As addressed in the 5th anniversary sale announcement, the development builds pertaining to The Wastes post-RC1 and pre-game revival are now available to download! If you have any official or community content from Wasteland HL, The Wastes, and/or any of the mods related to the lineage of the mod, then please reach out to us at "archive (at) [noparse]vera-visions.com"[/noparse] Previous news post has been updated to have links to the content. We will also provide links here for convenience:

The Wastes RC2

Files: The Wastes 2.0 Build 213 (TW2-BIN-070304.exe) archive.org | ModDB.com Dryland (tw_dryland.zip) archive.org | ModDB.com Hades Apparatus (tw_hades.zip) - This file was provided only as a folder and will be repackaged as a result. archive.org | ModDB.com

Wasteland Half-Life 2

Files: Wasteland Half-Life 2 Alpha 1 (WHL2A1.zip) archive.org | ModDB.com Arlisto (rawr.rar) archive.org | ModDB.com

The Wastes: Source

Files: The Wastes: Source Beta 1 (thewastes_dev_full_20050829.exe) archive.org | ModDB.com The Wastes: Source Beta 2 (thewastes_dev_full_20050901.exe) archive.org | ModDB.com The Wastes: Source R1 Development Build 22 (thewastes_dev_full_0.1.22.exe) archive.org | ModDB.com The Wastes: Source R1 Development Build 28 (thewastes_dev_full_0.1.28.exe) archive.org | ModDB.com The Wastes: Source R1 Development Build 29 (thewastes_dev_full_0.1.29.exe) archive.org | ModDB.com

[ 2023-04-12 18:37:52 CET ] [ Original post ]

Greetings, Wastelander...

We're currently running a 90% off sale for The Wastes to celebrate the 5th anniversary for The Wastes (2018)! This also corresponds with the 23rd anniversary of the original mod release of Wasteland Half-Life! This sale will last from April 10th, 2023 to April 17th, 2023. On top of the sale, we also are releasing recovered internal development builds from after the release of The Wastes RC1.4! Special thanks to Alex 'Ubar' Batten for unearthing these builds! Without him these builds would strictly be stuck being nothing more than screenshots and old news posts. These builds will be released on April 12th, 2023. They are set to unlock at 12:00PM UTC+00:00 on ModDB and will be uploaded to [noparse]archive.org[/noparse] shortly afterwards.

Here's an overview of the builds we have to release:

The Wastes RC2

Files: The Wastes 2.0 Build 213 (TW2-BIN-070304.exe) Dryland (tw_dryland.zip) Hades Apparatus (tw_hades.zip) - This file was provided only as a folder and will be repackaged as a result. The Wastes RC2 (officially known as The Wastes 2.0) was the direct follow up to The Wastes RC1.4 that intended to update the mod to be fully compatible with the Steam release of Half-Life. The Wastes RC2 was announced on March 7th, 2004 with a good chunk of the RC1 team returning. This revision of the mod intended to expand the mod by introducing brand new game modes and to start implementing game modes and ideas originally intended for Wasteland Half-Life Beta 3.
Design Document for The Wastes RC2 shown above is provided by Alex 'Kruddman' Yao. The Wastes RC2 lasted over 5 months before being canceled on August 27th, 2004. Our build is from about a month (July 3rd, 2004) before the announcement of The Wastes 2.0's cancellation. While it appears that the new game modes are absent in our build, it does contain the two maps from Leo 'Pyroquantre' Lipasti that were shown off in the news posts: Salvage and Dryland. Salvage:

Dryland:

Also provided with The Wastes RC2 files is an earlier version of Hades Apparatus. This map is not playable in the provided The Wastes RC2 build as it was intended for use in Capture the Flag, which is absent in the build. Rob 'slipi' Loboda has released Hades Apparatus on The Whole Half-Life back in December, 2020 with the original source files and design documents pertaining to the map. We will be releasing the slightly earlier version in addition to the rest of the files. The Wastes RC2 also contains music for Edward 'aufo' Fuller's map Silo by Sam 'Potshot' Allen. Said track was only known to exist thanks to archived IRC logs and was thought to be missing. This track will be added into The Wastes (2018) in an upcoming update to the game.

Wasteland Half-Life 2

Files: Wasteland Half-Life 2 Alpha 1 (WHL2A1.zip) Arlisto (rawr.rar) After the release of Dead Cities for Battlefield 1942, Ted 'The_Postman' Anderson and several other Wasteland alumni returned to the land of Half-Life. Their return was incredibly short lived, however. Announced on November 11th, 2004 and seemingly discontinued less than 2 months later. Not much was known about Wasteland HL2 prior to this build. We knew that there was a map named "Arlisto" by Rob 'Zazi' Kermes and not much beyond that... Arlisto:

Even with this build in hands, we still are left with questions on whether or not this was all that was truly made for the modification or if this is all that ever ended up in a build. Regardless, we're glad that something survived for this iteration of the project.

The Wastes: Source

Files: The Wastes: Source Beta 1 (thewastes_dev_full_20050829.exe) The Wastes: Source Beta 2 (thewastes_dev_full_20050901.exe) The Wastes: Source R1 Development Build 22 (thewastes_dev_full_0.1.22.exe) The Wastes: Source R1 Development Build 28 (thewastes_dev_full_0.1.28.exe) The Wastes: Source R1 Development Build 29 (thewastes_dev_full_0.1.29.exe) Despite the team stating that there's no plans for The Wastes to be on Valve's upcoming Source Engine during the development of The Wastes RC2; 2005 brought us The Wastes: Source. On October 7th, 2005, The Wastes: Source was announced. This iteration of The Wastes was in development for nearly a whole year. Ultimately, the team realized it was time to move on as all of their adult lives were starting and there wasn't much time left for them to maintain The Wastes anymore. This is where The Wastes' story ended, until Vera Visions took up the helm nearly 10 years after the death of The Wastes: Source! The latest build we have is from April 1st, 2006, which is just under 2 months before the mod's cancellation. Contains only 3 maps: Carousel, Mahlstrom, and Toxic. The mod was getting close to being on par to the gameplay seen in The Wastes RC1, but it still had a ways to go before it could have been released. The build is lacking any player models and is using really rough ports of the original weapon models from TW RC1. Carousel:

Carousel was made by Leo 'Pyroquantre' Lipasti and Rob 'slipi' Loboda originally for the Half-Life 2 Deathmatch mapping contest that took place from November 30th, 2004 to January 15th, 2005. The map was ultimately repurposed and modified for The Wastes: Source. The original mapping contest version is uploaded on The Whole Half-Life along with its source files by Rob 'slipi' Loboda. Leo 'Pyroquantre' Lipasti would also release the version intended for The Wastes: Source and his other TW: Source maps converted for use in Half-Life 2: Deathmatch after the death of The Wastes: Source alongside announcing his retirement from mapping as a whole. Mahlstrom:

Mahlstrom is a faithful remake of a Wasteland Half-Life custom map by Martin 'MGPalmer' Tepper of the same name. A later version appears to exist depicting some radical changes, however that version is currently lost. Toxic:

Toxic is a remake and re-imagining of a map originally intended for The Wastes RC2 by Leo 'Pyroquantre' Lipasti. This map was also provided with Carousel and Mejico (a map absent from the builds of TW: Source we have) in the HL2DM ports that Leo 'Pyroquantre' Lipasti released after the mod's death.

