Articles

Danger Zones in silEnT mod

Mon, 20 May 2013 16:00:07 +0000

Danger Zones

With version 0.7.0 silEnT mod introduced new covert ops class ability.

This is the short introduction of this feature.

Danger zones are areas on the map that covert ops can mark on the command map and by this means notify his team members about some special (in general) danger in those places.
It can be of any type, like: arty, heavy defense fire, MG camper, or whatever players find dangerous for their team at that particular moment of game play.

To mark the danger zone look through binoculars and press left mouse button (attack key - whatever it is).

Once the danger zone is marked by Covert Ops it starts to be visible on the compass and command map and lasts for 30 seconds.

By default each team can mark up to 2 danger zones. Admins can control this number by g_maxMarkers cvar.
In addition, if the command map is built, players are notified about entering and leaving the danger zones by sound, text notifications and Danger Zone HUD element.

Danger zone enter notification:

Danger zone leave notification:

Danger zone HUD element is visible while player is inside the danger zone.

Danger Zones notifications, sound and leave notification can be controlled in the silEnT HUD UI menu.

Danger zones configuration menu:

Different locations:

Danger zone notification sound:

Danger zone leave notification:

silEnT release 0.7.1

Fri, 17 May 2013 09:17:59 +0000

silEnT mod version 0.7.1 is out!

Download

Change log:

Version 0.7.1

Fixed: Spawning with non selected class bug introduced in 0.7.0.
Fixed: Enemy player positions seen by covert ops in the compass.

Version 0.7.0

Added: New rcon command dbcleanup that can be used to clean up the database records. The command includes removing duplicated or unusable records and GUID checks.
Added: New shrubbot command !teamstats that can be used to see the player kill and ratings statistics from one team.
Added: Shrubbot flags 6(does not need to specify a reason) and 8(does not need to specify a duration) now work with the !mute command.
Added: g_maxIgnoresPerMap server cvar. This controls how many times one player can ignore another player during one map and stops players from spamming others with the ignore command.
Added: g_killRating flag 8. With this flag admins can disable kill rating from the scoreboards. This does not have effect on the flag 2.
Added: Full body prediction from ETPub. g_misc flag 512. Same as ETPub g_misc 32+256. This makes it harder to get inside walls etc, but can also cause problems when proning through windows etc.
Added: Danger zones - new covert ops function/ability (read more in the documentation or here: http://mygamingtalk....silent-mod-r105)
Added: icons for popup messages (ammo, medpacks, danger zones).
Added: new flag 32768 to g_weapons cvar - causes the player that shot the tripmine (and by this killed other player) to score the kill
Improved: timerset and resettimer commands can be used during warmup
Improved: some improvements to the screen resolutions chooser.
Improved: !finger command now also displays warnings issued to the player if there are any.
Improved: compass command map drawing.
Improved: crazygravity and crazyspeed commands can be tuned by additional cvars if default values are not enough (g_min_crazyspeed, g_max_crazyspeed, g_min_crazygravity, g_max_crazygravity).
Fixed: When banning from team damage, only using shrubbot bans without specifying the kick time.
Fixed: Some command map icons were missing when in spectator team.
Fixed: When switching from rifle to another weapon too fast after firing the grenade and switching back to the rifle, the weapon was in the alternate mode but without loaded grenade.
Fixed: Many prediction errors. Including double dropping the panzer shell after shot.
Fixed: Players can no longer select classes that are not available in the limbo menu.
Fixed: Only real characters allowed in names.
Fixed: If the selected weapon is not available for next spawn, the class command will not change the class.
Fixed: The condition with g_classWeapons settings and weapon limitations that caused players to get kicked from the server when clicking the team button.
Fixed: Bug in the handling of g_spectator flag 1. Players were able to enter opponent players after all teammates were dead.
Fixed: Client crashes related to cg_gun_frame being set.
Fixed: !subnets command was printing itself as showsbans instead of subnets.
Fixed: Reading subnet bans with full octets and treating them as partial. Also writing them as partial on next shrubbot write.
Fixed: g_classWeapons too restrictive, couldn't pick up enemy SMGs from the ground.
Fixed: g_classWeapons with g_mode. When g_mode was set to 8 Thompson and MP40 couldn't be picked up by coverts.
Fixed: command map entities were not removed on team switch/disconnect. Concerned: landmines, trip mines, danger zone markers.

Download

Enjoy!

silEnT mod team

Battlefield 1942 released for FREE

Sun, 11 Nov 2012 04:45:29 +0000

EA has released its seminal PC first-person shooter Battlefield 1942 for free on its distribution portal Origin.

This is in honour of the series' 10 year anniversary as well as Battlefield 3's premium service acquiring over two million members worldwide since it launched in June. EA noted that Battlefield 3 has been its fastest-selling game in history with 17 million copies copies sold since its release just over a year ago.

When we launched Battlefield 1942 ten years ago, we had lofty ambitions to create a first-person shooter that would push the boundaries of innovation, creativity and design. We evolved the FPS gameplay formula by introducing the world to all-out warfare via land, air and sea, said vice president and general manager of DICE, Karl Magnus Troedsson.

We wanted to thank our fans who have supported us throughout the years by restoring Battlefield 1942 for a digital re-release and give everyone a chance to play the game that started it all.

Since the game has full mod support, here's a great list of mods available for BF1942, courtesy of Redditor Sonic_Dah_Hedgehog:

reddit.com - BF1942 mods

Do note that you cannot play multiplayer with CD version users and vice versa. Origin version has got completely separated server list.

silEnT mod 0.6.1 released

Fri, 02 Nov 2012 11:43:09 +0000

silEnT 0.6.1 Release

As promised, we release new version shortly after the previous one. This is mainly a fix release, for details read below please.

