Today is the last day of the Dark Forces Hall of Fame nominations.
If you haven't voted for your favorite levels yet, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!?
VOTE NOW!

This round of Hall of Fame nominations is now closed.
Here's the levels that made it into the polls:

The Dark Tide Episode I: 17
Discovery at Ironfort: 13
Beyond Glory 2: In Dying Light: 10
Operation Archangel 2: The Dungeons of Gamorra: 10
Assassinate Darth Vader: 8

I'll have the polls up soon.

Christian "Marley" Callaghan has released Strange (Files/Showcase), a logic-related experiment. See things through the eyes of your favourite bounty hunter...

Check out this Forum thread if you're hungry for more ideas...

After a series of inconveniences, including a total system reinstall, here's some project updates (Projects):

Xisor's Palace - multiple
Rebel Intelligence - Casey Neumiller
Derelict - Chris Landrum
Omega Red: The Escape - intjacob
Cloudspear Part 1 - Scape Goat
TPM: Trade Federation Battle Ship - Jared Green

and one new project:

Mercenary Part 1 - intjacob

There are a couple more pending on my other computer. Expect them soon.

intjacob has uploaded a patch using another idea from the Something interesting thread....

Revised.zip (Files/Misc) uses multiple PLAYER logics to make the original first level rather more challenging...

More project updates (Projects):

The Eyes of Thrawn - Daniel and Mattias Welander
The Dive: Operation Rescue/Operation Land Drop - Darth Bane
TPM: The Third Ambassador - Tom Resnick


P.S. - The Eyes of Thrawn has screenshots posted taken directly from Dark3D.

P.P.S. - http://www.threebrain.com/weeeeee.html

CarGo95's Quick -n- Dirty DF Depository, with loads of DF-related editors and other tools available for download, has been added to the links page.

Due to some technical problems I'm not quite sure of yet, the forums have not been working. Rebuilding the index doesn't seem to have worked, but I can confirm that all the original thread files are still on the servers.

If I can't recover the forums, I'll make sure all your old posts get backed up (a lot of stuff is already on my machine).

In the meantime, there are perfectly functional forums at The Dark Tide site or JorBo's new site, so you can still discuss DF online.

Or you could go and edit for a while ;-)

-Fenwar

After a quiet night's sleep, a second attempt at reindexing appears to have successfully recovered the forums. They are now back online; please let me know if you spot anything weird.

-Fenwar

This week saw events that none of us could ever imagine in our wildest nightmares. Even Hollywood could not come up with something so elaborate, so despicable, that it would shake the foundations of not only the United States of America but the entire world. Terrorism was something that happened in third world countries; something that we heard about on the news.

Now it's different. The game has changed. Tuesday's morning sun witnessed the first true attack on American soil. Pearl Harbor was bad, but this was worse. Hawaii wasn't even a state back then; it was simply a territory. But this time they didn't hit a military base in a Pacific territory. This time they struck at the heart of our infrastructure. The symbol of strength in the city that symbolizes all that the United States is about. And we hear that the death toll can top 10,000. Maybe even 20,000. There was only one day in American history that more were lost in a single day: Anteitam, in Virginia, in the middle of the American Civil War.

Today is a National Day of Prayer and Mourning for America. You who live here in America, pause and say a prayer for your country. Even if you don't like things that go one here. Even if you disagree with the government. For this is your country too, even if you disagree with how it may be run. Things will never be the same from this day on. You who live outside America, thank you for the prayers and kind words for our country. They are appreciated more than you can imagine. Learn from this. Terrorism is a war without borders and without rules. It can happen anywhere, and any country could just as well be the next target.

Enemies of America: Be ready. For when it is determined who caused this loss, you can be certain that it will only be a short time before they are no longer seen on Earth. And if you feel the need to follow their path, you will find the same fate awaiting you. I am certian of this because it would be the same, if not worse, in any other country on this planet. And we have half the planet behind us as well.

May God bless America. May God bless us all, American or otherwise, and keep us safe from this kind of evil.

Hug your families and friends today. It could have just as easily been you or them buried under the ruins of the World Trade Center. Appreciate them.

--Matt K.

I've uploaded a Magical Mystery Door (Files/Showcase), which simulates a double adjoin to create a door in the side of a building which has enemies firing at you from the roof.

Some backed up project updates: (Projects):

Ruins at Kren - Nathan Wilson
Future's End - AlexG
Derelict - Chris Landrum
Dreadnaught - Marley
Battle for Naboo - Downward Spyral
The Dark Horizon - DarthDoctor
Mercenary Part 1 - intjacob
TPM: The Third Ambassador - Tom Resnick

and one new project:
Secret Base on Dantua Mark II - Chris Landrum

The first chunk of archived threads from the forums are now appearing at df21.topcities.com.