Current events

The past couple of months we have been spending time getting the website of The Wastes back online. We re-launched the main website on March 17th, 2023 with as many news posts, images, and downloads recovered as possible. Currently in the pipeline are the websites to Barter Town and Dead Cities. Barter Town was the community-run subdomain for Wasteland HL add-ons. While most custom content prominently was hosted on the forums, Barter Town did host various content for Wasteland HL. We plan on restoring it and hosting as much custom content made and released for Wasteland HL, The Wastes (mod), and The Wastes (2018). Dead Cities was Ted 'The_Postman' Anderson and Tom 'Mr. Blonde' Richardson's take of Wasteland HL/The Wastes on Battlefield 1942. The mod managed to achieve 2 releases and had a very snazzy website. We saw it worthwhile to put it back online. We've also launched a Matrix room for The Wastes! Come join in and talk about TW! https://matrix.to/#/#wastes:voip.vera-visions.com

The future of The Wastes

We've been actively working on a roadmap for upcoming updates for The Wastes and planning out major changes for upcoming major updates. We'll be ready to talk about these updates in a few months, so keep an eye out for that. One of the major focuses of this update post is archival of The Wastes' history, ranging from old development builds to TW to the community's content made for the mod. This is very important to us as time forgot both Wasteland HL and The Wastes and we want to make sure the history of TW is recovered. If you have any official or community content from Wasteland HL, The Wastes, and/or any of the mods related to the lineage of the mod, then please reach out to us at "archive (at) [noparse]vera-visions.com"[/noparse] We hope to see you soon on the wasteland, but until then... Keep on fragging! ~ Vera Visions & Cobalt-57

[ 2023-04-10 17:03:50 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello everyone! Hope you're enjoying the current Steam Summer Sale. We have a patch for you all that will address some bugs. General bug fixes:

• Fixed that the Rouge Snapper did not un-zoom when reloading
• Fixed that on some occasions, players cannot change the level when the intermission screen is up
• Fixed that the ammo crate would never close during normal game-play
• Fixed weapon layering on the spawn menu
• Fixed being able to save/test a mission without any valid spawn points
• Minor rendering fixes to Plague, moved some graffiti around
• Minor speed boost for the ropes
• Minor improvements in the engine, especially with the way item their pulse effect is drawn
• Misc precaching fixes

Additions, or other changes:

• Added option for crouch toggle, check the controls menu (the cvar is cl_crouch_toggle)
• More precise mouse sensitivity settings. You can now do 1/10th increments.
• Adjusted spawn ammo to make the Extra Ammo option more significant

The demo has been updated to contain most of these fixes as well, wherever they may apply. We'll be making more changes the coming days to address all of your feedback that you're leaving on the Steam Forums, as well as our IRC - which you can join via the game's builtin chat. Thank you all for your support! - Vera Visions

[ 2022-06-27 20:05:23 CET ] [ Original post ]

Greetings, Wastelander...

We're happy to say that The Wastes v1.3 is now available to the public! It has been a tough 3 years but we've finally managed to get the update out there. We'll like to go over all that has been done to expand and improve upon the game at hand.

Singleplayer Content

While it may not be in our scope to bring a full fledged singleplayer campaign/story to the game, we at least wanted to provide a singleplayer solution. We've added a few features to give players something to do when no one is duking it out online.

Skirmish

Skirmish is a Singleplayer version of Multiplayer. No more need to start up a server in MP and fill the entire server with nothing but bots. We've also added a Quick Play button for those who don't want to pick out what rules they want to skirmish to.

Bounties

Bounties are official missions that tie together to paint a general narrative. Choose your own path and alliance. We wish to expand on bounties in later updates, so expect more to come in the future!

User Missions

Build your own scenarios to battle it out in. Want to do a beer run in Recotta? You got it! Want to steal wheels from Junkyard? Nothing is stopping you! Want to nab that pesky radio in Plague? More power to you! Want to start an all out nuclear war in Snowbound? Hey man, I don't make the rules!

Multiplayer Content

We've have a few new changes to Multiplayer at hand. Some may be permanent changes, some may change in future updates.

New Gamemode: Team Anarchy

You guys asked, we listened. We heard your request for a classic Team DM gamemode and here it is. No strings attached. Two teams, one goal; beat the other into oblivion.

New Gamemode: Invasion

The Loonies are flooding into the Wasteland and its you and your team's goal to make sure they do not over take your land.

New Gamemode: Cooperative Missions

Remember those custom missions we mentioned back in the Singleplayer section? Yeah, you can play them with your friends cooperatively online. Perhaps your squad can be the last survivors in your nuclear holocaust!

New Feature: Peer-to-Peer Servers powered by ICE

Look, we get it! Opening ports to host a server is way too much hassle for people who want to setup a quick game. But now with the latest update, you are no longer required to do that! With ICE (Interactive Connectivity Establishment) you can just set up a server and get people in. It is as simple as that. We handle what's needed to get your server seen to others. But don't worry, you can still fall back onto port forwarding!

New Maps!

And most importantly, new maps! You'll get to play with 6 additional maps!

Junkyard

Junkyard is based upon the map done by Edward 'aufo' Fuller back in the final RC release for the original mod version of The Wastes. That version of the map was based upon the map "Junk" by Stuart 'Mr. Bunwah' Maine that released with Wasteland HL all of the way back in the Beta 1 release. Edward's Junkyard changed a bit of the layout of Stuart's Junkyard; and we've changed the layout a lot compared to the both of them. Made the map have less tight hallways and removed a chunk of the map to streamline the layout.

Plague

Plague is based upon the map done Ted 'Postman' Anderson back in the first RC release of the mod version of The Wastes. Unlike the original map by Ted, our Plague takes place in a nuclear tundra!

Oil Rig

Unlike many maps seen in The Wastes, this map is actually made entirely in-house. This map puts you onto an abandoned Oil Rig out in the middle of the ocean. Duke it out to claim it as your own.

The Pit

The Pit is based upon Stuart 'Mr. Bunwah' Maine's "The Rad Pits" from Wasteland HL beta 1. We've done away with the toxic wastes and fine tuned the layout to keep the combat concentrated in the center of the map. Fun Fact: Stuart would later use the map as a base for a singleplayer HL mod known as "Aftermath."

Silo

SIlo is based upon the map done by Edward 'aufo' Fuller back in the first RC release of the mod version of The Wastes. As stated in earlier announcements, we remove a lot of the loops that were in the original map to make it a lot more straight forward to navigate through the Silo. Fun Fact: Silo has a missing music track done by Sam 'Potshot' Allen for the unreleased The Wastes RC2.0 version of the mod. If you know the whereabouts of this track, get it touch with us!

Mahlstrom

Mahlstrom is based upon the community map by Martin 'MGPalmer' Tepper for the original Wasteland HL mod. The map is a pretty straight forward arena to duke it out in. Fun Fact: Mahlstrom was one of the maps being made for the canceled The Wastes: Source! It is unknown who was the author of the recreation of the map. We take more inspiration from the original version by Martin.

Sale! Sale! Sale!

Yes! The Wastes will be put on sale to coincide with both the Summer Sale and our v1.3 update! It is 75% off of asking price! We were avoiding previous sales due to the poor state that v1.2 was in. But now that v1.3 is now officially out, expect the game to actually go on sale more consistently.

Shareware Demo

The Wastes v1.3 will also ship with a shareware demo! It is a completed version of TWTest. The same maps and content that was available in TWTest but with the final code and assets of v1.3. We also will be updating the shareware demo alongside the full game. The shareware demo can only play with other shareware demo users and can't play anything beyond what is provided in the demo.

Beyond v1.3

With the massive rewrite that v1.3 went through, we now benefit from any patch that our project "Nuclide" receives. Meaning there will be many mini-patches down the line that will fix bugs in TW v1.3! As for a major content update, we'll have to wait and see. There's a lot we still want to do with The Wastes but we need to plan out how we want to handle it. There's a bit of stuff that was left on the cutting room floor for this update just to make sure we could finally get it out without constantly ballooning the scope. We do plan on revisiting that content, but that's all in do time.

