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Old 02-03-18, 09:55   #1051
nakamichi680
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^fixed camera makes the second problem even more noticeable here
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Old 02-03-18, 13:23   #1052
Jorje Croft
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actually I love the cinematic camera angles. OK AOD still has it but demo is epic, but I have no idea how it works during fighting.
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Old 02-03-18, 16:54   #1053
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I remember seeing that AOD’s combat was more like the classic combat as if lara turned away like the classics she would point one gun. As everyone agrees now, the combat is awful in the final version.

Last edited by annl; 02-03-18 at 16:55.
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Old 04-03-18, 09:23   #1054
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nakamichi680 View Post
^fixed camera makes the second problem even more noticeable here
yeah, I mean, that's Core just being Core! They could have moved the camera just a little bit closer and it wouldn't have been noticeable.
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Old 04-03-18, 10:19   #1055
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Personally I'm still surprised that more than 80% of the game was cut yet somehow Core managed to make Lara's boob physics work absolutely flawless. Even years later TRU couldn't make it as good.

Btw, I wonder if that fixed camera system from previews wasn't used because Core was still struggling at that time making the camera work correct. Fixed cameras would have made it impossible to use the default camera and see how it behaves.
On the other hand I remember reading in an article (I'll try to find it later) how Core was heavily inspired by Resident Evil and Silent Hill series. Especially the first one used fixed camera extensively, so what we see in the preview videos might actually be what Core really wanted to achieve. That being said, fixed camera with 2D controls are absolutely awful when it comes to platforming, so this might also be the reason why Core decided to remove this.

Changing topic now to answer to one point raised by someone (I think it was Dustie) about the early versions of TRAOD. I remember someone saying that earlier builds would have been impossible to play or run at all. I think this is partially wrong. Yes, early builds (pre-alpha and alpha) are impossible to be fully played, because at that stage of development most content just isn't there, as well as most features. BUT, in such cases you can see placeholders and blocked features. Each build is made exactly for the reason of testing features and find bugs within them. Therefore such builds should be able to be run, although probably only on specific hardware, with specific command lines and only specific features can be used. Also such builds often have very complex debug commands, which allows testing particular parts of game. Most if not all of debug features are gone once the game turns GOLD and the RELEASE profile is put to public.

Long story short, old builds should be able to run, some parts of the game should be playable, some features working. The rest will be either accessable but incomplete, or should throw asserts/crash game. In case of PS2 TRAOD builds they would probably run only on PS2 devkit but not on the final version of the console. Not sure about the PC builds. In their case they might be easier or even harder to run.

If you wonder what early builds would look like, I strongly suggest you to check ***************** and download TR1 alpha/beta builds. AFAIK its executables were edited by b122251 to work for us, but they give enough insight into what TRAOD builds would look like.

Last edited by Caesum; 04-03-18 at 18:35.
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Old 04-03-18, 12:39   #1056
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Talking about BETA, did someone ever noticed Lara's beta hair fringes at PC version in The Vault of Trophies level????



I know why this happen (will explain it in another video)
Looks like CORE forgot to "enable" fringes' physics at that part
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Old 06-03-18, 01:04   #1057
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Caesum View Post
Personally I'm still surprised that more than 80% of the game was cut yet somehow Core managed to make Lara's boob physics work absolutely flawless. Even years later TRU couldn't make it as good.

Btw, I wonder if that fixed camera system from previews wasn't used because Core was still struggling at that time making the camera work correct. Fixed cameras would have made it impossible to use the default camera and see how it behaves.
On the other hand I remember reading in an article (I'll try to find it later) how Core was heavily inspired by Resident Evil and Silent Hill series. Especially the first one used fixed camera extensively, so what we see in the preview videos might actually be what Core really wanted to achieve. That being said, fixed camera with 2D controls are absolutely awful when it comes to platforming, so this might also be the reason why Core decided to remove this.

Changing topic now to answer to one point raised by someone (I think it was Dustie) about the early versions of TRAOD. I remember someone saying that earlier builds would have been impossible to play or run at all. I think this is partially wrong. Yes, early builds (pre-alpha and alpha) are impossible to be fully played, because at that stage of development most content just isn't there, as well as most features. BUT, in such cases you can see placeholders and blocked features. Each build is made exactly for the reason of testing features and find bugs within them. Therefore such builds should be able to be run, although probably only on specific hardware, with specific command lines and only specific features can be used. Also such builds often have very complex debug commands, which allows testing particular parts of game. Most if not all of debug features are gone once the game turns GOLD and the RELEASE profile is put to public.

Long story short, old builds should be able to run, some parts of the game should be playable, some features working. The rest will be either accessable but incomplete, or should throw asserts/crash game. In case of PS2 TRAOD builds they would probably run only on PS2 devkit but not on the final version of the console. Not sure about the PC builds. In their case they might be easier or even harder to run.