I'll be uploading stuff to that site chunk by chunk over the coming days weeks millenia.

A bugfixed version of Magical Mystery Door (Files/Showcase) is now available, with a couple of other minor changes.

First off, I would like to say I'm sorry to everyone for not having the poll up yet.
Please forgive me for falling down on the job.
Second, the poll will be up for sure by the end of the week(I say end of the week because I'm not sure what will happen in my RL between now and then)!
And I promise that the next poll will be taken care of MUCH faster.

Just to let you all know once again that the Dark Forces Mission Building Academy is still sitting around, and as of yet nobody has gone through the course. The only thing that is required is membership in the RS, and some of you already have that. If you decide to join the RS, go to http://www.rebelsquadrons.org/newindex/join_form.php3 and choose Dark Forces. Then go to http://www.rebelsquadrons.org/academy/mba/df/ and follow the instructions there!

Matt Hallaron has released a Fully Textured Shuttle 3DO (Files/3DO), which is more accurate and actually has landing gear!

Jackson has set up a new site with an easy-to-use web-based chatroom for DF fans everywhere, as well as forums for those more diverse discussion topics that seem to be popular of late... ;-)

Jabber the Hutt's Palace can be found at http://www.jabber.ipfox.com/.

See you there!

No... surely not...

I've finally got round to putting together a project page for the Open Project! This now becomes the "official" place to find the latest version and news.

The guidelines I originally posted in the forums have been reworked to form the Open Project FAQ, on a separate page. Anyone who wishes to join in should read through it before signing up in the Open Projects forum. Suggestions and feedback on these pages should be posted there too...

Please note that the text file included with the project still remains the official record of who's done what on the project.

It's the site you just can't keep off the internet...!

http://www.denholm.be/darkforces/reviews/ is the new home of the Crow's Nest reviews, courtesy of Lionel Fouillen and Sheldon Friedman. Note that some reviews are missing, but they're fully searchable.

The fifth round of voting for the DF-21.net Hall of Fame is now open.

The nominees are:

• Beyond Glory 2: In Dying Light
  
• The Dark Tide Episode I: Wasteland Survivor
  
• Discovery at Ironfort
  
• Operation Archangel 2: The Dungeons of Gamorra
  
• Assassinate Darth Vader

Various alterations have been made to the links page, including Lionel Fouillen's Dark Forces Reviews archive, where the Crow's Nest reviews are once again available to all, Jabber the Hutt's Palace, and the new Dark Tide website.

Pay a visit to Murgo's Garden in Season Changing Fast (Files/Showcase), which demonstrates how a custom .CMP can be used for much more than just coloured lighting...

intjacob's site now features a review section, entitled JI Reviews.

Glyn Collinson's The Dark Forces Database, featuring levels and short reviews, has been added to the links page.

Project Updates(Projects):

Omega Red III: The Escape - intjacob
The Dive: Operation Rescue - Darth Bane

and a New Project:

Goldeneye TC - TJ13















...oh yeah! This one too:

The Dark Tide II - Patrick Haslow and Matt Hallaron

intjacob has uploaded his Pool Stuff (Files/FME), containing shaded balls and a cue for pool tables in bars and lounges.

You know, around here at DF-21 we usually don't have much bad news come down the line, but things have changed. One of our own, Adam "Darth Bane" Diggins, lost his father yesterday after a terrible car accident. He has sent me an email and asked me to post it, along with a song that I've uploaded for him in the incoming directory of the DF-21 FTP. It will be there over the weekend.

Hi everyone, Adam Diggins here. I have some bad news for everyone...This is going to cause me to be away for awhile...So can you please post this on the front page of DF-21 & swrebellion.net? (breaks down crying)

