Tribes X Playground

         x  game updated on: 19.07.2026 - 20:29 - changes    

 

IMPORTANT: For those who for some reason cannot launch something or the mod works incorrectly, carefully watch this video and make sure that the antivirus does not delete or block anything extra.

NOTE: The reasons for my periodic return to this project lie in nostalgia, genuine interest, and useful mental workload provided by programming. Moreover, thanks to available resources and progress in the field of artificial intelligence, many processes are now implemented much easier, which adds new appeal to the project.

ADDITIONAL: Our long fuss with patches and questionable hacks through bot.dll is successfully finished. The final version of Tribes based on the legendary NFK 077 has already been released and is available for download on this site. Further on, we will gradually switch to new sources and along the way catch and fix existing bugs, and upon completion we will start adding new features.

Some interesting news about the project

The development of the project does not stand still, and the game as well as the site continue to be updated periodically. One of the main and most large-scale innovations in the game, which is worth paying special attention to, are RTX format maps (Remastered Tribes X High Quality Maps). This is a completely new level of quality: deeply developed locations, rich in complex scripts and atmospheric visual effects and sounds. So that you can immediately plunge into the action, bots and monsters are already placed on these maps by default. You can find these high-tech levels in the RTX MAPS folder. The visual component of the game also took a step forward. We added a whole range of new effects: realistic raindrops, dynamic swarms of flies with their unique behavior pattern, as well as a mesmerizing starry sky - the twinkling of stars is tuned so that it is soft and does not irritate the eyes, creating the perfect background for fierce battles. A special place in the new update is occupied by our recent joint creation - the Symbiote (Simbiot). This is not just a regular enemy, but a real predator with absolutely unpredictable and highly aggressive behavior. The Symbiote is a living, constantly evolving threat, a kind of energy biomass. It continuously moves around the level, ruthlessly devouring everything that gets in its way. Each devoured victim not only restores its health, but also allows it to increase its own mass, making the monster bigger and deadlier right in front of the player's eyes. Entering into open combat with it means challenging yourself. This creature is incredibly dangerous, and its destruction will require colossal efforts, endurance, and truly flawless shooting skills from you. All of the above is already included in the game package and is available for download on this site in the "files" section. In addition, we do not stop working on the artificial intelligence of the bots. Their behavior algorithms are constantly being improved, making the opponents act smarter, more tactically, and more interestingly in combat. Right now in our "laboratory" the development of new, no less impressive features and effects is in full swing. We will soon release another update with a detailed patch note, where we will tell you about everything in detail. It is worth noting that the development process itself has also reached a new level: for greater convenience and productivity, the workplace has acquired a second monitor, and paid artificial intelligence - Gemini Pro - is now officially connected to writing and generating code. Let's hope that there is still a lot of truly cool and interesting content waiting for us ahead. Stay tuned for updates...


Disclaimer for NFK profanes and everyone who doesn't like something

Due to the fact that at one time for the implementation of any, even the smallest feature in NFK there were a lot of disputes and disagreements, and since in essence no one wanted to invent anything new, but only bring the current version to mind (which was eventually done), I made the decision many years ago to create a separate mod, and modify it as much as possible (as much as I could without sources and programming experience) so as not to create another clone and to be able to modify it as I please, without any discussions. During development, I encountered a lot of criticism from NFK profanes, just like other projects in their time (TFK, NFK2, NFKR2 and the like), but I didn't care then and I don't care now. The project was developed for myself then and now, it's like a hobby, someone likes to draw, someone to read, someone to play Dota, someone grinds CTF in the evenings, and someone likes to poke at game code in their spare time and invent various goodies :)


Main idea and goal of creating this mod

The ultimate goal of this project: to create the most flexible engine with excellent graphics and a bunch of interesting goodies, diverging from Quake as much as possible. Maps should be as detailed as possible, unusual, diverse, and move away from brick structure. The mod must be fully compatible with NFK and have the ability to fully adapt to it both graphically and programmatically. All interesting and experimental features in the mod are constantly being worked out, added, and updated.


Cool patch extending the number of players

Thanks to Ruslan, wild enthusiasm, and a hard brainstorm, I managed to patch the NFK 077 engine from 8 to 16 players. Patching, catching, and fixing bugs took about 2 weeks, but it was worth it. I would also like to note that my attempts to patch the game and expand the number of players have been going on for about 8 years and with this attempt I finally managed to do it! Thanks to Ruslan for his help in this difficult task. He helped fix some of the bugs and often clarified many patching moments. Initially, the point was to add support for 16 players to the Tribes X mod so that more monsters could fit on the map. Support for monsters, 16 players, and bots has already been implemented in the mod, and soon I will upload a new stable version that includes all these fixes and improvements. The 16-player patch works for both NFK 077 and all dedicated servers, including TRIBESX. I will upload the version soon. The TRX & NFK Fun dedicated server already supports 16 players (thanks to Harpy for access). You can connect and test by adding bots with the command say !addbot (in the console). The patched NFK for 16 players can be downloaded here. (Just replace the old exe with this one and you'll be happy). Other details will soon be available on this site.