Closing Thoughts

Thanks to everyone in the community that helped us playtest this massive update. It's essentially been reworked from the ground up to enable smoother network play and easier integration of future quality of life updates. This article doesn't even manage to mention everything that we've added into v1.3, like the new vehicles or even the new player model by Alex 'Kruddman' Yao! There's a lot new here, you should load up the game and check it out for yourself! We look forward to what the future entails! Hopefully it won't take 3 years this time. ;) We hope to see you soon on the wasteland, but until then... Keep on fragging! ~ Vera Visions & Cobalt-57

[ 2022-06-23 17:06:57 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello everyone, here's the change-log for the build of today! Thanks to everyone who reported bugs and features last week.

• Fixed bug where the server browser was reporting wrong max-player info
• Fixed the spectator camera not displaying zoom levels for targets
• Fixed weapons not displaying when spectating a player in first-person
• Fixed akimbo's not rendering properly in first-person
• Fixed map description taking too long to scroll in
• Fixed some maps, on some surfaces, wrongfully emitting steam
• Fixed that dropped items and pouches do not glow
• Fixed the camera sliding away when dying on a slope
• Fixed the black texture on the car in tw_dune
• Fixed the 'RESET' button in the menu not resetting controls
• Fixed the grenade cooking timer not being unset when dying/switching
• Fixed the AI following dead players and spectators
• Fixed a decal in tw_plague casting a shadow
• Fixed the missing wood texture on plants in tw_plague
• Added requested feature: auto-reload when empty
• Added Katana wielding Looney
• Added overlays for when you're underwater, in slime, or lava
• Added stories for most other maps
• Updated mapcycle to incldue all FFA/Anarchy maps
• Fixed the Katana quick-switch abuse
• Despawn flames when a round in Team Chaos restarts
• Recompiled all the maps
• Make the lighting in tw_pits less bright
• Ammo crate now only changes loadout in Invasion when holding down USE
• The flashlight has now been changed to the classic lighter
• The glows on pickups and usable objects has been changed to a pulse, as it's more visible
• Countless small map changes and fixes.

[ 2022-06-10 22:58:16 CET ] [ Original post ]

Come join us tomorrow as we hold a play testing session for the v1.3 Open Beta on July 10th, 2022 at 8PM EST/5PM PDT to 9PM EST/6PM PDT! This play test will only occur for a hour opposed to the 3 hours that we typically run the play test for. If you have previously played The Wastes on Steam, make sure you go into your "My Games/The Wastes/wastes" inside of your documents and delete the config file! Otherwise, you will experience issues with running the game!

[ 2022-06-09 21:26:25 CET ] [ Original post ]

We have released an update for The Wastes v1.3 Open Beta. Changes in this update are:

• BCG-1 now fires twice as fast.
• Fixed Tier 3 (Primary) Weapons appearing in-world on Invasion matches.
• Added client variable "g_invasion_waves," defaults to 10.
• Server and Map name will now scroll horizontally in the menus.
• Dawn Hawk max firing rate has been nerf'd a little.
• Brenetta now is fully automatic, instead of semi-automatic.
• Fixed glitch on the Shotguns that would allow you to shoot as fast as the Model 20.
• Miscellaneous Main Menu changes.

[ 2022-06-04 01:50:15 CET ] [ Original post ]

Come join us tomorrow as we hold a major play testing session for the v1.3 Open Beta on June 3rd, 2022 at 10PM EST/7PM PDT to 1AM EST/9PM PDT! We will be focusing on game play balance during this play test! If you have previously played The Wastes on Steam, make sure you go into your "My Games/The Wastes/wastes" inside of your documents and delete the config file! Otherwise, you will experience issues with running the game!

[ 2022-06-03 02:11:15 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello everyone! We have a changelog for the 1.3beta branch to share with you! General changes: - Melee weapons now 'swing' across the screen with multiple hitscan checks instead of just one. This should make the melee gameplay even more enjoyable - Fixed pogo-stick like firing with the burst-fire mode of the SMG-9 and the US-R16 - Fixed some bugs on the Winston, related to aiming down the sights and idle states - Fixed bullet decals on Tile and Wood surfaces - Fixed line-break for map credits in the menu - Fixed the Night Hawk having a missing texture on the akimbo player model attachment - Fixed Akimbo guns reloading instantly - Fixed that the RC Bomb Car can be deployed inside of a player, or other entity - Fixed a crash that happens when you try to select a weapon when dead, or when you're inbetween the state of having a weapon in your hand without actually having it in inventory - Fixed the frag grenade from not being able to be held down - During Intermission, we now go back to the camera system you see in the spawn menu instead of being stuck in first-person - Added detail textures to the game. You can disable them in the Video Options menu as well Singleplayer: - Added Skirmish sub-menu - Added Edit Profile sub-menu, the editing functionality will be taken out for the final build however (it will become a 'preview' instead) - Polished some visuals for consistency, moved plenty of things around - Attributes and character model should now be respected properly across the game Multiplayer: - Added 'Disable ICE' option, for when you need to host a game for over 8 players - Updated the interface for choosing your team - Several minor interface changes Invasion: - Looney's now use a new logic to determine if a player is visible, which should minimize them teleporting away in front of your eyes - Looney spawn count per round now correlates to how many players are playing, this will increase the total amount of Looneys spawned - Changed the slow-mo timer to work better on dedicated servers - Looney's now are gradually dropped into a 'Wave' instead of spawning all at once - Looney's should now seek out the nearest player whenever they need a new target Editor/Mission: - Added item\_pouch, which is like an ammo crate but in pickup form that can be placed around the map - You are now able to set the reserve ammo you spawn with in the Editor - Several interface code improvements, mainly for text-fields and windowing - Pickups should no longer pass through a floor on plague and on other maps Vehicular Carnage: - The mode has been redone to incorporate a never ending stream of Looneys that you need to squish. Please give feedback as we're still trying things out - Cars now can no longer flip over - Players will now 'die' with the vehicle Maps: - The Dunes: Fixed wall collision bug in some areas of the map - Grime Base: Fixed the water sometimes appearing fully black - Plagued Hospital: Fixed the radio being pitch black all the time Bots: - Added 'Clan Tag' option for them in the menu - Added filters for which category of weapons they can use Engine: - Recompiled engine binaries for Linux 32-bit and 64-bit. The 64-bit binary links against SDL2, the 32-bit one links against GLX. This should hopefully run better on older/stable distributions

[ 2022-05-28 02:23:04 CET ] [ Original post ]

Come join us tomorrow as we hold a major play testing session for the v1.3 Open Beta on May 27th, 2022 at 10PM EST/7PM PDT to 1AM EST/9PM PDT! If you have previously played The Wastes on Steam, make sure you go into your "My Games/The Wastes/wastes" inside of your documents and delete the config file! Otherwise, you will experience issues with running the game!

[ 2022-05-26 23:02:52 CET ] [ Original post ]

We apologize for the inconvenience but a build is not ready to ship for this week. We've been hard at work getting Singleplayer finalized and gearing up to get v1.3 ready. See you all next week on Friday, May 27th, 2022 at 2PM PDT/5PM EST to 5PM PDT/8PM EST!

[ 2022-05-20 19:38:07 CET ] [ Original post ]

We have released an update for The Wastes v1.3 Open Beta. Changes in this update are:

• Fix wonky sprinting with the Dusters.
• Spear now plays its Idle animations.
• Rouge Snapper, Desert Seagull, and the Winchester now allow you to melee when empty.
• Add Auto-Weapon Switch to the Controls menu.
• Added round time-out for Team Chaos (they'll last 5 minutes max.)
• Spawn-menu now allows you to temporarily set your attributes, like in old versions of TW.
• Impact decals now render better across decal/special surfaces without z-fighting.
• Flamethrower now will skip armor, and apply more damage when touching the flame directly.
• Molotov will now spawn fire-bits at the impact-area, making it more useful for calculated throws.
• Added weapon pickup notifications.
• Misc fixes from upstream Nuclide.

