TresCom Forums

So I was playing the PCgamer version of JR again to figure out what I'm gonna say about it in my next video. Well anyway, while I was playing it, I noticed that the lone Triceratops in the level (which I already knew existed btw) had some unusually dark red parts on its back and places of its frill. Some of you may be thinking "that's a normal Triceratops model, nothing special about it." And I'd be saying you're probably right. Though I noticed the shade of red is similar to the to the red prototype triceratops. Take a look:



Sadly I wasn't able to get a good screenshot because this trike's physics and animation scripts are even more broken than those of the ones in PH. I should probably also note that sometimes this trike will disappear when it gets within wakeup distance, so be aware if you intend to seek it out. The Trike in PV has similar problems. (and the PV trike is in the E3 proto PV as well)

I took a look and your right, there is something going on with this triceratops. After three retries I managed to get a good look at the reddish mark on his back with a blackish grey outline. During the second attempt there did appear to be some red along the crest but it seems faint, though that might be because of the head stretching.

Also here's the red triceratops you mentioned.

It's likely a texture bug, the T-Rex in the E3 BUILD 6 has a seriously messed up texture. Or the red markings could have been meant to specify gender but due to issues it was dropped.

Hmm. Neat little find, Glitch. Everyone was always hunting for the green rex and brown Raptors, but the unused skin I always thought looked the best was this triceratops. Wish we could find the one in MinePass's screenshot as it looks pretty close to the JP movie trike.

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Current Project: Cloning Facility | My Release Thread

Interesting... Compare to this old concept art image:

(Click on thumbnail for full size)

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->Tres2020 Starter Kit

"Well, as long as you're under there, you can check the breakers," Thorne said. ... "There's a box right behind the front bumper. Over on the left."
"I see it." [said Sarah]
...
"The box is in backward. Flip all the switches the other way. Are you dry?"
"No, Doc. I'm soaking wet, lying in the damn mud."
~Michael Crichton

Drac - MinePass posted the same image as an attachment in his post. Are your attachments working properly on here?

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Current Project: Cloning Facility | My Release Thread

Found this pic while looking for the ACunit1 image.

I think this is an exact match to the one we are seeing. And since I was already there I pulled a couple more.
This ones reddish color is a close match to the one in my last post. And based on the diminishing red coloring from the early model in my last reply to now, this could indicate a timeline in the development of the triceratops to the bland grey model we see in the retail.

Is it possible the Triceratops looks different because of the engine or level settings? I took a look at the textures themselves and I can't see any difference between them and the retail ones :/

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Active project: Trespasser: Isla Sorna - Working on PH2-IT (and experimental BE-IT).

"...there used to be more benches, but InGen's workers removed them during the evacuation in the name of framerate."

You could be right. It may be related to level palletes. Depending upon if it's using an existing pallete, it's color could be different. I just thought it was interesting so I posted it here. I honestly wasn't sure if the textures looked like that internally or not. We all know how finicky the engine is with handling palletes. Also probably should mention that the trike in the final does have some red on it in similar places. However, it's more of a rust red and almost orange in color.


Also, something worth noting is that unlike the Raptor and T-rex the Trike's Poly count didn't really change as development progressed as the original trike design would indicate. Someone could theoretically make a mock up of said textures and put it on an existing trike model if they really wanted to. (that would actually be really cool)

Getting off subject: I wonder if the Rex and Para textures were always low res from the beginning and they just looked better in 3DS Max or if they lowered the resolution of the skins to improve the framerate once they realized they were too large ingame.

That reddish one would be awesome to see tho!

I have notice that about the poly count too. I do believe the green T-Rex share the same poly count as one of the green T-Rexes tho, one of the female ones IIRC.

That is a good question. Maybe the one size textures were a test to see if it was possible to make good textures using one file instead of several, so save space etc.
It is possible it looked good in 3ds Max with some tweaking, like you say.

Anyway, I'm happy you posted this. In any case we learn some about the early engine

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Active project: Trespasser: Isla Sorna - Working on PH2-IT (and experimental BE-IT).

"...there used to be more benches, but InGen's workers removed them during the evacuation in the name of framerate."

The Red Trike... We know there were alternate colors/brightness-levels for prototype Tres dinosaurs. Guess they adjusted them as they went.