Tres: Reloaded - IT

[Draconisaurus]

This thread is for discussion and progress reports on InGen Town Reloaded.
I wanted to call this level "TO", in honor of the base terrain objects which reference themselves as being bases for a level called "TO" (TOwn), but I'm pretty sure we're going to go with IT so we don't screw up the level files and can keep the nice shiny normalmaps, and proper mipmaps. Keep all discussion about the custom houses in the primary Tres: R thread - this thread will become active mainly after we start plotting out restoration/alteration of original Tres concepts into the level, but we can discuss those things here now.

Now for some analysis of the voiceovers... Going over them now, they actually seem to contradict a lot of our theories about when the powerlines are encountered.. and yet, those theories are still supported by various thing including the voiceovers of Hammond. Still, this is what these suggest:

VA77: Power lines, now that’s what I’m looking for.
Anne stumbles across power pylons in the jungle. She suspects these must lead to civilization..
VA78: Showers, coffee, air conditioning… Almost there.
She can't wait..
VA79: What brought that down?
Anne finds the crashed BioSyn helicopter.
VA80: Come on Anne, you’re up to this.
Anne prepares to jump off the cliff into the pool below..? A little out of order, here.
VA81: On the bright side, no more student loans.
A meandering thought..
VA82: These can’t run more than a half mile more.
Still following the powerlines.
VA83: Don’t do this to me…
Something has gotten in her way? Dinosaurs or something else.. hmm.
VA84: Security system, looks like that’s still active.
Anne finally finds the keypad into Burroughs.

Now, all that would actually make perfect sense if she went backwards through the Plains, since we suspect the downed BioSyn heli would be in the Plains, not to mention the power pylons (as Hammond says).. dunno about that jump, which we've been assuming was a late addition. Anyway, though, voiceovers of Anne in the Plains actually come after this, so it can't be the Plains.. Not really sure, here! But we've already determined from the map that the power pylons for sure came after the town. Very curious.. we'll move on.

VA85: Hello? Hello!
VA86: In the middle of a jungle...
Anne's initial reaction to finding a town.. Hah, I don't even remember MY initial reaction to finding a town in this game.
VA87: It’s like that Twilight Zone episode where he’s in this town with no people and the guy’s really an astronaut.
VA88: Looks like they stripped it before they took off.
VA89: Hmm, all gone home.
Anne explores around, surrounded by overwhelming evidence that no one is left. Sucks.
VA90: The funny thing was, how easy it was. Nobody stops you, just get on the bus and watch the highway start moving, the whole world before you. I guess it’s not a vacation if you don’t know when you’re coming back.
Anne's mind wanders when she finds an old Island Express bus..
VA91: Where is the goddamned phone? I want out of here, I want diet soda, I want copy machines and juice boxes and… cartoons.
Mind still wandering, desperately..
VA92: Cheap lock.
I've always thought this was in reference to those locks on the tool shacks.. dunno, any ideas? Probably not a shack in this case.
VA93: Woah, surreal.
Probably something she finds in one of the buildings that's quite out of place. Maybe the saloon?
VA94: Something tells me this isn’t my ticket out of here…
Anne finds that satellite dish from the Ops Center wrecked on the ground....
VA95: This thing shows more than one transmitter.
Hmmm.. I'm probably going to end up putting this in Hammond's Map Room, but this suggests placement in the Ops Center.. but who knows, some voiceovers could just be mixed around, as they are elsewhere in the numbering system.
VA96: Now would probably not be a good time for a drink, much as I might like one…
Anne passes by one of the soda machines in Burroughs..
VA97: What’s that smell? Like a barn…
VA98: Oh God, it’s a nest.
o_O Was there to be a nest in the town? Maybe..
VA99: Excuse me, maintenance, hello, a little help here?
I'm betting that door in the Ops Center that says Maintenance.
VA100: Nothing here. Bet you Hammond’s the one who has all the fun satellite phones.
In some building, not finding anything..
VA101: How did they get their electricity? They must’ve had a generator...
Wondering about something she sees using electricity. What would it be? Maybe that thing in the Ops Center..
VA102: "No!! Morire por InGen. (means "No!! I’d die for InGen.")" Huh, maybe you already have.
Something scribbled on a wall in Burroughs, somewhere..
VA103: N/A
VA104: N/A
VA105: N/A
VA106: N/A
VA107: This place is dead.
VA108: Broken. No radio, no phone, no satellite. That’s it, I’m dead.
Anne finds the broken radio.
VA109: Nice stereo, guy.
Erm? Lol, idk
VA110: This thing needs a passcode, must be written down somewhere.
Very odd. I am going to be placing this in conjunction with the first keypad Anne needs to open to get inside Burroughs.. the original texture for the wall in the Mystery Models does not have BIGLIE scribbled on it, so it's going to be written down elsewhere...
VA111: Very nice, John!
She's found Hammond's house. Seems maybe it originally needed a passcode.. I doubt it would also have used a keycard, then. Notice how the keycard reader on Wu's place is broken.. and you open that door from the Ops Center. Maybe it's actually supposed to be a broken keypad.. and you find the code to Hammond's gate in Wu's house? That would of course mean that, once you knew it, you could always get into Hammond's house immediately.. Unless we used my special system developed for JPDS, where the finding of the code is remembered, so you don't have to mess with pressing buttons..
VA112: Living room, dining room, hardwood floors. Lovely.
VA113: Modern Kitchen, high ceilings.
VA114: A guest bedroom for visiting mad scientists.
XD
VA115: Master bedroom, very nice.
VA116: You’ve got to be kidding me. "Welcome to my island. No, don’t try to escape. Let me tell you my plan."
Oooo. Maybe Anne triggers something that locks the doors? But she'll need that keycard in the back.. Or maybe this is in reference to some audio Hammond has going, which goes into a long description about the island.. *shrug*
VA117: Secret compartment, ooo ahh..
Obviously. Where the diskette is hidden.
VA118: Ha! This has got to be worth something.
...The diskette.
VA119: Now we’re getting somewhere.
Anne finds the maproom.. what she finally needs to figure this island out and find a way out. This is where the transmitter quote should go, since there is no island map in the Ops Center.