Change log:

Added: New optional parameter "syntax" to custom command blocks. This allows creating proper syntax help to show with !help command.
Added: Shrubot custom commands can now have color codes. The colors are not required when using the commands.
Changed: The maximum number of custom commands increased to 95.
Fixed: Double amount of level stars in the map change debriefing.
Fixed: Many coloring errors related to white nicks.
Fixed: Server side was not handling the new skill_(x) cvars correctly.
Fixed: Killed sniper had scope enabled with normal fov after revive. Depending how the sniper was killed.
Fixed: !baninfo was not displaying permanent bans in Expires in field.
Fixed: Stamina bar color bug.
Fixed: Lua documentation. The G_ClientNumberFromString is actually ClientNumberFromString.
Fixed: Some typos with shrubbot commands and inconsistencies with !help.
Fixed: Shrubbot !help now accepts the command names with ! infront.
Fixed: Unified !help syntax notation.
Fixed: Player names that were both online and previously stored, were printed twice in the !aliassearch command output.
Fixed: Formatting bug when more the 10 matching aliases for a player.
Fixed: With custom commands, the missing command line parameters are stripped from the command.
Fixed: Player name replacement gives better error messages for every case, including the command name.
Fixed: Teammate healthbars were flashing wrong health data. Introduced in 0.6.0.
Fixed: Player idents were enforcing bans to innocent players. Introduced in 0.6.0.

Download

Enjoy!

silEnT mod team

silEnT release 0.6.0

Tue, 16 Oct 2012 12:41:16 +0000

silEnT mod version 0.6.0 is out!

Download

Change log:

Added: New dialog window under silEnT menu for screen resolutions. This dialog has autodetected possible resolution and includes widescreen resolutions.
Added: ETPro compatible access to sess.aWeaponStats (a GET by weapon index returns a 5-element table of numbers), from pheno of ETPub.
Added: Optional aliases database. New commands !aliases, !aliasesdel, !aliassearch and !userinfo now has an option to show the stored aliases. New server cvar g_dbMaxAliases.
Added: Mute information is displayed in with the !finger command. This includes time left, mute reason and who muted.
Added: Players can freely choose the type of hit sounds they prefer. This is controlled with cg_hitSoundType cvar. Related to this, server admins can configure the type of hit sounds the players default if they do not specifically select any type. By defult, the cg_hitSoundType is 0, which means server configured hit sounds and allowing custom hit sounds in custom pk3 files. Read documentation about g_hitsounds, g_defaultHitSounds and cg_hitSoundType. There is also an additional paragraph about adding custom hit sounds.
Added: g_misc flag 256. Setting this flag disables the "First Blood" announcement.
Added: g_logOptions flag 1024. This flag allows logging every player drop. It can be usefull for inspecting the server operation, but it will also cause lot of needless log writes.
Added: g_realPlayTime cvar. Used to show additional real play time of the payer (without spec time) in the debriefing screen.
Added: Flag 8 to g_playerCounting. Bots are not included into the player count.
Added: Cvar based enabling of both Thompson and MP40 to the limbo menu selection regardless of the team (g_classWeapons, flag 8)
Added: cg_effectDistance client cvar which can be used to control the maximum distance to draw the bullet effects.
Reworked: Class skills can be freely enabled/disabled in any order using 0 and -1 in the skill_(x) server cvars.
Reworked: The !finger command now shows the client operating system, again. This information was removed in the 0.5.2 because of unreliability in the full string.
Reworked: PPSh first person view model.
Reworked: The commands !gib, !lol, !pip and !pop no longer do it to everyone if target is not specified.
Fixed: Statistics bug with satchel charge.
Fixed: Shrubbot commands !useredit and !usereditpb didn't allow editing players with level higher then 32 when attempted with rcon.
Fixed: A bug in the player name cleaning allowed empty names using spaces.
Fixed: Player name doesn't change anymore everytime the name edit field loses focus. OK button must be clicked for the changes to take effect.
Fixed: Persistent SMG kills and deaths were getting lost if the player reconnected during the map.
Fixed: Dropping the helmet multiple times when repeated hits to the head. With antilag enabled.
Fixed: g_inactivityOptions flag 4 was not moving players to spectator. Fix from pheno of ETPub.
Fixed: Lagometer transparency (couldn't change lagometer transparency)
Fixed: Fireteam window transparency (improper drawing)
Fixed: Fireteam member information going over the window edge when latching to another class.
Fixed: g_noSkillUpgrades now locks the skills to the enabled ones, instead of changing every skill to 0.
Fixed: !readadmins command did not add admins correctly into the database. Versions affected on various levels from 0.5.0 to 0.5.2.
Fixed: Client inactivity timer ETPro compatible. Fix from pheno of ETPub.
Fixed: animation timing bug mainly for weapalts (switch to/from)
Fixed: reverted back (removed) fix for thrown knife dodging introduced in 0.5.2 version.

Download

Enjoy!

silEnT mod team

silEnT release 0.5.2 - server patch

Sun, 08 Jul 2012 21:58:01 +0000

silent_0.5.2_server_patch.zip 2.46MB 170 downloads

Download

We have found couple of issues which required new build of server binaries. Since your server stability matters to us we are releasing new server side binaries. Admins who are currently running 0.5.2 version need to just upload contents of the silent directory from the attached silent_0.5.2_server_patch.zip file in their silent mod folder.

For new admins who plan to use our mod they just need to download the 0.5.2 package and upload it on server as we have updated our 0.5.2 official download package. Patch is only needed for servers who are using 0.5.2 server files before July 08.

Things fixed in the patch:

Fixed: It was not possible to set level higher then 32 as rcon.
Fixed: thrown knife dodging with the haft after bounce.
Fixed: FS_HandleForFile error. Fatal error introduced in the 0.5.2.

Download

Enjoy!

silEnT mod team

silEnT release 0.5.2

Fri, 29 Jun 2012 20:09:58 +0000

Changelog:

Added: g_playerCounting server cvar. This is used with optional player blocks.
Added: Optional [player] blocks to the map configs. Map config commands can be executed based on the player amount on the server.
Added: g_clientBinaries server cvar. Server admins may choose to refuse players with unknown binaries. List of known binaries in the documentation.
Added: tripmines ids, check g_mineid cvar for details. Now tripmines get ids as well, so we can see who planted them.
Added: all game types shown in server browser (Map Voting - MV, Team Death Match - TDM). Filters handling new types as well.
Added: restriction to g_skills 1, non covert players can spot mines for the team only if they are close enough (http://mygamingtalk....lose-landmines/)
Added: ammo of the weapon is shown for the weapon we want to pickup from the ground (http://mygamingtalk....-be-identified/). Set server side with g_weapons cvar (flag 8192)
Added: stance indicator (can be enabled in the HUD editor, disabled by default)
Added: themed HUD bars (health, stamina, weap recharge). cg_themedBars cvar to turn it on/off. Avalable also in silent THEMES menu.
Added: multiple recipient private messages command and multiple selecting for Private Messages in PM list window (http://mygamingtalk....-recipients-pm/)
Added: Possibility for new announcement sounds for death sprees and spree ends.
Added: New shrubbot command !updatepbguid which can be used to manually update the stored PB GUID to the current one of the player.
Added: New shrubbot command !levlist which lists all the server admin levels.
Added: New shrubbot command !levinfo which displays all the information about the admin level.
Improvement: Possible FPS improvement for players that have low FPS performance.
Fixed: Potential crash bug with subnet bans.
Fixed: The Admin Level Protection was not giving authentication with !setlevel to the lowest protected level.
Fixed: stamina changes not visible in spec (http://mygamingtalk....hen-spectating/)
Fixed: !finger command now shows the current PB GUID. This was supposed to be changed in 0.5.1 but was not. The !finger command is now properly verbose about PB GUID differences and displays the player admin level as well. Also, the command no longer displays non relevant information of the server bots but only the name, the slot number and the admin level of the bot.
Fixed: Ban escalation printed garbage short GUIDs in the ban messages itself (8 character GUID) when the previous ban did not have PB GUID associated with it.
Fixed: Added N!trox's teamchat height fix during intermission.
Fixed: HUD editor help window position and themed it.
Fixed: Player positions were sometimes wrong in the command map.
Fixed: Aspect ratio issues with command map entities.
Fixed: Boosting (pushing) team players by shooting at them when FF is off.
Fixed: silEnT GUIDs were not always recognzed correctly. Bug was introduced in the 0.5.1.
Fixed: ETPro behaviour, et_ClientBegin Lua is called only once for player and not for every team change.
Fixed: !baninfo command was displaying bad short GUIDs for bans without GUIDs.
Fixed: When FF was not enabled, the disguised friendly covert op health was displayed incorrectly.
Fixed: team_maxSoldiers restriction was not enforced.
Changed: The default value of cg_gun_fovscale changed to "0". No longer the need for admins to force it to players.

Download

Enjoy!

silEnT mod team

Crusader Kings II Update Released

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 18:48:43 +0000

MAJOR Crusader King Updates:

- Muslim Decadence System
- Muslim Polygamy
- Added new provinces, titles and history for Mali, Songhay and Ghana
- Added the province of Aprutium (split off from Spoleto)
- Added the new creatable Empires of Russia, Britannia, Spain, Francia, Scandinavia, Persia and Arabia
- Strong and Weak Claim System
- Overhaul of game text for Muslims
- Added plots to claim titles
- Split up the former Kingdom of Khazaria into many de jure kingdoms
- Split the Kingdom of Rus into the kingdoms of Rus and Ruthenia
- Added the duchies of Susa and Latium
- Revised murder plots completely. No decisions, just events.
- Commander traits added
- Heavily revised combat tactics
- Loads of new events