Map related fixes: Mahlstrom:

• Added map!

Silo:

• Fixed Indicator Lights/Sprites.
• Fixed Doors in missile room.
• Now uses Source I/O entity logic.
• Added "weapon_stengun" to the map.
• Added "netnames" for triggers that cause death.
• Added music track.

Snowbound:

• Added Map!
• Now features a new gameplay element, a nuclear bomb that can be triggered, and avoided by staying in the bunker.
• Replaced old textured fence with model variant.

Misc:

• Changed and updated skullpoles in Grime and Valley.

[ 2022-05-13 23:19:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

We're running very slightly behind schedule with today's patch, so we're delaying the play test by 2 hours. However, the play test WILL still be going on today! Come join us! It will run from 4PM PDT/7PM EST to 7PM PDT/10PM EST instead of 2PM PDT/5PM EST to 5PM PDT/8PM EST. If you have previously played The Wastes on Steam, make sure you go into your "My Games/The Wastes/wastes" inside of your documents and delete the config file! Otherwise, you will experience issues with running the game!

[ 2022-05-13 21:01:18 CET ] [ Original post ]

We're currently holding a major play testing session for the v1.3 Open Beta! Come join us! If you have previously played The Wastes on Steam, make sure you go into your "My Games/The Wastes/wastes" inside of your documents and delete the config file! Otherwise, you will experience issues with running the game!

[ 2022-05-06 20:58:12 CET ] [ Original post ]

Greetings, Wastelander...

We're happy to announce that we're releasing the Open Beta for The Wastes v1.3! As previously stated during the end of TWTest, this Open Beta will only be available to Steam users and will not be available to TWTest shareware users. If you opted into the "1.3beta" depot during the TWTest phase of development, then the Open Beta should install itself as soon as it is pushed to Steam. If you had not opted into the "1.3beta" depot during the TWTest phase of development, then you need to follow these steps: [olist]

Right click onto The Wastes in your Steam Library and select "Properties..."

In the Properties menu, you should see a section named "Beta."

Inside you should see a pop down option with "None" on it.

Click on it and select the "1.3beta" option (as photographed below) and Steam will start downloading the v1.3 Open Beta build when made available.

From there, you should be able to launch the game and start fragging. [/olist]
If you have previously played The Wastes on Steam, make sure you go into your "My Games/The Wastes/wastes" inside of your documents and delete the config file! Otherwise, you will experience issues with running the game!

What to expect the v1.3 Open Beta?

You should expect to see a build similar to TWTest. However, there's been a few things that have been either re-implemented from v1.2 that were missing in TWTest or are brand new to v1.3! It will also contain more maps than TWTest. Now, of course, we will be pushing out active update to the Open Beta til we're ready to ship the final product. There's still features we still have to get back into the game and new features we want to get in before this update is complete. We will be holding a massive play test every Friday from 2PM PDT/5PM EST to 5PM PDT/8PM EST until the official release of TW v1.3. We expect to hold the first massive play test today! We want to hear your feedback on the game during and from these play test sessions. Don't like a feature? Think something is lacking? Think a part of a level needs adjusted? We want to hear it! We want to make The Wastes v1.3 an enjoyable experience!

We are listening! Please voice your feedback!

You can reach us at: The Wastes' IRC: Server: [noparse]irc.frag-net.com:6667[/noparse] Channel: #wastes Steam Discussions We look forward to hearing your thoughts on the latest update of The Wastes! Hopefully the wait for the full release isn't much longer. We hope to see you soon on the wasteland, but until then... Keep on fragging! ~ Vera Visions & Cobalt-57

[ 2022-05-06 20:48:01 CET ] [ Original post ]

We're currently holding a major play testing session for TWTest before discontinuation of the build! Come invite your friends! TWTest is shareware! TWTest Shareware available here: https://www.vera-visions.com/twtest.html

[ 2022-04-22 20:49:56 CET ] [ Original post ]

We have released an update for TWTest. Changes in this update are:

• Fix that you can't see team players' names through glass.
• Breakables and other entities are now visibly on fire.
• Plenty of menu changes and fixes to bring it up to date with new commands and CVars.
• Fixes for invasion mode, fixed an infinite loop error for when loonies fail to find a decent spawn point.
• Scrandolini now gibs and dismembers like the other players.
• Changes to the Willpower buff; You now can gain willpower when killing someone while on fire, or when killing an NPC.
• Several map changes, to improve clipping.
• Pistols will now play the proper animation to return from a non-aiming position for when you want to melee with them.
• Camera system will now stop complaining in console.
• Melee weapons now cast proper impacts.

[ 2022-04-22 20:42:46 CET ] [ Original post ]

We will be holding a major play testing event on April 22nd, 2022 for TWTest! This will be the final stress test for TWTest before discontinuation.

What does this mean for Steam users?

After TWTest has elapsed the "1.3beta" depot will be converted into the Open Beta for The Wastes v1.3! We will start rolling out new features and maps to the branch and users can continue testing and providing feedback for the update. We will we announce when the Open Beta will commence at the later date.

What does this mean for Shareware users?

After TWTest has elapsed, there will be no further updates to the shareware build. Shareware users will not be able to connect to the Open Beta servers nor be able to update their files to match with the Open Beta. All shareware users are welcome to join and test along with us for this final event! Both the Steam and Shareware build support Peer to Peer connectivity and we welcome Steam users to invite their friends with the Shareware build (assuming they do not own the game.) The Shareware build is located here: https://www.vera-visions.com/twtest.html We will be releasing TWTest Revision 5 tomorrow, so hold off on downloading the build for tomorrow's play test until then. However, everyone is still welcome to checkout TWTest Revision 4 in the meantime! We look forward to seeing you all in the wasteland! ~ Vera Visions & Cobalt-57

[ 2022-04-21 22:27:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

We have released an update for TWTest. Changes in this update are:

• Renamed "info_player_spectate" to "info_player_spectator."
• Weapon models attached to players don't render twice anymore.
• Items/weapons no longer respawn in mission mode.
• Objective Gas Pump now explodes to demonstrate that it's been destroyed.
• FN-FAL reload animation has been tweaked slightly and timing has been adjusted accordingly.
• Shotguns are no longer overpowered.
• Spear now can have up to 3 pickups.
• The Spear no longer gets stuck in corpses, or in the air when impacting a player.
• Machete no longer gets stuck like the Spear either.
• Machete will now bounce when it doesn't collide with a wall head-on.
• Thrown Machete pickup will now disappear after 10 seconds.
• Spray logos now respect the chosen color.
• You can no longer fire weapons the exact frame you pick them up while holding down primary fire.
• Saving a mission will now immediately update the mission list in the Main Menu.
• Added "item_armor" to the editor, removed the armor text input field from the Editor UI.
• Ammo Crates spawned in the editor now align to the floor properly.
• The Dusters attack animations are no longer cut off when releasing the fire button.
• Loonies in Invasion will now have better teleportation check.
• Added message for when you die during an active round of Invasion that you'll respawn next wave.
• Added message for when you're trying to change loadout while alive.
• Fixed lightmap corruption that happens after a few level changes.
• Recompiled Skull Poles.

[ 2022-04-20 01:35:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

We have released an update for TWTest. Changes in this update are:

• Spectating dead players is no longer a thing. spectating as a whole is a bit more polished.
• In Invasion you'd occasionally get shot into orbit when getting a duplicate item, that has been fixed.
• Added "sv_friendlyfire," which defaults to 0.
• Team overlay now properly visible in all team modes, including Invasion.
• Bots now properly queue in Team Anarchy when bots are set via the main menu.
• Disconnecting a game of Invasion will no longer soft-lock the match.
• Fixed wrong caliber HUD description for the Rogue Snapper and Dawn Hawk (akimbo mode.)
• Fixed being able to spawn the RC Bomb Car inside a wall.
• Fixed RC Bomb Car kills not being reported properly.
• Friendly fire is now being properly accounted for in scoring.

