LINUXGAMES

doom3linux pointed out this thread @ Doom 3 World, where an enterprising mod author has posted a Makefile that will allow the DOOM 3 SDK to compile on Linux with gcc. There’s still no Linux installer for the SDK (just the Win32 .exe), but this should allow teams to port their mods relatively painlessly until an official Linux SDK package is released.

A reader fired in a link to the True Combat: Elite, an upcoming modification for Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory. As ET is a free first-person shooter from id Software, True Combat: Elite will also be a free (gratis, not libre) game for Linux users. A public RC2 release is planned before the end of the month; a FAQ page is also up.

The developers of Xenocide sent in word that they’ve released a new version of their Roguelike RPG. Changes include:

• Player can mend armor using different parts
• Improved targeting – you can cycle among enemies with ‘n’ key
• Improved monster traveling (and fixed “Update Pointer” error)
• Improved inventory management
• Some item features changed (armors, hand weapons, ammo)
• Player can repair turned on robots
• Improved AI – monsters decide what to do considering their resistances
• New 7 monster types -> 42
• New 27 items -> 161

Xenocide Download: [ e-plan.pl ]

The Loki Installers for Linux Gamers project sent in notice that they’re looking for new hosting; potential hosts would need considerable diskspace and bandwidth available. Contact kratz00 at gmx.de or in #liflg on irc.freenode.net if interested.

Speaking of community-developed content, the original UT2003 Community Bonus Pack has been updated for use with Unreal Tournament 2004. Bombing Run, CTF, Deathmatch, and Domination maps are included; screenshots can be found here.

UT2004 CBP1 Download: [ beyondunreal.com ]

Thanks to a reader for pointing out that version 1.5 of the Neverwinter Nights Community Expansion Pack, a single package containing the highest-rated player community-developed content available to date, has been released. CEP 1.5 adds support for the most recent NWN patch, v1.64, as well as new content:

It includes incredible new creatures such as CODI’s osyluth and maugs as well as DLA’s treant and gem golems. You can fight with exotic new weapons such as the manriki-gusari, defend yourself with new armor and shields, and dress the part of the adventurer with Balder’s hauberks and Heed’s skinmesh cloaks.

But wait, there’s more! Version 1.50 of the CEP does not neglect important fixes to the original CEP content. Dance freely in the torchlight with updated heads that are no longer plagued with shadow artifacts. Wield weapons with black metal blades and ivory grips. Equip your Wemic characters with surcoats and tabards. Listen to your housecats meow instead of roaring like lions.

Update to v1.50 of the CEP now! Modules and PWs developed with previous versions of the CEP will still work after you upgrade to v1.50 but the reverse is not true. You won’t be able to run modules or use PWs developed on v1.50 without upgrading to the new version. Strike while the iron is hot.

BioWare has a CEP info page up with a FAQ if you want to read more about it.

NWN CEP 1.5 Download: [ ign.com ]

For those of you with NVIDIA nForce motherboads, version 1.0-0292 of the driver package for the various onboard components has been released. Changes include fixes for a nvsound module bug that caused silence or delayed sound in some games.

nForce Driver v1.0-0292 Download: [ nvidia.com ]

Version 4.1 of TransGaming’s Wine fork Cedega has been released to subscribers (thanks linuX-gamers.net). The release notes mention Far Cry and Anarchy Online are now supported; moreover, there’s this notice:

Due to the release of the native linux client, DOOM 3 is no longer supported. Thismeans that while it will continue to work in its current state, we will not be providing support for it or putting any new work into it.

Additionally, Point2Play, Cedega’s GUI frontend, is now at version 1.3.2.

Queasy Games has released a Linux port of Gate 88 (screenshots), a retro-style multiplayer action-RTS hybrid inspired by Herzog Zwei, Star Control, Homeworld, Subspace, and the artwork/style of Kenta Cho (of ABA Games). Please note that the game is still in open-beta.

Gate 88 Download: [ queasygames.com ]

Couple DOOM 3-relateditems this morning:

• The Last Man Standing mod team sentin word that they’ve released a map, Fortcomp 10, demonstrating the monsterwave gameplayto be featured in their multiplayer cooperative mod (download).
• PlanetDOOM has updated FilePlanet with variouscommunity-developed maps and modifications. Note that all mods to date arejust script or asset/content modifications, and thus are Linux compatible.Future mod releases will have OS-specific compiled game code,kind of like how Quake 2 was, which means mod teams will need toinclude gamex86.so’s for Linux users (which shouldn’t be an issue really, asyou’d have to do this for Linux servers anyway).
• Speaking of mods, id Software’sRobert Duffy updated his .planto announce that the Win32 DOOM 3 SDK had been released. As it’s a Windowsinstaller and Win32-specific Visual Studio.Net code that compiles to a dll, itdoesn’t really do us any good (unless you want to get a headstart by justlooking through the source code); presumably a Linux SDK with makefiles for a.so is on the way.

