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Tribes2 Patch for Linux Out
Tom writes "After Dynamix went under, Tribes2 was unsupported for a while, then Sierra signed a contract with GarageGames (the company formed by several Ex-Dynamic guys), but only for the Windows version.
Those of us who bought the Linux version ported by Loki were left out in the cold -- until today. Linuxgames has the story. Sam Lantinga of SDL fame did the port/patch."
I noticed that hte patch in question was being hosted by Loki. Given the high cost of bandwith (at least en masse) and the fact that theyre bankrupt, why are they still hosting patch downloads? Or did I miss something in this whole Loki debacle....
Anyways, Im glad that support for Tribes 2 has continued for Linux (Can you still buy it?)....But are there any other companies that are doing what Loki did?
There was a petition out where you could sign up for demanding a Linux version of the upcoming patch, and I'm sure this has been one of the reasons why they will support it.
The Tribes 2 community has proven very, very strong, and even long after Dynamix (the creator) was closed by Sierra, Tribes 2 still lives on.
Tribes 2 is a game that is VERY different from most other 3D shooting games - it's almost closer to football than Quake once you've learned to play it right. Teamwork is everything, and it's almost unsuitable for playing without a clan membership.
Dybdahl
-=EEF=-Offence leader
http://www.euroeliteforce.net/
Not really relevant to the current article, but I really wished Dynamix wouldn't have gone under. Back when I got my first machine (an IBM PS/1, 486sx, 20mhz) the first couple games I got were by Dynamix, and they were the best I had played. The aces series were just amazing. I even fell in love with the manuals for them. Full color plans of each aircraft, and a great historical reference (for a game manual). I even used cited it in a research paper I did in 5th grade on WWII aircraft. I even kept the manuals when I discovered my box full of old computer games, as they might come in handy for modelling some 3d aircraft.
Ah, nostalgia.
WWJD.... for a Klondike bar?
Sam Lantinga is one of the coolest guys in opensource today. Hes done a lot for gaming on Linux and his SDL library is being used by hundreds of projects now. I really look up to this guy.
Sigs are awesome huh?
It's actually a pretty interesting relationship. GarageGames was founded by the dev team of Dynamix with the idea of making a deal with Sierra for the source code of Tribes2. I don't know what sort of royalties they pay, but $100/developer for a license of the source is a damn good deal, if you ask me.
Because the Torque Engine (used to be called the V12 Engine, but someone had previously trademarked it) is based on the Tribes2 engine, many of the fixes require very little work to make it back into the Tribes2 tree. A great amount of work is going into the Torque Engine for cross platform support, and thus the Tribes2 linux patches are born. =)
Will
Slashdot conveniently forgot this, but Sam works for Blizzard Entertainment now. Yes, the evil DCMA people who sued bnetd.
But Blizzard gave the goahead for Sam to work on the Tribes 2 Linux patch during work hours. So Blizzard supports the Linux community! But they're Evil! But they're Good! *smoke*
The team interface allows great team coordination. Huge maps allow huge team games to be really fun. More importantly, the larger the map, the more team interaction is required. For instance one must use infantry-transport vehicles to bring in the heavy guns (they move really slowly). Fun fun fun.
When I saw this story, I immediately ran loki_update, an app (for those who
don't know) that interactively downloads patches for any installed loki games,
plus Unreal Tournament for linux and applies them. I couldn't find this. I
had to go directly to the ftp site and grab the patch. Does anyone know if
this will be placed for the loki_update app to work, or is it discontinued?
It's a very useful app, seeing as how you can just run it, select what games
you want to check for update and leave. I hope that they don't discontinue its
use.
SealBeater
-- Its survival of the fittest...and we got the fucking guns!!!
all patches, FAQs, newsgroups and other online support services will continue to operate with a third party host. The Loki domains will be redirected to point to the new host, so you won't need to make any changes to continue to use these services.
Moderation Totals: Flamebait=2, Troll=1, Redundant=1, Insightful=6, Overrated=1, Underrated=1, Total=12. (not mine)
Dynamix didn't exactly 'go under'. They were profitible in fact; it's just that when Vivendi bought Sierra, they decided that it'd be even more profitable to not pay Dynamix anymore, and keep all the Tribes 2 sales money for themselves. Hurray for quarterly earnings reports!
