FPS News

Battlefield 3 - Server Emulator

Battlefield 3 server emulator accepting beta signups, enables spectator mode, modding

Venice Unleashed, a server emulator for Battlefield 3, is now accepting beta signups. Created by NoFaTe, Venice promises control “over a wide set of features and settings that were initially hidden,” including spectator mode and other “half-implemented or disabled game features.” According to the signup site, Venice also supports the creation of mods and new gamemodes “without the need of performing complicated and game-breaking file modifications.”

Venice emulates BF3′s Blaze networking backend, but it is not a DRM workaround—the Emulator Nexusnetwork repeatedly stresses that a licensed, up-to-date copy of BF3 is required to play. Nexus and NoFaTe are also behind a Battlefield: Bad Company 2 emulator and custom client.

The two videos below are, respectively, a preview of the emulator working (dubstep threat level severe, adjust volume) and footage of the native spectator mode in action.

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Raven salutes LucasArts

Raven salutes LucasArts with release of Jedi Knight II source code

It’s sad to see LucasArts officially shuttered, but here’s something very positive to come out of it: Raven Software has released the source code for Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy as a tribute. That means modders keen to bend those old Star Wars games to their whim now have all the tools they need.

In a statement sent to Kotaku, a spokesperson for Raven said fans have been requesting the source code for a long time. “We loved and appreciated the experience of getting to make Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy for LucasArts. As a gift to the persistently loyal fanbase for our Jedi games and in memory of LucasArts, we are releasing the source code for both games for people to enjoy and play with.”

Get Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy right now from our downloads section linked below. There’s no ongoing official support, so… you know, be careful with it.

Raven also extended thanks and appreciation to the legendary publisher, which was yesterday officially closed by its owner Disney. “We wish the best for all the talented people who were let go and hope they find good work in studios in the industry.”

Jedi Knight II Source Code

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Fallout 3: Simple Realism

I’m always excited to start a new game of Fallout 3. The early stages are my favorite: those wonderfully scrappy first few levels where every bottle cap is a fortune, every trashcan a treasure chest. This time around I’m looking for more of a challenge, something to make the early days of my new character, Kurt, even scrappier than usual, but I’m a little daunted by some of the more popular rebalancing mods. Many of them completely overhaul every single element of the game. I’m just looking for something simple.

A mod called Simple Realism sounds about right. It doesn’t reshape the entire game, it just juices some of the behind-the-scenes math relating to weapons, damage, health, and loot. Perfect.

By now you know how Fallout 3 starts, so let’s just fast-forward: I’m a baby, I’m at my birthday party, I’m shooting my dad in the butt with my BB gun, I’m bribing my way out of taking the G.O.A.T. test, Butch’s head falls off because I’m doing something violent to it, yadda yadda yadda, I’ve escaped the Vault. Hooray! Check out the mod below...

Simple Realism

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Crysis gets VR Mod

Crysis gets VR mod – beam maximum graphics directly into your face

Listen, developers: if you’re planning to add Oculus Rift support into your games, you’d better do it quick. Wait too long and modding powerhouse Nathan Andrews will beat you to it. He’s unstoppable. Fresh from taming the Source engine to add head and gun tracking to Half-Life 2 and Black Mesa, he’s now turned his attentions to the CryEngine, and has a video of Crytek’s first nanosuited outing running with the tech.

“I ported the Half-Life 2 VR mod that I’ve been working on over to Crysis and Crysis Wars (and also Cryengine 3 if anyone is interested in building a game from the ground up with VR support),” writes Andrews, as if it ain’t no thing. The mod’s not yet complete – as you’ll see in the video, it’s lacking crosshair tracking and iron-sights, making aiming a bit difficult. Still, as proof of concepts go, it’s undeniably impressive.

This may be the thing that pushes me over into actively wanting an Oculus Rift. The device has always seemed interesting in an academic way, but the chance to go Predator through Crysis’ jungle island sounds simply irresistible.

Given that modders are geniuses who can do anything (probably?), which games would you love to see running in VR?

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Aliens Colonial Marines - SweetFX

Well, that was fast. Only a little over 24 hours have passed since Aliens: Colonial Marines emerged from its dark alcove, but graphics mods are already becoming available. One such is the SweetFX mod which spruce's up shadows, lighting, and color palettes for something a bit more reminiscent of the films’ murky tones and cool hues.

