MWLL: Weekly Update XX - August 09/03

Saus: http://www.mechlivinglegends.net/content/view/380/1/

MWLL Weekly Update XX - August 09/03

MWLL news

Written by AoP

Sunday, 23 August 2009

Welcome to the 20th Weekly Update by the team of MechWarrior: Living Legends, a Crysis total conversion modification, which covers the activities of the third week of August of 2009. This week's update features more texture work on the Clans' war machinery: the Mad Cat MKII has received its textures. In addition, we're presenting to you some of those things that will make MWLL Maps appear to be populated and fill them with life - some of the new level assets. As usual, several screenshots from the weekly playtest conclude this update. Textures done: Mad Cat MKII Last week, you've seen the Clans' Mad Cat/Timberwolf and Vulture at this place. This week, we've got the Timberwolf's bigger brother for you: the Mad Cat MKII in all its shiny new glory. New level assets Filling huge maps like those you'll find in MWLL is not an easy job. Level assets certainly have their fair share in creating a map's atmosphere. New ones are being added constantly and the two screenshots below show some of the most recent additions. Also, don't let the shots confuse you: they're being shown on SA_Extremity, but there's good chance you might encounter some of these on other maps, too. Playtest Impressions Again, here are a few pictures from this week's playtest.

MechWarrior 4: F2P Coming...Soon (TM)

I keep checking back at MekTek, but it seems that they're still working on upgrading their servers in anticipation of the traffic they expect to receive when they finally do put up MW4 for free. Here's the latest (kinda' old still) news about the process:

Mechwarrior4 FREE Release Update

Posted by Vam, Saturday, 15 August 2009 06:57 Comments(0), Read all Well folks its certainly time for an update regarding the the FREE release of Mechwarrior4 recently announced. I figured it would be worth mentioning considering this is the weekend of GENCON 2009 where all of the major players in the Mechwarrior and BattleTech world are expected to converge on Indianapolis this weekend. We have been receiving a wealth of requests for information regarding this release from gamers both young and old. As a game fan community development site such as MekTek, receiving such honor to release a million dollar product developed by Microsoft may be one thing but delivering on this release successfully is another. Currently, MekTek is working around the clock on pretty much everything in preparation for this free release. There will be a second media blitz when the release is ready as both MekTek and the release partners want to ensure the word travels far and wide regarding the official release. Also expect to see more info regarding partner developments around this time on BattleTech.com.

The reason we did not re-package the ISOs of Mechwarrior4 and release the game as is right after the release of the announcement is because we simply were not prepared. The news and announcement of the FREE release happened very quickly and was dropped in our lap almost as quickly as it was dropped in yours. Since the announcement, we have been diligently preparing for the release of Mechwarrior4 which has all of the digital protection mechanisms removed. Along with this development we have also been working on our MekMatch software. For those of you not familiar, MekMatch is a reverse engineered protocol developed for match making services in Mechwarrior4 by MekTek. This service was developed after Microsoft terminated the Zonematch service which officially supported Mechwarrior4 multiplayer. Our MekMatch software needed a serious overhaul to handle the amount of traffic we expect on our servers when the game is released. MekTek also plans to include MekPak3.1 with the free release of Mechwarrior4 which includes an additional 100+ new battlemechs, dozens of new weapons, maps, and other content developed by MekTek. The distribution will come as a single file self-installable which will be initially downloadable via torrent trackers and later provided in multi part volumes, ISO. Finally, MekTek is also releasing a new application which has been in development since this announcement which provides the community with the latest patches and software from MekTek. This software will greatly simplify the patching process of Mechwarrior4 and allow MekTek to push updates, such as our MekPak4, to the Mechwarrior4 community much easier than in the past.

The unfortunate aspect of all this great news is that all of these new developments could have been ironed out before the announcement but they were not. Our partners felt an initial announcement was necessary and so did we. We plan to release Mechwarrior4 for FREE when developments are completed and considered stable. We are also waiting on legal paper work from lawyers and as anyone out there that has worked in the professional industry knows, something of this magnitude takes time on all fronts. MekTek is not receiving any financial support from the partners regarding this release and obviously no one can quit their daytime job to get the job done faster either. The release has entered beta status and will be delivered to the world very shortly. MekTek is supported through donations from our community and thus far we have received 50% of our goal to cover server infrastructure costs. We hope the community will continue to support us during this very busy time to ensure we have the best possible hardware in place for this release.

