diamond productions

Diamond Caves 3 has been online since the year 2003 when Windows ME and Windows 2000 were the current Windows versions and Windows XP was brand new. This year, Windows 7 will reach the public market, Vista is already a few years old - and the time is ready for a major update of Diamond Caves 3:

Diamond Caves 3 XNA (or Diamond Caves 3 v2.0) has been rewritten using Microsofts XNA Framework and is now available as a working beta version for you to test.

Why a public beta test?

Within the last year, support requests have increased because the current version of Diamond Caves 3 refuses to run on some Vista / Windows 7 installations. This beta version is an option for these users to be able to play Diamond Caves 3 now without having to wait for the final version of Diamond Caves 3 XNA.

Some of the new features include:

• updated user interface to support mouse, keyboard and GamePads/Joysticks
• updated graphics routines to support all modern video cards and all available display modes on all modern windows versions (XP and newer)
• split-screen mode for teamwork play
• better support for digital Joysticks and GamePads

For existing users of Diamond Caves 3 these features will be important:

• registered users of Diamond Caves 3 v1.16 will get free access to Diamond Caves 3 XNA
• all levelgroups created with the old version (v1.16) can be played with the new version
• all replay files recorded with the old version (v1.16) can be watched with the new version

The new version has a few requirements and limitations for you to note:

• leveleditor not included yet. If you are using Diamond Caves 3 to play levels, this does not affect you. If you use DC3 to create your own levelgroups, you have to keep the old version along with the new one to be able to use the leveleditor.
• Windows 98, Windows ME and Windows 2000 are no longer supported because the XNA Framework is only available for Windows XP and above
• The following three Microsoft updates will be installed using the Diamond Caves 3 setup program if not already present on the target system (internet connection required while running the setup). Use these links only if you want to install them manually:
  • DirectX 9.0c click here to download the DirectX runtime setup
  • .NET Framework 2.0 SP1 click here to download the .NET runtime setup
  • XNA Framework 3.0 click here to download the XNA runtime setup

Click here to download the current beta v0.9 of Diamond Caves 3 XNA: dc3Setup.exe

Installation Instructions:

• If you do not have a previously installed version of Diamond Caves 3, the Setup will install all you need to start playing the unregistered version.
• If you already have a registered version of Diamond Caves 3, please install the new beta version of Diamond Caves 3 XNA into the same directory as the current version. This will alow you to play all imported levelgroups with the new beta, your handicaps will be loaded into the new version as well.

Any comments or questions?:

Please visit the Diamond Caves 3 beta forum for more information