Everything that was once directly lived has receded into a representation. -debord
It's a beta patch, so it won't show up when you update normally. In fact, do not install it unless you know what you are doing.
Dybdahl.
-=EEF=-Offence leader
http://www.euroeliteforce.net/
UE's still, Netcode is laggy... No regular drops... Still waiting and waiting on drops that never arrive to test. Whats the point of beta testing if there are no regular drops?
REQUEST: Somebody code a T2 mod for UT2003 engine, PLEASE!
Once its out sierria can do nada.
----- Whats wrong with this picture? http://www.revoh.org:1234/whatswrong
This patch is still *beta*, it's not the last offical patch.
When will Loki be resurected!? Their descent 3 and myth 2 ports were excellent. Too bad we were all so damn thrifty that we bough used copies, and copies existing ones.
We should have bought a new copy. We should have helped them along. We failed them, they didn't fail us.
You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.
Is this patch #24834?
/. moments before I signed on to go play Tribes2 on Linux. Is this is a patch for an upcoming version? Mine seems to work fine.
I literally was checking
"Now I know I can count on Slashdot to tell me whenever my games get patched, because isn't that why we are really here?"
;)
Only if it's a Linux version of an ancient game.
"Derp de derp."
"A game company released a patch. That's front
page news."
Somebody made a "it's not newsworthy!' post without considering the ramifications of the article. That was worth reading.
"Derp de derp."
Only saw 7 games running when I went online with this new patch. I'm assuming it's only showing servers running with the patch beta?
Anyone know?
- jon
Ganymede, a GPL'ed metadirectory for UNIX
Catch me in the game, same name as I use on /.
"oh just because its linux its newsworthy then"
A rather large chunk of the Slashdot population are Linux enthusiasts. The other chunk (and there is a lot of mixture here) is anti-MS.
So we see everything that is anti-MS and everything that sounds like Linux may gain a larger share of the market.
The result? We get idiotic stories like "An e-mail from an executive proves that MS intends to assymilate the world!" and "Walmart sells cheap-o computers nobody will want with Linux installed!"
My answer to your post was more like "That's the way things work, make the most of it" rather than "I found this interesting!". Don't give me shit about it.
"Derp de derp."
Only if it's a Linux version of an ancient game. ;)
no, only if it's an AAA game for Linux that was going to the trashcan because of lack of updates, and now doesn't.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
Playing in a true 3D environment for the first time.
For a PC game, that is ancient. PC games have a shelf life of roughly a month. (if that) They're not like console games that can last over a year.
That's why companies that make console games do so much better even though a console only has 5-10 million people on average that own one.
"Derp de derp."
I think there are enough Linux games players now who would buy a Linux version of the game, but of course only if it comes out at the same time (and is as good) as the Windows version. The problem at the moment I think is that SDL is not up to the capabilities of the DirectX suite, am I right?
I wasn't even aware teh Dynamax went under until I saw this post (but then again I haven't really kept up with gaming much over the past few years..)
However, I would like to say, that asides from Bioware/Blizzard, Dynamax made some of the best games ever. The one that most sticks out in my mind was Betrayal at Krondor. This was one of those games that came out right around the migration to CDs for games in general, when you could still get the floppys instead of the CDs. I didn't have a CD drive yet, so I got the floppy version, and it was great.
While most games of the time had bad stories, graphics, and even worse music, Krondor beat everything. It had large duengons, good wordlock puzzels, and a nice storyline. The music was great for the time, and I hear it was even better on the CD. In addition, many of the CD games at the time were pushbutton movies that you choose something every few minutes, and then watched a movie- not Krondor. I still love that game and wish that someone would update it as they have the Ultima series. Anyway, I am sad to see this company gone. Tribes/Tribes 2 was a great game as well, because it broke up the FPS genre a bit, and added some more strategy to it. The only other FPS that I like better are the Rainbow 6/Ghost Recon series.
Tibbon
tibbon.com
"When why do about 50,000 people play CS/Half-Life? It's older than Quake3."
Oh, you're right. You found one rare example (afterall, we don't live in a world of absolutes) so my point is 100% negated. Every single game is a classic forever and people buy millions of copies every day.
"Derp de derp."
It's not about the shelf life. Sure the games are in the bargain bin, but even though they are old there is yet to be a FPS that comes close to the gameplay.
Shelf life or no, be glad the good games are supported.