[ 2022-04-19 05:11:59 CET ] [ Original post ]

Greetings, Wastelander...

It has been a long time in the making... But the wait is almost over! The Wastes v1.3 is finally nearing the end of development! We have opened the flood gates to allow players to play test and give feedback on progress to our latest update. In order to opt in to the play test, you have to right click onto The Wastes in your Steam Library and select "Properties..." In the Properties menu, you should see a section named "Beta," and inside you should see a pop down option with "None" on it. Click on it and select the "1.3beta" option (as photographed below) and Steam will start downloading the v1.3 Play Test build. From there, you should be able to launch the game and start fragging.
Keep in mind this is a TEST and does NOT represent the final update! We need your feedback to fine tune the game and make sure no nasty bugs end up in the final product! We STRONGLY recommend you read the "TWTest_Instructions_Readme.txt" provided with the build. This document states useful information about the build, several known issues, and where to report bugs. This test contains 5 playable maps, 5 Game Modes, and the new mission editor for Single Player and Cooperative game play!

The Dunes:

The Finale:

Grime:

Junkyard:

Plagued Hospital:

We are listening! Please voice your feedback!

You can reach us at: The Wastes' IRC: Server: [noparse]irc.frag-net.com:6667[/noparse] Channel: #wastes Steam Discussions We look forward to hearing your thoughts on the latest update of The Wastes! Hopefully the wait for the full release isn't much longer. We've also made it available for everyone. You can get a build from our own website. https://www.vera-visions.com/twtest.html We hope to see you soon on the wasteland, but until then... Keep on fragging! ~ Vera Visions & Cobalt-57

[ 2022-04-18 00:21:09 CET ] [ Original post ]

[previewyoutube=etb_hVxckHU;full][/previewyoutube] Hello everyone. We really wanted to ship the update today and things are very close to releasing here shortly. Unfortunately some unexpected events in life happened at around the time of our scheduled release. This largely affected testing as the core game is done. What we need is a little more time to fix some very important technical and implementation issues affecting the two platforms we support to make sure things will go smooth on launch. Here's what we'll do to make sure this happens as soon as possible: Over the course of this week we'll be making a beta version of this update available to ensure everything works as expected. The build will most likely not have all the audio features (EAX/OpenAL EFX) available at launch. This is one of the many technical issues affecting the release. Testing with such a small team is a difficult and daunting task, but some of you have already offered help with testing on our IRC channel. Thank you! We cannot wait to give you all access to what we've been building later this week. In the meantime, the video above should give you a good showcase of what you can look forward to. Now it's time for us to get back to work. Please stay healthy and safe. If you want to ask any more questions, and get to know us, we're available around the IRC channel #wastes on irc.frag-net.com. Stick around if we don't respond immediately! Thank you for your patience, Marco and Gethyn of Vera Visions

[ 2022-04-12 23:31:10 CET ] [ Original post ]

Everyone at Vera Visions wishes our players a Happy New Year! It's been a long time since we've put out an official update in written form, so we'll start off strong by giving you a hard-date of when The Wastes 1.3 will ship: April 12th, the 4th anniversary of our game.

What's been going on?

The personal bits: The pandemic brought a lot of challenges. Since the beginning we haven't been able to work together in person. Only in November 2021 were foreigners admitted back into the United States. So we've been together again since December. This had mental consequences as well for most of us on the team. Things surrounding the game: One of the other severe truths that had to do with our game, was the realization of how desperately we needed to improve the net-code. Since we've published The Wastes we've learned a lot for sure - but if you're separated by the Atlantic Ocean it forces you to deal with high pings and other realities of Online-Play. Redoing a lot of this took some time; on top developing new AI and path-finding systems that deal with the Mission and Invasion game-modes. Throughout this post we will emphasize our current focus with some new screenshots. Some of you may already know what our focus has been over the past year, but it doesn't hurt to reiterate.
As always, more balancing and gameplay changes were done to the maps to reflect both internal and external feedback. Snowbound's bunker/vault door can now be closed, which will also nuke all outside players similar to HLDM's map 'Crossfire'. Vats has more visual variety for example. Most maps have been retouched and polished to add more model-based props over primitive brush-based ones - increasing the visual quality. In The Wastes 1.2 and earlier, vehicle code was not predicted. Weapons were also not predicted. This meant that you had to wait for the server to confirm you had fired a shot, or worse - you had to wait until you realized you were still turning the wheel of your vehicle. All of these issues have been addressed. Vehicles are now predicted and feel a lot better to drive as a result when playing over the network.
In the new map Silo, you'll be fighting more vertically for sure. You can even attempt to fire the dislodged missile... which will only result in the flaming death of everyone in that room. In the spring of 2020, we had shelved the then current code-base of The Wastes to re-base it on top of Nuclide - which was our research codebase at the time. This has been a slow process, as we're basically working on more than one game. We're constantly adding back features that have to play nice with everything else. Each game had their own conventions - this was the major setback: Basically re-implementing The Wastes. We were essentially rewriting the whole game-logic by doing this.
In the new codebase we have new special effects, like water leaking from pipes when shot, or even steam. Where are we at: Progress has been going strong. We're still not done with all of the components, but we've been play-testing a lot of Single-player missions. That's for sure. The vehicle specific modes and entities need more polish, but they're all working and predicted. This is giving us confidence that the update will go Gold before April.
The Mission-Editor is the showpiece for this update, alongside the Invasion mode. This will for the first time enable non-linear single-player and cooperative content. All the bundled missions will be made using this built-in editor.
Some missions can be very basic. Find a set of specific items; escape; defeat them all; capture buildings that prevent reinforcements from spawning; and more. Enemies may be found lurking behind every corner. We are very confident in this update. A multiplayer-only game relies solely on there being an active playerbase. Since we've shifted to developing content that can be played by yourself, as well as allowing players to host MP/COOP games without annoyances like port-forwarding, we'll be making the game infinitely more accessible. Where you can learn more: Most progress can be tracked over at Nuclide's GitHub repository: https://github.com/veravisions/nuclide The components specific to The Wastes are not public (yet), but it gives you a good idea of what we're working on and that we've been always working in the background. You've always been able to talk to us all personally about our game, suggestions or general video-game talk over at: irc.frag-net.com Join either #wastes or #lobby depending on if you want to talk the game or Off-Topic stuff! If you're planning on buying the game, we want to suggest you hold off on that until the release of our next update. We'll organize a discount upon release. Happy New Year, Vera Visions

[ 2022-01-29 20:00:54 CET ] [ Original post ]

Greetings, Wastelander...

As the year comes to a close, you may be wondering where The Wastes 1.3 is and well, much like it was in March, we currently still do not have an estimate for when The Wastes 1.3 will be released to the masses. But not to fret, we are still actively working on the project and we're going to start actively updating with new media and information up until the release of The Wastes 1.3! The Wastes is currently in the midst of a code refactor, with many major parts rewritten to take advantage of net play optimizations such as full client-side weapon prediction. It will also carry over a lot of the technology we've been working on and sharing as part of the Nuclide project. In the future, the whole game-logic will be bundled as part of that SDK. Any improvements made there will benefit The Wastes in the long run and updates will be released more frequently as result. But despite all of that, we still have new maps that will be entering the wasteland...

New Map: The Pit

An old abandoned mining town, lost to time due to its own natural resources.

