Draco - Tuesday, 24 April 2011 (JPDS Plains now out!)

[Draconisaurus]

Name: Draco Astreus
Position: Almost everything
Occupation: In transition
Age: 23
Listening to: Steve Roach


(see initial JPDS release here: viewtopic.php?f=46&t=8880 )

Aaaaand now, announcing the second release of Jurassic Park: Dark Secrets! JPDS Plains! Head over to the mainpage for the link! See the enclosed text file for installation and loading instructions.

EDIT: IMPORTANT! The released version has a Field-Of-View trigger designed for widescreen (16:9) monitors. If this is not your monitor's resolution ratio, you can get corrected level files for your monitor here:
http://www.trescom.org/files/Levels/jpd ... crn4-3.rar
http://www.trescom.org/files/Levels/jpd ... n16-10.rar

Quoting from the readme:

~~~
"The InGen hunting parties carried the passcodes for our perimeter fences." ~ Hammond

In JPDS Plains, Tasha has uncovered and used the passcode to the first gate of the Plains Ecosystem Research & Observation zone, having found it with the body of a dead hunter somewhere in JPDS Streams (a puzzle which survives but, obviously, is no longer needed to load this level). With endless streches of tall grassland before her, she must figure out how to survive while searching for clues to Daniel in this new environment, oddly reminiscent of the African plains Hammond must have been accustomed to at his reserve in Kenya.
~~~

Have at it. It's the next most complete level of the lot of them, not as complex but very expansive. An entire environment was added into the area just after the Plains itself after Tatu convinced me to recreate this level's terrain in a retail WTD file. So this time you can appreciate awesome, non-buggy terrain and some stuff that would not have been possible with the terrain file used by the other levels.

Meanwhile with me, I am very busy rebuilding all the Lego sets from my childhood in order to sell them on eBay, and will be getting three* wisdom teeth pulled on the 4th. Busy busy busy! With the Winter Contest, the plan is to set up voting the next day and allow about two weeks, so I can recover from the operation. The next JPDS release will feature the remaining semi-complete levels, and then sometime next month I'll be releasing special material (such as the final JPDS~testing) and opening up the JPDS Conference Room to public eyes. Enjoy the Plains.

[Draconisaurus]

NOTE! Two "patch" level file options have just been released, if your monitor does not run at a widescreen resolution ratio of 16:9! Just download the right one and plunk the two files into the data folder, overwriting the other versions.

[Microceratops]

Downloading with a lot of excitment!

[tatu]

Anyone got any story about Plains? Thoguths, what did you like etc..?

[Draconisaurus]

I am a bit surprised, no reports yet! Are people having issues with level stability? Or perhaps folks are waiting to solve the Plains Gate puzzle in Streams.

[RexHunter99]

I am a bit surprised, no reports yet! Are people having issues with level stability? Or perhaps folks are waiting to solve the Plains Gate puzzle in Streams.

I've finished roughly 90% of plains thus far, there wasnt much of an interesting story for me to tell you guys because it was all really stock Trespasser Gameplay to be honest. (still looking for that scope thingy to test it out at the tower)

[Nick3069]

I haven't really played it yet. I loaded the the level once; followed the road up to the bunker then crate-stacked my way up a concrete wall and into a...

Spoiler: show

...big angry/hungry Albertosaurus. lol

That's where I stopped because I had to go to sleep.
Nice level, from what I've seen, which wasn't much. I didn't like the dark sky though. It would have looked and felt more fun if it would have been a nice sunny sky, but I guess it goes with the Dark Secret theme.

[Microceratops]

I have played it a few times so far but I can't never get it finished. Discovered a lot of interesting stuff, though...

