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Since it's been rather quiet around here as of late, I decided to post a few screenshots of models I've been working on for a project that I, along with input from some of the old tresops gang have been building. The level was actually about 80% complete about 4 years ago, but my computer died (and I, like an idiot did not have a backup) and all work was lost. At the time, I was putting a lot of my free time into the ruins level, which I did backup, thankfully, but I never bothered too with this project (you just never think a harddrive is going to die).

Anyways, without going into too many details, the level's name designation is tc_prequel. I think that pretty much says that this level ties into our tc trilogy. Perhaps by late August, or early September there should be an early alpha version released. That's the timeline I'm shooting for -

Ooh this is getting me excited. If this is a true prequel to the TC~Trilogy then that would be awesome. It always puzzled me that the first TC level just started out of nowhere on top of the valley road, and it'd be nice to see how Anne even got to that point in the first place

TrespasserGuy wrote:Ooh this is getting me excited. If this is a true prequel to the TC~Trilogy then that would be awesome. It always puzzled me that the first TC level just started out of nowhere on top of the valley road, and it'd be nice to see how Anne even got to that point in the first place

To be honest, the lack of a reason for Anne being there always nagged me too, but to be fair to all of us involved at the time, level editing/creation was rather experimental back then and often ended in busted levels that would never to see the light of day. I'm hoping my computer doesn't quit on me this time around.

Lookin' forward to this. By your timeline estimate I am foreseeing a lot of foliage-placing for you in the near future... Do hit up Tatu for all your heightfixing needs

Well, as you know this level is huge so any early alpha released will only represent a portion of available terrain. I figured the only way to approach this correctly would be to do it in increments, so in the 1st alpha for instance, you'll be able to reach the main objective for that particular area. Hell, in order to finish the entire level in 4 or 6 weeks time, I'd have to quit work and give up sleeping!

Hahaha okay cool.

Just posting a few editor shots to show that this is still being worked on . . .

hmm, train track, you've officially peaked my interest with this move.

This is looking really good.

This is looking really good! Looking at the tracks and the heavy machinery it looks like some kind of mining area. That shot of the cable car is amazing and it certainly builds the hype for this level.

Thanks for the positive comments, guys. We're still a few weeks out from an early alpha release, but progress is being made (in between that dirty word, 'work').

*The tracks are actually from the 20ANIV level, pretty much anyways. The original tracks were too high a face count though, so I edited the model(s) which effectively halved the poly count.

Oh are you talking about my T20ANIV level? Just a heads up that TheIdiot actually made those track models for me a while back. I'm glad you reduced the poly count because they were over the normal non-CE Tres limit.

TrespasserGuy wrote:Oh are you talking about my T20ANIV level? Just a heads up that TheIdiot actually made those track models for me a while back. I'm glad you reduced the poly count because they were over the normal non-CE Tres limit.

Yup, that's the level, T.G. T.I. showed me a screenshot of the models and i remembered the level that they were in since I played through it a while back. Good level btw (but I didn't remember it was your level, my old man brain, don't you know!). But yeah, I reduced the poly count by 50 to 60%.

Rebel wrote:

TrespasserGuy wrote:Oh are you talking about my T20ANIV level? Just a heads up that TheIdiot actually made those track models for me a while back. I'm glad you reduced the poly count because they were over the normal non-CE Tres limit.

Yup, that's the level, T.G. T.I. showed me a screenshot of the models and i remembered the level that they were in since I played through it a while back. Good level btw (but I didn't remember it was your level, my old man brain, don't you know!). But yeah, I reduced the poly count by 50 to 60%.

Just curious what you did to reduce the polycount, Rebel? I know the split-tracks were over the limit but I couldn't do much more to simplify them, from what I remember.

Just curious what you did to reduce the polycount, Rebel? I know the split-tracks were over the limit but I couldn't do much more to simplify them, from what I remember.

Mainly, dumbing down the railroad ties, T.I. Your ties were 36 faces, whereas I replaced them with a simple 8 face box count. I also omitted a tiedown here and there. As you can see by the screenshot, the changes aren't really noticeable. I think your straight track was around 1092 faces, I managed to double the length of that track and stay around 880 (or something like that). The split track I did not use; I used a combination of the curve track and another one with a hidden texture applied so only the rails show. Both the latter are around 600 faces.

I don't have much energy after working today, but I managed the small cement mixer shown below. I just couldn't bring myself to using the retail's mixer model. But, the 2nd image's color scheme doesn't match the other equipment around that area so I'm more likely to use the texturing shown on the mixer_2 image -