Engine X: 4.59 Beta

[Baker]

When can we see a Linux port?

I don't have much free time. There is a great deal I want to get done in the coming months. I don't see working on the Linux versions happening until the middle of next year.

First I don't have a Linux machine. Second, I have a lot of coding I want to do and I'd rather write server browsers, in-client mod installers, finish the GPL compatible Quake replacement set than learn about Linux and libraries and stuff.

I have to make good use of the little free time that I have. I'd rather invest that time making great features for something that will eventually be freely downloadable.

This is one reason of the emphasis of the alternate HUD ideas thread.

I am trying to rapidly complete all of this and the ultimate target audience is NOT existing Quake players. Now after all that is done, the emphasis can change.

Kind of like how the Dredd server wasn't for players who already liked playing CA+ on DM3.

[Phenom]

When can we see a Linux port?

I get a grey screen with HUD in ProQuake 4.51

[Wolv]

I like the idea of implementing multiple huds.

[Baker]

Close!

ORL's most recent map is a limit busting map that cannot be loaded by standard Quake. Countless hours later ... the implementation of the FitzQuake protocol 666 is nearly at least beta ready.

Pictured above: Partial implementation of cl_hudstyle 2. That is close as well.

Needless to say, anything I do in Engine X or ProQuake can usually be nearly instantaneously ported over to the other engine.

[Baker]

r_mirroralpha is a ghastly hack and should be let die. It was never intended to be part of Quake, it's sole purpose was to show off some of the tricks you can do with OpenGL, and it never even worked properly in the first place. Kill it. Now.

No way!

R_mirroralpha has cool implementations I've tried.

Crappy, poorly written, bad idea or what not ... it's true. But it works and I'd like to eventually release a map based on some of my experiments that does some awesome stuff.

Engine code can be rewritten more efficiently in the future. The problem isn't the feature, but the implementation.

[MH]

r_mirroralpha is a ghastly hack and should be let die. It was never intended to be part of Quake, it's sole purpose was to show off some of the tricks you can do with OpenGL, and it never even worked properly in the first place. Kill it. Now.

[Mr.Burns]

It sounds very promising, and really does look very nice on old rigs like mine. Keep up the good work!

Kind regards

Monty

[Baker]

EngineX has worked very well for me thus far but there were a couple of very minor things I noticed:

1. Some of the setting commands don't seem to work. Purely as an example, whilst playing around on the servers the other night Polarite told me of a setting to make glass windows reflective, something along the lines of r_mirroralpha 0.2, and EngineX just returned the "Unknown Command" message. On immediately swapping to Proquake it worked on the same rig on the same server with the same map (start). I'm guessing that this is all well documented somewhere, and one of the least important things on your to do list, but I thought I would mention it just in case it was indicative if some other issue.
   

1. Whilst playing on Bigfoot's server tonight EngineX failed to download a map and crashed. Perhaps there's a Cvar or 2 for downliad URL's I need to enter somewhere? It's just that the message suggested it was trying to download the map from www.your-domain.com (see attached screenie)

Hope this helps

Monty

The auto-download implementation in Engine X is slightly incomplete. And it doesn't support R_Mirroralpha yet, although that could end up being a challenge to implement (at least for me).

I have a new version I am trying to finish up. Features include:

1. FitzQuake 0.85 protocol to play the giant single player maps.
2. cl_hudstyle 2, the implementation of bFeared HUD concept with some necessary additions by me. This HUD is killer in single player and no doubt multiplayer as well but I haven't finished some of the odds and ends yet to try it in multiplayer.
3. Improved progs.dat with changes that should have been made to progs 1.06 long ago like the fish fix and CRMOD style deathmatch 3.

There are other things in the works, of course, as this unravels but I'd rather do them than say them.

[Mr.Burns]

EngineX has worked very well for me thus far but there were a couple of very minor things I noticed:

1. Some of the setting commands don't seem to work. Purely as an example, whilst playing around on the servers the other night Polarite told me of a setting to make glass windows reflective, something along the lines of r_mirroralpha 0.2, and EngineX just returned the "Unknown Command" message. On immediately swapping to Proquake it worked on the same rig on the same server with the same map (start). I'm guessing that this is all well documented somewhere, and one of the least important things on your to do list, but I thought I would mention it just in case it was indicative if some other issue.
   

1. Whilst playing on Bigfoot's server tonight EngineX failed to download a map and crashed. Perhaps there's a Cvar or 2 for downliad URL's I need to enter somewhere? It's just that the message suggested it was trying to download the map from www.your-domain.com (see attached screenie)

Hope this helps

Monty

[Wolv]

Really, I don't know how much simpler it can get. Put the files into C:\Quake. As I stated earlier, it works when I do a fresh install of Quake.

[Baker]

Hey baker could you make some updates to Proquake focused on Deathmatch.

Give me some time. I have a list of radical changes to take ProQuake and Engine X up to the next level (actually, 3 or 4 levels up). And do it in such a way that, say, Qrack can gain the features if R00k so chooses -- besides part of this is going to be pulling in several of R00k's ideas.

