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Work in Progress / Lonewolf - Update

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Van B
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Posted: 19th Apr 2005 06:35 Edited at: 19th Apr 2005 07:00
Hi all,

Been doing some work on Lonewolf, trying to get it finished by the end of May. Mainly AI tweaks, but watch for the terrorists jerk when they get shot - real cheap effect but I like it. All the noises in the background are helicopters colliding and enemies shooting at you out of view (they like to line up along the fence for cover).

http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/van-b-software/Lonewolf_18_4_05.mpg


Van-B

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Van-B's mom.
DBAlex
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Posted: 19th Apr 2005 06:41 Edited at: 19th Apr 2005 06:45
Im taking a look

Edit: links are broken on my machine...is this a forum error or my system :S

Edit2: the link is broken for me...(file wont download)


AMD 64 3000 + 512mb RAM + 80GB HD + Radeon 9600se 128mb
Hawkeye
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Posted: 19th Apr 2005 06:57
Quote: "We're sorry, but
the page you requested
cannot be found.
Please check your spelling and try again."


and I was really looking forward to a updated Lonewolf

Van B
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Posted: 19th Apr 2005 07:01
Soz about that, should work now...

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Van-B's mom.
DBAlex
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Posted: 19th Apr 2005 07:01 Edited at: 19th Apr 2005 07:04
ahhh...working now.

[downloading]

edit: van beat me too it...


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Chris K
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Posted: 19th Apr 2005 07:57
Competition deadline?

What competition deadline?

My Showcase - It's DBpro-tastic
BearCDPOLD
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Posted: 20th Apr 2005 15:16
Van B you are talented.

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BatVink
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Posted: 20th Apr 2005 19:05
Looks damn good!

How did you get a video file of your game?

BatVink
Van B
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Posted: 20th Apr 2005 19:17
Cheers .

I used the demo of FRAPS, kinda like a video and sound output recorder, then converted to .mpg.

Added a cool zoom aim mode yesterday, the gun shifts to the centre and the camera zooms in for more accurate aiming. Gonna add a rifle too, the gameplay needs levelling out because I get shot to hell everytime, need a nice distance weapon now.


Van-B

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Bizar Guy
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Posted: 20th Apr 2005 21:50
Wow, this must be one of the coolest looking fps's I've seen in DBpro so far.

Zoom is a great feature! Also the jerking terorists is a cool effect, even if it is cheep.

Bizar Entertainment
Current game is Cronicle: The Legend of the Elementals
Hawkeye
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Posted: 20th Apr 2005 21:54
Oooo, nice vid.. I like the shotgun

Megaton Cat
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Posted: 21st Apr 2005 01:20
This looks cool. I think the mouse is kinda too sensetive though...

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The Nerd
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Posted: 21st Apr 2005 02:17
WOW!

This game is looking really nice!!!
Im looking forward to the release
I like the animations and the weapons is great looking!

Well done....John...Whops! i mean Van B

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DBAlex
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Posted: 21st Apr 2005 02:23
Yeah the video is pretty cool!

(forgot to watch it... )




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Drew Cameron
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Posted: 21st Apr 2005 02:40
Looking good, I like all the new weapons!!! , the muzzle flare seems to be improved unless my memory is failing me?! which is one of the few things that seemed wrong with the last videos.

I have a few questions though Van; what are you using for your sky - a sphere with fogging? I've been experimenting on skies for my next project, but I'd like to know your technqiue for this if you're sharing... where did you get the skysphere image as well - looks really good

Hope to see it done soon!

Dumbo and Cool - 50% complete today!
Hawkeye
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Posted: 21st Apr 2005 02:53
Quote: "Well done....John...Whops! i mean Van B"

John isn't Van-B's first name, the last time I checked

Huh looking at it again, the muzzle flash HAS improved.. which is rarely done in dbp and thusly is tremendly cool.

