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After seeing a post about this on BFG's facebook page, I did a quick search of our forum here and didn't find any threads.

For those that don't know, there is fan driven, BFG sanctioned effort to remake Overseer which is better explained here via the first production diary post from their thread over at BFG's forums -

<<<<<>>>>>

What is Poisoned Pawn?

Poisoned Pawn is both a revisit but also the next step in the Tex Murphy legacy. Yet again, both fans and newcomers alike will have the opportunity to experience the origin story of Tex Murphy. Yes, this is the third time this story will be told. That's why it's important to make the gaming experience unique and not just repaint something you have played. Essentially, this is a remake of Access Software's final (and perhaps most underrated) Tex Murphy adventure, Overseer.

By far, Tex Murphy: Overseer was the most noir of the 1990s Tex Murphy interactive movie adventures . The game adopted a cynical, hard boiled tone while eschewing many of the sci-fi elements that dominated Under A Killing Moon and Pandora Directive. The emotional gravity in the Overseer story is intense- second perhaps only to Tesla Effect. In addition to its excellent writing, the game also features outstanding performances from Michael York, Clint Howard and Henry Darrow.

Released in 1998, Tex Murphy: Overseer served as both a sequel and prequel to Under a Killing Moon and The Pandora Directive. The story is told contemporaneously to Chelsea from the perspective of Tex. However, it is here that similarities to Overseer's two predecessor's end because the story Tex tells is of his first ever case before coming to Chandler Avenue. Tex Murphy: Overseer was technologically groundbreaking for it's day, as with the two previous adventures. Not only was it one of the early titles to adopt what was then the latest CPU technology (Intel's MMX Processor) but was also one of the first games to be released on the DVD format, a technology which would eventually place the final nail in the VHS coffin.

Despite these innovations, in 2015 Overseer has not aged well due to compatibility issues with contemporary systems and their operating systems. This is where we come in.

Our mission is to remake Tex Murphy: Overseer in its entirety on the very recently released UNITY 5 engine. Along with the all the original cinematics, puzzles, conversations, story and settings, Poisoned Pawn will feature new and expanded settings, brand new puzzles and even more immersive gameplay. Hence, Poisoned Pawn is truly a step forward in the evolution of Tex Murphy in that it will take the lessons learned from 2014's Tesla Effect and build upon the technology which made that title a success. Best of all, the project has the blessing of BFG, including Chris Jones with a special thanks to Steve for initial support of the project.
An official fan project? How?

Yes, this is more than a mere fan project. It is a fully fledged release intended for the gaming market to build upon the exposure to Tex Murphy as achieved in Tesla Effect. Although classic films such as The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, Star Wars, Blade Runner, Casablanca and Raiders of the Lost Arc should never be remade, the same cannot be said for classic video games. Unlike films, games are aged and worn by time and technology. But, through the process of remaking, video games have the best potential for reinvigoration and to be made better than ever (unlike classic films). The timing for this project could not be any better. In the advent of upcoming fan remakes such as Super Mario 64, Black Mesa (a remake of Half Life), Deus Ex: Revision and Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, both Big Finish and the small team working on Poisoned Pawn feel that Tex Murphy's origin story is worth retelling for both long term and newly arriving fans. If your first Tex adventure was Tesla Effect, then Overseer is ideal for you as this is the chapter that leads directly into the events portrayed in Tesla Effect and features two of Tesla's major characters in a substantial role.

<<<<<>>>>>

As someone who as struggled to play Overseer (and never finished due to a well known bug crash during the end of the game), I'm pretty excited to watch the progress of this project and hopeful eventual release.

If I somehow missed a thread on this already in the forum, I apologize for the double post - otherwise other Tex fans who were not in the know can rejoice!
avatar
rjspring: After seeing a post about this on BFG's facebook page, I did a quick search of our forum here and didn't find any threads.

For those that don't know, there is fan driven, BFG sanctioned effort to remake Overseer which is better explained here via the first production diary post from their thread over at BFG's forums -

<<<<<>>>>>

What is Poisoned Pawn?

Poisoned Pawn is both a revisit but also the next step in the Tex Murphy legacy. Yet again, both fans and newcomers alike will have the opportunity to experience the origin story of Tex Murphy. Yes, this is the third time this story will be told. That's why it's important to make the gaming experience unique and not just repaint something you have played. Essentially, this is a remake of Access Software's final (and perhaps most underrated) Tex Murphy adventure, Overseer.

By far, Tex Murphy: Overseer was the most noir of the 1990s Tex Murphy interactive movie adventures . The game adopted a cynical, hard boiled tone while eschewing many of the sci-fi elements that dominated Under A Killing Moon and Pandora Directive. The emotional gravity in the Overseer story is intense- second perhaps only to Tesla Effect. In addition to its excellent writing, the game also features outstanding performances from Michael York, Clint Howard and Henry Darrow.

