Legends New Version Released
If any one feels like taking a break from "Goon Haven" or just wants to explore an alternative the new version of "Legends" has been released.
There have been a large number of changes in this version as described in the following posts:
http://legendsthegame.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2691
and
http://legendsthegame.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2692
The general release announcement is here:
http://legendsthegame.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2693
There is also a new Legends version of the BTMappack as mentioned above and a bit more info is here:
http://legendsthegame.net/forums/showpost.php?p=24917&postcount=158
Save yourselves the download time when connecting to a server running one of these maps by having the mappack in place in your system before joining servers. Its only one extra step to download and install it. The mappack includes over 120 maps.
If anyone feels like testing the release join in the servers and give it a whirl. Please post comments regarding bugs found here:
http://legendsthegame.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2698
Be aware that there are some features MIA and or not complete. Vehicles, better voice choices, and improved player model being most obvious in comparison to Tribes 2. Some of that is being worked on in the background but not released yet. Otherwise its a very nice game with excellent graphics and playability and a very viable additional option for Tribes style game fans.
Also Legends benefits from a newer version of Torque and as a result lighting and general visual quality looks very nice. Be sure to turn on the shaders in Options/Video for more eye candy.
I have medium/water/reflections all enabled which looks very nice.
Also Legends is completely cross platform. Versions are available for both Windows and Linux and it will likely run in an Apple?Mac system with Wine. (although I do not have a Mac system to confirm this, I am using Linux)
Say hi if you catch me on a server.
Thanks and back to our regularly scheduled program.
There have been a large number of changes in this version as described in the following posts:
http://legendsthegame.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2691
and
http://legendsthegame.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2692
The general release announcement is here:
http://legendsthegame.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2693
There is also a new Legends version of the BTMappack as mentioned above and a bit more info is here:
http://legendsthegame.net/forums/showpost.php?p=24917&postcount=158
Save yourselves the download time when connecting to a server running one of these maps by having the mappack in place in your system before joining servers. Its only one extra step to download and install it. The mappack includes over 120 maps.
If anyone feels like testing the release join in the servers and give it a whirl. Please post comments regarding bugs found here:
http://legendsthegame.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2698
Be aware that there are some features MIA and or not complete. Vehicles, better voice choices, and improved player model being most obvious in comparison to Tribes 2. Some of that is being worked on in the background but not released yet. Otherwise its a very nice game with excellent graphics and playability and a very viable additional option for Tribes style game fans.
Also Legends benefits from a newer version of Torque and as a result lighting and general visual quality looks very nice. Be sure to turn on the shaders in Options/Video for more eye candy.
I have medium/water/reflections all enabled which looks very nice.
Also Legends is completely cross platform. Versions are available for both Windows and Linux and it will likely run in an Apple?Mac system with Wine. (although I do not have a Mac system to confirm this, I am using Linux)
Say hi if you catch me on a server.
Thanks and back to our regularly scheduled program.
Comments
Oh, hey, vehicles. That's exactly what it needed to be more like variant.
Got me, I haven't a clue what a "Tribes 2 Variant Mod" is....nor do I even care.
No, I don't know....but apparently you do.
Guess that makes Tribes 1 a "variant also.....and about a zillion other games. At this point there is no vehicle support, maybe later. (not that I find players flying around in a 1 vs 1 game all that scintillating to start with)
BLASPHEMY! Get the rope and torches! ::)
Geez, just go download it and answer all your "witty" questions yourself.
You'll find it from this link: http://legendsthegame.net/forums/showpost.php?p=24917&postcount=158
Glad to hear you gave it a try.
RS is correct. When I signed up for the Legends forums years ago I was involved with a clan named *XPF*. As clans generally go it faded off into history so I reverted back to my old player name which was based on my old Tribes 1 clan (Low Ping Bastards). I sign all my mapping efforts with that and now use that as a player name. On the Legends forum I am *XPF*LPBBear.
Thanks for trying the game and your feedback. We put a lot of effort into this release. Its not perfect but what ever is?
As long as we're havin' fun!
Theres approx 10 servers waiting for players now.
Heres a few more map pics.
Yes, a Variant with fixed skiing dead-stops, fixed non-regs, fixed vehicle physics, fixed player physics, fixed UEs/crashes, fixed water skiing, fixed server-side material property mappings, a vastly improved GUI and mission editor, superior lighting, and an engine that is still in active development with the prospects of shape, interior and terrain shaders in the near future. But yes, it's still a Variant.
