Gnome's Lair: Mods

Showing posts with label Mods. Show all posts

Mar 18, 2013

Creating the best Monkey Island games possible

Ask anyone with a passing interest in gaming and at least a modicum of taste and they will immediately let you know that both The Secret of Monkey Island and Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge are perfect games. Interestingly though, their recent deluxe versions are pretty good too and, despite a few interface hick-ups and some not always spot-on visuals, they also sport some truly excellent voice-overs.

Which leads us to the question: what are the best possible versions of the first two Monkey Island games? How should you enjoy Ron Gilbert's masterpieces?

Simple! By playing the original games with the original point-and-click interface in the talkie versions that never existed; the talkie versions using the voice-overs of the deluxe editions. All you'll be needing are the original games, their recent deluxe versions, ScummVM and the brand new, freeware, legal and utterly fantastic Monkey Island Ultimate Talkie Edition Builders.

You are most welcome! No, really, 't was a pleasure!

Aug 8, 2011

Middle Earth: The Rise of the Oblivion Mod

I wouldn't want to infringe on any perceived copyrights and use such no-no words as elder, scrolls, earth and lollipop and that's why I'll just let you know that TES Oblivion has (almost) gotten itself the best, free, total conversion mod any game could ever hope for: the Middle Earth Roleplaying Project; MERP for short, which does sound quite a bit like the dear MERP pen-and-paper RPG that brought the deranged critical hits and elaborate systems of Rolemaster to Tolkien's world. Well, this newer kind of MERP is about to bring a stunning, massive and most authentic version of the good professor's world to Oblivion.

When I'm saying about to I do of course mean that MERP is still in an apparently early BETA state, which you can still download and thoroughly enjoy, preferably from the Middle Earth Roleplaying Project page over at modDB. Unfinished though the mod might be, it will still blow your mind away with its amazing depictions of Middle Earth, promise of massive battles, inclusion of new races, weapons and monsters, huge map and fierce dedication to the preservation of Tolkien's lore. Actually, anyone kind enough to lend the dev team a helping hand would be immediately recognized as a true Gnome's Lair hero.

And to prove that this will be the equivalent of the excellent Lords of the Ring Online in single-player, well, here's the trailer:

Related @ Gnome's Lair:

Jul 29, 2011

VVVVVV: The Nasty Drop

As already mentioned, the excellent platformer that is VVVVVV by Terry Cavanagh now sports a lovely level editor. As mentioned elsewhere, I thought it would be interesting to actually come up with something using said level editor, as it initially seemed incredibly easy and intuitive to use; shockingly, it actually was. Having grasped the absolute basics in mere minutes (with a little help from this tutorial), I came up with a most ambitious idea. Then, I decided to start off with something much simpler instead and after two days of tweaking The Nasty Drop was ready.

It's a humble and short level focusing on the delicate art of dropping oneself into a rather dangerous pit and, though by no means impressive, I do believe it should be a moderately enjoyable and quite interesting thing to try out, as I've attempted to go for a more, uhm, twitch-arcade feeling really. Beating it shouldn't take over 10 minutes. You can download the level from this place and -should you feel so inclined- leave your feedback either here or at the distractionware forums.

To actually play The Nasty Drop, you'll have to copy the "drop.vvvvvv" file to your VVVVVV Documents folder; the one in your standard Documents folder, that is. Oh, and running it with the help of the shiny VVVVVV v.2.0. should be quite helpful too.

Hopefully, the more ambitious idea will soon follow, after of course a few problems of a technical and artistic nature have been successfully overcome.

[UPDATE]: Why don't you grab The Nasty Drop v.1.1.? It's right here.

Related @ Gnome's Lair:

Jul 8, 2010

Gentlemen, upgrade your Planescape Torment

Having only played a bit of Planescape Torment ages ago and having finally grabbed the DVD re-release of the game, I've decided to properly play through the whole thing and let myself enjoy the delights of this apparently delightful game. Cunningly, I also decided to be all modern and contemporary about it and mod, patch and update the thing to perfection. Or as close to perfection as possible.