Sooo! Let's bring Hammond into this.

VH47: We sealed off the town save for a few crucial gates: southward to the lowlands; eastward to the power plant and laboratory.
Aha. NOW there is a South Gate, leading into the lowlands of the jungle road..
VH48: We sealed the eastern gate for the last time. Gazing from my study window, I hit on a simple mnemonic for the passcode. Like Nedry, I felt I needed to keep a backdoor open.
Hmmmm. I suspect something in Hammond's house made a cute sound.. maybe the doorbell.. or the computer starting up.. and this sound could be used on a keypad for the East Gate, using the correct keys, rather than finding ANOTHER keycard in his room. Maybe some JP tune.. This might be hard to set up, but let's see if we can do it.
A thought! The keycards may all have originally been intended for the Lab. That would explain duplicate colors between the locations. We've seen from the VOs that Hammond's door seems to have used a passcode.. and Wu's door can be opened from the Ops Center. That only leaves the security door in the Ops Center, which is opened with the Church keycard.. I wonder what would replace that? Perhaps the fabled HB card.

Maybe HB are the initials of the person in charge of security.. and maybe he hung out at the Church. Hell, maybe he was the frakkin pastor.






And that's all the analysis I'll do tonight, I think.... phew!

EDIT: Hammond's room uses a keycard! I forgot! And the big dipper puzzle pointing to it.. Maybe THAT'S what the HB card is for. More speculation needed..

[machf]

VA102: "No!! Morire por InGen. (means "No!! I’d die for InGen.")" Huh, maybe you already have.
Something scribbled on a wall in Burroughs, somewhere..

More likely, "¡No moriré por InGen!", "I won't die for InGen!"... let me listen to it to be sure.

EDIT: yes, that's definitely it.

[Draconisaurus]

That's quite an important correction.. thank you. It makes much more sense, and will help in placement..

[Nick3069]

VA79: What brought that down?
Anne finds the crashed BioSyn helicopter.

That's going to moved in the town?
Wait, where is the IJ thread?

VA109: Nice stereo, guy.
Erm? Lol, idk

I think that was meant for Wu's stereo, because Hammond says Wu had an entertainment system or something like that.

