so how does news posting work here? I just submitted some news but it doenst come up, does it get stored somewhere for approval or cant everyone make news? 

new submissions have a 'pending' status where they wait to be approved or rejected by a moderator. There's more info on the "site" page, but maybe i should repeat that info on the submit news page. 

are there plans for some kind of random title if there isn't one present in the box? 

yeah I figured it was something similar to the way Peej 'n' Frib used to work but thought I'd ask anyway (I didnt read the site page). Sorry, I was just used to posting news at qmap I guess :) 

 

sheesh. sure a lot of tips and stuff you're giving metl. site is improving considerably. 

So after like, five years, I finally decide to get something better than the little steamengine that I currently use...
Anyway, I have come to something along the lines of this: (Hope the lines aren't too long, and anyway it'll all be screwed up because I forgot how to use the q tag)


AMD Athlon XP2600+ 2.083 GHz 333 MHz bus Socket A (Thoroughbred)
Asus A7V8X/LAN/GD Hovedkort Socket A DDR VIAKT400, ATA/133, ATX, USB2.0, 8X AGP
TwinMOS PC3200 DDR-DIMM 512MB CL2.5 Memory 184-P (for DDR-PC400MHz)
Asus V9280 GeForce4 Ti4200-8X 128MB DDR AGP, (V9280/TD) DVI, Tv-Out
Western Digital Caviar 120GB IDE 7200RPM Special Edition 8MB cache WD1200JB
Suntek Miditower TH-656 Silver Case w/300W P4 / AMD
Creative Soundblaster Audigy Player Soundcard PCI with Firewire
Pioneer DVD-player IDE 16x/40x Slot-in (DVD-106S)
LG 19" CRT F900P TCO-99 Flatron screen USB
GlacialTech CPU-fan Socket A/370/FCPGA Igloo Silent Breeze to 1,4GHz/ XP2700+
Logitech Cordless Optical Mouse SE Wireless mouse USB/PS2
Keytronic keyboard KT2001 Ergoforce USB
Logitech Z-540 (Speaker), 4.1, 4 Satelites and Subwoofer


Comments? Anything I should change? Recommendations?
Budget isn't too much of an issue thankfully, since I've been saving up for a long time now... 

czg, perhaps consider ATI Radeon 8500, they're faster than the ti4200's but do have some compatibility problems with older games (ie maybe quake). Worth looking itno though. 

Buy an ATI Radeon 9500 (�113 from Novatech with delivery), then there is a software mod you can download which unlocks the chip and you can take it so it is just as good or better than the 9700. Fullscreen AA with max graphics on any/most games.

Isnt the latest surrond 5.1?

Anyway the rest looks fine.

p.s. The Radeon totally beats the GF4ti 4600 128mb 

YOu have got to get the 9500 non pro, the 128mb one that is based on the 9700 pcb

This software mod activates the extra four pipelines on your card, turning it into a Radeon 9700 

good quality bits there. i trust you have made pcs with separate bits before. there is always some niggle round the corner (either with the hardware, like the case is slightly wrong, or initial conflicts). are cordless mouses good enough these days. how much do they weigh with new batteries?

do you need new screen, keyb and all?
well, all i can recommend is to have a really good HD (which you have). if you do music, turtle beach and other companies do the biz. if you don't, all the common makes are good for games... 

On the other board you asked if I was able to do the engine mod I was talking about, where the engine auto-loads mapname.cfg to set values such as gravity and fog.

The answer is, I can do it in QC code, but not in the engine. However, I have posted to forums.inside3d.com asking about it. I'll let you know what they say (maybe it's already been done, or they'll add it to telejano or darkplaces).

Also, I'm going to ask what the best way to do it in qc is (it's a simple task, the question is timing), and I'll post it here for those interested. 

Cheapalert says:
It's only done on mhQuake and Telejano i believe...

Telejano is a good bet then. 

is half-life based on the quake 1 engine or quake 2's, or a mix of Quake1/quake 2?

I always thought it was clearly based on Quake 2's engine, but others seem to think otherwise....can anyone offer a definitive answer? 

 

i think it started with the Quake 1 engine then switched to the Quake 2 engine later in development, then they modified it 

...it doesnt seem to me any of the original quake 1 engine is in the final half-life product, it just doesnt look or feel like quake 1, it must be quake 2. 

It's a very heavily modified Quake1 engine. 

I think I read somewhere that it is some monster consisting of q1 and q2 engine plus valve's own evil additions/modifictions of course. 

as i said

and confirmed by the <a http://www.bluesnews.com/guide/halflife.htm> blues news guide</a> 

blues news guide? 

 

I first heard Q2 engine but now everyone says Q1. I can guess that's a measure of the game's success -- think about coming out with a hyped game AFTER Q2 using the Q1 engine -- they can now admit the truth. Plus, it probably does include Quakeworld type enhancments and has 3D support out of the box, is that really different than Q2? I'd guess it is more Q1, since it performs fairly poorly while Q2 is smoother than Q1, but that is hard to judge since maps and polys also differ. Anyway... 

Wireless mice can be a little bit less reliable than their corded bretheren, also batteries are a bitch. Do you really want to use the mouse anywhere the cord won't reach? I never do.

Also, dos games won't recognize the audigy, the sb emulation doesn't work for me. If you're big into the old dos games, then you should look for a different card. Otherwise, it works and sounds great. 

http://www.quake.cz/winclan/qe1/

for those who get fed up with browsing thru' pq just to get any NON-q3 news.