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Old 12-08-13, 21:46   #1
Patrick Shannon
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Default That Crazy Red Car in "It's a Madhouse"

I’d like to dedicate this thread to my idol, our late bug scientist, rr_carroll.



Rest in peace, Richard. I know you would have loved to participate in this one…

********************************************

Those of us who have played The Lost Artifact will recall the red car in the coastal French village. And those of us who have glitched our way around that level will know that it’s actually three cars, possessed of weird characteristics that can be triggered in various ways.

I’d like to urge everyone to read two classic threads that will get us all up to speed on the crazy red car. Please don’t post in these old threads, but return here afterwards. Then we will build on the information in them:

http://www.tombraiderforums.com/showthread.php?t=73827

http://www.tombraiderforums.com/show...=195746&page=5

Those were wonderful threads, weren’t they? OK--- now let’s proceed onward…

I was intrigued by the picture offered by Girafarig32, showing the red car atop the clock tower during its animation sequence. (And, I was surprised to see that rr_carroll actually had a picture of the same thing in his earlier thread, but he didn’t recognize what he was seeing, nor did anyone else! Nice discovery, Girafarig32! )

I contacted Girafarig32 to ask about that strange perch of the red car, and he replied with an interesting speculation I can share:

“I believe this glitch is linked with the physics of the renowned corner bug glitch that Lara can perform. Since it won't go through the wall, it teleports atop the structure... kind of like Lara does with the corner bug.”

Very interesting. And regarding the running death animation Lara exhibits when she touches the red car before it is triggered, consider this explanation The Great Chi provided in one of the old threads cited above…

“I have had time to think about the weird 'Lara’s sky run'. What is happening is that by moving Lara into the car position, the program that runs the car starts operating, but using the Lara 3D model in the run mode, instead of the Car 3D model in the run mode. She runs in a straight line and at the same height, but the road slopes down a hill, so she is in effect running into the sky. When Lara strikes the clock tower, the 'die' program comes in and the game asks for you to re-load level.”

So, whether we are talking about the red car heading off for the clock tower, or Lara herself doing her death run in place of the car, either animation sequence is pretty darn bizarre.

Here’s what I’d like to offer. I took Lara back to the French village, and glitched over to the red car before any of its animations. I wanted to see what would happen to Lara’s death run if I messed with it by applying the flight cheat!

(And here I must give kudos to forum member Chug a Bug, who provided us with his wonderful custom flight cheat for The Lost Artifact some years ago!)

http://www.tombraiderforums.com/show...=195344&page=2

So now---

I glitched Lara to the red car before it triggered, and ran her right through the car, from rear to front. She immediately began her death run through the air:




When I pressed the "F" key to start the fly cheat, Lara dropped to the ground in her swimming pose, but she was stuck in place. She was "treading water" in that spot, but unable to go anywhere or perform any other move. I could not even access the menu ring, or exit the game:




However, one function did work: I could drop Lara out of flight mode. This caused her to stand, but again, she was frozen in place, with no exit allowed to the menu ring or out of the game. (Notice the pesky monkey approaching with the stolen medi-pack...)




In frozen standing mode, she could neither jump, turn, walk, crouch, look about, or seemingly, do anything:




The pesky monkey is chuckling at Lara's helplessness:




However: Our plucky gal can at least still draw, target, and fire!




End of pesky monkey...



But then, Lara remained stuck in place, unable to do anything except draw and shoot her weapons, or, futilely toggle back and forth between flight and standing modes. Her bizarre death run animation had been aborted, but she was... stuck.

I eventually had to abandon Lara, using "Control/Alt/Delete" to start Task Manager and end the program.

I did continue messing with this glitch, and eventually discovered something else of interest, but I'll take a break here and let everyone make some comments if desired...

Last edited by Patrick Shannon; 12-08-13 at 23:43.
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Old 12-08-13, 21:58   #2
:}hello friend
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What? I was completely unaware he passed away...

rr_carroll was such a great contributor to this community, and I will always appreciate what he has done, RIP.
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Old 12-08-13, 22:02   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by :}hello friend View Post
What? I was completely unaware he passed away...

rr_carroll was such a great contributor to this community, and I will always appreciate what he has done, RIP.
Yes, there's a condolence thread available if you'd like to contribute:

http://www.tombraiderforums.com/showthread.php?t=201772
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Old 12-08-13, 22:28   #4
The Great Chi
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Have been aware of 'laras mid-air run' glitch a long time ago and actually incorperated this into one of my videos, which unfortunately has now been deleted.

