(Note that I have left references to www.populous.net and www.populous.ea-europe.com intact in the history even though I know that they are both dead. Call it sentiment :-)
9 April 2006
- A quick update to the NoteTab Popscript libraries to remove some bugs, and an extended version of the Popscript help page with a full description of the ATTACK command, all here.
9 February 2006
- Holy Moly! Is it really 18 months since I last updated this site?? I guess so - the news dates don't lie. Well, anyway, I've kind-of got a life going now, so it's not all bad.
- That's all changed in the last week or so though, when I started to discover the joys of programming the artificial intelligence in Populous. Along with Nexus, I've been looking at how the commands fit together and we're just about at the stage where we can make working scripts. Expect to see a lot of single-player levels being released over the next few months. You can catch up of the discussion at the Populous Reicarnated site, in the Modifications forum.
- But what I wanted to tell you about here is that I have written a PopScript editor which remembers all the commands for you, so you can program (mostly) by hitting buttons. It's still under development, but all of the commands have been implemented and you can get a copy to try from the downloads section, here.
8 June 2004
- Have you wondered how I made the atmospheric landscape pictures in the gallery section? What do you mean "What pictures?" Check them out now! Now you've seen them, I've added instructions on how to make them yourself, using all-free software. Check out the how-to text file on the Galleries page
28 April 2004
- Can it be this long since the last update? Apologies to my loyal readers. To make amends, I have a treat for you - Walhallah's Guide to Attacking! One of the best and most respected players in the game has written out his philosophy for attacking and it's a must-read if you ever want to reach the heights of shamanhood. It's so good I've created a whole new menu section for it. Check it out here
10 January 2004
- A major rewrite this month following the closure of the official Populous Online lobby (See News below), particularly the Getting Started section. There are full details of the different options for playing online, including documentation for the Populous Reincarnated (PopRe) Lobby system.
- I have left the launcher page intact, just for historical interest but, of course, none of the launchers work any more now that the EA page is closed.
- Also new this month: an important discussion of the rights and wrongs of various tactics in online play by Walhalla. Quitting, backdooring, rushing, doubling, camping - when you can and when you shouldn't, all covered here.
15 November 2003
- Evil Warrior has produced a tutorial for tweaking populous files using a hex editor and asked me to host the file for him. You can get it from the Downloads page
- I have also taken the opportunity to add a table of contents to the page while I was at it, to make it easier to see what's there.
- I've finally bitten the bullet and removed the New Worlds page, in spite of all the work which had gone into it. The project has moved on so far that it was hopelessly out of date. I have however added a new page to encourage people to visit Populous Reincarnated, as it is now known.
29 October 2003
- A major new strategy guide from Walhalla this month, to Pressure Point. There's a lot of new thinking in there, so check it out!
17 August 2003
16 July 2003
- Just a few snippets this month: A new observation on Trees; a world view of armageddon; a new spell editor from TedTycoon; and a new blurb for TeamNashua from C3.
4 April 2003
- Two new strategies from C3 for Undiscovered Worlds 2-player maps: Battlements and Multiple Choice. These are great maps to play, and well worth a go if you're getting bored with the standard maps.
12 February 2003
- No changes to the lobby client this week, but I have released a whole new lobby selection page. This still allows you to select your lobby (duh) but also to select all the lobby startup parameters, generate random names and anagrams and a heap of other stuff. Check it out on the Launcher page here.
- Fixed the 'Choose Lobby' button on the Dual Function HTML Launcher, ideal for those who don't want to download any files. The 'Lobby 1' button is out of action for the moment, while we wait for EA to fix lobby 1 on their site.
2 February 2003
- Version 1.06 of the local lobby client (a launcher with extra facilities) is now available from here. This is a minor update, which allows you to look up your IP adress for hosting IP games (but not anyone elses!), and fixes minor bugs in posting urls in chat, and in hut ping display.
24 January 2003
- Version 1.05 of the local lobby client (a launcher with extra facilities) is now available from here. Since the beta2 version, I have added the ability to view the last blocked or censored messages (for the curious!) and added a chat logging feature, plus various bug fixes.
9 January 2003
- The 1.05 beta2 version of lobby client is now available here. We fixed some EA bugs, and added some more facilities. Go see!
5 January 2003
26 December 2002
- I have modified the class file for the EA Populous launcher so that it blocks flooding, and allows you to completely block messages from individual players. Freedom from flooding and pestilential users at last! Full details and all necessary downloads on my launcher page. A (late) present for the Populous community - Happy Xmas!
24 November 2002
- The EA site has come back to life! It's at a different address (see below) so I have updated all my links and rewritten the section on registering to fit with their new procedures.
