NEWS ARCHIVE
2004
12/24/04 - I promised you Episode 1 by christmas and here it is, sans e1m8 (evil...). I suggest you give them a try, they are very very different from my previous .rtlights and in my opinion much better. Happy Holidays and have a safe New Year! -romi
12/01/04 - Long time no update eh? Well don't think I haven't been busy, because I am working on a totally new set of .rtlights for ID1 from scratch, and I mean SCRATCH this time, with many more graphically pleasing effects, including coronas and hopefully a decent use of cubemaps (I need some help with those if anyone is interested e-mail me via the contact page.) What does this all mean Romi? Well let me tell you, after a time I realized that my .rtlights went from being what I originally wanted (and didn't have the skill to do initially) transforming slowly into what everyone else wanted, this time, it's all me, I will not finish a map until I am personally pleased with its appearance and feel it fits the level correctly. This means things could be dark, much darker than former .rtlights, or sometimes brighter, it just depends. I am done with start and e1m1 and most of e1m2 some may say they look the same, some may say they look way different, but I've learned alot about shadow volumes, shadow casting, and the costs and benifits of all related things. At times things may run a little slow, but if you've been playing doom3 you should be used to that... anyways this is a good thing for me, and a good thing for people who enjoy single player q1 -romi
08/30/04 - After receiving a nice email from disclosedhero, who, amoung other things, reminded me of a long standing problem I had meant to fix but never did, so I bring you an updated SoA .rtlights with the start map included, I was being experimental on this one, so it may look a little different than my normal, as time allows I will get a more detailed version done! Go on over to downloads and grab it! -romi
08/18/04 - Updated reviews again, this time with my two cents on catalyst 4.8 vs 4.7, some interesting results, go ahead and hop over to the reviews section and see for yourself. -romi
08/06/04 - Updated reviews section with a review of Doom 3. Enjoy. -romi
07/27/04 - Been working on something the past few weeks and it is now in condition to release, I hope you enjoy this revamped Episode 1, I realized after going through e1 that I did very little if anything to most of LordHavoc's .rtlights, so I specifically went through this time with the purpose of making e1 my own way. I hope you enjoy the results, check it out on the downloads page -romi
07/06/04 - Yet ANOTHER section, reviews are up, starting off with CATALYST 4.7 -romi
07/06/04 - Another section added, with some more content, enjoy the interviews section, something I am going to do my best to develop over time. -romi
05/21/04 - Well I've added yet another section to the site, something I think I'm going to start doing alot of. This time around its a MAPS section, I've been messing around a bit with BSP .93b which LordHavoc suggested I give a try. Well only 20 days later I have completed my first non beta, fully functional DM map, playtested until our eyes bled, tweaked and now complete FIREWALKER is now available in the MAP section! -romi
05/13/04 - Finally fullfilled a promise I made awhile back and added NOTES to the navbar, included are my notes I made during the process of going through id1 the second time and relighting it, some of its interesting, some of its not, some of it might help other .rtlight authors, but mostly its just to add some context to the sight. It gives people a better glimpse into the project, oh adding to the fun of it, I am currently working on my first Single Player Quake map using BSP, of course it will be real-time, but there will also be a normal render for those of us who arent blessed with top of the line hardware. I am also going to rework some of my misc .rtlights and release them also. So things are far from dead here, just the opposite... -romi
04/22/04 - Well Stribbs, the author of the Nehahra .rtlights has brought us another nice collection, the Devils Covenant here are Stribbs thoughts "If you haven't seen Devils Covenant, then i highly urge you to download it, machinima.com should still have it. Not as high budget as Nehahra but still one of the greats." so go try it out, and get the real-time action right here on the downloads page. -romi
04/06/04 - Huge day today, ID1 has been co mpletely revamped, this process was a challenge but its a major improvement over all previous builds. Download Download Download, also coming soon, romi's notes over the whole ID1.rtlight revamp project, following right along level by level, with a bit of humor and some helpful and interesting notes for other people who work with .rtlights. Enjoy! -romi
04/04/04 - Being such a fun date I bring you something not made by me! On the downloads page you can now find a load of Nehahra .rtlights made by a very cool character by the name of Stribbs, once I'm done with ID1 I may touch up some of them, but for now they are a dramatic improvement over the good ol lightmap translations! -romi
03/16/04 - Alright, I was tempted just to delete the last news post, but instead I am going to explain a little bit and tell what has happened since then. After talking with both LordHavoc and a few others (Zombie, Static_Fiend) I decided that I shouldn't leave the .rtlights like they are. So here it comes, I am going through ID1 again, this time with serious editing in mind, there is alot of cleanup going on, both in lights and in the .rtlight files themselves, namely fixing a nasty cubemap bug *thanks lh for telling me how. Alright so I'm done with E2 and I think most of E1, this time around I also am taking side notes that I will release with the .rtlights when they are finished. If some of you are wondering what is wrong, lets just put it this way, things aren't going to be anywhere near as dark anymore, im not making this brighter per say, just improving the lighting, for a do it yourself example of what this means, but another window in your room. -romi