Released in 1998, Tex Murphy: Overseer served as both a sequel and prequel to Under a Killing Moon and The Pandora Directive. The story is told contemporaneously to Chelsea from the perspective of Tex. However, it is here that similarities to Overseer's two predecessor's end because the story Tex tells is of his first ever case before coming to Chandler Avenue. Tex Murphy: Overseer was technologically groundbreaking for it's day, as with the two previous adventures. Not only was it one of the early titles to adopt what was then the latest CPU technology (Intel's MMX Processor) but was also one of the first games to be released on the DVD format, a technology which would eventually place the final nail in the VHS coffin.

Despite these innovations, in 2015 Overseer has not aged well due to compatibility issues with contemporary systems and their operating systems. This is where we come in.

Our mission is to remake Tex Murphy: Overseer in its entirety on the very recently released UNITY 5 engine. Along with the all the original cinematics, puzzles, conversations, story and settings, Poisoned Pawn will feature new and expanded settings, brand new puzzles and even more immersive gameplay. Hence, Poisoned Pawn is truly a step forward in the evolution of Tex Murphy in that it will take the lessons learned from 2014's Tesla Effect and build upon the technology which made that title a success. Best of all, the project has the blessing of BFG, including Chris Jones with a special thanks to Steve for initial support of the project.
An official fan project? How?

Yes, this is more than a mere fan project. It is a fully fledged release intended for the gaming market to build upon the exposure to Tex Murphy as achieved in Tesla Effect. Although classic films such as The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, Star Wars, Blade Runner, Casablanca and Raiders of the Lost Arc should never be remade, the same cannot be said for classic video games. Unlike films, games are aged and worn by time and technology. But, through the process of remaking, video games have the best potential for reinvigoration and to be made better than ever (unlike classic films). The timing for this project could not be any better. In the advent of upcoming fan remakes such as Super Mario 64, Black Mesa (a remake of Half Life), Deus Ex: Revision and Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, both Big Finish and the small team working on Poisoned Pawn feel that Tex Murphy's origin story is worth retelling for both long term and newly arriving fans. If your first Tex adventure was Tesla Effect, then Overseer is ideal for you as this is the chapter that leads directly into the events portrayed in Tesla Effect and features two of Tesla's major characters in a substantial role.

<<<<<>>>>>

As someone who as struggled to play Overseer (and never finished due to a well known bug crash during the end of the game), I'm pretty excited to watch the progress of this project and hopeful eventual release.

If I somehow missed a thread on this already in the forum, I apologize for the double post - otherwise other Tex fans who were not in the know can rejoice!
yes its pretty cool to see this happen, these guy are doing such a great job totally looking forward to this but looks like it won't be finished for this year more like 2016. Overseer has been a lost cause for pc with with a newer graphic card as the new drivers show in completed textures in the game. Overseer had special software for the textures and we think something in these new drivers has been removed. However the current game is playable on new drivers on a older video card. Any of the bug crashes in the past have been fixed with the dvd patched version that gog have listed but finding the right pc to run the game is a chore. I suppose I am lucky to still have a notebook that I can still run it.
avatar
plumgas: yes its pretty cool to see this happen, these guy are doing such a great job totally looking forward to this but looks like it won't be finished for this year more like 2016. Overseer has been a lost cause for pc with with a newer graphic card as the new drivers show in completed textures in the game. Overseer had special software for the textures and we think something in these new drivers has been removed. However the current game is playable on new drivers on a older video card. Any of the bug crashes in the past have been fixed with the dvd patched version that gog have listed but finding the right pc to run the game is a chore. I suppose I am lucky to still have a notebook that I can still run it.
When I did play the game, I resorted to running the CD version (which unfortunately is no longer available on GOG) and ripping the DVD files to play on my home theatre equipment. Seeing the game redone via the Unity engine and hearing about the video being cleaned up by no other than @cubase Mat van Rhoon makes me look forward to what 2016 will bring. It also sounds like some of the 'Pawn team members are interested in doing some of the same remake work for UAKM and Pandora (though I can easily run both of these on just about anything including the ancient Linux Mint machine I'm currently using).

