Trespasser Tutorials

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Trespasser Tutorials

Post by Draconisaurus »

Alright everyone, recent events have inspired me to a new project. I have come to see the importance of organized tutorials and descriptions of how to mod Trespasser. I'm glad my unfinished video tutorial is online, but there is so much it doesn't describe. Tres modding is full of details, some of them technical and hazardous, some of them simple but helpful, and some of them just a part of the modding process which it can be helpful to lend a light to for others, so they might not feel so in the dark while trying to bring their mod vision to fruition.

So! I'm going to be doing a lot of writing. I'd like to eventually do video tutorials too. At the least I can encorporate screenshots. In this thread I'd like to hear feedback, suggestions, critique on tutorials. It's an important aspect of TresCom to straighten out.
My first example is from a group I envision as called "Modding Tips", where general advise and how-to is described for people who have already learned how to use TresEd (on their own or with tutorials I haven't written yet) but are likely still new to modding. This one is called "Ambient Sound".
https://www.trescomforum.org/viewtopic.php?t=11817

With a bit of time we can get a lot of this ready for people, so it's not so easy to get lost!
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Re: Trespasser Tutorials

Post by spinaxoraptor »

Thank you for that tutorial :)
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Re: Trespasser Tutorials

Post by Draconisaurus »

No prob. It was pretty fun to write. I'm almost done with a basic TresEd one, stay tuned...
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Re: Trespasser Tutorials

Post by Draconisaurus »

Soooo I am drafting up a tutorial about all bugs that can occure while modding Trespasser. There are a lot, some happen often and some are a little obscure. I'd like to hear any bugs people can think of, big or small, all utilities (so this includes sound formats etc.).
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Re: Trespasser Tutorials

Post by Draconisaurus »

It occurs to me that it might help to start mentioning error areas etc.

One error I seem to remember a lot is when a Carnivore does not attack the player. Does anyone remember what causes this?

There are some Tres retail doors that cause issues when imported and/or when they are worked with... I am having trouble remembering the details, I think the Security door in the Ops Center is one, and one of the errors is that scripting attempting to make the door open causes a crash... Oh and I think trying to delete the magnet crashes TresEd. Anyone?

So a lot of us are familiar with the occasion for Tres to open a scene as a black background with the grey airplane in the distance. What are all the possible causes of this?

The Save Level action. I recall only having trouble with it, and that TC_Isle attempted to put one at the Crater Facility but took it out. Does it work sometimes and not others?
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Re: Trespasser Tutorials

Post by tatu »

One error I seem to remember a lot is when a Carnivore does not attack the player. Does anyone remember what causes this?
I do not recall this issue myself, but then I have mainly worked with the retail levels. I would say it has to do with the script. I know adding more behaviours may make the AI not attack.
There are some Tres retail doors that cause issues when imported and/or when they are worked with... I am having trouble remembering the details, I think the Security door in the Ops Center is one, and one of the errors is that scripting attempting to make the door open causes a crash... Oh and I think trying to delete the magnet crashes TresEd. Anyone?
This reminds me of another issue. It has to do with objects that has $physics but that are copies (-01 etc). To give a good example is the admin building and lab building in LAB. The doors there have -01 instances set as their physics (while the door is not a copy), so removing and deleting these doors causes a freeze in TresEd. This applies to the doors in the office building as well if I remember.
So a lot of us are familiar with the occasion for Tres to open a scene as a black background with the grey airplane in the distance. What are all the possible causes of this?
I never get this. It would usually be caused with missing files for the level, or the level is corrupt. Or the files are just empty.
You may want to mention that you should always close a level before opening a new one in TresEd as well, as that causes issues.
The Save Level action. I recall only having trouble with it, and that TC_Isle attempted to put one at the Crater Facility but took it out. Does it work sometimes and not others?
That would be an ATX thing. I have never really experimented with it myself, and I do not believe anyone have really tried it out with CE (I do believe Lee ported it).
I do remember vanilla savegames worked for some and for some not. Apparently as the save put the filepath in the file. But I am not sure that was the cause.
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Re: Trespasser Tutorials

Post by Draconisaurus »

Hmm thanks Tatu.
This reminds me of another issue. It has to do with objects that has $physics but that are copies (-01 etc). To give a good example is the admin building and lab building in LAB. The doors there have -01 instances set as their physics (while the door is not a copy), so removing and deleting these doors causes a freeze in TresEd. This applies to the doors in the office building as well if I remember.
Ah thanks I'm not sure if I've seen that one.
That would be an ATX thing. I have never really experimented with it myself, and I do not believe anyone have really tried it out with CE (I do believe Lee ported it).
Well original Tres has an AT for it. I'm just not sure how well it works.
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Re: Trespasser Tutorials

Post by Draconisaurus »

Alright, here is my current listing, proto-format to be sure and get them all listed. Will explain things better in the final version. If any additional bugs/glitches come to mind, please post!