New Map: Silo

Being showcased on our social media back in March, we have never actually talked about Silo. Silo is based upon the classic map originally by Edward 'Aufo' Fuller, but is drastically different. The layout has been streamlined for better gameplay having the Silo be the center piece for the layout. All the points of interest are still there, but finding targets to shoot around this large facility is now easier than ever. The map layout winds around the center-piece of the map, the large missile silo. Remember... Everything above is subject to change.

We are listening! Please voice your feedback!

You can reach us at: The Wastes' IRC: Server: [noparse]irc.frag-net.com:6667[/noparse] Channel: #wastes Steam Discussions We want to thank everyone who's supported us in the past and all the people patiently waiting for 1.3! This year has been rough for everybody, please stay safe and take care of each other. We hope to see you soon on the wasteland, but until then... Keep on fragging! ~ Vera Visions & Cobalt-57

[ 2020-12-21 18:01:58 CET ] [ Original post ]

Greetings, Wastelander.

You may be wondering where's the new 1.3 update for The Wastes and well... We have to come clean. The Wastes 1.3 is still coming, but it will not be coming at the end of last year. Yeah... better late than never... Due to technical issues, 1.3 had to be delayed, but this does mean you can expect more to come with this latest update. However, we are not comfortable with announcing a new release date at this current time. But... That's not stopping us from telling you guys some more juicy details about what to come in the wasteland.

New Feature: Mission Editor

Build single player & cooperative scenarios to battle on the wasteland. While this is our current offerings for single player content, we're still open to future possibilities.

New Map: Oil Rig

These fossil fuels have long since dried up...

Revamped Map: Ramshackle

Ramshackle has seen many facelifts throughout its life and we feel we've greatly improved the map with this new version! Various visual overhauls and a few layout changes have been done to the map since the version in 1.2.

New Gamemode: Team Anarchy

You asked for it and we delivered it. Classic free-for-all team based combat. But more importantly...

New Feature: ICE support powered by Frag-Net

With ICE (Interactive Connectivity Establishment) it is now possible to connect to other players' lobbies without the need to port forward your router. But there's still more to come in The Wastes 1.3...



Remember... Everything above is subject to change.

We are listening! Please voice your feedback!

You can reach us at: The Wastes' IRC: Server: [noparse]irc.frag-net.com:6667[/noparse] Channel: #wastes Steam Discussions We hope to see you soon on the wasteland, but until then... Keep on fragging! ~ Vera Visions & Cobalt-57

[ 2020-03-06 06:55:22 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello Wastelanders,

it's been some time since the last major update. Here's some work in progress info about the upcoming, free update. Screenshots not final! Let me go over the things you can definitely expect: New map: Junkyard

New map: Plagued Hospital

• Slight improvements to the visual fidelity, thanks to more advanced shaders, normal-mapping and specular highlighting. This was done to address the criticisms that we didn't push the tech we had far enough. You can turn any of these effects off as you please, though.
• Gone over and made improvements to the level design. Vats of Goo for example has some drastic layout changes that improve the flow a lot. Some are cosmetic improvements, polish.
• Tweaked feel, balance and more of the gun-play/weapons.
• You can now change your weapon load-out mid-game by using ammo boxes.
• Added a new item that will replace the explosives slot: Armor.
• Added a new special weapon: The Flamethrower.

Something definitely happened to the vats full of goo while we were all gone!
...luckily. Someone closed the doors some places for layout improvements! And to avoid further spillage. Although this one has taken the longest to work on thus far, because we had been trying to tackle the #1 concern people have with a multiplayer game like this: The lack of a steady playerbase. A lot of multiplayer games are struggling with this, and smaller productions like these have it even harder. That's why we had implemented bots in the very first release. It definitely entertains some players for some time, but others want more of a challenge and more of a goal to aim towards. So we experimented with different Singleplayer ideas. A lot of them, frankly, just didn't work out in the game we had created. It was basically going to be a whole different production entirely - it just could not work out in time. So we opted for some Player vs Enemy (PvE) elements instead.
The new INVASION mode has you fighting off a horde of pumped up Loonies. Those crazies have injected a whole lot of freaky stuff into their veins and explode quite easily. Some stab you with whatever they can find, some others throw explosives at you. They can't seem to hold a gun steady so they don't even try. However, they're absolute lunatics. Fend them off ALONE or with your buddies and see if you can survive! We're still working on this update. There are loads and loads of other small improvements across the board. Lots of under-the-hood type stuff.
Subtle improvements to the popular map tw_dune, such as structural wires poking out of the debris, updated texture blending and texture updates are visible here. Just ignore those black buildings in the background - they'll get fixed. We generally keep quiet until we're certain about how we go forward. About half a year ago, it all looked quite different. You always come up with ideas, try them... tweak them and they just aren't any good. There's even more coming in 1.3 that's not even announced yet. You'll hear more about it very soon. The Wastes 1.3 will be out this year.

[ 2019-11-19 21:10:29 CET ] [ Original post ]

A small update for The Wastes is now available: Client:

• Fix Akimbo-Sawedoff texture from not appearing properly

Server:

• Fix a crash in Capture The Flag where returning the flag might fail
• Clear explosives from the map upon the reset of a round in Team Chaos
• Reset the Mossberg and Winchester reload states when switching to them

[ 2019-02-02 13:55:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

It's finally here - The Wastes 1.2 is now live, with improvements across the board.

Introducing 2 NEW maps, Operation Snowbound and Bunker. A changelog would be way too large to display. We've applied thousands of changes and fixes, it's safe to say that very few things have been untouched. Happy fragging! ALSO: Please delete your config files if you encounter any issues upgrading or have difficulty seeing servers! Config data location on Microsoft Windows: My Documents/My Games/The Wastes Config data location on Linux/SteamOS: ~/.local/share/wastes

[ 2018-12-20 17:48:30 CET ] [ Original post ]

For the past few months we've been incorporating a ton of feedback into the largest update yet. This is a preview of what's to come for The Wastes 1.2.

First I'd like to address that it's taken quite a bit for this to come together because literally every aspect of the game as been touched. It's always sad to leave the community in the dark when it comes to updates - but very often we as developers find ourselves hyping eachother up internally about awesome gameplay opportunities only to realise that it's not as good as we thought. Making an announcement and not delivering on it can be soul-crushing and there's still TONS in the pipeline that we're working on, but it's too early to show. In the future you'll be seeing smaller, more regular updates. Keep in mind that 1.2 will release in the coming weeks and stuff here is still work-in-progress and does not represent the final update. But we'd like to give you a glimpse of it anyway just so you know that we're still alive, happy and working on our game that we're very proud of.

A rundown of some of the fixes you'll be getting:

• Crouching rewritten, fixes the jumping glitch as well as bound checking.
• Sprinting mutator is now on by default.
• Default ALT/SHIFT binds have been swapped.
• Recoil now bounces back, spring style.
• Skill Attributes will change upon respawn, not midgame anymore
• Explosives can now harm vehicles
• Vehicles can now flip over, as their centre-of-mass is now correct
• Vehicles have now a first-person-mode with fully modelled interior
• Vehicle physics now avoid corpses
• Team chat is no longer available in non-team gamemodes
• Re-rendered some weapon icons to match their new versions
• Materials/Shaders overhauled to support both GLSL and non-GLSL capable cards
• Performance improvements with partcle emitters
• Pistols now use their 'appropriate' draw animations
• ammo_container entities now give you extra ammo for your empty clip as well
• ammo_container entities now restock melee/explosive weapons that have been depleted
• New spectator overlay and respawn interface improvements
• Fixed Akimbos playing reload animations at times when they shouldn't
• Fixed chat going off-screen on looong chat strings
• Added view kick when taking damage
• Added damage indicators onto the heads-up-display
• Changed the zoom factor on most weapons that have one
• Countdown timer when timelimit is going close is now displayed on the bottom of the screen.
• Various major map fixes and overhauls

There are loads more gameplay overhauls that we can't describe here. Major changes to how bots and their pathfinding work, a rewrite of the spectating system and better compatibility with Half-Life level files and their entities. We cannot wait to hear your feedback! We've also touched every map to add a wide variety of ambient sounds and DSP effects.
Yes, car interiors are finally here. Thanks to kruddman we've got some of the sickest looking car interiors!

