BE Beta - Actiontype 26 Animations!!! (From Tresgame)

[tatu]

So, in BE there is 3 start trigger that might have been the first animation with the player used ingame. Like the beginning of TC Rescue?
Could have been that you fall out of the plane animation?
Or wait, you can't move your arm in the begining of BE, might be that too?

Anyway
First:

Code: Select all

group TrigStart_Anim-00 = {
    string Class = "CStartTrigger"
    int FireCount = 1
    int AlphaChannel = 0
    bool PlayerEnterTrigger = true
    bool Wrap = false
    bool Merge = false
    bool Split = false
    int ActionType = 26
    string AnimationName = "Start"
}

Second:

Code: Select all

group TrigStart_Anim2-00 = {
    string Class = "CStartTrigger"
    int FireCount = 1
    int AlphaChannel = 0
    bool PlayerEnterTrigger = true
    bool Wrap = false
    bool Merge = false
    bool Split = false
    int ActionType = 22
    bool Visible = false
    string ObjectName = "Player"
}

Last:

Code: Select all

group TrigStart_Anim3-00 = {
    string Class = "CTimerTrigger"
    int FireCount = 1
    int AlphaChannel = 0
    bool PlayerEnterTrigger = true
    bool Wrap = false
    bool Merge = false
    bool Split = false
    int ActionType = 22
    bool Visible = true
    string ObjectName = "Player"
    float MinLowTime = 18.700001
    float MaxLowTime = 18.700001
}

Right, this is pretty big. There was some kind of starting ingame animation to this game, for about 18.700001 seconds, during which time the player had to be invisible. Sounds to me like scenic camera path from the ocean into the beach alcove where you begin. My question then is, is it meant to be really from an "out of body" perspective, or actually as if you are swimming in from the ocean? My official guide says this:

You survive the crash uninjured and manage to make it to the shore of Isla Sorna (a.k.a. "Site B") before losing consciousness. The new chapter of this story begins as you awaken.

This would argue more for an out-of-body perspective.. But then, what would you see in the spot where you are supposed to be? A static model of an unconscious Anne? That would be fun to see

The start.asb file is still in the data folder Don't know if you guys noticed it.

They are? Do you think it's possible to recreat the start animation?

It's possible. I don't know what the parameters of the asb file are (it IS a compiled version of the asa file which would have the important animation information in it).

Whoa whoa whoa, SERIOUSLY?! JESUS!!! Well there was a time when Slugger sent me only the ASB file of an animation, thinking only it was needed for an animation to play, which I proved wrong xP However, we did prove that an ASA file is totally ignored if an ASB file of the same name exists in the data folder. Sooo maybe all we need to do is create a bogus ASA file of the same name XD

Whoa whoa whoa, SERIOUSLY?! JESUS!!! Well there was a time when Slugger sent me only the ASB file of an animation, thinking only it was needed for an animation to play, which I proved wrong xP However, we did prove that an ASA file is totally ignored if an ASB file of the same name exists in the data folder. Sooo maybe all we need to do is create a bogus ASA file of the same name XD

It would be quite possible to reverse the Binary version of the animation if we knew all the given data :p

"if we knew all the given data"?

When you compress an ASA file into an ASB all you do is turn plain text to a bunch of bytes, if we knew what bytes made what commands in plain text, we could reverse the ASBs to ASA, making an application for this would probably be useless but it's just something I thought I should say

Lol. Well, if my theory about name-ignoring does not pan out, it's DEFINITELY worth a shot. But if it's not needed, best to use that time on something else..

However, we did prove that an ASA file is totally ignored if an ASB file of the same name exists in the data folder. Sooo maybe all we need to do is create a bogus ASA file of the same name XD

That sounds like a promising avenue to explore.

Rex, can you do this?

[Rebel]

There isn't any useful data inside the start.asb file. 12bytes is basically bogus as the minimum working size for an asb file is 96bytes. It's interesting to theorize what they might have had planned or through oversight, they failed to include, but I don't think we'll ever know that now. ..

[Draconisaurus]

Oh, crap! That's really too bad... It's good to know, at least, that the ASB file is not standing there teasing us with information we can't get at

[Rebel]

Nah, no teaser, Drac. It's a header id, nothing else follows. The engine will produce this (empty asb file) if there's an animation script call (trigger) for a non-existent, corresponding asa file or if an asa file exists but isn't properly formatted and/or has an unreadable error (ie., stops writing the asb file).

[machf]

The first byte of this one is 02, followed by 11 zeroes afterwards.

[Rebel]

Yeah, 2 is the default version number and the default forced_rate is 0 (unless otherwise denoted inside the asa file as done in some of our asa files), and that's where it stops since there's no corresponding asa data file to read.

*For a comparative, look at pnddoors and drawslide.asb files. .. forced_rate 12 and 0 respectively. ..

[tatu]

I am gonna resurrect this old topic.

I was just thinking about this and I wonder if this one could be some testing where Anne was going to float "ashore" and that is why they are start triggers. It would make sense even though it wouldn't really work due to the engine.

[Rebel]

I'm not certain what their plans were, tatu. But, I personally think they were planning on using play animations in much the same way we've been using them when the physics of a proposed puzzle just wouldn't work. My guess is the programmers were well aware of engine limitations, yet they were instructed to stick with the physics only , so they were restricted from using the play animation actiontype they coded in.

[Draconisaurus]

Since it is in a start trigger, I always figured it was an introduction view of some kind. Like, approaching the island from a distance or something.