If I don't see you playing Action Half Life or around the net then I want to say good bye.

Now for the disses. Fuck you spammers. This goes out to all those that spammed the board, especially those that did it when we didn't have any security. No, I'm not going to mention you by name because that would give you too much satisfaction. Oh, and I hope you enjoy your new ISP... you know who you are. I've got to get to the store before it closes, see you all in IRC.

No the word MEN in the last black rant wasn't me saying I am gay you sickos! It is in BLACK. MEN in BLACK!!! Sheez, some people have dirty minds.

Here is the release text direct from Fireblade:
When upgrading your server to 1.52, be sure to read the first item in the CHANGES file (if not the whole thing)...you should change your "dmflags" to be 256 on a normal teamplay server (otherwise you will have friendly fire turned on).

We'd like to thank the people who made this release possible, including our beta testers: JimmyHustle and Clan AR, Lurker and the Norwegian Whalers, and OvErR|De (with the NetNITCO teamplay server); and the people who made available patches for cool new stuff that is incorporated into 1.52: Eek, Azerov, Mikael Lindh, Black Cross, William van der Sterren, Hal, and probably some others I missed (sorry).

For anyone who uses a Mac and wants to play Action, your in luck. There is NOT a server dll port of Action for the mac but I have it from multiple sources that Action Quake2 will work with the Quake2 port for the mac. What this means is you can connect to a server and play just fine, though yu can not run a server of your own yet. Our source is on the server files page, so anyone who is willing to port the server dll to the mac shoul grab it off there and let me know. Once I get a working dll for the mac I will post it up for public download along with the others. NOTE: I am looking for an unaltered version of Action, not a port with changes.

The CGF bot is very cool, even in it's first early beta form. The little bastards are mean too. If you haven't tried it out yet, I recommend that you do. This is no ordinary bot. It is more along the lines of an advanced single player AI with scripted scenarios. As a matter of fact, there is a page dedicated to housing everything related to the bot, and it already has quite a few new missions to play around with. http://surf.to/cgf_resource_site . I recommend anyone who has played their fill of the default missions go there and grab some new ones. The face off one is cool if you have my gold akimbo skins from the Actor's Guild and the right player model (you will need both guild packs I think).

The Action Player model contest is still running and I would really like to see some good entries come out of it. Click on the CONTEST link to the left.

Since there is a new dll and there will undoubtedly be a lot of new downloads, I want to inform all new people of what all the Action veterans already know. The autoexec.cfg in your action directory (when you first download the client zip) is my own personal one from a LONG time ago. PLEASE either delete or edit it. At the very least change the name. There is a file called configexamples.zip which will help anyone who wants to make their own.

Clanspot closed a while back and I left the button up so that anyone who wanted to see their goodbye ,essages could do so. However, it has been long enough and I am taking down the button. I will be putting the action spin offs site's button it it's place as soon as they make one. I want to thank the Clanspot staff for their effort and time invested in the Action Quake clan scene. They were around since very early on and I am sure even the people who did not go to site must realise the large part they played in creating that scene.

The servers page has been replaced by a site specifically for Action servers. Check it out nd make sure that if you use the servers page in conjunction with gamespy or pingtool that you update the links.

Men

First is the oft mentioned but long delayed Modeling Contest. It is officially open and ready for the public. Click on the contest link on the navbar for rules, prize info, and more details in general. The huge thanks goes to Hidden from hidden.org. Nor only did he provide the cash for the cash prizes but also gave me enough that I should be able to ship without any problems. He is a big action fan himself, runs servers, hosts clan pages, etc. So do me a favor and check out his site. He provides all kinds of services from shells to web hosting, as well as many other things (such as running multiple telefragged mirror sites JUST so Action has reliable download sources). hidden.org , there is a button to his site below, not sure if it is back up fro the redesign yet, but check it out. You'll have some cool models after all is said and done and he deserves some thanks for helping with it. Won.net also provided 2 won.net games of choice (tribes, half life, etc.). Sierra/valve provided 2 copies of Half Life including one that is singed by the Valve gang (also some hats and such). This contest is for both Action Quake2 and Action half-life player models. Each separate game's entries will be judged on different grounds, have different rules, and separate prizes. if you are a modelor for Quake2 or Half-Life or have always wanted to try it then this is your opportunity to strut your stuff. Plus if there is no better way to be noticed in this industry than winning a contest. I know of multiple professionals who started this way, (including one who got his break fro the lovedoll contest).