Not really fair to view my comment as approval, since I'm actually one of the few Legends Devs left working on the game :P
It was originally developed in 2002 by Tribes1 Vets from TribalWar to be a Tribes1 remake, but fell short of the mark. It had the speed, but not the feel of the original, mostly due to the T2Classic skiing code, and the fact players couldn't decide if they wanted a carbon copy of Tribes1 or something new and different. Either way, it was doomed to fail just by taking the advice from anyone on TribalWar, the cesspit of the Tribes community.
In later iterations, when Terrox first took over, it became more like Tribes2 Base in both speed and movement. It basically went from one extreme to the other in terms of physics, and saw most of the remaining players off. From that point until just recently, there have been no real updates to the game, basically killing off the game.
Currently, the game stands somewhere between T1 and T2Classic in terms of speed and movement, although the jetting feels nothing like either of them. You have a lot more lateral control when jetting.
The weapons, armours and modules have the same characteristics as Tribes1 counterparts, but as Red has pointed out they are just slight Variants from the originals.
At this time, we've not really pushed the new release to the public, and even if we did I doubt any new players would stick around for long with nothing but empty servers.
Empty servers...understood; I've been on a CTF server several times now, and have yet to see anyone on any of the servers at all.
Good question! I agree, its a great looking game and as Ilys said it has "fixed skiing dead-stops, fixed non-regs, fixed vehicle physics, fixed player physics, fixed UEs/crashes, fixed water skiing, fixed server-side material property mappings, a vastly improved GUI and mission editor, superior lighting, and an engine that is still in active development with the prospects of shape, interior and terrain shaders in the near future".
Other than a few missing features (vehicles for instance) and a few models that need replacement its a much nicer game than Tribes2. The player movement is vastly superior to Tribes2. Even without the other obvious advantages that alone would sell me. As a mapper I have to say that Tribes2 comes no where close to whats available for mappers in Legends. Add to that the fact that the game supports Windows AND Linux as a Linux user I am sold.
Beyond what Ilys said I could add the fact that the game supports its own Master Servers, updates, and forums and has since the beginning.
As to why "more people don't play this game called Legends?" I would say that unfortunately there exists in the so called Tribes "community" a very vocal minority of people who go out of their way to be incredibly negative on various Tribes oriented forums. Some of this type of people have gone out of their way to pointlessly bad mouth anything they feel strays from the picture perfect vision that exists only in their head of what we all should be playing. Legends has been one of the recipients of this kind of negative self defeating bullshit from people like that over the years. I might add a number of very talented individuals and projects more directly involved with Tribes have received this same crappy treatment hence the total vacuum of vitality in the entire Tribes artistic and creative community. A few Legends versions back I would have been one of the first to admit Legends was not completely on par with Tribes 1 and 2 but the new version is easily on par and other than a few obvious areas I mentioned already in many ways surpasses those games.
Not many. Most Tribes vets have just plain given up in disgust over the past several years because of the complete mess the commercial overlords have made of the entire Tribes genre. The new overlords won't be any different with T:A. My opinion is that Tribes fans are going to have to go it on their own and build their own game. Currently Legends has the most viable options for that in that it leaves the door open for community participation where corporate controlled games do not and likely never will. Even though the game is not "Open Source" there is still plenty of room for interested parties at the table to run servers, create mods, maps, and other fun things. Sadly Tribes 2 has stagnated into empty servers, zero new mods, maps that constantly rehash the same old content because there exists no downloads, and players anally focused on one server only.
Unless some major changes happen in the Tribes genre it is my opinion that Legends is the only viable outlet currently available. The only thing better in my opinion would be a true Open Source version of a Tribes style game. Waiting for the "corporates" to save us is pointless. They'll NEVER get it right.
Now don't take this as a slam of TribesNext. It most certainly IS NOT. I much appreciate the effort being expended to keep Tribes2 alive and have also tried contributing in my own small way with a version of my mappack and running one of the servers still up for this game. I very much applaud the efforts to keep T2 going.
I have been too busy to play Legends (or TribesNext) much because of real life commitments but as winter settles in I hope to be on servers more. Say hi if you see me.
I hope more Tribers will give legends a try, imo it truly is what a sequel should be and I think the addition of vehicles will bring a few people around. Will it be possible to customize skins?
No problem, appreciate your comments also.
As to skins, yes, I believe that is quite doable. I have not fooled with them myself but one of the TribesNext community members is a "closet" Legends fan
In fact I have no doubt much of what is used in Tribes2 can be moved over with varying degrees of difficulty and success. I know most maps and interior models will work in both games and my BTMappack is somewhat unique among games in that both the Legends version and the Tribes2 version feature the same basic maps, content, and models. There is a scale difference between the two games to contend with but I know that in the area of mapping it works fine with a bit of tweaking.