BUG CATAGORIES

GeometryType
*GeoType 1
~invisible unlinked physics (typically "F")
~CMagnet
~Barrel for CGun
~MFlashOrg for CGun
~RecoilOrg for CGun
~CParticles
~CWaterDisturbance
~Triggers - spheres (BoundVol 0)
~Teleport class
~AI boxes
~CAnimal anchors
~Teleport destinations
*GeoType 2
~visible models
~$-physics submodels
~CEntityAttached (visible)
~DetailShadow for CGun
~MFlashObject0/1/2 for CGun
~Triggers - boxes (BoundVol 1)
~CEntityWater

Textures
*Wrong terrain texture palette
*24-bit textures imported later corrupt the older ones
*Dimensions must be power of 2 from 2 to 256
*Palette limit of roughly 128
*24-bit textures are displaced by 8 pixels
*A level will crash if a texture animation is listed in an object's value table where one or more of the listed textures is not found in the SWP.
*Objects using the directional texture animation will have an inconsistent, sped-up version of the texture's motion of the object is cloned into "-01" etc.
*Levels may crash from an abundance of transparency textures, such as leaves, which have overlapping faces within or between models
*Anne's heart tattoo may not change when she receives damage. Some models of her are missing the texture animation script. Some Player models do not have a damage animation.
*Textures may appear black in TresEd and grey in Trespasser if: the texture was missing during import
*Textures appear blue ingame. (Some) early fan mods are modded from retail files and are missing imported textures. Modding a retail level may result in the same error if Trespasser overwrites the SWP you are working with with a fresh extraction of the SPZ file. While modding retail levels, store the SPZ in a separate folder after the SWP is extracted.
*CBackdrop colors are not preserved by GeomAdd, appearing black instead. Texturing them provides only minor coloration.
*Textures for a retail level may not appear, being solid-colored instead, if Trespasser is installed in Program Files, due to Windows permissions. It is a good idea to install Tres in a different folder. You can also "Run as Admin".

Physics
*Wrong geometry type
*Sometimes after import a physics model may be found to be tiny. Delete it and re-import to fix.
*$-physics must be not be selected along with parent model unless they are "-01" or higher, or on CEntityAttached, in order to be moved in TresEd
*In the case of models with a physics model of "-01" or higher, TresEd will freeze if you try to delete the main model.
*Physics are the wrong shape. Ingame physics shape is based on box-shape originating from the pivot and extending to farthest mesh vertices in each direction
*Ingame actual physics may be found to be slightly larger than their finite shape seen in BONES mode
*Trespasser has a variable number of possible active physics, based in part on your computer's specs.
*The Impluse physics push in CSetPhysicsAction requires an emitter; this object usually starts with "$" and may be tricky to place correctly for the desired effect.

Magnets
*Rotated the wrong direction
*Instanced magnets (for doors, guns, etc.): the "-01"+ instances must come after the instance number of the magnet
*A model held by a magnet may not rotate the right direction if the $-physics are not oriented the same
*Only 1 axis/transition-free magnet per connected set
*AngleMin and AngleMax do not appear to work
*XTFree and YTFree do not work; try sticking to ZTFree for transition magnets
*RestoreStrength does not work
*Some Trespasser doors cause errors when imported into fan levels. ???
*Setting a door to open as a scripted event can be tricky when going from retail game examples. If you have difficulty, try using the Frozen boolean instead.

Meshes
*CPlayer or CAnimals messed up from 3DS format
*If a new model appears faceted, it needs smoothing groups and/or separate elements
*In MAX, mapping must be done using the modifier panel
*A model with Planted set to True may have lower edges stick up through the terrain if part of the model is buried
*A part of a model will flash back and forth between textures if there are multiple faces occupying the same area
*CSubstituteMeshAction only works for CPlayer and (???) CAnimal.

Shadows
*A CEntityAttached object targeting the Player will only update its shadow when the Player stands still for a few seconds.

