Blogs - RealApprentice

On April 30th 2004, I released the first public béta "Asteroid Base", one of the many custom maps released for Elite Force which soon became regarded as a landmark for the first game. Additionally, the map paved the way for a modification and community to rise which is known as RPG-X due to its non-starship design and setting which plagued Elite Force heavily. Without Asteroid Base, the RPG-X modification may have looked significally different from what it is today, not to mention the look of various communities formed around it.

Build from scratch and incorporating various improvements from other releases such as Release THREE for Jedi Academy & Jedi Outcast and unreleased versions for other games such as Elite Force II, the 20th Anniversary Edition celebrates this landmark and returns the map to the first Elite Force game.

The map will be released in two versions, one with the original red rock (Béta ONE and TWO) and one with the brown rock (Béta THREE, Release ONE and TWO) and both versions are tailored for usage with the default stvoyhm.exe and the various ioEF versions available.

Release date has been set on April 30th, 2024 at 0:00 CET.

Back in 2016 after the release of the version for Jedi Academy, I always wondered how "The Animal" would have looked liked in Elite Force with the improvements and updated designs which were incorporated into Outline THREE and with the abandoned and now-cancelled version for Elite Force II, I recently decided to pick-up Outline THREE, brushed the dust off and completely re-worked the map towards a version which screenshots are listed here above. While reworking the map, I decided also to browse through my archives looking for content that I had to cut in order to make Release ONE back then possible although certain areas were already restored for Outline THREE.

Unfortunately, I hit several limits here and in such a way that even a direct 1-on-1 port from Jedi Academy to Elite Force is not even possible. The default stvoyhm.exe craps out with the shader limit hit, the IO-EF variants can't do anything above 950 entities (around and in total, anything above will result in a HOM Effect *somewhere* in your map) and the special rpgxEF branches are 1) limited by how many tris lines the compiler in GTK Radiant can swallow in the BSP stage and 2) won't even support regular Holomatch (ERROR: G_Spawn: no free entities, a vague error regarding incompatible versions).

It's obvious that Elite Force was Raven Software's first stint with the idtech3 engine and although the game was a very good game, especially back then at the turn of the century but as a developer, I say that there is room for improvement and that improvement came with Jedi Academy. In that respect, I find it a missed opportunity that an OpenEF project does not exist similar and in line with OpenJK for both Jedi Academy and Jedi Outcast and with support for the regular Holomatch and other EF-based mods.

That being said, I end this with the notion that if Raven Software was allowed to make ONE remaster, then it should be Elite Force !!

After years of work, Release ONE of the Doom map "Variations 1-21" is as of today available for download. Head over to the download page or just click this link.

As a reminder, a limit removing port is required. Enjoy !!

After years of development (seriously), Release ONE of Variations 1-21 will be released on Saturday April 30th, 2022 at 0:00 CET. This multiplayer map for the original Doom will require a limit removing port and shall not work with the original DOS version.

The map has been developed using ZDoom and GZDoom and is fully playable on those versions. The workings of this map with other ZDoom derivatives and other non-ZDoom ports are unknown at this time and information will be updated when available.

New screenshots of the untitled Doom multiplayer map, made in both GZDoom (left) and Zandronum (right).

New screenshots of the map "Battlestar Aurelia", Outline TWO with a new area to be shown: the Messhall

After years of trial and error, I have managed to create a messhall that does justice to the size of the Aurelia itself. Small enough to feel big and big enough without the need of shouting from one end to the other and/or walk for miles and miles and miles just to get from one stop to another.

This is by far one of the many mistakes I have seen a lot of RPG-X mappers make when I was still active within the RPX-X community. Big impractical rooms because the premise was supposed to be to have a very big ship. Some examples would the USS Nimitz Bridge area, the Normandy (Mess hall) and there was the Voyager-A map, which had multiple design flaws (rooms too big, rooms too small, endless corridors).

Mapping is difficult and it is very easy to make the simplest mistake. Too bad that a lot of promising mappers decided to give up and abandoned their RPG-X projects, which led to the demise of available content for RPG-X, especially when you compare it to other games, such as the original Doom, Jedi Academy/Outcast and the original Command & Conquer to name a few ...

Today I publish the first official screenshots of "Asteroid Base" for Doom 3.

Originally and still meant as a proof of concept that was hinted back in October 2016, the project remained somewhat in very slow development. Some months ago, it regained traction once more due to ceased development of other projects, namely the projects that I had intended for Elite Force and Elite Force II. During that time, I also managed to find an editor robust and powerful to do what I want and how I want it.

This all combined has lead to the publication of the first eight official screenshots and although a lot of work lies ahead, I am confident that I can finish the map and bring "Asteroid Base" to the idtech4 engine.

Ik vind 'm leuk . . . ;)

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Today I'm announcing a new project for Jedi Academy:

Originally intended for Elite Force's RPG-X modification and as a joined venture between another mapper and myself but due to questionable decisions and actions originating from The Last Outpost, I have decided to port my work to Jedi Academy. See earlier entries for more details.

After TLO and myself went our separate ways, their in-house mapper completed their version and is available in their 4GB large RPG-XCE version and I do urge everyone to check out that version. Seriously, it is definitely not your computer and it's a shame it has to be this way but this is not my choice . . .

In the meantime, stay tuned for updates and screenshots for the Jedi Academy version.