April 2002

For more information please check it out here.

"A hostage rescue mission that takes place in Kyrgyzstan. The rescue of 3 American rock climbers from rebels. Twists and turns throughout the mission. 3 different difficulty levels. Multple ways to complete mission. Nice and long, not some 10 minute wonder"

Only for those with Desert Siege!

Grab the download here, and view images of it here while it downloads.

Combat Essentials features a total of 46 new weapons, featuring the sound skills of Brian, and a new version is in the works. Grab the current version here, and check for news on the upcoming version at R6 Mod Vault.

The Gunslingers have a new website here, where they plan to release a Realism mod soon.

This new Level "DE Aztec" from LowProfile is due for release within 48 hours!

Eurogamer take a look at The Sum of All Fears, which uses a "tweaked" Ghost Recon engine, and Gamespot's take is also online here.

Pie has posted reviews of the first two maps to be released. Tower of Death received a score of 75%, read it and download here. Our own Firestar's Lost Mountain map scored a respectable 83%, with Pie commenting

"I'm happy to report that I was pleasantly surprised at the results of this map, which shows not only some nifty level building innovations, but also some important advancements."

Read the full review and download from here.

The press release states:

"The Sum Of All Fears games will be based on events from both Tom Clancy’s novel and Paramount Pictures’ movie, immersing players in the middle of a high-stakes adventure as members of an FBI elite hostage rescue team reassigned to track down the conspirators of a major plot against the United States. Players can choose to play as part of a three-player team or on the Internet where up to 36 players can join the multiplayer action. "

Rawker posted some enticing images from his upcoming map a few days ago in our forums here, his map is now out and has already impressed Ghost Recon fans, read about it here, and download it from our Mods listing on the right.

The LofD has coded a neat Picture of the Day feature, which you can find over on the right.

Meanwhile Drunk Bob has been busy with a mod for Homer fans, mail him your impressions right here.

On the weapons front =DA=Fastguns has been in touch with an image of progress from his upcoming weapons pack that will feature 20 new weapons and around 70 kits.

In other news, MORPF, Members Opposed to Rewritten Player Files (the name of the anti-cheating group proposed by Biffa_SAF) has reached an amazing amount of members - 300 players from 30 different clans whose leaders signed up! evilC who hosts a monster 100mbit server and admin and staff from big tournaments including TAWs are just a few names of those who have shown interest.

SAF is planning to put up a remote dedicated monster server tomorrow, hosting probably 2-3 36 player games which will give preference to MORPF members and will feature no mods at all. Hopefully, one will feature some of Bif's co-op missions so people can try them out before they download them!

Read the thread about MORPF here.

Situational awareness in Ghost Recon is enhanced by the use of the command map during a mission, allowing an overview of the battle zone including enemy and friendly positions. In Hand Electronics together with Raytheon have produced a handheld device that produces the same results in real-world scenarios, a case of reality catching up with the gaming world. Watch the CNET video here.

Here are some uniform screenshots from @WAR's ST6 mod, Map by AgentE, Weapons by 7dragoon, and uniforms by Storm@WAR. The release is currently scheduled for early May.

The uniforms look great! Visit the @WAR site here.

We will probably start a new map once we have finished our exams (June 21st - yeah i know it is a long time!)

Thanks again for your support, and we hope that you enjoy it - it took a very long time to build, but its a nice map apart from its bugs.

If you have something nice to say, email me here.

GAK_Firestar~* (me) and GAK_][ceComet have finished the first complete new map for Ghost Recon! The Lost Mountain is released today, a totally new map with a mission by Monolith. The map has a lot of smart features to it that the mission takes full advantage of, such as caves, mountains and water. Screenshots are above but also on my website here and in the thread about this map in our Map Modding forum here.

PLUS! At the last moment I decided to package the night version too - excellent in multiplayer etc.

The briefing reads as follows:

"Your team has air dropped into the mountainous perimeter of a small island in the Pacific. This island is being used as a training ground for a militia type terrorist group. Your objective is to capture or kill the militia leader. Little is known about this individual, including his appearance. If necessary, terminate all militants on the island in order to assure that the leader has been eliminated."

