DESOLATED - The Crying Fate - by davethefreak
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8.5.08

Sorry for haven't updated since a while, if this page istn't updated often enough for you, just check out the ModDB Page.
There you can also "Track this mod" and then you'll be informed everytime there are changes etc. But now the real News:

Hello to you all,

this newsitem isn't the best one, I assume. But lets start with the good news:
I've added three new screenshots for you, one showing facility 2 in beta stadium and 2 showing the first part of painfull death 2
(nearly final). As you may can see, there are drop effects for the rain on the floor, a new graphical increasement of the engine.
Other then, the project itself is going on well. My coder made it, that the healthregeneration now depends on the game difficulty
you choose, easy means fast health and hard nearly no at all. But as I already told you, ony in the last maps the hero will be having this power.
But now, lets go on with the bad news:
I've decided to change the release to december 2008 for some simple reasons. First of all, the project became much bigger than planned.
To finish in about two months would mean releasing more kind of an alpha instead of a final mod. I made that mistake with Hell Island so I don't
wanna do that again. Second thing is, in two months I have to join the army for nine months. Therefore I'm gonna by myself a laptop to continue
working but I won't have time for it in the first six weeks, only afterwards. So there fore, please be patient.
What exactly will happen I don't really know and I hope you don't mind. But as I already promised, the mod will be released!

16.3.08

Now the trailer is done and you can watch it in the media section and there's also the download link for the high quality
version. If you want you can also watch it on YOUTUBE. So thanks to Keksus, it's his trailer and I also hope you'll like it.

15.3.08

The huge media update has just arrived!!!
ALL screenshots are new made, showing the revised maps from the village to the old factory. And there are even some real
new screens from the desert. But why that much work to shot all new? That's easy, it definitely is. As you may can see we
now got not only bloom, we also got Parallax Mapping. Thanks to Junkguy who sponsored his shader!
So from the graphical aspect the mod became more nice as it already was. Ok, so was this all to mention? For sure not!
I would like to introduce a new team-member, Mathias "Keksus" Dietrich our sounder. His job is creating new sounds for
the weapons (some are done) same as environmental noise etc. He's also a tester of ours to make sure the mod will be
as good as possible. And if I'm already at this point: The Pre-Alpha is out for my testers in version 0.64. Included is everything
you can see on the screens, the money system, the shaders and so on. But also a new thing; there's now a thirdperson view
in 3 maps (in catacombs just sometimes). Those maps are more rpg-like, not that much enemies but a lot of quests to fulfill.
Why should ya do this? To gain more money. The more money you get, the better weapon you can buy (or buy more ammo).
So what else to tell... oh yes, the design of facility 2 and the epilogue have started for the testers to have the possibility to play
through the whole mod. But there are no screens, yet, cause those maps are only kind of placeholders. A bit about facility 2, it's
kinda the same map than facility1 but also not. For the first time, you go a different way than in the second run. There you will
see only the first part twice, but destroyed and everything. Following you'll go another way which wasn't there before and so it's
gonna be definitely different. To tell a bit about the story, my writer René "T.B.O." Kanzler made it to write the first dialogues for
the first two areas the hero will go through... or he just dreams he does. But for that, next time we'll search for some talented
voice actors. How to apply for this I'm gonna tell you soon if more dialogues are done.
Last two things I wanna tell you are the following: on Sunday (or maybe Monday) there will be a teaser trailer made by my new
sounder who also did some inofficial Assassins Creed trailers. Second thing is the code/hardware:
Now the mod is only working with Doom 3 Patch 1.3, therefore we have to make a patch for the final version so that you can play
also on 1.3.1. But how to convert the code for linux is a problem for us. Therefore I'm not quite sure if we can make it and
that's why from now on this mod is just for Windows, because I don't wanna promise something I may couldn't make. But that does
not mean, there's no chance for the Linux users out there. It's the opposite, there will be a linux version to 95% and a Mac version...
let's say to 30% (if my coder MacX can make it). And now to the hardware, (cause of the parallax mapping) the minumum requirements
have increased a bit. You need a Pentium 4HT with 2.6 GHz, a DirectX 9 Card and a minimum of 1GB Ram. In this mode you can only
play in medium, with just faked parallax mapping, only in High and Ultra the real parallax map effect is included. To play in maximum
detail it should be a dualcore cpu, a GeForce 8800 or a Radeon 3850 and 2GB Ram. But then it'll look definitely much better, as you can
see on the shots (made in highest possible quality with bloom strenght of 14 and detail of 3, 4xAA).

Ok, that's enough for now. Have fun to check out the new screenshots and wait for the trailer!

6.3.08

My storywriter and me, we just started to write the monologues for the first to maps, facility and waterfacility. Another thing, I
added a new little area to the village2 map which isn't finished yet. It's a little part in the outside, so a forest. But what is gonna
be there, I'm not gonna tell ya. You'll se...

