If you're looking for the news about SvenCo-op v1.35 and the new maps, scroll down to the next news item.

BigGuy (our programmer) has finally got his computer back from HP!! I think this quote from Mad Jonesy best describes the situation:

So hopefully we'll start arranging a proper version of SvenCo-op sometime after we all wake up. 

Two people E-mailed me with news that they'd mirrored the v1.35 files on their servers... the first is Xtreme Network (USA):

• Sven Co-op v1.3 Full Install
• Sven Co-op v1.35 Patch
• Sven Co-op v1.35 Linux Server (full)

And the second is Extreme Players in Germany:

• Sven Co-op v1.3 Full Install
• Sven Co-op v1.35 Patch
• Sven Co-op v1.35 Linux Server (full)

Thanks to both of them. Check the Files page for the previous mirrors.

Anyway... v1.35 of SvenCo-op for Win32 and Linux is now available for download on the Files page. Thanks to BigGuy and Alfred for these! 

Map CFG support is working again in this version, fixing several problems such as the lack of weapons, and singleplayermaps.bsp.  The Linux version also contains a few filename fixes that were missed before. 

Please keep in mind that this is still a temporary version... many features from v1.3 are still missing. A proper version will be made as soon as possible after BigGuy gets his computer from HP.

Three new maps are up on the Files page. They are:

The City: Large arena-style grunt-fighting map from the creator of Marines. Pretty atmospheric, imho. Map by Hitman (Zhukoyev).

Hill Air Force Base: A new version of Marines. r_speeds have been lowered, visuals have been improved, etc. Map also by Hitman.

Rescue 3: This is actually an updated version of Rescue 2. Leaks have been fixed, r_speeds lowered significantly, visuals improved, etc. Changes by Kenny, with the permission of the original author (Stan).

Files should be mirrored on FileLeech within a day or two, BTW.

P.S. - If you're a mapper, you should check out Texture Universe... a new site with lots of free textures available for download.

A stand-alone version of the SvenCo-op Linux server has been released. Click Here to download it! This is the only file you currently need in order to run a SvenCo-op dedicated server under Linux (provided that you have the Half-Life Linux Server software, of course). Thanks to Craig Morris for packaging this file!

The file is tar.gzipped for ease of installation under Linux, and many errors from the previous SC Linux server have been fixed (such as the problems caused by case-sensitive filenames).

IMPORTANT: You'll still need to copy the valve\pak0.pak file from a full Windows install of Half-Life to the SvenCoop/ directory inside the Linux Half-Life folder.

The Diamond Multimedia SvenCo-op server has moved to:

206.156.108.188:28025

Adjust your Gamespy favorites (or whatever).

We're looking for sprite artists to make death icons for all the various Half-Life monsters (to use in the death messages... at the moment, the skull-and-crossbones icon used for suicides shows up if players are killed by monsters). Check this page for more information.

The Operation Retribution map packs have been updated slightly on the Files page, hopefully fixing the weird problem they caused on Win32 (and probably Linux) dedicated servers. Might take a while for the new versions of the files to be mirrored, though...

Looks like I'll be away for probably 3-4 days, BTW... starting from tomorrow. Cya soon, all.

Update: Just a couple of notes... firstly, if you're having trouble extracting the zip files under Linux, try using UnZip, or maybe LinZip.

Secondly, the map "marines.bsp" will not work on Linux servers (it'll crash them). You might be safest to delete it from the maps\ dir.

Woohoo... The Linux port is now available HERE! Note: you only need this if you intend to run a SvenCo-op server under Linux. SvenCo-op v1.3 must be installed before installing this update. It was made by Alfred, creator of the Half-Life Admin Mod (many thanks!). There is one catch, though...

Because the HL Linux server software doesn't include some necessary files (such as monster models, etc.), you'll need a copy of the pak0.pak file from a full installation of the Windows version of Half-Life (sorry, no legal way to avoid this :/. Hope you have a HL CD around).

After installing SvenCo-op v1.3 and the Linux server update, copy the pak0.pak file from the (Windows) Half-Life\Valve\ directory to the SvenCoop\ directory inside the Linux HL directory. Everything should work after that. If you have any problems, tell me.