The map is playable not only in single player mission, but firefight, recon and of course all multiplayer modes including siege and domination. Oh, and don't forget to listen out for briefing voice overs recorded by me and all those other little things that make a Ghost Recon mission what it really is.

There are some known bugs, seeing as it is first release but these (of course) will be tidied over time. :)

Download it here!

Look out for more from myself and GAK_][ceComet to come...

and ENJOY!

Drunk Bob has been working a mod to put the Simpsons into Ghost Recon. Plans for this mod included teams of Homers, Ned Flanders and  Monty Burns, and new maps such as springfield, the nuclear reactor and the school. We'll bring you more news as this mod progresses.

In our forums 7dragoon ha posted some images from his new weapons mod, James has posted another Star Wars image, and Agent E has news and images from his ST6 mod here!

"Made mostly for MP but will work nicely with firefight and will include a single player mission upon release. Great for snipers, but will allow for some excellent assualt style playing as well."

Check out his site here, and post about it in our forums here.

My apologies to Right-Hand, member of =DRAG=, but if you read the post below or tried the Betas, you will know how amazing these missions are - WELL worth the download!

Check out the thread in our forums here and download the mod here.

The first brand new unofficial map for Ghost Recon has been released. Violator admits that the purpose of the exercise was purely to play around with the modding tools, but it does show what can be done even at this early stage. We found the map plays rather slow, even on a fast PC, and it may be a little limited in gameplay options, but for a first attempt at making a new map it does hang together okay. Download from here and give the author feedback here.

There are 13 amazing images there, check it out here.

You can read more at the website here.

The other map, which has been in the news alot recently, is the Aztec map by LowProfile, a port of the UrbanOps map of the same name, which itself was a port from Counter-strike. He says that UO limited his abilities as to how the map could be used, but 'Ghost Recon has set me free big time!' - he has been able to get closer to the look he always wanted.

More info on this map is available here.

Watch this space for news as it comes!

You can read more on the idea at the SAF clan site here, and the thread in our forums here.

As well as this idea, he also sent in his 8th (yes 8th) mission pack featuring 3 new missions:

1. Oil Warz: a massive multi objective teamworking mission
2. African Farmstead: a mission where you have to break free
3. Bloody Road: the return journey after you've completed Rocky Road in mappack7

Download it here.

"They are very challenging, with about 100 enemies per mission, but scripted so they don’t lag.  You wont find a bunch of Russians running around in the desert either, nor will the enemy flood the insertion zone.  You can however, move around(they aren’t boring sit in one spot and shoot missions) and you will find they have real objectives.  I spend quite a lot of time editing my missions and I also put a lot of thought into them."

He adds that the missions are not designed so much for single player as they are for multi - giving challenge to those 'even with infinite spawns and weapons mods!'.

You can grab the beta missions here.

"Converting maps over to Ghost Recon is a relatively painless process.  I can think of a dozen user created UrbanOps maps I'd love to see for Ghost Recon. "

Considering Urban Operations had some superb maps from skilled modders the future is definately bright!

I am announcing today that I have completed a new map called The Lost Mountain. The map was made by myself and GAK_][ceComet, and should be available for download sometime early next week, with a mission by MONOLITH!

The map is set in a flooded mountain crater, with mountains on all sides and an island in the middle. The mission will be written shortly and a briefing will even be recorded by me!

Follow the topic in the forums here, and visit a totally redesigned matrix.ghostrecon.net here!

Bowds sent me some info on an upcoming mod - [NS13] Green Hell, which is based on sci-fi, with the enemies looking like terminators! 7 weapons are added (3 sniper kits, 4 rifleman kits, 4 demo kits, 3 support kits), the blaster, laser, laser rifle, photon rifle, photon cannon, quantum rifle and laser rifle/photon launcher! It sounds like a really smart idea, with the quantum rifle being somewhat like a shotgun, and the laser and laser rifle being constant fire weapons - 'like phasers on Star Trek'. 2 missions based on the POW camp are included too - with new textures and everything.

