)

Re:I loved the original..

[crhylove]

just wait till quantum computing fps games... "as fas as you can go" sheez.

rhy

Re:I loved the original..

[simon333]

I don't think you can say that until Doom 3 comes out, but I do get you're point. The current engine seems to be at it's limits.

Re:I loved the original..

[MUJAHID]

yeah i listened to the harddrive before entering a room as well. i played it on a 286-12 mh 1mb ram and 60mb hd. even at 320x200 i had to decrease the viewable area a lot to make it playable.

if you think the fps genre has nothing more to offer read my Infiltration post.

Re:I loved the original..

[the grace of R'hllor]

Quake 3 took the first person shooter as far as it can go?

Are you crazy?

Quake 3, IMHO, sucks. It offers nothing new compared to earlier offerings from ID.

Say this of a game like Tribes 2, and I may believe you. You'd still be wrong, but closer.

Re:I loved the original..

[noahmax]

i'm writing about the new wolfenstein for wired news. and i'd like to get your comments on what y'all think of think of the game -- and how it compares to the original... e-mail me: noahmax@inch.com nms

Re:I loved the original..

[Anonymous Coward]

I would really like a FPS where the gravity changes in certain spots. Or perhaps a central point of gravity, and all the players can jump off walls and such (Like inside a sphere). That'd be aweseme. I love low grav.

Re:I loved the original..

[Anonymous Coward]

Castle Wolfenstein 3D was not the original ... the original was a 2D 80's game on the Apple II called Castle Wolfenstein.

Re:I loved the original..

[Pxtl]

UT has that, but few level designers use it. Try out the DM-Pyramid map - zero gravity shaft in the middle instead of some elevator or lame-ass springboard (who's ideas were those?).

Mirror: Fileplanet.com

[RageMachine]

Fileplanet.com. I have SDSL. Downloaded it at 162k a sec. Of course there was a 4 minute wait... But hey... Lets Slashdot Fileplanet! :)

instructions?

[Anonymous Coward]

Hmm, anyone have a pointer for instructions as to how to play this thing? So, you join a server, look at the pletty menus, and then how do you actually turn into a player from being a spectator?

Sure, this is a braindead question, but, where is the answer to this anyway so that the not quite so l33t ones of us can participate..

Thanks.

Re:instructions?

[Anonymous Coward]

samething here. although i co-maintain a C++ compiler for a living. still, i don't know how to
play video games. last time i tried quake -3 yrs
ago- i was fatigued and got headaches.

these guys are sure lucky to be into this thing.

Re:instructions?

[Anonymous Coward]

hmm as one of my EE professors was fond of saying.. RTFM!

Re:instructions?

[Rand Race]

Hit escape, choose Limbo Menu, choose Axis or Allies, Choose Soldier, Luietenant, Engineer, or Medic, Choose weapon, play.

That's how it works on the OSX version at least.

And where can we grab the .tar?? (Linux?)

[TheCeltic]

Where is the .tar/.rpm/etc... for linux? I can't wait to try it out!

Something that *really* needs to get fixed soon...

[thesolo]

The video control panel. Even if you try to adjust the brightness in game (under windows anyway), it pauses, adjusts, clicks back to Windows, then re-enters the game and puts you in limbo, and then resumes. C'mon, even the original Wolf 3D could adjust brightness easier!

Would you cheese with your whine?

[Anonymous Coward]

wow...no download link...how sucky can some people be?

"First you bitch about the baby, then you bitch 'cause we're not married...."

Windows 2000

[Anonymous Coward]

I've downloaded from 3 DIFFERANT MIRRORS now and the filesizes are all the same, yet in Windows 2000 it breaks at the END of the installer on the mp_pak0.pk3 or whatever... (the pak file). One of my friends on IRC downloaded the same file from the same mirror (also same filesize), and his worked in windows98. So I guess my question is, has anybody out there got the new demo installed in Win2k yet? If so HOW?!@ :D

Re:Windows 2000

[Rambar]

Installed fine for me. Didn't have to do anything special. Got mine from 3dgamers.com.