Freddy 007
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Posted: 21st Apr 2005 03:05
Quote: "John isn't Van-B's first name, the last time I checked"


Hehe, I think The Nerd refers to the NSA Training videos from



http://www.splintercell3.com/uk/splintercellchaostheory/videos.php


That´s an amazin job, John!

BTW, this game looks freakin' cool.
Keep it up, VanB!

*** PANZERGAMES ***

Visit our website : http://www.panzergames.tekhawk.com
Van B
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Posted: 21st Apr 2005 06:10
Thanks guys .

Drew,
I use skyspheres, with 1024x1024 resolution textures, this means the quality is not as good as say, a skybox with 6 x 512x512 textures. There are a few benefits though, like when you set the camera range, your actually setting the visible area much more accurately because the camera need only go to the extents of your skysphere, with a skybox the camera range needs to be exagerated so you can see the corners, meaning lots of unseen polys being rendered. Using 1 big texture for the sky also means that it's nice and easy to change, instead of deleting and reloading a skybox or texturing the limbs of a skybox, you just need to worry about texturing the skysphere object.
To make the skysphere textures I made an excrutiatingly slow little function that captures a DBPro scene as a skysphere texture, so when you apply it to a sphere and step inside, you get a 3D picture. I use regular skyboxes initially with a test terrain, render that, then use that as a skysphere texture.

I'll post up the renderer thingy if you like, it's really very basic and slow - but it get's the job done.


Van-B

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Van-B's mom.
Drew Cameron
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Posted: 21st Apr 2005 07:20
Yes please!

It'll be great to play Lonewolf when it's done.

Dumbo and Cool - 50% complete today!
Hamish McHaggis
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Posted: 21st Apr 2005 07:27
Very nice. I don't know how, but this looks 10 times better than when I last saw it. Probably the little adjustments that all add up .

More tea Vicar?
Drew Cameron
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Posted: 21st Apr 2005 07:32
One more question Van - could you routine also be used to capture a sphere map? (You know, a round view of the world) ?

If not - no worries - I'm new to spheremapping etc...

The reason I chose a sky sphere for D&C was the same - so I didn't have that whole wasted draw distance with corners problem

Dumbo and Cool - 50% complete today!
Baggers
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Posted: 21st Apr 2005 09:50
Id love to have a bash with the sky sphere creator, means you can get a consistant style flow throughout the game and that is great...so yeah dont worry about speed for a bit !

Van B
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Posted: 21st Apr 2005 18:56
Drew,
You mean like something you could use as a planet texture? - if so I'm not sure, it could certainly be used to make a sphere texture of a spherical world object, like a planet model for instance. If you used textured plains (like plains textured with island images), and stuck them around the camera and orientated them, then rendering the sphere would give a planet texture, it does need the full 3D aspect to work correctly you see. If your using matrices, then it could be fairly complicated - really you'd have to give each level a orientation, like the X and Y angle that the island is on the world sphere, then you could use that as an offset when rendering the sphere (and also perhaps in a level selection screen). Like you would render the island for each level at it's orientation then combine them all in 1 texture in your art package, then just add water.

Baggers,
Yeah, if you had a unique skysphere for each level, you could show parts of the next level as well - like you'd generate a level, then move the camera to the centre of the previous level and grab the sky. That could give a nice flowing illusion, like you always know what direction the exit is in because you just head towards all the buildings in the distance, little touches like that can really help prevent people from getting disorientated when playing platform games.

I'll upload the skygrabber code tonight, or maybe earlier if I can find it on the forum.

Hamish,
Cheers, I know what you mean, I think it's all down to the improved AI, they just seem to react more sensibly now - it's not perfect but they'll put up a decent fight. The behaviour pattern seems to work well, like they follow waypoints unless they spot you, in which case your their target - and they then stop and start shooting you to hell until you run away again and they go searching at your last known position. It means that if you run, they come after you - like running and hiding behing a cargo container just means he'll come looking around it, at either side - gives a nice unpredictable feeling to it and keeps the player moving. I've sped up the bullets consideribly as well, which seems to give a much better illusion with the UZI, which still needs work on the animation code so it reacts to speed like the shotty.