MINOR:
- AI: Much more eager to join Crusades/Jihads if it has de jure interests in the target kingdom
- AI: Much more eager to join Crusades/Jihads if in the same realm as the religious head
- AI: More stubborn about fighting decadence revolters
- AI: Tweaked Crusade targetting - will no longer target kingdoms with 0 'holiness' value for that religion
- AI: Non-Muslims will not accept marriages for female relatives with Muslims, unless they are vassals
- AI: Now prefers giving baronies/counties to courtiers with static dynasties rather than creating random characters
- AI: Vassals of vassals can now correctly revolt to depose their liege
- AI: DoW now factors in the strength of enemies of enemies
- AI: Willing to join another rebelling vassal's war for the crown only if they'd like them better as _liege_
- AI: Vassals should no longer start wars (except for revolts) if the whole realm is under attack from outside
- AI: Caliphs will now be more aggressive with calling Jihads
- Army AI: Will now assault when appropriate
- Army AI: Fixed a problem where you could trick AI armies into ping-ponging while it was trying to gather its forces
- Army AI: Fixed some issues where it would not count attached units properly
- Army AI: Better at moving across land without marching together with other armies, causing unnecessary attrition
- Army AI: Improved attrition check in targetting calculations
- Army AI: Fixed an issue where it would merge armies to huge sizes by not considering attached forces
- Invasion AI: Fixed an issue where it would choose poor secondary targets if the target province was too heavily defended
- No longer possible to call lieges to war against their own vassals
- Fixed a bug with the succession message not being shown for the ones who inherit titles
- Fixed an issue with the de jure law vote message not going away when trying to approve it
- Slightly increased merc reinforcement rates
- Fixed a memory leak with timed opinion modifiers that time out naturally
- Moved the county of Chalons into Lower Burgundy and Grisons into Upper Burgundy
- Fixed a bug with the depose liege CB sometimes making the new ruler independent (bug in the effect 'abdicate_to_most_liked_by').
- Fixed a bug with the effect 'abdicate_to_most_liked_by' that would invalidate outside wars
- Fixed a bug with the 'grant_title' effect which would assign the liege to the liege of the granter
- Fixed a potential infinite loop in war name generation
- Fixed a bug with the Feudal Elective law being tolerated for Republics
- If the loser in a war is imprisoned, he is now automatically released on peace
- Fixed a bug with created characters sometimes getting duplicate education traits
- People who avoid imprisonment will now always flee to another realm
- Added a whole bunch of cleaned up title coats of arms
- Muslim coats of arms should now use better colors
- No longer allowed to grant titles to prisoners
- You can now correctly press the de jure claims of vassals of vassals
- Fixed a bug with being able to call vassals of vassals of the enemy into wars within the same realm
- When winning (enforce or reverse) a war, all prisoners from your realm held by the enemy are now released
- Added opinion modifiers 'Imprisoned my Child' and 'Executed my Child'
- No longer allowed to ask to join outsider wars against your liege
- Fixed a bug with the depose liege CB in republics and bishoprics
- Rulers deposed with the 'depose' casus belli no longer get any land from their old vassals to remain rulers
- Fixed an issue where a ruler could not offer peace to a rebelling vassal if he had holdings occupied by another (loyal) vassal in a separate war
- Fixed a bug with the hostility icons for loyal vassals in separate wars with rebelling vassals
- If a vassal is at war with another vassal who is rebelling, the war no longer ends if the liege wins and the rebellion is crushed
- Fixed a bug with lieges ending up in two wars if a vassal revolted while a revoke action was pending
- Blocked excomm wars against revolters
- Fixed some issues with succession not being recalculated after certain event effects
- Peace Offers now make it clear whether it's a demand for surrender, white peace or surrender
- Cleaned up all CB tooltips
- The initial Seljuk-Byzantine war is now a full invasion of the de jure kingdom of Armenia
- Added "Scarred" trait
- Fixed a bug allowing rulers of a hostile religion to vote for de jure laws even when not de facto vassals
- Toned down base attribute gain of children from guardians
- Optimized the CPU heaviest events
- Fixed a nasty old crash bug with the defection of the Victual Brothers
- Fixed a hostility bug with allies helping to defend against a revolter
- Fixed an issue with Gavelkind inheritance in baronies, where the youngest child would inherit first
- Fixed an issue with the random seed in delayed events
- Fixed a bug allowing you to usurp titles from your own vassals
- Fixed an issue with vassals of vassals gaining independence when you pressed their claims
- The titular kingdoms of Naples and Trinacria are no longer creatable in-game
- The Ecumenical Patriarch will now refuse to excommunicate a character who has repented, even if the Emperor asks
- Merc navies will now disband when not getting paid
- Fixed an issue with the lower Crown Authority plot when the liege folds to the ultimatum of a vassal king
- No longer possible to grant duchies to barons
- The event effect 'destroy_landed_title' now gives the current holder a strong claim on the title
- The events where the Mongols receive reinforcements no longer trigger if the titles are held by non-Tengri or non-Mongol rulers
- Fixed an issue with attached units and siege outcomes
- Fixed a bug with Revokation plot wars against vassals who lose the title to someone else
- Fixed a bug where a vassal in revolt against his liege would sometimes have the war end inconclusively when the liege got a new liege
- Fixed an issue where children would change guardian if they became landed
- AI spouses of lower rank than you will now always accept education requests- In feudal elective titular realms, _all_ vassals of the appropriate tier are now electors
- The death of a spouse no longer makes characters lose their jobs
- Characters who end up leading the troops of their enemies should now automatically return home
- The opinion penalties for revoking a title are now applied whether or not the target accepts or refuses
- If a vassal refuses a title revokation and wins or achieves a white peace, the 'declared_war' opinion modifier is now cleared (meaning the liege does not get a 'free' title revokation)
- There is no longer a cooldown for calling allies to war who _accepted_ a previous call
- Primogeniture: more heirs should now be listed
- Gavelkind: fixed a glitch with grandchildren
- Removed impassable terrain between Kartli and Albania
- Fixed unit position in the Irish Sea
- Made Sviatopolk Rurikovich (count of Zaozerye in 1066) a legit bastard
- Heretics and infidels are now barred from inheriting anything that the religious head holds
- The portraits for undiscovered murderers should now be hidden in the event window
- Mercs and Holy Order commanders should no longer be shown in the quick marriage window
- Now always allowed to attach your units to your lieges' units
- Added an event where a ruler converts to the native culture
- Adjusted and improved the events where provinces change culture
- Reactivated the lifting FoW for allies in wars
- Doubled regular assassination costs
- The "Arrange Marriage" button now shows random courtiers if there are too few interesting women around
- There is now a slight chance of a random education outcome
- Fixed some issues with war invalidation for banishment of landed characters
- Can no longer banish mercs, holy order heads, or religious heads
- Attached units that are not in the same province as the master unit are no longer hostile to the master unit's enemies
- The spouse will now get a message on divorce
- Fixed some historical issues with Chios and Lesbos
- The liege should now get pressed claims on _all_ titles of characters who declare independence
- If an ally could legally call you into a war, you should always be able to ask to join as well
- Battle Death should now show the unit owner rather than the unit commander
- Vassals of lieges who are fighting their liege will no longer revolt
- Holy War CBs are now valid for Catholic vassals of Orthodox lieges, etc
- Added automatic county conversion events for Muslims (35500 and 35501)
- Pathfinding now prefers friendly territory to enemy territory
- Vassal vs Liege wars should now end with a _mutual_ truce

FOR MODDERS:
- Exported inbreeding trait gain factors to defines
- Exported most relevant files under common to their own folders, so they can be broken up into multiple files
- Added 'immortal' flag to traits; stops aging, character will not die of age or poor health
- Added 'pilgrimage' flag to traits; the character is away and needs a regent, but can still be a guardian, etc
- Added 'name_tier' to landed titles, so that empires can be called kingdoms, etc
- Added 'pass_effect' to decisions and laws, which is not run by automatic functions (useful for setting opinion modifiers when passing laws.)
- Added event target 'fromfrom'
- Added trigger 'in_revolt'
- Added 'divine_blood' flag to dynasties, which allows full consanguine marriages and tells the AI to prefer keepin' it in the family
- Added 'founder_named_dynasties' to cultures
- Can now script marriage consanguinity rules in religions
- Added a 'potential' trigger to Job Actions
- Added 'dismiss_trigger' to job titles
- Added a 'potential' trigger to traits
- Added trigger 'num_of_realm_counties'
- Added effect 'vassalize_or_take_under_title'
- Added trigger 'death_reason'
- Added event target 'killer'
- Added event effect 'objective_succeeds'
- The trigger 'can_be_given_away' is now more restrictive. Checks occupation or sieges of constituent Holdings, contestation in wars, etc.
- Added history command 'conquest_culture'
- Added trigger 'plot_power_contribution'
- Added trigger 'random'
- Added trigger 'any_potential_tribal_county'
- Added effect 'any_potential_tribal_county'
- Added effect 'random_potential_tribal_county'
- Added 'new' target in effects ( character = new ) for newly created characters
- Added death reason 'death_hashshashin'
- Added effect 'make_primary_spouse'
- Added trigger 'has_strong_claim'
- Added trigger 'has_weak_claim'
- Added effect 'add_weak_claim'
- Added effect 'add_weak_pressed_claim'
- Added trigger 'has_regent'
- Added trigger 'is_contested'
- Added event effect 'any_spouse'
- Added event effect 'random_spouse'
- Added trigger 'any_spouse'
- Added trigger 'is_main_spouse'
- Added a 'distance' trigger

Penny Arcade's: On the Rain Slick Precipice...

