TresCom Ops bugs/complaints

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TresCom Ops bugs/complaints

Post by machf »

OK, so I managed to make enough space in my HD to copy the Trespasser CD and add the TresCom Ops level files. The level is good, it isn't as slow as I feared from all those comments... However, what's with the fog being everywhere? Couldn't it just be present in some areas and not in others?
Is it my imagination, or Ann seems to have become shorter? Now it looks as if her feet were at her waist; IOW, the ground seems too close.
I had set the windmill in motion and was attempting to find the access code; I saved the game and exited the game as I was becoming frustrated and decided to take a look at the walkthrough. Where do the last 2 numbers come from? I had tried other combinations, but that one didn't cross my mind. Something to do with the ID? Anyway, as I reloaded the saved game, I noticed the windmill wasn't moving anymore, and nothing I did could set it in motion again... I had a previously saved game, by the graves, but now I can't remember which way I followed to arrive at the building... I wandered into the raptors' nest, which I hadn't previously found (fortunately I had enabled the WOO cheat).
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Post by Christopher »

Lol, I still have never found the raptor nest. Everytime I play, I just do a suicidal through the long grass. :wink:
Usually works.
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Post by Rebel »

Machf,

The fog is for mood, (and I happen to like it ;)) it also works in unison with the lod set for the Level. No one has ever noticed this, or at least, no one has ever posted on the subject, that the trescom level has more clarity and the graphical representation of most major objects and trees are not hindered by pixelation due to short distances.

Anne: She's not shorter, (Be. player model) but she does move twice as fast as normal levels.

Code: The Hint is JPHammond. Breaks down as follows;

5742643

J-5
P-7
H-4
A-2
MMON - 6 (used 4x) Hence, extra digit 4
D-3

It made sense to us to make the code challenging and not use the lame, stick the code on the clipboard routine.

Blades/SavedGame: The blades turn, doesn't matter when or how you shoot at them, though the trigger has no firecount, so that translates into only one keypad access. The block that disables the keypad is not moveable, so the saved-game cannot register that it had been moved and access to the keypad granted. Save your game before triggering the puzzle solution --

Location: If you're at the raptor-nest (upside down jeep), just walk up thru the pathway (away from the cemetary), past the steg pond and then down the water rut and back into the Plains.
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Post by machf »

Well, thanks for the directions.
I wonder if anyone has managed to guess the code in that way... I'd expect something more like "JPHINGEN", "JPHCODE" or somesuch, but "JPHAM4D" is IMO, well, way too complex to figure out - which works in detriment of the game. I'd suggest "JPH1928" instead.

I still think Anne seems to be shorter (the ground is too high, IOW), which means you can't see to the same distance as in the original game...

I'd also suggest you find a way to fix that bug with the blades and the saved game...
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Post by Nem »

I still think Anne seems to be shorter (the ground is too high, IOW), which means you can't see to the same distance as in the original game...
I allways thought that it was the trees that were bigger than normal...
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Post by Rebel »

Some of the trees are larger, in particular, those in and around the Bracs. Partly for appearance, partly to support the large girth of the bracs themselves. Anne herself is fairly proportionate to all structures, machinery, et cetera.

The Code: Honestly, it may not be a walk in the park, though it makes perfect sense to me. MMNO = 6, and that is used four times.

Bug: I don't consider the wind-turbine/puzzle buggy, though the grf can be fixed easily to allow multiple collision detections, thus allowing the player to 're-intialize' the keypad power. If necessary, I could always upload a replacement file.
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Post by machf »

Rebel wrote:
The Code: Honestly, it may not be a walk in the park, though it makes perfect sense to me. MMNO = 6, and that is used four times.
Being part of the team who designed it, it's logical that it would make sense to you. But as someone trying to find out the code from zero, I tell you: it's too convoluted, and that makes the game less enjoyable. I come across it, figure it has 7 digits, thinking about the diary I try first "HAMMOND", then "JPHAMMO", "JPHCODE", "JPH1928", even "JPHMMND" and "JP HA(M/M/O/N)D"- but "JPHAM4D"? It would be too time-consuming to arrive at THAT one. Such puzzles can turn an otherwise good game into a boring experience (especially when you don't know if there's something crucially needed to end the game behind the locked door or not) .
Rebel wrote: Bug: I don't consider the wind-turbine/puzzle buggy, though the grf can be fixed easily to allow multiple collision detections, thus allowing the player to 're-intialize' the keypad power. If necessary, I could always upload a replacement file.
If it doesn't keep the "turbine active" status with the saved game (and it won't allow to activate it again later!), then I'd say it IS a bug. Really annoying when you've been saving your games each over the previous. At least I was lucky enough that I didn't save ALL my games on top of each other, but rather by batches ("now, from this point on, I'll save them all in a new slot until...")

