Short news for now, since it is late and my eyes are bleeding:

http://www.rivalspecies.com/files/rspecies_1260_u3_full.zip
http://www.rivalspecies.com/files/rspecies_1260_u3_to_1262.zip

The server is back up as well ^^, so feel free to give it a try and report the bugs in replies to this news thread.

Yes, I'm late and I feel like a dwarfed version of my former self when writing about this... BUT we do have news for you!


The 'new' model for the Cadian Guard spectator class borrowed from the old observer head by Illpenguin.


The new models for the Tau Spectator and Specialist classes. These are actually rather new and we still lack the full set of weapons to include a full fledged map for playing them. Jiggaman and Jove did these models ages ago and Olimnuz recently finished the skin for the tau drone.

The weapons we have for them are the following:

They are also all 'new' and dandy by Jiggaman and mostly Chromeangel. In one case I'm not 100% sure anymore though.

Plus, I'd like to draw your attention two news below! There I'm still updating a public alpha (currently at update 39) which represents the current state of development and also has a 24/7 public server. Our current beta doesn't seem to be played anymore, but you may find some testers on the public alpha server on very rare occasions in a year.

Oh and just in case you didn't notice: Yes that is a new logo :-).

Oh well, and according to the news_agenda, I should write about the following:
- kroot hands by zenarion
- kroot rifle by zenarion

RELEASE: at release all view weapon models have to be recompiled.



MAPBASED:

MAP: there are dreads allowed here... (rs_ca_command)

MAP: join a test server a a regular marine or destroy, only got offered the flamer weapon set

UNREPRODUCABLE / UNFIXABLE:

CANT: attacks dont get animated and audible and their ammo doesnt show: dreadnaught hammer, terminator stormbolter
++ i need more info on how to reproduce it ++

CANT: missing notification message at the cap point on destroy
++ i dont have the current map source and so i cant look up which entity it is. ++

CANT: sometimes particles appear as red dots
++ no idea how to provoke this ++

The next Rival Species Beta is getting into sight! Since the Tester Team has somewhat dwindled in numbers, I need You to test the new version and give feedback for its balancing and debugging!

So join the public Tester Team, increase its numbers and get cracking at this new Alpha version:

http://www.banntal.de/rivalspecies.com/files/rspecies_1260_u3_full.zip

simply download the file, copy it to Your Half-Life 1 folder and extract it with the directory structure in place. You should have a new modfolder called rspecies_test afterwards and a new entry in your steam games after a restart of steam.

+++ update +++

By now we have a patch for the current alpha running on the server:

http://www.banntal.de/rivalspecies.com/files/rspecies_1260_u3_to_1260_u39.zip

It fixes quite some bugs concerning performance. I hope with this fix, the version gains a lot in playability.

I have started a 24/7 dedicated linux server with this version, so you can fully test the multiplayer game. Have fun, and be prepared for the bugs and imbalances!

Report any of those on our new Forum:
http://www.banntal.de/common/smf/index.php?theme=8;action=collapse;c=3;sa=collapsebut

about classes, there are some VERY ineteresting finds in http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200703/N07.0327.1745.51023.htm

and about the point system, we got a nice suggestion over form RS2: add a cap to the personal points and deistribute whats left to the weakest of the team!

what do you think?

well lads, i need a good idea for a melter effect. i mean, we cant do heat bending like in hl2. so what to do? we have beams, particles, tracers, projectiles at hand, but how to build a melter effect with that?

Merry Christmas to ya all! And here is a not so little Pre-Christmas present for your RS gaming pleasure :-), brought to you by the Ordo Xenos! Hop over to the forum thread http://www.rivalspecies.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1225 and congratulate them to their stunning decision to host a new RS server these days! Yep, thats right, you read correctly! We have a new server AND it is available 24/7 AND it has an opening christmas game today! Most likely in the evening of the GMT time zone. Hop over to http://www.rivalspecies.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1224 to read more!

Apart from this great news, we also made quite some progress in the developement of the next Rival Species beta! Bahl has been hard at work incorporating the missing Vehicles for all the new species in RS (Orks, IG, Necrons and Tau) and adding their weapons. As well extensive internal reworking of the code took place and we finally have real pipelines for compiling the model content of the game. (That will some fine day lead to a high res texture pack for the RS models.)

Except from that, Jiggaman continued his work on the Tau Battle Suit Weapons and Zenarion created the Kroot hands and the Kroot Rifle. As well Meazum did quite some work on sound and animation projects and is currently working on a skin for the Tau battle suit! If he manages to finish that, we shall welcome him on the dev team :-).

Ill add some nice eye candy of the IG vehcile weapons later on, probably tomorrow.
+++ edit ++
Well, it has not exactly been tomorrow but rather the next year ;-). So here they come without further ado; the Cadian Sentinel weapons:

Today, we finally have a new version of WH40K : Rival Species! It feels like an early Christmas present and has a lot of changes inside. So what did we do since our last Beta 1.200?

First things first, the most important change surely is the way you can access the better classes and weapons in the new version. Unlike before, you get to choose from a small subset at the start and while you stick to the game, your set of choices grows. Only if you are successful of course. So far it might sound familiar from certain other mods, but the difference is, that your success stays with your STEAM_ID on the server that you play on! As well, your success is measured by the strength of the enemy that you encounter. A strong enemy will give quite a lot more points for your choices than a weak one.

But that is not everything we have in this new version for you. Our immense amount of content grew by another species, the Imperial Guard! Still a bit underrepresented, they call for your support to make them conquer the dark universe of Warhammer 40,000. So go, join the Imperial Forces here: http://www.rivalspecies.com/files.php

Apart from releasing the latest version if Rival Species, we would also like to draw your attention to our new project: Exterminatus - Rival Species 2. Just like the current project, this mod will be set in Games Workshops great Warhammer 40,000 universe. So Humanity is ruled by a vast, uncaring, priesthood bureaucracy on Earth in the name of the all powerful Emperor. A galaxy of insidious alien races and deviantly chaotic human forces have threatened and fought the Imperium since its earliest days. But that is where the similarities cease. Exterminatus is in development for the Source Engine and the first thing different is, that you have a say on which part of the vast Warhammer 40,000 universe we will bring to live!

To actually have your say, vote in our settings poll: http://www.rivalspecies.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=906 and visit the new homepage at http://www.40ksource.com

To finally draw you in, we have some eye candy for your enjoyment: