shouldnt the actual release be news.

anyway, since this is news, any word on what features/improvements the Knightmare engine provides? 

The list of all the features/improvements of new Knightmare engine is so long, that you can read a complete list in kmquake2.txt included in http://www.markshan.com/engine/kmquake2_015_bin.zip
(the previous indicated link could not works)
...but the bigger enhanced is the removal of any "overflow error" , a big limit of original Q2 engine : now the mapper can handles a huge number of entities (monster, explosions...) without preoccupation. 

I thought it was close enough to the actual release to count as the actual release. I'm not planning on having another news thread about this. 

that's the error that causes the game to crash during big fights etc and also corrupts saves so that you cant load near where the overflow error ocurred?

a fix for that would be good, it's a huge d/l for an engine though, what else is there? 

Here is main new features

Added features as of v0.15:

- Now uses a compatible build of the Lazarus mod (www.planetquake.com/lazarus). See the included
kmquake2_lazarus.txt for more info. This DLL supplants the vanilla Q2 and CTF ones, as
it does everyting they do and then some. The source code of these old DLLs is included in the
source archive. Compiled binaries are available upon request (email me).

- Will now load footstep surface defintions from a file called texsurfs.txt. Can be disabled
in the ingame section of the options menu.

- Now inlcudes the footstep sounds and barrel gib models from Lazarus.

- Added server-side speed control. Very useful for class-based and other mods. See the new player
state members in q_shared.h.

- Added ListPak, LoadFile, and FreeFile game import functions, allowing mods to easily load files,
even from inside pak files.

- Added engine support for a +attack2 key, bindable with +use through the customize
controls menu.

- Added Psychospaz's map loading screen with mapshots by me, and a default background pic
by Christopher "Sherpa" Owen.

- Added splash screen on startup. Uses code from TomazQuake.

- Added support for scaled console text and HUD. Includes odium's new icons from Quake2Evolved.

- Added CDawg's support for stereo sound samples.

- Added Psychospaz's fix to trans usrface rendering, trans bmodels can now move and rotate.

- Added support for animated textures on trans surfaces.

- Increased max .cfg file size to 32KB, was 8KB.

- Now loads kmq2gamex86.dll instead of gamex86.dll. This allows for better cohabitation,
since it will no longer try to load a standard DLL (and then crash).

- Changed screenshot filenames to kmquake2_###.*, supporting up to 1000 screenshots.

- Added command auto-completion (hit TAB to auto-complete).

- Added cvar defaults.

- (New discovery) Will load credits from a file named "credits" (no extension) in the current
game dir or in the root of a pak file. You can use text formatting codes in this file.

- Added the colored text support from Quake2Max. The color of secondary text can be changed
from the interface section of the options menu. In addition, warnings are displayed
in yellow and errors in red. Here are the formatting codes ripped directly from the
Quake2Max readme:

--------------------------------
Text Formatting -- Instructions
--------------------------------
Sort of like Quake3, if you type out ^ with a character following
you can set up colors and stuff for the rest of the string. Here
are the codes (colors are Q3 format colors):

^1: color red
^2: color green
^3: color yellow
^4: color blue
^5: color teal
^6: color purple
^7: color white
^8: color black
^9: color orange
^0: color grey
^a: specified by alt_text_color cvar

^s: toggle shadow
^i: toggle italic
^b: toggle bold
^r: set to default (normally: white, no shadow, no italic, no bold)

^^: just a plain ^ character

example: ^1p^7sychospaz^r
(this would be psychospaz with a red "p", followed by a white "ychospaz",
and finally a reset so following text would be normal)

*note: Quake2 has a 16 character limit on names per mod. You'll have to
make a new mod to extend the limit. 

Here is main new features

Added features as of v0.15:

- Now uses a compatible build of the Lazarus mod (www.planetquake.com/lazarus). See the included
kmquake2_lazarus.txt for more info. This DLL supplants the vanilla Q2 and CTF ones, as
it does everyting they do and then some. The source code of these old DLLs is included in the
source archive. Compiled binaries are available upon request (email me).

- Will now load footstep surface defintions from a file called texsurfs.txt. Can be disabled
in the ingame section of the options menu.

- Now inlcudes the footstep sounds and barrel gib models from Lazarus.

- Added server-side speed control. Very useful for class-based and other mods. See the new player
state members in q_shared.h.

- Added ListPak, LoadFile, and FreeFile game import functions, allowing mods to easily load files,
even from inside pak files.

- Added engine support for a +attack2 key, bindable with +use through the customize
controls menu.

- Added Psychospaz's map loading screen with mapshots by me, and a default background pic
by Christopher "Sherpa" Owen.

- Added splash screen on startup. Uses code from TomazQuake.

- Added support for scaled console text and HUD. Includes odium's new icons from Quake2Evolved.

- Added CDawg's support for stereo sound samples.