At the very least I did manage to improve the game's visuals from this:

... to this (click the images to see how impressive the differences are):

But, first thing first. You'll have to start by downloading and installing the final official patch found here. Then download and install the Widescreen Mod you can find here, which will allow Planescape to run in any resolution you care to mention, even if said resolution is not widescreen. The next step is to eradicate the graphical glitches and interface problems that arise from said high-res graphics via this mod and you'll be ready to enjoy Planescape Torment in all its glory.

Further enhancements can come in the form of this brilliant fix-pack or the extra quests of the Unfinished Business mod and the Candlestick Quest mod. Oh, yes, and you can always try the latest Tweak Pack too.

Related @ Gnome's Lair:

Apr 28, 2010

Dune Wars: The Dune mod for Civ IV

For some odd reason I haven't played a game of Civilization IV for more than a few years. Even more shockingly Civ IV has never been installed on my latest PC, despite being one of the first games ever reviewed for Gnome's Lair. Happily and thanks to this most interesting Rock Paper Shotgun post, things are about to radically change; apparently a new version of an excellent free mod for the game has been made available and it's all about Frank Herbert's political, epic, eco sci-fi masterpiece that was Dune.

The mod's name is none other than the rather apt Dune Wars and can be download in its spankin' new 1.8 version via modDB. It is of course free and apparently a total conversion of the original Civ IV, featuring a ton of new rules, buildings, graphics, units, models, sounds, factions, wonders, civ abilities and even AI, that should make this the best turn based strategy game in the Dune universe ever. The production values seem fantastic too, though nothing sounds as exciting as a worm eating up a unit or having the Guild transport units from other planets.

Here are the piccies that will whet your appetite (click for larger versions):

Related @ Gnome's Lair:

Jul 1, 2008

UT3: DM-Bagger

unreal tournament 3 deathmatch mod bagger dm-bagger

Play an Unreal Tournament III deathmatch on a huge excavator on Venus. On your PC or even PS3. By following this link and grabbing the appropriate mod. From the fertile mind that brought us the Fawlty Towers CS mod. Enjoy. Oh, yes, not in a talkative mood really.

May 18, 2008

X-Wing brings about The New Jedi Order

While browsing through the International House of Mojo and reminiscing about the heroic times I had piloting TIE Fighters and X-Wings against each other, I shockingly ran into this, this being the particularly impressive New Jedi Order mod for X-Wing Alliance (a game I recently blogged about elsewhere). Then I was happy. For quite a while, really, until I noticed that despite the 293 MBs of free Star Wars goodness I still couldn't find a joystick. Oh well...

As you dear readers are hopefully better equipped, allow me to explain why you just have to download The New Jedi Order: it's brilliant, shiny, comes complete with cutscenes, a full voice cast, new campaigns and missions, sports new music, is absolutely freeware and even takes place after the movies. Mind you, besides the actual X-Wing Alliance game you'll also be needing its 2.02 patch, witch you can easily download from this place. Now, go play.

Related @ Gnome's Lair: Quake in 32-bits of colour, System Shock 2 2k7, The Kipper and the Corpse, Savage 2

Apr 5, 2008

The Orb of Dilaaria

It's nice to see that Wolfenstein 3D, the granddaddy of the modern FPS and the game that singlehandedly created the modding scene (as I enjoy mentioning), still has what it takes to attract some of the best modders around. Take The Orb of Dilaaria for example. It's an utterly impressive mod based on a vastly updated and heavily tweaked Wolf3D/Spear of Destiny engine, that spans 6 acts and over 60 maps, sports 20 different character types, offers an amazingly non-linear storyline and even takes place in a proper dark-fantasy setting.

