Well, information just received from Valve has changed the nature of the earlier mentioned announcement slightly, and subsequently delayed it for another couple of days or so. Sorry about all these delays, but this stuff is outside of my control. As for 3.0 itself, two things have prevented us from finishing it just yet.. the first is a bug we discovered at the last minute. We're working to fix that at the moment. The second is that one of our team members, Caldwell, is stuck in the middle of the worst storm his area of the world has seen within the last hundred years, and suffered flood damage to his house and equipment. Don't worry, though, last I heard the situation was improving, and his computer was still intact. If all goes well, I should receive his final files within the next 24 hours, and if the worst comes to the worst I can make the final changes to the virtually-final models we already have, myself. It'd just take a bit longer. For anyone who doesn't already know what Caldwell has been working on, the files in question are Sven Co-op's updated player model animations (an example can be seen to the left, though obviously you need to see the animations in motion to really get the idea). These allow you to see when other players (or yourself, in thirdperson) are reloading, zoomed or unzoomed, getting ready to throw a grenade or perform a power attack with the wrench, etc. It also allows players to hold the akimbo Uzis and the minigun correctly. There are even draw animations for each of the weapons (i.e. when switching, you see the player model reach for the next weapon and bring it out appropriately). Caldwell has also updated the Heavy Weapons Grunt. As well as receiving a minor facelift, the HW Grunt is now able to run as well as walk, aim up and down correctly, and rappel.. his minigun barrels spin properly when firing, and he can drop his weapon on death. Here's a small AVI (900k) of his almost hilarious running animation :). You'll need the latest DIVX codec (5.1.1). Computer Gaming World has listed Sven Co-op among its top four Half-Life mods. If anyone with a copy has a scanner, we'd be interested in having a look.. for now, here's a transcript. 'THIS IS A GREAT MOD for LAN parties and social gatherings because it's all about playing co-op. There are new weapons, monsters, and a huge variety of cool maps. Sven Co-op's creators do a great job of updating the game and adding new features, and they're already working on Sven Co-op for Half-Life 2.'
In other news, Sven Co-op has become the latest victim in the recent outbreak of leaked betas. Someone formerly on the beta testing teamgave a SC 3.0 beta release to some of his friends without authorization, and it has become apparent that one of them gave it to some of their friends, because it's currently spreading throughout the internet. I'm making this post to confirm that this beta is unauthorized, and to let everyone know that this beta in no way represents the final quality of Sven Co-op v3.0. The beta that was leaked is from some time ago, and contains bugs, unfinished features, missing features, outdated versions of maps and models, etc. etc. We strongly recommend that you do not download the beta.. the final version of 3.0 is so close now that there isn't much point anyway. If you have already installed it, you will need to delete your SvenCoop directory prior to installing the final version in order to prevent file conflicts. We cannot be held responsible for any problems you may have due to installing the beta. Regarding donations: If you were wanting to send a postal donation but have not contacted me yet, it's probably too late at this point for you to receive your bonuses in v3.0.. though if you E-mail me right now I might be able to work something out (Those who have already contacted me about this needn't worry). Credit card donations through PayPal or eSellerate should make it in if made within the next 48 hours, after that I can't guarantee anything. Thanks again to everyone who has donated in the past.. if it wasn't for you, everyone reading this news post would currently be being interrupted by annoying Geocities pop-ups ;). Assuming the mod was still running (it wouldn't be). |