Category Archives: Gaming

jDoom and You

Since version 1.13, jDoom has surpassed the other ports as the leader in all aspects. It has decent multiplayer support (although no splitscreen like Legacy), excellent lighting/particle effects, support for models, a great console/command-line/control panel system, the usual HUD and control options, and finally working EAX (and it sounds awesome). But something that I have really found ingenious and essential to the refurbishing of the game is the high-quality textures. Being the pixel pimp that I am, I have already started making my own flats for Doom. Usually, I take the old texture and bring it up to 128x128x24 and then tile it, so I can get to work. It takes a good hour to redo the texture well, but the results are more than pleasing. Take a look at some of my flat (a flat is a square ceiling or floor texture) work in these screenies:

Getting jDoom is pretty straight-forward, unless you want the models (you want the models!). In which case, it’s kinda confusing. So here’s how to get jDoom.
1. Acquire an IWAD. The shareware (doom1.wad) is everywhere and that should suffice for many, but Doom.wad or Doom2.wad is preferable. They can be found in various places (*cough*cough*S&L*cough*ftp), but few really sell them anymore.
2. Download the main Doomsday package. Linkage. It’s a Next>Next>Install>Finish sort of deal, you shouldn’t need to change any defaults.
3. Get the KickStart2 launcher. Linkage. You’ll need this to “launch” jDoom, since once you’re inside the game, some things can’t be changed, such as graphics API, IWAD, and initializations.
4. Get the models! If you have a pretty modern rig, you’ll want these, because they totally submit that “New Doom” feel. Linkage. Linkage. Optional Linkage (Hi-Res skins).
5. DOWNLOAD MY REFURBISHED FLATS! Linkage. Follow the instructions in the comments.
6. Say “Boom”. 8)

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And here’s the news.

You know it’s time to do some news when people start getting angry about the lack of news. There’s not really anything newsworthy to throw out, though. Most of it is recent developments. For one, both Gandalf and Rachael have their own journal here. And Rachael helped me fix a huge bug in the journal script, today.

Today, I started working on a timeline of the history of S&L. It’s a very long image, separated by clan and host eras. Much of the early S&L isn’t documented, though, as we had no Columns or news back then. It’s very schweet seeing everything layed out graphically, though. I’ll post it somewhere, probably as a Column, on a later date.

We’ll be having a rippage event on Halloween once again this year (codename S4) and then the next day, we Surge …3.0 style 8) . It’s possible that we may actually have 4 people for this event. With even teams, we’ll probably be playing a lot more of the good stuff (TFC and UT). This will be one for the history books…er, timeline.

Well, that’s pretty much it. Be sure to look at our journals, as they get updated more often 😉 .

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New Monitor, SnakeBot, etc.

So, I bought this new monitor last week from emscomputing.com, and it arrived Wednesday. Even with standard shipping and the 2 business day delay until it ships, I still got the monitor in under a week. This is quite extraordinary for an online purchase. For more details on the monitor, see my journal.

Speaking of the journal, it is a new feature I have devised. I thought the idea of a public forum for one’s ideas was a nifty idea and especially since I try to keep everyone from posting news just to rant (*cough*que 😛 ). Anyways, since I’m a savy, resourceful web programmer, I had to make my own journal. It’s sort of a mix between DeadJournal and the DemoBoard in style. So, check it out.

Now, about The Snake Bot. I’ve been working on a bot for Quake 3 that plays pretty much like I do on Hardcore difficulty. Of course, you can ramp my bot down on the difficulty, but on Hardcore, you get the full snake experience. I’ve included chat texts, too. Sometimes, though, Q3 will automatically use a synonym for bot chats. So, you’ll get a momma fucker or mommy fucker every now and then. It just doesn’t convey the mother fucker very well. (I think I’ve used enough fucker to block this page on all educational computers. 😉 ) Pick up the bot here. Save it to the baseq3 directory and just select Snake as a bot in Q3.


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Snake revisits Infiltration.

I’m talking about the MOD for UT, you sick fucks. Anyways, I downed the 75MB full 2.86 install the other day, and I must say that INF is still surprisingly enjoyable. Even though there is still no scoring and hasn’t been updated in a year, I managed to get a ton of fun from downloading maps from the new RealMaps site. One maps that was particularly enjoyable (and I think every INF player should have) is DM-INF-RealAssault. It’s absurdly fun playing as either team against bots. I think I probably had a better time attacking, though. Running around barb-wire, half-tracks, and obstacles all while dodging mortar fire is extremely intense. Then, if one actually does get offshore and into the enemy trenches, you’re pretty much on your own against the entire enemy team. One time, I had actually used up all 4 of my Sig mags, 3 MP5 mags, and was down to just a Deagle in the trenches. The enemy was swarming all around me and I knew I couldn’t take them on with a pistol. So, I ran for a AKSMU by a fallen friendly. I actually did get the AK, but it only had 5 rounds left. I killed one enemy, but was gunned down by 4 more. Intense. 8)

Here’s some sreenage I got. The first is not from INF, but rather UT at Surge 2.7. It was really the only cool sshot I got from that Surge. The last two pics are from RealAssault.


