Latest Updates
http://www.bayserve.net/~mike/sw/update.html
------------------------------


Check out the Update from the Official Shadow Warrior Site
http://www.3drealms.com/catalog/sw/swupd.html





6/1/97 - Version 1.1 is released.

(Directly from the official SW site) Here are some issues that were fixed in v1.1 over v1.0:

General Items
Save / Load will work now. There was a problem playing in DOS mode where loading when asked to load last saved game would lock.
Crashing when going under water. This was related to Ensoniq SoundScape cards not handling reverb right.
Slowdown at start of level 3 tracked to rabbits in room over room areas. Female rabbit removed (so they cannot breed and slow game down. But rabbits in general do terrible things to frame rates in ROR situations. Avoid it when you make your own maps)
Missing texture on back of door near Leep's Throne
Get a splash sound when landing on transparent water now.
The Flip Stereo Option didn't seem to work unless you toggled it twice. It works now.
Changed 50 play message. There never was a limit, but the message is more clear now.
Fixed the Auto Aim on/off. It actually works now.
Game timer works correctly with save/load now. Can no longer play for an hour, save, exit re-load finish level and get time of 2 seconds.
Ninja's will suicide much more often. Can get them to do it from concussion explosions from rockets near walls etc.
Auto aiming on should no longer get the demos our of sync
Mouse was made more sensitive
No loading sounds on levels
14400 port speed removed from Setup, as was invalid for some modems. Default is now 19200.
Slow motion shurikens fixed
Removed the "No Portable Medkit" and other "no item" messages. Annoyed us too.
Fixed various 2D map crashes
Better documentation for command line parameters via "SW ?".
Removed the -de command line parameter
monst command line param works now
CD Items
Made CD LOOP work (it was only playing songs once before)
Tied CD volume into music volume slider in game
CD should stop playing when exiting the game now.
Net / Modem Items
Bug in DOS mode when shooting players with UZI's getting out of sync.
If one player was in Ordering Info when a game started, they could not hit ESC to bring back up the menu
Player quit messages should work better now (Sometimes before you would not get a message when a player quit)
Shift F5 will send the text macro message now, not play the F5 RTS
KPD 5 will NOT turn off mouse aim for all players now
Game timer bug where if playing level 4 and timer ran out you got a "map not found" error fixed.
Scrolling through inventory items will not blacken out timer now
Locked out SWTRIX and WINPACHINKO codes as they caused out of sync
RTS files are now locked out in Kid Mode.
Video Cards
An 800x600 Matrox card bug was fixed. We're sure a couple more exist (best idea is not to play at 800x600 with this card).
If your problem isn't listed here, then the answer is probably already in your hands. Please read the swhelp.exe file that is in your Shadow Warrior game directory for more info on known issues with Shadow Warrior.

05/13/97 -


The shareware is finally here! Download it now.

05/12/97 -

Shadow Warrior Shareware Release Imminent!
We expect that the shareware episode of Shadow Warrior will be released within
the next 24 hours. Keep your eyes peeled here for the latest developments!
PREVIOUS UPDATE:

The game testing is going well.  We typically get a new
version, and test it for 5-6 hours, then fix the few minor
things that have popped up and start over.  We really 
aren't even touching the code now, unless it's a crash
bug or a flat our error.  The last real logic error we 
found was in Friendly Fire mode.  You weren't hurting
your buddies, but you could also walk up to a monster,
fire a rocket at point blank and you would take no
damage.  Fixed.  The current plan is to keep testing
over and over and over, getting new builds of the game
on longer and longer intervals. If all goes well
tonight, we can make a final build with demos, test it
all day Sunday and part of Monday and "maybe" release
late Monday night, or Tuesday morning.

05/04/97 -
Another update from George Broussard, president of 3D Realms:

Working every Saturday/Sunday for the last 3 months is starting 
to suck. (Compounded by the fact that it's a beautiful day
outside).

We're set back a little today as we're getting lotsa new hardware
for our network, like a Raid drive system.   But Kevin (or LAN
admin) swears we will be up and running prior to X-Files 
tonight.  In the meantime, we're testing the game for bugs off
our local drives.

