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Thread ID: 19564	2002-05-18 09:31:00	saterday news.....better late than never	Guest (0)	Press F1

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49429	2002-05-18 09:31:00	ThreeWave CTF For Quake III <www.threewave.com been released as version 1.5. The new version features 8 more levels, 3 additional game modes and a heap of other changes. For a complete list you can view the Changelog <www.threewave.com At the moment the new version only comes as an upgrade from the previous version with a 180MB full version to be released soon. The upgrade is available for Windows as a 58.4MB download and Linux as a 55.2MB download from the following links: Windows Installer Barry'sWorld <ftp://ftp.barrysworld.com/pub/games/quake3/mods/threewave/official_patches/> PlanetQuake3 <www.planetquake3.net Ausgamers <files.ausgamers.com WDude <wdude.com ModPortal <www.modportal.net Fraggerz Central <fc.e-synaptix.net FileFront <www.filefront.com Q3 Center <www.q3center.com Linux Installer Barry'sWorld <ftp://ftp.barrysworld.com/pub/games/quake3/mods/threewave/official_patches/> PlanetQuake3 <www.planetquake3.net AusGamers <files.ausgamers.com WDude <wdude.com Q3id <ftp://q3id.com/Mods/ThreeWave/threewave_15_update.zip> ModPortal <www.modportal.net Fraggerz Central <fc.e-synaptix.net File Front <www.filefront.com Q3 Center <www.q3center.com Q3CTF.DE <q3ctf.net-soldiers.org Grand Theft Auto III for the PC is gold and should start showing up in stores from as soon as May 22. Gamespot is to do a live webcast from E3 <gamespot.com showing Doom III, Command & Conquer Generals, and Star Wars Bounty Hunter. The webcast will be on Wednesday May 22, from 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM US time which should equate out to be about 9:00 or 10:00 AM Thursday morning here. Viewing the one-time-only broadcast will require GameSpot registration , and there will be in-depth interviews with the developers demonstrating each game, as well as interactive Q&A sessions, for which they are also accepting reader-submitted questions. Tim Willits of id Software will be showing Doom III, Mark Skaggs of EA Pacific will be showing Command & Conquer: Generals, and Jon Knoles of LucasArts will be showing off Star Wars Bounty Hunter (for the PS2 and GC). Version 5.8 of Eternal Arena <www.eternalarena.com for Quake III Arena is available for download offering the following changes: added Cloak gametype added MultiFlag gamemode added cg_gore cvar (bigger explosions, x2 blood, x2 gibs) added extra menu for additional gametype callvotes fixed some gametype callvotes not fitting onto dynamic menu fixed g_starthealth not initialising fixed team orders menu not showing for CTF Instagib fixed internal server browser sorting Get it here <www.eternalarena.com Version 1.3 of Rocket Duel <www.rocketduel.com for Quake III Arena has also been released also with these changes: added MultiFlag gamemode added extra menu for additional gametype callvotes fixed some gametype callvotes not fitting onto dynamic menu fixed g_starthealth not initialising fixed team orders menu not showing for CTF Instagib fixed internal server browser sorting Download it here <www.rocketduel.com Voltion and THQ have launched the official website for Red Faction 2 <www.redfaction2.com Here's the deal on the new version: Earth. Twenty-second century. Five years after the rebellion on Mars. For 15 years, Chancellor Victor Sopot has oppressed the people of the Commonwealth. His corrupt rule and a relentless war of unification with the United Republic has left the Commonwealth bloodied and impoverished. As distant battles rage, sewage taints Sopot City's rivers, pollution smudges the sky, and wretched citizens huddle in crumbling ruins. The Public Information Building, built by the dictator as a tribute to himself, broadcasts lies about Sopot's bravery and the Commonwealth's military victories. Condemned to death by Chancellor Sopot, six super-soldiers unite to save their country, vowing to overthrow Sopot using the unique powers that nano-technology has given them. Join the squad as Alias, a demolitions expert. Fight side-by-side with Molov, Repta, Shrike, Tangier, and Quill--each possessing unique attributes and specialties. Battle through diverse environments using vehicles, an arsenal of specialized weapons, and explosives in a mission to overthrow the government. Defeat Sopot and restore the honor of the Commonwealth! Leadtek has released