4.3.08

I know it's bin a while since the last news was posted. I couldn't believe it on myself as I realized it, either. But there's a reason, why
there was no sign of life. I had to work hard, very hard on the desert level so it's playable for the alpha-testers. It isn't finished
yet, only the first part. And this one will be special... ok, so I can make a statement; 3 maps (and in catacombs some scenes) will be
in third person. So this mod also will include thirdperson scenes same as thirdperson fights etc. Why? Well, the 3 maps where it's
used will be some kind of role-playing level. There will be a bunch of quests etc. to earn money. And with that money you can, for
sure, buy ammo, new weapons etc. Catacombs will be a jump&run location, so therefore the thirdperson is the best way to handle those
situations. Ok, I think that should be enough for now. But... I can't wait to tell another other fact. Everyone knows the new kind of shooters
out there like Timeshift and CoD4. There a health regeneration is used to avoid searching all the time for medkits. The same thing will be
used in the last levels after the hero learned it. Why? The story will tell!
Honestly this wasn't all, we also got a new achievement (graphical) but I won't tell you now. So wait for the beginning of the next week or maybe
even this weekend, who knows...

8.2.08

Today I got just a few things to mention. First of all, there's a new Screenshot in the media-section showing the desolated_prologue
level. This map is done to 50% but there's no story, yet. Well, to tell a bit more, this level is important for the story, especially the
TV on which the hero will watch something special... My stroy-writer is still continuing his work on the actual chapter and the development
is getting on very well. For the coding part, MacX is also still working on the money system. If everything went right, the money will be handled
as other variables, like health and armor. So you can safe, load and all the things but the money value will be correct, though.
After the main design of the prologue is done, I'm gonna build a Pre-Alpha version for my testers including nearly all maps available.
There will be no story in this version and some levels aren't nearly finished, anyway. But it's gonna be playable and then I'll wait
for the results, if I receive them, I'll improve the mod, fix the problems and other things. One thing to mention on that point:
There is now one level "more", 'cause I had to cut the level village, so there are now two maps. Why? Just one word: performance.
So, that's all for now, see you next time.

29.1.08

So after the big succes with the trailer, now the time is a little bit more chilled. The preassure is out and I can continue working
easyly. So there are just a couple of things now. The snow effect for the Facility map is finished, now. Just check out the media
section, there you can find it. And you also can find 2 "new" shots of the old factory from DamianS. Ok, that was all for now...

25.1.08

Got a big fat thing to tell!!!
The Trailer is DONE! For watching the small version just change to the media second and scroll down, there you can find it.
Later I'll add some other Links or Mirrors to download that video in high quality, but that'll tike a while, hope you don't mind.
So what to say about the trailer? It's kind of a behind the scenes, not only showing ingame things, also things in the editor, in
the 3D program and so on, to give you a little bigger overview about the progress and the modification itself. So... WATCH IT!
Second little thing, MacX made it that from now on the money is saved during all of the maps, there are just a few items left and
then the money-system will work fine.

14.1.08

I have some good news to tell. The level desolated_desert is finished to now 70%, the terrain itself is done. The only
things left are some details and story based locations. Next thing is, that DamianS has changed the angles of the weapon,
so it looks a bit more realistic. Also now completely included is the bloom (+fake HDRR), from now on you can change the settings
(bloom: on/off - quality: 1-4 - strength: 12-22) in the advanced graphics section in the mainmenue. An interesting
fact is, that you do not have to restart the game for changing the settings. But be careful: for the higher qualities you
need a faster PC, but it still works on older computers. So for "quality:1" a GeForce 6600 oder Radeon X800 should be enough,
but for "quality:4" you need a graphics card with more than 256 Bit Memory Interface and a minimum of 512 MB Ram,
same as a Dual-Core CPU and 2GB Ram, more is better! So as you can see, the better your computer is, the better the
graphic will be, either.
Last thing for this news item, the work itself for the trailer have just began; ingame records are made and now I collect
other things for the trailer, but finally, you will see. If everything went right, it'll be out at the end of the next week.

10.1.08

Hello again. Work is getting on not that fast for the moment, we're still unsure about some story things but that'll be
fixed very soon, we hope. The level desolated_desert got a huge terrain which I'm working on actually. But now to
the real thing that I wanted to mention: we just decided to make a trailer! For now we're planning a little but in a
few days the real work will start. And why do we do this? To show you a littie more about the modification, also to
make it easier for you to wait until the release arrives.

5.1.08

Welcome to the year 2008, hope you had a nice slide into it. And like every year, I hope this will be as awesome as
possible for you all!!!
Ok, this time, there's no real big news item, I only wanted to wish you a good 2008 and I also wanted to tell you, that
desolated is now on MODDB. So check it out and have fun!

30.12.07

This is going to be the last news item for 2007. The Desolated-Team wishes you a good new year 2008, celebrate the way
you like and have fun. A little gift for you; two new screenshots are available from DamianS with his map he's working
on for this modification and he also gave some information about him which you can find in the team section. So, that's it
for 2007, I hope next year is gonna be great for us all!
Best wishes,
DaveTheFreak and the Desolated-Team!!!

Update:
After a long time we made it, the bloom is now working. And therefore I updated the screenshots in the media section, so
you now can see how it looks like. I also was building a new version v0.52 of the modification and I also implemented all
the new effects, revised particles etc. You can see that e.g. on the shots where the Imps are firing a new kind of projectile,
same as the Hellknights on another shot. That the firegun is finished everyone can see on the picture with the maggots.
Ok, but now I promise, that's all for 2007. Hope you like the new media-stuff and as I already said, we wish you a good
start in 2008!

28.12.07