Thanks for supporting us folks, while we work hard on something new and shiny, for everyone, for FREE!

So, let us continue to be patient, and if you want, go donate!

MechWarrior 4: Downloads are Incoming!!

According to MekTek:

Server Upgrades and help!

Folks over the course of the next 12 hours you may experience some downtime on mektek.net. We are upgrading our server infrastructure at MekTek in preparation of releasing Mechwarrior4 for FREE. We are building a server cluster at MekTek which basically means multiple simultaneous servers running together serving MekTek's forums, web portal, gallery, downloads, and MekMatch (crucial for online play). Our infrastructure will continue to grow as our community does but not without the support of fans in our community. I'd like to remind both our new and old visitors that MekTek is supported through a donation program which enables us to keep our server infrastructure online. We typically run a donation drive once per year to keep MekTek online. On MekTek's 10th anniversary we are marking this milestone with the release of Mechwarrior4 for FREE, the reboot of the Mechwarrior series by Smith and Tinker, and the return of the Unseens on BattleTech.com. Since there is much more information to follow regarding all of these awesome new developments in both the Mechwarrior and BattleTech world - we are in need of your support more than ever. Our studio is not in the position to foot the bill for the entire community and we rely on the support of our donation drive to keep MekTek alive! This is just a reminder folks that without your support MekTek would not exist. Thanks!

MekTek's total server costs/month are now $513.98 USD/month or $6167.76 USD/year. Our donation drive is the only way we can continue paying for this kind of bandwidth bill! Total donations will cover this increased cost for approximately 2 months. Remember we did not hold a donation drive since last year.

I'll be keeping an eye out!

MWLL: Walking With Giants Trailer!

This is from the team's latest update which you can find here!

There are still lots of haters about the 'stiff movements' of the Mechs, and yeah, you do notice it, but it still looks pretty fuckin' good for a free fuckin' mod that people are workin' on on their free fuckin' time. Keep it up guys, keep it up!! I can't wait. XD The rest of you, go make your own mod and let us all critique it.

And to all the whiners, a dev response:

This is true. Owens is the mech that tends to get stuff done to him "first", so his animations are much more polished than animations such as the cougar.

On that note, DO NOT expect the animations to be like MW4. MW4's walking animations were totally cartoonish and silly, and totally unrealistic. Notice how dull and boring it was in first person view. It was perfectly smooth, with only slight bobs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CW8Al1fH6g

There's no real shift, because the cockpit is faked and only has a shake applied to it.

Now on the other hand, check out the almost cartoonish 3rd person animations:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95ByTi4wrWw

Notice how much it shakes, bounces and moves. It's 100% not in sync with the first person. This wasn't a problem in the older games because the only time you saw third person constantly is if chose to play entirely in third person, and because the entire animation system was faked.

The problem with our mod is:

1. Everything is real. The cockpits are real, the players inside them are real, the view from the outside is real. This means however much the outside moves, the inside (and the player) will move. If it make it exactly like MW4, then it will be impossible to use the mechs. There are ways though to add a "fakeness" to the inside cockpit/players/cameras, and make it so the torso doesn't bounce as much as the legs would (realistically speaking this would happen anyways due to shock absorption systems being inplace which previous MW games ignored because they didn't need to bother with such systems). Plus other methods to make it so the mechs feel more fluid and yet are realistic.

2. MWLL is entirely a first person game. Sure you will be able to see other mechs but you won't have the ability to see your mech from the outside for long periods of time.

2009 is starting to look better and better!

Mechwarrior 4: Re-Released...and F2P!

MechWarrior 4 To Be Re-Released
Free release of game and expansions to be distributed soon.

by Jeff Haynes

July 9, 2009 - The MechWarrior floodgates seem to have completely flung open after years of silence. After our exclusive reveal of the latest chapter of the MechWarrior universe, Smith & Tinker added its own special way of commemorating BattleTech's 25th anniversary. In a small news post on its website, Smith & Tinker stated that it had "authorized MekTek.net and MekTek Studios to distribute MechWarrior 4 (along with its expansion packs) completely free." The announcement did not state a particular date that the game and its packs would be released, however.

MekTek had two posts of its own on its site, claiming, "MekTek views this partnership as a hallmark moment for the global MechWarrior 4 community. We welcome the opportunity for the MekTek team to officially take a leadership role in the cultivation and development of the on-line MechWarrior 4 communities in support and anticipation of the recently announced MechWarrior game by Smith & Tinker and Piranha games."

