SUM Beta - Emergency Beacon (From Tresgame)

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tatu
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SUM Beta - Emergency Beacon (From Tresgame)

Post by tatu »

DracoAlphaX wrote:I was reading the walkthrough in the guidebook for Summit and realized that, as in build 96, there is NO radio anywhere in the level! :| This shows they were actually going to release it like that, at one point, and were not just "getting around to it" in build 96.

My theory: The radio conversation -
ANNEENDGAME1: Um.. hello? Hello??
ANNEENDGAME2: Anyone out there? I need help!
ANNEENDGAME3: Ha! I mean yes, yes I'm here! I'm on Site B.
ANNEENDGAME4: No I'm not kidding! I'm on Site B, I - I'm on the dinosaur preserve, for God's sake.
ANNEENDGAME5: I'm fine, I'm fine, just.. get me out of here.
ANNEENDGAME6: Thank you.. I mean, roger that... Over and out...
- is actually from an older, abandoned version of the game. VRADIO is not in the beta; we don't really know for sure what the other "side" of the conversation was meant to be, and this could have big implications for the game after that point.

In build 96 (and the walkthrough), instead of any radio conversation, what you have is hitting this red button marked PUSH BUTTON TO ACTIVATE BEACON. The walkthrough says this:
With the windmills at your back, enter the building on the left (the security door is unlocked). Inside you will find a Belle' Shotgun and a HK VP70 Pistol, but no help with your drawbridge problem. The other building is, of course, locked tight.

Go inside and walk around this first building. Hop up on the dumpsters around back and jump up on to the roof. (Pic: Time to go dumpster hopping.) Leap from the roof to the canopy that covers the walkway between the two buildings. When you arrive at the other building, two open skylights allow you to enter. (Pic: Mind if I... drop in?)

Another VP70 rests on the desk. Search for a red box on the wall that reads "Emergency Beacon." This is your ticket upstairs. Go to the box and push the button inside. (Pic: It's not the bat signal, but this beacon will certainly call you to action. The image shows no radio table and a panel door marked EMERGENCY BEACON, as in build 96)

Not only does this button make the mountain stair-case passable, it also unlocks the door, allowing you to leave this place.
That's ALL it says about all that. Seems that at some point in development prior to build 96, they decided it was sufficient for the player to activate an emergency beacon signal (which you can see a bit better in build 116 was meant to also start the warning siren, repeating every 4 seconds) and have a (InGen) helicopter magically appear at the helipad on the top of the caldera a few minutes later.
Who knows why it was changed - my guess is that some developers complained about this relatively anti-climactic ending to the struggles of the game, and figured they could include a little radio in the same building. One interesting note is that the computer-ish objects in the bunker, present in build 96, are called CBnkrRdoEqp - "Control Bunker Radio Equipment," even when there's no obvious radio (though of course a beacon would need to use some kind of radio to transmit a signal).

Sooooo! What does this mean for Trespasser Reloaded? Wouldn't you like to know ;)
hppav wrote:
DracoAlphaX wrote:Sooooo! What does this mean for Trespasser Reloaded? Wouldn't you like to know ;)
I'm sure they would considering how this was supposed to be a COMMUNITY project ;)
tatu wrote:Interesting. I always wounder why you started to talk on the radio when you just pressed a button. It should have been when you touched the radio.
Anna wrote:
DracoAlphaX wrote:- is actually from an older, abandoned version of the game.
Does this mean there maybe is an older version of this game somewhere - maybe not trashed?? :|


But I would prefer the talk-to-radio version. It's coolest xP
tatu wrote:
Anna wrote:Does this mean there maybe is an older version of this game somewhere - maybe not trashed?? :|
Possiby not. Most of the time the older version of games get trashed. The "beta" is build 96, and there were "96" other versions of the exe before the beta.

Btw Draco, do you know something? They really did alot of work in just on month, from build 96 - 116 retail. Since the build 96 enigne isn't very stable, alot of things crash the game, removing and adding stuff etc. They really worked under big pressure.
makairu wrote:
tatu wrote: They really worked under big pressure.
That's one of the reasons Trespasser was released unfinished, can you imagine if they wouldn't have been pressured? :o
DracoAlphaX wrote:
hppav wrote:
DracoAlphaX wrote:Sooooo! What does this mean for Trespasser Reloaded? Wouldn't you like to know ;)
I'm sure they would considering how this was supposed to be a COMMUNITY project ;)
;) Lol you know well enough that tasks were assigned to community members in a listing and that within the groups of members associated with a given level, some secrets could be kept from everyone else so that in the end there would still be some surprises for people when they play the released game. SI and I were going to leave the final climax of Summit a complete surprise so that people would be like ZOMGWTF when they see it. And I do need to talk to you about the ending I have planned xP
Anna wrote:
DracoAlphaX wrote:- is actually from an older, abandoned version of the game.
Does this mean there maybe is an older version of this game somewhere - maybe not trashed?? :|
As tatu says, the beta we have is the 96th version. There is absolutely no way to speculate on the existance of other betas - any more than there was, before, to speculate on the existance of build 96. We once hoped to get a beta of the game which would have been released to game reviewers of the day, but what we've ended up with is certainly older than what they would have gotten. Anyway, this finding of build 96 is completely unanticipated and I I don't see a reason to hope for another, older build being found. Still, there is always hope ;)
But I would prefer the talk-to-radio version. It's coolest xP
Yup :P I have plans for it...
tatu wrote:Btw Draco, do you know something? They really did alot of work in just on month, from build 96 - 116 retail. Since the build 96 enigne isn't very stable, alot of things crash the game, removing and adding stuff etc. They really worked under big pressure.
That is a good point tatu. :|...
Slugger wrote:Don't forget that in the retail and the beta, at the top where the final battle is fought, there's that radio antenna with that box with fuses. Perhaps that factored into the original puzzle? I think, too, that the building by the tower is accessible in the beta. Maybe that's where the radio transmission equipment was to be placed? After fighting off the Alpha you had to fix the radio...or maybe while fixing the radio, the beacon attracted the Alpha, and you had to do battle to escape?
Anna wrote:Woah, Slugger, that sounds great! I had almost forgot about that thingy. But yeah, it would be great if it could work!
DracoAlphaX wrote:
Slugger wrote:Don't forget that in the retail and the beta, at the top where the final battle is fought, there's that radio antenna with that box with fuses. Perhaps that factored into the original puzzle? I think, too, that the building by the tower is accessible in the beta. Maybe that's where the radio transmission equipment was to be placed? After fighting off the Alpha you had to fix the radio...or maybe while fixing the radio, the beacon attracted the Alpha, and you had to do battle to escape?
Ah yesh that thing. I was thinking about it while making my SU~test level, and I believe it's an abandoned component of the later-used BEACON puzzle; that is, you'd need to figure out how to bring down the drawbridge (perhaps power up the turbines), then get up to the comm. tower, fix the fuse thingy (maybe using components found in that open building), then go back down and activate the beacon, and then go back up.. Something like that would be what someone should set up, if a Summit Revamped level is to be made. I'm afraid with my current ideas, Reloaded won't use that tower, so it would be cool to see it working in a Revamped level. I *might* be able to do or help with such a level at a much later date.
Active project: Trespasser: Isla Sorna
Status:
BE-PH1: Released
PH2-IT: Pre-released
PL-SUM: In production

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