The last 2 days saw the MOTHER of all bugs.  We had a weird sync
bug where if 2 players were in transparent water, and a third 
player triggered a certain explosion, we'd get OOS.  Frank spent
the better part of 2 days finding it, but he did so.  Then
collapsed, swearing to never work on another synchronous game
again ;)  The game is pretty stable amd the coders are just
sitting around bored, until we feed them bugs from our
testing of the game.
04/22/97 -
The game is just about finished. The developers are basically just fixing minor bug and tweaking the game to perfection. Here's what they say:

We intend to try and freeze the code this Friday or Saturday 
(which means no more additions of any kind, and we only focus 
on bugs). After the freeze, the game could be out in as little 
as 4 days or so, if the testing goes well. But also bear in 
mind that the testing/debugging phase will take as long as it 
takes and the game will be out "when it is bug free" :)

In all honesty we expect a potential shareware release in the 
first few days of May, or maybe earlier if the planets align 
correctly. Thanks for your patience. You will be rewarded with 
an amazing game very soon. 
02/26/97 -

There will be tornadoes and whirlpools to suck you deep into trouble.
There is no flying in Shadow Warrior, so there will be no jetpack.
The developers are just about ready to send the first beta to the testers. They hope to have the beta ready to go by the weekend (March 1st).
There's been talk of a "Sumo boss" and a new character called "The Chick Warrior."
Supposedly "2, maybe 3 of the [shareware] levels will be cool for DeathMatch."
There will be a Capture of Flag option built into multiplayer Shadow Warrior. You will "actually see a guy carrying a flag and there are built in score counters all over the map to see what the score is."
Directly from the official Shadow Warrior site, an interview with Lo Wang, our hero:

We got a chance to have a brief interview with Lo Wang, who's gonna be kickin' ass online soon, and here's some of what he had to say.

Q: Lo Wang, tell us about some of your favorite weapons and why you like to use them?

Lo Wang on "The Shuriken" [ 248K .WAV file | 179K .AU file ]
Lo Wang on "The Sword" [ 132K .WAV file | 96K .AU file ]
Lo Wang on "The Caltrops" [ 131K .WAV file | 95K .AU file ]
Q: What do you think of American drivers, after your short visit in the United States?

A: Lo Wang Answer #1: [ 23k .wav file | 16K .AU file ]

Q: Any advice for other 3D game heros that might try to compete with you?

A: Lo Wang Answer #2: [ 22k .wav file | 16K .AU file ]

Q: As you prepare for a fierce battle, what runs through your mind?

A: Lo Wang Answer #3: [ 21k .wav file | 16K .AU file ]

Lo Wang, thank you for this short interview. We know you've got a lot of work to do to get ready for Shadow Warrior. Anything else you'd like to say to the fans here?

A: Lo Wang Answer #4: [ 22k .wav file | 16K .AU file ]

Now that Lo Wang has left the building, feel free to check out the following information on Shadow Warrior...

02/17/97 -


George Broussard stated that the Shareware version will contain 4 levels, and about 5-6 weapons (subject to change).
Also, he mentioned that Shadow Warrior will not be mission based, but just separate menu of levels for Shareware and Registered versions. with bosses every third of the way though.
02/01/97 -

One way to die in Shadow Warrior is to have your head cut off. After you die, and your head is rolling around on the ground, you can press the space bar to vomit on the enemy opponents.
There's also a Guardian head which you can pick up, stick your hand into, and control in three different ways. Aim the mouth, and make it shoot deadly projectiles at your opponents.
01/28/97 -
Here's the completed list of inventory items that are expected to be in the game:

Toolkit to fix broken vehicles
MedKit (same as Duke)
Night Vision goggles (similar to Duke)
Gas Bomb - "gas" an area for 30 seconds or so. Great for respawn points in net play
Flash Bomb - blind nearby opponents for a time
Smoke bomb - causes you to dissapear for a time
Caltrops - drop these evil spikey things on the ground and watch the fun
Also, the rocket launcher is expected to have three firing modes:
Normal (like the RPG)
Heat Seeker
Nuke - "You get a quick count down, warning, then firing......then your ass better not be anywhere near ground zero when this thing goes off. Fair warning...this will be cool in net play. Utter destruction balanced by a delayed/complex firing sequence."
12/16/96 -

The registered version of Shadow Warrior will use Redbook audio. This will give you real music during the game instead of that MIDI stuff.
Chuck Jones has added frames to the hero character "so that if someone sneaks up on you and slices you with the sword, your body actually separates into two halves and plops down on the floor! This is going to make for some very satisfying deathmatch kills!"
The game items are now voxel sprites. This means that when you walk around the item, it doesn't always face you.
There has been some talk of the new, scary, underwater creature in the works. It has lots of big teeth, and has the ability to "shock you like an electric eel" from a large distance. Also, these creatures are known to "travel in schools and gang up on you."
12/09/96 -

There was mention of a "Japanese bath house level in a down town Tokyo night life type setting, complete with a propane truck you can blow up and a beat up taxi you can drive around the block squishing anything that moves."
Another map in the works is a realistic forest level, complete with the ability to hunt deer and shoot squirrels out of the trees!
There's a new "construction" map: "In this level, you can give those evil monsters some cement boots to wear, that is, if you haven't already ground most of them into dust with the controllable giant drill bit, or flattened them like a pancake with the bulldozer!"
Also, there's a "refinery" map with "lots of chemical vats to fall into and a control center, complete with a Cray computer complex." Also, the nighttime scenery was described as "eye-popping."
