LINUXGAMES

Brian Paul, all around swell guy and Mesa project administrator, announced to the Mesa3D-dev list that NVIDIA has given him permission to produce a software-only implementation of the NVIDIA GL_NV_vertex_program extension.

The work has been in-progress for the last couple of months and is now able to execute simple vertex programs. NVIDIA licensed the right with a fairly informal “we are not liable, it must be correct, it must be executed in software” agreement. Brian mentioned in a later message that a later extension may allow hardware implementations.

Troy Corbin Jr. wrote in to announce that version 0.4.9 of the KDE-based chess interface Knights has been released; changes include:

• ability to play online using an Internet Chess Server
• setup wizard
• undo and hint features
• improved graphics
• themepack with 16 extra themes

Knights 0.4.9 downloads: @ sourceforge.net

Mads wrote in to announce that he and three other people have released version 0.3.1 of a Arkanoid/Breakout clone called Yanoid (Screenshots: 1 | 2). Yanoid is their SDL Game Contest entry and it is designed to be very extensible and flexible.

Yanoid 0.3.1 source: yanoid-0.3.1.tar.gz

Version 0.73 of the portable NES/Famicom emulator FCE Ultra has been released; changes include:

• fixed several bugs with sprite emulation
• added support for iNES mapper 82
• added support for iNES mapper 250
• fixed the documentation to show that iNES mappers 48, 83, and 232 are supported
• removed various pieces of stale code and fixed a few minor bugs
• fixed a triangle wave channel bug
• writing to $4010 with the upper bit clear now acknowledges the DPCM IRQ
• rewrote pieces of the Zapper emulation code to be cleaner and more accurate
• rewrote the VS Unisystem dip switch drawing code
• simplified the setting of VS Unisystem dip switches

FCE Ultra 0.73 source: fceu073linux.tar.gz

Version 4.0.0 of the game programming library Allegro has been released. This is the first major new version in years. Changes include:

• GA/Mode-X drivers are now modules
• new prefixes for fixed point math functions to avoid compatibility problems
• wfixicon and bfixicon utilities are now documented
• new gfxinfo utility.
• documentation is now arranged in a more logical directory structure
• many minor bug fixes

Allegro 4.0.0 downloads: alleg.sourceforge.net/wip.html

Version 0.9.0 of the multiplayer turn-based strategy game Tenes Empanadas Graciela has been released; changes include:

• a client can rejoin after disconecting
• added scores support
• sentimental & modern themes have new cards
• added soldiers in the select color dialog
• added polish translation
• general fixes in client and server

TEG 0.9.0 downloads: @ sourceforge.net

Version 0.1.14 of the the Scorched Earth clone xscorch has been released; changes include:

• major improvements in stability, both for game-play and networking
• several segfaults have been fixed, including the bug with napalm weapons, and an infinite loop condition in the AI
• auto Defense, and The Lottery have been implemented

xscorch 0.1.14 source: xscorch-0.1.14.tar.gz

Version 0.1.3 of the turn-based strategy game FreeLords has been released; changes include:

• implemented new city pictures
• added id value to identfy stacks
• increased the drawing performance by at least 200%
• SmallMap and BigMap share the same viewrect now

FreeLords 0.1.3 source: freelords-0.1.3.tar.gz

Version 0.92r001 of the 3D game development kit Crystal Space has been released; changes include:

• several improvements to AWS
• several memory leaks have been fixed
• new debugging graph tool to help debug leaks
• it is now possible to assign names to lightmap caches so that when the level is reloaded later the lightmap cache is still valid
• there is a new tutorial application on collision detection and hierarchical objects
• several parts of the documentation have been updated
• there have been several minor API changes
• several smaller new features like the ability to sort a render priority (for example, the alpha render priority will now sort objects back to front)
• fixed a very bad bug in the collision detection plugin
• there have also been some global optimizations on some core classes

Crystal Space 0.92r001 downloads: crystal.linuxgames.com/download.html

We received an e-mail from a concerned reader asking for a LinuxQuake 3: Arena SDK mirror,as it is no longer hosted byLoki Software (as Linux Q3A support hasreverted back to id Software).

Fortunately, we still have a mirror for the last Q3 SDK released for Linux (version 1.17),and id’s TTimo let us know that he’s working on a 1.29h SDK release for Linux as well.TTimo is also responsible for Linux Q3A proper, GtkRadiant(the Q3A engine level editor), and Linux RTCW.

