23-01-11, 13:55 | #1 |
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Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 851
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Multiple baddie setup
Multiple baddies setup
Ever wanted to engage Lara in a dramatic fight, where there seems to be no end to the enemies, she must defeat? Then the multiple baddies setup is something for you. The original situation takes place in Valley of the Kings in TR4. Lara has just fought her way out of the tomb of Seth, and while she reads the text on the Amulet of Horus found in said tomb, her ”trusty companion” – the Guide – who has his own agenda, confronts her. During the confrontation a group of baddies show up and attack Lara. The Guide uses the chance to flee during the gunfight. The setup works by having the game engine make a new baddy appear, each time Lara kills his predecessor. The new baddy’s appearance is hardcoded, so he doesn’t need a trigger. The original setup used BADDY_1, which is the only enemy certain to work. If you want to use other kinds of enemies, it’s trial and error. The enemies I have tested:
A series is started by an enemy, which is triggered the usual way. It can be placed anywhere in the level and can die in any part of the level. But when it dies, its successor appears in room 2. The first of all enemies has OCB = 1000, the successor has OCB = 2000, the successor’s successor has OCB = 3000 and so on. When you feel you have enough enemies in one series, you give a trigger to the next enemy, which also have an OCB higher than the last member of the first series. Each enemy that is triggered is the first in its series and its successors must have OCB-codes incrementing with 1000 and be placed in room 2. This sounds rather complicated in words, so let’s make an example to clarify. Let’s make four series of baddies and have three enemies in each series (note: you don’t have to have the same number of enemies in each series). Their OCB-codes then are: First series: 1000 – 2000 – 3000 Second series: 4000 – 5000 – 6000 Third series: 7000 – 8000 – 9000 Fourth series: 10000 – 11000 – 12000 The enemies with OCB = 1000, 4000, 7000 and 10000 must be triggered and can be placed anywhere in the level, while all other enemies in the series must be placed in room 2. I don’t know if there’s a maximum for the number of series or of number of enemies in each series. I’ve tried to make four series with five enemies in each, and thus used OCB = 1000 – 20.000. That worked fine, but it was very difficult for Lara to survive four enemies shooting at her at the same time. So the limit probably lies with how many enemies, the game engine can handle at the same time without things getting jerky (in TRLE that’s about five enemies at the same time) and how many enemies your players will accept. I know some level builders have a fascination of extremely difficult levels stuffed with almost impossible timed runs, nasty traps and loads of very tough enemies. But those levels are usually only interesting to a small group of hardcore fans. So before you go crazy in enemies in this setup, decide for yourself if you want to make a level enjoyed by only a few people or by a larger group. Do you want to be appreciated by many players or appraised by only a few? But you can do more to this setup. Because you can add the usual OCB-codes to the factor 1000 for the enemy and have it perform certain actions, when it appears. These are the basic OCB-codes for BADDY_1 and BADDY_2: BADDY_1 1 – Rolls to the right when triggered 2 – Jumps to the left when triggered 3 – Crouches when triggered 4 – Climbs up 4 clicks when triggered. Note: the 4 clicks are block-clicks and not object-clicks, and they are measured from his feet and up. BADDY_2 1 – Jumps to the right when triggered 2 – Rolls to the left when triggered 3 – Crouches when triggered 4 – Climbs up 4 clicks when triggered. Note: the 4 clicks are block-clicks and not object-clicks, and they are measured from his feet and up. 10 – Draws uzi when triggered 11 – Jumps to the right when triggered and draws uzi 12 – Rolls to the left when triggered and draws uzi 13 – Crouches when triggered and draws uzi 14 – Climbs up 4 clicks when triggered and draws uzi. Note: the 4 clicks are block-clicks and not object-clicks, and they are measured from his feet and up. So if you use BADDY_1 and want number two in the above series one to climb up from a hole, he must have OCB = 2004. Or if you use BADDY_ 2 and want number three in the above series three to roll to the left and draw his uzi, when he appears, he must have OCB = 9012. You can also spice things up with AI-nullmeshes to have some of the enemies go to certain places or trigger extra actions. One AI-nullmesh must be placed on the same block as the enemy and one, where the enemy is supposed to arrive. Remember, that the enemy is only able to trigger something on the block, where the “destination”-AI-nullmesh is placed, and that it must be a heavy trigger. Also remember, that when activated by the game engine an enemy still appears out of the blue just like usual, so you still have to create nooks and corners in order to make it look like the enemy has been in hiding or has