- Added Psychospaz's fix to trans usrface rendering, trans bmodels can now move and rotate.

- Added support for animated textures on trans surfaces.

- Increased max .cfg file size to 32KB, was 8KB.

- Now loads kmq2gamex86.dll instead of gamex86.dll. This allows for better cohabitation,
since it will no longer try to load a standard DLL (and then crash).

- Changed screenshot filenames to kmquake2_###.*, supporting up to 1000 screenshots.

- Added command auto-completion (hit TAB to auto-complete).

- Added cvar defaults.

- (New discovery) Will load credits from a file named "credits" (no extension) in the current
game dir or in the root of a pak file. You can use text formatting codes in this file.

- Added the colored text support from Quake2Max. The color of secondary text can be changed
from the interface section of the options menu. In addition, warnings are displayed
in yellow and errors in red. Here are the formatting codes ripped directly from the
Quake2Max readme:

--------------------------------
Text Formatting -- Instructions
--------------------------------
Sort of like Quake3, if you type out ^ with a character following
you can set up colors and stuff for the rest of the string. Here
are the codes (colors are Q3 format colors):

^1: color red
^2: color green
^3: color yellow
^4: color blue
^5: color teal
^6: color purple
^7: color white
^8: color black
^9: color orange
^0: color grey
^a: specified by alt_text_color cvar

^s: toggle shadow
^i: toggle italic
^b: toggle bold
^r: set to default (normally: white, no shadow, no italic, no bold)

^^: just a plain ^ character

example: ^1p^7sychospaz^r
(this would be psychospaz with a red "p", followed by a white "ychospaz",
and finally a reset so following text would be normal)

*note: Quake2 has a 16 character limit on names per mod. You'll have to
make a new mod to extend the limit. 

of the new engine in Mark Shan's older Genome level "Huge Massacre" and sure enough, now you can easily BFG hordes of monsters without a hitch in the engine. Nice work !

It would be nice though to actually be able to fully play older levels with their own gamex86.dll file (e.g. the Genome pak). As it is now, these files needs to be converted to the new format and end-users normally don't have access to the gamex86.dll source code.

Is there any solution to this ? 

Released on April 1st? 

No problem about your request: you can copy and paste the gamex86.dll and the Kmq2gamex86.dll you will find in PaxImperia.zip
in other mission pack folder as Genome, Return...
I've tested this and find no problem...
Btw, my mailbox is overfull of mails asking me if release date was a 1st April joke, so I've decided to release Pax Imperia NOW : you can go to my site and start downloading... 

combinations and I can't get it to work. If I put the kmq2gamex86.dll in the Genome folder, then there are no entities from Reckoning (beta gladiators etc). In the console there are a lot of "xxx doesn't have a spawn function" messages. Same goes for having only the original Genome gamex86.dll in that folder.

If I use the original Genome gamex86.dll but change its name into kmq2gamex86.dll, the Kmquake2 engine crashes to desktop when loading e.g. the "makhall" level.

Having *both* dll:s in the Genome folder results in the same behaviour as the 1st case above, i.e. no support for Reckoning entities.

This is also what I expected, since I believe there are pak specific code (new monsters, weapons etc) for each pak that surely isn't present in the basic kmq2gamex86.dll.

What am I missing, could you please elaborate on this issue ? Reading your post above, you indicate there is a new kmq2gamex86.dll in the large PaxImperia zip that I haven't got yet (d/l now). Will that one alone do the trick also for your older paks ?

What about other paks, like Ground Zero (I believe it's got its own brand of entities) ? 

You have to use the kmq2gamex86.dll in paximperia.zip file, not the one you find in the engine.zip file...
BTW, it's only a supposition, because I've never tested all this... 

superb job. congrats. 

anybody actually play it? 

although the new engine causes my system to go into decimal framerates quite regularly.

From what I've played, it's typical Mark Shan stuff but a lot more refined. So that means huge grandiose architecture with neat texturing for major setpiece areas, repetitive architecture for all other areas, insane amount of enemy hordes thrown at you all the time and some annoying looping background sounds that give you headaches.

But, some of the setpiece architecture/texturing really is very impressive, pity about the other areas though. It's also a lot of fun just brainlessly mowing through wave after wave of enemeies, but 8 levels of that would probably be too much I think. Perhaps different types of gameplay should have been implemented in the different levels to break up the experience.

Now that's only after playing 3.5/8 levels, the engine chokes on me (it doesnt like GF2 ti's) so I cant go any further ATM. 

http://tenfourmaps.telefragged.com/php/review.php?gameid=q2&levid=pi 

I'm at map 5 yet. Nitin is true when says it is typical mark shawn stuff, with several areas repeated and lots of monsters. But it's a lot better than his previous maps IMO. I'm also enjoying it a lot because it's the first SP map I play in years that is a real challenge. Maybe some can consider it monotonous, but I'm loving it.