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 14:20:51 +0000

Penny Arcade's: On the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness 3 is Now Available on Steam. Receive gift-able copies of Zeboyd's titles Cthulhu Saves the World and Breath of Death VII if you purchase before Monday, July 2nd 10 AM PDT.

The Startling Developments Detective Agency springs into action as On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3 begins, set in motion by a call from a mysterious source. The ever escalating perils on the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness will season our tender heroes to their very core! Expect cunning evil doctors, a series of unexplainable thefts, a mysterious book of power, enigmatic supernatural forces, hoboids, roboids, time travelling dinosaurs, and more!

Also save 75% on Penny Arcade Adventures: Precipice of Darkness Episode 1 & 2 until Monday, July 2nd 10AM PDT.

Sword of the Stars II: Lords of Winter Update R...

Sat, 26 May 2012 13:02:30 +0000

Critical fixes:
+ Patched a ship repair divide-by-zero crash.
+ Fixed a drone-related crash.
+ Fixed a very rare locking-beam related crash.

Other fixes:
+ Corrected display of drone designs in the design screen.
+ Construction and retrofit costs now include initial drone and
assault shuttle costs.
+ It is now possible to select systems in province creation mode once again.
+ No more cube for phaser weapons on drones in the design screen.
+ Queued station modules no longer disappear.
+ Fixed system info demand.
+ Enemy ship construction ETA is no longer visible in system icons.
+ Corrected the direction of trade-related government shifts.
+ Admiral traits no longer cause negative endurance.

Other changes and additions:
+ Beam weapons will now fire for their entire duration and re-target on-the-fly.
+ Empire fleet summary no longer displays empty reserve fleets

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Beta Update Re...

Tue, 22 May 2012 20:21:51 +0000

Gameplay:
• Updated weapons based on performance metrics:
- Slightly increased the damage for the fiveseven to keep it on par with other pistols.
- Lowered the max width of the recoil patterns for the MG's to make them better for their price point.
- Lowered the spread on the Negev to be more in line with the m249.
• Improvements have been made to burst fire and tapping.
• Added player spawns to all maps to support up to 30 players.
• Player spawns are now randomly selected from a prioritized list of spawn locations in order to better support more players per map.
• Adjusted bot behavior to fix the “antline” looking behavior.
• Added support for server operators to specify tick rate with the –tickrate parameter.
• Physics simulation tick rate now set to be the same as the game tick interval.
• Bullet tracers have had improvements made to speed, visual effect, and frequency.
• Chickens added to Inferno

UI
• The Server Browser sorts Favorites and Lan tabs by ping rather than Tags.
• The radar will no longer display an ‘X’ for dying players when they are not within sight of the player or player’s teammate.
• Weapons with a burst mode will now show which state the gun is in on the ammo panel.
• Input device is now locked to whatever device launched the game session.
• Updated the Kevlar and Kevlar + Helmet buy menu images.
• Updated the Domination icons.

Audio
• Footsteps update position more often by shifting position determination to client side entity tracking.
• Tuned ambient sounds in most maps

Bug Fixes
• Fixed a bug with individual pistol round-based achievements. They can only be earned in Classic game mode now.
• Fix for changing video settings while in game sometimes causing a deadlock.
• Added a popup message triggered when a player attempts to initiate a vote on a server with voting disable.
• Fixed bug where player's nav area would be reported as being on the floor below them causing the radar location to be displayed incorrectly.
• Fixed several UI related crash issues.
• Third party map and _SE map names no longer display in the scoreboard with the #SFUI_MAP_ localization token.

View the full article

Now Available - Resident Evil: Operation Raccoo...

Sat, 19 May 2012 06:07:38 +0000

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City is Now Available on Steam!

Gear up as a member of the Umbrella Security Service and battle against all of the forces at play in Raccoon City. You’ll come face-to-face with horrifying Resident Evil enemies like hunters and lickers as you navigate the Raccoon City Streets in search of your targets which include series icons like Claire Redfield and Leon S. Kennedy.

Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® 3 Collection 1 -...

Tue, 08 May 2012 20:34:52 +0000

The Collection 1 DLC is Now Available on Steam and includes 4 Multiplayer/Survival Mode Maps & 2 Special Ops Missions for Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® 3.

Armed with just this one content pack, players can choose between heading to a militarized Central Park in Liberation, destroying scenic vistas in a seaside Italian getaway in Piazza, raining glass on New York passersby from 70-stories-up in Overwatch, and battling beside a downed Air Force One in Black Box.

As if that breadth of multiplayer variety wasn’t enough, fans of Special Ops can hop aboard snowmobiles to infiltrate a diamond mine in Black Ice or head to India, where Negotiator will leave the fate of hostages in their hands.

Super Monday Night Combat Updated

Tue, 08 May 2012 08:31:37 +0000

Super Monday Night Combat Rule Changes: 4 (v35641)

