Anniversary Bash 14

[Violet CLM]

This Friday, April 6th, kicks off the beginning of the 14th annual anniversary bash for Epic Games' Jazz Jackrabbit 2. The anniversary bash is one of the biggest events of the JJ2 gaming year, and often features return visits from older players who haven't been active parts of the community in some years. The event will last for four days and will be hosted in two servers, one dedicated to CTF and one dedicated to Deathmatch/Battle, featuring in total ~30 of the best maps in each gamemode made in the past year or so.

The map packs aren't finalized yet, but I'll post links to download them once they are, so that you can preview the maps involved in advance or else put them in your cache to speed up downloading at the time of the bash itself. In the meantime, two servers (titled simply "Pre-bash battle" and "Pre-bash CTF") are cycling through some 300+ of the maps used in past bashes, likewise drawn from some of the best designers in the community. You can go directly to the servers using these links if you have the JJ2 URI Launcher installed. Otherwise, you can find them easily ingame by selecting New Game>Party Mode>Internet Play>Join Another Game (Client).

An out of the box install of JJ2 (using any non-shareware version) should be able to access and join the servers. If you have troubles with your connection timing out, you'll need to a) open ports 10052-10054 TCP and UDP and/or b) apply the fanmade patch JJ2+, which improves network connections, adds new multiplayer gamemodes, and fixes various bugs. I'm not sure I'm actually allowed to link to JJ2+ here, even though it's just a patch and doesn't include any of the original game files, but it's easy enough to find.

[Flak]

We'll be posting this today!

[Violet CLM]

Thanks! I was concerned that people didn't really seem to be posting about stuff in here, because who better to want to participate in major events in Epic's games than self-professed Epic Gamers?

As of an hour ago, the bash is now up and running! Again, it should last for about four days. If you want to put the levels and tilesets in your cache before playing, the lists are now finalized and you can download them here. (Note that the warning about using JJ2+ and .mp3 files applies only if you extract the .mp3 files. If you don't want to use JJ2+, then don't extract any of the .mp3s, and JJ2 won't try to play them and consequently won't crash.)

[Flak]

Posted! http://epicgames.com/community/2012/...iversary-bash/

Going up on Facebook and Twitter in a few moments.

[Flak]

Have a great time!

[Nukkus]

I'll be hopping on later for sure! I remember when I got Jazz Jackrabbit 2, it proclaimed in big bold letters "Full version of the original Jazz Jackrabbit also included!". Sadly, it didn't have the original. And since I live in Canada, the publisher (Gathering of Developers) refused to help out. Here's hoping you guys put the original up for sale again someday (perhaps wrapped in DosBOX?).

[Violet CLM]

Hi Flak, thanks for the post! The bit about the 300+ levels from previous bashes should be taken down, though; that refers to the pre-bash activities. We're now playing the pack for this bash, which is about 30 levels made in the past year by leading level designers, from the link in my second post.


EDIT: Also this would be a better page to link to from J2O than the wiki page, since it has a list of levels, a link to the files, and a link to the server, instead of just being general info about the bash as an event.

[Slaz]

I'm playing right now! The Bash is kinda hectic with so many players but it's nice to see newer levels played so actively, those that aren't in the clan ladder.

*still hoping for a JJ1 & JJ2 release on GOG.com, so that we can properly refer people to a non-shareware copy!*

[Nukkus]

I'm playing right now! The Bash is kinda hectic with so many players but it's nice to see newer levels played so actively, those that aren't in the clan ladder.

*still hoping for a JJ1 & JJ2 release on GOG.com, so that we can properly refer people to a non-shareware copy!*

GoG would be awesome. I want to play the Jazz1 cd-exclusive stuff.

[Violet CLM]

Update: There was some miscommunication with the host about how long the bash was supposed to be running, but the server is now back up again for the final day! Additionally, today (depending on your time zone) is the actual anniversary of JJ2. If you haven't joined yet, today's definitely the day to come by and roast some rabbits! Currently the battle/deathmatch levels are running, since those have proved more popular this year than the CTF selection.


ETA: And now it's gone again. I have no idea what's going on anymore. Hopefully some of you managed to drop by; I did see a number of names I didn't recognize, many of them in lowercase and attached to people with default player colors and seemingly not too familiar with the game (not chatting, not running much), but that's hardly a guarantee. Certainly nobody was going around saying "I'M FROM THE EPIC COMMUNITY FORUMS." Still, I hope some of you did show up and have a good time. Bash is always a time of excitement.