Saturday, October 31, 2009

More Mod Info Updates


_FFC_

Now that MW2 is pretty much a dead duck, let's move on to what's new in the mod releases for the WW and COD4 games.

COD5 - NAM:WAW
First off, seems the gents over at CODUtility have effectively "1-up'd" the RGN competition for an out-the-door release of a Vietnam mod for WW. I heard nothing about this over on RGN, but then there's some past bad blood between RGN and CODU so I guess that's no surprise.
RGN's flagship mod is AWE while CODU uses OpenWarfare. Of course there's much similarity in features since there are only so many things the modders can do with tools/textures/etc. but I've never played with the OW mod as it looked more complex to configure than AWE.

That said, I've now got the NAM:WAW mod installed and working on our NFO hosted FFC server. Crashed the server badly at first and I had to get the NFO TS to restart it but I think things are ironed out now. Prolly still have to tweak settings a bit here and there as usual after we've played awhile, so be prepared for the usual confusion at first.
The new mod comes with ALL NEW MAPS created in the 'Nam theme so get ready for about 280MB of map downloads. The mod itself is ~90MB total and as per normal will DL on connect.

Here is the list of new map names, no idea yet which'll work out for us, DL from here:
mp_chokepoint
mp_lao_cai
mp_marsh - we already had a "marsh", this replaces it
mp_overcong
mp_ravine
mp_siege
mp_storm
mp_waterway

To make room for the above, I've deleted the following older/less-played/too large maps:
mp_trenchtoast
mp_ship_n
mp_sps_s_toys
mp_line_of_fire
mp_fr_sd1
mp_argentan_n
mp_assault
mp_ambush
mp_railyard
mp_warehouse

Oh, and in celebration of Halloween I'm starting out the new mod rotation with a small Halloween-themed map, mp_nightmare, so DL that one also while you are in there. It may NOT work with this mod, if not then we'll try it with AWE5. ;-)

COD4 - Galactic Warfare progress
Hot off the press from BashnSlash, here's a report, new screenies and podcast highlighting this much-anticipated release. While the BlackMonkeys recently posted that this'll be out in December it sure sounds like it may be sooner...we'll see. Extremely fine look'n total conversion which I'm sure is much more work than the comparatively minor changes for a WW 'Nam mod. Can't wait for this one!

Mamba, out

Friday, October 09, 2009

Quake & Vietnam Mod Beta 2


_PC_

Ever feel a bit sad when you think back to ye olde Quake/Arena days? Miss those low-G jumps and frantic mid-air rocket shots? Well, now you can re-live those experiences for free, and all it takes is a browser!...mostly. Check out QuakeLive in your spare time. This has been out for about a year now, supported by in-game ads. Recently there has been more talk about the upcoming "Premium" service for no-ads AND, most importantly for TDM play, private servers. IF the monthly cost is real cheap I might be enticed into setting one up for us. I've tried the free version and it's pretty true to the old Quake roots. Sometimes ya just get the urge for a frag-fest and COD ain't quite the same thing. ;-)

Speaking of COD, the COD:WW Vietnam Mod is now up to version beta 2.0. If you'd like to check it out, here is the public beta hardcore USA server addy: 72.243.113.9:28960
I'll probably try it out over the long holiday weekend....longer for me as I'm taking Tues off next week also.
As for MW2 news, with the release date now just one-month out IW has a new "Infamy" video on the wire...
check it out!

Lastly, doesn't look like we're getting any new players right away. Turns out Craig is a 2nd-shifter and not heard much back from him past that. I sent an email to Tom Fee today as now that SITS is over he should be back in the gaming groove at home. But he's a SP person historically so not sure if we can lure him over to the MP dark side.

Mamba, out