Boomer shooters sometimes make better fantasy games than RPGs

[Morgoth]

One of those semi-old FPSes dripping with atmosphere is that Wheel of Time one. Now that was something. It's too bad it's not for sale anywhere.

https://www.myabandonware.com/game/the-wheel-of-time-dic

Come back here and provide support for this now! If I choose Direct3D, I don't have mouselook and my keyboard controls don't work, all I can do is shoot with left mouse.

If I choose software renderer, the game is playable but pretty hideous.

I tried installing new render DLLs but the game won't pick them up and let me choose them to be used.

Help?

Use this:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/unreal-d...er-for-wotrune-hp12-cbu-and-ds9tf-version-162

And this for making the Quicktime videos work:
https://community.pcgamingwiki.com/files/file/655-directdraw-patched-quicktime-4/

 

[schru]

Would that I could. After the game ran fine, it started crashing randomly before even the menu. I never changed anything from the point when it ran fine.

Honestly, fuck trying to play old games. I don't have the patience for this anymore. Maybe I'll try the software renderer again, at least that worked.

There are some problems at times, but it's most definitely worth it to keep trying as dgVoodoo solves most of the compatibility issues without having to resort to system emulators, fan patches, or source ports.

Firstly, since you were trying unofficial renderers, it might be better to uninstall the game and delete all the files. After reinstalling set up dgVoodoo again and try it with all the official renderers. Take note of how each scaling setting on the first tab affects things. In the API tabs, try the different card types. As for setting the resolution in dgVoodoo, using Max or the highest 4:3 resolution suitable for your monitor might also produce different results.

In the end, some games are sensitive to resolution changes when using the wrapper. Trying to switch the colour mode may also cause an error. There's probably a certain sequence that should be followed. Perhaps setting in-game settings first without making any changes in dgVoodoo and forcing a higher resolution or a scaling mode only later. Maybe the scaling settings should be aligned with what is set in the graphics card's control panel.

 

[Morgoth]

Don't use dgVoodoo2, use those DX11 files I've posted above.

 

[schru]

Don't use dgVoodoo2, use those DX11 files I've posted above.

dgVoodoo is much preferable to renderers like the one you have linked to as it preserves the original look of the game, while fan-made renderers don't necessarily manage to do that (e.g., Kentie's Dx10/11 renderer changes how lighting looks, making certain things dimmer and also changing the look of surfaces) and the added ‘enhancements’ are usually quite out of place and only spoil the visuals.

 

[Morgoth]

Don't use dgVoodoo2, use those DX11 files I've posted above.

dgVoodoo is much preferable to renderers like the one you have linked to as it preserves the original look of the game, while fan-made renderers don't necessarily manage to do that (e.g., Kentie's Dx10/11 renderer changes how lighting looks, making certain things dimmer and also changing the look of surfaces) and the added ‘enhancements’ are usually quite out of place and only spoil the visuals.

Look, I tried both, and the customized DX11 renderer is a lot less troublesome for WoT. I also haven't noticed any changes in the brightness.

 

[Curratum]

Your DX11 renderer simply makes the game crash and lock up by PC to the point where I have to kill the game through task manager.

Yes, I extracted the DLL, yes, I edited the WoT.ini file and put the new rendering device in there. No, it doesn't even start.

As a matter of fact, running the game with -changevideo doesn't even show DX11 in the list of renderers...

 

[Curratum]

Fuck this game, and fuck old games without sourceports in general.

Now even software mode won't run. Deleting this abortion and never touching another UE1 game again.

 

[JarlFrank]

I thought they were only pew pew and a boys thing.

Unreal even lets you play a female character, noticeable by the "HUH!" sound of jumping being in a feminine voice

 

[Jack Of Owls]

I played Unreal Gold years ago but got bored by the time I hit the alien spaceship levels which seemed to go on & on and all looked the same. Metroid Prime managed to make its alien lvls more interesting, imo. I used to use Unreal as a GPU/CPU stress test for my old ATI cards and AMD processors. I'd leave it to run that castle fly-by benchmark overnight, and if it didn't crash by morning, I'd beam with geek satisfaction.