EDIT:

I wanted to call this level "TO", in honor of the base terrain objects which reference themselves as being bases for a level called "TO" (TOwn), but I'm pretty sure we're going to go with IT so we don't screw up the level files and can keep the nice shiny normalmaps, and proper mipmaps.

Couldn't we just use GeomAdd to import IT's GRF directly to a empty level named TO?

[Draconisaurus]

VA79: What brought that down?
Anne finds the crashed BioSyn helicopter.

That's going to moved in the town?

Nope.. If you read, I am going over what the VOs say, determining what they reveal, not necessarily saying what we will be doing. As it happens, I'll be hiding the BioSyn heli somewhere in PL.

Wait, where is the IJ thread?

In case you didn't notice.... There is no IJ.... The first half of IJ1 is now at the end of JR, and the second half of IJ1 is in IT, as you've you seen. IJ2 no longer exists, unless we want to stick it in some other part of the game, which I don't see a need for. IJ3 materials are now all going in PL, which machf got me to see as a good idea; everything from the pylons to gravel hill to the Smuggler's plane.

VA109: Nice stereo, guy.
Erm? Lol, idk

I think that was meant for Wu's stereo, because Hammond says Wu had an entertainment system or something like that.

Ohhhhh, of course, thank you!

Couldn't we just use GeomAdd to import IT's GRF directly to a empty level named TO?

That wouldn't preserve the SWP or PID files... I'm pretty sure you can't just rename them, unless you get a serious hex editor on the job.

[hppav]

Actually IJ2 DID exist in the beta Trespasser. The canyon was only about a foot tall in that version.

http://trescom.3dactionplanet.gamespy.c ... opter2.jpg

machf researched this image and found that it was, indeed, a part of the "canyon".

Now, how would THAT link up with the rest of the levels?

[machf]

Actually, I see that as IJ1 being longer instead of connecting to IJ2 as it does now, as IJ2's terrain seems to have come from an ASx level... the location of that picture is near the current coordinates of the helicopter, though.

[Draconisaurus]

Right, I'm fully aware of that image. The idea is that it is still from a stage of Trespasser development some time after IJ1 was shifted out of location-correlation from JR, and that IJ2 was "put in" to connect it with IJ3. My old "The Old and Improved IJ" level was going to include that area as you see it there, with the shallow, muddy gorge.. I think it looks pretty cool, but it has no place in a map which connects IJ1 with the town. I'm not *entirely* sure how machf thinks it's from Ascent, other than a generally similar rock pattern, but that'd be a fine place to put it. My description of Ascent Reloaded includes a canyon.. which is probably the best place.. but, I'm not planning on putting the BioSyn heli in that, so that part of it should be dealt with in some other way..

[Draconisaurus]

Have discovered what really happened to the church...

[glitchhunter09]

The back of the CD case I have of Trespasser shows two Parasaurolophus, wondering down the road close to Hammond's house and a Mottled Redish brown T-Rex (Most likely the Brown one.) at the Gas Station with the Truck there in front of it. The only difference for the truck is that it has a hood.
Apparently there was also a point when the raptors could follow you indoors as there is a picture of Anne throwing a chair at a Raptor in the kitchen of some house.

[Nick3069]

Have discovered what really happened to the church...

That was random.

The back of the CD case I have of Trespasser shows two Parasaurolophus, wondering down the road close to Hammond's house and a Mottled Redish brown T-Rex (Most likely the Brown one.) at the Gas Station with the Truck there in front of it. The only difference for the truck is that it has a hood.
Apparently there was also a point when the raptors could follow you indoors as there is a picture of Anne throwing a chair at a Raptor in the kitchen of some house.

Like this:
http://trescom.3dactionplanet.gamespy.c ... nglish.jpg
There is a reason why they removed those, mainly because the creatures are too big and keep bumping into everything. Wu's kitchen (the scene with anne trowing a chair) might be too small, but not the main entrance or the garage. Maybe Reloaded could have a little more raptors inside buildings.

[glitchhunter09]

Is it just me or does the dinosaur animation in the Pre-release screenshots and video look more refined and life like?

[hppav]

The meshes were pre-posed and not animated in pre-released imagery. If you look closely you might see raptors in two different shots in the same pose.

[Draconisaurus]

Have discovered what really happened to the church...

That was random.

Finally someone noticed..