Free Pro Rotation: Assassin, Cheston, Karl, Megabeth, Leo, Veteran.
It's the Rule Changes 4 mark and it's going to hit the fan!
We got a big one for you this week. We're introducing our Training Camp! That's right, a whole map dedicated to exploring all the different aspects of Super Monday Night Combat. This includes checking out any of the Pros, even ones you don't own and are not currently free. No queuing, no waiting, you just jump in and try stuff out!
As always, feel free to leave us feedback at www.uberent.com/forums! If you have issues please email support@uberent.com.
The current version is: 35641. If you don't have this version, please restart your game.
New Rules
• Added Training Camp mode. Training Camp is found through the "Play" menu. You will just be placed in a server where you can try out all the gameplay elements of Super Monday Night Combat.
• Added dialog in Custom Games to prevent players from breaking their lobbies after hitting Start Game.
• Pros you cannot use are now shown grayed out in the Character Picker.
• Increased mouse sensitivity slider range.
• GG Stack & Chip Valvano: Character Specific call outs added.
• GG Stack & Chip Valvano: Streak VO changes.
• GG Stack & Chip Valvano: More Commercial VO added.
• Added blue-yellow nameplate option for those who have troubles seeing red-green.
• Locker Room customize menu redesigned for clarity and grouping customize slots under their associated Pros.
• Improved wording on Play menu buttons.
• Updated MP landing menu: separated out Super Crossfire options from Training options.
• First Blood, Multikills, Kill Streaks, now send a message to everyone.
• Annihilator Ready message now sent to everyone.
• Respawn times now increase after the 30 minute mark.
• Increased Post-Game Prize drop rate of Uniform parts.
• Updated resolution options adding 1366x768 and 1360x768.
• Improved descriptions for Pros.
• Improved the camera while dead. Especially when the taunter dies while they are taunting you.
• Juice Boxes now give 1/5 of the juice back rather than 1/4.
Bug Fixes
• Fixed store taunts not updating correctly.
• Fixed uniforms in the "Featured Items" area not being displayed correctly when first selected.
• Fixed reselecting a Pro in the store not displaying the Pro's details in the bottom pane.
• Fixed accepting an invite not always cancelling previous Match Making attempts.
• Fixed light shaft on item pick ups sometimes lingering.
• Fixed Play button being on some screens where it wasn't needed.
• Fixed some older Uniforms not previewing properly in the inventory screen.
• Fixed Chickey's egg effect from not always playing.
• Fixed rare issue with both Moneyballs being destroyed at the exact same time.
Bundles
• New Bundle: Triple Threat: Commando Style - On sale for the first week!
• New Bundle: Action Heroes
Products
• All Magnet: Range 768 -> 640
• Massive Air: Minimum level 6 -> 1
• Massive Air: Air Control: 1 -> 0.8
Downtown Spunky Arena
• Continued art improvements.
• Moved Fuji and Scrambler bot spawn buttons location closer to the player spawner.
• Modified bot spawner collision to prevent Spark from getting stuck inside.
• Fixed some collision issues on the Icemen's side.
Bots
• Fuji Bots: Now, once again, drops 2 juice boxes instead of 1 juice and 1 churro.
• Fuji Bots: Now drop an additional armor pick up.
• Jackbot XL: Projectiles now do knockback and turn off Assault's Fly.
• Jackbot XL: Speed 350 -> 400
• Black Jacks: No longer appear as turrets in the overhead camera.
• Jackbots: Post - 25 minute mark: Only spawn once 60 seconds instead of once every 40 seconds.
• Jackbots: Post - 25 minute mark: Now swap lanes every 5 minutes.
• Jackbots: Post - 25 minute mark: Now additionally spawn on the opposite lane when the Moneyball is down.
• Fuji Bots: Post - 25 minute mark: Now spawn more Fujis in between Jackbot spawns.
Assassin
• Smoke Bomb: Bot Stun Duration: 4 -> 3
• Leap: 75% of the effect of a slow debuff is now applied to jump velocity.
• Normalized headshot detection radius with all other Pros.
Assault
• Assault Bomb: Headcrab bonus 250 -> 50
Captain Spark
• New Uniform: Captain Buzz
• New Uniform: Captain Sparkle
• New Weapon: Sparkle Voltage Spike
• Arc Flash: 75% of the effect of a slow debuff is now applied to Arc Flash distance.
• Voltage Spike: Alt fire: Now only gains charges from Voltage Spike hits.
• Voltage Spike: Alt fire: Damage: 50 -> 45
• Voltage Spike: Fixed selecting a Pro other than Captain Spark, then switching to Captain Spark breaking his Voltage Spike alt-fire skill.
• Normalized headshot detection radius with all other Pros.
Cheston
• Bananas Monihan: Fixed typo in the description.
Gunner
• Taunts: You may now choose a taunt for Dual Miniguns separate from the Minigun.
• Deploy: Armor Pulse Time: 1 -> 0.75
Karl
• Mr. Destructoid: Fixed a typo in his description.
• Short Circuit: Projectile Speed: 1000/2000/2500/3072 -> 3072/3072/3072/3072
Leo
• New Taunt: I Invented That Kick
• Mona Laser: Range: Full Damage/Min Damage 1536/2560 -> 2560/3072
• Venice Defense: Recall button now becomes active only after Venice Defense is fully deployed and teleport button charges.
• Venice Defense: Recall can no longer be used after Venice Defense is destroyed.
Megabeth
• Shoot the Moon: Cooldown: 40/27/20/15 -> 20/14/10/7.5
• Shoot the Moon: No longer starts cooldown until skill finishes.
• Shoot the Moon: Jump Velocity: 1024 -> 1300
Sniper
• Trap: Upgrade level 4 no longer locks out skills for its victims.
• Trap: Max: 1/1/2/2 -> 1/1/1/2
• Trap: Freeze & Slow Duration: 1.5/1.5/1.5/1.5 -> 1/1/1.5/1.5
• Trap: No longer able to be destroyed by friendly damage.
• Trap: Fixed sometimes being partially embedded in the ground.
• Normalized headshot detection radius with all other Pros.
Support
• Healing: money 0.1 -> 0.05
• Air Strike: Now does bonus damage when attached to players (Ground Zero), even under cover: 50
Veteran
• Alt Fire Slam: Slow Duration 3 -> 1.5
• Alt Fire Slam: Fixed slam not affecting Jackbots
• Ka-Klaw: Targets can now use air control when grabbed, allowing them to 'struggle' against it. Air control for the target is reduced as the Ka-Klaw is upgraded.
Wascot
• Coin Launcher: Coins now damage himself.
• Coin Launcher: Coins are now team colored only for allied players.
• Normalized headshot detection radius with all other Pros.
• Shifty Shuffle: Now ends upon a successful counter-grapple.

Pre-Purchase Now: Call of Duty®: Black Ops II

Sat, 05 May 2012 11:57:38 +0000

Pre-purchase now and get ready for Call of Duty®: Black Ops II

Pushing the boundaries of what fans have come to expect from the record-setting entertainment franchise, Call of Duty®: Black Ops II propels players into a near future, 21st Century Cold War, where technology and weapons have converged to create a new generation of warfare.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Beta Update Re...

