THE POPULOUS BIBLE
I.17 Archived News (2004)
Tournament Worlds Updated!
6 January by TheGabber
Tourny Worlds Update:
Tourny Map 4 had an error with a stonehead, this is now fixed! Download TournyWorlds V 1.4 now!
Matchmaker News:
Tomorrow EA will permanently close the Populous servers, as soon as this happens you can download MM 1.1.0.4. This version will no longer have EA rooms in it's lobbies list.
Populous: Reloaded Updated!
7 January by TheGabber
Reloaded Update:
Populous: Reloaded has been updated to version 2.9. You can download it now from our Mods download page.
Matchmaker Updated!
8 January by TheGabber
Matchmaker Update:
Populous: Reincarnated Matchmaker has been updated to version 1.1.0.6. You can download it now from our Online Play page. Electronic Arts has now also closed the servers, they will show up as "dead" in the rooms list. Use JustIRC to play online from now on.
Populous: Reloaded Updated!
15 January by TheGabber
Reloaded Update:
Populous: Reloaded has been updated to version 3.0. You can download it now from our Mods download page.
Matchmaker Updated!
17 January by TheGabber
Matchmaker Update:
Populous: Reincarnated Matchmaker has been updated to version 1.2.0.0. New features: Undiscovered Worlds support, away messeges, new skin and ability to make custom skins. You can download it now from our Online Play page.
Chaos Worlds Released!
21 January by TheGabber
Chaos Worlds:
Choas Worlds is now available from our Mods Page. You can now play some new 2 and 3 ways, as it contains 2, 3 and 4 player maps made by King Warg.
Picture of the Moment:
We have been receiving some submitted pictures lately, one of them has been chosen to be "Picture of the Moment", its made by "elxuxi", really nice! We will soon update our Pictures page so everyone can see all the submitted pictures.
Matchmaker Skins:
As you all know, its now possible to design your own skins for the MatchMaker, soon we will add a new page to the site specially made for MatchMaker additions, where you can submit your own skins to share with others. Meanwhile you can download this "Populous: Reloaded" Skin. If you dont like it, download the Default Blue Skin or the old Default Green Skin.
Leagues
24 January by IncaWarrior
Matchmaker Update & Leagues Table:
As many of you may remember, EA had a leagues table that showed the points of the top 100 Players. Well we now have one of our very own...only better. The leagues table displays all the specific categories of points (which EA had, just didn't show), and includes a function to let you search for your name to see how many points you have if you aren't on the top 100.
Matchmaker Update!
2 February by TheGabber
Matchmaker Update:
As we have been getting alot of complaints about people who cheat or resynchronize the game by pressing F8 or Tab+F11, we now added a new feature to the Matchmaker. From now on people who try to enable the cheat, or resynchronize the game, will be directly kicked out of the game and everyone in the lobby will see the report "[playername] KILLED: RESYNC/CHEAT". Download Matchmaker version 1.2.3.0 on our Online Play page.
We will also update the leages table with "Player Reliability" where people can check the amount of "Resync/Cheat-kicks" that certain players caused.
Skins!
12 February by IncaWarrior
Skins Page Added:
The official skins page for the Populous Reincarncated Matchmaker is now up and running. There you can download all the latest skins and submit your own. All the skins are self-installing, so you need only to open the file and run the program to install the skin. Check up on the page for instructions on making your own skin and other skin related topics.
Populous Grudge:
Well the inevitable happened and the shaman shoka'ed Neo. With 114 votes, the 74% Shaman and 24% Neo showed the Populous community's faith in the shaman. See the results here.
Router Fix!
10 March by TheGabber
Hosting with routers:
Things are getting better and better for the Populous community! People with routers can now host games after installing the network patch which is available on our utilities page.
Competition:
Electronic Arts' Stuart Whyte (Bullfrog's Producer of Populous) has provided us with 5 prizes for our upcoming competition. We are still discussing about how we will organize this competition but don't worry, it will take place very soon!
Populous Reloaded Updated!
5 April by TheGabber
Populous Reloaded:
Populous Reloaded has been updated to version 3.1. Cyan is now able to build a boathut on the map "Air Sea Battle", plus the land is smoothened a little more so people can build easier. New map "Break Out" added, another Retro-Restrictions based map like Air Sea Battle, to give you all a little taste of what the upcoming "Retro Worlds" will be like. Download it here.
Other new mappacks:
Many new maps have been submitted by players, we selected the best ones to add to our mappack database: Red Worlds, Mystery Worlds and Angel Worlds, you can download them from the Maps download page.
New Mappacks!