BTW, we're in rather desperate need of good SvenCo-op servers at the moment. If you know of anyone who might be interested in setting one up, could you suggest it to them, thanks?

Also, if you set up a permanent SvenCo-op server, E-mail me with the IP address, and I'll post it here to get you some traffic.

On another subject, maps 4 and 5 of the popular Operation Retribution series are available from the Files page. I hear that they're even better than the first maps, with more diverse locations. 

Also, most of the files on the Files page now have a link to an alternative download location beside them, for those who have trouble downloading from PHL (like me :).

Four new SvenCo-op maps are now available. Two of the maps had been intended to be included with v1.4, but considering all the delays, we decided it'd be better to release them now.

The first map is Apache Battle 3 (Helebat3), a sequel to the popular Helebat series, by Mad Jonsey. It manages to be fun and challenging without being laggy, which's pretty difficult to do properly.

The second map's called Fishing Special Edition, also by Mad Jonsey, and is a re-make of the Fishing map made by Kune. Very nice map with several secrets.

The fourth map's an Assault-like map called "Rush", by Ryan Goodrich, in which the players have to attempt to rush past a group of human grunts and shut down several different generators, with increasing difficulty. Lotsa fun :). Note: The generators must be shut down in order (Do so by "+Use"ing them). It's recommended that you use a Skill of 2 or 3, and the new skill.cfg mentioned below.

And the fourth map is Torn2 by Kune... a re-make of Torn (also by Kune). Includes numerous improvements over the first map... looks as if it might be rather laggy on the net, though.

There's also a new skill.cfg available for download (recommended). There're quite a lot of small tweaks, but here's some general info:

skill 1: About the same as the old CFG, but headshots to monsters do slightly more damage, and headshots to players do slightly less (since monsters don't aim at particular body parts, anyway).

skill 2: Monsters are a bit harder to kill, players are a bit easier to kill.

skill 3: "Realistic" setting. Both players and monsters die easily.

Update: If you've been having trouble downloading SvenCo-op files, it's because FilePlanet is having problems at the moment (apparently caused by the load of everyone downloading the new HL patch). 

Most of our files are mirrored on FileLeech, so you'd be best to try downloading from there. Here're the links to the main SvenCo-op v1.3 file, and the v1.31 temporary fix.

Have just been playing SvenCo-op on the new, permanent, dedicated server that was recently set up (and is located at:

206.156.108.193:28023

). Many thanks to [DMM]Lofar for setting it up!!!  SvenCo-op is actually a lot more fun than I'd thought... Despite the fact that my ping was over 500 (fairly good for connecting to a US server from NZ), the lag wasn't that bad at all... and a couple of people had under 100 ping, as I remember. Seems that the new net code actually does help things rather... 

The main help, however, is being able to play on a proper, high-speed server, instead of servers running on 56k modems/etc. Seems to me that if we had more proper servers, SvenCo-op would be a lot more popular than it is currently. We'll have to see about a "getting high-speed servers" campaign once we release a fancier version of the mod.

A major problem with getting more servers is that it may be impossible to get a Linux port made (apparently the Half-Life Linux server doesn't include necessary single-player code, like monster AI :/  ). Possible that we'll be able to do something about that later on, though... maybe Valve'd help us in some way. Maybe.

P.S. - BigGuy says he should be receiving a replacement computer "any day now". Hopefully :).

Hi all... BigGuy E-mailed Valve about the conback.lmp thing, and they said it was because the new version of Half-Life uses two console backgrounds (one for high and one for low res), and out cached.wad only has one. So what you need to do to get rid of the error is:

Go to the Half-Life\SvenCoop\ directory. Locate the file: cached.wad . Delete it.

Then it should default to the Half-Life console background, and everything should work (and you shouldn't need to use the -dev argument in your HL command line anymore). If it doesn't work for some reason, E-mail me.

Thanks to BigGuy and Yahn for sorting out the conback error. Still wonder why it didn't affect some people, but that doesn't matter now.

On another subject, there's a new map up on the Files page, called "Para" (being similar to "Parachute"). It's quite a lot like the map "Landing", but set in the desert in the middle of the day. If you want a low-r_speed, professional-quality map, you probably shouldn't download this :), but if you have a fast computer and just want to have some fun, or if you liked Landing, you should try Para.