Spoiler: show

- First, I must say I really like the whole atmosphere of the level. It's a lot fun getting all these unexpected stuff, like the Raptors attacking you from nowhere and those traps! Damn!
- Also, the drug dealer plain ended up in a hilarious result. I'm sure Draco knows what I'm talking about. Reminded me of GTA
- The "cliff" part is hard! But a lot of fun. All the time I was looking up to see if something was about to fall on me and... Yup, stuff kept falling on me. Thank God for the save feature.
- Haven't been able to finish it yet, though. I reached what I thought was the ending of the level but I didn't know what to do next. Guess I'll have to keep exploring.

Great level, I hope I can finish it soon. Although tecnically, I haven't been able to finish the first level yet!

Congratulations on all your hard work, Draco! Can't wait for the next one!

[RexHunter99]

I have played it a few times so far but I can't never get it finished. Discovered a lot of interesting stuff, though...

Spoiler: show

- First, I must say I really like the whole atmosphere of the level. It's a lot fun getting all these unexpected stuff, like the Raptors attacking you from nowhere and those traps! Damn!
- Also, the drug dealer plain ended up in a hilarious result. I'm sure Draco knows what I'm talking about. Reminded me of GTA
- The "cliff" part is hard! But a lot of fun. All the time I was looking up to see if something was about to fall on me and... Yup, stuff kept falling on me. Thank God for the save feature.
- Haven't been able to finish it yet, though. I reached what I thought was the ending of the level but I didn't know what to do next. Guess I'll have to keep exploring.

Great level, I hope I can finish it soon. Although tecnically, I haven't been able to finish the first level yet!

Congratulations on all your hard work, Draco! Can't wait for the next one!

If you mean the gate at the end of the level as the end of the level I can give you a clue as to how to get it open

Spoiler: show

Search near the --------- -----, to the west side.
I won't tell you how to know what side is west though

[Microceratops]

Spoiler: show

Search near the --------- -----, to the west side.
I won't tell you how to know what side is west though

Spoiler: show

While I appreciate the help, I got that part already What I'm talking about is that I reached the top of the mountain (where there's a jeep, past the bus) and I entered the main house and got the diary but I don't know what to do from there... Any help?

Again, thanks for the help!

[Draconisaurus]

Lol Nick, crate stacker extraordinaire! Yes that's one way to get into that area, though you won't be able to get far up Misty Mountain with that route.
With the environment. I had to make the choice to give all of JPDS the same fog color and settings. Mainly from the requirement in using the ATXconfig file to set default fog values. I even had to take out "The heat on the Plain was extraordinary" voiceover because of this. That color just wouldn't look right with a blue sky etc., and it would be a rather jarring change from the rest of the levels (originally you would be able to pass back and forth between all levels in any order using the transitions). If I released a "sunny" version of this level sometime, it would have to be with its own ATXconfig file. But anyway, I think I might as well leave all that sort of experience for future levels such as the one you said you wanted to do

Micro! You got really far already, congrats. That climbing puzzle was reportedly very hard, glad to hear ya made it. Interested to hear more of your experience in the "cliff" area That whole thing was a very late addition to JPDS, probably shouldn't have spent the time on it but I was inspired at the time by the Beta and the developer transcripts which had just come out. Some of the puzzles there are from that, likely the only time they'll ever be done in this engine.
As for where to go after you've reached the top and gotten into everything... When you're at the top of the world, the only way to go is down!

[tatu]

I would really love to see more reports on this.

[makairu]

I just finished streams today (quickly, I didn't have time to mess around because I got that DX infection ) and started up plains. I personally so far like plains much more, the atmosphere is really cool and there seems to be a lot of neat stuff to find.

[Draconisaurus]

ah, you like Plains better? well that's fun to hear there's definitely a lot of work which went into it. i do prefer Streams myself, just cause i'm more of a forest person.

[Deino]

I've finnaly tried The Plains! looks pretty good, but unfortunately it occasionally crashes..

Spoiler: show

It crashes, for example, when I approach an electrified fence (or what is this wall structure actially) in the second area beyond the thick concrete wall (there is a gap here guarded by Albertosaur)