Re:Windows 2000

[Anonymous Coward]

I downloaded it fine from 3DGamers as well. i have Win2k. You sure you got all the Win2k patches applied? I'm sure one of them will fix your problem. heh.

Re:Windows 2000

[Anonymous Coward]

Actually I have ALL of the patches applied... I visit microsoft update almost as much as slashdot which is kind sad =/ This is a fresh install of win2k professional too. I've tried from 3 differant mirrors now, and also tried wgetting it from on a linux box in case ie6 was breaking the download. My friend who happens to be on his box a few feet from me also has win2k pro installed (about a month old install) and it breaks on his as well. I've even tried rebooting and installing from there... even disabling networking in case something in some strange MS way was fudging up the install... no dice. =/

Need linux ded server docs...

[Wee]

What's changed between Multplayer Test 1 and the latest test? Below you'll find some of the more notable changes.

I'll tell you what hasn't changed: Nobody has bothered to tell server admins exactly what is and isn't different (console-wise) from running a Q3A server. What's worse is that folks new to Q3A or Wolf3D will have trouble finding any coherent docs on running a server if they've never run one before. What's worsest is that guys who've never run a Linux-based Q3A server will have a very hard time finding Linux-specific docs about running a dedicated Wolf3D server.

Can someone, somewhere bother to tell us mere mortals what all we need to know in order to run a ded server safely (which includes kicking people, banning people, stopping cheating, etc)? Don't be like those Tribes2 guys and hide all the console commands from us. Just let us know what it is we need to know. Anything you can type at a console and its effect is what we're after. A simple list would be fine.

Yeah, I've tried searching Google. Every 15 year-old on the planet has a Wolf3D/Q3A site. None of them are useful. It makes searching for only Wolf3D info very hard. And as to searching any of the popular gaming sites... forget it. They're all paid to sell you Win32 games...

I'm aiming to run a Linux-based Wolf3D ded server on a very beefy (and dedicated) machine with lots of bandwidth. But only if I can find info about running that server. It would be in id's best interest to make the ded server info available to guys like me. The public servers run by private folks are what made id what it is.

-B

Re:Need linux ded server docs...

[Anonymous Coward]

Have you considered asking around in the Wolf MP Test Forums at Quake 3 World?

There's also a Server Admin Forum there, which might be of some use.

Re:Need linux ded server docs...

[DNS-and-BIND]

Try this:
Link

Re:Need linux ded server docs...

[Wee]

Cool beans, man, thanks!

-B

Re:I do it wronger

[Anonymous Coward]

man, thanks for the trolling advice. is there
some place i can reach you? IRC? e-mail? etc.

i really think that you have a valid point, having seen you
put that much effort into your writing.

well done.

UT!!

[Myrdraal]

I better like UT. The reason to this is that to my oppinion has better playability, and speed. I personly tried running both Q3 and UT on my old computer(166MMX,96 MB SDRAM, 3DFX Voodoo). UT ran perfect flutuent with me and 5 both and grafics set to mask, Q3 ran like shit with minimal detail and 1 bot. I also thik that the grafics in UT is looking way better then in Q3. But after im fninished school today, i'm going home to try Tactical Operation (CS addon to Unreal Tournament)

Re:UT!!

[MUJAHID]

don't bother with tactical ops. get infiltration.

or at least get both and compare.

Re:UT!!

[Smid]

UT is a funny old multiplayer game, its community is the same size of Q3's, but is largely made up of people who didn't like Q3, and Q3s community is often made up of players who have never played UT...