Sat, 05 May 2012 11:52:27 +0000

Gameplay:
• Added Classic Casual to the Find a Game options.
• Increased running inaccuracy of rifles and snipers.  Lowered recoil of negev, lowered standing inaccuracy for negev. improved famas secondary burst grouping, increased ak47 recoil
• Added money bonus to knife kills.
• Bot difficulty tuned.
• Removed the grace period for defusing the bomb as it allows to many hard-to-fix exploits.
• Fixed elite cycle time to be the same as CSS

UI:
• Update to the Main Menu screen:
- Rank medals earned by the player will now be displayed underneath their name.
• Play menu screen updates:
- Updates to win panel for Arms Race including: improvements to displaying the winner, animated elements, and progression icons.
• Fixed demo playback loading screen problem.
• Fixed placeholder elements on generic loading screen.
• Added timer to continue loading screen.
• Fixed assists in death messages showing up in modes other than "Classic".
• Fixed the "Next Weapon" panels not displaying properly in Arms Race before you got your first kill.
• Fixed alert text popping (position/opacity) behind the Exclamation Point graphic when the animation first comes up when the buy time has expired.
• Condensed spectator panel to minimize overlap with other hud elements.
• Removed old green tint from radar directional arrow and ring to match current HUD gray color scheme.
• Win panel can now show progress made towards stat based achievements completed that round.
• Fixed Demolition mode next weapon icons being incorrect.
• Added missing outline on incendiary grenade icon.
• When using a gamepad, the left and right shoulder button glyphs will gray out when there is no one left to spectate.
• Fix for the gun icons being too big and cutoff.

Maps:
• Added Nuke SE
• Added Inferno SE
• Dust SE
- Added overviews for radar
• Aztec SE
- Added overviews for radar
• Dust
- Adjusted size of buy zones for both CT and T's.
• Shorttrain
- Updated radar overhead map: Removed corner sections, towers, and yellow "garbage" can from bomb planting zone.
• Train
- Increased accuracy of bomb and buy zone graphical indicators on radar image.
• Inferno
- Updated size and location of buy and spawns zone graphics.
• St Marc
- Rescaled radar overhead map and angled the bomb zone graphic to match the actual angle of the zone.
- Adjusted color-correction settings.
• Safehouse
- Adjusted color correction settings.
- Adjusted radar image scale and position.
• Italy
- Adjusted buy and spawn zone graphics for CT's and T's.
- Fixed extra-large and bright light coronas in hostage area and Wine Cellar.
- Fixed a tree at Right Alley
- Made a slew of accessible areas inaccessible.  Thank you, Maiho for identifying these.
- Adjusted color-correction settings.
• Aztec
- Updated buy and spawn zone graphics on radar image.
• Dust 2
- Expanded and moved both the CT a T buy and spawn zones in radar image.
• Bank
- Increased active game area border line weight from 1 to 2 pixels in radar.
- Adjusted color-correction settings.
- Fixed stretching polygons on the door frame at Gas Station.
- Fixed the door model at Market.
• Nuke
- Adjusted spawn and buy zone graphic indicators on radar image.
• Baggage
- Readjusted color-correction settings.
• Lake
- Increased active game area border line weight from 1 to 2 pixels in radar.
- Adjusted color correction settings.
• Sugarcane
- Updated color-correction settings.
• Office
- Adjusted buy and spawn zone graphics for CT's and T's.
- Adjusted color correction settings.
- Fixed a bug where the slideshow projection would sometimes show up on the wall behind the projector wall.

Audio:
• Dsp removed from all third person footsteps and gunshots to increase directionality.  In turn removed audio quality option which was mainly responsible for determining dsp level.
• Moved the distance at which weapon shots cross fade to their "distant" version further away from the player to aid in identification of weapons being used during the round.
• Third person weapon shot volume raised to aid in the identification of weapons being used during the round.

Bug Fixes:
• Fix for getting the golden knife too early in Arms Race.
• Fix for incorrectly retaining the gold knife on respawn after a suicide, team change, or killed by enemy knife.
• Regenerate the recoil tables at game mode/type start; this allows the tables to incorporate parameters from loaded convars.
• We now remove the golden knife from the player if they had it and lost a level in Arms Race.
• Fixed a bug with the HUD where the round timer stops with 0:01 left if the round ends by timeout.
• Fix for knife spawning in on the ground with you if you end the round without your secondary weapon (pistol).
• Fix for single hostage shooting penalty getting counted multiple times.
• Spectators are no longer allowed to vote.
• Fixed view model hitching after a full network update.
• Fixed a crash pertaining to death notifications.
• Fixed an assert that would happen every time a player opened a prop_dynamic door.
• Fixed potential crash in FAMAS and Glock when firing remaining burst shots when the PlayerOwner owner no longer exists.
• Fixed flash bangs showing through doors.
• Fix for losing mouse focus when directly connecting to a server.
• Fix for crash when running a dedicated server under specific linux versions/distrubutions.
• Fix for instances of "Round draw" voice over playing between matches.
• Fixed some ducking pops that would happen when toggling duck during ducking / unducking.

Miscellaneous:
• First round of mostly PC specific CSM optimizations that improve perf. on all CSM quality levels:
- Optimized the core CSM shader to use fewer ALU instructions (VERY_LOW/LOW=21% faster, MEDIUM quality level=10% faster, HIGH=8% faster).
- Coaxed the HLSL compiler to [flatten] several important conditionals it was sometimes issuing dynamic jumps for.
- The VERY_LOW and LOW quality levels use a single 3D radial lerp vs. the previous 2D+3D lerp
- VERY_LOW/LOW only use 2 world cascades vs. the previous 3. At VERY_LOW/LOW quality levels only vertexlit and phong where actually using the closest cascade (for better character self shadowing), so world shadow quality is mostly unaffected by this change.
- Also adding a bunch of CSM culling statistics (displayed at the bottom of the screen when cl_csm_debug_2d is 1).
- dust2 timedemo avg. FPS results on a NV 6800/Core2 2.4 GHz at VERY_LOW improved by 13% (higher quality settings also see an improvement).

Weeklong Sale - Morrowind and Oblivion, 50% off...

Tue, 01 May 2012 07:36:14 +0000

In celebration of the 10th Anniversary of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, take 50% off Morrowind and Oblivion all week long on Steam*!

An epic, open-ended single-player RPG, Morrowind allows you to create and play any kind of character imaginable. You can choose to follow the main storyline and find the source of the evil blight that plagues the land, or set off on your own to explore strange locations and develop your character based on their actions throughout the game.