  In the meantime, if you’ve dug through the pakfiles in theDOOM 3 base dir (.pk4 is just a zip format), you may have noticed that a largeamount of game behavior that would’ve been compiled in previous games isnow controlled by text scripts, as mentioned above. While we’re waiting on theLinux SDK, you can play with changing the behavior of weapons, monsters,computer terminal interfaces (GUI), and the PDA’s in these scripts. The id.sdk site mentioned in Duffy’s .planupdate has a scripting tutorial (written byBinary Cowboy, formerly of Team Reaction) titled “How do I add a weapon?”, which should give you a good idea of what’smalleable in Linux DOOM 3 for now.

  Also, as mentioned previously, there’s abetaversion of GtkRadiant 1.5.0 with DOOM 3 support available if you want tostart mapping.

• Finally, id CEO Todd Hollenshead updated his.plan to note some DOOM 3 salesat various retail chains and announce a contest:
  

  So, here’s the deal: email me a genuine id-related tatoo photo of you orsomeone you know who has one. It’s probably best to take a couple differentpics if you can. Whoever has the best legitimate tatoo, judged in my solediscretion (with maybe some help from the team) will get one free copy of DOOM3 + strategy guide + new “Making Of DOOM 3″ book and I’ll sign the game boxfor you. Now, I’m not trying to encourage people to go out and get a tatoo -this is supposed to be for those who already have one. If we get enough coolentries, the idea is that we’ll compile and frame all the photos and put themin a big frame to hang on the wall here at id. That’s a pretty goodconsolation prize if you don’t get the game/guide/book.

BioWare’s Georg Zellerhasposted aLinuxserver-side fix (clients shouldn’t download this) for Neverwinter Nights admins who were havingissues with version 1.64:

I did some tests and it looks like this fixes the problem some people wereexperiencing under certain condititons using the GetHasSpells scriptingfunctions in loops.

I would suggest only to use this fix if you experience crashes related toscripts that use this function.

I can’t remember any instance in NWN where GetHasSpell is used with one of thefew spells affected, so I think this problem is confined to specialOnEnter/OnRest scripts used on some servers to reset spell use history onrelogging players.

The post continues withinstallationinstructionsfor the patch (be sure tochange the extension from 2DA to 2da in the server’s override directory).Thanks to Neverwinter Vault for theheads up.

Bioware also posted a profile ofSkullport, a sitedevoted to collecting Dungeons and Dragons CRPG guides and walkthroughs.

Exobius, formerly known as Prototype, has been updated to release 0.3. This is the first release of this game that is fully playable from beginning to end, although the graphics are not 100% complete at this point in time.

Download: [ Exobius 0.3 ]

• If you’re looking for additional info on Vendetta Online (now available forpre-ordering),IGN conducted a two-part interview(Part 1 |Part 2) withGuild Software’s JohnBergman this past summer. Gameplay and design decisions are discussed, as well as the variousfeatures included in the massive multiplayer space combat sim.
• The A Tale in the Desert site hasbeen redesigned to reflect the ongoing Second Tale of the community-orientedMMORPG set in ancient Egypt, which offers 20 culmulative hours of free play. A new screenshot gallery is up also.
• Chunky_Ks pointed out Planeshift,the fantasy MMORPG (whichutilizes the Crystal Space engine) currently in closed alpha testing. Recent screenshotshave also been posted to their news section.

Emergence, the network arcade game that allows you to play for free over a LAN, has been updated to version 0.8. Internet play requires a key to be purchased. Changes with this release include:

• Stop weapons from flying off upon detach
• Weapons with no ammo can no longer be picked up
• Map autodownloading
• SDL audio
• Game fixups and lockup prevention
• Fix longstanding smoke/system uptime issue
• Fix weapon respawn timing
• Fix server crash at end of match
• intial release of the map editor has been released

Download: [ Emergence 0.8 ]

AnandTech has pitted the Linux version of DOOM 3 against the Windows build in a head-to-head matchup. Several NVIDIA cards were utilized on an AMD Athlon 64 3800+ box running Linux 2.6.8 and Windows XP; both framerate and image quality tests were conducted.