26 April by TheGabber
New Mappacks:
Its been a long time since we last updated the news, so here you are. Today Summer Worlds v1.0 is released, a mappack with some sunny colors. Last month some submitted mappacks have been released as you could have read under the Recent Updates. Be sure to check out the new mappacks! Download them from the Maps download page.
Competition:
We are trying hard to create a fair points system for the upcoming competition, but it seems to be harder than we thought... Be patient though, we made our promise and we will keep our word..
Populous: Reloaded Updated!
27 April by TheGabber
Populous Reloaded:
Populous Reloaded is nearly finished, BETA3.2 will probably be the last BETA release. You can now see a Matrix-Code pattern in landscape, Also Angels of Death have a new look!
Download Populous Reloaded Beta 3.2 here.
Website Updates!
8 May by TheGabber
Help page for Newbies:
Under the welcome text of this page you may have spotted the link "New players Click Here", we thought our site could use this as many new players forget lots of things when they first get here. On this page they can find fast info on how to get started with: patching Populous, getting the Matchmaker and downloading new maps.
Populous Reloaded:
It looks like Populous Reloaded is not nearly finished yet... Yesterday we made a new landscape again just because we werent really sure about the previous ones. The result of the new landscape is near perfect now, also notice how the colors of the "Right-Panel" and other onscreen and ingame objects have improved. click on the image for a larger one.
The "Restrictions Area" also has a new background now, you can check it yourself by playing this MOD. Download Populous Reloaded Beta 4.0 here.
New Worlds Updates!
15 May by TheGabber
New Worlds 2004:
New Worlds are undergoing alot of changes, many of the old maps will be re-edited with more land, trees, wildmen etc etc. All mappacks will have new individual displacements to give landscapes a fresh new look as well as skies. Oil Worlds 2004 is now available for download on our Maps Download Page.
More N-w'04 Updates!
16 May by TheGabber
New Worlds 2004:
Oil Worlds had some problems on 2 maps, these should be fixed now. Sand Worlds is now totally re-edited too, you can download these New Worlds 2004 mappacks from the Maps Download Page.
Code of Conduct!
17 May by TheGabber
Suggested Populous Online Code Of Conduct Posted:
In response to all the bad sportsmanship, our old friend James has taken the time to write out a nice Code of Conduct for Populous online. While this is not a requirement, it is recommended that all players read and follow this code so that the Populous community will become a better place. These rules can be applied to games as Populous Online Code Of Conduct (POCOC) settings by the host, and any player joining is expected to follow them. If you have any suggestions or complaints, please email them to me or James.
N-w'04 Images!
25 May by TheGabber
New Worlds 2004 Images:
Here are some screenshots to show the newest landscapes and skies of the currently released New Worlds 2004 mappacks:
For those who dont have em yet, download the mappacks from the Maps Download Page.
Leagues Table update:
The leagues table has been updated. Instead of "Top 100" it will now be a "Top 1000". It has 10 pages with 100 players each.
Database Problems!
8 June by TheGabber
Matchmaker & Forums down:
The Matchmaker and Forums will be temporarely unavailable, as we are experiencing some problems with the database. We hope to fix this problem as soon as possible, keep checking this page to stay up to date.
Solution to Lobby Problems Soon!
12 June by TheGabber
New version of matchmaker coming:
Due to the recent unexplained downtime of the SQL server (AKA the server you need to log in), ALACN is making a new version of the matchmaker. PopMM version 1.2.4.0 will be availible as soon as possible here.
Skirmish Program:
Khickman has released the very first Populous Skirmish program that lets players choose levels, settings, and teams. It's still beta 1 so you have to install it yourself, but beta 2 is said to be not far off.
Matchmaker Update!
18 June by IncaWarrior
Matchmaker Service Back up:
After the second downtime of our SQL server, the matchmaker has been running for several days. There is a new version of the matchmaker (1.2.4.1) that lets you connect to the server without logging in if the database is not working. This is not a required update but it's a useful thing to have around. (Note for people who downloaded 1.2.4.0, you should get 1.2.4.1 as it fixes some bugs in the previous version)
Populous Spite Extractor Released:
ALACN has finished work on a sprite extractor which will let you open the spites from the game (and even some not).
Populous Cursors:
You can also get the Populous cursors (gold arrow casting spell). Makes a great Windows cursor (you install it)!
Summer for Populous!
4 August by IncaWarrior
League Tables Updated:
Both the current league table and the old Bullfrog table have been redesigned to be the same format. The current table now has the ability to sort by any of the point categories including the recently added "Daily Average" column. The individual player pages now include extended information from the user profiles out of the forum - so update yours with everything today.
New clans:
Apart from the long standing clan Team Nashua (TN), two new clans have popped up. Dragon Team (DT) started by ILuVBooBs and Chumera Tribe (CT) started by Jono are the newest members of the clan community. Maybe we'll see some clan matches again between some of these.