Triggers
*Merge, Split, and Wrap may be required at import for some triggers to work

Terrain
*Terrain import from heightmap in TresEd results in inconsistent terrain height. (Maxscripts etc.)
*Extreme angles of terrain may blurr textures
*Export terrain to TPM does not cover entire possible terrain coordinates and results may be over-detailed for use
*Terrain textures may appear blurry. This is mainly from the terrain quad division being too large in the area.
*Terrain objects of the same height sort based on instance number. TresEd represents this layering backwards. ???

Water
*CEntityWater may appear oddly colored on the edges if they extend too far into the terrain
*Water does not accept new sound materials despite the available string in the class
*The properties of CSetAlphaWaterAction appear to be sensitive and not always represent the assigned values. Experiment to find a working version.
*CWaterOnOffAction can turn CEntityWater on or off; touching off-water crashes the game.

Guns / Weapons
*Some guns have an unusually tiny scale factor, resulting in the bullet distance being extremely short.
*If a new model for a muzzle flash is oriented in the wrong direction, the pivot must be changed to match normal muzzle flashes
*Objects with a Damage value may damage the Player while they are stowed. Unavoidable; in guns the issue is solved with DamageMultiplier as 0.

Dinosaurs
*Particles such as blood will have their tail-end-transparency ignore the texture of a dinosaur, showing through the model, if the dinosaur's body texture includes transparency such as teeth.
*Dinosaurs may remain motionless until you get close if they have no WakeUp / Sleep values assigned; Sleep should be a greater distance than WakeUp
*Some CAnimal activities or "Act___" only work ingame with the proper CE settings on
*A CAnimal may trip over its feet if it is of small scale and doesn't have additional physics assigned for the left and right foot, or if the Speed is set too high
*A dinosaur may not be attacked by a carnivore if the carnivore food AI value is missing from the physics
*Dinosaurs sometimes make a basketball sound. This happens when a vocal is called on that is missing. Herbivore plant chewing frequently has this issue. ???
*Dinosaurs might make the wrong set of vocalizations. The int Dinosaur value on the CAnimal must match the int Dinosaur value in the set of vocals you want it to use. If no vocal set matches the number, you'll hear the basketball.
*Dinosaurs may come back to life after being ragdolled into a strange position. It is a function of HitPoints, ReallyDie, DieRate, and Regeneration. ???
*Dinosaurs require a physical object of the right AI type to use ActEat and ActDrink
*CCreatureTrigger; EvaluateAll was fixed? only for some monitors?
*CAnimals may stop carrying out their activities if there are too many in the script, or also if there are many AI inside the level.

Special
*The CSocket class, intended for the LAB capacitors, was not finished. The stuck object has a tendency to move around afterward.
*The Settings class is used for creating customized AlphaChannels. It is known to be unreliable, working or not working between sessions, and there may be a limit of 1 customized AlphaChannel
*BoundVol is sometimes misspelled as BoundBol and requires the correct geometry type at import or else results in a crash ???
*PlayerInTrigger details? ObjectInTrigger?
*Check the PointTrigger boolean if you are confused by when a CLocationTrigger is triggered
*For CObjectTrigger, stowing an object counts as PutDownObject
*In CVariableTrigger, the Value boolean is not recorded in savegames. Try alternate scripting work-arounds.
*CShowOverlayAction ???
*CTeleportAction may behave oddly if HeightRelative is not set to False.
*CSaveLevelAction???

Level Files
*Renaming a level may cause the renamed version to crash based on an assortment of little-understood errors including animated textures; avoid renaming levels except in the earliest stages

ASA Animation
*It is possible that the ASB created by Tres from an ASA animation file differs depending on the computer which makes it. Be sure to include the ASB of your animation in a level release.
*??? ...
*Sometimes an ASA animmation will alter an object's position at level-load. To fix, set the first frame as 0.1 instead of 0.0.

