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Open Source Shooter Nexuiz 2.5 Released

Michael writes "A new version of Nexuiz, a GPL-licensed, first-person shooter, has been released. There are over 3,000 changes in Nexuiz 2.5, including new maps, new game-modes, enhanced graphics, new audio, and other major changes. Phoronix has posted a preview of this Nexuiz 2.5 release, with screenshots showing the impressive graphics and how it has raised the bar for open-source gaming. Details about the Nexuiz project are available at SourceForge."

18 of 309 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Awesome, lets hope it works now! by Artemis3 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Don't use full screen mode (use windowed) and it works. Hopefully this has been fixed...

    --
    Artix
    Your Linux, your init.
  2. Re:Also, A New Open Source Train Sim has reached v by distantbody · · Score: 1, Informative

    (Link to openBVE website omitted due to already unreliable servers)

    Good thinking! The only way someone could find the website now is if they used a search engine, but they'll never think of that.

    If someone is interested enough they CAN google it. If not they'll probably just hit up the servers for some screenshots and leave.

  3. dated look by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative

    I'm impressed this was done for free in some people's spare time.
    However, it really looks amateurish and dated.

  4. Re:Cheating? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Netrek, an ancient unix game, had a primative form of DRM to prevent cheating ages ago.

  5. Re:Not Very Impressing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Informative

    The Nexuiz team didn't actually do any coding now did they? The Quake engine was written by John Carmack, some guy hacked it up with a handful of new graphical features and the Nexuiz team chucked out some poorly made models and maps for it. If you're going to just make a generic MP deathmatch shooter, at least make it visually stunning so that it has something special. Anybody could take the Quake/Quake 2/Quake 3 engine, make some generic assets for it and release it as a "game". Unfortunately, most open source FPS games projects do exactly that. Why not try making a cooperative multiplayer game? How about a single player game with a great story? How about just anything different from MP FFA/TFFA/CTF?

    If I were prepared to dedicate time towards a game project, I'd rather start my own (which I very well may be doing soon, provided I can find suitable voice actors) so that I can make sure it has some unique qualities rather than churning out yet another cookie cutter MP shooter. I certainly won't waste time helping to polish the turd that the Nexuiz team has pushed out.

    As for your last statement, sorry no. Quake 3 Arena was done right from the very beginning. Nothing short of the original Unreal Tournament has ever been as good. In this case Nexuiz is simply an imitator with worse graphics, copied gameplay and an unimaginative new gametype.

    I realise that my criticism sounds harsh, but the truth can hurt and if nobody gives anything but false or uninformed praise, then the people behind the project will never learn or try a thing.

  6. Re:Bizzaro-UT by Firehawke · · Score: 3, Informative

    Well, I certainly recognized Facing Worlds, but I saw a lot more Q3 than UT in the videos in the map overall.

  7. Re:Cheating? by Tei · · Score: 2, Informative

    Some QW engines use a closed source module. Since QW is GPL this is a small violation of the GPL no one care about.

    I don't know how to handle this Nexuiz. Has to be easy* to pick the Darkplaces engine and compile a version with wallhacks. Most probably this is managed by real humans on the other side banning ip's and the sort.. and with a nice enough community where cheating is rare or non existant.

    * to tell the truth.. DarkPlaces is (sort of...) a total rewrite of the Quake engine. It has interesting tecniques to speedup the rendering, and use today technologies. This complexitude will act somewhat like a "unintended obuscation" to make writting wallhacks somewhat hard.

    --

    -Woof woof woof!

  8. Re:GPL? Where's the source code? by esteel · · Score: 2, Informative

    Source is included in the zip file.. Stupid trolling on your part.

  9. Re:They've raised the bar alright. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    ..and of course you realize that the game engine this is based upon was originally a proprietary one, right?

    Sure, but how much of the original Quake engine is still there?

    They have risen to the level of using a proprietary engine, QUAKE ONE, which was open sourced NINE YEARS AGO.

    If we're bashing the Quake engine with it being old and all, you do realize that the Source engine used by Half-Life/Left 4 Dead/Portal etc. is based on the GoldSrc engine, which in turn is based on the Quake1 engine? There's not much if anything at all left of the original Quake engine in Source because pieces of it have been rewritten one by one over the years, and I expect this to be quite true with the Nexuiz engine too.

    Strangely I don't see anyone bashing the Source engine because of the Quake ancestry.

    This doesnt say anything good about this case of open source gaming at all, especialy since QUAKE THREE was ALSO open sourced, and is now playable in the browser.

    If you're saying that Nexuiz should be based off Quake3 because it's newer, well, refer to the statement above.

    As far as I know, Id hasn't released the improvements they made to Quake3 for the browser-playable version, so that one is not open source.

  10. Re:Bizzaro-UT by esteel · · Score: 3, Informative

    Actually there are only two q1/q3 alike maps in Nexuiz, all the other 20+ included maps are new to Nexuiz. Quite a few custom mappers were inspired by ut/q3 maps though.