Hehe, my sniper rifle looks great - modelled a SVD yesterday with lots of little details, weighs in at 1500+ polys, about twice the polycount on the other guns, but I reckon people will be using the zoom, so it won't be on screen all the time so it'll balance out performance wise. I've UV'd it, now I need to draw the texture, which is always difficult, but fun - hopefully the rifle will be implimented by the weekend when I plan to add the hud and gameplay dynamics (player is invulnerable and has unlimited ammo right now). I've been dragging my heels with that though, because I'm afraid to see how crud I really am at it (I mean, did you see me miss that heli in the video!). For every game I've made there's a friend or relative that kicks my ass at it, worst is Twintrix, getting beaten by your mom at a game you made yourself is pretty hard to take well.
I'm looking into registering FRAPS tonight, so the next vid will be a decent length and might even have a soundtrack too.


Van-B

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Van B
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Posted: 21st Apr 2005 20:21
Ahh, gotta remember that 'My Threads' list, made finding the skygrabber nice and easy , here's that code:



This code contains the viewer and the renderer. Run it once and it'll render the sphere from the camera location, run it again and it'll load it up and display it 3D screenshot style. Really you just need to nab the grabber function and add it to your own code - then just call it on a keypress or something when the cameras in position.


Van-B

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Drew Cameron
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Posted: 21st Apr 2005 22:17
Thanks Van; if you need any help with sounds or music in return I'm always open.

Dumbo and Cool - 50% complete today!
Drew Cameron
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Posted: 21st Apr 2005 22:17 Edited at: 21st Apr 2005 22:18
.. not that your sounds aren't good

Quickly, off-topic, Lornne and co at Oddworld have been writing a screenplay for a CGI movie based on Abe Good news!

Dumbo and Cool - 50% complete today!
Robin
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Posted: 21st Apr 2005 22:34
Cool movie! Looking forward to playing it!

Robin

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Van B
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Posted: 21st Apr 2005 22:51 Edited at: 21st Apr 2005 22:53
Quote: "Quickly, off-topic, Lornne and co at Oddworld have been writing a screenplay for a CGI movie based on Abe Good news!"


Cool! - The best thing is that Abe's always been CGI, so there's no danger of anyone getting all CGI snobby with it, and it'll be a cartoon thing that adults can watch without having to explain themselves (as opposed to Shrek fans, who are consistantly ashamed).

Remember my predictions in your game design thread though , I will dig it out in a year or so if it turns out I'm right...

I'm not sure I'll be having in-game music, and you've already provided the cool title music, so really sound and music wise it's a matter of filling gaps. If you have any more unusual gun sounds, I could really use them. For instance, bullets firing etc is fine because I'm spoilt for choice, it's more mechanical noises that I'm stuck on. For example, I need sounds for the uzi clip being removed and replaced, and a rasp one for the pull-back and release of that slider thingy - and things like bullets hitting wood and glass, I dread to think how long it'll take to trudge google looking for stuff like that. If you can help out with any raspy gun and bullet effects then that'd be great, or if your aware of a good free resource site where I might have some luck. I have a ricochet effect now, well it's a few effects, like if you shoot a barrel, it'll leave a lead 'flower' behind and spit out sparks and play a ricochet sound, it's working nicely and I want to have a sound for each material that would be shot (wood, concrete, metal, glass, fabric). The idea is to have some mad 3D sounds happening when your being shot at, so if you run past a brick structure some of the bullets will hit that and you'll hear them all 'thud-thud-thud' type thing.


