Game News New Game: Entombed 3D

[Shagnak]

Any thoughts or suggestions, or should I just stop writing it :O)

No, don't stop writing it.

If it only has 3 levels currently then I think what it needs is more content. More more more.
And less concentration on flashy stuff like PhysX.

 

[Bradylama]

It's not next-gen without a penis!

 

[Elwro]

I've noticed something funny. When I launch Entombed.exe from inside Total Commander, I get the error code. When I launch it from the Explorer window, it works...

...indeterministically. Either I get an "unhandled exception", the screen goes completely black, or I get to a title screen and than it tells me that it didn't find a physx driver. Which is, of course, perfectly fine as I don't have one. (The initial menu screen told me that I had to have it, but I decided to try anyway.)

On your page you only say "IMPORTANT : Please ensure you have the latest DirectX 9 drivers and Microsoft .Net 1.1 installed before trying to run the demo.", without mentioning physx.

I checked and the physx drivers are a 30 MB download. Do I need some special hardware to run them? (I have a GeForce 6600 GT).?

edit: WinXP SP2.

 

[Krafter]

Krafter and Elwro - what did you think ?

Any thoughts or suggestions, or should I just stop writing it :O)

Dave.

Don't stop writing it, this looks right up my alley. Get back to coding! :wink:

My download is amazingly slow, I just started it up and it's telling me that I've got 2 hours. Normally things are very fast for me, but I've got 100 windows and Serious Sam running, so I'll let it run it's course. I'll post impressions later.

 

[covr]

Hey! I just want to say that Demise is the king of the Dungeon Master clones. It's nothing personal, you know :D
P.S. My Entombed crushes at 9,70% when loading. I've got latest directx (december2006) and framework 1.1. Any suggestions?

 

[Elwro]

Physx?

 

[Krafter]

I'm getting the application failed to initialize properly error. Poop.

 

[Elwro]

Sometimes it also tells me "Unable to load Novodex_C_Wrapper.dll", while it's firmly sitting in the game's directory...

 

[mindx2]

To run this you have to download the PhysX driver and install it... only way I got the demo to run and I don't have a PhysX card. Installing the driver does not seem to cause any problems with Windows XP.

The demo itself was kind of weak (I know its only an Alpha build) but if enough is put into it (quests, encounters, branching story and/or dialogue, items, etc.) it certainly has promise. I would encourage the programmer to look towards Ultima Underworld I/II for insperation even with the static north, south, east, west point of view.

 

[OccupatedVoid]

I'm running Linux...

Can't try it out due to M$ Dire¢tX.

Aside from that, it looks great, and you should continue working on it.

 

[Krafter]

how are you launching the game ? what OS are you using ?

I'm using Windows XP, fully updated, and using the executable file to launch it, right from explorer.

Even though I haven't gotten it to run yet, I agree it looks fabulous, judging by the screenies.

 

[Psilon]

Elwro: No, you don't need special hardware to use the PhysX drivers. Ageia sells hardware physics units, but as of right now practically no one has any. Their idea is that the driver API uses software processing until people buy PPUs (read: AMD or Intel buys the company and adds another motherboard component), at which point things switch over transparently.

Also, PhysX was formerly known as Novodex (pre-Ageia). Any errors involving Novodex or C++ classes prefixed with Nx are going to be physics-related.

 

[Elwro]

OK, thanks!

 

[DSE]

All -

You need to install PhysX (I dont like this but its necessary, sorry). And it doesnt need dedicated hardware to run.

covr -

Also, if your game crashes at around 10% on the load this is due to a known error in the game. I didnt realise that some countries use a comma to separate number instead of a full stop. So when my engine parses a load of vertex information it fails. If you change your regional settings to English, it will work. I have a fix for this but I wont be releasing it until I have tested it some more (it will be soon though).

mindx2 -

thanks for your comments, please do remember that this isnt a commercial venture and its one guy on his own. I totally agree with your points and I love the Ultima series ... so I will be looking at your suggestions soon :O)

Krafter -

could you run dxdiag.exe and send me your report on email please ?

Thanks,
Dave.

 

[denizsi]

A game about Swedish metal band Entombed? Where do I surrender my money?

That was the first that crossed my mind upon seeing the thread name.

 

[Krafter]

Krafter -

could you run dxdiag.exe and send me your report on email please ?

Thanks,
Dave.

I'm currently at the office, so I'll do this when I get home later on tonight. Right off of the bat I can tell you that I don't have PhysX installed, so that may be the battle right there. I'll do that, try to run it, and then give you the info if it dosen't work.

Thanks!

 

[DSE]

Excellent, thanks.

 

[Azael]

That was the first that crossed my mind upon seeing the thread name.

Funny thing is, I saw the thread yesterday and immediately thought along the same lines again only to find that I already posted it almost three years ago. Talk about crappy character development, I want a refund!

 

[Shagnak]

Okay, the demo runs fine for me (though it took fifty billion attempts to download it for some reason!). I already had PhysX stuff from a demo I had installed or something.

First off, very pretty.

One thing I would change is the "no sense of movement" when you take a "step", i.e. rather than just suddenly changing the viewpoint, transition to the new viewpoint. On occasion I have this "where the fuck am I?" feeling, which I wouldn't have if I could see the corridor/stairs/whatever moving past when I move or turn.

The original DM was probably like this too (can't remember), so it's probably in the "who cares?" category. But when I move towards an opening door that does have smooth animation, it would look better if it didn't look like I was doing a series of teleports.

Haven't met any creatures yet, so can't comment on combat mechanics.

Some control mouse-overs would be nice.

Overall, very very promising and it just needs more STUFF. Lots of it! Get a proper team together!

(Are there creatures in the alpha demo? I've seen some in the screenies, but in my quick foray I feel like I've explored everything...hmmm...)

 

[Krafter]

You need to install PhysX (I dont like this but its necessary, sorry). And it doesnt need dedicated hardware to run.

Linky? I presume it's this right here :
http://www.ageia.com/drivers/drivers.html

 

[DSE]

Shagnak -

You have finished the demo when you get into a room with 2 Ettins and there is a light switch on the wall. Looks like you need to do a little more exploring ...

Hints -

The barrels have food in them, you can drink from fountains, you can cook food on the campfires, there are a total of 4 ettins in the game.

Krafter -

Yes, thats the one. I havent had any issues with people installing or playing the game on XP, so you should be fine afterwards. The only problem I have had is with people running a different regional settings to English, I have a fix for this but I havent released it yet.

Thanks,
Dave

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Demise: Rise of the Ku'tan (Mordor II) was a good game, but more of a roguelike with a fixed dungeon than a Dungeon Master clone.

I always thought of Demise as ((Dungeon Master++)++)++. It's basically the same style of game with a hellaciously complex character system, more levels, more monsters, a town to get quests, and so on.

 

[Elwro]

Well, maybe... I think that automapping really makes a huge difference, though. Playing DM was quite a cartographic experience , at least for me.

But yeah, come to think of it, you could say they way quite similar and Demise was an improvement in many respects. For example you could maintain a "rescue" party to dig up dead bodies of your main team, and then resurrect them...

 

[Shagnak]

You have finished the demo when you get into a room with 2 Ettins and there is a light switch on the wall. Looks like you need to do a little more exploring ...

Ah, okay.
I was showing a friend and noticed a door I don't remember ever going through. I'll have another go during a break or something.

 

[DSE]

No problems. I working on a second alpha to add things like a better character sheet, larger levels to explore, etc.

Let me know how you get on.