Mechwarrior 4 was released in 2000, and its last expansion pack was released in 2002. The announcement is gigantic news for players that are seeking to re-discover the game which they might not have played in years, or for fans that haven't ever played a MechWarrior game before. MekTek is well known in the MechWarrior fan community for having released its own expansion packs. Three packs in all have been released, and the community is currently working on its fourth. The announcement did not explicitly state whether the expansions would solely be MekTek's, or would also include Mercenaries, Black Knight, Clan Mech Pak or Inner Sphere Mech Pak, all of which were developed by Cyberlore Studios. We've contacted Smith & Tinker, but received no comment as of the publishing of this news. As soon as any additional details are released, we'll make them available.

This is fuckin' sick because I can't find my CDs. Ahh, so much good news in so little time. Does this mean Horde is going to finally win an AV? ZOMGZ!

MechWarrior 5: OOohHHHhh YEAAHhhHHHHHH!!

I was pretty blindsided by this so I'm fuckin' stoked (yes, I'm old).

The game is being done by Pirahna Games. Here is the IGN first reveal:

MechWarrior Revealed

Smith and Tinker and Piranha Games are working on a full reboot of the acclaimed franchise.

July 8, 2009 - MechWarrior fans have been hoping, praying and anticipating a new game in the famed franchise ever since the last expansion pack for MechWarrior 4 was released in 2002. Now, seven years later, their prayers have been answered. IGN has the very first details about MechWarrior reboot that is currently in production at Smith and Tinker and Piranha games. Yes, that's right, reboot. Instead of this game becoming MechWarrior 5, the developers have decided to completely re-launch the entire franchise, calling this new title MechWarrior.

We spoke to the two main players involved with MechWarrior. First there's Jordan Weisman, co-founder of Smith and Tinker and co-founder of FASA, the company that created the BattleTech universe that MechWarrior is based upon. Second is Russ Bullock, president of Piranha Games. (For an in-depth discussion of the reboot and how it fits in the franchise, check out our exclusive interview.)

You may remember the MechWarrior games published by Activision, MicroProse, and Microsoft. The latter actually acquired FASA Interactive in the 1990s only to shutter the studio in 2007. However, the software giant retained the rights to the MechWarrior franchise. After leaving Microsoft, Weisman engaged in various pursuits before founding Smith and Tinker in 2007. That same year, Smith and Tinker acquired the rights to many FASA properties from Microsoft, including MechWarrior.

This new MechWarrior is set on the planet Deshler in the year 3015, and places players in the role of Adrian Khol, a wayward nobleman who prefers partying and shirking responsibility over his training and studies. However, when House Kurita launches a massive invasion to conquer Deshler, resulting in the death of his entire family, Khol discovers a purpose to fight for.

There are ambitious plans for this new MechWarrior. The original MechWarrior games were limited by technology; now with modern computing power, the developers are hoping to really capture the sense that you're piloting a giant, walking war machine in the middle of an incredibly dynamic battlefield. While the two companies are still talking to potential publishers that could determine the final production budget, Weisman and Bullock explained that they plan to have a full single-player campaign, as well as support for a four-player co-op campaign, and a full multiplayer suite.

One of the key features is a sense of information warfare, using everything from unmanned drones surveying the battlefield from above to light scout mechs relaying information to teammates. Weisman and Bullock both explained how they want every class of mech to really matter in this game; it's not just a race to the heaviest, most powerful mechs. The designers want to reward you for picking a mech and sticking with it -- you will gain experience and become better at piloting your chosen mech, and that will translate into better accuracy and damage with weapon systems. This way, a player could specialize in a light mech throughout the entire game if they choose. It also means there are multiple playthroughs with different mechs. The developers also said the game will change based on your chosen mech class.

While the developers didn't go into how many mechs will make the game, based on the video trailer and the discussions, we know of at least four. There's the Jenner (light class), both the Warhammer and the Rifleman(heavy class), and an Atlas Prime, a feared assault-class mech.

The game is being developed for the PC and the Xbox 360, though there isn't any idea of a release date yet, since the game is still in the middle of development and the companies are still talking to publishers. For more information, read the interview with Weisman and Bullock. We also dissect the trailer in a Rewind Theater. Check out the gallery for the very first screens of the game anywhere. Finally, keep checking back with us as we keep a very close eye on this exciting new project.

Ahhhh, someone pinch me!! 4 player co-op AND multiplayer. FUCK YEAH!