The back of the CD case I have of Trespasser shows two Parasaurolophus, wondering down the road close to Hammond's house and a Mottled Redish brown T-Rex (Most likely the Brown one.) at the Gas Station with the Truck there in front of it. The only difference for the truck is that it has a hood.
Apparently there was also a point when the raptors could follow you indoors as there is a picture of Anne throwing a chair at a Raptor in the kitchen of some house.

Like this:
http://trescom.3dactionplanet.gamespy.c ... nglish.jpg
There is a reason why they removed those, mainly because the creatures are too big and keep bumping into everything. Wu's kitchen (the scene with anne trowing a chair) might be too small, but not the main entrance or the garage. Maybe Reloaded could have a little more raptors inside buildings.

Yes yes yes.. I have plans for the Rex in IT reloaded. Seeing as it's already in the level, and not too far away.. As for dinos in buildings - yeah, Wu's kitchen is not the best place. There are AI boxes and some other things already set up at Wu's house to allow for a raptor in the central room of the house. Seems like he would have been teleported there at some point - probably while you were somewhere else in the house. I'm sure we can bring this back, a little buggy though it may be..
FYI, the hood of the truck is entirely missing from retail IT. There is a submodel for the hood in the basement, which is not present in any other levels, and it seems evident that the hoods were removed because their magnets would not hold them and the devs couldn't figure out why (instance-ordering issues.. I wonder who programmed that damn thing). I'll do my best to restore them in IT reloaded - though it is something simple enough, in theory, that one of ya'll could do it. In fact, if anyone wants to give a shot at it, you can position a hood on each truck in the Town and then export just the hoods as a big TPM and post it here..

If you look closely you might see raptors in two different shots in the same pose.

More than two I've seen the same damn raptor pose in at least 6 images..

[glitchhunter09]

Have discovered what really happened to the church...

That was random.

Finally someone noticed..

The back of the CD case I have of Trespasser shows two Parasaurolophus, wondering down the road close to Hammond's house and a Mottled Redish brown T-Rex (Most likely the Brown one.) at the Gas Station with the Truck there in front of it. The only difference for the truck is that it has a hood.
Apparently there was also a point when the raptors could follow you indoors as there is a picture of Anne throwing a chair at a Raptor in the kitchen of some house.

Like this:
http://trescom.3dactionplanet.gamespy.c ... nglish.jpg
There is a reason why they removed those, mainly because the creatures are too big and keep bumping into everything. Wu's kitchen (the scene with anne trowing a chair) might be too small, but not the main entrance or the garage. Maybe Reloaded could have a little more raptors inside buildings.

Yes yes yes.. I have plans for the Rex in IT reloaded. Seeing as it's already in the level, and not too far away.. As for dinos in buildings - yeah, Wu's kitchen is not the best place. There are AI boxes and some other things already set up at Wu's house to allow for a raptor in the central room of the house. Seems like he would have been teleported there at some point - probably while you were somewhere else in the house. I'm sure we can bring this back, a little buggy though it may be..
FYI, the hood of the truck is entirely missing from retail IT. There is a submodel for the hood in the basement, which is not present in any other levels, and it seems evident that the hoods were removed because their magnets would not hold them and the devs couldn't figure out why (instance-ordering issues.. I wonder who programmed that damn thing). I'll do my best to restore them in IT reloaded - though it is something simple enough, in theory, that one of ya'll could do it. In fact, if anyone wants to give a shot at it, you can position a hood on each truck in the Town and then export just the hoods as a big TPM and post it here..

If you look closely you might see raptors in two different shots in the same pose.

More than two I've seen the same damn raptor pose in at least 6 images..

The trucks close to the end of IJ have hoods on them that work. That's about the only stage with working truck hoods. I know IJ is going to be non-existant but I just thought you might want to know that if you didn't already.(Most likely you did seeing as how you know the game pretty much inside and out.) You might be able to use those hoods as a reference if you need it. Don't forget the two Parasaurolophus wandering the town as well.

I'm also curious, why did they remove the beta Green T-Rex skin? On the bright side, Asjad did a good job at attempting to recreate it.(If that was his intention anyway.) Another question: Were there any beta weapons in Trespasser? I remember something in one of the prerelease screens on the site that slightly resembled a weapon from the final but it wasn't quite like it.