just arrived from another room. Below I will show a setup with the aforementioned four series of baddies with about three in each series. I have created a little story about it. Afterwards I will explain the tricks and OCB-codes, I’ve used to make this arrangement. Lara has finally gained access to the main hall of an ancient temple… …just to discover that the place has already been raided… …by none less than Von Croy, who is about to leave. Lara rushes towards him, but he closes all doors to the hall, and two of his henchmen show up on ledges above to deal with her (only one is seen here). But Von Croy has left more of his men to rid him of Lara, and while she disposed of the first two, another pair has managed to outflank her and now attacks from behind. Wait! Where did this fellow come from? Yet another baddy has been hiding behind the sarcophagi and now chooses to join the fight. Oh dear! The gunfight has alerted more of Von Croy’s henchmen, who have found their way in through a trapdoor in the floor. And these guys just refuse to roll over and die! For each one Lara defeats, another takes his place. They also brought dogs, who have found their own way into the hall. Very well, herr Von Croy, I’ve got a way out of here, and when I catch up with you, I’ll shoot you in your sound leg. How this was done: First, I must warn, that I was forced to make an unnecessarily complicated setup in order to get some good pictures of Lara’s enemies. But at least it should show quite a few of the options available. In total Lara had to fight 12 enemies: six BADDY_1’s, four BADDY_2’s and two DOG’s. When Lara arrives in the hall, she only triggers the two first series. She then only has to fight two enemies at a time. The remaining two series of enemies are triggered later. Series one (1000-3000):
But I used him for a special setup. His death triggers the two remaining series of enemies. On the floor of the central part of room 2 I placed a switch trigger for him and stacked the triggers for the trapdoors, a fixed camera with four seconds duration (timer = 4), the first baddy in series three and four (more about them later) and a trigger for a target (one of the BADDY_2’s) on top of it. A switch trigger works a bit like a frozen trigger, but it’s the activation of the switch or, like here, the death of an enemy, which unfreezes it rather than a trigger-triggerer. The trigger will not be activated before Lara steps on it, when it’s “unfrozen” (the enemy used as a switch is dead). You don’t have to give the enemy any special setting, just select it, place the trigger and make it a switch-trigger. Series two (4000-6000):
Series three (7000-9000):
Series four (10000 – 12000):
As you can see, you can mix different types of enemies into one series, have them trigger new events, go to other places and in general spice the gameplay up. Additional advice: You don’t even have to activate all series of enemies in one go. Perhaps Lara must fight a new series of enemies every time she returns to the central hall or plaza from exploring a new part of the temple or town. And the enemies aren’t confined to room 2. As long as they are placed in room 2 to be activated there, they can go anywhere in the level as you want them to. Want to make a gunfight in a Western frontier town with gunmen appearing from all around Lara and get reinforcements, when some of them are shot? Go ahead! With some planning and a handful of good ideas your level is ready for exciting events. Have fun! Last edited by Titak; 30-08-15 at 17:20. |
30-12-14, 10:12 | #2 |
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Joined: Jul 2003
Posts: 33,359
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By The Great Chi
ROUND 2 I have been doing similar things over the last few years on other classic tombraider games like TR3, TR2 and now TR1, by adding more enemies on a trigger. I do notice from the closed writeup that the PO uses "four series of baddies with about three in each series". Now I do not know if this was just luck or deliberate, as the OP did not encounter overload problems, when a lot more baddies are added. What I wanted to say is that if you exceed six baddies in one area then the game engine and/or video card overloads and you can get textured baddies winking in and out of the scene, ie, bits of baddies dissapear or some of the baddies start dissapearing, as lara rotates her view of the scene. My own law for these classic games is a maximum of SIX baddies to one area, plus lara of course. If you exceed that then you are hitting visual problems. Now take my latest video which is located in TR1 Lost valley, has quite a few raptors and a T-rex, but not enough baddies to create problems. I have added a lot more baddies to the triggers in the level, but had to ensure six baddies was the maximum at any one time. I did encounter an area with more baddies coming in from adjoining rooms and once the baddies went over six, then I had visual problems, with dissapearances of textures, and characters winking in and out of existence. As expected, I did not use this weird footage in my video. As there is enough wierdness going on as it is Cheers Chi |
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