Vapourware Daggerfall Unity isnt Vaporware

[Ferital]

Just to mention that someone is building a new engine for Daggerfall, called DaggerXL. This is not the first Daggerfall remake attempt, but this time the guy seems to have already done a good job before announcing it to 'the community'. Here is his blog, with a video and some screenshots showing Privateer's Old, the first dungeon:

http://daggerxl.wordpress.com/2009/06/28/simple-collision-proper-uvs-and-flats/

 

[Data4]

If someone is going to make the damned thing from scratch, why not at least update it to more modern graphical standards? Even Unreal Tournament level would work. A lot of Daggerfall's presentation was abstracted, where things appeared the way they did in the game due to engine limitations.

Seeing as how you can't recreate it with the Oblivion CS due to engine limitations, it seems some kind of happy medium can be struck.

I dunno. I wish the guy luck. If nothing else, it'll be a stable, Windows native platform to experience the game on. That seems to be his goal, so more power to him I guess.

 

[Ferital]

In fact that's his first goal, as he said on the ES forums, and once he reaches it, he wants to add new content that keeps the spirit of the game, mostly features that Bethsoft didn't have time to implement in the game before the release but was planning to (for example Prostitutes or Order of the Lamp factions, usable torches and lanterns, interactivity with monsters, more unique NPCs, wars between the various kingdoms of the Iliac bay, plagues, ...). He also said he would make some kind of CS for Daggerfall that would let everybody change the textures and add new dungeon and town blocks.

So I wish him good luck.

PS. He's the author of DarkXL, a Dark Forces engine recreation that's almost done, so though he's ambitious, I think he can go far.

 

[Luzur]

....hohoh another one? if we are lucky this one will make it trough, but i dont believe so.

 

[BearBomber]

It's a pity that so many people works on that shitty franchise wasting their time.

 

[pipka]

why try to update the engine, wasting your time with coding(creating bugs inevitably) when you can succesfully migrate to ASCII?

 

[Ferital]

It's a pity that so many people works on that shitty franchise wasting their time.

The franchise became shitty when Morrowind was released actually. But after all that's a matter of taste, I managed to enjoy that one too despite its numerous flaws.

 

[Seboss]

In before the project gets shut down by Bethesda's legal department.

 

[Rosh]

Yeah, Daggerfall was back when Bethesda was still trying and Todd Howard was still a coffee bitch.

It, in part, delivered. Much unlike the Stonekeep 2 that BIS spent 5 years on to eventually shitcan.

 

[Ferital]

In before the project gets shut down by Bethesda's legal department.

It's only meant to be distributed as an exe file, which will still require the player to own a copy of the original game, since it uses directly Daggerfall assets. So it's like an emulator, and because of that is completely legal. Besides, some other guy is making an Open Morrowind engine (called OpenMW) with the same goal and Bethesda did not shut down it.

 

[DraQ]

In before the project gets shut down by Bethesda's legal department.

It's only meant to be distributed as an exe file, which will still require the player to own a copy of the original game, since it uses directly Daggerfall assets. So it's like an emulator, and because of that is completely legal. Besides, some other guy is making an Open Morrowind engine (called OpenMW) with the same goal and Bethesda did not shut down it.

Well, they did shut down Morroblivion.

I wouldn't have anything against updating DF's GFX - from what I understand DF's locations consist of premade blocks, so those blocks should be easily replaceable with something more elaborate after the negine is finished. Some more robust lighting system and 3D models could be added as well.

 

[Ferital]

In before the project gets shut down by Bethesda's legal department.

It's only meant to be distributed as an exe file, which will still require the player to own a copy of the original game, since it uses directly Daggerfall assets. So it's like an emulator, and because of that is completely legal. Besides, some other guy is making an Open Morrowind engine (called OpenMW) with the same goal and Bethesda did not shut down it.

Well, they did shut down Morroblivion.

I wouldn't have anything against updating DF's GFX - from what I understand DF's locations consist of premade blocks, so those blocks should be easily replaceable with something more elaborate after the negine is finished. Some more robust lighting system and 3D models could be added as well.

Yes I forgot Morroblivion... We will see what they decide with this one then...