Populous Skirmish Mode!
27 June by IncaWarrior
(Network) Skirmish Mode BETA 2.0 Released:
Khickman's popular Skirmish Mode has a new BETA release. In this are several updates reguarding program stability and a more User-Friendly installer. "It's Naruto proof -- Hopefully" says Khickman. The latest version can be downloaded from file planet here.
New Terms and Conditions:
Populous Reincarnated now has a new set of Terms and Conditions for users of all our services. Please look at is as you agree to it by continuing to use any of our programs or pages. Thank you to CDplayer for writing this for us!
New Worlds 2004 Updates!
20 August by TheGabber
New Worlds 2004 Updated:
Ice Worlds has been updated to version 1.2. We also released a "multiple mappack installer" which installs all 6 of the recently released "New Worlds 2004", which also includes "Ice Worlds 2004 v 1.2" of course. Download the files from the Maps Download page.
Competition Starts!
24 August by TheGabber
Competition News:
The Competition has now started. You can check the Tournament page for more information and rules. Have fun!
Clans and a Story!
29 August by IncaWarrior
Clan Tag Pages:
There are a few new pages now for those that want clans or clan tags. The Clan Tag page lets you add a tag to the end of you name if the clan leader allows it. The Clan Leader page allows clan leaders to control who can have tags and who cannot. The last one isn't very fancy but is the Clan List page with the clans, their members, and total points of the members added up. If you have a clan, just email me and I'll add your clan to the list.
Populous Story:
Over the next few weeks, the Populous story from the official strategy guide will be posted in the welcome message. Every day there will be a new chapter. Thanks to Incan Monkey God for writing that.
Lobby Behavior:
A lot of people have been complaining lately about the behavior of people in the lobby. We ask that you all read the Code of Conduct and in general just be nice to each other. We don't really want to kick you (or ban in severe cases) but we may have to if you start acting out.
Server Problems!
13 October by IncaWarrior
Forum will be back soon:
The server with the forum and database for the matchmaker was taken offline on Friday after it was compromised. All personal information for forum members is safe so will not affect you all more than the inconvenience of the server being down. The problems are being fixed by gamespy technicians and the server should be back on-line by around Monday if all goes well. Depending on the situation, there may be a new matchmaker version released that day to be compatible with the fixed server.
New Network Site:
We are hosting a new site by Micro called Populous Isometric which features a remake of the game that will be availible from the website soon. Visit the website to check out the pictures of the progress on the game so far!
Matchmaker, Login and Points!
5 November by IncaWarrior
Matchmaker update:
There is a new matchmaker availible for download. PopMM version 1.2.5.0 will let you connect to the forum database. It's a required update as the old one no longer has anyone playing in it.
Login once again:
The login system is now working so no more fake names. That also means you will get points for the leagues. The tournament is on hold and will have an extra month added on shortly. Enjoy the chance to connect without an underscore once again!
News!
17 December by TheGabber
Tournament results:
The Populous Reincarnated 2004 Tournament has ended.
The 4 winners are:
Most 2 Player wins: Horny Sionie.
Most 3 Player wins: Smudgey_TDM.
Most 4 Player wins: Sub_Zero.
Highest daily average: chanaman_TDM.
The winners should contact TheGabber for further info. We hope you all enjoyed, next year there will be another tournament!
New Worlds:
It's been quite a while since New Worlds 2004 were last updated. I will start updating the remaining mappacks as i finally have some spare time again (so don't worry, New Worlds will not be divided into 2004 and 2005).
A christmas special mod is also in the make, more news about this mod will be posted soon, just make sure you check the news frequently, the last 2 weeks of this year will definately bring some more good news!
Christmas Worlds!
22 December by IncaWarrior
Holiday Themed Maps:
In honor of the holiday season, Khickman has created a Christmas Worlds map pack. The map pack currently contains four holiday themed maps perfect for the season.
Download Christmas Worlds today.
Link Submissions:
I know a lot of you have Populous related websites, so why not submit a link to them on our Links Page. Although linking back isn't required, it is nice and since most of you have links to us anyways that shouldn't be a problem. There's no better way to get people to visit your site then a link from the most popular one around!
Happy New Year!
31 December by IncaWarrior
From all of us:
The Populous Reincarnated staff would like to wish everyone a happy 2005. Let's hope Populous will stick around for another year to come. New Worlds 2004 should be done within a week or so, completing your map collection of the old year.
Map Reviews:
I have added a review system for all the maps on our site. You can write a review (and strategy if you want) to contribute to the site, and view current reviews on the Review page. There aren't many at the moment but you can check it out and write a review for a map.