it's latest addition to the GeForce4 line, the WinFast A250 LE TD which is built on the Ti4200 chip. The working frequencies of this card are 250MHz for the core and 500MHz for the memory with 64MB of DDR memory which offers a bandwidth from up to 8GB/sec. Here's a bit more info on the new Celeron Processors announced yesterday. The new Celeron processor is based on the cut-down version of the P4 Willamette-128 core. The frequencies of the new Celeron processors are 1.7GHz, 1.6GHz and 1.5GHz core clock. To follow-up the release Anandtech have already published a review of the new processor, which can read here <www.anandtech.com Version 5.0, Build 1113 of Sygate Personal Firewall has been released with the following list of changes: Protocol Driver-Level Protection: Sygate Personal Firewall 5.0 provides protocol driver-level detection and blocking, which prevents malicious programs, such as Trojan Horse programs, from accessing the network using their own protocol driver Broadcast Traffic Filtering: Most broadcast traffic on the network is not intended for a specified system. By filtering out such traffic, Sygate Personal Firewall 5.0 improves the security and logging of network traffic. Enhanced IP Fragmentation Protection: Sygate Personal Firewall 5.0 better shelters a system from attacks involving IP packet fragments, which may halt or even crash a system. Auto Trojan Termination: Sygate Personal Firewall 5.0 will automatically terminate all known Trojan Horse programs before the Trojan attempts to communicate. Graphical Traffic & Attack Monitoring: Sygate Personal Firewall 5.0 incorporates real-time inbound & outbound traffic monitoring, real-time allowed & blocked traffic monitoring, network traffic history, and attack history in the graphical interface. This is only part of a list to big to put here, for the full deal you can read it here <soho.sygate.com and download over here <soho.sygate.com DivX <http://www.divx.com> 5.02 and The Playa version 2.0 alpha 4 have been released for download. Here's a look at the huge range of changes: New: Added several new options to the codec properties dialog that allow users to tweak settings for smoother playback and improved support for some video cards. Added a 'Smooth Playback' option. Turning this off will allow B-frame encoded content to playback with lower CPU usage. However, enabling this option will introduce a 1 frame delay in the decoder (because of buffering), which may cause the last frame of the video to not be displayed. Added a 'YUV Extended' mode option. When selected, the codec will attempt to use YV12 mode to decode the video. This is the fastest way to decode DivX content, but the drawback is that brightness/contrast/saturation controls cannot be used in this mode and are disabled. Added an 'Overlay Extended' mode. Selecting this will cause the filter to try to display video using the hardware overlay instead of the software overlay. The hardware overlay is much faster, but may not be supported on some video cards. When this mode is enabled, DirectShow-based player applications will be unable to open more than one window at a time. Added a 'Double Buffering' option. Enabling this will force the video card to allocate a second buffer for the video playback. This will increase the smoothness of the video playback, but may not be supported on low-end video cards with less than 8 MB of RAM. Added a 'Film Effect' option. This is a warming filter that when enabled will add film noise to the decoded picture. This may increase the perceived visual quality of the picture, especially if you are used to watching film. It's a personal preference, however, so use it if you want. Added a hidden 'Force Color Mode' control. You can manually set the registry key 'HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareDivXNetworksForce Color Mode' in the Windows Registry and assign it a number from 1 to 7. This will force the video card to use a particular color mode, depending upon the value. This is only necessary in rare circumstances to solve video card problems. Supported color modes: 1: YV12 2: YUY2 3: YUYV 4: RGB32 5: RGB24 6: RGB555 7: RGB565 Improved: The default psychovisual modeling settings are tweaked slightly. This should decrease blockiness in black regions and flat areas in the video content. Optimized the decoder so that it more consistently plays back video, particularly on lower-end CPUs. (A P-III 466 MHz machine can play real-time, 640x480 video with B-frames