July 2000
Elite Force Screenshots & Update Posted by Demolisher on Sunday, July 16, 2000
More news from Blue's:It what seems to be Star Trek day, GA-Source has posted a whopping 21 new screenshots from Star Trek: Voyager: Elite Force, offering more looks ahead to the first-person shooter that is entering final crunch time at Raven. That also happens to be one of the topics in Jake Simpson's lenghty .plan update,who also mentions they will be demonstrating the full version of the game at this year's QuakeCon.
Elite Force Collector's Editions Details Posted by Demolisher on Sunday, July 16, 2000
Blue's brings us this great bit of news:AVault has dug up details on the unannounced collector's edition of Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force at online retailer GameStop. According to GameStop, the special edition version contains a Voyager lapel pin, a 96 page graphic novel, an exclusive Return to Castle Wolfenstein movie, and of course, unique box art. Activision, the game's publisher, declined to comment on the story.
Raven Working In Teams To Finish Voyager Posted by Demolisher on Sunday, July 16, 2000
Jake Simpson brings us this bit of great news in his .plan:For Voyager, there are pretty much two teams working on it, split into single player and multiplayer. I'm helping out with the multiplayer stuff right now, since there is much to do. Many new game objects and effects to be played with:)
For those that played the demo, I'd have to say that the demo is very much the 'tip of the iceberg' as far as Voyager: Elite Force content is concerned. Perhaps 10% - 15% of the game experience is represented here. From our perspective here demo's should wet your appetite, not quench it. So look for much more when the game hits the shelves. As it stands right now we are trying to get a first pass Release Candidate together real soon. I can't be more specific than that since anyone that's in this industry knows how things go, once you announce anything like that:)
Elite Force Designer Diary Posted by Demolisher on Sunday, July 16, 2000
BluesNews reports that there is a Voyager Elite Force Designer's Diary, by Elite Force's project leader Brian Pelletier, up at Computer Games Online. Check it out right here.
Tricorder in the Demo Posted by Demolisher on Saturday, July 15, 2000
Interface brings us this news:i found a tricorder in elite force demo
just type in
GIVE TRICORDER in the console
for more info check out the raven forum on Elite Force, i've opened a thread there
Shugashack's Voyager Poll Posted by Demolisher on Saturday, July 15, 2000
Be sure to check out the Shugashack's poll asking your opinion on the demo.
StarTrek.com Mentions the Demo Posted by Demolisher on Friday, July 14, 2000
StarTrek.com, the official site for everything Star Trek , mentions the demo on their product list. Also, the site is a great resource for all facts & info related to the show and all the Star Trek shows & movies. It also has a link to the FilePlanet mirror of the demo in case you haven't gotten it yet.
Two New Elite Force Articles Posted by wmull on Friday, July 14, 2000
There are two Elite Force articles over at Star Trek Central: an interview with Raven artist Kim Lathrop and a review of the Elite Force demo, both of which include lots of screenshots.
Elite Force Multiplayer Preview Posted by utopia on Thursday, July 13, 2000
DailyRadar has written up another great article concerning Elite Force. This time previewing the multiplayer aspect. Here's a piece:While it May. not make much sense to toss explosives around inside a spaceship, we liked the compound grenade launcher, which either spits glowing, bouncing pineapples or sticky proximity mines. Two weapons seem sorta similar in application, but not appearance: The tetryon disrupter fires multiple flechettes of energy, while the alien scavenger rifle shoots ruby-red droplets of energy either in chaingun fashion or in one big lump that arcs out and explodes. Best Looking Weapon Effect goes to the stasis weapon, which sends out multiple spheres of energy, while the photon burst is hands-down the winner in the Overkill department. Finally, there's the alien Arc Welder, which sprays streams of energy much like the original Quake lightning gun.
Interview With Kenn Hoekstra Posted by utopia on Thursday, July 13, 2000
I've conducted a short interview with Kenn Hoekstra about the status of Elite Force and various other things. Here's a clip:utopia: Is there anything that you would like to see in the game, but don't have the time/resources?
Kenn: Tour mode and Assimilation deathmatch are going to have to be cut. Early in the project we thought we could do it, but we don't have the time. Hopefully we can do it and release it at a later time. I'm afraid that feature lock affects every game on the market.
AEStats With Voyager Demo Support Posted by Demolisher on Thursday, July 13, 2000
EliteForce.net brings news that AEStats, a server logging program, now supports the Voyager demo.