  11. Re:OMFG Based off of Quake 1 engine by sortius_nod · · Score: 2, Informative

    HL was Q2, not Q1...

  12. Re:First PS by v1 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Depends on what criteria you want to use. Doom was probably the first contender but lacked almost all notion of the 3rd dimension. IMHO bungie hit it first with Marathon, with improvements over Doom too numerous to list. Some of the key additions were vertical aim, lifts, reloading, reasonable ammunition limits, bundled map AND physics editors, improved mob AI, and of course the big winner, networked multiplayer deathmatch. I personally think that last one is a requirement, though there have been some very good FPS that lack multiplayer. (Deus Ex my fav) The only thing Marathon lacked at the time was "jump" and "climb".

    --
    I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
  13. The problem has already been explored by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    For starters, either get an admin to watch the game from the alleged cheater's pov, or take a recording of the match and submit it to the administrators. Either way, aimbots almost always stand out like a sore thumb, and maphackers, etc. aren't much less obvious. Graphics hacks are less simple to detect that way, obviously, but if someone's consistently first-shotting people in full-black, foggy, or otherwise low-vision parts of the map that are generally effective in making people miss, or making ludicrous first-instant shots at people coming around corners or sprawled in GOOD sniping positions (NOT in the map's obvious dark-windowed "insert grenade whether you see someone or not" tower), it's a good sign that they're fiddling with the game's parameters. Another thing to check is whether their performance really seems to match their kill count. If they're moving badly, not using the high-power, but "lifetime-to-master" weapons, not coordinating with their allies (at all), not using any detectable strategy, or otherwise looking like they truly shouldn't have the score they have, it's a fair bet that something's up. Now, the reliability of any such call will vary directly with the skill of the observer. A newbie watching an Unreal Tournament match could see an event and maybe say "no way he could have made that shock combo," where a veteran player might well see it as a near-certain sign of a pro.

    On the other hand, I DO feel that an admin has the right to ensure a good play experience for the server users. If that means kicking someone who is obviously either hacking or simply leagues better than the rest of the players (and, I stress, not interested in helping their fellow player improve), they can and ought to use their powers. If the kick/ban-ee is actually worth their salt, they have a dozen other servers they can go mess around on to warm up, and they know how to contest unwarranted bans on desirable servers (from long experience...ask me how I know this). If they're a cheating moron, they'll usually either duck the kickban system within 3.4 seconds and get even sloppier in their cheating, or move on to the next target -- it's the open server dilemma at that point, and it's again up to the admins whether they're willing to put up with the occasional griefer, or put a password on the server and deal with low populations.

    Online competitions at the very least run an integrity check on the game files, and usually have a process blacklist, a banned settings list (there were some really dirty tricks UT players could pull by adding scripted events to hotkeys, all within the UT engine) and a couple other tricks. That being done, the only other things possible for ensuring fair play are either to insist that the players bring their machines to a central location to have their installations verified on-site and their playing monitored by referees, or insist that they play on pre-loaded machines (bring your own input devices, and maybe a configuration file to be vetted before installation).

    Do some slick bastards get in? Heck, this is Slashdot, folks should know the answer to that by default. But, most of the really big cheaters can get weeded rather easily by intelligent administration, at least up to an adequate standard for the match in question. Open matches? Kick the twitchy aimbot freaks. Online ladder/clan matches? Run an automated process to scan for flagrant abuse, and record the match for later review if necessary. For-cash tourney? Better have players local and referees on hand.

  14. Re:OMFG Based off of Quake 1 engine by AirRaven · · Score: 1, Informative

    Nay, 'twasn't.
    The Half-Life engine is a heavily modified version of the original QuakeWorld engine, with a couple of changes from the Q2 engine implemented to buff it up.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldsrc

  15. Re:OMFG Based off of Quake 1 engine by TheSambassador · · Score: 3, Informative

    Actually, I found the mouse lag to be due to Vsync. Try turning it off.

  16. Re:Cheating? by K.os023 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Netrek, an ancient unix game, had a primative form of DRM to prevent cheating ages ago.

    While interesting, that statement is very poor in actual information. At the very least, a link to some page will let people easily see what you're talking about. Actually saying that it had "an anti-cheating mechanism using an RSA-based public key cryptography authentication system that also attempts (with limited success) to detect and prevent Man-in-the-middle attacks." is even better, especially if you give references. Now I know wikipedia is not the best source but it does give more information than simply saying it had a primitive form of DRM.

    --
    Ahhh, what an awful dream. Ones and zeroes everywhere... and I thought I saw a two.
  17. Re:First PS by genner · · Score: 2, Informative

    Wrong, the original Wolfenstien was the first FPS. Doom was the first multiplayer FPS though.

  18. Re:First PS by AKAImBatman · · Score: 3, Informative

    Try again. Ever hear of HoverTank 3D, Ultima Underworld, or Catacomb 3D?

    Wolfenstien was the first popular FPS.