I also review the Hitman 2 demo, although to much disapproval by Loog. It earned a 6. Read more here.

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…does this thing still work?

I’m not sure what counts as news anymore, it’s just sort of a blob that is Summer Vacation. I’ll try to sum it up for all the editors. I’m not too certain what Gr-Dragon is doing, though. He sorta drifts in and out of consciousness and rippage. 😉

I’ve been playing a fair amount of games lately: Starcraft, No One Lives Forever, Dungeon Siege, Serious Sam SE, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Unreal Tournament, Soldier of Fortune 2, Jazz Jackrabbit 2, Army Men: RTS, Empire Earth, Quake 3, and …that may or may not be all. It’s quite an impressive list, as well as either a huge waste of time or a honing of my 1337 gaming skillz (whichever you prefer :) ).
Besides gaming, I’ve been dabbling in some other points of interest. When I went on “vacation” to North Carolina, I looked into learning Delphi. Delphi is much more expansive than VB could ever be, but it has a lot of hitches that used to be common tasks in programming Basic, like File IO, declarations, and data types. Data types are really a constant asspain; you’re often times tied down to using a certain type for a function and it’s not in the form you want it, then have to find some way to convert (like the compiler couldn’t do it). Then you’ve got all this unneeded code for converting types to strings, usually. And when I started coding my normal method for File Input/Output, I hit a huge wall trying to use variants (because a simple string won’t be able to take data from objects in Delphi) and loops to get data in and out of the files. It’s just a huge mess. 😡 POS
As for getting LANtalk into Delphi, it seems like a large waste of time. I will try to figure out new ways to bypass VB limitations and get a really usable version of LANtalk. Until then, there’s a bit of screenage below.
I’ve been working on a few Starcraft scenarios, too. These are some real masterpieces compared to my previous ones. One scenario has you crashing in the middle of a zerg colony and escaping to a small terran base (it’s quite appropriately called Deserted II). It features vocal by our very own S&L editors. The other is still rough but has around 30 triggers already. You command Quelog and Snake, two very badass Ghosts that must take on the entire map of enemy terrans. Quite a few objectives have you placing charges on key targets and demoing them (ultra schweet). That scenario will probably take a long time to get balanced. Already, the ghosts have uber hit pointage and damage and cloaking uses but 1 energy point. When walking between four filled bunkers and a science vessel with 5 energy trying to set a charge, you’ll wish you had more. As I’m content with playing the scenarios, I’ll officially upload them.
I’ve also been messing around with Jazz Jackrabbit’s editing tools. They’re quite annoying and making even one map is a daunting task.


Loog’s got the DSL shit. From working at his underpaying burger-flip job all summer, he actually has some dinero. The thing is now he has to work for the rest of his life after this point or the 1536K goes back to 56K. Either way, I can just pimp the fruits of his mad phat pipe at Surges. 8) Using the “so illegal it’s legal” peer-to-peer Kazaa, Loog has appropriated quite a large list of goods. So much that he’s running out of space for it all fast.
Other than that, Loog hasn’t really done anything. We are planning a Surge tomorrow, but they are becoming increasingly lame as no one will come. Fucking llamas.

And Gandalf…well, let’s ask him what he’s been doing.

gand says:
nope…gotta work

Que has been back at school and attempting to mac with the chicks. That’s pretty much all that goes on with him day by day. Of course, he would want me to mention his journal, so I will. It’s occasionally amusing, but even more so if you like reading rants. So, if you’re extremely bored, check out Que’s journal here.

[ mood | 😛 tired as ass ]
[ music | NIN – Closer (Further Away) ]

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Pending Surge

Yesterday, I went to Best Buy and and bought (yes, actually bought! 😛 ) Soldier of Fortune 2, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, and Serious Sam 2… both for my further entertainment of new DirectX8.1 games (w/ my DirectX8.1 video card 😀 ), and for more gaming boomage at the next Surge (not sure what exact #, but it’s 3.x) [2.6]. It’s scheduled for this Tuesday afternoon till Thursday afternoon. Depending on who comes, we have scheduled 3-5 people already, and would like more. I’m hosting it this time, so if u’re interested, ask me my address and such on AIM or MSN (I hate email :) )… my contacts are on my staff page on the nav to the left. My house’s power grid probably can’t handle more than a few PCs (one of those scheduled is a laptop, fortunately), but since 8 ppl probably won’t come anyway, whatever. We’ll be using the Netgear switch like before (I’m currently on the network right now), w/ straight-through CAT5/6 cable and NICs, and tons of games to either bring urself, or download from me in a matter of a few seconds.

Anyway, that’s all… b4ck-0n-th3-g4m|ng-sc3n3 L00g|3 is out.

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