 

[Curratum]

Unreal SP is a horribly dull game, I wouldn't waste any time with it.

 

[schru]

Unreal even lets you play a female character, noticeable by the "HUH!" sound of jumping being in a feminine voice

You can also see the player's reflections in polished surfaces and Legend Entertainment added voice acting in the expansion pack, although that did not turn out well. The female character is actually the default variant; not sure if the first version of the game with the different menu had character selection.

Fuck this game, and fuck old games without sourceports in general.

Now even software mode won't run. Deleting this abortion and never touching another UE1 game again.

The other UE games should be much easier to get running. Unreal in particular received a semi-official OldUnreal patch which doesn't take any liberties with the original game and adds new fully compatible renderers (it's still necessary to disable multitextures manually).

I'd also recommend that everyone try Deus Ex with dgVoodoo with the 3dfx renderer as it has features which the Direct3D and custom renderers do not reproduce. Combined with dithering, it actually looks better that way than it does with some attempts to modernize its graphics.

Spoiler

Unreal SP is a horribly dull game, I wouldn't waste any time with it.

It's true that many sections are quite dull and it took me three attempts finally to finish it, but I think the atmosphere and visuals are very rewarding in themselves (provided that multitexture is disabled, otherwise the game looks quite bad).

Spoiler

The combat also eventually becomes reasonably fun when you get the flak cannon, razorjack, and sniper rifle, at least in encounters with the more mobile Skaarj warriors.

Edit: those particular screenshots of Unreal show the game with the S3TC textures from the GOTY of UT.

 

[toughasnails]

I played Unreal Gold years ago but got bored by the time I hit the alien spaceship levels which seemed to go on & on and all looked the same. Metroid Prime managed to make its alien lvls more interesting, imo.

You might know this already since you invoked Metroid Prime but some of OG Unreal's devs went on to work at Retro.

 

[Morgoth]

Your DX11 renderer simply makes the game crash and lock up by PC to the point where I have to kill the game through task manager.

Yes, I extracted the DLL, yes, I edited the WoT.ini file and put the new rendering device in there. No, it doesn't even start.

As a matter of fact, running the game with -changevideo doesn't even show DX11 in the list of renderers...

Have you also extracted the contents of the "common" folder into Wot's "system" folder? You shouldn't give up so easily on that gem.

 

[Louis_Cypher]

Cross posted from the FPS essentials thread:

Spoiler

Ages back I tried to make a personal list of the history of shooter games, for my own use.... ....I remember the hype surrounding big releases like Quake and Unreal, as well as the sheer relish of shooters set within my favorite settings like Star Wars and Star Trek. The list isn't complete, you can probably find much better ones, it's also weirdly organized into periods around major graphical leaps, but I tried to list some major releases I remember, and milestones:

--------------------------------
Wolfenstein/Doom/Heretic/Dark Forces Era
--------------------------------
1992: Wolfenstein 3D
1993: Doom ((id Tech 1))
1994: Doom II ((id Tech 1))
1994: Heretic ((id Tech 1))
1995: HeXen ((id Tech 1))
1995: Star Wars: Dark Forces ((Jedi Engine))
1995: Duke Nukem 3D ((Build Engine))
1996: HeXen 2 ((id Tech 1))