Consider all this constructive criticism...
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Post by machf »

Well, I finally found the way I had followed previously (follow the yellow parasaurolophus road) and arrived at the building again (completely avoiding the raptors' nest as the first time). No T-Rexes or raptors the way I followed, either. Only something appeared outside after I unlocked Hammond's office, I think it was an Albertosaurus (either that, or a really big raptor) and I spent all my ammo killing it. So I picked up that sledgehammer and carried it (together with the briefcase) until I reached a bridge, and upon crossing it, a raptor approached. I defended myself with the sledgehammer, but lost it in the fight, then I crossed back and managed to make the raptor fall into the ditch (apparently they've never heard of bridges), picked up the sledgehammer again and resumed my original course. I arrived at another bridge, where I finally picked up a pistol with which I managed to kill another raptor (I think it was another one, but it could be the one which fell into the ditch earlier). I noticed a big wall nearby, so I picked the sledgehammer up again and left the briefcase, then followed the wall. One way it was just cliffs over the sea, so I went the other way and found a big door, which I managed to get open. Alas, a raptor had appeared, so I hurried inside. I saw this balloon, I climbed the platform and found another gun, which I used to kill the raptor, then dropped it and went with just the pistol to pick up the briefcase again and return to the balloon. Grabbing the sandbags wasn't easy...
Now I'm floating away in the balloon (for a while), looking down at the (now not anymore visible) ground. Is that it? Or should I wait a bit more for something to happen?
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Post by Rebel »

Machf, if you brought the briefcase along with you for the ride at about 60 ft. height the new smack video should kick in, showing the balloon in flight, music, et cetera. I think that it should begin around 20 to 30 seconds into the flight --
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Post by machf »

Hmmm... I think something went wrong during installation, now it simply restarted the level after a while in the balloon. Oh well.

I'm exploring other parts of the level now. Just been at the ruins and the shack. Fooled the T-Rex by going round and round around a big rock, it didn't follow me after that (pity - I wanted to see it get boiled). I also heard a loud shriek when I was climbing at high altitude (I guess that may have been the pteranodon? But I didn't manage to see anything), other than that it's very quiet up here...
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Post by Rebel »

That's odd; Could be that the briefcase somehow missed the trigger, though it should register whether you have it stored on Anne's back or in her hand.

The return to tc.level trigger is meant as a failsafe in case the balloon accidently takes off without you or you fall out of it and survive the fall. So, it restarts the level --

I've always wondered if anyone ever tried to capture a raptor inside one of the traps. Or, how many ever taken notice to the dino poop and flies, or found out that you can climb the twin palm tree at the right corner of the research building and walk onto the roof of the building. Has anyone ever seen a raptor or the T-Rex drink? Or, killed the T-Rex in the lava pit? Does anyone know (though I believe that Christopher mentioned this once) that the timber lying in front of and on the incline outside of the toolshed is Wajas' pokin' stick and can be used to break open the door instead of going in thru the boarded up window? Has anyone ever discovered the alternate method of gaining access into the balloon compound without using the sledgehammer?


There's always that little stuff that players miss. I remember playin' the original levels and overlooking so many things the 1st time around. You'd see something and wonder; now how in hell did I miss that...?
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Post by machf »

Could it be because I saved the game at that point, then exited in order to post here, then loaded the saved game?

Or it could be that I first dropped the briefcase inside the balloon, then after a while noticed it sliding and saved the game just in time (about a minute later it fell off the balloon through the door opening), I reloaded it and managed to get the briefcase and sit back on the bench without falling off the balloon...

I haven't tried the things you mention, but I considered the possibility of getting on the roof of the ruins (it seemed possible, and it looked like a good place to eventually face the T-Rex), then changed my mind and just continued my way...

Oh, once I tried to crouch inside the deep ditch to avoid being seen and/or captured by the T-Rex, standing still there. It only worked for a while, eventually its jaws were on me.
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Post by Rebel »

S.Game might have something to do with it, though the level was tested and played through numerous times before release, so I'd be surprised if an unknown bug got by us (except of course, that one time wind-turbine initialization) Just went for a ride just this morning, ending smk played just as it should --

I'm not certain if you can get onto the temple roof. Maybe, if you push the large boulder down from the hillside or crate stack, but I never thought about it.
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Post by machf »

In fact, I thought of it right after I knocked the boulder down. I've got a saved game at that stage, I may give it a try...
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Post by machf »

It didn't work... apparently the boulder by itself isn't high enough.

I kept going, reached the wall, killed a raptor, then without realizing it I had entered the complex. The problem was getting outside again...
I believe there may be a *third* way in/out of the complex? And I also broke my neck when I fell down from a tree.

Anyway, I left the same way I entered, and went to the research center getting rid of a couple raptors on the way. Got the briefcase (and took a screenshot of the clipboard), killed the Albertosaurus and the other raptor near the perimeter wall, grabbed the machine gun, then returned to the balloon complex in a way similar to the one I had accidentally used first (losing the gun in the intent), climbed on the balloon, launched it, and this time I got the ending sequence - that is, the original one (not loading from previously saved games this time).
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