Elite Force Interview On DailyRadar Posted by utopia on Wednesday, July 12, 2000
Following their good preview on Elite Force, Daily Radar has posted an interview with the man himself, Kenn Hoekstra. Here's a clip:DR: How much new stuff are you guys creating for the Star Trek universe? There are obviously new weapons and at least one new race -- what else has Paramount allowed you guys to come up with?
KH: We had a lot of freedom with Elite Force because the Voyager universe is so wide open to begin with. Being that far from known space has its advantages. We were able to push forth a unique storyline that featured new weapons, enemies, environments and characters without much trouble. The Hazard Team is entirely our creation, as is the main enemy force in the game. Voyager fans will be astounded by the amount of new stuff in the game that's never been seen on the show.
More Fan Art Posted by utopia on Wednesday, July 12, 2000
Kenn Hoekstra has updated his .plan with some info on some art added to the Official Elite Force Website.The Official Elite Force Website has been updated to include more fan art, Janeway and Seven, two new enemies and the last of the known weapons.
If you have any comments or suggestions about the holomatch in Elite Force, please post them here.
Gameslice Adds Voyager To Their Gist List Posted by Demolisher on Wednesday, July 12, 2000
Gameslice has a review/editorial on the demo. Get "the gist of" it here.
Ubi Soft To Acquire Activision Posted by utopia on Wednesday, July 12, 2000
It seems as though, according to the business publication MCV UK, the French publisher Ubi Soft is going to aquire Activision and Red Storm Entertainment. A rumor says senior executives had a meeting with Ubi Soft's management in Paris. We'll keep you posted on any news that comes up.
Raven Wants Your Opinion On Holomatch Posted by Demolisher on Wednesday, July 12, 2000
Be sure to check out this thread on Raven's messageboard.What do you think of the Holomatch features in the Elite Force demo?
Pat Lipo, the lead holo dude here at Raven, wants to hear what you think about:
1. Solidifying weapon balance
2. Survivability
3. Presentation
4, Other comments and Etc.
Post your messages in this thread so Pat can find them all in one place.
Thanks in advance! And remember to also post on our forums too!
Experimenting With The Player Models Posted by Demolisher on Wednesday, July 12, 2000
I found this interesting discussion on Raven's Elite Force Forums by Silent_ATTACK:I found out this morning that you can edit models using the console only, No hacking involved. These are some SP screenshots of the "things" that were created.
tuvok taking it to the streets as a hazard team member:
http://www.geocities.com/jedimathias/tuvokhazardrifle.jpg
Janeway getting in touch with her manly side.
http://www.geocities.com/jedimathias/janewayhazard.jpg
"YOU MAKE ME FEEL LIKE A WONDERFUL WOMAN"!
http://www.geocities.com/jedimathias/chakotayseven.jpg
chakotay "experimenting" :-) http://www.geocities.com/jedimathias/heelschakotay.jpg
P.S.S all this was done with only the console, and you can actually play SP with these
models, i switched around the diff parts of the body.
to do this bring down console and type:
headModel "seven/default"
torsoModel "janeway/default"
legsModel "tuvok/default" Note: you can only use the models that are used on the level you are on.
Elite Force Preview Posted by utopia on Wednesday, July 12, 2000
There's a great preview of Elite Force up at Daily Radar. It has some new screenshots, and some new info. Here's a piece:The Quake 3 engine is put to fabulous use by the designers at Raven, who have painstakingly recreated many familiar portions of Voyager within the game's 3D environment. The ship's bridge, engine room, holodeck, transporter room, corridors and medical bay have been rendered in stunning detail, as have the voices and likenesses of all the major Voyager characters. All the little details of the series have also been perfectly captured, from the LCARS displays and humming engines to the swoosh of the turbolift doors and bleep of the communicators. The alien ships that Raven have created specifically for the game also match the overall style of the series, blending in well with other alien designs that we've seen on the boob tube. Since they're not limited by special effects budgets, they have had a bit more room to be creative with the appearance of their aliens, so expect a little more than some guy with ridges on his head or wrinkled ears.
More Voyager Reviews Posted by Demolisher on Wednesday, July 12, 2000
3DActionPlanet has another review of the demo up.