On the techier side of things The Orb features parallax scrolling skies (!), ceilings, multi-textured and at times animated floors, rain effects, shading, fog and -yes- teleporters. What's more, as this is a stand-alone total conversion of Wolfenstein, you won't need the original game(s) to run it either. DOSbox or VDMsound might come in handy though.

To find out more on The Orb of Dilaaria and of course download your free copy, do try clicking yourselves over here and/or here.

Feb 6, 2008

Add some freeware dark fantasy to your Civ IV

Civilization II: Fantastic Worlds (these days available only in the Civilization Chronicles collection) has always been my favorite flavor of Civ, as it seamlessly managed to combine Sid Meier's amazing empire building game mechanics with a dragon infested, properly fantasy world. Apparently though, time does indeed go by and Civ II is considered by many passé. 2D graphics they sneer. Shallow diplomacy, slow gameplay and no resources they add.

Well, dear tech snobs, I must admit this time you do have a point. Civilization IV is indeed a vast improvement over Civ II and probably the best Civilization game to date. Happily it can also make sure us dark fantasy fetishists can get our Tolkien-esque gaming via the excellent, mighty impressive and kindly freeware Fall From Heaven II mod. You can download all 312MB of said total conversion mod from this place, install it and enjoy its heroes, weird new civilizations, dark religions, RPG-style gameplay additions and shiny new graphics. Oh, and e prepared to research and cast tons of spells...

Nov 18, 2007

Introspect Unreal Tournament 2004

Well, it seems I'm back from Amsterdam and apparently from Brussels too. Can't say I'm particularly happy about not having someone else prepare breakfast, but good things can't last forever and blogging can be quite an antidote to post-brilliant-times trauma. Besides, as most of northern Europe seems to be repairing itself, I didn't manage to see the Russian avant garde paintings I craved and oddly remembered I hadn't blogged about a mod for ages. Go figure.

So, well, uhm, here's Introspect. It's a madly innovative, beautiful, smart, typically freeware and very anti-FPS FPS mod for Unreal Tournament 2004. Cunningly subtitled A Journey Through Insanity Introspect turns UT into a non-violent first person painting/exploring game that puts players into the mind of a mad artist who must fight through his personal demons to regain his sanity. Almost surreal, definitely brilliant and a chance to be artsy via a game. Download it, have a foot massage and be happy.

Related @ Gnome's Lair: Quake in 32-bit colour, Half Life 2's Flipside, On nude patches, Hollow Moon

Sep 14, 2007

Reliving the FPS glory of Quake in 32-bit color

Quake (official demo download), id's 1996 sequel to Doom, was more than just another FPS best seller on the PC. It was the game that cemented the dominance of 3D graphics, pioneered the keyboard & mouse interface, single-handedly exploded the 3D graphic-cards market, introduced mankind to online fragging and made sure zombies would be our collective FPS enemies for many years to come. What's more, its historically important engine has gone open source since 1999, which eventually led to the creation of the Dark Places Quake mod software thingy.

Why should you care? Simple really, as a) you are all caring by nature and b) Dark Places can give the aging Quake quite a facelift. The mod, you see, provides Quake with a vastly improved engine sporting (among other impressive features) advanced lightning, shader effects, 32bit color alpha blended explosions, improved physics and some really nice particle tricks. To grab said mod click here. Oh, and don't worry, it's freeware exactly as the gods intended.

Now, to further enhance your retro-ish FPS experience, you could also give the Quake Retexturing Project and Quake Remodelling Project a try. They too are free and quite impressive.

Sep 7, 2007

Bioshock Widescreen Hack & Tweak Guide

Repeat after me: Bioshock is brilliant. Good. Again! Once more, just to make sure. Nice. Now say: System Shock 2 is way better and you'll be allowed to audiovisually enjoy this amazing Zero Punctuation Bioshock review by Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw the Wise and -apparently- Very Funny.

Disclaimer: In the unlikely event you were expecting to find something else here, probably judging from the post's cunningly typed title, well, here's where you can grab your Bioshock (proper) widescreen hack and here's this lovely tweaking guide you've always wanted to have a look at.

