Some Plains (PL) Research

[Draconisaurus]

Hmmm, Tatu your map looks quite nice. Helps make sense of the area.

[TheIdiot]

Yeah, it does seem to me that the southern gate is the one that's meant to end IT, not the eastern one (on tatu's map, north would be to the right; Mount Watson is on the northern end of the island, with the starting beach in the south). I wonder if the developers decided to scrap the southern gate while Plains was still in the cards and use the eastern gate instead in order to shrink down the area of the levels? PL wouldn't be any larger with that extra area, but IT would have a small portion before you reach the coast and the entrance to PL.
The seaside cliff puzzle does definitely only make sense where tatu mentioned, however. Nowhere else would the player be forced to the cliffside.

[machf]

Guys, just keep in mind that the "streambed" terrain objects in that Plains file are far from anything definitive, they've just been copied and pasted (and in one case, rotated) and placed as what I think would be temporary references only...

[tatu]

Guys, just keep in mind that the "streambed" terrain objects in that Plains file are far from anything definitive, they've just been copied and pasted (and in one case, rotated) and placed as what I think would be temporary references only...

I think they are more guidelines are reference to where the hills are. Based on their locations and the rock layout on them, they are clearly not stream.
I know one fits very well with the end of of IJ3 streambed, but it also fit pretty well with the hill. I just think Plains are based on early terrain that wasn't heavily modified.

[MinePass]

hmm, nice to see some more discussion on the last missing piece to the giant puzzle that is Site B.

The east gate is the exit and not the south gate. However, we also know the Town level was never made based on the walkthrough.

huh, that's news to me, would explain why certain areas don't even come close i.e. Hammond's mansion hill. And I had considered the gate issue as either a typo or a hint to a different orientation. Trying to make sense of this always gave me a headache. Nice to know that there's a reason for this confusion, now only thing left is to figure out where that road would lead to, jp3 laboratory anyone? My low land theory just continues to gain strength .

Nowhere else would the player be forced to the cliffside.

Not sure about that, while agree that they might have been trying to reduce the levels size. there is one potential coast area left, the crashed plane is said to be near the shore and "unbalanced?". location is "to the north, near the shore", that map able to provide a clue to where this could be?

And just to remind since this seems forgotten, the walkthrough neglects a location, Mr Greenwood's cave, pg. 42 of Hamond's original script. One minor thing to note is that below that it mentioners a security gate with his device attached to the monitor, honestly have no idea how that's to work unless its some unknown structure inside the enclosed dam area. and sure enough the walkthrough says that the gate opener found near the gate going towards the town is indeed for the entrance to the dam area. Very curious.

[Draconisaurus]

I forgot the plane was said to be unbalanced. But I am confident there are no clues in the terrain as to where this might be meant for. We do have the concept art, though, which shows it simply on a flat plain. And I'd forgotten Greenwood had a cave, never even stopped to think where that goes...

[MinePass]

I forgot the plane was said to be unbalanced. But I am confident there are no clues in the terrain as to where this might be meant for. We do have the concept art, though, which shows it simply on a flat plain. And I'd forgotten Greenwood had a cave, never even stopped to think where that goes...

Dang, if we could just get someone to point out "here, here, and here" we'd be able to create a faithful reconstruction. We have the assets, mostly, we just need locations.

Out of curiosity, anyone got a theory on the block house's purpose. Part of me thinks it would be close to our fallen radio tower. A supply shed for equipment or living utensils, i.e. dishes and clowns. Remember someone putting a stove inside the radio tower, implying that it would be occupied. Think it was trespassing petrolia but could be wrong.

Wait...does the game allow for holes going into the terrain like Far cry 3. Or would an object have to be placed over the area to create a "cave". Just remembered the "cave" from IJ2 and some fan levels, and I believe they had objects placed over the terrain. Maybe his cave would be near some of these tree clusters, better camouflaging the object. There are a few tree clusters on the ridges, perfect for caves.

[Nick3069]

Wait...does the game allow for holes going into the terrain like Far cry 3. Or would an object have to be placed over the area to create a "cave". Just remembered the "cave" from IJ2 and some fan levels, and I believe they had objects placed over the terrain.

No, you can't make tunnels or caves in Trespasser without making a ceiling out of objects over a hole. Trespasser's terrain is a single layer.

[tatu]

Out of curiosity, anyone got a theory on the block house's purpose. Part of me thinks it would be close to our fallen radio tower. A supply shed for equipment or living utensils, i.e. dishes and clowns. Remember someone putting a stove inside the radio tower, implying that it would be occupied. Think it was trespassing petrolia but could be wrong.

I could see the block house being used as a storage, where you have supply etc when being out on the plains studying the dinosaurs.