Check it out: http://www.3dactionplanet.com/features/demos/eliteforce/
How You Like Us Now? Posted by wmull on Wednesday, July 12, 2000
I hope you've noticed our redesign, thanks to DraX! We're doing our best to continue growing and improving for you. More than ever, we hope we're your FIRST stop for Voyager: Elite Force news and information! :-)
More Info Added To Voyager FAQ Posted by Demolisher on Tuesday, July 11, 2000
Kenn Hoekstra gives a few updates in his .plan:Wednesday, July 11th, 2000 - The Elite Force Demo FAQ has been updated to include a few more answers to common questions like how to skip cinematics and how to use the third person camera.
Check out the cool new Elite Force Wallpaper over at
VoyagerEliteForce.com and the Five Cow Review of the demo over at Tucows.com.
Elite Force Wallpaper! Posted by wmull on Tuesday, July 11, 2000
| Download the wallpaper! | For your pleasure, here's an excellent work of art dedicated to Elite Force, suitable for desktop wallpaper (1024x768), created by Jim Young, using artwork from the game! |
Thanks Kenn Hoekstra.
MD3 Viewer Available Posted by Demolisher on Monday, July 10, 2000
James Monroe brings us this news in his .plan file:And speaking of MDR files...
Now that people have our Demo (see www.ravensoft.com) and are wanting to mess with our carcass models. I'm release a prelim version of our modified MD3Viewer.
it reads q3 style md3s and raven mdr skeletal
it can read both q3 animation.cfg and raven style
you can use the fkeys to preview LODs.
you can import skins to preview, (and it supports the talking animations via f4)
email me for it (98K), or check www.telefragged.com.
we can't support it, but i will release the source once we're done. Update: The program can be downloaded here
Elite Force Demo Cheats Posted by utopia on Monday, July 10, 2000
Freddie has sent us some interesting cheats for the Elite Force demo. So if you're having trouble, here's something for you: Press ~ to open the console and type:
- god (invulnerable)
- give weapons (all weapons)
- give ammo (all ammo)
- noclip (walk through walls)
These are the only ones I've found.
- PS: You can kill that guy that runs from the explosion. Just raise the force field after he is safely through. You can do whatever you like to him after that.
More On Demo Install Problems Posted by utopia on Monday, July 10, 2000
Kenn Hoekstra has updated his .plan in response to yesterday's work-around (see below) for the freezing demo installer. Here's the update:The workaround I posted yesterday for the "install stops at 82% error" seems to be working for most people. A few more dropped me this suggestion:
If you have set your virtual memory settings manually in Windows 98 and you're getting the error, go into the virtual memory and allow Windows to manage them for you. (This is the default/recommended setting) At least three people have reported this as a fix for the problem.
Some people are also reporting problems with Voodoo2 and Voodoo3 cards. 3DFX drivers don't seem to be overly fond of Elite Force right now so I recommend giving the Wicked3D drivers a shot if you're having video difficulties with your 3DFX chipsets. These drivers worked miracles with Soldier of Fortune. Part of the problem lies in the fact that there are over 70 drivers in use for the Voodoo3 card right now and God knows how many for the Voodoo2...
To The Brig, Ensign! Posted by wmull on Monday, July 10, 2000
| Thanks to creature-of-thewheel, who sent us the following:The second time around with the demo, I just walked around the bridge getting people to talk to me instead of saving the ship. Tuvok and Chakotay both say something along the lines of "I BELIEVE THE CAPTAIN GAVE YOU A DIRECT ORDER, ENSIGN." |
Then they send you to the brig. :-)
Today's Demo Reviews Posted by twisted on Monday, July 10, 2000
Looks like the gaming sites are becoming Trekkies. Check out our list of Elite Force demo reviews for today:GameSliceTrekGamerRiva 3D In German:GamingMag.deComputerBase.deGamesmania.de
Elite Force Demo Readme Correction Posted by twisted on Sunday, July 9, 2000
John Scott, Programmer at Raven Software, updated his .plan with the following:In the EF demo readme..
"A. Elite Force does not currently support the Matrox G200 due to an incompatibility with the Bink movie codec."
This is completely wrong on two different levels.
1. Bink does not talk to the video card at all.
2. It works fine on my machine now, and did when I tested it with the demo. (GlSetup 1.14 drivers)
The G200 is a relatively old card, so do not expect awesome performance out of it, especially in 32 bit. But it does work and the picture quality is good.
"Computer Games More Realistic" Article On Yahoo! Posted by utopia on Sunday, July 9, 2000
Yahoo! DailyNews has written up a good story talking about how computer games today are more realistic. Lucky for us, it talks about Elite Force. Here's a clip:LOS ANGELES (AP) - Making a computer game May. once have been the exclusive domain of techno-geeks. But today's games, especially ones based on television shows or films, take as much work as any Hollywood epic.