[Update]: Nearly forgot. Find Bioshock walkthroughs here.

Aug 21, 2007

Half Life 2's Flipside

Flipside, a properly freeware total conversion mod for Half Life 2, that, as you should have already guessed, is refreshingly not another FPS variant, has been created by 12 university and art school students from Denmark, and it absolutely shows. The mod uses the Source engine to create a stunningly surreal 2D/3D setting for a platform game and then puts the player in the stylized shoes of a mental patient trying to escape the asylum, or at least the version of the asylum he actually sees.

Interestingly, Flipside constantly alters its colors and/or artwork style to portray the main character's mood changes from an almost delirious happiness to a less flamboyant despair. Then again, to actually understand what I'm talking about you should either have a look at some gameplay videos, or -better yet- download the mod itself.

Jul 22, 2007

Half Life 2 Total Conversion mods

Apparently Half Life 2 is still considered the Best PC FPS ever, even though you've probably played it to death, mastered its many intricacies and failed to be impressed by its banal storyline. Anyway, thing is you still love the shiny little bugger and you'll never stop giving its freeware mods a serious try. Here are a couple lovely total conversion ones...

Dragonball Source, a 200MB mod you can download here, is a well crafted multiplayer mod with RPG elements that will mostly cater to the anime needs of the Dragonball crowds. Nice graphics, a selection between 1st or 3rd person gameplay, cartoony graphics and an excellent King of the Hill version are enough reasons to give it a try.

Paleolithic Revolution (also) focuses on the multiplayer side of gaming, but instead of the far too mainstream anime look goes for the ..uh.. paleolithic one. The mod pits Cro-Magnon versus Neanderthal for the control of some lovely caves, where, interestingly, players can modify the map environment by moving and stacking rocks. For example, a big pile of rocks can be used as a crushing weapon, as shelter or even to build defensive walls. Visit the official site or just download Paleolithic Revolution here.

Related @ Gnome's Lair: GoldenEye Source, Fawlty Towers CS, more Half Life 2 mods, Duke Nukem 3D high-res

Jul 9, 2007

Duke Nukem 3D in true 3D & with high-res babes

We might never live to see the likes of Duke Nukem Forever, but by George we will have our ageing Duke Nukem 3D in glorious full 3D and in the high-resolutions its strippers were always meant to be enjoyed in! We will keep on mindlessly shooting stuff and playing one of the silliest -almost offensive- FPSs ever made, but this time around with the help of the latest free version of the Duke Nukem High-resolution pack. Download it here. Then keep waiting.

Related @ Gnome's Lair: Wolfenstein 3D lives, System Shock 2K7, Baldur's Gate in high-res

Jul 7, 2007

Max Payne 2 turns into a Street Fighter

Quite obvious what this is all about, innit? No? Oh! Well, it's all about a huge freeware mod that'll turn your stylish Max Payne 2 shooter into a very 3D version of the classic Street Fighter beat-'em-up. The mod features proper 1-on-1 fighting, 16 fully destructible fighting arenas, many moves, a plot (!) and some interesting unlockable extras. To download all 660Mb of it visit modDB.

For a lovely YouTube trailer do visit YouTube (astonishingly) and to remember just how brilliant Max Payne 2 was take a stroll around its official website. There's bound to be a demo lying around somewhere.

Related @ Gnome's Lair: UT2004 Hollow Moon, Unreal Tournament mods, The Kipper and the Corpse

Jun 15, 2007

Tomb Raider Anniversary: the obligatory nude patch

Truth be said, us gamers of the male variety can be a really sad bunch. I mean, getting excited by Lara? That's just pathetic. Then again, it could really be worse... It could be raining, or -heavens forbid- we might just see Lara semi-nude, lose what's left of our morality and faint. Thankfully then, the latest nude patch for Ms. Croft, the one for the rather brilliant Tomb Raider Anniversary game, is grotesque enough to put anyone's fantasies to sleep. Try it out here, horrify your friends, forget your anatomy, shock your visual artists and irritate the puritans.

