Looking for Pools Of Darkness?

In recent months I’ve been getting Google referrals for people looking to download Pools of Darkness. I do not offer the game for download here, but if you really want it (and you should, it’s one of the best CRPGs of all time), might I suggest buying it here? It’s only 13 bucks for all Gold Box and EOB games!

Now Playing: Ultima V Lazarus

I distinctly remember playing Dungeon Siege multiplayer at the Legend offices and exclaiming “Oh my god, could you imagine an Ultima game with this engine? It would be so amazing!” The forest environments in DS looked very good, and the relative disappointment of Ultima IX was still weighing heavy at that time. And now, after almost 5 years, it is here: Lazarus, the complete port of Ultima V to the Dungeon Siege engine. The first of its kind that ever got finished. For that alone I give kudos to the team.

Before we go any further, you have to understand that Ultima V was my first ever Ultima game. I must have been 14 or 15 at the time, and was playing the Amiga version that I had bought(!) at Karstadt in Essen from my hard-earned allowance. My English wasn’t nearly as good as it is now and I didn’t understand everything perfectly, the graphics were bad even for that time, and Ultima VI was already out for the PC (showing me what the series promised for the future). Still, I was enchanted. Had the cloth map spread over the chair next to me to trace my progress through Britannia. Kept a journal of all the information I had gathered and kept a list of where every character in the game lived (you never know when you had to find somebody again). And played for days and months without end.

It is with this background that I reinstalled Dungeon Siege on the computer and added Lazarus. And it is with this nostalgia that I am giving Lazarus an extended try. Because quite frankly, if it wasn’t for all the memories and the knowledge what this mod could possibly be I would probably have dismissed it as Yet Another Mod(tm) and moved on. I mean, who has time to play all this stuff, anyway?

Ultima V Lazarus is definitely good, and I’ll upgrade that assessment to “Great” if I get sucked into playing for a fair amount of time. So far I’ve only managed to leave Iolo’s hut and make it to Britannia, and reactions have been mixed. The nostalgia and the atmosphere that goes along with it are still there. I love the music, I love visiting the old towns. All NPCs are there and have expanded conversation trees. The introduction with the Shadowlords is still evocative. But the graphics, which seemed so great when Dungeon Siege came out, look dated now. And I still can’t see the sky, which was a complaint in the original game. The new artwork created by the mod team is serviceable and never destroys the mood, but it doesn’t hold up to commercial games. It’s telling when I can spot the Poser model in the opening sequence as soon as it appears on screen.

Maybe it is because I have played this game several times before that I don’t quite get sucked into it anymore. Instead of exploring a new, exciting world I feel like I’m on vacation in some part of the country that I lived in years ago. It’s fun to revisit all the old places and memories, but it’s not the same as back then. I also notice that I lost a lot of patience since the first time I played games like these. I tire of the conversations rather quickly and just want to “see stuff and kill things”. I know that’s a terrible thing to say and kind of misses the whole point of playing an Ultima game. But what can I say, I’m older now and have less time for this stuff Of course I’ll still keep playing.

You can download Lazarus on the official Lazarus homepage. If you ever played an Ultima game in your life you should definitely give it a try. The music alone (which is available as a separate download) is worth the visit. So, once again, a big congrats to the team that made this possible as a hobby project. Let’s hope for more finished conversions in the future, especially the Ultima VI project.

TTP file_id.diz

“SPECTRAL”? I don’t remember that for the life of me… Anyway, fixed the link to Arma3.zip, which incorrectly went to the Beyond Belief download instead. I guess a few people have been trying to download it lately, maybe I should convert it to Q4 sometime?

BTW, FILE_ID.DIZ files were little info files you’d add to your BBS uploads, so that the BBS could display the info its interested users. Ah, the time before the Internets…

Updates to Downlads Page

I’ve updated the Downloads page with links to the GDC material and some other stuff (dotXSI4Maya Plugins, Toggle Component Mode script etc.)
Desktop computer died on me the other day while playing Quake 4. It’s up and running again, but I haven’t made as much progress on Arma6 as I could have. Ah well, no rush…

The Good Old Times…

I have started work on Armageddon 6 for Quake 4 It will be a port of a DM tourney map that I’ve had lying around for a while. Should be fun! Good, oldschool DM design, and I had the layout tested by some top duel players a while ago so I know that it will make for some good battles.

Update: The map never got finished

Lair Screenshot

Sony has released some high-resolution screenshots of our Lair trailer! A thumbnail is above, click it to go to a bigger version on IGN’s PS3 page. Keep in mind that the assets in this footage are already several months old

Update: Gametrailers has high-res footage of trailer shown in the TGS theater.