Sound
*Tres sounds must be (format) ... otherwise errors such as shortening or lack of volume distance or other errors may occure
*Scripting delays between voiceovers requires the length of the clip to be added to the length of delay
*CFadeMusicAction appears to work or not work depending on your computer

TresEd
~Wonky Textures
*A level loaded while another was already open will cause an error of mixed files
*TresEd will crash if a string value is updated that is too long

Ingame
~Scene
*Trespasser may load a scene as a black background with a small grey paper airplane; this means ???
~Textures
~Water
*(check if the next-level alt-water error persists in CE)
~During Gameplay
*Levels may crash from overlapping transparencies within or between models
*A level may crash from over-active physics interactions
*The horizon may have an incorrect, glitchy appearance with black lines or whatnot. There is no known fix.
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Re: Trespasser Tutorials

Post by Draconisaurus »

Have been in communication with Raphaelosauros, who found out that the "~" symbol in his "Base~TresJungle" level files was causing an animated texture sequence to not work. This is news to me and means that levels should not be made with the "~" symbol in their name.

Tatu, we ought to swap Base~TresJungle out of the download section with a version called "Base_TresJungle".

Bug / Glitch Fix Tutorial has been updated.
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Re: Trespasser Tutorials

Post by TheIdiot »

Draconisaurus wrote: Mon Oct 23, 2023 8:21 pm Have been in communication with Raphaelosauros, who found out that the "~" symbol in his "Base~TresJungle" level files was causing an animated texture sequence to not work. This is news to me and means that levels should not be made with the "~" symbol in their name.

Tatu, we ought to swap Base~TresJungle out of the download section with a version called "Base_TresJungle".

Bug / Glitch Fix Tutorial has been updated.
How did he figure that one out, and what was the problem he was having? I've never encountered a problem like that, and all of my levels use the tilde symbol in their names. I'm wondering if I should swap their names out now.
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Re: Trespasser Tutorials

Post by Draconisaurus »

Hmmmm I shall ask him.
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Re: Trespasser Tutorials

Post by tatu »

It is quite simple to figure out if ~ is the issue, as you could simply just check Anne in any of the levels that has it. JPDS uses it too, and I believe the TC levels? And non of them have an issue with animated texture issue. Are we sure they didn't end up renaming the level files without GeomAdd? That will cause animated textures to stop working.
Active project: Trespasser: Isla Sorna
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PH2-IT: Pre-released
PL-SUM: In production

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Re: Trespasser Tutorials

Post by Draconisaurus »

Here is what he said:
Raphaelsauros wrote:I discovered it because the animation of that flame wasn't working for me, and then I tried to export the flame from CrossBow, saving it on my Hard Disk, then I deleted the flame from CrossBow, then again I imported the flame onto CrossBow and I saw that it worked. Then I said to myself: "there is something wrong with my level", Base~TresJungle, I saw that the name was too long and with that tilde, and I thought that perhaps names that are too long are not good for animations. Then I tried to import the flame into the layer called HandCar, and everything worked. I was so surprised and happy.
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Re: Trespasser Tutorials

Post by TheIdiot »

Draconisaurus wrote: Tue Oct 24, 2023 4:44 pm Here is what he said:
Raphaelsauros wrote:I discovered it because the animation of that flame wasn't working for me, and then I tried to export the flame from CrossBow, saving it on my Hard Disk, then I deleted the flame from CrossBow, then again I imported the flame onto CrossBow and I saw that it worked. Then I said to myself: "there is something wrong with my level", Base~TresJungle, I saw that the name was too long and with that tilde, and I thought that perhaps names that are too long are not good for animations. Then I tried to import the flame into the layer called HandCar, and everything worked. I was so surprised and happy.
Interesting. So he then took the tilde out of the name of his Base~TresJungle level, and it worked, I assume?
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Re: Trespasser Tutorials

Post by tatu »

TheIdiot wrote: Wed Oct 25, 2023 4:57 am
Draconisaurus wrote: Tue Oct 24, 2023 4:44 pm Here is what he said:
Raphaelsauros wrote:I discovered it because the animation of that flame wasn't working for me, and then I tried to export the flame from CrossBow, saving it on my Hard Disk, then I deleted the flame from CrossBow, then again I imported the flame onto CrossBow and I saw that it worked. Then I said to myself: "there is something wrong with my level", Base~TresJungle, I saw that the name was too long and with that tilde, and I thought that perhaps names that are too long are not good for animations. Then I tried to import the flame into the layer called HandCar, and everything worked. I was so surprised and happy.
Interesting. So he then took the tilde out of the name of his Base~TresJungle level, and it worked, I assume?
From what I can tell no, they only imported it into another level. However, Base~TresJungle is 15 characters, and Shell Generator only allows 14 for example, so there may be something in it. Again, it should be a simple test really as even Anne should be broken in a level like that.
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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