Van-B

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Drew Cameron
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Posted: 21st Apr 2005 23:55 Edited at: 22nd Apr 2005 01:16
These should start you off - unfortunately, good gun sounds are very hard to find. There's a lot of clip sounds etc... which you could mix and match to get something akin to a reload.

I have a few more, which I'll dig up in tommorrow.

Dumbo and Cool - 50% complete today!

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Baggers
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Posted: 22nd Apr 2005 09:08
Thanks Van, i'll have to give it a bash some time. You should see the results in the Beta when its released !

Van B
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Posted: 22nd Apr 2005 17:43
Cheers Drew, no doubt I'll be able to get my clicks etc from those . Gun sounds are too damn tricky to find - you'd think with all the gun nuts there'd be tons of sound effects, but no, just side-on pictures and firing shots. I wish someone would make a CD of concept art/photos and sound effects for lots of different guns - like a resource CD for modellers but with all the technical details and sound effects for the gun as well. It's at times like this that I wish I lived in Ameriky, I could just buy myself an uzi and sample the sounds myself .

Looking forward to that beta Baggers (along with a lot of people I imagine), Jazz rules! .


Van-B

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Shooting cans off a fence
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Posted: 25th Apr 2005 10:02
Looks Awesome VAN B
is there a/going to be demo?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v616/vanhousen/logo.gif
Van B
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Posted: 26th Apr 2005 03:49
There won't be a demo, I tend not to bother with them - got plenty testers right here at home - and I don't have much webspace.

All the pieces are falling into place now though, so it should be good to go by the end of may. I gotta add a hud, enable the powerups (battlefield style), add the hummers (which are already modelled), and lots of other bits I won't go into.

Got the last main weapon added though, and it's a deadly accurate piece of kit - pretty tricky to hit those moving targets but stupid terrorists are fair game, decapitations ahoy!.

Here's a screenie of the SVD.

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Van B
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Posted: 26th Apr 2005 03:50
And one of the scope showing my fermidible accuracy .

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Van-B's mom.

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Raven
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Posted: 26th Apr 2005 04:08 Edited at: 26th Apr 2005 05:02
Lookin' good.

Quote: "Hehe, I think The Nerd refers to the NSA Training videos from "


LMFAO!! That is one AWESOME video. Gonna have me chuckling for the next few minutes, going to save the high-res version and show my brother. Just love how he like walks off whistling.

I have something to ask you, but I'll ask through e-mail heh

[edit] just trying my new signature. Tried to change my name back to Raven, for some reason it says it's taken... but I know it can't be taken by my old name cause I changed that just in case.
Probably some retard who's taken it cause they thought it was big and clever.

MX7
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Posted: 27th Apr 2005 19:00
This is looking great, Van.
Van B
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Posted: 27th Apr 2005 22:04
Cheers,

I did a test of lonewolf on my brothers good spec PC (3ghz 64-bit with a FX5600) - and although the texture quality was set to 256, and the resolution was only at 640x480 - it flew!, like I've never seen DBPro move like that, I could probably do 3 times as much before the frame rate would cause concearn. I've had to go back and slow down the enemies firing because the added speed made them super-deadly. It's always tricky to balance gameplay, more-so when your trying to balance it on any PC it's played on.

Most of the gameplay is in there now - so a lot of time will be designated to designing levels and furniture, so if anyone has any ideas for levels then please post (I currently have 1 finished level design with 3 more in progress, I really want about 10 levels).


Van-B

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David R
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Posted: 27th Apr 2005 22:31
So, is Lonewolf just a 'shoot-em-up' terrorist type game? I aplogise for sounding silly here, but I dont really know much about it (and at the moment, I cant view video). Could you do an 'in-depth' summary?

[url=www.lightningstudios.co.uk][/url]
Van B
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Posted: 27th Apr 2005 22:47 Edited at: 27th Apr 2005 22:49
Pretty much raw shoot-em-up yeah - it's designed to be violent and fun, it started as a remake of Operation Wolf, but it's evolved a lot since then. Being fun doesn't mean that things aren't realistic though, like the bullet system for example is very accurate, more accurate than a lot of the serious games in the genre.