Please note that the 1.17 game source is incompatible with current versions of Q3A, and should only serve to help you get your mod project going until the new files are released.

Linux Q3A 1.17 Game Source Download:
http://www.3ddownloads.com/?file_id=142641

Arne Schmitz sent in the following disappointing news:

I just asked SuSE Germany if they were going to sell the “new” Loki titleslike Kohan and so on, since they already distributed most older Loki titlesin Germany. (http://www.suse.de/de/products/software/games/index.html)

But today I got this negative answer (ed: translated into English):

“Dear SuSE customer, Thank you for your request: we willgenerally not be selling games in the future. We took them off our program.”

That’s really sad, because SuSE is the biggest Linux distributor in Europeand aside from ixSoftthe only place to buy Loki’sgames in Germany.

It seems that Linux games didn’t pay off on this side of the Atlantic either,huh?

PJ_Hooker wrote in to let us know that you canpurchase Mandrake Linux Gaming Edition, whichincludes a copy of the The Sims andWineX, for $45.37 US fromthe Pearson Technology Group Corporate Store.

http://vig.pearsoned.com/store/product/1,3498,store-2166_isbn-1575955784,00.html?

He also states:

The rumor around the WineX community is that thisprice isn’t going to last very long. So, grab themwhile you still can. I’ve already bought two copiesand they arrived in perfect, mint condition exactly asthose from the MandrakeStore.

This bundle normally sells for $89.00 US.

Just a note: You have until December 12th to take advantage of QliTech’s specialoffer: If you purchase a multimedia system, you’ll receive a copy ofKohan: Immortal Sovereigns free.

Speaking of Kohan,Gamespot’s executive editor mentioned itin his Gamespotting columnas one of this year’s most surprisingly fun games:

Kohan’s nondescript red box and awkward title shroud what’s easily one of the year’s most well-designed real-time strategy games. Not since 1997 have there been quite so many real-time strategy games in a single year–but Kohan showed most of them up with its brilliant focus on combat between companies of units, rather than just individual units. The game takes micromanagement out of your hands, letting you focus squarely on strategy. It’s pretty surprising that it’s taken a developer this long to figure out a system like Kohan’s. But that just goes to show how impressive Kohan really is.

Serious Sam, being ported to Linux by Ryan “icculus” Gordon, is also mentioned.

Bernd “comrad” Ritter from Holarse wrote in to announce that they have published some new information (in German, natch):

• NVIDIA Installation Howto
• Running Sacrifice Under Wine
• Project to compare games running under Linux and Windows

Steve Petridis from evil3D.net wrote in with some information regarding the performance increases in the latest NVIDIA drivers:

Just wanted to let you know that the performance increases in the latestNVIDIA drivers aren’t global. There are only 3 combinations of X/OpenGLresolution that enable page flipping when VSYNC is off (the reason behindthe boost).

More details are included in the evil3D.net article Linux Drivers & Page Flipping.

Jim Watkins wrote in to let us know about OpenFly (screenshots). OpenFly is an open source replacement game engine enabling flight sims created with Domark Flight Sim Toolkit to run under Linux. It is a work in progress, but it could be the first combat flight sim available for Linux since we haven’t seen anything released from either the OpenSim project or from Warbirds III.

OpenFly 0.3 downloads: @ www.adrianebrown.co.uk

Version 0.9.8a of the RPG utility suite OpenRPG has been released; changes include:

• asynchronous downloading of map images – now you computer won’t lock when you load map images
• woody’s init tool
• scroll lock in chat
• can now start an openrpg server from the client interface
• new die roller engine – includes new dice options including some d20 options

OpenRPG 0.9.8a source: openrpg-0.9.8a-src.tar.gz

Version 0.4.1 of the 3D chess program glChess has been released. Changes include a fix for a major bug when the binary wasn’t found in path, and several internal changes.

glChess 0.4.1 downloads: @ sourceforge.net

Version 2.0.1 of the breakout-style arcade game LBreakout has been released; changes since the version 2 branch began include:

• improved ball & paddle physics
• better input handling
• improved graphics
• new levels
• multiplayer action (alternating)
• integrated level editor

LBreakout 2.0.1 source: lbreakout2-2.0.1.tar.gz

Tux Games’ Michael Simms let us know thatthe online Linux game retailer will be picking a random customer and giving themtheir order for free on December 25th; to be eligible, you must have ordered betweenNovember 25th and December 25th.