I agree with you concerning the need to update DF's graphics.

 

[Seboss]

It's only meant to be distributed as an exe file, which will still require the player to own a copy of the original game, since it uses directly Daggerfall assets. So it's like an emulator, and because of that is completely legal. Besides, some other guy is making an Open Morrowind engine (called OpenMW) with the same goal and Bethesda did not shut down it.

Makes sense. I hope you're right, this project looks like it's going somewhere so far.

 

[Lonely Vazdru]

I'm interested. Site added to favourites. Thanks a lot for the information.

Nice to know some still carry the torch.

 

[mondblut]

why try to update the engine, wasting your time with coding(creating bugs inevitably) when you can succesfully migrate to ASCII?

You mean notepad? Yeah, good engine.

 

[DraQ]

why try to update the engine, wasting your time with coding(creating bugs inevitably) when you can succesfully migrate to ASCII?

I don't know, because 3D ASCII is kind of difficult to do and Daggerfall is one of the few games that actually use 3D to a great extent?

 

[hakuroshi]

Nice news indeed. Mostly because someone still remembers the game.
But if he'll really finish the job, there will be a lot of disappointment I fear.

 

[ScottishMartialArts]

In before the project gets shut down by Bethesda's legal department.

They really frickin nazis. They actually demanded that all pdfs of their manuals be taken down from Replacement Docs.

 

[Rosh]

They really frickin nazis. They actually demanded that all pdfs of their manuals be taken down from Replacement Docs.

That's really low. Probably so they could charge you to send you a replacement. It's not like this is the early 90s or before, with the copy protection in the manual's wording for passwords past certain points of the game.

Heil Korporation!

 

[Luzur]

Code well this night, for tomorrow you will release a demo of Daggerfall!

In before the project gets shut down by Bethesda's legal department.

They really frickin nazis. They actually demanded that all pdfs of their manuals be taken down from Replacement Docs.

luckily for me i downloaded the manuals for both Arena and Daggerfall + the cluebooks.

 

[Mackerel]

In before the project gets shut down by Bethesda's legal department.

It's only meant to be distributed as an exe file, which will still require the player to own a copy of the original game, since it uses directly Daggerfall assets. So it's like an emulator, and because of that is completely legal. Besides, some other guy is making an Open Morrowind engine (called OpenMW) with the same goal and Bethesda did not shut down it.

Well, they did shut down Morroblivion.

They shut down Morroblivion discussion on their forums to save their asses, the project is still ongoing, it's just that nobody is really doing anything new with it. Bethesda didn't own the copyright's to all the assets used in Morrowind, so condoning the transfer of copyrighted works from Morrowind to Oblivion could've gotten them in trouble. This project, like OpenMW, is completely different as it doesn't involve the direct use or transfer of copyright materials (hence the need to possess the game to use it's assets), so they can't shut it down as it's perfectly legal.

 

[luciusDXL]

They shut down Morroblivion discussion on their forums to save their asses, the project is still ongoing, it's just that nobody is really doing anything new with it. Bethesda didn't own the copyright's to all the assets used in Morrowind, so condoning the transfer of copyrighted works from Morrowind to Oblivion could've gotten them in trouble. This project, like OpenMW, is completely different as it doesn't involve the direct use or transfer of copyright materials (hence the need to possess the game to use it's assets), so they can't shut it down as it's perfectly legal.

Thanks for clearing that up, the project is legal and respects Bethesda's copyrights. Thanks for your interest in the project everyone, there will be another update this week. I'm planning on 1 update per week as much as possible so everyone can watch the progress and soon play the demo I'm putting together.

 

[Squeek]

Good luck!!

 

[ARZ]

They should re-start making the Daggerfall game using the Oblivion engine but doing it in secret, so Beth can't put a stop to it like last time.

 

[xuerebx]

why try to update the engine, wasting your time with coding(creating bugs inevitably) when you can succesfully migrate to ASCII?

I don't know, because 3D ASCII is kind of difficult to do and Daggerfall is one of the few games that actually use 3D to a great extent?

Not to mention most people wouldn't touch ASCII with a 10 foot barge pole. Not worth going through all that effort to please a couple of people innit.

I wish the guy luck