New Map: Operation Snowbound

tw_snowbound, Operation Snowbound, is coming. It's one of the largest (if not largest) traditional maps. It's in the final stages of development and we'll all be able to go nuts on it very, very shortly.

New Map: Compromised Bunker

Load yourself up and explore the depths of an abandoned industrial bunker, full of destroyed machinery and countless spots to surprise enemies from.

More sprays! While we're working on ways to allow people to upload and use custom sprays (with fair limitations), it's always good to have some more pre-created ones... right?
We've also incorporated a chat system for the main game and mods. There is a lot of potential to make it do a bit more than just chat. ICE/NAT-punching is something that could be done to avoid port-forwarding and dedicated servers, for example.

So, what else is new?

Tons of netcode improvements, visual upgrades for anyone with a graphics card capable of basic GLSL so that we can do fancy things such as environment mapping (that's the shiny stuff you can see in some screenshots) as well as a more polished game experience overall. I'd like to thank all the players around who've given feedback and helped to improve the game that way! You're the best.

What happened to you and the Discord Server?

I (eukara) personally don't use Discord anymore. If you'd like to get in touch please do join the Vera Visions group on Steam and join the chat there! I'd love to hang out on casual terms and talk about the game there like we used to. Just keep it nice, of course. UT2004flak Join Vera-Visions' Chat on Steam

[ 2018-12-12 16:25:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

We worked hard on bringing the updated stuff for 1.1 out today just in time for the Summer Sale! With that comes a hefty 70% discount to get many more players in. We'll be around and playing whenever we can, too! Don't forget that tomorrow (22nd of June 2018, 10 PM GMT+1) We'll have an event going on where we play on our new servers! Hope you guys can all join us then. It's been really awesome to meet so many players who love TW as much as we do. If you can spread that love further, organize matches or just report bugs to us - that'd be incredible. As a tiny team it's getting increasingly harder to find exposure in all that noise - we thank everyone who has helped us get this far. Hope you all grab some great games at the Summer Sale! ːUT2004flakː

[ 2018-06-21 21:08:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

We've been working on refining so many things since releasing 1.0. One of the things that we did for 1.1 is to go over all the maps, redo the lighting and make it all flow better.
The map ramshackle was completely overhauled to mirror the mod-version in layout and lighting.
Finale has seen a similar type of polish, with the vault-entrance area being redone in a head-turning fashion.
The Dunes has seen a drastic change of lighting, using the very same light values that were used by Postman in the mod-version. Grime has seen a number of cosmetic changes and some slight alterations to the layout, to improve the flow and to make items more visible.
A new map has been added, too. That one is titled Recotta Alley and is not based on any map of the original mod. I always wanted to work on an industrial park/backalley type map, so there I went and did it. It will definitely see a series of enhancements and updates in the future! Updates to the vehicles are still coming, but we shifted their priority away from 1.1 as we wanted to get all those changes and improvements out there as soon as possible. Working with new physics and mechanics requires a longer time of development and testing. As said before, we are going to seperate the vehicle component a bit more. We will not give up on them entirely, however they'll find their place and I assure you we're going to make them a lot more fun (intentionally fun!). Here is a changelog of all the major code-changes:

• Added bot skill system
• Added a warning to let you know if you're joining an out-of-date server
• Added violence settings into the customisation menu
• Added caching for loadout and skill attributes
• Added icon on the HUD for when you're carrying a flag
• Added third-person death cam
• Added spectating of players
• Added new Sawed-off shotgun animations
• Added new Winston 1884 animations
• Added a mutator for turning sprinting on
• Added support for the cvar sv_gravity
• Moved routing engine for the bots into the engine for better CPU performance
• Rewrote bot AI from the ground up to take items, health and mission objectives into account
• Tweaked grenade throwing and fixed a bug in which cooked grenades don't make a sound
• Fixed the akimbo pistols not having a proper recoil upon firing both guns at the same time
• Fixed the double-shot muzzleflash issue with akimbo pistols
• All sorts of stability fixes across the board

[ 2018-06-21 17:09:45 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey there, we just pushed Patch 1.05! It includes fixes, and most important some new weapon-balancing tweaks. We're looking forward to playing with all of you and trying out this new set of changes. - Attempting to mitigate the death-counter overflow (needs loads of testing due to funky VM behaviour) - Pistol damage has been recalculated completely, more buff and balance across the board - Several other weapons have been tweaked according to a new, internal DPS table - Fixed the grenade-cooking bug when sprinting - Fixed the grenade-exploding bug when switching from primary to secondary fire - Fixed the hud settings not saving after quitting the game - Lots of other tiny things to prepare for 1.1 and fixes Now, we've been EXTREMELY busy working on 1.1. That's going to be the first big update. It'll introduce a whole bunch of crazy new features and visuals - but most importantly polish across the whole board. We've also been doing some internal roadmapping towards the other updates. May I spoil that we might have some promising ideas for a Singleplayer? I think so! If you've been following us on social media, you will have seen these already:


If you haven't, please follow us on twitter and facebook! We try to post regularily. See you in-game soon! Vera Visions on Twitter Vera Visions on Facebook

[ 2018-05-18 04:44:38 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hey everybody! The first day of release went pretty well! We've already been working on adding in some improvements that you have suggested.

• Pushed the first version of the SDK files
• Fast-switching by default, due to the intense gunplay
• Tweaked melee weapon damage and range (increased)
• Made the team-score counter more readable
• Increased the lifetime of the chat-window from 4 to 8 seconds
• Opposing team-members will show up in red when they're inside a car, team-mates remain green
• Improvements to team-switching, in both functionality and visual feedback
• Improvements to movement prediction involving several map entities
• Akimbo weapons now alternate on Primary-Fire, with Secondary replacing the Tertiary
• Changed the default of sv_reloadstyle to 1 due to popular demand
• Added in the mouse sensitivity option in the Controls menu that we overlooked
• Temporarily disabled ambient sounds because they were clearly too much on maps like ramshackle and vats.
• Toned car bounce down a bit
• Fixed a shader typo with the 556 ammo
• Fixed hand-skins disappearing after video-settings have been changed/applied
• Fixed clamping of 2D graphics in the menu and HUD
• Fixed not being able to issue 'kill' when spawning
• Fixed HUD style/colors not saving before quitting the game
• Fixed the bug in which mixed akimbos didn't display properly

Hope you're enjoying it so far. We're working on refining some of the above features even more, but that takes a bit more time! A few of you found the cars to be a little too over-the-top and that some think you shouldn't be able to push them around as much... while we found it funny and fitting at first, we can see where you are coming from. Regarding the map RAMSHACKLE, there is a drastic change to that map coming. Vehicles were originally not part of the original map design, that was us experimenting and it didn't work even in the last weeks of testing for us personally. However we weren't sure whether or not spending the time on cutting it down was justified for the initial release. The map is just too big for normal gameplay and too detailed for a vehicle map. So for now we've removed Ramshackle from the official server rotation while that's being addressed.