Smid

(UT Instagib player)

Re:this superlative life ( a day as iteration )

[Anonymous Coward]

One thing I have noticed is that there are far fewer trolls when a good story hits. Not that it's an excuse, but posting another story from OSNews doesn't cut it, and this site produces so little original content these days :(

(btw. I do not participate in trolling)

Infiltration

[MUJAHID]

Infiltration (extensive "realism" mod of Unreal) is the best fps out there IMHO yet nobody has even heard of it. If you're sick of crosshairs and are man enough to use iron sights, if you're tired of bunnyhopping and other such sillyness, check out infiltration. it does have some problems (some unrealistic rushing is still possible without community-made mutators and it still lacks original mp modes) but it's the best thing out there. i'm also waiting for Hostile Intent which has the same objective ie.: as close as you can get to real with a mouse and a monitor.

Re:Infiltration

[GroovBird]

I find True Combat very interesting. It's a MOD for Q3A, but the details are astonishing and the realism just rocks. It has classic deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture the flag, survivor and team survivor.

The latest build (11) also has iron sighting (alpha) and comes with its own bots.

Ever since I found this I find myself no longer playing the cheater-ridden online CounterStrike...

Dave

Looks like Axis and Allies all over again

[Dr. JackAzone]

The game look great and runs above average on my computer, but it looks to much like axis and allies for halflife, well if that's good is up to each person to decide, but I don't like, but that's just me, I'm a Delta Force and Operation Flashpoint guy. Now I just need to find the old Wolfenstein again:-)

michael is a fucking CUNT

[Anonymous Coward]

That poor guy who submitted the story was no doubt delighted when it was accepted, but Michael had to ruin in by complaining about no download link being included... what a bastard.

Wolfenstein Trivia

[WalterSobchak]

Maybe some /.ers would be interested, that while of course the "Return to Wolfenstein" storyline is fictional, there is a grain of truth to it.
Heinrich Himmler, Reichsfuehrer SS, was drawn to - if not obsessed with - the mystical and supernatural. While I would have to research this thesis, Himmler may really have believed (Sorry, German) to be an incarnation of Herny the Lion (1133-1189). A fact is, that H. wanted to turn the SS into a quasi religious order, based on germanic mythology.
Maybe the most interesting piece here, is that H. installed the "H-Sonderkommando" (German), which was a well funded research project on witch hunts. Himmler viewed the witch hunts as a kind of early modern holocaust inflicted upon the Germanic race ... At the same time, researchers say, Himmler was hoping to find among the old records "the remains of the heathen, Old Germanic folk culture that one assumed was meant to be wiped out along with the witches." ( Der Spiegel (English)
To find out more about the guys you're shooting in Wolfenstein, read Himmler's Pozen speech.

Apart from this, happy gaming

Alex

Re:Wolfenstein Trivia

[SuiteSisterMary]

As an aside, the 'H' in 'Sonderkommando-H' stands for 'Hexen' which translates as 'witch.'

Re:Wolfenstein Trivia

[Anonymous Coward]

I have heard that one of the female characters in the game is modeled rather closely after Irma Grese, the "Blonde Beast," an S.S. concentration camp supervisor (Aufseherin) at Ravensbrück, Auschwitz-Birkenau and Bergen-Belsen. A seriously sick and twisted individual by all accounts; it will be nice opening up on her virtual ass with a Thompson or an MP-40.

Nazis make great villains in games, novels, movies, etc. because well, in reality they were such great villains.

Like first test better...

[Tranvisor]

In the second test it now looks like its around ten in the morning with the sky all white, I liked it better when it was darker, the 5 am feel. It seems as if the weapons are deadlier as well, I don't know what to think about this. The whole interface has been changed around so it feels like a completely different game.

The default sprint button has been moved to shift from caps lock, so undoubtedly, more people will actually use it. I don't know I kind of liked it when I was the only one on the map that could run fast ;). The entire level, not just the sky, seems brighter, and I don't think I like it very much, your opinions of course will vary. I wish they released the much talked about sub-base level, but unfortunatly no dice. Hey, can't complain about something free to much can we?

In closing, I think I liked the first version of the map more, spawning right in the front bunker as the axis was what made running up the beach at first hard!

Re:Like first test better...