The upcoming 'Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force,' for instance, required a casting director, voice-over director and most of the cast of the Paramount TV series, from Captain Janeway to Officer Tuvok. The script alone ran more than 700 pages - five times the length of a typical feature film script.
As technology has made computer games more lifelike, players are demanding a more rewarding experience, including the participation of original cast members for games drawn from other media. It can take up to two years to produce a computer game at a cost of millions. Most of that money goes to the three-dimensional graphics and shoot-em-up special effects.
On The Demo Install Problem Posted by utopia on Sunday, July 9, 2000
Kenn Hoekstra has updated his .plan update concerning the install problem some people are having with the Elite Force demo freezing at 82%. Here's the work-around:The problem appears to be corrupted support files for InstallShield located in "c:program filescommoninstallshield".
These May. be corrupted due to a past installshield installation, or something to do with downloading this game.
To get around the problem, we renamed the folder "c:program filescommoninstallshield" by adding an x before installshield so we ended up with "c:program filescommonxinstallshield".
We then reran the setup program from the c: empEliteForceSetup. You can also just rerun the download as well. The game installed fine without incident.
Note: You May. actually get a message that the game is uninstalling. If that occurs, let the process complete and then run Setup again.
When InstallShield fails to see the InstallShield folder in the Common folder, it will make a new one. You May. delete the xInstallShield folder if you desire.
As a test, we renamed the new Installshield folder to yInstallShield and then renamed xInstallShield back to InstallShield. Running the uninstaller produced an error again. Switching the two folders again fixed the problem.
ALSO: Some people have reported that installing in Safe Mode got around the install problem. When we tried that on our set up, we still received the error. However, Safe Mode May. work for other installer problems.
I'm adding this to the FAQ as well as solutions for any other problems that arise. Most of the errors to this point seem to be related to outdated drivers.
Did you catch all that? =)
SpaceOrb Support For Elite Force Posted by utopia on Sunday, July 9, 2000
For all of you players who use SpaceOrbs, Birdman's Lair has made a patch that will let you use your SpaceOrb with the Elite Force demo.
More Elite Force Reviews Posted by wmull on Sunday, July 9, 2000
In addition to those Kenn Hoekstra listed in his .plan (see below), here's more Elite Force Demo reviews for your edification (with more to be added, etc. etc.):• Gamerush
Elite Force & Video Cards Posted by wmull on Saturday, July 8, 2000
Raven Programmer John 'Pagan' Scott updated his .plan with these notes on running the Elite Force demo with certain video cards:I have no problems running Elite Force on a G200, but QA does - try it and see =)
The problem video cards are the usual suspects -
Permedia2
Verite2200
PowerVR
ATI RagePro
Sis
- If you have one of these, the demo May. work if you are lucky.
Voice Acting In Elite Force Posted by wmull on Saturday, July 8, 2000
Raven's Project Administrator Kenn Hoekstra updated his .plan with some interesting notes about the voice acting in the Elite Force demo:1. Alex Munro is played by Reno Romano, the voice of Spider-Man
from the animated series.
2. Biessman is played by Thomas F. Wilson of Wing Commander and
Back to the Future fame.
3. Kate Mulgrew did all of her Janeway lines in one take.
Turn off the Safety Protocalls Posted by DraX on Saturday, July 8, 2000
Question: What would deathmatch be without blood and giblets flying all over the place?
Answer: A battle on the holodeck.
I've discovered that now you can turn off the safety protocols, so to speak, with two simple console variables. Simply type the "~" key to bring up the console during gameplay, and enters theses commands:/seta cg_gibs "1"
/seta com_blood "1" Now you can see all that pretty red goo fly out of the player's bodies when you frag them. I hope that Raven does, however, make a little fix on this so that each race has the correct color blood. I fragged the Tuvok model and his blood was red, when it should have been green. Hey, now is the time for last minute bug fixes anyway, before the game gets sent for distribution.
Elite Force Spoilers Posted by wmull on Saturday, July 8, 2000
Brian Pelletier, Project Leader on Elite Force, updated his .plan to point out some areas in the demo where your actions change the outcome of events:Some poeple have been wondering where the interactive events are that we have been talking about. there are a few interactive events in the demo, where depending on your actions there will be different outcome.
Spoiler - this is mainly for those who have played the game and didn't realize the depth of the events.
On Borg cube you come across two teammates being attacked by a Borg. 3 things can happen.
