Sven Co-op: Pleasing Taste, Some Monsterism

SvenCo-op 2.0F Preview
25 May, 2002 | by Sven Viking

Creep's SvenCo-op has just published a hands-on preview of SvenCo-op v2.0 Final! Unlike their earlier "Maps of 2.0 Final" article, the preview contains details on some features that had been kept secret up to this point, including details on all four of the new monsters (that's not counting the two new zombie types, by the way)... as well as more general information.

By the way: If you've donated, but never got an E-mail asking for your WON ID and/or confirming that the ID had been added to the list, contact me, thanks! A couple of the E-mail addresses used for donating no longer exist, and I've never managed to get hold of one or two others.

Project Guilty 1.0 Released
19 May, 2002 | by Mad Jonesy

Just a short news update to let you know that MysticMDT has released version 1.0 of his long-awaited Project Guilty map series. I'm among a lot of people that have been waiting for this one for a while, this is by far one of the most exciting Sven Co-op releases this year.

The map pack features:

- 8 completely new and large maps
- Plenty of new textures, giving the maps a Ancient Feel
- Ancient and hightech maps.
- New gameplay with objectives to be achieved.
- Hours of Co-op play for large groups of players

Heres some screenshots to give you a idea of the sheer detail and design that has gone into this map series:

You can check the Project Guilty site out at projectguilty.com for more screenshots and for information.

We will be hosting the file on Svencoop.com as soon as possible, until then download it from one of the following mirrors (13.5MB):

Download From Fileplanet

Download From Exteme-Players.de (thanks Rincewind)

Download From CreepsWorld Sven Co-op (thanks Creeping Death)

Download from ProjectGuilty.com

If you have hosted the file or know of additional download locations, please e-mail me at Mad Jonesy@btinternet.com

Patience is a virtue
9 May, 2002 | by Mad Jonesy

Well, a little while since the last update, but we've all been too busy hammering away at 2.0 final to notice the news page needs updating. 2.0 Final isn't a million miles off, and we're definatly getting closer every day.

I don't like to make best guesses or estimates, but I'm going to say to expect 2.0 final within this month. If not, then early next month. Most of the coding is behind us, and we've finalised a large number of the models/maps. Just the last few files, bug fixes, the linux port and file uploading, then we're done.

Either me or Sven will post more details closer to the time. If we remember.

Until then, enjoy these screenshots of the new Robo Grunts. They're not exactly new, in that they've been used as a model replacement for the human grunt in a number of maps for 2.0 Beta. But the hardcoded version that features in 2.0 Final has a number of advantages. Think of them as a extremely tough version of your average grunt:

- Mostly immune to bullets. MP5 will only deal a small amount of damage compared to the normal grunts
- New sentence file and voice
- Both Friendly and Hostile skins
- Sparks when badly damaged
- When 'killed', they fall over in a cloud of smoke, then explode a few seconds later causing massive damage to anyone hanging around.

Enjoy the screenshots. We have distributed a few screenshots to both Hangar 16 and Creepsworld Sven Co-op. They show two new monsters not yet officially revealed. Any feedback on the Robo Grunts or those two new monsters? Post in the Forums

Creepsworld Sven Co-op has been updated with reviews of MegaMonsterMassacre and SvenCoopRPG. As well as revealing the winners of the Sven Co-op Birthday contest that started this time last week. The winners are as follows:

The following two have won the Golden Uzi's and Electric Crowbar in Sven Co-op 2.0f:
- Seth Arnoff a.k.a Seraphim from the USA
- Gerald Wagner a.k.a HoPPeR from Austria

The runners up (electric crowbar only) are as follows:

- John Sellen a.k.a JonnyUK from the UK
- Gilliaard Damme a.k.a DutchTux from The Netherlands

Congratulations to all, and thanks to Creepsworld for running the contest.

If you entered and didn't win, or just want the extra features in 2.0 final, then why not support Sven Co-op?

Check the support pageand donate $6 to get both features! At such low-low prices, how can you afford NOT to donate?!? (I feel so used)

SvenCo-op's Birthday, & a Contest!
2 May, 2002 | by Sven Viking

Hi all! I wasn't going to bother writing a news update, since Jonesy covered things quite thoroughly in his post...

While looking through old CDs for the SvenCo-op v1.0 readme file, however, I came across a really early backup of the SvenCo-op site, containing the first three news updates, and the first beta release. Up 'til now, I was certain that I'd lost all record of this period, and must admit that my recollections of the time were fuzzy at best.

Anyway, the ancient document which was the News page reveals that the first SvenCo-op public beta was actually released on the 19th of January, 1999... which would make SvenCo-op possibly the first Half-Life mod ever -- if it had, in fact, been a mod at that stage. As it happens, though, this original test release was hardly more than half a map (Half-Life was without mod support at this time, and no SDK had been released).

In any case, to celebrate the anniversary of the first non-beta release, I've uploaded the original SvenCo-op site, complete with files :). Some links won't work, but most of it is there. Should be interesting for both those who were actually 'there' at the time, and those who've discovered SvenCo-op more recently.