------------------------------------------------------
Quake-Engine/Quake II-Engine/Turok/Jedi Knight/Half-Life Era
------------------------------------------------------
1996: Quake ((id Tech 2))
1996: PowerSlave ((Build Engine))
1997: Blood ((Build Engine))
1997: Quake II ((id Tech 2))
1997: Goldeneye 007
1997: Star Wars: Dark Forces II - Jedi Knight ((Sith Engine))
1997: Turok: Dinosaur Hunter
1998: Delta Force
1998: Half-Life ((GoldSrc Engine based on Quake))
1998: Heretic II
1999: Kingpin ((id Tech 2))
1999: Aliens versus Predator
1999: System Shock 2 ((Dark Engine of Thief Series))
1999: Delta Force 2
1999: Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear
2000: Soldier of Fortune ((id Tech 2))
2000: Serious Sam

---------------------------------------------------------------
Unreal-Engine/Quake III-Engine/Return to Castle Wolfenstein/Star Trek Era
---------------------------------------------------------------
1998: Unreal ((Unreal Engine))
1998: Star Trek: Klingon Honor Guard ((Unreal Engine))
1999: Unreal Tournament ((Unreal Engine))
1999: Quake III ((id Tech 3))
2000: Deus Ex ((Unreal Engine))
2000: Star Trek: Elite Force ((id Tech 3))
2001: Serious Sam 2
2001: Clive Barker's Undying ((Unreal Engine))
2001: Return to Castle Wolfenstein ((id Tech 3))
2001: Aliens versus Predator II ((Lithtech Talon))
2001: Max Payne
2001: Halo
2001: Red Faction
2002: Soldier of Fortune II ((id Tech 3))
2002: Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast
2003: Call of Duty ((id Tech 3))
2003: Star Trek: Elite Force II ((id Tech 3))
2003: Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
2003: Call of Duty ((id Tech 3))
2003: Max Payne 2
2004: Halo 2
2004: Far Cry ((CryEngine 1))

-------------------------------------------------------------
Unreal II/Source-Engine/Doom III/Gears of War/Borderlands Era
-------------------------------------------------------------
2002: Unreal Tournament 2003 ((Unreal Engine 2))
2003: Unreal II ((Unreal Engine 2))
2003: Deus Ex: Invisible War ((Unreal Engine 2))
2004: Doom 3 ((id Tech 4))
2004: Killzone
2004: Unreal Tornament 2004 ((Unreal Engine 2))
2004: Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines ((Source Engine))
2004: Half-Life 2 ((Source Engine))
2004: Painkiller
2004: Star Wars: Battlefront
2005: Call of Duty 2
2005: Quake 4 ((id Tech 4))
2005: F.E.A.R ((Lithtech Jupiter EX))
2005: Star Wars: Battlefront II
2006: Call of Duty 3
2006: Prey ((id Tech 4))
2006: Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter ((Diesel Engine for GRAW))
2006: Gears of War ((Unreal Engine 3))
2006: Lost Planet
2006: Resistance: Fall of Man
2006: Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas ((Unreal Engine 3))
2007: BioShock ((Unreal Engine 2.5))
2007: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
2007: Crysis ((CryEngine 2))
2007: The Darkness
2007: Clive Barker's Jericho
2007: Portal ((Source Engine))
2007: Unreal Tournament 3 ((Unreal Engine 3))
2007: Call of Duty 4
2007: S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl
2008: Dark Sector
2008: Far Cry 2
2008: Gears of War II ((Unreal Engine 3))
2008: Resistence 2
2008: Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 ((Unreal Engine 3))
2009: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
2009: Killzone 2
2009: Wolfenstein ((id Tech 4))
2009: Borderlands ((Unreal Engine 3))
2010: Aliens vs. Predator
2010: Bioshock 2
2010: Medal of Honor
2010: Metro 2033
2011: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
2011: Portal 2 ((Source Engine))
2011: Brink ((id Tech 4))
2011: Gears of War III ((Unreal Engine 3))
2011: Killzone 3
2011: Resistence 3
2012: Borderlands 2 ((Unreal Engine 3))
2012: Far Cry 3
2012: Spec Ops: The Line ((Unreal Engine 3))
2012: Aliens: Colonial Marines ((Unreal Engine 3))
2013: BioShock Infinite ((Unreal Engine 3))
2013: Call of Duty: Ghosts
2014: Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel ((Unreal Engine 3))
[INCOMPLETE]