Game Description:

 

Tribes-X - hardcore 2D shooter. Gameplay is similar to Quake III but in 2D. This is an online shooting game, with high-quality graphics and excellent sound. Game based on the original Need for kill (NFK) engine (Made by 3d[power]) with many new features and bug fixes, that makes game much more interesting. Beside standard game types (Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture The Flag, Domination, RAIL Arena), there were added new ones. Physics/Graphics/Sounds and e.t.c was also updated and modified. Standard game package contains: a lot of great maps, models, bots, simple and powerful map editor. It's standalone full-featured mod that doesn't require any additional files.

Details

Detailed description:

 

To configure the player, change the model, nickname, reassign keys, change mouse sensitivity, and other settings, go to setup - change player properties. I don't think I need to explain how to configure everything there. Next, to play over the internet, go to the multiplayer section - connect to nfk planet, choose some non-empty server and try to play. I recommend beginners to try the training mode first, a training mode available in the main menu, where you can try to play/train with a bot. To change the map, type "nextmap" in the console. To manage bots, you can use the built-in botmenu by pressing the (Backspace) key, where Space, Up, Down are navigation keys. Additional maps, demos, and other information about the game can be found in the corresponding sections of our site. Enjoy the game!


You can view the current keyboard settings here.

+ MOUSE1, MOUSE2 - Shooting and changing weapons;

+ W, S, A, D - Movement keys;

+ G - Toggle aiming type;

+ Q - Quick switch to chainsaw;

+ E - Quick switch to machine gun;

+ BACKSPACE, UP, DOWN - Botmenu navigation;

+ TAB - Game statistics;

+ F1 - Vote yes;

+ F2 - Vote no;

+ F5 - Reset settings;

+ F9 - Game info;

+ F10 - Start match;


For convenience, we recommend reassigning the keys via the SETUP menu as you see fit, or using your own config, simply copy your userconfig.cfg file to the BOTS folder and type exec userconfig.cfg in the console.

Features

Main differences:

 

Many people still wonder what makes this mod so cool and different from the regular NFK build. First things first: this mod significantly expands the possibilities of working with graphics, there is an opportunity to create so-called "decorations", "skins", and "animations" for maps to transform their appearance. Vivid examples can be seen in the screenshots section or by running around the maps trx-complex, trx-titan, trx-survivor and others. For each map, you can use your own personal config, which automatically loads at startup. All configs are stored in the ultra_mode folder. Each config can include absolutely any console commands, be it some alternative background/projectile color/sprite set/number of bots, basically anything. The list of console commands in the mod has also grown a bit, there is a possibility to change the color of plasma projectiles, BFG, shaft beam, player highlighting, smoke color, and many other graphic tweaks. A detailed list is available in the "command list" section on our site. Also, it became possible to use additional triggers (sound triggers, message triggers, config triggers) a very useful thing for creating single-player and co-op maps. The latest version of naphbot is also built into, updated, and improved in the Tribes mod, now the bot behaves more realistically, although waypoints for maps still need to be created. The capabilities and console commands of the bot have also been significantly expanded. The mod is fully compatible with the current version of NFK and fully supports it, i.e., you can freely play on NFK servers with other players who are not using the mod on regular NFK maps. In addition to standard old, simple NFK maps with boring gameplay (may the guys from the NFK community forgive me for such words), several new types of maps have been added to the mod, namely "trx/prc/prc-x/cop", with slightly modified physics, and some new objects like stairs and jumppads, which significantly transformed the gameplay. The game speed on these maps is slightly increased (by 8 fps) which gave the game dynamism and drive. Due to popular demand the machine gun was weakened, jump control in flight was improved, which had a positive effect on the gameplay. It is now possible to run up stairs one brick high and many other interesting goodies. All this is only available on the aforementioned maps, which excludes the possibility of cheating when playing with regular NFK players on regular maps. Well, I seem to have described the main things, read the rest in the help file supplied with the mod (docs folder).

Note: Please note that first of all this is a GRAPHICAL mod positioning itself as a separate game with a different focus, with its own features and ideas, but with full support for NFK maps and its features, and all implemented changes regarding physics and other bells and whistles apply only to trx/prc/prc-x/cop maps to avoid imbalance and cheating. Unfortunately, we do not have the source code from the NFK 077 engine, so implementing any new ideas is very, very difficult, and some are completely impossible. I have to code the game myself in my free time, from time to time asking for advice from other knowledgeable coders, Google, manuals, etc. I will also note that you will not be able to play trx/prc/prc-x/cop maps with regular NFK. There is no backward compatibility. (I cannot code 2 projects at the same time). This project is rather a hobby, without a community, and it's unknown what will happen in the future, but I don't want to leave everything unfinished. Today is December 26, 2018, and there is still work ahead. New patches and fixes come out quite often, a list of fixes and changes will soon be available here. Someday I might gather money for Steam :) But it's not a fact that they will let us in there.

Ideas for the new version

Possible updates:

 

- release of the new version of Tribes X (M)
- update the server engine to version (M)

- graphics improvement, upscale
- adding new backgrounds, effects and animations to maps
- a couple of new interesting maps with animations and effects
- adding ambient and reworking sound effects
- introduction of 12-16 or more monsters
- creating 5-6 cooperative play maps
- various minor bug fixes
- adding video instructions on how to create maps
- finalizing and publishing the English-language site
- possible minor tweaks to bots/monsters
- possible minor introductions of new objects