and GMC at 80% CPU load.) Fixed: Fixed a lot of memory leaks in the encoder. This should prevent the codec from slowing down gradually during a long encode. Version 5.0.1 encoded 7% slower than 5.0. DOH! <www.snpp.com Not sure how that happened. This has been fixed and version 5.0.2 is as fast as version 5.0. Fixed a problem where the trace_b.txt log file would be written out during encodes which would take up significant disk space. The log file is no longer written. Fixed a problem where the MP4 Creator would not work on files that included B-frames. The MP4 Creator should now work with all DivX 5.x files. Fixed a bug where the right macroblock would not be displayed with the custom brightness/contrast settings. This would cause a dark or light 'band' of video on the right side of the screen. Fixed a bug that would cause playback problems when the seek bar was moved back and forth quickly. This same bug some cause bad frames to be displayed at the beginning of some content when playing back video in Windows Media Player. This should no longer happen. Fixed a bug where the 'Decoder Configuration' application would crash when run on Windows 98. The application should now run properly. (Yes, we know we said we fixed this in 5.0.1, but we really fixed it this time.) What new with The Playa: New: Integrated the new DivX 5.0.2 decoder into the application. Installer now associates *.div file extensions with the DivX Player. DivX software bundle installer no longer requires the DivX Player to be installed. You can uncheck the DivX Player in the installer and install only the codec. Added a user option to disable screen savers during video playback. Improved: The DivX Player will now properly playback AVI files with the 'DIV2' and 'MP43' FOURCC codes. Even though previous versions were capable of playing these files, the FOURCC settings prevented them from doing so. This is now fixed. The application will now correctly report an error when it attempts to play AVI files that have corrupt AVI chuck headers. Before, the application would hang when it encountered these files. Fixed: Fixed the default skin so that the small '+' button in the lower right of the compact mode now returns the Player to normal mode as it should. Fixed a problem where 16-bit color icons were being installed. The installer now properly installs the 32-bit icons. Fixed the 'B-frame flicker' problem caused by the new B-frame architecture introduced in version 5.0.1 of the codec. This would manifest itself as 'skipping' or 'jerky' playback on certain types of content. Fixed an issue where the audio and video synchronization on some files would be gradually lost. This was a problem that affected the 2.0 Alpha 3 player but not the 2.0 Alpha 2 player. We've now fixed the bug introduced in Alpha 3 and the audio and video should stay in synch. Fixed a bug where the Player would crash with an error if run from a user account that did not have Administrator rights. This was caused by the fact that the Player could not access certain registry keys that were stored in the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE tree. These keys have now been moved to the HKEY_CURRENT_USER tree so they can be accessed from accounts without Administrator rights. You can download both here <www.divx.com VIA has released 4-in-1 driver package version 4.39, Beta 2 for download. This new beta has the following changes Not WHQL certified All files dated May 14th, 2002 Includes VIA AGP driver 5.0.0.3420 (4.20) Setup routine included Download and try them from here <www.warp2search.net Intel, not to be out done by VIA have released version 4.30.1002 of their Chipset Software Installation Utility. The new utility has the following changes: Alpha Canditate Release Setup routine included Grab it here <www.warp2search.net It has been noted that there some Highpoint Tech RAID Controller issue floating around the net concerning ABIT and and manufacturer motherboards. This problem is with the version 2.31 drivers and it creates a broken System Restore feature in Windows XP, as well as lowered harddisk performance. The solution is revolves around a file called hptpro.sys that is installed into your Windows directory. It seems this driver is responsible for the issues mentioned above cause simple renaming of the file to e.g. hptpro.old resolves them. When this fix is applied, the System Restore is working again and harddisk performance is back on par as with previous releases. Raven Software has