Click Here to view the v0.8b readme, or HERE for the v1.0 readme.

Just a few more things:

- How many of you know what this screenshot means? If you check the other links in this post, you may come across two more shots :).
- Remember to check out the SvenCo-op Birthday Competition on Creep's SvenCo-op, for a chance to win the Electric Crowbar and/or Gilded Uzis! See below for more information.
- Be sure to read Mad Jonesy's news post, below, for a brief history of SvenCo-op as well as other news!

Happy SvenCo-op Day, everyone!! ;)

Update: I notice that 3D Action Planet has just published a SvenCo-op Review! They seem to think that it's 2.0 Final that they're reviewing, unfortunately, but apart from that it's a great review -- click the above link to head over there. Another update: The 2.0 thing has now been corrected :D.

The early days
2 May, 2002 | by Mad Jonesy

Bit of a irregular news update today, in that I'm going to cover the old news other than the new news. There is a reason for it though, other than the lack of anything important to talk about and me scraping filler material.m

Sven Co-op 1.0

3 years to this day, on May 2 1999, Sven Co-op 1.0 was released to the public to approximately two dedicated waiting fans. Over the next few weeks before 1.2's release, over 2,500 copies of Sven Co-op 1.0 were downloaded off fileplanet. Now we sometimes clear that a day in site hits. Scary.

The 1.0 release included one map (a early version of svencoop1.bsp) and the mod team included Sven. Early days.
He made the mod, he updated the news page, he organised the files. He was the whole mod until a large number of people got interested and team members started joining. Its to his credit that he carried on with it, otherwise this community that has built up over the past three years wouldn't have existed and we'd all probably be playing TFC or CS.

There ain't that much stuff on 1.0 due to Fileplanet taking the file down, so I shall shift onto 1.2, the one that really started it all.

Sven Co-op 1.2

Sven Co-op 1.2 was the version that got me playing, as it was the first version (and the second mod) to score a PHL Mod of the Week award on the 25th of October 1999 which got a lot of people interested. Read the low-down on 1.2 here:

http://www.planethalflife.com/features/motw/svencoop.shtm

Although not including any features (due to the lack of a dedicated coder), 1.2 was the first version that included a lot of the custom maps people have made for the mod. After the release of 1.0, a number of mappers took interest and started mapping for the mod, these were the true pioneers of Sven Co-op, notably Socrates, who created Garghunt and Horde, and set out the structure for the vast numbers of arena maps to follow. So what would your average Sven Co-op 1.2 player be playing at the time?

The line-up included:

SvenCoop1.bsp

Svensingle1.bsp

Stadium.bsp

Horde.bsp

Garghnt.bsp

Gargpit.bsp

Marines.bsp

You can read the 1.2 readme file here:
1.2 Readme file

This was the last release Sven worked on alone, after 1.2 was released, the team expanded to include Bigguy (coder), Light_dud(slightly unstable assistant coder) and Maniac (2d art and webmaster). They worked on Sven Co-op 1.3 and it was successfully released on the 12th of December 1999.

Sven Co-op 1.3

After the release, the mod team then started up on 1.9 (at that time called 1.4), before all falling to mysterious and strange fates, creating the idea that the mod was cursed. Among other things, Light_dud was arrested for assault and did some jail time, BigGuy's PC blew up, leaving us without coder (and source) for at least 9 months and Maniac took a ego overdose which led the 'team' at that time (basicly Sven and Me) to move him off the mod team to protect our own sanity.

You can read the 1.3 readme file here:
1.3 Readme file

That readme file lists all of the included maps and the mod team at the time.

Inbetween, to improve our situation even more, Sven Co-op 1.3 was broken by v1.1 of Half-Life, along with every other mod. We didn't have a coder at that time, so things looked bad. Luckily a quick version of Sven Co-op was released (1.35) but with limited features and without config file support. It was basic, but people kept playing.

The following years

Really, Maniacs departure was the end of the good ol' days of Sven Co-op. Sniper got involved with the mod as Maniac's replacement and improved vastly on upon him in more ways than one. He then led us to Another1, who used the source we recently got from BigGuy to create 1.9. Sven Co-op was out of the dark ages, and into popularity. Its been a hell of a ride for all involved, but the biggest turns are still to come with 2.0f and 3.0. You ain't seen nothing yet.

Thanks to Web Archive. This was useful in digging up the old readme files and checking out retro Sven Co-op. If you have never seen this before, prepare to be amazed.

Also, I used the news archive a lot in making this news post, if you are interested in the history of the mod and have nothing better to do, check it out here:
SC news archive

As part of the Celebrations, Creeps Sven Co-op are running a Sven Co-op competition.

If you want to get your hands onto the exclusive donator features as shown on the support page, Creeps Sven Co-op are running a competition endorsed by us, where a bunch of players can win the features, as well get mentioned on the news page.

So if you are unable or unwilling to donate, but still want to show off on servers, over at Creeps Sven Co-op is your best chance before 2.0 Final. They also have a large map review database, and tend to update a lot more than either me or Sven can be bothered to. So its one to keep your eye on.