: What is missing from M:R? Is there progress being made on it?
There seems to be some mis-information going on here, so I'll try and fill in some gaps.
M:R is _very_ close to completion. All content and code is more or less done. There is the occasional scenery bit that crops up that needs finishin, like naked Bob models, exterior view of the Marathon, some Pfhor level wall textures, but everything else related to content is done. The only _major_ thing left to do to fully complete M:R are some of the SP maps. About half of them are already done, but that still leaves about 11 maps. A volunteer effort has been put together to try and get people like you to help and work on these maps, and more info can be had at the M:R site.
: Now on to my view which I am certain is going to ruffle your feathers. IF M:R
: is not finished, to me it seems utterly pointless to finish it now. UT is
: going the way of the Dodo. There is really no OS X version, and doesn't
: look like there ever might be. UT itself doesn't really run all that great
: on Windows XP either... believe me, I know... I had to uninstall it
: because I got tired of all the glitches and such that UT caused in XP. So
: whether M:R gets finished or not, there is going to be a lot LESS people
: to play it if you keep it in UT. I won't be able to play it, that's for
: sure.
This is all very relative. The M:R project has started about 5 years ago (!!) and we _still_ get new people downloading and playing it and posting about it, let alone those who don't bother to post at all, so I'm convinced the fanbase is there. As far as UT for OS X...UT Preview 3 for OS X does work quite well, with the exception of some audio problems, and a few video glitches with some decals on textures. UT can also be had online for quite cheap. All that said, when M:R was done, we were going to make some attempts of a possible re-release by Atari and Epic and Bungie with M:R, but right now this is all hypothetical since its pointless to talk about it when it's not complete.
: So, to me, it makes more sense to update M:R for UT2K4, if it is not finished
: yet. At the very least, you will have it on a platform that runs natively
: on OS X and Windows XP. True, UT maps have to be re-done and probably most
: of the scripting needs to be re-done or tweaked, but at least you have all
: your groundwork ready. Sounds and textures can carry over no problem, and
: the music actually becomes infinately easier with the OGG format instead
: of the archaic MOD tracker format. Hell, I've got a pristine set of 16-bit
: CD quality AIFF original M1 music files (QT 2.5 versions) that I
: personally remastered years ago that I could turn into OGGs in less than
: an hour.
"Porting" M:R to 2K4 is a much bigger fish to fry than you might think. First of all, the maps and the code would need to be redone in large part, moreso the maps..and this has ALWAYS been the slow part. The content (textures, models) could be re-used, but they'd look exactly the same as in UT, so then..what would be the point? If you're going to re-create all the content, then good luck with it...many people are underestimating the sheer volume of content there is to re-create, and how much work it really took to make M:R.
As far as music is concerned. We've had high-quality remakes of the M1 soundtrack for a very long time, and they are implemented in the game, they're just very very large. The Tracking format is inconvenient, but it's also FAR more practical for a download-based distribution. So this isn't a lack of content problem (we have the content, part of it is even downloadable on the M:R site), but rather the wrong type. We're looking to have tracked music as a preference above what we already have.
: So, again I ask... what is left to be completed in M:R? Or should you be
: thinking towards the future and scrapping finishing it for UT and putting
: all of the groups efforts towards UT2K4?
In short, the remaining SP maps. If you can help, come on over to the M:R site and those specific quesions can be answered, or search through the forum there, as the question's been asked before. It's a shame to be so close, and presume it dead..it's far from it.