[Stormy Henderson]

There's a setting in the Options/Game Options menu for a Low Quality Sky. Change it to No, and you'll get your starry night back.

Then click on System, and make sure your Lighting is set to Light Map (high) and not Vertex (low). The latter gives the walls a false brightness, which may be your problem. It will also reduce your FPS. Finish by clicking Apply.

I don't like the new look either. It seems like a different, and less realistic, game. And the icons are harder to decipher. But I suppose I'll get used to it, and not like the old way.

Re:Like first test better...

[Stormy Henderson]

It's the Light Map that will reduce your FPS, not the Vertex, sorry.

single player mode?

[freonfighter]

Why don't they add bots for single player mode?

The Game of the Year

[Pivot]

This is the Game of the Year in my book. It's only in preview yet, but I am hooked and play several hour allmost every day!

There's one thing missing though; it should be easy for server administrators to set up TeamKiller kicking. Since votekicking didn't work in test1 on linux (didn't try test2 yet), its impossible to get rid of them.

Otherwise; to those that think this is only quake3 with mods; play it, and you'll discover that this is a game with tactics that involve teamwork and skills beyond being able to quickly change from the rocketgun to the railgun, to be able to do rocketjumps and aim perfectly with the railgun etc. This look, feels and sounds like war, and your adrenaline goes up high when the heat turns up.

Re:Not really what the world needs

[Anonymous Coward]

Sieg Heil! You're proposed censorship is the main tennent of any fascist ideology.

Spare me!

[BLKMGK]

"it's safe to say that the effect exists and is significant" Oh really? How exactly did you come up with this?! I thought the "jury" was still out but you've decided that it's "significant"? All on your own? Show me some data not produced by some self serving objective organization and maybe I'll start to believe this. You're one of those people that want to wrap their kids in cotton before sending them to school aren't you? No violence ever, nothing but soft sounds, can't let them live a little can you? Yuck.

You're not interested in video games, you admit that, perhaps you simply don't know squat about them? It's about competition and fun, pretend it's a fancy game of tag. I've played video games for as long as they've been out for computers and on consoles before that. I got faster reflexes, spatial reasoning improvements for finding my way out of maps, and was forced to learn more about my computer when I screwed it up :-). Do I run around with a shotgun shooting at people in real life? Nope! I can tell the difference between right and wrong. Do some people have trouble with that concept? Sure, lot's of them do. Now what makes you think those same people wouldn't find something else to screw them up if it wasn't computer games? I'm sorry, I just don't buy this idea that games are screwing people up. Do you protest WWF Wrestling too? Paintball?

Hrm, and as for playing as a "Nazi" you don't. You play as a German Soldier - did it occur to you that they were people too? We sent KIDS to fight in that war and so did the Germans. Do you REALLY think all of those KIDS were out there goostepping and believing in everything Hitler said? Kripes, they wanted to live just like our kids did.

Come bitch to me about a new game centered around running a concentration camp and I'll be right there with you but I see no reason to get upset with simply playing on one side or another. Flight sims have allowed you to fly German planes and bombers for YEARS - why did no one bitch about that?!

Quite honestly, the VERY worst in-game scene I've ever seen was the one where you play an AMERICAN soldier who encounters some of his own men captured in jail cells. Shooting them gave you AMMO and HEALTH points! That was an iD game too as I recall and I thought the idea of being rewarded for shooting your own men in their jail cells was disgusting. The men were supposed to be in pain and you were "helping them" but I found that FAR worse than anything I'd seen before or I've seen since. Sad, I can't even remember which game that was but I remember how much I did NOT like that scene. Multiplayer game play was fine though :-)

One Question

[Kleedrac2]

I have one question. I've been running Windows XP and it doesn't like allowing me to run anything OpenGL on my lil Riva TNT. Can this version of the test be run in Direct3D?? Please God?? I'll try anyways but I figured if anyone would know you guys would ... thanks.

Re:One Question

[ElectricToothbrush]

Get the new drivers from your card manufacturer. OpenGL ran like a pig on XP for my GeForce3 until I reinstalled the drivers from the card maker.