*Offer ends Monday, May 7th at 10AM Pacific Time

AMD Catalyst™ 12.4 Windows Update Released

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 15:00:12 +0000

AMD Catalyst 12.4 Windows update is released:

NEW FEATURES

Windows XP support for the AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series, AMD Radeon HD 7800, and AMD Radeon HD 7700 Series
- In addition to Windows 7 and Windows Vista support, Catalyst 12.4 now also introduces Windows XP (64-bit/32-bit) support for the AMD Radeon HD 7900, AMD Radeon HD 7800, and AMD Radeon HD 7700 Series

Super Sampling Anti-Aliasing: Level of Detail (LOD) Image Quality enhancements
- Supported on the AMD Radeon HD 7900, AMD Radeon HD 7800, and AMD Radeon HD 7700 Series
- LOD Image quality enhancements have been improved when enabling Super Sample Anti-Aliasing and Adaptive Anti-Aliasing through the AMD Catalyst™ Control Center for DirectX® 10 and DirectX® 11 applications.
- Applications must support in game Anti-Aliasing for the feature to work (Forced on Anti-Aliasing through the Catalyst Control Center is not supported for DirectX 10 and DirectX 11 applications)
Morphological Anti-Aliasing (MLAA):  Significant performance enhancements
- Supported on the AMD Radeon HD 7900, AMD Radeon HD 7800, AMD Radeon HD 7700 Series, AMD Radeon HD 6000 Series, and AMD Radeon HD 5000 Series
- MLAA now operates up to 80% faster than previous versions
Texture filtering quality improvements
- Supported on the AMD Radeon HD 7900, AMD Radeon HD 7800, and AMD Radeon HD 7700 Series
- Improvements have been made to the texture filtering algorithm (for both DirectX9 and DirectX10/DirectX11 applications) to increase the quality of rendered textures, with no impact to performance

RESOLVED ISSUES

Resolved Issues for the Windows 7 Operating System

This section provides information on resolved known issues in this release of the AMD Catalyst 12.4 software suite for Windows 7. These include:
- Elder Scrolls: Skyrim : no longer hangs on single GPU configurations when used with AMD Catalyst 12.3 CAP1 and later CAP releases
- Elder Scolls: Skyrim : flickering square corruption is no longer observed.
- Rage : Vsync is no longer disabled after task switching.
- Enemy Territory:  Quake Wars : no longer crashes when launched in High Performance Mode.
- Stalker – Call of Pripyat : flickering is no longer observed in trees with specific Catalyst Control Center settings.
- Tom Clancy HAWX 2 : no longer crashes on game launch.
- Windows Media Center: no longer crashes when run in Eyefinity mode and High Performance mode settings.
- AMD Steady Video: an error message is no longer displayed when enabling AMD Steady Video for the Microsoft Internet Explorer 9.0 plugin.
- Duplicating displays no longer generates random corruption.
- Tearing is no longer observed on the third screen in 3x1 and 1x3 Eyefinity configurations.
- A system crash is no longer experienced when enabling Crossfire in a 4 display configuration.
- The advanced video quality settings are now correctly displayed in the Catalyst Control Center.

Resolved Issues for the Windows Vista  Operating System

This section provides information on resolved known issues in this release of the AMD Catalyst™ 12.4 software suite for Windows Vista. These include:
- The Catalyst Control Center now renders correctly when launched while playing a Bluray disc using WinDVD.

Resolved Issues for the Windows XP Operating System

This section provides information on resolved known issues in this release of the AMD Catalyst™ 12.4 software suite for Windows XP. These include:
- Dirt 3 : a system hang is no longer experienced when running game at maximum in game settings.
- Dragon Age 2 : visual corruption is no longer observed.

KNOWN ISSUES

Known issues under the Windows 7 operating system

The following section provides a summary of open issues that may be experienced under the Windows 7 operating system in the latest version of AMD Catalyst. These include:

- Blocky video corruption may be observed while using Windows Media Player to playback HD WMV content.
- The Catalyst Control Center may experience random crashes in specific configurations.
- A green screen may be triggered when playing back Flash content using Google Chrome and Firefox.
- The Unigine Tropics demo may experience random crashes when run with shaders=low and Vsync enabled.

Known issues under the Windows Vista operating system

The following section provides a summary of open issues that may be experienced under the Windows Vista operating system in the latest version of AMD Catalyst™. These include:

- Cyberlink PowerDVD may crash when enabling BOB de-interlace mode.
Known issues under the Windows XP operating system
The following section provides a summary of open issues that may be experienced under the Windows XP operating system in the latest version of AMD Catalyst™. These include:

- The system may fail to resume from sleep/hibernate mode is some configurations.

New Release - Binary Domain

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 13:08:35 +0000

Binary Domain is Now Available on Steam!

About the Game

THE MACHINE AGE HAS BEGUN in this immersive and atmospheric squad-based shooter in which you need to regain control of a futuristic Tokyo from an emerging robotic threat.

Set in 2080, the story starts when Dan Marshall and his squad are sent to bring the robotic community under control as they begin to infiltrate society and slowly take over undetected, leaving humans redundant in their wake.

Thrilling encounters with highly intelligent robotic enemies require you to think tactically, make challenging, real-time moral decisions and build up trust with your team mates in order to guide your squad to safety and success.

Set in futuristic Tokyo, you mission is to bring the robotic community under control as they begin to infiltrate society and slowly take over undetected, leaving humans redundant in their wake.

Key Features:

A NEW TAKE ON FUTURISTIC TOKYO - Experience dual layered Tokyo with a run down and derelict lower city and a clean and affluent upper city
THE CONSEQUENCE SYSTEM - Under the pressures of battle every action, every choice and every word affects everything.
PROCEDURAL DAMAGE - Fully destructible and highly resilient robots adapt to the damage they sustain encouraging you to analyse each enemy, find their weaknesses and dispose of them in the most efficient way.
WEAPON MODIFICATION AND SKILL SELECTION - Alongside a full armoury of unique weapons, put emphasis on the skills that will benefit you.

Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® 3 - Free Weekend...

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 08:23:31 +0000

Activision will be hosting a Free Weekend for Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® 3! Pre-load the game now and be ready to play when the free weekend starts on Thursday, April 26th at 10am Pacific Time.

Click here to start pre-loading, or visit www.steamgames.com/about to install Steam.

The Free Weekend of Call of Duty®: Modern Warfare® 3 will let you play the multiplayer portion of the base game.