...
there are no words
Unless you think Legends was supposed to be a replacement for Tribes 2 base, which I don't think was ever really the case (since it doesn't even have vehicles).
Well thats a step in the right direction. Normally there are words but no content. Nice to see you syncing up. ;D
That is correct. Perhaps Ilys will wander by and correct me if I am wrong but I believe Legends was initially a response by unhappy Tribes fans dissatisfied with the general feel, physics, and approach used in the release of Tribes2. It was never a "variant" at all but a completely separate game that was obviously more inspired by Tribes1 than Tribes2. It uses no content from Tribes 1 or 2 and other than sharing a similar engine (Torque) it has nothing to do with Tribes2. From what I have read from the early days I think Legends was meant to follow more in the tradition of Tribes1, not Tribes2.
There is the beginnings of vehicle support in the game but not yet officially implemented. There have been numerous mod efforts by various fans to add in custom vehicle support. Billo/Zaxx and Ender for instance have done that on their own several times. Several others have as well but I have forgotten their names. Personally I don't see vehicles as all that essential to the game itself as I believe that they are often used incorrectly in maps where they don't belong and or used with no practical guidelines. For instance using vehicles in a medium to small sized map like "Raindance" with 2 vs 2 players in the game. If Legends does eventually add vehicles officially I would hope that some reasonable guidelines were established to keep them sane.
I have been involved with Legends since approx 2004ish, first lurking as a player and then later becoming more involved with the mappack and other efforts. I have never seen it as a Tribes "variant". Its not, its a completely separate game that is clearly inspired by Tribes but in my opinion, at its core better in many ways. It only suffers from lack of interest by more players and creative people....as does both versions of Tribes at this point in time.
Thanks
LPBBear
copy/paste from Legends forums
http://legendsthegame.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2777
Change log for 0.4.2.2 release
The 0.4.2.2 release is now available to download:
Full Installer http://www.legendsthegame.net/files/legends_windows_0.4.2.2.exe
Web Installer http://www.legendsthegame.net/files/legends_windows_0.4.2.2_web.exe
You can also use the Windows Legends Launcher or Linux ./update script to retrieve this release.
There have been several changes to the netcode, so this version is incompatible with all previous versions of Legends.
Change-log
All changes since the 0.4.2.0 release have been rolled into his update, since the 0.4.2.1 patch was never fully released to the public.
Code Changes
Added: Preliminary libcurl support has been added to the engine. With this addition, we are now working on getting file download redirection support added. This will either be hooked into the engine's Resource Manager or to allow the server to specify a list of files for the client to download before accepting the connection request. In the first case, the files would have to be uploaded to a file host in their decompressed form, while the second case would allow the download of .unf files.
Added: Clients are now able to use a Ski bind to effectivly ski as you would in Tribes Vengeance. This method of skiing is faster than the traditional Jump-Skiing (Skimming) as used in T1, T2 and Legends, but offers less lateral control. I may also, at some point, look into duplicating Legions and Tribes:Accend styles of skiing, if there is enough interest.
Fixed: Items will no longer distort the path of projectiles.
Fixed: Function isAirborne() now works correctly, even if the player is only slightly touching the ground.
Changed: Cg has been updated to version 3.1.
Changed: Rsync for Windows has been updated to version 3.0.9.
Script/Art Changes:
Added: Medium armour is now in-game. No model has been done for it, so we are using the light for now.
Added: A deployable sensor has been added. This has the added bonus of extending the range of the deployable turret.
Added: A solar panel energy generator has been added.
Added: A warning will now pop up when a player joins a server running with team colours enabled, to point out that players with a red FoF indicator may not be the enemy. You can also download a third-party client-side script to force the old 0.4.1.x FoF/Marker colour behaviour.
Added: Shapebase objects can now be set as invulnerable through the mission editor or server scripting.
Added: Players can now find a Jump+Jet bind in their controls list.
Added: With the changes to netcode to allow proper zero drag, there will be a poll posted soon to discuss which method of skiing is better for Legends. In future, the Jump Skiing will be reference as Skimming. Skiing is always frictionless, while Skimming can either have friction or be frictionless depending on the armour used.
Added: EU and EastCoast developer servers have an extra Light Armour; LightT1. This armour attempts to mimic the feel of the T1 armour, using zero drag and slight ground traction. This will be used to test the different possible player physics we will be looking at (Light+Skimming, Light+Skiing, LightT1+Skimming, LightT1+Skiing).
Fixed: Several typos of "received" have been rectified.