Re:One Question

[jarodkf]

If your manufacturer doesn't have drivers for xp, go to nvidia.com and download the latest detonator drivers. It's the same set of drivers for all cards with the nvidia chipset from tnt to geforce 3.

download

Re:One Question

[Anonymous Coward]

I had alot of trouble under Windows XP with my games. There is also the problem of a lack of adequate driver support for much of my hardware. I've since reinstalled Windows 98 and holding out on XP until its proven to be an established platform. After all, you have to use what works.

Multiplayer Before Team Fortress?

[nuxx]

Bit of a clarification. Half-life wasn't out before Team Fortres. TF was an old classic mod for the original Quake. Back when people with a 33.6 were LPB's to those of us trying to get into QuakeWorld with a 14.4. When 640x480 and hardware 3D was considered a godsend. And a huge advantage.

-Steve

Re:Multiplayer Before Team Fortress?

[Anonymous Coward]

Are you an idiot? He was obviously saying that Half-Life's multiplayer was good (ie, Half-Life DM) before the official mods came out, TFC and CS. I don't think there's anyone here who's ignorant of TF's history.

That was funny

[MindStalker]

Just to let mod's know, that was funny. It was an SNL reference. But nevermind.

Not a side project

[MindStalker]

I wouldn't say it was a side project, infact its a completly different project. 3 different companies are working on RTCW.
Id software - Overseeing the entire thing especially any engine modifications, mainly they are making sure to protect the name.
Gray Matter Studios - Developing the single player.
Nerve Software - Is developing the Multiplayer
http://www.3dactionplanet.com/wolfenstein/info/f aq .shtml
Though I'm curious as to why very few of the docs mention Nerve.

Hu?

[MindStalker]

Ok like I would make a comparison between the health showing times of the old test and the new ones, if I've never played it before.
Second I like the game alot, I wasn't insulting it alot. People were saying that this is just another boring Q3 mod. I was saying, yes, it is a Q3 Mod (because it is a modificaiton based on the Q3 engine), but it also has an exensive single player game to it also. :)

I disagree

[Washizu]

Does it seem to anyone else that the gameplay in Return to Castle Wolfenstein seems - or is - Quake 3 all over again, with different weapons?

I highly disagree that the gameplay is similar. Yes, using the same engine ensures that some things will look and feel similar, but I don't see how Wolf's goal based, team oriented gameplay is similar to Quake 3 Arena's "pure arcade deathmatch".

Quake 3: Encourages quick hands, great response times, solo fighting, good knowledge of locations for available power ups, jumping, fast shooting, etc.

RTCW: Encourages knowledge of map routes, countering player classes, teamwork, reloading, delayed respawns, protecting land areas instead of power ups, strategic plans of attack, etc.

To people who hardly ever play 3D shooters, I can see how they would think the games were similar, but I doubt you or I are in that category.

Re:I disagree

[Anonymous Coward]

Do you "run" as fast in CW? I really hated Q3's crack-addict on speed hopping-mad-bunnies style of gameplay. Even _attempting_ to graft "history" onto this style is such utter bullshit I don't know where to start.
Or did they attempt to make it even vaguely realistic?

OS X version?

[SpotBug]

Anybody got any information about when it will be available or, if it's available now, where to get it?

Re:OS X version?

[Anonymous Coward]

Right here: ftp://ftp.idsoftware.com/idstuff/wolf/osx/

Re:this superlative life ( a day as iteration )

[Anonymous Coward]

Hey! Try www.kuro5hin.org

A smaller lot, but more to it.

As slashdot weens on the tit of arrogance and oversight, other ventures sneak in the night, to usurp. HAHAHAHAHA.

wolfenstein and ip masquerading

[brer_rabbit]

Anyone have a list of ipchains rules / ports that need to be forwarded to play RTCW from a IP masqueraded / firewalled lan? I've got a linux box running ipchains / masquerading and can't seem to get RTCW going with ipchains up.

