[alexsok]

http://tenebrae.sourceforge.net/

This new version has the following features
Runs faster (25% on my system)
Radeon support (Thanks to Jarno Paananen)
Reflections
Glares
Md3 support
Animation interpolation
Luminance textures (local light for texture)
"Modern" particle engine
Uses lights from the original maps (less dark)
Flashlight and flares
Bug fixes (see Readme)
The test map that Willi Hammes made is also available, you can download it from his website.
Expect linux and mac versions to be released soon...

Head here for downloads:
http://tenebrae.sourceforge.net/inde...e=download.txt

[John Reynolds]

Just tried this last night. Popped the old Fantasy General CD in for the aural ambience and played through episode 1. Not too bad, though I'm not sure I care for everything having that embossed 'sheen' look to it. But watching your own shadow flicker down a hall was cool.

[alexsok]

Originally Posted by John Reynolds

Just tried this last night. Popped the old Fantasy General CD in for the aural ambience and played through episode 1. Not too bad, though I'm not sure I care for everything having that embossed 'sheen' look to it. But watching your own shadow flicker down a hall was cool.

Yeah, the new version is looking just STUNNING!
At one moment (during that test map made specifically for this version) I had that Dejavu feeling when I remembered something from DOOM III and that's a very good thing!

[pascal]

C. Hollemeersch programming work is very impressive, really amazing

It looks better than UT2K3

[Reverend]

C. Hollemeersch programming work is very impressive, really amazing

It looks better than UT2K3

That's probably because he didn't think of, or need to, make money off this mod of his .

Per-pixel usage is cool but a bit like what John said... I'm sure bricks aren't supposed to look like that with a lightsource nearby. Love the water reflection though (and what a performance hit!).

[Freak'n Big Panda]

It looks better than UT2K3

I haven't played this version yet but I played the first one and I think it looks good but nowhere close to UT2K3 just because of the horrid poly counts. Maybe half-life in 1024x768 but not UT2K3... geez. Anyway could sombody post pics of this new version I want to see how much better it looks. (I on a P133 right now so I can't play it, I'll try it when I get back home tommorow )

[pascal]

Originally Posted by Freak'n Big Panda

I haven't played this version yet but I played the first one and I think it looks good but nowhere close to UT2K3 just because of the horrid poly counts. Maybe half-life in 1024x768 but not UT2K3... geez. Anyway could sombody post pics of this new version I want to see how much better it looks. (I on a P133 right now so I can't play it, I'll try it when I get back home tommorow )

I mean the engine graphics looks better. Now imagine specially designed levels, art, texture and monsters using Tenebrae. Try the special map to start.

[alexsok]

Try the special map to start.

I agree. The closest u come to DOOM III, without taking into account DOOM III itself of course!

[BoddoZerg]

OMG, the performance reminds me of DOOM 3 as well.

With everything turned on (including reflective water) and the 4x bigger texture pack, I had to run at 640*480*32 to get decent framerates on my Athlon 2000+/GeForce4Ti4400 system. (No AA or Aniso either!)

Still, it looks impressive as hell! Can't wait for the real DOOM3 to be out. (ugh, gotta upgrade - maybe NV35 by then)

[aneep]

yep

i tried running the timedemo demo1 with 640x480x32 with aniso and full mirror/forced all water reflective

got around ~40fps on 1800+ Athlon/GF4 4200 64mb

i wonder how much lower would the DoomIII engine runs on this spec?
i really hope some creative modders would pick up this opportunity to cut their teeth on this engine, imagine the possibilities, destroyable lights (Thief?), moving light source etc etc

and i hope the author include animation interpolation in the next version too, since almost all other Q1 engine mods have that now

-aneep-

[BoddoZerg]

By the way, anyone notice how *ugly* bilinear filtering looks when everything is heavily bumpmapped?

without bumpmapping, I can barely notice the difference between bilinear and trilinear. In Tenebrae, bilinear is blatantly f-ugly.

Unfortunately, trilinear also slows the f--k out of things. =(

[alexsok]

and i hope the author include animation interpolation in the next version too, since almost all other Q1 engine mods have that now

Animation Interpolation is already included in the latest version of Tenebrae (the one we are all discussing now )

[aneep]

really?

coz i see the difference in animation when running this engine and say tomazquake

i remember another engine that doesn't have animation interpolation for MD2 models (most Q1 engine i tried only interpolate animation for MDL models) and the animation looks similar like this

-aneep-

[Chalnoth]

One thing that annoyed me at first was that I thought the grenade launcher was broken in this new version.

It turns out that the game gives you a "weapon" that looks and acts just like the grenade launcher, except the grenades don't explode. Works great for lighting up dark areas :)

[aneep]

its not a bug, but listed in the readme as alternate mode for grenade launcher =flares

i got to try this with other mods, but most seems not workings with it

i bet Zerstorer would look pretty good with this

-aneep-

[Ozymandis]

Hmmm. This release looks great, with the higher-res texture packs and whatnot

[V3]

The testmap, is definetly the highlight of that thing. Quake texture, even in highres, still look terrible and worst with all that shine, they should just replace it, with the one from testmap.