If anything, helping BFG revitalize these games (which seems to be a trend in itself in the movie and game industry) by bringing attention back to Tex and adventure games in general is good karma (and hopefully good for making the push for a Tesla sequel). If not, at least we can at least play Overseer on a modern machine without having to frankenstein the right settings to make it run without crashing.
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plumgas: yes its pretty cool to see this happen, these guy are doing such a great job totally looking forward to this but looks like it won't be finished for this year more like 2016. Overseer has been a lost cause for pc with with a newer graphic card as the new drivers show in completed textures in the game. Overseer had special software for the textures and we think something in these new drivers has been removed. However the current game is playable on new drivers on a older video card. Any of the bug crashes in the past have been fixed with the dvd patched version that gog have listed but finding the right pc to run the game is a chore. I suppose I am lucky to still have a notebook that I can still run it.
avatar
rjspring: When I did play the game, I resorted to running the CD version (which unfortunately is no longer available on GOG) and ripping the DVD files to play on my home theatre equipment. Seeing the game redone via the Unity engine and hearing about the video being cleaned up by no other than @cubase Mat van Rhoon makes me look forward to what 2016 will bring. It also sounds like some of the 'Pawn team members are interested in doing some of the same remake work for UAKM and Pandora (though I can easily run both of these on just about anything including the ancient Linux Mint machine I'm currently using).

If anything, helping BFG revitalize these games (which seems to be a trend in itself in the movie and game industry) by bringing attention back to Tex and adventure games in general is good karma (and hopefully good for making the push for a Tesla sequel). If not, at least we can at least play Overseer on a modern machine without having to frankenstein the right settings to make it run without crashing.
so far for what I have seen the game play graphic look bloody good, however the video files can only be cleaned up to a certain extent. mat van Rhoon stated when cleaning up a few of the overseer video for the kick starter video that the overseer video's were not officially mpeg2 files and shot with a betacord camera so he can only do so much. I watched the last preview of poisoned pawn on my 60" tv and the graphics looked good. These guys should have the textures spot on .
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plumgas: yes its pretty cool to see this happen, these guy are doing such a great job totally looking forward to this but looks like it won't be finished for this year more like 2016. Overseer has been a lost cause for pc with with a newer graphic card as the new drivers show in completed textures in the game. Overseer had special software for the textures and we think something in these new drivers has been removed. However the current game is playable on new drivers on a older video card. Any of the bug crashes in the past have been fixed with the dvd patched version that gog have listed but finding the right pc to run the game is a chore. I suppose I am lucky to still have a notebook that I can still run it.
avatar
rjspring: When I did play the game, I resorted to running the CD version (which unfortunately is no longer available on GOG) and ripping the DVD files to play on my home theatre equipment. Seeing the game redone via the Unity engine and hearing about the video being cleaned up by no other than @cubase Mat van Rhoon makes me look forward to what 2016 will bring. It also sounds like some of the 'Pawn team members are interested in doing some of the same remake work for UAKM and Pandora (though I can easily run both of these on just about anything including the ancient Linux Mint machine I'm currently using).

If anything, helping BFG revitalize these games (which seems to be a trend in itself in the movie and game industry) by bringing attention back to Tex and adventure games in general is good karma (and hopefully good for making the push for a Tesla sequel). If not, at least we can at least play Overseer on a modern machine without having to frankenstein the right settings to make it run without crashing.
I'm definitely looking forward to the project (since Overseer flatout refuses to work at all on my machine). And even though I can run it fine, I'd definitely welcome a remake of UAKM for one reason: the controls. I'm at the part where I have to avoid a security system and the controls are making it an almost impossible job. A fan-remake that fixes the controls would be most welcome.
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POLE7645: I'm definitely looking forward to the project (since Overseer flatout refuses to work at all on my machine). And even though I can run it fine, I'd definitely welcome a remake of UAKM for one reason: the controls. I'm at the part where I have to avoid a security system and the controls are making it an almost impossible job. A fan-remake that fixes the controls would be most welcome.
I've replayed UAKM a couple of times over the last 5 years and both times I've stopped at that point in the game... I feel your pain.
New post on the forum including a video showing the current progress on one of the rooms.

The quality being put together thus far looks pretty excellent.
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plumgas: ....
Overseer has been a lost cause for pc with with a newer graphic card as the new drivers show in completed textures in the game. Overseer had special software for the textures and we think something in these new drivers has been removed. However the current game is playable on new drivers on a older video card. Any of the bug crashes in the past have been fixed with the dvd patched version that gog have listed but finding the right pc to run the game is a chore. I suppose I am lucky to still have a notebook that I can still run it.
I've got a brand new R9 380 4GB AMD card running DX12 drivers (Cat 15.10b's) and the game runs 99% flawlessly for me in Win10x64 build 10565 in hardware mode--the GOG DVD version is all I run these days. There are a couple of textures--like the lamps & fireplace poker stand In knott's cabin--that render solid black, but everything else is el primo. IIRC, there may be a cut scene that renders someone's head black--not sure at the moment. Suggest also that everyone running the game in Win10 install DX9.0c alongside DX12.
Post edited October 24, 2015 by waltc
Next new post on the forum dropped last night.
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rjspring: Next new post on the forum dropped last night.
I love these monthly diary's
December's Post now up.
Post edited December 05, 2015 by rjspring
Christmas Message now live!
February issue now live, also link to their new website.
March post now live!
New update folks: #15
Post edited April 03, 2016 by UndyingSpite