19 November 2002
- The EA site is still dead, so I've drawn together a list of all the files which are still avalable from the archive section of their FTP site and put links on the Downloads page. There's no knowing how much longer they will leave them there, so grab what you need now!
11 October 2002
- A new walkthrough by Belgian1 added for the 3-player map 'Three Way' here. He's also contributed some pieces on some of the spells, followers and buildings which I hadn't got around to.
- Another new walkthrough, from Kurtangle, for the most popular 3-way map - Linked Isles. Thanks Kurt!
- I've also finished off all the text for the spells at long last. Any additional thoughts will still be greatly appreciated though.
- Hey - so much is happening this week! Now I got my first strategy guide for an Undiscovered Worlds map, namely Sliced Beetle, from Kurtangle.
17 August 2002
15 July 2002
- Much programming effort over the last few weeks to introduce some new features to the site. First off are some 3D views of maps. |)eath has started putting these together, and you can see some examples on the 2-player maps (look for the '3D' link at the start of each map section). Second, I've worked out a way to create a 'virtual reality' (VRML) picture from a Populous map, so that you can actually navigate and explore the map without loading the game. More details here. Last but not least, I have set up a gallery system, whereby I can load up pictures relating to each level with the minimum of fuss. These could be screenshots, or something more sophisticated, and all submissions are welcome. More details here.
- Revised the 'New Maps' section.
- Added link to <--XS-->'s bullet-proof desktop launcher, complete with an expanded installation guide.
30 June 2002
- Given the ongoing problems with the EA Populous site, I have completely reworked my launcher. There are now two version, accessible from the same page. One takes you to the lobby select page; the other takes you directly to lobby 1, which often works when the rest of the EA site is down.
9 June 2002
- Added a new page giving instructions for how to register on MSN Zoneplay, an alternative site for playing Populous.
28 April 2002
6 April 2002
- New page added on Trees in the Strategy section
16 March 2002
- Added sections to Troubleshooting page on hosting problems and Windows XP.
- Added minimaps to the New Worlds page for Dark Worlds and the two 2-player maps, 'Windows' and 'Hole in the Wall'.
14 March 2002
- Updated the New Maps section with further details of the revised versions and the new site details.
23 February 2002
- Updated the New Maps section with details of the revised versions.
- Added all the new map packs to the Downloads section.
- Introduced the email update service using Yahoo groups.
11 February 2002
- New section on mana - what it is, how to get it and how to use it to best effect.
- Still struggling to finish the single player levels? Get a saved position which gives you access to all 25 maps from the Downloads section.
3 February 2002
- Total restructuring of the site! Up until now, most of the info has been on a single page, so that you could easily search using Ctrl-F. However, the page reached 220k in size, and still growing, so it had to be broken down into smaller chunks.
- So there's a new navigation panel to the left, where you can see the whole site structure at a glance...
- A new header panel...
- And a 'breadcrumb' routine immediately underneath, which shows where you are in the directory structure, with live links so that you can easily retrace your steps.
- Under the bonnet ('hood' in the US) I'm using PPwizard so that all the constant features are generated 'on the fly', which makes site maintenance much easier.
19 January 2002
16 January 2002
13 January 2002
6 January 2002
- New map feature for the Strategy - Maps section, offering a popup map for each level.
- Map generating program added to the Downloads section so that you can make your own map image files, together with a full collection of *all* the official Populous maps.
- Challengeme3's method for tweaking landscape and sky colours added to Downloads section.
- Strategy added for 3-way Skirmish.
5 December 2001
21 October 2001
30 September 2001
- Added an explanation of the 'hands up' problem (under Strategy - Followers)
- Updated and added comments to a range of sections
- Added Tornado comments and extended Blast (under Strategy - Spells
26 September 2001
- Added a second strategy for Eye of the Storm
- Updated links and included all the new maps from Shakey Jake
- Removed the FK spoiler from the launcher
19 August 2001
17 August 2001
- Added a strategy for Sandy Castles by Metallica9785
- Added information on registering and playing Populous on the Gamespy system here - it's a free alternative to the official Populous site.
- Separated out all the 'Getting Started' and site-specific info into www.populous.net and Gamespy pages, to make this home page easier to navigate, and quicker to load. It's still 150k though :-)
6 August 2001
- Added Javascript-based Populous launcher
- Broke out the troubleshooting tips into a new section with a lot of extra info on modem settings.
- Added a couple of new enthusiast and clan site links (let's have some reciprocals, guys!)
26 July 2001
- New craters strategy from Arnie009, plus a few of my thoughts
- Added enthusiasts and clans link sections
- Checked all links (using Xenu - ace free program)
- General tidying up
2 June 2001
- New guide to the Two-on-Two map
- New link to the populous-hq discussion group
- Reworded the opening page to improve search engine rankings
- The 'what's new' section (ie what you're reading now!)
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