Video now deleted

Last edited by The Great Chi; 02-01-16 at 23:13.
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Old 12-08-13, 23:25   #5
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Chi, as we all know, your inscrutable mind works in mysterious ways! That was truly mind-warping.

I'm glad the pesky monkey in my pictures wasn't equipped with a Desert Eagle like the ones in your video!

Here's another YouTube video that shows Lara's strange death run away from the red car:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AZ2pWt2QkQ

Last edited by Patrick Shannon; 12-08-13 at 23:44.
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Old 13-08-13, 04:53   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrick Shannon View Post
I’d like to dedicate this thread to my idol, our late bug scientist, rr_carroll.
A very nice dedication. I'm sure he appreciates this.

Quote:
...When Lara strikes the clock tower, the 'die' program comes in and the game asks for you to re-load level.
I'm going to tweak this slightly (though this may seem a bit redundant of me; I apologize). I believe Lara doesn't collide with the clock tower and that cues the 'die program', rather it triggers after the usual time it takes to be cued (which happens to be right before she smacks the wall ). If you press the action button while Lara is running through the air, it takes you directly to the 'die program', so I don't think it's cause from encountering the clock tower.

@Patrick Shannon - Very intriguing! I hadn't tried fly cheat in this way, and it's interesting to see that Lara freezes, however her surrounding continue on. What especially interests me is how Lara can still equip her weapons whilst being in this state, therefore, I wonder what you would consider this. A partial freeze perhaps? Anyways, I anticipate what other remarkable discoveries you were able to muster up from this Madness of a glitch (no pun intended ).
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Old 13-08-13, 14:44   #7
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I agree that hitting the clock tower does not seem to be the cause of Lara's death. She is already dead the moment she touches the car: she spurts blood and groans, and her health bar goes to full black (dead). She runs for about 10 seconds as a "fast zombie" until the post-death menu ring appears. She does not reach the clock tower.

But if we engage the fly cheat once Lara touches the car, I am totally stumped as to why Lara is frozen in either flight or standing modes, and cannot do anything except draw, target, and fire her weapons. She is trapped in this dilemma, (and we are trapped with her, unable to exit,) even though the game continues around her (pesky monkey, etc.) Utterly perplexing.

But here's the other interesting thing I discovered about the red car death glitch. If we delay putting Lara into flight mode a bit, and let her get away from the car just a little farther, she does NOT get frozen. Instead, something incredible happens.

We let Lara perform her death run far enough to get well clear of the car:



When we engage the fly cheat, instead of flying, she drops like a stone:


And disappears into the ground:



Only her shadow is visible as it races downhill...



...into the clock tower plaza...



...through (?) or over (?) the clock tower...



...through (?) or over (?) the buildings beyond...



...down the tile roofs of the cliff villas...



...onto the rocky beach below...



...past the entrance into the cave area...



...and out over the water to the edge of game space!


At this point, the post-death menu ring appears, and you can continue with the game; (you do not have to access Task Manager to end the program like when Lara freezes).

I'm not sure what to make of the this odd variation on the "red car death glitch with flight cheat". If we could see Lara beneath her shadow, I don't know if she would be in swimming animation, falling animation, or even "there" at all. Weird!!!

Last edited by Patrick Shannon; 13-08-13 at 14:54.
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Old 13-08-13, 16:44   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrick Shannon View Post
...I'm not sure what to make of the this odd variation on the "red car death glitch with flight cheat". If we could see Lara beneath her shadow, I don't know if she would be in swimming animation, falling animation, or even "there" at all. Weird!!!
The problem is that when you try to change the view using the look button the game automatically ends, so you cannot see her final position.

Also as the game is running via the disk rather than my usual custom level through the hard drive method, it is difficult to analyze what's exactly going on.

Though one clue is that the red car works on the subway train AI, going by the data file.

Sorry, video now deleted, but there is pictures later on in the thread.

[youtube]p14JpQx2A2A[youtube]

Last edited by The Great Chi; 31-05-18 at 08:30.
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Old 13-08-13, 18:39   #9
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It's almost like there is an alternative reality called, Tomb Raider World, and you guys have managed to penetrate the barrier between there and here, to go forth on expeditions to discover how it all works really. Trial, error and theories - the scientific method - to find out what makes this other world tick, it's physics and so on. It feels quite spooky at times watching where you end up.

And......that looks like Big Ben's clock face.
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Old 13-08-13, 19:37   #10
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Very interesting findings, Patrick. And a lovely dedication.

Quote:
End of pesky monkey...
Now that's cruel.
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