The idea is that you take on a mission and get dropped off on a level on your own with lots of enemies running around. When you shoot an enemy it'll spawn at a different starting location, once all the enemies have spawned from each start location and they're dead - that's when the mission is over - typically level 1 has 90 enemies to kill because there's 30 'live' enemies that get spawned 3 times each. Right now there are only handgun and ak47 wielding terrorists to shoot, but I will be adding at least 1 more enemy weapon. There are helicopters to annoy you as well, which are best destroyed with the rpg, they shoot at you with .50 cal's but they will be able to fire rockets soon. The actual gameplay tends to make me find cover first, taking out any enemies I find, then once I have some cover I snipe whoever I can then move onto the next bit of decent cover. There's a lot of enemies against you so it's a mix of survival and clearing out the levels. Ammo and health are stored in Battlefield style crates, I'm stealing that idea because it's processor friendly . Games that have this style of health pickups can breed campers, but there's aspects of the AI that make camping a bad idea, so the gameplay should be fairly nicely balanced by the time it's released.

This is the third WIP post, and admitedly nothing much has changed visually, all the hard work has gone on AI recently.


Van-B

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Raven
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Posted: 29th Apr 2005 01:08
I'm quite eager to see this AI in action actually.. certainly peaked my interest.

Interesting that the game ran 'too fast' on your brother's system though. A project I've been working on (of similar nature), I designed the game like Quake.

So you have a Client <-> Server System, based around a timer update. It is a cheat so I don't have to rewrite anything for Multiplayer except for the actual networking aspect. The game itself plug's in nicely.

In this respect all client-side stuff basically controls the game being rendered and getting user information. The server-side however takes care of the actual game updating.

So the Server is always working to a 60 Sync base-rate. So if someones rendering speed is more than that it won't affect gameplay, but you flip the coin and if they're rendering speed is less again it doesn't affect anything.

So it's all just the smoothness of the rendering that it affects, which is how it should be.
It's only really been made possible thanks to the FastSync command. Because it allows me to completely seperate the graphics update from everything else.

When I was using newton the difference between the timer-based system and sync-on-demand was just huge. You got some major errors on the SOD System.

I really must remember to release my Core source code sometime to show people how to do this effectively. So many games suffer from speed related control problems, when there is just such a simple solution.

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Drew Cameron
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Posted: 24th May 2005 17:04 Edited at: 24th May 2005 17:04
Hey, Van - this is a great reload / clip handling sound!
In WAV, zipped up.

I found it on Flashkit.com >>> sfx >>> mayhem
The stuff in there is really good!

Dumbo and Cool - DEFINATELY coming July 31st.
Also in development: Oddworld RTS, A Wonderful Thing and Scarecrow

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indi
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Posted: 24th May 2005 20:12
thats looking great so far! i wanted to see the rocket hit the object int he sky

If no-one gives your an answer to a question you have asked, consider:- Is your question clear.- Did you ask nicely.- Are you showing any effort to solve the problem yourself
Van B
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Posted: 24th May 2005 20:36
Cheers Drew, I'll check that out later, I made one up from the bits you uploaded before but the sample rate is a bit low.

Indi, So did I - It is quite tricky to hit the heli's from a distance, nowadays I tend to shoot the engine with the sniper rifle unless they're really close.

I have been working slowly on this, I'm confident that it'll be finished before August - just to be different I'm gonna try and release 2 games at the same time , each at opposite ends of the violence spectrum (the other WIP game is a kick-ass puzzle compo entry).


Van-B

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Posted: 26th May 2005 08:09
looks really great vanb.

AMD ATHLON 1.8 XP WITH AN GEFORCE 4 TITANIUM 4600 (128 MB) AND 256 MB DDRAM (266).

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