SweetFX provides a less subtle effect: deeper colour saturation, a sharpened texture filter, stronger shadows, and a faint blue gradient for outdoor areas but it’s definitely a darker flavour than the default visuals.

Though Colonial Marines wasn’t the Aliens game reboot fans desired for years, it’s still nice to see a few dedicated modders pushing for graphical excellence regardless of the quality of the game.

SweetFX

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Aliens Colonial Marines - Killing Floor

We’ve now faced so many zombie apocalypses that it’s amazing the shambling menace can elicit even the mildest increase in heartbeat. So while Killing Floor remains an enjoyable co-op FPS, any change to its morbid monsters is welcome. Especially when that change is in the form of in the form of H.R. Giger’s face-smothering, acid-dripping, chest-bursting beasties.

That’s what you get in Killing Floor: Aliens, an extensive mod that swaps out the game’s setting, weapons and, most importantly, enemies for those from James Cameron’s action sequel. Nearly two years in development, the mod’s team say of the project, “AKF is one of the most comprehensive mods to date released for Killing Floor. The aim of this mod was to bring the feel and scope of James Cameron’s Aliens to Killing Floor while in one hand remaining true to the franchise and in the other ensuring that it still retains the feel of Killing Floor.”

There’s a whole zoo full of Xenomorphs, from the tiny facehuggers to the giant Alien Queen, along with new weapons, maps and perks. You also get a full roster of characters from the movie – including Ripley – who the mod’s makers claim now play and sound like their cinematic counterparts.

Killing Floor

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Call Of Duty 2 - CoD2 4-Ever

jnoonfelt released his CoD2 4-Ever for Call Of Duty 2.

Quote jnoonfelt :
Here's the little taste of our work. Expect new weapons, new AI, modified weapon stats, modified AI, modified etc. This is two months of our work. Expect many bugs. If there are any bugs that affect gameplay, comment so I can fix them. This is compatible with B2F visuals! Enjoy!

CoD 4-Ever

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Crysis 2 - Maxxx411

Maxxx411 released his Maxxx411 for Crysis 2.

Quote Thed :
The new version is available, bug free I hope and weapons are more improved as well as the nanosuit too. In future version there will be new levels. Enjoy!!!

Maxxx411

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STALKER Misery mod 2.0

Released last January, the first version of the Misery overhaul mod for STALKER: Call of Pripyat turned up the realism of GSC’s survival-horror shooter and sent the Zone’s deadliness into overdrive. The modding team’s efforts left a strong glimmer in the gas-masked eyes of the STALKER community, and the upcoming 2.0 update promises additional visual boosts, new weapons, items, music, AI tweaks, and far more features listed at length as we have been told.

The team’s latest teaser trailer doesn’t show much - just a few abandoned buildings, a quick glimpse of the inventory system, and the tinkling of wind-chimes in the background - but it definitely proves the longevity of STALKER’s visual chops at the hands of ambitious modders. Misery 2.0 doesn’t have a solid release date yet, and the team is focusing on testing the remaining few improvements and features before launching.

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L4D2 - Helms Deep Reborn

SeriouS_Samurai released an update of his Helms Deep Reborn map, it is a survival mode map which can last up to thirty minutes, and can be very very hard when tanks spawn continuously near the end.

• Quote SeriouS_Samurai :
  The only survival map with an ending! Survive until Gandalf comes.
  Changes in this version:
  
• Tanks should no longer fall down when taking the path outside along the windows on the second floor (the keep).
• Fixed players getting stuck (after you won the map) by the rocks at the top of the stairs which you use to fall back at approx. 7mins.
• 33% of the total amount of common infected will now spawn outside the keep when to horses block the armory instead of spawning when the sun rises (improves server performance).
• Deleted 1 molotov inside the Great hall (King's throne).
• After you've lost the gate: The sides of the Hornburg unlock a few seconds earlier for the enemies.
• All the pictures (server logos etc.) that appear when you win the map are now immune to sprays.
• Updated some files in the vpk referring to version 16.
• Deleted nonexistent melee weapon in mission.txt.
• All players survival record (time) has been reset to 0.

Helms Deep Reborn

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