I'm not going to so much talk about them, but surprise people as this goes along. Talk is cheap and boring anyway.

Efficiency measured on Grenades. Anything else you could think of that would be a sweet renovation to deathmatch would be cool too! Damage given/taken per player. I guess it would require an update to the crmod server as well.

CRMOD can't be updated by anyone except Grossman. He emailed me earlier in the year and seems to be interested in doing a CRMOD update. If you DM enthusiasts started a thread listing bugs, suggested improvements that could prove helpful and I'd direct him to the thread. Note that he did not specify any kind of time frame for an updated, but seemed in particular interested in the idea of Universal Server compatibility.

Client protection, cheat-free stuff, anti-kimp solutions, show system fps, hardware, pak files, etc...

Client protection and cheat-free stuff is on my mind, but no obvious solutions at this point have presented themselves.

Some anti-Kimp ideas, however, will be forthcoming.

btw, I wanted to say thank you for these updates, and one thing I enjoyed in particular, although it may be irrelevant or minuscule...

In coop, now when im colored 14 or 15 and it goes to next map, i keep that color instead of reverting to blue. I think that change happened somewhere around proquake 3.36-ish. Thanks!

It is a rather recent change. I'm glad you like it.

Haha, maps still won't work for me. Also, it appears as though you have the "Join Game" and "New Game" fuctions under Multiplayer backwards.

Quite possible. As I spin down both ProQuake and Engine X in the same engine with different builds any bugs will be purged.

I don't know why, but the maps work fine if I'm just playing back demos. Otherwise I can't actually play any maps or I'll just get the map not found error.

Wolv, you didn't install it right ... but I'm not blaming you. A properly designed engine will let you know if it isn't installed right. I'll make an installer.

An engine that isn't user-friendly or doesn't let a user know there is a problem is a poorly designed one.

Works very well on my computer, I like the extra content too.
When I look at the textures I dont like the grainy effect, but when I'm just playing and not scrutinizing, the extra content really brings out the atmosphere

Go to effects and set detail texture to off. I'm not so big on that myself.

Oh and thank you for having moveleft and moveright directly under moveback instead of turnleft and turnright. Thats the first time I've seen that and I'ts always bothered me.

That was on the first changes in modern ProQuake, I think I did that back in version 3.60. The old key setup screen made no sense.

Works like a charm.

Figured players like you and Hydro would like this this engine. I have been using Engine X when playing Rune Quake or at Bigfoot.

[dfsp_spirit]

I tried it and had no problems so far. I can pick a map from the list, press ENTER and it loads it.

[gnounc]

Oh and thank you for having moveleft and moveright directly under moveback instead of turnleft and turnright. Thats the first time I've seen that and I'ts always bothered me.

[turtlevan]

Download: Engine X 4.59 - 39 MB (Source)





If you have the previous Engine X, delete the quake\enginex folder.

New features in this build:

1. Entirely scrapped old replacement texture system. New system = 100% DarkPlaces compatible. If you wanted to, you could move the enginex folder pak files to id1 and use them with DarkPlaces.

2. Crosshair image size is constant regardless of resolution or console width. There is no reason for crosshair sizes to vary based on resolution.

3. The external textures in Engine X no longer affect custom maps. All textures meant for original Quake maps are in a textures\exmy folder that only affects the original Quake maps --- so custom maps don't get weirded up with high resolution textures here but not there.

Bugs: Yes. Dead bodies still aren't colored. Little things here and there if you look hard. The quit menu isn't centered at the moment. It's beta. I know the issues.

DX8 build: It works. Mostly. To the extent it has any issues, they are all issues with the engine and not MH's dx8 wrapper. I don't recommend the use of the dx8 build until I rework the view blends to not use hardware gamma.

All the above said, there will be countless updates of both this engine and ProQuake over the next several months. More than you would think; deeper and larger changes than you would think.

It's time to go "all in"; that's where this is going. You'll see ...

[A large part of the credit for this goes to the inspiration MH gave me earlier in the year. For all the 52 updates of ProQuake this year, the truth is that before those there were only 5 updates of ProQuake in the prior 2.2 years. Sometimes motivation is more important than anything else, and it isn't always easy to look at a huge list of things that are all hard to solve and think you can make a dent. But when you are inspired, you don't care -- you know the huge list of things is gonna get owned.]

Target for final version after countless revisions = December 2010.

Hey baker could you make some updates to Proquake focused on Deathmatch.
Anything to increase responsiveness, decrease ping, or make the match faster would be sweet. Efficiency measured on Grenades. Anything else you could think of that would be a sweet renovation to deathmatch would be cool too! Damage given/taken per player. I guess it would require an update to the crmod server as well. Client protection, cheat-free stuff, anti-kimp solutions, show system fps, hardware, pak files, etc...

btw, I wanted to say thank you for these updates, and one thing I enjoyed in particular, although it may be irrelevant or minuscule...

In coop, now when im colored 14 or 15 and it goes to next map, i keep that color instead of reverting to blue. I think that change happened somewhere around proquake 3.36-ish. Thanks!

[AAA]

Works like a charm.