I know RTCW uses udp ports in the 27950-60 range, but simply port forwarding these across the lan doesn't seems to work. I didn't have to do anything fancy to get Unreal Tournament working, so I'm wondering if RTCW did something wierd with their networking code.

Re:wolfenstein and ip masquerading

[Anonymous Coward]

The actual game works fine, it is only server scanning code that does not work over default nat.
Get your box off NAT, refresh list of servers... put it back and use that cached list for playing.

TK bot

[Anonymous Coward]

i use this bot on my server. It works fairly well. It needs some work done on it, but it is still being developed. http://www.baz.com/quark/software/wab/

Great - but it requires Windows.

[Anonymous Coward]

I can't find an x86 linux version - it looks like you'll need
to run out and purchase a copy of Microsoft (R)
Windows(TM) to test this version. If you ask me, Wolf
costs to much.

-craig

Download Mirror

[beefdart]

Hey guys, after waiting like 2 hours for my download, and then another hour and a half to download it... I threw it up on my server... college is cool. Get it here

Has flying over the wall been fixed ??

[Average_Joe_Sixpack]

In the first test with FF turned off, a german could fly over the wall by being hit by a rocket(or grenade).

Re:Has flying over the wall been fixed ??

[Average_Joe_Sixpack]

oops I mean an ally

Re:Not really what the world needs

[Anonymous Coward]

Shut up bitch! *SLAP* Get back in the kitchen and bake me a pie!

Linux Version is Available

[Seanasy]

ftp://ftp.idsoftware.com/idstuff/wolf/linux/

Check Linuxgames for more info and another mirror.

WolfMPTest for Linux out

[stuNNed]

http://www.bluesnews.com/files/idstuff/wolf/linux/ wolfmptest2-0.9.20.shtml

new /. filter needed

[BigBir3d]

Shouldn't there be a /. filter that would not post comments that have something like 98.5% the same content as previous posts? The dead baby jokes (if you can call most of them funny) and the /. Troll Guide come to mind 8-)

Found a linux version

[bastard01]

I was looking on linuxgames and they had a link to the port of the test 2 for those of us without windows, here is the link: ftp://ftp.idsoftware.com/idstuff/wolf/linux/ There is the full and no media versions as was the case for the last test.

Re:Wolfenstein = Q3 WW2 Patch?

[Anonymous Coward]

Let's make it simple -- id is not, and may never be a good game development company.

Hold those flames, though. id is an *incredible* game *engine* development company. id work has gone into all sorts of amazing games. Their engines still blow me away. But really, the "game" that comes out with each new engine (quake, doom) is nothing much more than a glorified tech demo without much gameplay. Other companies take these incredible engines and make polished games with them.

I really am serious. quake had no story, not a lot of variety, mediocre multiplayer (yes, deathmatch was novel when it was invented, but it's hardly been as long-lived as, say, Team Fortress). The reason quake was so popular and so long-lived was because of the great mods that came out and quake-engine games that came out. *Those* are actual, complete games. Quake is just an engine with a demo on top.

Every time a new id comes out with a new "game", though, it advances the state-of-the-art in 3d gaming, so I like seeing the Quake logo in stores...

Ragnar

Mod parent up

[Anonymous Coward]

Excellent point. That's pretty much happened with most generes

Might be that plot structure is already happening...Half-Life, Max Payne, the older and unfortunately not-widely-played Marathon all have actual, immersive plots.

Re:Obligatory dead baby joke post

[Anonymous Coward]

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
STOP FUCKING POSTING THIS FILTH HERE ASSHOLE!!!
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxx

small mirror

[Afrosheen]

Here's a small mirror site for those of you who are interested:

http://tuxbox.by-a.com

Some .plan files that go along with this today

[Anonymous Coward]

Robert Duffy and Graeme Devine. Looks like an OSX build is coming down too, cool.

will this game support multi-monitors under win32

[raslin]

or linux ?