1)You can shoot and kill the borg saving your teammates.
2)your teammates can shoot and kill the borg themselves (only if the borg haven't alredy adapted to your weapons)
3) if you don't shoot the Borg attacking them and they Borg has addapted it will Kill your teammates. (shame on you:)
In the Voyager hallway on way to engineering, there is an explosion in the hallway ahead of you. A crewman in the hall is knocked down by the explosion and tells you to use the control panel to erect a containment field. 4 things can happen.
1) you use the panel and erect the forcefield but crewman is trapped inside it and the explosion coming down the hall kils him.
2)Wait for crew man to get to you and then use the panel erecting the force field, stopping the explosion, thus saving him. he then gives you useful information.
3) don't use the control panel in time and you are killed by explosion.
4) you don't use the panel and run down the hallway to the left escaping the path of the explosion but now a radioactive leak has spread through the deck and you slowly die of radiation poisoning.
after hall EPS conduit explosion, go down hall to Chell (the blue faced guy) and he tells you to use the panel to stop the overload. if you don't a small explosion will hurt the guy working behind Chell. If you use the control panel in time you stop the overload and Chell will give you informaiton of where to find the Jefferies tube (if you haven't already found it)
theres a few more too, you just have to think to yourself, what would have happened if I didn't do that. Well...then reload and try it differently.
Hopefully we've created a more rewarding gameplay experience.
Enjoy.
Elite Force Demo FAQ, Reviews Posted by wmull on Friday, July 7, 2000
Raven's Project Administrator Kenn Hoekstra updated his .plan with some helpful news concerning the just-released Elite Force Demo:I've started up a FAQ for the demo and you can view that here. I'll be updating the FAQ regularly as questions and issues arrive. When there are major FAQ updates, I'll let everyone know.
If you need demo technical support, visit http://eliteforce.ravensoft.com. Send us comments, feedback and suggestions at efdemo@ravensoft.com.
Here are some early demo reviews:
• Hard News EF Demo Review
• Sci-Fi Gaming EF Demo Review
• Firing Squad EF Demo Review
Hazard Team Wallpaper Posted by wmull on Friday, July 7, 2000
StarTrekVoyager.org has posted an Elite Force wallpaper showing off the Hazard Suit. Check it out.
Elite Force Demo Mirror Sites Posted by wmull on Friday, July 7, 2000
Still waiting to download the Elite Force Demo from a server that's not already saturated with others attempting to do the same? Now you can get it from the following mirrow sites (we'll add to this list with more links as they come along):• 3D Action Gamers.
• Sci-Fi Gaming
• Gameaholic
• Gamerush
Elite Force Demo Released! Posted by wmull on Thursday, July 6, 2000
Ladies and gentlement, start your downloads! Raven's Project Administrator Kenn Hoekstra gives the word:Raven Software and Activision are pleased to announce the arrival of the Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force demo! GameSpy has the 24 hour exclusive up at FilePlanet. Head to the download site. The demo weighs in at 85 MB and contains both single player and multiplayer.
For comments, suggestions and feedback, please e-mail efdemo@ravensoft.com. We won't have time to reply to each mail individually, but we really want to hear what you have to say!
For technical support, please visit the official Raven message boards.
GameSlice Interview Posted by twisted on Thursday, July 6, 2000
GameSlice's Geoff Keighley talks with Kenn Hoekstra in a 5 page interview. Topics mentioned in the interview include level transitions, dialogue in the game (400 page script!), and the advanced ICARUS scripting system. Here's a Q&A taken from the interview:Q: Finally, what's one lesson about game development the team has discovered over the course of the project?
A: It was very important for us to bring in outside game testers to play specific levels throughout the course of the project. This way we could determine if our puzzles were too hard or if the game play was confusing. By just watching them play we gained valuable information about what the average gamer will do and thus we can then accommodate for things we would never realize a gamer would do. Overall, it has helped create a better-balanced game and a more fun experience Want to know more? Read the rest here!
German Elite Force Preview Posted by wmull on Wednesday, July 5, 2000
I noticed over on good ol' Blue's that Games Zone has an Elite Force preview that includes 20 new screenshots. Check it out, but be warned you May. need to bring along a German --> English (or whatever your native tongue May. be, supposing it's not German ;) translator!
New Elite Force Screenshots Posted by utopia on Monday, July 3, 2000
GA Source has posted nine new screenshots of Voyager: Elite Force. All nine are in-game shots. You can check those out here.
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