The 7zip GUI program is free to download and supports zip and rar as well. If Winrar also supports 7zip, then I don't see what the problem is.

7z is much better for big releases (especially if they don't need to apply for Quaddicted in the first case) since it compresses a heck of a lot better than Zip. The difference is large. So the bigger your file gets, the more attractive something like 7z becomes.

Installing an unpacker for a commonly used format isn't really too much to ask for, in Linux you can simply use the package manager like for everything else, and for Windows it's a simple download of either Winrar or 7zip GUI. Either of those will serve you well. It takes 5 minutes to install but serves you for a long time.

"It's always been done like X" is a very bad argument when it comes to IT. You're not using DOS anymore, right.

Some of the Stalker mods I downloaded recently were packed with 7z, so there's a practical example. Any final RMQ release is likely to be very, very large, so using Zip would be suboptimal in that case, too. Of course if someone is diehard enough to repack something like that with Zip because he loves that combination of letters the most, more power to them.

If a person is flexible enough to download and install mods for a game in the first place, it's reasonable to assume they can do the same with an unpacker in the unlikely case that they need to.

Now if I had to *sell* a download, then I would probably use Zip because I might lose some customers otherwise. Luckily, that's not the scenario I'm in. 

@Bernsen - I had to watch the demo in dark places. And having this dark map it is double dark. I had some cfg settings to get it right although the screen kept shakery.

I don't know how you managed to get on the second tube from the first outview. I can't jump 64 units, and by doing so you missed the key.
It seems one can jump higher in DP.

The squad was there before you killed all enemies on the lift. Thanks for bringing up the hom in the round lift. I almost forgot.
The corridor in the chapel is too dark.

@Silent - Good demo, straight away. There are some textures that didn't align although I repeatly had changed them. Even lowering the whole poly, but the texture kept on the wrong place.

@digs - I admit the entrence to the last cave in the cathedral part is too dark to see. So it's rather hard to find it. I will make it better in vieuw.

@Mechtech - vis-13h40 Looks a bit lighter indeed.

Thanks for the demo's, it cleared up a lot! 

.7z, Winrar, ZIP, any one of them is fine, just for the love of Mary, do not use dzip! For anything! 

ever since i started using 7z, i'm actually surprised people still put up with the winzip/winrar nag screens. we need to spread the word more! 

necros : some people actually buy the program, not everyone use them in freeware/nagware mode. But I work in Total Commander, there I copy, delete, etc. Am I use it to pack file (to ZIP) and to unpack.

It's so easy to unpack ZIP in Total Commander. I don't care what programs are using other people, but it would be nice to see standard formats, everyone can unpack a ZIP file without any other tool, but 7z, dz, etc.

I will never understand the need for so many formats (the same problems are in images - bmp, jpg, tga, gif, png and much, much more). 

That's because you don't understand their purpose. 

7zip plug in
http://www.totalcmd.net/plugring/Total7zip.html
http://totalcmd.pl/download/wcx/arc/7zip

pack plug in for quake pack files:
http://ghisler.fileburst.com/plugins/pack_plugin.zip 

jt_

Oh yes, please do explain me. You think I don't understand that some support alpha channel (tga), some compress very well loseless (png), some compress very well but with information loss (jpg), etc ?

I understand that there's the need for "a few" formats. But when you have BMP, DIB, JPG, GIF, ICO, ICB, PCX, PCD, PSP, PBM, PGM, PSD, PPM, PSG, PNG, VST, VDA, EMF, WMF, TIF, TIFF, WBMP, RLE, SGI, and many, many other formats it doesn't make any sense.

Ankh : thanks, I'll try them, they should solve the problem on my system, but I work on many computers (and at work I have hundreds of virtual machine, I barely managed to install Total Commander on most of them, I don't have time to install plugins everywhere : ) 

Hey raverx, now you are ranting just for the sake of it. 

I mean, there's loads of reasons why all those formats exist, what's the problem?

Proprietary formats for editors are inevitable, obviously. BMP isn't useless, it's extremely easy to operate on (and actually compresses well with a .zip :P). Some formats are legacy, because, you know, things change as time passes. Some formats are patent-free, some aren't. Some as OS/device specific. ICO can contain a lot of sizes, GIFs animate....

I suppose maybe there are cases where someone developed a new format when there was something out there that fit their needs exactly, and there weren't any licensing issues, but it's probably not that common. 

 

Proprietary formats are just a symptom of the wonderful world of the free market. /irony

Hence, there is no Volksformat. 

i use jpg, gif, png, tiff, psd, ico. I need them all. It would be useful if gifs or pngs could be used instead of ico's, but the others are all needed - gif and jpg for their different types of compression and tiff for no compression. all the other formats, like bmp, i find pointless. 

That's cute. 

I keep hoping someone put up a screenshot. 

some random stuff that isn't being worked on atm.

http://necros.slipgateconstruct.com/temp/qep2.jpg
http://necros.slipgateconstruct.com/temp/qep4.jpg
http://necros.slipgateconstruct.com/temp/blackrock1.jpg 

you are a sweet, precious angel.

excellent format choice also.

(1st jpeg = fav though all look super interesting) 

necros, winter challenge: aim for a turtle map. You know, what we discussed, small/medium size with short construction time, medium fanciness at most. 

Trim TRIM TRIM!!!!!!

It looks like it's just painted on. The rivetted metal should be an actual....thing....with depth. Not just a 2-d thing painted on the edge.

Why oh WHY do people still do this in 2011??!?!!!!!!

(p.s. looks good otherwise) 

1st screen: tantalising, took me a while to realise it's not a new map per se (even considering the filename).

2nd: great skybox choice, the chimneys are amusing.

3rd: um, that rock texture might need some fullbright removal? Or was it intended to go along with the red theme? Otherwise cool.

Seconding the sweet, precious angel statement. 

1st shot: really good old Quakish style. Love it !

2nd shot: Well, looks to be a re-hash of a Quake map I can't remember the name.. though.. not my cup of tea...

3rd shot: So far the best one. Give me the impression that is part of Hell Doom3 level. I love the architecture and the red effect (lava or blood?) This is so cool !

Good job ! 

1st its remake of e2m3 i assume?
and 2nd the nameless city remake/remix 

fuck yeah on all 3 counts. what's that in the distance in shot 1? is it... another level from e2? awesome if so. awesome either way.

I need to go map. 

what's that in the distance in shot 1? is it... another level from e2?

Looks like E2M2 to me! (Or so the misaligned wiz1_4 suggests..) 

aim for a turtle map. You know, what we discussed, small/medium size with short construction time, medium fanciness at most.

i know... i felt like such a dick after i said all that stuff about medium maps. i just find it much harder to stop mapping at medium size than to just keep going until i hit a map limit.
by the time your map is medium sized, that's when all the awesome shit starts to come to you. you just hit on some great idea and then you start to feel that it'd be such a waste not to fully explore the theme, you know?