02/26/04 - Hey all, it was bound to happen sooner or later but I think I'm done, I may come back later on (Quake Expo maybe?) and work some more, but after several conversations with several people over the past couple days I realize that the need for someone working on .rtlights doesn't really exist, most new mappers are able to incorporate real-time lighting on their own, either by doing it while making a map or making their own .rtlights after the fact, either way its fading out, and LordHavoc will soon have shadow volume clipping done, which in coordination with the lightmap/.rtlight mode (where it shows both) will pretty much phase out the need for custom .rtlights all together, the original lightmap translations will run just as good after LH gets the clipping done. It's been alot of fun and I have to say the Quake community is by far one of the best around, the whole gang at #darkplaces have been a blast to work with, especially LordHavoc who to this day still puts up with all my questions, Zombie, Black, Mercury, Supajoe, Electro and Static_Fiend also get a big thanks from me. I got all my goals done, plus some, in alot less time than I thought it would take me. Hope you all enjoy the .rtlights, I'll keep this site up so you can download the latest (last) build but I did take the videos offline to save bandwidth. Later -romi
02/23/04 - Apologize for the down time, but we're (I'm) back now, and with a update for both ID1DM.RAR and ID1.RAR. I reworked all of LordHavoc's .rtlights, (although most of them didnt need much work) I also reworked dm2 and dm6 for as much performance as I could crank out, should be fun for everyone! I suggest the updates for everyone because some maps performance have increased dramatically. -romi
01/29/04 - Major update to the actual site, almost looks like something from the old MHQuake site... well anyways besides slamming a quake texture on the sides I have changed one of the sections, namely screens, to videos, and of course that comes with new stuff, I now have a total of eight videos uploaded, one from each episode and/or project. The largest they get it 6 megs. Enjoy, and don't forget to try out SoA in real-time. -romi
01/28/04 - Scourge of Armagon is completed, consisting of 17 new .rtlights, most of which are of higher visual quality than ID1 (mainly because of architecture). Also be sure to get my other new release which includes all the DM maps (other than DM2) sans color and tweaked for as much performance as I could get, for all those DM fans who want to try it in real-time mode. Head over to the downloads page! -romi
01/21/04 - 2/3 done with SoA, and as promised I have uploaded a video teaser, it runs about 30 seconds and shows off one of the funner areas with .rtlights. I hope you all like it, you can expect all of SoA done within the next month or so. -romi
01/06/04 - Work on SoA continues, about 1/2 complete, the levels are a bit larger and more complex than ID1 so the work is a bit slower than I originally guessed. I also spent a good week working on a single .rtlight file for a custom map, although I don't have permission from the author to release it its no secret I put alot of work into the GMSP3V2 .rtlight, which is finished. It was recently PQ MOTW. It will be released soon. As soon as I am back to my higher bandwidth connection I have a nice video for you as a teaser for the SoA .rtlights I've been working on. I'm sure you can't wait. -romi
2003
11/22/03 - Started work on my next project, working on the official expansion for Quake 1: Scourge of Armagon, so far I have completed about 1/4 of the maps, these .rtlights have improved a good amount in visual quality compared to my ID1 maps, however this is mainly due to the architectural differences between this expansion and ID1, which allows for more complex stencil shadows. Should be done towards the end of this year or the beginning of next, give or take a week -romi
11/13/03 - Another big update after getting permission from the czg I have completed a series of .rtlights for czg07 "insomnia", per his request there are no colours, just varius dims of white, turned out quite nice, you can find them on your downloads page, they run a bit slower than the id1 maps, but that is mainly because even in normal render they run a bit slow, this was bar none the most requested series of maps for me to complete after id1 so I have held true to my word, Nehahara is also a big requested one but we shall see... -romi
11/06/03 - Hey still working, updated about half of the .rtlights with some newer "builds" not too many major changes, as I am still quite pleased with the original work, however, I have completed another "big" project, my first .rtlight for a darkplaces dpmod map made by zombie, its q3bsp in nature, allowing for some really awesome scenery, i have posted screens in the sceenshot section, be sure to check them out, the .rtlight may not be released for awhile. -romi
10/15/03 - Great day in the history of this project, the main goal has now been completed, all of Quake ID1 SP maps have been relit using .rtlights, resulting in a near 200% speed boost from the standard lightmap conversion, also these have color. So those of you who have been anxiously waiting to play all quake 1's 32 levels in realtime lighting, e3 is now up in the downloads -romi
10/13/03 - Well you all have my back pain to thank for this latest addition, I was up all night because I had no choice and actually got the rest of e2 done, since productivity seems to increase when you have no choice... Anyways I guess its another big release! I give you EPISODE 2! go to the downloads page and grab it, all thats left is episode 3, then some detail editing, and my original goal will be complete. -romi