Secondly, and just as exciting, is the release of the first bot to be compatible with Action Quake2. It is hard to explain and it is in beta, so I will just give a link and let the author tell it like it is. Don't expect an eraser bot though, this is completely different stuff here. http://www.botepidemic.com/aid/cgf/ . It is serendipitous if you think about it. The bot being released so near an Action Player Model contest will mean that many more avatars to portray the bots once the contest ends.

The Action Spin Offs site is ready for public consumption. If you are unaware of what this site represents, it is the official site for all user made mods of the publicly released Action Quake2 source code. Some really cool mods have been made using the source and this is the place for info, downloads, etc. on these mods. If you make an action mod or want to know anything about them then go here: http://aqmods.telefragged.com/ . It is a great site so far and more is developing with it right now. I expect that it would help quite a bit if the mod teams themselves keep in touch with the webmasters of this site for everyone's (especially fans of your mods) good. Large thank you to the group working on this.

I found an extremely cool program that allows you to rip, edit, change, and resave images and other resources form almost any windows32 program. I used it a LONG time ago to make winamp 'skins' before there was such a thing as winamp skins. I recently refound it and was pleased to find he has done wonders with the new beta, including the ability to make stand alone .exe files that recreate changes. It is only able to do that in the registered version but I will hopefully have a registered version soon. I mention this here because I think it serves as a very unique (and rather welcome) way to edit many programs and give them action themes. For example, I have been using ICQ since it's first month of release and I have always HATED two things about it. 1)that annoying fog horn, which I delete every time I redownload icq and 2) that STUPID flower, which is worse than ever in the splash screens of today's versions. So I took restorator (this program I am rambling about) and my own personal crosshairs for AQ2 and converted the crosshairs to the splash screen. Now the splash screen is bigger, but is only really thin lines so doesn't get in the way at all, pus it repeats the words splash screens suck over and over. Is that spiffy or what?! So to make a long story short, what I want to do is start a new section under optionals over at the Actor's Guild and start accepting, making, and distributing these .exe wizards to turn programs into action themed programs. Almost anything is possible. Imagine netscape skins (like winamp sins for netscape), or changing the interface to a game (as long as the game is the right kind of .exe), shrinking, removing, or changing annoying splash screens, replacing an ugly program's graphics with action themed ones, or the buttons etc. A fully decked out clan customized version of icq with the little pansy flower replaced by a sniper crosshair and the rest all themed in action wit your clan logo in place of the icq text on the button. The list is endless. Anyways, I find the prospect extremely cool, so if you don't then just skip this link and ignore my ramblings. But if this interests you like it does me then click here... http://www.bome.com/Restorator/ . If you make something cool with it email me and let me know (PLEASE do not send me any large files, only send if you get a registered version and can make the self applying .exe files which are much smaller). In other words, have pity on my mailbox.

The release date of Action Half Life (public beta) is the 29th of this month. That is the firm date of the mod expo and thus it is also the firm date for AHL's release.

I am not feeling well. I have been sick for a week or so, and although I am getting better I am still very, very tired. For this reason I am going to once again mirror the news between the AQ2 and AHL sites. Do not let this confuse you, I simply need rest if I am going to get up and do anything productive at all. On the plus side, whatever I have seems to be the cure for insomnia so maybe I can bottle it and get rich :)

aqservers.telefragged.com will soon replace the servers page and will serve as the servers page for both mods. Just a note to the future, look out for it.

Doh, one more thing (this is added after the first post because I forgot it, which is why it is at the bottom). Ace12ga is working on Action for Quake1, which should prove cool. He does have permission and he has actually been around for quite some time so he should be fully capable of the project. he is the author of the mall and cliff series of maps for those who are in the dark. Wish him luck.

Oh man, I feel like shit and I don't doubt the telefragged server's are going to be feeling similar even with the new improved server they have set up. I recommend you guys try the san jose mirror that hidden runs, who is also the contest sponsor, now that's a hard core fan for ya.