[MasterBaiter]

I'm really tempted to load up Quake and the Tenebrae mod just to see what Ziggurat Vertigo looks like now :P

I agree with some of the comments about the bumpmapping and the shine/gloss being too excessive....

[Gollum]

I guess I should look for my old Quake CD again and have a look at the mod, should be interesting from a tech point of view.

To those complaining about the too shiny look: I agree, but what do you expect if you use 6+ year old game content and update an engine to run with technology that even today has only been seen in sneak previews? Of course its not gonna look breathtaking out of the box - you will have to specifically create artwork and levels for this to really look good, and those test levels already show some great promise IMHO. Given some time and gifted artists and designers, this modded engine could really produce some stunning results I think...

[Tagrineth]

Meh, I found Quake1 to suffer from uninspired level design and severely boring game play... probably just me though.

I'd love to try Tenebrae... can't they add a cube map free path for us poor Kyro II owners? Even UT2k3 ended up not requiring cube maps... and John Carmack mentioned considering a cube map free DOOM3 codepath specifically for Kyro cards...

[John Reynolds]

Originally Posted by Tagrineth

Meh, I found Quake1 to suffer from uninspired level design and severely boring game play... probably just me though.

Yea, the gameplay is just simple run 'n gun and find the occasional key (which isn't too hard on levels this linear), but some of the level design is pretty damn good if you consider the engine limitations. I just hit the Wizard's Manse and I'd forgotten how much I used to admire that level.

[Tagrineth]

Actually my main problem with the game play was probably the absense of music worth anything at all... for me there was just no atmosphere of any kind, just lots of BOOMs, UUUUUGHS (zombies), and Clunk-clunk clunk... with horribly drab colours (worse than most PS2 games)...

DOOM exceeds in all those categories... fantastic music, much better use of colour, more variance in sound effects (well, there isnt' much in the first place, but Quake has almost none), and sue me, I like almost all of DOOM's levels. The keys often take some thought (the first time through) and a little work to get... Quake's are just, kill a couple of enemies, push button, kill a couple more enemies, run down a too-long corridor, hit slipgate, enter locked door. The only level with complex keys was the second to last of E1...

Quake is just too much of a step down from DOOM, and it's meant to be DOOM's successor.

[mono]

Originally Posted by Tagrineth

Meh, I found Quake1 to suffer from uninspired level design...

Compared to what? It was the first 3D FPS out there. No one had ever designed a 3D level before. You're a tough nut to crack.

I happened to dig on Reznor's sound effects and moody ambience tracks. Different feeling from Doom's amped up MIDI, but much more creepy.

[BoddoZerg]

Quake's problem IMHO is the weapons and monster design. The human enemies just plain sucked, and the tougher monsters felt really gimmicky; the Shambler and Vore's auto-hit attacks meant that you could only fight them one of two ways; either hide behind a corner, pop out a squeeze off a few rounds, and hide again; or pull out the Lightning Gun and fry them in a split second. Spawns are even worse; in the later levels where there are dozens of Spawns in a room, you have to kill them before they start jumping like mad, or you die...

The weapons were also lame. Somehow, the rocket launcher didn't have the same satisfying feeling as the DOOM RL, and the super nailgun and lightning cannon were really gimmicky in that you never had enough ammo, so you'd only use them for the few situations where you were up against lots of Shamblers or Vores. Plus, none of the weapons felt particularly destructive; the lightning cannon was just an ugly beam that kills large monsters really fast but isn't worth using on anything else, and the super nailgun uses all your ammo in a few seconds. The only saving grace of Quake gameplay was the usage of Quad Damage in the level design; its' fun to pick up a Quad and kill a dozen Ogres and Death Knights in seconds.

Level design in Quake was mediocre. The ambience of the game and the smaller number of monsters (compared to DOOM) could have made for a very spooky game, but instead they chose to make it a "3d DOOM". I hope to God they don't do that for DOOM3.

[Gollum]

Well the name of Doom 3 alone kinda gives away the heritage and what kind of game to expect, doesn't it?
But seriously, from all the interviews I think its safe to assume that while the gameplay will be updated a little to better suit today's standards, its still gonna be a typical id shooter...

BTW, what BoddoZerg found so negative about Q1's weapons and opponents is exacly what I liked about them (while graphics and design are a bit off target 7 years after the game was released, no wonder)! You actually got to use different weapons for different situations, and had to act differently depending on environment and opponent, something several of today's shooters still have problems with, too often one weapon of your choice it enough. The more powerful weapons with rare ammo had to be saved for tougher parts of the level, since the standard weapons wouldn't cut it there, Some opponents you could engage face to face, for others you had to use different tactics. Wasting ammo for the more powerful weapons on weak opponents would bring you in a bad position when the heat really kicked in. All part of the game and well balanced IMHO.

For the kind of game it was, the first "real 3D" Shooter, I think Quake did many things right. Q1 remains the only of the Quake games that I enjoyed playing for longer than 15 minutes in a row...