Stay tuned for news as it comes!

"a ladder that not only provides a spectacular source of tactical information for all, but also provides a gaming experience that can be influenced and shaped by the community itself."

There are 3 new weapons - MAc-10, MSG90, and BlaserR93, and 3 new uniforms/kits - Desert, Night and Jungle. Weapons have been tweaked to allow for more realistic kill ratios, new characters and new weapon sounds, and more. Having played the beta without any problems, we can't wait to see the final release - which will be announced here as soon as  [[Angel]] has it ready.

Ravenmouth sent me information on a very interesting new mod that =DRAG= are working on. Picture this: being able to lay a holograph of yourself down anywhere on the map, as a trap to trick enemies into believing it is you while you watch them and eliminate them when they least expect it. Sound good? Well this is exactly the plan. As an add-on for MP games, you could use this 'holograph' as an item, like a sensor it will 'see' in a radius of 10 to 20 metres around its position. The testing is still in the alpha phase, and as Ravenmouth says:
"We don't know how the Ghost Recon engine will react when it is placed on a map - it has a very high poly count currently." He also added that credit to this brilliant idea should go to Craig Illarietti, who emailed it to him - obviously choosing the right team for the job!
Check out the =DRAG= site here.

My favourite was the first - Bikini Bomber - where you have to defend your base from suicidal civilians. All of the missions are very challenging and in the email that I recieved today he wrote:

"A lot of people write to me asking questions about mission building and I always say the same thing: 'Players would rather be dead than dead bored with the missions you make'."

Good advice for anyone attempting mission modding! He also wanted me to thank the community on behalf of him for their support, especially from 'the visitors of your website (GhostRecon.net)'! Visit the clan site here and download the mod - Bif's Bikini Bombers - from our files section or the newest mod section on your right!

Ravenmouth, head of =DRAG= and staff here at GhostRecon.net, sent me information and a Beta of the upcoming =DRAG= v2.0 Codename : Black Sun, sequel to the excellent =DRAG= v1.0.

After a bit of playtesting on a beta, I must say... WOW! This mod has it all. The gun models are all good, there are new sounds for everything and an impressive 90 kits for the rifleman alone! Snipers have new rifles, Support Experts have new machine guns and generally everyone is happy!

From the screens above, you should see the rather pretty maxed out MP5... Be as excited as we are about this new mod!

Some weapons that will be in the mod include:

Beretta M12, FN F2000/GL, FN P90 SD Scoped, Glock 17, H&K AG36E, H&K HK69A1, Les Bears Scoped, Les Bears SD Scoped, Ruger Red Label, Sig SG-550, Springfield M21 Tactical, QBZ-95... and MANY more!

Check out the =DRAG= site here, and check out the topic in our forums here!

7Dragoon has been the first to take me up on my mod submission offer, and has given me news about a mod he just completed which is different to alot of mods out there. He told me: 'It adds a new class to multiplayer games with a soldier called a 'Spotter', whose primary job is to be aware of the teams situation and help the sniper acquire targets.'
Check out the page here.

A few days ago we linked to GR Sniper 2, a flash sniping game. Well, if you have been getting good scores, head over to GR.co.uk who have launched a Sniper competition. The competiton is a little quirky, once you have played the Sniper 2 game, you have to "challenge a friend" - it is at that stage your score will be logged. There is no closing date mentioned, but the results are due to be posted at GR.co.uk in 4 days - so get your high scores in now and you could stand a chance of winning Ghost Recon - The Collectors Edition!

Mike has also produced an excellent tutorial, which shows just how much work goes into making new maps for Ghost Recon. For more help with 3dsMax map making check these books. Mike did some nice 3dsMax tutorials for Rogue Spear a while back, including  ladders, stairs, and outside areas, which modders might like to browse through (thanks for the links @war).

If you want to see a video of 3dsMax map making, check out this tutorial by Cyncial Saint about making a Rogue Spear map.

Finally - if you have any map making questions remember that we have a direct line to the developers, submit your question here, if you cannot get an answer in our forums.