If you wonder what early builds would look like, I strongly suggest you to check ***************** and download TR1 alpha/beta builds. AFAIK its executables were edited by b122251 to work for us, but they give enough insight into what TRAOD builds would look like.
I think a lot of things may be removed from the game not because the were not finished but because of PlayStation 2 limitations. As we can see, many things were perfectly working. For example, Lara kicking the knight statue in Tomb of Ancients. Even that animation is still in the game. Just look how more finished Parisian Back Streets were. For example, there was a tree and some furniture in front of Derelict Apartment Block.

The majority of the early builds I have seen were played on PlayStation 2. I have not seen that many early builds played on PC. There is some footage from early build played on PC that has a different health bar but apart from that it does not look like that much different from the released game. I think I read that both PS2 and PC releases were developed separately and it may be possible but it looks like PS2 was the main console Core Design developed the game on and it was the benchmark for PC release.

Of course, other things that were finished may be removed because something else was not finished. For example, if things like character progression system was not fully finished then due to that Core Design also had to remove the amulet and also Shaman FMV because they would not make sense now. So if one thing comes out, it usually makes few other things come out. It is kind a like unweaving a thread out of a tapestry.

And lastly, a lot of things were probably not finished or only partly finished too and Core Design had to remove them or replace them with something else more simple like a cutscene. For example, I think that Core Design intended that we would actually use the electromagnet in the Strahov Fortress to destroy the turret guns similarly like we used the geothermal device in The Archaeological Dig to find the missing symbol but it was not finished so Core Design simply replaced it with cutscene. Or I heard that the clock puzzle in The Monstrum Crime Scene was meant to be not that easy. There had to be a statue in the middle that room as part of the puzzle or something like that instead of the cutscene just suddenly showing the right number after Lara pulls the chain 3 times, and I doubt we would find the code on the ground like just in front of the keypad too...

I wish Core Design would have finished some of those things after the game's release and made a very huge patch. Or at least some Core Design employees would finished them on their spare time. I guess Core Design and Eidos were too scared to admit the fact that the game was released unfinished and that the product is with defects so they tried to pretend like everything is like they intended to be and to cover up what is now very obvious. Admitting that they released the defected product, either by speaking out or by releasing a huge patch would have risked them thousands copies being returned and many complaints being filled, not to mention the effect on reputation and so on and so forth.

I think I remember TRAOD being compared to Resident Evil. It would be interesting to see that article. I think Adrian Smith also compared locations like Tomb of Ancients to Indiana Jones in Gamespot review video.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ruu11 View Post
Talking about BETA, did someone ever noticed Lara's beta hair fringes at PC version in The Vault of Trophies level????

Grx7JjGUp0o

I know why this happen (will explain it in another video)
Looks like CORE forgot to "enable" fringes' physics at that part
OK. I wait for the explanation. I have not noticed this. She does not have these fringes in other levels? Only in The Vault Of Trophies?

Last edited by kietasvyras; 06-03-18 at 01:15.
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Old 14-03-21, 19:02   #1058
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Hi KIKO!

It's really great you and Ceamonks890 try to collect most everything docs about TR AOD game I believe it a lots of hard work!!! And I mean it!

I have small time by step by step to read the stuff was uploaded by the titles =
AOD-Beta-Documents-by-Murti-Schofield's documentary was really hard to understand cause I missed the beta and alpha moments and I try to research via net documents, pics and vids.

Now I started yours doc - AOD DIARY v3 section by my moments by moments.
And here I have a favor: I also trying to write the dialogs but I don't have all the information on the released game still nor the previous datas.
[I'm sometimes lazy and I have little speare time] so I using yours LEVEL BY LEVEL folder to collect audio converted files name to dialogs/ monologs by Lara in each level.
That's why I'm so sorry but I will sure mention your work if I could wrote what I have so far..later of course mixed yours permisson if you all right with it.
Util I still LOVE YOURS works!

And try to help others by comment in Youtube what I think was in there ingame (meaning audiofiles)

What I have by Relics Gotroll username -

Tomb Raider AoD: Pawnshop deleted audio E. - ver2 =
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dz2k0Ns_i0k
(of course SCU 'causing' weird textures via WAD Passports)
I just tryed show how could it be, but I can't fix the input audio..
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Old 28-12-21, 00:39   #1059
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Exclamation New Internet Archive link for 2016 version of Beta Diary

Hey folks,

It sure has been a significant number of years since KIKO and I put this beta diary together, hasn't it? We were both teenagers when we started working on this at different points all those years ago and now we're nearing our 30s. Crazy how time flies.

Anyway, I'm making a post here in this thread for the first time in over 5 years to inform everyone that the hosted Mediafire link no longer works (as I'm cleaning out old files to make room for new ones and don't wish to keep it hosted there anymore).

Knowing full well that my old Mediafire link is the only way to access the 2016 version of the beta diary now and being very paranoid about preservation in general, I've made preparations ahead of time and as such, have uploaded it to Internet Archive.

So if anyone wishes to access the 2016 Beta Diary out of curiosity or for a little bit of nostalgia, here's the new download link going forward: https://archive.org/details/aod-diary-v-3

Cheers,
Ceamonks
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Old 30-12-21, 16:38   #1060
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Thanks for the update, I'm glad you archived it. I used to love reading this back when you were first writing it .
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