Lair

Factor 5′s Playstation 3 project, Lair, has been shown at the Playstation Meeting in Tokyo! Check out IGN’s writeup of what they saw. I’ve been working on these dragons for quite some time. Needless to say, the game looks a lot better in high-def, but since I’m not allowed to post anything about the game that’s not public domain, so a blurry screenshot off the IGN video will have to suffice for now.

PC Games Unreal 2 Tutorial

This is a 2003 Unreal 2 editing article that I wrote for the German magazine PC Games. It’s in German, and you’ll need to register on the PC Games page.

Unreal 2 Screenshots

Here is a small gallery of my Unreal 2 level design work – nine shots are from the Atlantis level, one from an U2 XMP map, and two from the tutorial mission. Almost all 3D modelling work was done by me, textures were created by Dawid Michalczyk (Atlantis), the rest of the texture artists and me. The Desert XMP mission was created by Scott Dalton, using some leftover models I had created for a discarded Unreal 2 mission. The tutorial level was based on earlier work by Grayson Edge.

Atlantis Secrets

(And other neat stuff). This article reveals all Atlantis secrets from Unreal 2.

Available during all interludes:

• Secret Button #1: In the briefing room go to the right side of the holotank. There’s a hidden button on the right side of the table, between the table side and the wall. Press it to get a Seagoat holo.

• Secret Button #2: There’s a secret button in the the Armory, right next to the door. Crouch and look up at the table. If you push the button you get Isaak saying “Flashbang” and an EMP burst. This is an inside joke more than anything else, Isaak used to describe the concussion grenade as “It’s basically a flashbang[...]“, and we got a great deal of entertainment from using that word in every possible context. The line got changed, but the voice file stayed.

• Secret Button #3: Go past Ne’Ban’s cabin into the back hallway and jump into the open hatch in the corner of the hallway. If you look back towards head of the ship there’s a button, press it to get a few evil Lincoln and Grant heads laughing at you. In case you’re wondering, Grant Roberts is a co-worker and friend (and the voice of Ne’Ban!), I copied that picture of the Legend webpage one late night.

• Seagoat License Plate: You have to cheat for this. If you got behind Dalton’s locker in his cabin you can see a Seagoat license plate attached to the back of the locker.

• Seagoats: in all interludes starting with Obolus the Seagoat is hiding somewhere on the ship. If you find him he will run away twice, after that you can use him to get a dialog line from Dalton.

• Photographs: After each completed mission you get a new photograph of the planet that you just visited, it’ll be attached to the big screen in Dalton’s cabin.

• Artifacts: Whenever you find a piece of the artifact it will appear on the table in the back of Isaak’s armory.

Only available in specific interludes:

• PostM00 (after Avalon): to get the secret Lincoln briefing you have to talk to the hidden Seagoat before Aida gives her briefing. Go to the upper deck, past the player cabin and open the hatch opposite to Ne’Ban’s cabin door. Talk to the Seagoat inside and reply with “Spam”, “Spam”, “Spam”, “Humbug” (an homage to the Ultima 6 cheat). When Aida gives her briefing you’ll see Abe Lincoln doing the distress call instead of Danny Miller.

• PostM04 (before Obolus): When Ne’Ban does his briefing there’s 12 pictures that get displayed in rapid succession over the holotank. To see them clearly you can either cheat (“slomo 0.1″) or open the editor and check out the textures (they’re in MattT.utx).

• Unreal 2 Dance Party: To access the hidden U2 dance party you have to use the console or start U2 from command line. If you’re in-game: open the console, enable cheats and enter “open atlantis?missioncompleted=83″. From command line: start U2 with “unreal2.exe atlantis?missioncompleted=83″.

• Birthday Interlude: Do the same as above, but use “missioncompleted=110276″ instead (Feb 11 is my birthday ). You start in the player’s cabin and are treated to a bunch of Seagoat and Lincoln balloons. The interlude is empty otherwise.

Bonus Secret: Tutorial

• Nali Shooting Range: There’s a hidden shooting range in the tutorial level that let’s you mow down Nali. Here’s how you unlock it: in the obstacle course (where Raff tests your movement skills) there’s a fenced in area on the right side with a few boxes in it. If you stand on top of the mantling block you can jump over theose fences. Walk into the open box to find a secret Grant head, the game will announce that the secret shooting range has been unlocked. Proceed to weapons training and complete all tasks. At the end of the grenade launcher tutorial don’t go to Raff but walk over to the fourth shooting range on your left, which will now open.