Fixed: Turret tracking and missile lock-on messages should now be much more reliable.
Fixed: Missiles would occasionally crash the client when colliding with flares.
Fixed: The clients team and team objectives will now always be first in the team and objective HUDs.
Fixed: Flag trails should now work correctly on servers that have team colours disabled.
Changed: The light armour can no longer deploy turrets and stations.
Changed: The plasma projectiles now explode after the lifetime runs out.
Changed: Missiles will now explode after expiration of their lifetimes.
Changed: Directional hit detection is now defaulted to off.
Changed: Turret tracking warnings have been disabled.
Totally agree with that comment. Legends in my opinion is the only viable Tribes like alternative available. While I highly commend Thyth for the incredible effort he has put in, unfortunately the damn corporates have screwed Tribes fans making it really tough to sustain an effort like this. He really deserves huge applause from the Tribes community.
Legends is separate from that negative corporate effect so far. I have worked for years on a community mappack for the game (BTMappack) which has a ton of material in it including several recreations of the original Tribes maps. While they are not exactly like the originals I think they capture the feel of them quite well. Between the actual game and the mappack theres a ton of material to play and enjoy even before someone interested in mapping and modding gets active. In my opinion players who love the Tribes genre should be supporting both TribesNext and Legends.
Ilys has busy in the workshop again.
Here is some more update info.
http://legendsthegame.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2779
Change log for 0.4.2.3 release
The 0.4.2.3 release is now available to download:
Full Installer http://www.legendsthegame.net/files/legends_windows_0.4.2.3.exe
Web Installer http://www.legendsthegame.net/files/legends_windows_0.4.2.3_web.exe
You can also use the Windows Legends Launcher or Linux ./update script to retrieve this release.
There have been several changes to the netcode, so this version is incompatible with all previous versions of Legends.
Change-log
Code Changes
Added: A new version if the Infinite Spawn (ispawn) server tool, now called lspawn, has been added to the game for both Windows and Linux.
Changed: With feedback from the community, it has been decided that the T1/T2 style "skimming" is more appropriate for Legends. The T:V style skiing and its associated armour have been removed.
Script/Art Changes:
Added: Server operators are now able to send a list of files for clients to download from an external source using libcurl. Details on how to use this feature will be posted in this follow-up thread.
Fixed: An unused variable was causing the frag grenade to ignore damage.
Fixed: The speed HUD on the default GUI will now show a more realistic speed than before. The scripting never took into account the increased scale of the game world, which is nearly double that of standard TGE.
Fixed: An error merging between branches caused the heavy armour model scaling to become askew. The heavy can now fit in spaces it could previously.
Changed: All armours now have zero drag. This allows players to ski at much faster speeds than previously.
Changed: Jet speeds have been tweaked to compensate for the increase in ski speed.
but wait.....theres more
http://legendsthegame.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2780
As of the 0.4.2.3 patch, server operators are able to redirect players to download files while joining a server. This allows clients to automatically download the necessary files to play on a given server, be it a mappack, a single map, client-side scripts or player skins.
The implementation of libcurl for Legends is going to be used as a foundation for the Legends Content Delivery Network, which I will go into more detail at a later date. Suffice to say, it will give mappers, modders and scripters a central repository for uploading their work that can be accessed through the Legends client by other players.
To enable the usage of the CDNCuler, the server operator must create or copy a CDNCuler.cs file to their "legends/prefs" folder under Windows or their ".legends/prefs" folder under Linux. Attached is an example of one used to redirect players to the latest BTMappack.
The scripting requires at least two variables to work, $CDNCurlerRemoteFile[$CDNCurlerCount] and $CDNCurlerLocalFile[$CDNCurlerCount].
The remote file variable is a direct web link to the file, while the local file variable is the relative path from the legends root folder. You can also change the name of the downloaded file by changing the name in the local file variable.
The other options, $CDNCurlerRemoteSize[$CDNCurlerCount] and $CDNCurlerRemoteHash[$CDNCurlerCount], are used to allow resume-able downloads, which is especially useful for mappacks or other large downloads. The size is in bytes and the hash is an MD5.
Currently, only .unf files are allowed to be curled, and you cannot try to overwrite an existing default file (e.g. scripts.unf, interiors.unf or textures.unf). Any attempt to overwrite a default file will be ignored and the client will continue to join the server without downloading.
You may have more than one file specified in the CDNCurler.cs, and they will be downloaded by the client sequentially. Just make sure to increment $CDNCurlerCount at the end of the array for each file.
and even more...........
http://legendsthegame.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2782
Start of the balance pass: Legends 0.4.2.4
Since this is not actually news, I'll post here for you guys to digest. There has been an engine update, which decreases the time between ticks from 32ms to 16ms and makes everything just that bit snappier, but I shall leave that until after the balance pass.