(Regains himself)
On Sept 26, Wed 2001, around 6:30 pm, A brave man & his loyal companions died... They was heading along a gravel road near Echo Bay traveling toward Sault Ste. Marie. The road was very slippery, (I noticed this later when my uncles 4-wheel drive SUV almost went off the road) not because of rain, but there was new gravel.The approched an "S" (with a long staight part in the center) in the road. As th4ey turned the first corner they lost control, the right wheels went into the ditch. The driver, an old truck driver knew how to handle this well & downshifted, regaining control & getting back onto the road...But there was another car there. Without thinking about his safety the driver heroically dodged off the road...back into the same ditch. The driver had saved the Four people in the other vehicle, but sealed his own fate...The truck caught the ditch, turned on it's side, rolled, & smashed into a heavy-duty power pole...Breaking the man's neck instantly, since the seatbelt did nothing to stop the sideways impact the driver's head snapped through into both the buckled truck frame & the window...What happened to him now is still argued, but I believe that when his neck was broken he went into a coma instantly...so in a few secounds later when the power pole that was now split in half lost the fight with gravity it fell down...Cutting the truck in half...That man's body survived untill it got to the hospitol...I believe (& hope) he was bain dead instantly...The Two dogs somehow survived, even though the back of the truck (where they were) was ripped apart...The puppy, Dryfus, ran away from the accedent (as animals usually do)...The wolf, Psycho, broke into the cab & stayed with his master, loyal to his end...But by then it was too late...He was already dead...Around then the Garden River police & arrived. They blocked one end of the road off with their pumper & the paramedics rescued the man (& for once in his life Psycho let them near the man, since he knew if anyone could save him it was them) & took him to the Soo's ICU...As the were moving the secound pumper in a car got by...& hit Dryfus...The puppy broke the oil pan & got stuck aginst the exhaust pipe. The oil caught fire...One of the fireman bravely crawled under the burning vehicle to rescue the pup, who was then loaded into a pickup, Theo & Tenika huffles were passing by then & tried alerted me to this, but I was already at the ICU (escorted by a Police curiser)...Dryfus died before he made it to the nearest vet...Another Family member passed by on his way to the soo (& ICU) & saw this, he went & found out about them...He also rescued Psycho...At the ICU I watched as the man was brought in & put on the machines. He had his neck broken at the very top... If he survived (maybe a 0.5% chance) he would have been paralized for life from the neck down...After a family decison I pulled the plug...He would have wanted that...This was the old truckdriver died in his truck in a quick painless death, the way he wanted...& to top that all off our pet "Rat" (our guinea pig) Midnight died at that same time, even though she was over 20 KM away at our house...

That man, Barry John SR. Diggins was a hero....He was also my father...
(starts sobbing again)

He will be remembered always...In our memories, hearts, & souls...We must all be strong...Like he was...Is...Because when I look up at the sky I know he is there with his mother & father (Jack & Ivy), & my two sisters (Anjee & Nicole)...We all must be stoung ...We must! With friends I can pull through this...I must, for my family needs me right now...Dad taught me the Jedi code & made me remember it each day, because it will help...

There is no Emotion; There is Peace...

There is no Ignorenceance; There is Knowledge...

There is no Passion; There is Serenity...

There is no Death; There is the Force...

This reflects on all situations, including this one. Only peace, meditation, & alot of tranqullizers have let me see this...

There is no Emotion; There is Peace...

This means that I can't give into the sadness. I can feel it, learn from it, but I can't be consumed by it. My family needs me to be strong...Feeling sorry for myself helps no one, especially me...

There is no Ignorance; There is Knowledge...

This means that I don't forget the good points & only think of the bad ones...He died how HE wanted to...Nothing can change that, or anything else for that matter...Besides, He will still be in our hearts...Forever... He defeated time...He is now invincibe & will never age...He won his last battle...& If I wasn't with Huffles I would have been in it too...& my mother would have been too if he wasn't meeting him in the Soo from droppig us off...

There is no Passion; There is Serenity...

This means that I shouldn't go madly looking for details & trying to figure out scenarios where he could have survived... He died as he saw fit...He saved Four lives to boot. I shouldn't let sadness overtake me, my family needs me...

There is no Death; There is the Force...

This means he will always be with us, in our hearts, minds, & souls...He, like the force, is everlasting, & I know when I die & join him we will pickup where we left off...Plus he will still be here when I need him, like my sisters...He will most likely be come a Wolf or an Eagle, to pester me even more...

But I also have a song he sent me on E-mail before he left that night...I wonder why he didn't give it directly to me....But he knew...He knew...Can those who will post my message on the front pages (Matt & Evaders) please include this song? Thanx...

I will try to still be around, I will continue my projects, TDOR will go on as planned (although OPLD might be delayed), U.C.O.J.REB & battle for REB.REB will continue too... I will survive...Anyone who wants to talk just email me or if you so choose you can phone at 1-705-736-1119 (If anyone thinks of that remember it's long distance)...I will be around...If you get the answering machine or I'm not home just leave your name & phone # & I'll phone back...I don't care if long distance phone bills cost me more then my truck did...