On a more serious note and regarding said puritans, I just can't see how a pair of tits can be considered as more dangerous, corrupting, evil and/or immoral than a pair of guns. Or to put it the way a certain female modder and creator of the Oblivion Topless mod put it while describing her own mod: "The file included removes the bra welded to the skin of females of all races, showing things as most people know they are in the real world after removing upper body clothing. It will not show every female in the game as topless. I do this because I hate government, society, whatever [for] forcing companies to protect our innocent population from seeing those evil dirty things 50% of them posses personally anyways".

Now, while I'm still preparing my Sex, Lies & Video Games post, do read a most interesting and quite relevant article over at The Escapist. It's called The Breasts that Broke the Game, it is.

May 18, 2007

Wolfenstein 3D (sort of) Lives!

Wolfenstein 3D, the spiritual offspring of the not particularly 3D Castle Wolfenstein from the 8-bit era, was the First Person Shooter that managed to popularize the genre and change mainstream gaming for ever. At least, Wolfenstein 3D also managed to spawn the modding craze and in a way revitalized the whole bedroom programming thing. Oh, yes, and the whole freeware gaming scene too.

What's more, Majik Monkee, the sinister genius responsible for Star Wars: Bloodlines, has quite a few impressive Wolf3D mods to offer and some nice related sprites too. Simply follow this link and download said eclectic mod mix (ranging from the medieval to the surreal, mind you) for free. To try your Wolf3d tweaking skills yourselves have a look at the NMAP level editor or -for a less casual approach- at The Wolf 3D Dome.

Related @ Gnome's Lair: NWN: Darkness over Daggerford, UT 2004: Hollow Moon, Reunion, Classic Doom

May 2, 2007

Patching & modding Resident Evil 4 PC to decency

Hopefully my less than glowing Resident Evil 4 PC review has protected you, oh dear and wise readers, from this abomination of a port, but frankly I know better than this. Some people, you see, just won't listen. Or learn. Mercifully enough though, even if you are one of the poor souls that just had to see what this RE4 fuss was all about and got the dreaded PC version, all hope is not lost.

For starters, the highly creative PC gaming community has come up with an RE 4 mod that adds mouse support, works decently and can be freely downloaded here (it's the MouseAim thingy you're looking for). Then, Capcom, miraculously sensing that such shoddy ports won't win any PC gamers' hearts, went on and produced a 70 megabyte patch that fixes many. Have a look at the above pic (blatantly stolen from the excellent Destructoid) to see what you should expect in terms of improvement.

Related @ Gnome's Lair: Darkness over Daggerford, Warcraft 3 widescreen, System Shock 2 2K7, Kudos

Apr 17, 2007

Neverwinter Nights: Darkness over Daggerford

Darkness over Daggerford, a freeware mod for Bioware's Neverwinter Nights hack 'n' slash RPG classic, is really impressive. Very impressive, too. Actually, it's a bit more impressive than your average impressive thing, which admittedly sort of impressed me. Also, quite impressively, said mod offers over 30 hours worth of gameplay too. Other than that, it's set in the Forgotten Realms and features some amazing (impressive, some would argue) production values. Oh, and before getting to download Darkness over Daggerford, read over this pretty impressive features lists:

A brand new world map system, never before seen in Neverwinter Nights, enabling the player to better explore a large world, complete with random encounters.
A player stronghold to enable more challenging stronghold quests, and featuring cool player customization features.
3 new TNO tilesets created by DLA and released to Ossian Studios through an exclusive agreement with BioWare, including a completely new exterior tileset with rolling hills, sea cliffs, and castles.
A custom spawning and leveling system for creatures, to always ensure the game is challenging for any level of character.
Over 100 new placeables made specifically for the game.
5 new music tracks by premium module composer David John.