Mod News: Here’s Garry
Mods have sometimes had a bit of cross-format compatibility issues. So when Steam launched for Mac earlier this year, I was curious to see what this would mean for mod teams. Frankly I don’t have the answer yet, as what lies below isn’t strictly a mod any longer - but it is lovely to see what was once such a pillar of the HL2 modding scene become available for a format other than Windows. Have a gander below the jump to see what I’m on about, and to take in the most intriguing mod news of the week.
NEWS
Are we still counting Garry’s Mod as a mod? It’s a proper, full, purchasable product now - but hey, it’s got “mod” in the title, so let’s run with it. The delightful news for Mac users is that Garry’s Mod, the famous sandbox for Half-Life 2, will be getting a Mac release tomorrow. Garry himself has been finished with the Mac version for a while, I believe, but has been waiting for the authoritative humans at Valve to okay it. Seems it’s all ready to go now on the 23rd September.
It turns out that Command & Conquer: ShockWave isn’t dead! This is the C&C Generals: Zero Hour mod which first emerged in beta a few years ago, but hasn’t seen any updates since 2008. But the full, final, non-beta version of ShockWave will be out before Christmas, it would seem.
Then there’s Shot.Source, a newly announced Half-Life 2 mod. It claims to be “The first REAL Source shooter,” perplexingly. But what that seems to mean is that it’s a sort of shooting range mod, with plenty of real-world ranges and accurate weapons included. Online leaderboards and the like are planned, as well. I’ll be keeping my eye on it.
And this looks gorgeous: a Doom 3 mod called Ruiner, which is gearing up for an October beta release. The media on that website suggest’s id’s last-gen tech still has some life in it yet. It’s a third-person single-player mod with a lovely vibe to it. I’ll be digging out my old copy of id’s horror classic, then.
RELEASES
Fallout Who! I cannot believe I missed Fallout Who last week. It’s a Fallout 3 Doctor Who mod. Featuring two quests (downloaded separately), a Doctor player model and an absolutely gorgeously rendered Tardis, this is a really delightful piece of work.
UPDATES
The Open Outcast lot are busy bees at the moment. They’ve been updating their ModDB page an extraordinary amount in the run-up to the release of Oasis 1.1, its new tech demo. You can find all the countdown posting here, along with the demo itself, which is now available. It’s absolutely astoundingly beautiful - not just because of the CryEngine, although that’s certainly a powerful base, but because of the amount of detailed work that’s been placed over the top of those foundations.
Just as Civilization V hits, the folks at Fairy Tale have updated their expansive Civ IV mod. Fairy Tale takes Civilization’s mechanics and drops them into a traditional fantasy world, proudly boasting about its lack of originality. “This mod does not claim to be original or impressive,” says the promo material, oddly. But it’s a mod that’s gone down well so far, and version 10 - ten! - is here. Featuring new maps, units, buildings and bug-fixes, you can download it from ModDB (be sure to uninstall version 9 first).
Then there’s Eve of Destruction, a Battlefield Vietnam mod that’s been really rather quiet for a full five years. But now, version 0.16 has been released, adding single-player and co-op for all existing maps, as well as dropping in two new ones, converted from Eve of Destruction for Battlefield 1942. Plenty of bug-fixes too, apparently. And then a day later, 0.17 has been released, which seems to be just a simple patch for the 0.16.
And finally there’s Phoenix, a Freelancer Mod, which has hit version 1.06 this week. The new release features player cloaking, new ships, flyable gunboats, new effects, and various fixes. Grab the update here.
AND THE REST
Cracked Glass is the team behind upcoming Half-Life 2 mod Tension, an interesting-looking grappling-hook swingy-swingy game. Matthew Lee’s interviewed them over at UserCreated, going over a whole load of interesting stuff. Well worth a read if you’ve been following their work.