MWLL: Latest Update

Cccccheck it out here: http://www.mechlivinglegends.net/forum/index.php/topic,4977.0.html

So many sexy pix from the playtest. It looks fuckin' awesome.

Crysis MechWarrior Mod Coming Soon!! (I Hope!)

Thanks so much Lobo7922 for bringing this to my attention!

The website is:

http://www.mechlivinglegends.net

And these guys are a group working on bring a full on MechWarrior mod for Crysis!!

Here is the long, but very good to read introduction to the project by the Lead Dev, Criminal:

MechWarrior: Living Legends (MWLL) is a total conversion mod for Crysis. We have already assembled a dedicated team of over 40+ members from various gaming development backgrounds who are eagerly awaiting projects and currently hard at work on all assets that are to be imported into the game from BattleMechs to player models ALOT is always happening with the MWLL team.

The main reason for making this mod were that their has not been an updated "MechWarrior" game for at least 5 years and there is a HUGE mechwarrior fan base out there just waiting for a quality title to be released!

To give a bit of history The Team here at MechWarrior: Living Legends started with four members in early Decemeber of 2006, initially we were building a mod to be used in the Doom 3 engine, however, with the introduction of the Crytek2 engine we decided that if we are going to do wide sweeping environments with really high attention to detail the Crytek2 engine will be far more suited to what we need. Since then our team has began to grow very quickly as the battletech community feels the need for a new and improved mechwarrior title!We finally launched the site in Febuary and have been blown away over the interest that has already been generated!

We have recently been featured on very popular Quake Wars and MechWarrior fan-sites as well as entering into partnership with the software developer for “GeoControl” and Total Quake Wars. We have also entered into a mutualy beneficial partnership with the alternative rock band "PlusminusX" whom will be doing the soundtrack for MWLL. We have also been featured in the popular French PC gaming magazine "Vossey Mag" as well as various interviews for battletech and quake wars fansites alike.
In addition to all of this we have received full sponsorship from two very large Game service Providers, namely, MyInternetService (http://www.myinternetservices.com) and ClanWarz (http://www.clanwarz.com)

Many hardcore Battletech fans have asked, "How accurately will you stick to the battletech rules/artworks and so on?The MechWarrior series from Microsoft, which are thought to be the computer game belonging to the original board game, introduced a lot of new Mechs, rules and weapons. Together with its arcade-like gameplay it made them pretty unpopular to "real" Battletech players because it didn't have much in common with the novels, source books and rules of the board game."

This issue is an extremly important factor to the entire team, we are truly staying as faithfull to the classic Battletech rules/system as we can whilst maintaining a modern outlook on the concepts. A good example is all the infantry weapons have come from the Battletech technical readouts in addition the mech weapons will be balanced using Classic Battltech rules, however, the vehicles will be slightly less specific and more well rounded. One that is important to not is that since we are doing something using the Battletech universe that has never been done before it is almost impossible to implement everything from classic battltech so we are forced to pick and choose some of the more exciting fun components than the mundane slower ones. As far as the gameplay genre it will be a combination of first person shooter and simulation...very similar to the ET:QW and battlfield 2 style of play. Since we are intergrating infantry, mechs, tanks and air vehicles all onto one map you will get a choice on how YOU want to play rather than it being pre-determined for you. Rest assured though that the Mech movement will be far more realistic than it was in previous mech games, most of the team really disliked mechassault because frankly a 70 needs to move like a 70 ton machine!

In summation, i just want to welcome you to our project and I hope you come and meet us on the forums.

I will start keeping an eye on this site now to see how they're doing! You can check out screenies and other media here in the meanwhile!

Just seeing the word, "Solaris" attached to a screenshot makes me all happy inside!

As for the latest status on the mod, here's a thread to read through!

Dear FASA...

Please don't let Microsoft bully you into making anymore "Shadowrun" FPS games.

Instead, please start working on a "BattleTech"/"MechWarrior" MMO, set preferably in 3050 with the option to play as Clan or (pussy) Inner Sphere. Feel free to instance sorties "MechWarrior" style for PVE while allowing us Clannies to batchall or Inner Sphere to have practice training matches to PVP.

Oh, and please please let Clan Wolf, Ghost Bear, and even those whiners at Jade Falcon rewrite history and conquer Terra.

Do this favour for me I will forgive you for abandoning "MechWarrior 5."

That's all.

Thanks!!