Hi all-
at the moment it's unlikey I will ever update the existing Arcane Dimensions HD mod. I'd certainly like to put out The Forgotten Sepulcher etc on darkplaces, but unfortunately it and some of the other new levels in Arcane Dimensions v1.8 don't work on the older versions of darkplaces, and the newer darkplaces versions which do support them, are far from being stable, in any way shape or form. Even if they do become stable at some point, they will run half as fast (as the 2014 version of darkplaces) on older hardware and onboard video cards (eg. intel built-in graphics). This is no fault of the developers, it is simply because they are based on the 2018 beta of darkplaces which has the same issues (due to a transition from SDL1.2 to SDL2). The 2018 beta is, btw, what quake 1.5 uses. Go figure.
The 2014 version works fine for Arcane Dimensions so that is what it will continue to use. I don't like introducing changes which severely impact those who can't afford more recent graphics cards, it doesn't seem fair. One of the main reasons I initially put out quake epsilon was to make the HD mods more accessible. And darkplaces is already a relatively slow engine by modern standards.
However, I may put out a collection of levels including the new AD v1.8 levels in the form of a secondary build called 'More Dimensions'. If I do, it's going to be running Quakespasm-spiked, which is not my favourite engine by any means (lighting isn't as good, doesn't support bump-mapping etc), but it's the only one which runs the newer AD levels properly and without errors. I haven't had a lot of time to work on music and the levels, but it would be nice to finish them this year. In the meantime I've already completed one track, which is audible here . Quite a departure from my earlier work. The background industrial sounds you may hear are from field recordings I made at an industrial complex which were slowed down, sometimes up to 16x.
One advantage of using Quakespasm is that since that engine doesn't support dds textures (like most quake engines) I'll be supplying the AD HD textures in a form which folks can take and use with other engines. One other thing, and that's that I recently put out a short EP of my work from around the Arcane dimensions years, but stuff which wouldn't fit the soundtrack. It also contains some of my video game remixes, such as my Jazz Jackrabbit one. It's free/pay-what-you-want here:
So, how's that whole plague thing going for you guys?
Funny, funny stuff.
M@