-------------------------
id Tech 5/Unreal Engine 4
-------------------------
2011: Crysis 2 ((CryEngine 3))
2011: Deus Ex: Human Revolution
2011: Rage ((id Tech 5))
2013: Crysis 3 ((CryEngine 3))
2013: Killzone: Shadow Fall
2014: Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
2014: Far Cry 4
2014: Wolfenstein: The New Order ((id Tech 5))
2015: Wolfenstein: The Old Blood ((id Tech 5))
[INCOMPLETE]

---------
id Tech 6
---------
2016: Doom ((id Tech 6))
[INCOMPLETE]

Here is also an incomplete list of some of the more prolific or interesting game engines used, and devs, including a few games that were were notable:

---------------
Shooter Engines
---------------
id Tech 2 (Quake, Quake II, Half-Life)
id Tech 3 (Quake III, Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force, Solider of Fortune 2, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Star Wars: Jedi Outcast, etc)
Unreal Engine 1 (Unreal, Unreal Tournament, Star Trek: Klingon Honor Guard, Deus Ex)
Unreal Engine 3 (Gears of War Trilogy, Spec Ops: The Line, Borderlands, etc)
id tech 6 (Doom 2016)
Build Engine (Blood, Witchhaven, Shadow Warrior, Powerslave)
Sith Engine (Star Wars: Dark Forces II - Jedi Knight)

----------
Developers:
----------
id Software [[Doom, Quake, Rage]]
Epic Games [[Unreal, Gears of War]]
Valve [[Half-Life, Portal]]
Gearbox [[Half-Life expansions, Brothers in Arms, Borderlands]]
LucasArts [[Dark Forces]]
Raven Software [[Heretic/HeXen, Soldier of Fortune, Star Wars, Star Trek]]
Crytek [[Far Cry, Crysis]]
Bungie [[Marathon, Halo, Destiny]]

Also, here for reference are some of the major retro revival releases, which revive everything good and imaginative before military shooters took over:

-----------------------
id Tech 7/Retro Revival
-----------------------
2014: Ziggurat
2016: Doom ((id Tech 6))
2018: Project Warlock
2018: Dusk
2019: Amid Evil
2019: Ion Fury ((Build Engine))
2020: Doom Eternal ((id Tech 7))
2020: Hellbound
2021: Arthurian Legends
20??: Dread Templar
20??: Wrath: Aeon of Ruin ((id Tech 2))
20??: Prodeus

It's a big genre. It's hard to pick essentials. So I'm going to just pick out ones I think were imaginative and immersive rather than good in every respect. This means there will be a lot of boomer shooters listed, because they just contained insane conceptual ambition compared to later shooters; satanic invasion forces, alien invasion fleets, hell dimensions, fortresses on lava planets, and frozen million year-old citadels.

• Doom
• Doom II
• Heretic
• Hexen
• Dark Forces
• Quake
• Powerslave
• Blood
• Quake II
• Dark Forces II - Jedi Knight
• Turok
• Half-Life
• Aliens versus Predator
• Unreal
• Klingon Honor Guard
• Clive Barker's Undying
• Return to Castle Wolfenstein

The revival so far:

• Doom
• Dusk
• Amid Evil
• Doom: Eternal
• Arthurian Legends

Remember they are selected for imagination and atmosphere. I'll stop around there, at the era of Quake III and Unreal engines, and a few modern revivals. It's not definitive. Those games however, are examples of true geek culture, before the industry was taken away from the Trekkies, Tolkienists and Metalheads who created the games industry, i.e. they still feature hyper imaginative settings, atmosphere, dark fantasy and science fiction concepts, rather than the plebeian fascination with limited real life. They take joy in exploring alternate dimensions, alien empires, hell worlds, and the vast cosmos, with heroic protagonists.