[ 2018-04-13 14:35:34 CET ] [ Original post ]

It's been 3 years since we started this journey. It feels quite a bit longer than that thinking about it. It was just 2 people, Marco and I who thought that The Wastes needed to come back. The original team loved the idea and gave us their full blessing. Other than that, it was just us two. Hacking away and trying to make something fun and crazy. We're very happy to present the release of The Wastes. A lot of experience has been gained along the way and I'd like to spend some time talking about it. Making a game is extremely difficult. We knew that as modders, but never truly faced the same sort of pressure until now. The industry, in a lot of ways, is in a tough state for a lot of players. Without going into much detail, we all know that there are a lot of developers pushing technologies and business models that aren't very appealing to many players. Most just want to buy a game and not worry about the state it's in. We didn't go into Early Access a year ago, because we wanted to send a message to people. That game-development can be handled differently. While this puts enourmous pressure on us, the developers, we believed it was worth it. We hope you, the players, appreciate this philosophy and hopefully spread the word. Now, since it's finally here, let me outline our future plans for the game! Technically speaking, this is The Wastes 1.0. This release marks the introduction. It is the base-game that we wanted to deliver at launch. Surely, there are loads of other things we wanted to put in, but couldn't bundle it into the release right away. We've got a bunch of weapons, game-modes and levels in the pipeline. All of those will be included in future updates. For free. Generally, we'll be focusing on YOUR feedback. We're very much open to tweaking things and putting our resources into places you'd love to see us work on the most. This is just the beginning!

[ 2018-04-12 19:50:36 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello everyone! To give you a feel of the game, I'd like to guide you through our interface. We loved the original look and feel of the mod version, however it was rather limited by engine and interface restrictions in GoldSrc modding at the time (for the main menus at least). And afterall, we aren't simply porting a mod, we're making a true game in the spirit of 3D accelerated shooters of the early 2000s!
Pictured above: The original mod menu. We loved the idea of the screen-interface that the mod tried to implement a lot. Sadly GoldSrc didn't really allow you to modify the layout of elements back then. So we went to the drawing board and tried to create something with a familar look but a refined feel that'd beat the original design of not just the mod, but the game it was made for.
Pictured above: Game version, with a hint of skeuomorphism. If you're going to put in a screen, we figured it needed some buttons as well. Those buttons on the left provide an easy way for you to go through the main menu categories. Inside those categories you'll find sub-menus which will be remembered for when you switch between categories - giving fast access to all essential options. That's something the original menu didn't do, because you'd have press "Back" many, many times in order to go from graphics options to let's say, creating an Internet game.


Click the above thumbnails to enlarge... The spawnmenu was quite messy. The GoldSrc VGUI menus are a great framework, but the mod implementation lacked personality that the mod needed. Supporting multiple resolutions properly also required fiddling to get the layouts just right, so in the end compromises were made. We went back and looked at some of the ideas the team had and came up with a much more unified design with a less drab interface.
Combining main interface and message of the day into one. We also made it so that the current layout is very clearly visible.
Here you can also see what displaying weapon information looks like . We're still refining that one to give more helpful information about the Primary/Secondary/Tertiary weapon functions. So stay tuned.
The mod sported a very big heads-up-display at times. While we liked the look, we did want to minimize the default configuration a little bit to be not as overwhelming.
Pictured above: Same place, over 15 years later. The heads-up display of course, is not just that single design. No way.

We offer players the ability to customise the look and feel as much as possible, while not overcomplicating things too much. We had the idea of creating one design for every faction in the game's lore... so we're giving you, the player, free rule to choose whatever design you want. You can choose the interface colors as well. With more options to be added.
Going into a vehicle expands the interface to its full size. With all the gauges, bells and whistles attached.
We love the idea of making the game moddable without having to tinker around the internals too much. We'll be shipping with a simple plug-and-play system to installing and choosing skins for the player hands and eventually weapon designs as well. We've got a lot of content you'll be able to pick and choose so that you can make the game your own. We hope all of you will create amazing skins and content using the system in place. This was a quick overview about the look and feel of the interface. There are of course lots of minor elements we couldn't cover (we also don't want to spoil any surprises!). Oh and by the way, if you'd like to communicate with us and see what we're up to - you're invited to join the official Vera Visions IRC server! We're online most of the time and occasionally post exclusive pictures (and sometimes videos) there. So spread the word and get hyped!
Join The Wastes' IRC: Server: [noparse]irc.frag-net.com:6667[/noparse] Channel: #wastes Steam Discussions Edited: We now use IRC exclusively, sorry for anyone affected by this change. Thanks for your participation and we hope to see you in our IRC channel!

[ 2018-03-22 17:04:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

Hello everyone! To give you a feel of the game, I'd like to guide you through our interface. We loved the original look and feel of the mod version, however it was rather limited by engine and interface restrictions in GoldSrc modding at the time (for the main menus at least). And afterall, we aren't simply porting a mod, we're making a true game in the spirit of 3D accelerated shooters of the early 2000s!
Pictured above: The original mod menu. We loved the idea of the screen-interface that the mod tried to implement a lot. Sadly GoldSrc didn't really allow you to modify the layout of elements back then. So we went to the drawing board and tried to create something with a familar look but a refined feel that'd beat the original design of not just the mod, but the game it was made for.
Pictured above: Game version, with a hint of skeuomorphism. If you're going to put in a screen, we figured it needed some buttons as well. Those buttons on the left provide an easy way for you to go through the main menu categories. Inside those categories you'll find sub-menus which will be remembered for when you switch between categories - giving fast access to all essential options. That's something the original menu didn't do, because you'd have press "Back" many, many times in order to go from graphics options to let's say, creating an Internet game.


Click the above thumbnails to enlarge... The spawnmenu was quite messy. The GoldSrc VGUI menus are a great framework, but the mod implementation lacked personality that the mod needed. Supporting multiple resolutions properly also required fiddling to get the layouts just right, so in the end compromises were made. We went back and looked at some of the ideas the team had and came up with a much more unified design with a less drab interface.
Combining main interface and message of the day into one. We also made it so that the current layout is very clearly visible.
Here you can also see what displaying weapon information looks like . We're still refining that one to give more helpful information about the Primary/Secondary/Tertiary weapon functions. So stay tuned.
The mod sported a very big heads-up-display at times. While we liked the look, we did want to minimize the default configuration a little bit to be not as overwhelming.
Pictured above: Same place, over 15 years later. The heads-up display of course, is not just that single design. No way.

We offer players the ability to customise the look and feel as much as possible, while not overcomplicating things too much. We had the idea of creating one design for every faction in the game's lore... so we're giving you, the player, free rule to choose whatever design you want. You can choose the interface colors as well. With more options to be added.
Going into a vehicle expands the interface to its full size. With all the gauges, bells and whistles attached.
We love the idea of making the game moddable without having to tinker around the internals too much. We'll be shipping with a simple plug-and-play system to installing and choosing skins for the player hands and eventually weapon designs as well. We've got a lot of content you'll be able to pick and choose so that you can make the game your own. We hope all of you will create amazing skins and content using the system in place. This was a quick overview about the look and feel of the interface. There are of course lots of minor elements we couldn't cover (we also don't want to spoil any surprises!). Oh and by the way, if you'd like to communicate with us and see what we're up to - you're invited to join the official Vera Visions Discord server! We're online most of the time and occasionally post exclusive pictures (and sometimes videos) there. So spread the word and get hyped!
https://discord.gg/ENfjwsT

[ 2018-03-22 17:04:43 CET ] [ Original post ]

We're opening up our IRC server to the public for anyone that's interested in connecting with us or keeping up with progress and any other news related to the game! Join The Wastes' IRC: Server: [noparse]irc.frag-net.com:6667[/noparse] Channel: #wastes Edited: We now use IRC exclusively, sorry for anyone affected by this change. Thanks for your participation and we hope to see you in our IRC channel!

[ 2018-02-15 22:20:35 CET ] [ Original post ]

We're opening up our Discord server to the public for anyone that's interested in connecting with us or keeping up with progress and any other news related to the game! Click this link to join us! https://discord.gg/ENfjwsT

[ 2018-02-15 22:20:35 CET ] [ Original post ]