|
The
first wolfer to figure
out how to compile the
source code released by
id, Nate Smith
effectively completed
the evolution of
Wolfenstein add-ons from
"old-school" to
"standalone" started by
Chris Chokan the
previous year with the
hex-edited EXE of
"Chokage". He shared his
source code compilation
tips with the community
through his web site at
the time, "Beyond
Wolfenstein
II".
Nate
also set up
The
Wolfenstein 3D Fan
Club
on Yahoo after the very
popular original club
run by Dave was shut
down due to rumored TOS
violations of some sort.
Unfortunately, the new
club was never the same,
and the "Die Hard
Wolfers" club on Yahoo
would soon become the
main gathering place for
wolfers. Then, when
Yahoo started bombarding
its clubs with
advertising, DHW moved
to www.areyep.com as a
phbPP-powered forum run
by BrotherTank. But I
digress...
Nate
came up with some
exciting new features:
different ammo types for
different weapons, new
enemies with different
strengths than we had
seen, a bit of flash
when you walked under a
light, seven weapons,
greater than 100% health
and 99 bullet capacity,
and the big one: the
rocket launcher. You may
say so what, but this
was 1999. The community
has caught up to and
surpassed Nate's
accomplishments since
then, but his add-ons
were ground-breaking and
extremely popular at the
time, especially "Beyond
Wolfenstein II Special
Edition".
Unfortunately,
the popularity of the
aforementioned, as
measured in downloads,
caught the attention of
id Software CEO Todd
Hollenshead, and Nate
was asked to pull his
"Beyond Wolfenstein"
series from his site and
its mirrors due to
copyright infringement.
The upcoming release of
"Return To Castle
Wolfenstein" was
believed by many to be
another contributing
factor in this
crackdown. The affected
mods
were:
Beyond
Wolfenstein
(06/16/99) removed
02/03/01
Beyond
Wolfenstein II
(07/07/99) removed
02/03/01
Beyond
Wolfenstein II SE
(11/30/99) removed
02/03/01
For
a while, this had a very
chilling effect on the
whole Wolfenstein
community; several
modders stopped work on
their add-ons, or at
least delayed their
release until further
clarification on what
was legal to do with the
source code. A few just
left
outright.
Nate
himself stopped
Wolfenstein modding
after this, though he
still has a web site
Wolf3d
World
which has his legal
add-ons and a copy of
the infamous e-mail.
Because of the
unavailability of his
best work, the
widely-held opinion that
his new engine features
far outweighed his level
design, and his
unwillingness at first
to share his source code
changes, Nate Smith
tends to be a somewhat
forgotten member of
wolfer history.
By
the way, "Wolfenstein
Mission 2" is a
registered add-on
containing graphics,
sounds and levels from
the so-called "Lost
Episodes". I guess
FormGen's CEO was too
busy to
notice...
Andy
Nonymous
|
