Saturday, January 10, 2009

Progress Update

UPDATE: I just finished a new room in the narshada level tonight. I decided to check it out in game and took some screenshots so I wouldn't have to replay the entire level on the off chance I figure out where the new screenshots are being saved. Curiously, the screenshots I took tonight are showing up in the right folder (but none of the screens I took of the level earlier). I'll see if this repeats itself in the future but tomorrow I'm going to set up an online gallery with a few preview images of the new room (and hopefully more).

First, let me wish everyone a happy and healthy New Year. Come what may, I hope 2009 is great for everybody.

Anyway, on to business. The plan, as of the end of December, was to update with some screenshots of the latest progress on narshada as well as the newest version of the detention center. Much of that level is going to be rebuilt from the ground up and will support much improved architecture, though the gameplay will be largely the same.

Unfortunately, I've been having a lot of trouble ironing out the issues I've been having with Jedi Academy, half of which have stemmed from a busted CD, the other half of which are the result of my upgrade to a new computer which has led to some Vista-related complications with GtkRadiant (the same problems were more or less present in every different build of the editor). With a packed schedule last semester, I didn't have time to comb through all the problems and sort things out and the only used copies of JA I was able to track down on Amazon.com were ridiculously overpriced. As much as I love Dark Forces and want to see the mod completed, I wasn't willing to spend $60 minimum to purchase a replacement JA copy when I don't have a steady stream of income to make up for it. So I managed to make some replacement CDs which I can install the game from with one catch, I can install the game from the replacement CD but I still need the CD to play it. Needless to say, I'm in the market for a working no CD patch or a solution to the error I was receiving with my previous patch (namely, entities would not show up in game when running off the patch).

Regardless, I have the game working for the most part but I can't find any of the screenshots I've been taking. I get the standard "wrote screenshot 0012.bmp" but when I open the screenshots folder in the mod's directory there are no new screenshots added. Until I can figure out where they're going (if they're even being written at all) I'm going to have to hold off on putting together a new gallery. With any luck this won't take long as I'm planning to have my old computer set up with an external monitor so I can test run the game by the end of next week (I just have to clean up and do a bit of household reorganizing first).

On the plus side, I worked out the errors I was having with gtkradiant. I can now save map files and compile lighting without q3map2 crashing on me. So, there will be updates coming in the future.

Anyway, sorry for the long post, folks. I think it's important that I can everyone up to date on the progress/problems/situations we're encountering. Even if we don't have anything physically to show for it yet it's important that you know we're still alive and committed to making some progress. Hhunter6 is working on a revised version of Jabba's ship at the moment and I'm going through his executor map to see what changes/improvements can be made, so maybe we will have some mapping updates sooner that we think.

Stay tuned,

DSM


6 comments:

Blue Nova said...

Glad to see you guys are still making progress despite how slow is going. Still slow progress is better than no progress. Hope to see what more work you guys have done soon. Anyway keep at it in the time you get. You do great work.

BM65

Blackout said...

Cheers for the update :)

If you go to My Computer, then into Drive C, hit F3 (the shortcut for search), and in the search-box on the left type:
*.bmp

This will show you all the bmp files in your hard drive. Sort them by date/modified order and you should see where the shots are being saved (right click on one of the search results and choose Open Containing Folder).

Also worth mentioning that I managed to get Alcohol120% to make a playable copy of JKA, so mounting the same file as a virtual drive should work too. Gimme a shout if you want to pursue that one further :)

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

You could always download a pirated copy of Jedi Academy. Sure, it's illegal and immoral and all... BUT, you already bought the game once, you don't have to pay for the same game twice. Just look at it as a backup copy :)

Done the same thing myself, only that I'm too lazy to put the cd in. It works perfectly with daemon tools, so there is no need for a crack at all.

Just thought you wanted to know.

Josh said...

I'd send you mine, if I could find it. But I opened the case today and...empty! :(

Ah well. Glad you're still working on this, 'cause I was just thinking how much I wanted to play JK1, then I remembered the stupid JK1 Force Jump. lol.

Nate said...

I am glad to see this moving forward, I might be able to help a little... I use to be a web designer and flash tech, but now I'm a soldier, however I would be willing to dust off my stuff and help... I don't need access to the site but I make you a demo, I would leave the site mostly html, and make instructions on how to update it, but I would also add flash, if you want me to make you a dummy site, possibly a replacement let me know, I hope that this can at lease get you guys to the meat of the work, not having to deal with the website. My email is NateThompson114@gmail.com (I am not building websites for anyone else, I am a soldier, in the medical field, I have limit time)