A roundup of boomer shooters that caught my eye:

Hellbound [RELEASED]

Play a game inspired by '90s classics like DOOM, Quake, and Duke Nukem 3D. Enjoy non-stop action and gameplay without interruptions. The only things you can do is shoot, kill, move fast, and perform minimal interactions with the environment such as opening doors, pressing buttons, and finding secret locations.

Arthurian Legends [RELEASED]

In a time before Camelot, magic coursed through the veins of Albion and for generations the people learned to harness this power, and as with all things in nature they understood there was a balance. For a time the people were united in peace, 'til the day the once-righteous king of Albion, Uther Pendragon, cast blame upon magic itself for the death of his queen, and thus decreed magic to be of "The Old Religion", banishing it's practice and followers from Albion forever...

Prodeus [RELEASED]

Prodeus is a first-person shooter of old, re-imagined using modern rendering techniques and technology. Experience the quality you’d expect from a modern AAA game, designed with retro aesthetics and gameplay that invoke the tech-imposed limits of older hardware.

Dread Templar

You are a Dread Templar seeking his revenge deep in the evil realm. Explore the levels and solve puzzles to find hidden weapons and upgrades. Face hordes of demons and bloodthirsty fiends using ninja equipment, firearms, and infernal weapons that will make YOU the scariest thing in hell.

Project Warlock II

Project Warlock II picks up right after the events of the first game. Palmer, Urd, and Kirsten, each have their own skills, perks, unique weapons, magic skills to unlock, and personal reasons to confront their old Warlock master.

Cultic

Spiritual successor to Blood. Gear up to fight your way through the ranks of an insidious cult. Their wretched minds twisted by the will of an unseen entity, you'll find just as much lead flying back as you dish out, so you'll have to run, slide, dodge, and make use of your environment to survive in this old-school-inspired shooter.

Graven

Spiritual successor to Heretic. A faithful priest of the Orthogonal order, exiled unto death for a crime in defense of another, you live again in a small boat, adrift in a swamp. A stranger ferries you to solid ground and bestows upon you vague instructions, along with a mysterious staff and book. Go forth, pious priest, alleviate suffering, uncover deceptions, and smash the eldritch perversions encroaching upon reality itself.

Supplice

In Supplice, you are a young engineer sent off to terraform an extremely distant world. Disaster falls upon the colony after an anomaly envelopes the Flux Gate facility, flooding the world with strange trans-dimensional horrors. You quickly find yourself to be the lone survivor of the brutal invasion. It's too late to save the colony, but you vow to take vengeance on the trans-dimensional aggressor who turned your new home into a violent bloodbath.

Compound Fracture

Dino Crisis inspired first-person survival horror. It’s 1996, and the sky over New Manitoba City is choked with pollution. An anonymous whistleblower contacted OSEA, claiming that ChronoGas had violated the federal laws banning the use of time travel. A health and safety enforcer was dispatched to investigate the claims, but found that the situation was more urgent than anyone could have predicted. He is forced to act decisively.

Wrath: Aion of Ruin

Quake Engine inspired dark fantasy. You are Outlander. Once adrift upon the Ageless Sea, you now find yourself on the shores of a dying world. From the consuming darkness emerges a figure cloaked in white, the Shepherd of Wayward Souls, who burdens you with the task of hunting down the remaining Guardians of the Old World. You must journey into the vast gloom to explore ancient ruins, discover forgotten secrets and battle the horrors that lurk within.

Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun

The first Warhammer 40,000 FPS where you can play purely as a Space Marine, other than the niche Space Hulk: Deathwing. Play a battle-hardened Space Marine on a perilous mission across the galaxy, as they battle against the Chaos Space Marines and daemons of Chaos.

 

[Louis_Cypher]

Gary did a video on upcoming FPS games, including quite a few boomer shooters:



I'll watch it in full later. Stuff like "The Age of Hell" seem interesting.