The 0.4.2.4 balance pass is now live on the Dev Servers (EU and EastCoast, I do not have access to the WestCoast server).
As part of the balance pass, damage profiles (damage, shield and bypass scales) have been reset. Only the railgun values have been left alone, for head, torso and leg shot multipliers.
Armours:
Light Armour
Decreased max damage from 2.5 to 1.32
Medium Armour
Decreased max damage from 4.375 to 2.0
Heavy Armour
Decreased max damage from 6.25 to 2.64
Hand objects and pickups:
Frag Grenade
Damage reduced from 1.2 to 1.0
Damage radius increased from 10 to 20
Impulse increased from 750 to 1000
Pre-armed damage, radius and impulse reduced by 50%
Impulse Grenade
Impulse reduced from 2300 to 2000
Pre-armed damage, radius and impulse reduced by 50%
Mine
Damage increased from 1.2 to 1.3
Impulse increased from 1200 to 1500
Pre-armed damage, radius and impulse reduced by 50%
Health Kit
Increased regained health from 33% to 0.4 actual.
Health Patch
Increased regained health from 15% to 0.25 actual.
Weapons:
The pistol and RailGun have been redesigned to increase output the longer you charge the weapon. You can charge the weapon by holding the fire button.
Once the weapon is fully charged, as per maxEnergy, the weapon will go into overload mode. When this occurs, the weapon will start to hiss and smoke. This mode allows extra damage, up to damage * overloadDamageMulti. A full overload, however, does take a considerable amount if time to charge, in which time you will have no energy to use for any other energy using actions.
For each level of charge, including overload, the weapon skin will change to reflect the level of charge (or at least it will when I do the skins...).
The plasmagun will have a DoT added at some point, that will deal the whole damage over a period of time and cause plasma burns (or at least a nice green particle effect). The same will also be true of the repair rifle when the module balance pass comes around, but will be a HoT effect.
Disc Launcher
Decreased damage from 1.25 to 1.0
Decreased radius from 18.5 to 14
Increased muzzle velocity from 163 to 230
Increased velocity inheritance from 0.5 to 0.75
Reduced fire time from 0.8 to 0.775
Grenade Launcher
Reduced damage from 1.5 to 0.8
Increased radius from 20 to 30
Increased impulse from 1300 to 1500
Reduced velocity inheritance from 0.85 to 0.5
Increased fire time from 0.4 to 0.5
Decreased reload time from 0.75 to 0.5
Ion Cannon
Increased damage from 0.15 to 0.22
Increased muzzle velocity from 650 to 850
Increased velocity inheritance from 0.5 to 1.0
Increased fire time from 0.025 to 0.2
Decreased reload time from 0.05 to 0.0
Increased spinup time from 0.25 to 0.5
Added spindown time of 3.0
Mortar
Decreased damage from 3.0 to 2.0
Increased radius from 35 to 40
Increased impulse from 1999 to 2500
Increased velocity inheritance from 0.3 to 0.5
Increased fire time from 1.6 to 2.0
Decreased reload time from 0.8 to 0.5
Pistol
Damage scaled by amount of energy charged
Increased damage from 0.25 to 0.3
Added overload damage Multiplier of 2.0
Added max energy use of 64 (this may be reduced soon)
Increased fire time from 0.2 to 0.3
Reduced reload time from 0.15 to 0.0
PlasmaGun
Decreased damage from 1.0 to 0.9
Increased radius from 5 to 8
Decreased impulse from 1000 to 750
Decreased muzzle velocity from 115 to 110
Decreased velocity inheritance from 0.75 to 0.3
Increased fire time from 0.4 to 0.5
Decreased reload time from 1.0 to 0.1
RailGun
Changed from beam projectile to bullet projectile with muzzle velocity of 2500
Damage and muzzle velocity scaled by amount of energy charged
Decreased damage from 1.3 to 0.75 (0.9375 with headshot, 1.40625 with headshot+overload)
Added overload damage multiplier of 1.5
Added max energy use of 64 (this may be increased soon)
Increased fire time from 0.4 to 0.5
Decreased reload time from 1.5 to 0.1
More updates as they happen.
I released a "ski" tech demo using T3D and the same T1-esque skiing used in Legends on TW a couple of years ago, but no one was interested in remaking T1 with all the hype of T:A at the time.
Also, I recently released 0.4.2.4 :-*