updated it's dedicated server patch for Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast. The new version is 1.03a and it fixes a com_error on very large packet fragments problem. Get it here <www.3dgamers.com Abit has released new BIOS 7G files for KR7A/KR7A-RAID and KR7A-133/KR7A-133R series of motherboards. The new BIOS fixes/changes the following: Support AMD AthlonXP 2100+ CPU. Support new 0.13 micron process AthlonXP CPU, Throughbred. Fix CPU fan N/A problem for specific low speed CPU fan. HPT 37x BIOS version 2.0.1024.The RAID function is for KR7A-RAID only. This BIOS version is also for non RAID boards and HPT BIOS will be automatically disabled while RAID controller chip not detected. BIOS compile date: 4/29/2002. Download the KR7A file here <fae.abit.com.tw and the KR7A-133 file here. <fae.abit.com.tw RegionKiller, the DVD region management software version 2.5.0.1 is out with no direct word on the changes involved. If you fancy RegionKiller over DVDGenie then grab it here <elby.ch It seems the cumulative patch released yesterday for IE still leaves a whole open for hackers. This info has been picked up by an article over at PCWorld <www.pcworld.com Here's part of what is said about the so called patch: A new patch designed to address six serious security vulnerabilities in Microsoft Internet Explorer doesn't fix all the problems it purports to, according to security researchers. The patch, which was released late Wednesday, is designed to fix a cross-site scripting problem and other security and privacy flaws affecting Internet Explorer (IE) versions 5.01 through 6 and the Outlook e-mail client. However, the patch fixes only the cross-site scripting issue on one of the listed browsers, according to two security researchers who sent e-mail to the Bugtraq security e-mail list after the patch's release. Flawed Fix? According to Microsoft's explanation of the issue, the flaw can be exploited only when a user clicks on an HTML link on a Web page or in an e-mail message. That's not true, as code embedded in an HTML file can automatically execute, according to both Thor Larholm, a security researcher who has discovered a number of Microsoft vulnerabilities and maintains a list of unpatched IE holes online. Larholm's assertion is backed by the Israeli security group GreyMagic Software, which has also discovered a number of browser vulnerabilities. As a result, users can unwittingly launch malicious code simply by opening an infected e-mail message. The patch doesn't completely fix the problem because the flaw resides in the dialogArguments component of IE, which is not addressed by the patch, both researchers said. Furthermore, though Microsoft claims the flaw only exists in IE 6, both researchers maintain that the problem is also found in IE 5.01 and 5.5. Hardware reviews: ABIT KX7-333R KT333 Motherboard on Tweakers Australia <www.tweakers.com.au Gigabyte GV-AR64S Video Card on x-bit labs <www.xbitlabs.com Creative Inspire 5300 Speakers on Phlux <www.phlux.co.uk Crystal Pro Mouse Bungee on Tek Sector <www.teksector.net Gainward GeForce4 PowerPack Ultra-650TV Golden Sample Video Card on t-break <www.tbreak.com IBM Ultrastar 36Z15 Hard Drive on x-bit labs <www.xbitlabs.com Intel Celeron CPU round-up on Digit-Life <www.digit-life.com Intel Pentium 4 2.4B CPU on GamePC <www.gamepc.com MSI 845E Max2 Motherboard on t-break <www.tbreak.com Philips 180P1L 18.0' LCD Monitor on NextGen Electronics.com <www.nextgenelectronics.com Soyo KT333 Dragon Motherboard on NeoSeeker <www.neoseeker.com ABIT Ti4400 versus VisionTek Ti4400 Video Card on [H]ardOCP <www.hardocp.com AOpen AX4B Max i845D Motherboard on VR-Zone Hardware <www.vr-zone.com Auriga VF-2133AL Super Midi Tower Case on Digital Domination <www.digitaldomination.net Creative 3D Blaster GeForce4 Ti4400 Video Card on TechSpot <www.techspot.com ECS K7S6A Motherboard on The Tech Zone <www.thetechzone.com Gainward PowerPack Ultra / 700XP Video Card on SimHQ.com <www.simhq.com Gigabyte GA-7VTXH Motherboard on Viper's Lair <www.viperlair.com NVIDIA GeForce4 MX420 Video Card on x-bit labs <www.xbitlabs.com Samsung SW-224 CD-RW on I am Not a Geek <www.iamnotageek.com Soyo KT333 Dragon Ultra Motherboard on Explosive Hardware <www.explosivehardware.net	Guest (0)
49430	2002-05-19 07:38:00	Thanks for another comprehensive news report. You won't find me complaining about it being late. Keep up the excellent work mate. G P	Guest (0)
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