New info regarding the OpenGL ES Coding Challenge, where developers are charged with creating games (or demos/screensavers) for mobile devices:

Based on feedback from scores of Linux game developers, we have added a Linux OpenGL ES 1.0 category to the OpenGL ES Coding Challenge.

OpenGL ES is the 3D graphics standard for mobile phones, handhelds, gamepads and embedded devices. The OpenGL ES Coding Challenge is intended to kick start development of the next generation of high-performance 3D games, screensavers, animation, applications and user interfaces for mobile devices.

Linux developers will be able to enter the Challenge using the OpenGL ES 1.0 Sample Reference Implementation. Developers for Nokia Series 60, PocketPC 2003, Smartphone 2003, and Win32 will use the OpenGL ES 1.1 implementations.

A separate prize category will be offered for the best Linux entry built with the OpenGL ES 1.0 Sample Reference Implementation. Entries can be anything from games to creative visual demos, to a series of educational tutorials. Multiple entries will be accepted.

While you can develop on desktop Linux, we encourage you to test and do screenshots on any of the Linux handhelds such as Sharp’s Zaurus PDA, Yopy PDA or one of the Motorola Smartphone lines.

In addition to the over $100,000 in prizes for the winning entries, all Challenge participants will enjoy the benefits of global marketing efforts. Entries from the contest may also be used as the basis for an open source library of sample code and applications for hardware accelerated OpenGL ES games, demos and screensavers.

The contest runs until Feb 15, 2005 and we look forward to seeing Linux entries added to our lineup.

LinuxHardware.org has posted a performance analysis of DOOM 3 on a Linux box with four NVIDIA cards: GeForce 3, GeForce 4 Ti 4600, GeForce FX 5900 Ultra, and a GeForce 6800GT; the OS utilized for comparison is Windows XP. LinuxHardware.org also received some clarification from id Software’s Timothee Besset on their results:

You’ll probably notice that on Linux Doom III will be more CPU bound than card bound. I can see several factors, mostly the fact that the SSE2 code is not used in the current binary, and maybe because gcc doesn’t optimize as well as VC.net does.

I will be spending some time in the upcoming months optimizing the builds for more speed. I don’t expect to get more than a 5-10% fps gain though.

Version 0.9.6 of FlightGear, an open-source flight simulator (screenshots), has been released. Changes:

• Added some initial support for “submodels” which can be used to impliment things like contrails, flares, tracers, etc.
• Make real world weather fetching a bit more robust and network friendly.
• Ensure the entire world is initially loaded before initializing the flight dynamics (avoids wildly varying frame rates at a time when the FDM might be trying to do various initialization steps that might benefit from consistent and fast frame rates.)
• Other various (and minor) code cleanups, tweaks, and fixes.
• Fixed ATIS voice file.
• Updated aircraft: A320, Bo-105, Comper Swift, Concorde, F16, Fokker-50, Fokker-100, Hunter, MD11, PC7, Spitfire, adjust C172 cockpit sound levels, and Sgs-233.
• Updated joystick configs: CH pro yoke usb, Cyborg Evo, Thrustmaster FCS.
• Fix a bug in the nasal fuel tank management code.
• Return Canadian ILS’s to nav data.
• Cleaned up some of the 3d models around the bay area.
• Add support for display list based rendering which yields substantial performance gains for many systems.
• Synced with latest JSBSim code.
• Fixed a reference point bug in YASim.
• Revived the hi-res (tiled) screen shot code so you can again produce insanely and arbitrarily large resolution screen shots.
• Beefed up the tile pager so it can more sensibly handle insanely rapid motion.

FlightGear 0.9.6 Download: [ flightgear.org ]

A couple of updates from Freshmeat that I have seen over the last week:

Generic Game-Tree Library has been updated to version 1.2pre2 with added shared library support, minor documentation and unbundled moth, sl and connect4 games.

Version 0.6 of Scourge has been released with updates including magic, potions, gui updates, and better battles.

New Breed Software is pleased to announce the immediate availability of Tux Paint 0.9.14, the first major release this year of the highly acclaimed children’s art software. Over the past nine months, steady progress has been made to improve Tux Paint and implement features requested by teachers and parents.

Tux Paint 0.9.14 introduces several new features, including a highly-anticipated, easy-to-use configuration tool for parents and teachers, and a multi-layered coloring book mode. Reflecting its international team and focus, Tux Paint is currently available in over 45 different languages.

Download: [ Tux Paint 0.9.14 ]