[PC][1994-1999] Sci-fi 3D FPS

Help locating old / Pre year 2000 games you used to play.
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dqd
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[PC][1994-1999] Sci-fi 3D FPS

Post by dqd »

I posted this on reddit (I can't directly link as a new user but it's at .../r/tipofmyjoystick/comments/uwz3x3/pc19941999_scifi_3d_fps/ ) but given any one thread's short scope and no success there so far, I'm posting it here as well --

Platform(s): PC (Windows 98, probably DOS-compatible?)

Genre: FPS (non-arena)

Estimated year of release: 1994 (probably at least 1995) ~ 1999 (probably earlier than that)

Graphics/art style: 3D (ran in 320x240 when I played it, no texture-smoothing or such, though all surfaces were textured). I'm unsure if the enemies were 2D sprites or 3D models.
  • The hardware I ran this on: Pentium II 233MHz, ATI Rage IIC 4MB, Creative ESS Maestro-1 audio-card (SoundBlaster compatible), 3GB HDD (I have no idea how large the game may have been nor which medium it was installed from)
Details:
  • Executable was called either main.exe (possibly different case) or maine.exe (probably the former but I'm not 100% sure). (The version I played may likely have been a demo/trial -- I went through a large DOS-game-collection (a "2015 DOS collection") searching for those file-names: none of the games (at least the particular versions in that collection) that did have a main.exe were the game I'm looking for and none had a maine.exe (search was case insensitive). I'll add the list of all the games in that collection to attachments -- apparently *.txt isn't allowed for attachments, so I zipped it.)
  • UI details:
    • There was a weapon list in the bottom of the screen (horizontally, Unreal Tournament-like but lower quality/resolution .. In very vague memory may have been default-black with orange or yellow highlights for active weapon or ammo or similar)
    • A pale-ish orange or yellowish (might misremember color) triangle-shape would kinda "lock in" on enemies (rotating until "locked", maybe scaling from large to small or "assembling" from the three sides of the triangle coming together) to show their location. While this is similar to some "on-rails" shooters, I could swear the movement was free in this game.
  • First level:
    • Night sky, outdoors, early on a kind of a corridor (some structures or something lining the player left and right) leading to a more complex and better-lit roof-less .. concrete or at least light-gray floored/walled structure/"building"
    • Those lining structures already had at least one enemy on top of them. I think several of those early enemies were spiders (either mechanical or alien (I think it was the latter)). I don't remember the shape/form of other enemies, if there were any other kinds (I think there were).
    • I think those spiders may have been able to attack from a distance. I believe the player started with a gun or similar to attack from a distance.
    • (I only played this very early part of the game.)
Topology of that initial part of that level, as I remember it:
game.png
game.png (238.83 KiB) Viewed 566 times
(The parts leading left/right on the image were leading to actual buildings/structures I think.. it's vague past that point)

It's not:
  • Klingon Honor Guard
  • Shadow Master
  • Aliens vs Predator 1/2
  • Chasm the Rift
  • Marathon 2
  • CyClones
Attachments
Games List.zip
(39.58 KiB) Downloaded 52 times
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MrFlibble
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[PC][1994-1999] Sci-fi 3D FPS

Post by MrFlibble »

Somehow your description made me think of BLAM! Machinehead. The game matches those parts of your description as the orange triangle on the HUD that tracks enemies, spiders and the player starting at low ground. Also the main game executable is indeed called MAIN.EXE, at least in the demo.

Here's a video of the DOS version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwxFN-PYWb4
dqd
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[PC][1994-1999] Sci-fi 3D FPS

Post by dqd »

That's an interesting find :) Alas, that was not the game :]
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