Return of hppav's updates! Update 12-24-09 VC Exterior

[hppav]

I decided to read through all the comments that JRR posted to my YT account. Here's one that I actually feel it's good for me to expound upon:

"dude could you make the JPO level a exe so i don't need need to do the level converting crap ok its much all the fans could play it easier"

JPO will be packaged with an exe and a custom menu. For further levels I'll have to look into a setup program to copy the levels and automatically run TPAAdd to update the TPA with new sounds.

This was something that I had decided like... 5-6 years ago (The 7th anniversary of the official first news post will be this November 17th I think). Whenever the first TC level came out. Especially now that I have a new menu in the works.

[tatu]

Looking good

[jetblack]

Well, private messages are crapping out.. so, do you have enough story writers, and if not, would you mind if I did a bit of story work?

[hppav]

Due to inactivity the story writers left without writing anything.. And now that progress is being made, they have either moved on or are too busy with other things and haven't said "Hey, am I still on the team?" However, I already have a story done as well as some back story and subplots and an overall timeline of events before and after the events of JPO. All I'll have to do is write the VOs and that isn't too much work. I have been working on this for almost 7 years now so the story is much much different from what I had originally envisioned

The original story is the cruise ship, the SS Explorer, hits some underwater anomaly and sinks and Jill ends up on the shoreline of Isla Nublar, which is nearby. Creepily, the real SS Explorer hit an underwater anomaly (Believed to be a submerged iceberg) and sank a year or so ago About 6 years after I came up with the original storyline. (Not the only time a random idea of mine for a story ended up being paralleled in real life)

The new storyline is that Jill is a former employee of InGen and was on the island during the InGen incident (There were other people on the island besides the main cast, the power plants for example have to have someone keeping an eye on them). She doesn't agree with the decision to hide the truth from the public and upon hearing that the Coast Guard have abandoned the island for reasons unknown, she heads in to find evidence of the incident.

There's more to it than that, of course, but this is all you will need to know before the first level of JPO is released. The gameplay will be slightly different than what you are used to in other mods, once I get the settings (Buildings, landscape, movie locations) done of course.

[hppav]

Another update! Here's a video of the Visitor Center and the immediate area.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MhhW7V7zpGM

A LOT more terrain work has been done besides what's been shown here. There's a lot of quads that I had to merge, lots that I had to divide. I got 1/4 of the shoreline to an alpha state, did some work with the Helicopter Canyon, T-Rex pen, the western range, etc.

[Draconisaurus]

Nice vid - commented. Though, it seemed to me like you forgot to set the recording resolution to your viewing resolution

[hppav]

I was unable to do so since the menu isn't finished yet graphically That's why I tried my best to center everything to the upper left corner.

[Draconisaurus]

Haha, I think the resolution can be set manually (for demo engines) in tpass.ini...

[Egghead]

Cool video, watched it last night. I'm very intrigued by this level. I have one thing to comment on though. Obviously this level would take place after the events in JP 1. I just wanted to say that your control room looks perfect but I think some computers should be knocked over with a ladder on the floor (since that happened in JP 1 when the raptor attacked.) Otherwise, amazing level.

[hppav]

The raptor didn't knock over the computers. It jumped onto the table they are on but the computers don't fall off (Probably would have pissed off the people who loaned the equipment ) Besides, the computers will have some uses in the mod.

And I just haven't made props yet, saving those for when I leave Pre-Alpha and go to Alpha for Level One (Which will be one of two levels featuring the Visitor Center. The location is coming along so awesomely that a return to it is almost mandatory.). I will confirm that at minimum the level will have raptors and compies (Compies will be in every level, as they are depicted in the books as being just about everywhere, even on the mainland.).

[Draconisaurus]

Lol yes, as was described earlier, Sam is making everything initially in its pristine state, as it was during the movie (other than that one quad-monitor ). He's even considering a release of the various levels in this form for nostalgia's sake. The weathering, age, and damage will be applied afterward..

[Egghead]

It didn't knock any over? Obviously, I havn't seen JP1 in a while.

*runs away to go watch Jurassic Park*

[hppav]

The two main monitors on Arnold's station jump back about 2 inches but don't fall off the desk at any point.

And yesh, Draco's got it right I'm using the same method as the makers of Doom 3 who originally built Mars City as a normal facility but as development progressed they tore it further and further apart. And now that we have the Alpha 1935 for STALKER, we can see that that is also the way that they do it. It's probably the industry standard to build how the location would look if it were around today and then add embellishments like busted windows, crumbling foundations, collapsing roofs, etc.

[Draconisaurus]

It's probably the industry standard to build how the location would look if it were around today and then add embellishments like busted windows, crumbling foundations, collapsing roofs, etc.

Frak "industry standard," it's an intuitively-arising artistic method. I first heard of it in the documentaries of the appendices for The Two Towers EE DVD, where they described building the ruined city of Osgiliath as a fully constructed city and then tor it apart. The guy in charge of "bigatures" noted how it was always easier to make something whole and then mess it up, than to try and build it in a ruined state to begin with, so the process comes about naturally.

[Egghead]

I just watched JP1 and you're right, the computers didn't fall off, I still think the ladder should be included though.