10/12/03 - ah a short break and I'm back in the game, finishing not one, not two, but three more .rtlights, however very soon I will be done with e2, (only 4 maps to go), so I am holding back a release until all of e2 is done. I will keep the site updated as to how soon that update is coming, the downloads page has been updated, now only having the .rars instead of the individual .rtlights. I almost forgot, special thanks to LordHavoc for submitting an almost complete e2m3, getting me over that hump of a map... -romi
10/08-09/03 - So late, so tired, so completely done with e4! Yes the through the cracks of my sanity I have finished the last map, and as some might think the quality would drop as I lose my mind NAE! e4m1 is a accomplishment and feat! totally changing the original into a dark, moody, down right creepy tech level, its now e4m1 KGB|romi style... oh yeah that reminds me if for some reason you can't play .rtlights, there is a pack of screens from e4m1 here so go grab em if you want to see what you're missing. Also downloads page as always is updated, this time the e4.rar is there too, woohaa, im taking a break now for a few days or so, I think my sanity will thank me, not to mention my finacee and best friend Melody... -romi
10/08/03 - Can't keep a good thing from coming, luckily this one didn't require too much editing, although there are two slow spots, im sure you will experience this and I am sorry. However the rest is pretty playable and pretty to look at, e4m7 the "azure agony" is a piece of art, hope you like it. Oh yeah I also added a e1dm.rar to the downloads page, it has all of Episode 1 and dm1, dm2, and dm6 .rtlights files in it. -romi
10/08/03 - Whoa only one day later and I've brought you two very special gifts e4m5 and e4m8, straight from the caffine loaded mid-day wind comes these rtlights and no one says I'm going to stop there. I have updated both e4m4 and e4m3 making them a bit faster (and in some areas much faster) although the visual quality has lessened some, sorry. Go to the downloads page to pick them up! I feel the e4.rar coming very soon... -romi
10/07/03 - Another week another rtlight file for you to play with, this time its Zombie's "favorite" map, e4m3, this brings me closer to my current goal of completing e4, I know it doesnt look very different from "the original" or the lit but some maps really don't need a new look, just some speed ups to make it more playable. I'd also like to take this time to thank LordHavoc and Zombie for supporting my project, their advice and opinions have been greatly appreciated. -romi
10/01/03 - New rtlight finished, of course as I hinted before its e4m4, I may just do e4 for some strange reason before e2, the levels seem to be much easier to edit at this point, also uploaded is version 2 of my e1m8, added some color from the RGB archives of LordHavoc (ie I used colors he was using on his previous maps to preserve a solid look throughout gameplay) pretty soon I am going to upload all the .rtlights as a .rar that I can update as I finish more, but for now you can download them individually, all rtlights not done by me can be found at lordhavoc's domain under the links -romi
09/29/03 - Hey hey I know I promised e2m1, and you still may get it, but I have something else much closer to completion, I bring you my personal favorite Quake map .rtlights e4m4! way the hell in the boonies of quake it happens to be my favorite level, lots of cool shadow tricks in this map without slowdowns, and its lighting is very similar to the original id1, still trying to get the colors right as yellow is not a good color, lordhavoc is helping me a bit with the colors in general, anyways e4m4 should be completed mid week while e2m1 sits on the backburner for awhile. -romi
09/25/03 - Completed DM2, as for some of the comments I have been getting on the screenshots a few things need to be noted, DM1 is in a playable lighting format not to different from the original ID1 I even removed the big red light in the double barrel shotgun room and changed it to a white light exactly as it was in the lightmap. DM2 is a totally different story, I could make a playable version of the map, however some areas would still be very dark based on architecture, the main reason I worked with DM2 is more for artistic reasons, to show what rtlights can do in situations with moving objects and complex architecture in a q1bsp. I think the results are quite nice, although obviously too dark for playability and too slow also, its nice to give it a run through just to see how the lights effect everything. Problem with DM maps is that for a good dm you also need good framerates, at this time using the format available this just isnt possible with standard quake1 dm maps. However for good Single Player 35fps is very playable, which is what I am aiming for. As for use of color, I am sticking to very basic color use, mostly white with torches/flames giving off the orange that they default too (yes they default to color). Although I am sure I will get more experimental with color as time goes on, since some of the Quake 1 SP maps look good with color and some really dont need that improvement. The problem is unlike normal render where you have the choice of color or no (.lits or not) I don't really want to take the time to create two versions of every rtlight file, since that was not the original goal for my project. I'm sticking to my original goal, I may come back and finish up the DM maps later, I really have a feel for how the system works now and think I can go onto e2. Expect e2m1 sometime towards the end of next week. -romi
09/24/03 - Completed DM1 and almost finished with DM2 (working on different colors) if you have created your own rtlight files e-mail them to me. -romi
09/24/03 - Welcome to this makeshift website for my Darkplaces engine project to totally complete all rtlights files for the orginal ID1 maps, giving quake sp an almost doom3 like quality and adding atmosphere and visual splender to an aging legend. -romi