The Obelisk Puzzle
This setup is a lot simpler, than it seems in Tomb Raider –
The Last Revelation. If you open the level which uses it
(The Great Hypostyle Hall), you will see a very complex
construction of rooms oriented in certain directions and in
several level heights, with the objects needed for the setup
placed in specific ways in relation to each other. None of
this is needed at all – in the first test I made of this
setup, I put everything into one room to see what would
happen. To my great surprise the setup worked perfectly.
For those who
haven’t played The Last Revelation or have forgotten how
this setup was operated, Lara must turn three
horizontal obelisks so their tips point to a pyramid-shaped
cage containing a puzzle item she needs. Near the cage is a
pulley she can’t operate until all three obelisks point
towards the cage. In the level Lara has to climb to a series
of upper rooms to turn the handles that control the
obelisks.When
she finally operates the pulley, a cutscene shows great
hammers suspended behind the obelisks being released and
hitting the obelisks. This causes the obelisks to emit
yellow sparks which reach further and further until they
touch the pyramid-shaped cage. The cage then explodes and
gives access to the puzzle item.
The setup has two stages. The first stage is about unlocking
the pulley. A level builder who wants to may use this stage
without stage two as an individual puzzle.
Please
note: the four points of the compass: north, south,
east and west, refer to the orientation of the 2D editor
window. North is the top of the 2D editor window and west is
the left side of it.
Stage one:
The first stage of the obelisk setup requires the following
objects:
PULLEY – can be found in several Wad's: The Tomb of Seth
(settomb), The Lost Library (library) and Cleopatra’s
Palaces (cleopal).
The rope for the PULLEY. This is a static. In The Tomb of
Seth it’s FURNITURE0, in The Lost Library it’s DEBRIS4 and
in Cleopatra’s Palaces it’s FURNITURE7.
And these objects are
required from the WAD from The Great Hypostyle Hall:
OBELISK
TURN_SWITCH – turns the OBELISK and can’t trigger anything
else:
Setup of stage one:
1. Place the pulley (it must be the first PULLEY you place
in the level), open its Object Code Field (press O), give it
OCB = 1 (to make Lara pull it only once – mostly for
cosmetic reasons, so you can skip this if you like) and
press the “invisible” button.
Here comes the strange thing: the “invisible” PULLEY is
still visible but Lara refuses to use it. It can’t be
triggered usable. Only solving the first stage of the
obelisk puzzle unlocks it. This is the only kind of switch
which behaves this peculiar way.
2. Place a switch-trigger for the PULLEY under the PULLEY
itself and press the one shot-button (again mostly for
cosmetic reasons – Lara can only trigger the other objects
once, and it looks silly to have her pull the PULLEY several
times when nothing comes of it). Place the triggers for the
objects to be triggered.
3. Place three Obelisks. You can put them anywhere you
please – scatter them around the entire level or keep them
in the same room. An OBELISK is seven (7) blocks long, so
each must have an area of 7 x 7 blocks to have room for its
rotation.The Obelisks must have the OCB-codes of 1-3. It
is of no importance in which direction they are turned
before Lara begins to operate them. Turn them as you please.
4. Place three TURN_SWITCHes. On the same block place a
trigger for one of the three Obelisks and a switch-trigger
for the TURN_SWITCH. That’s all. No special OCB’s or
anything. Each TURN_SWITCH is linked to its OBELISK in such
a way that the OBELISK will turn in the same direction and
pace as Lara turns the TURN_SWITCH.
OK, it might be a good idea to orientate the TURN_SWITCH
the same way as the corresponding OBELISK, so the handle of
the TURN_SWITCH points in the same direction as the tip of
the OBELISK and thus gives the player an idea of what way to
turn the switch. But it isn’t mandatory. Be cruel if you
like (but don’t expect good reviews then).
Just note that the only thing the TURN_SWITCH is able to
trigger is an OBELISK. If you place any other triggers under
it, it will not work.
You can also place the TURN_SWITCHes anywhere you please.
They don’t have to be in a room above the Obelisks, even
though Core Design had that intention when the setup was
made. So when Lara operates one of the switches, the camera
raises above her and gives the player a view of the floor
under her and the switch – and whatever might be below, if
the floor is transparent in some fashion.
5. Now is the time for a hint about what way each OBELISK
(and each TURN_SWITCH) is to be turned.
This is one of the hardcoded conditions to make the setup
work. Each OBELISK has a specific direction it must point to
when turned correctly in game.
In the editor window the OBELISK with
- OCB = 1 must point west
- OCB = 2 must point east
- OCB = 3 must point south
When Lara has turned them in these directions, the PULLEY is
then usable.
It’s up to you how to give hints to the player. Perhaps it’s
evident that the bottom of each OBELISK must be turned
towards a HAMMER but if you don’t use the second part of the
obelisk setup the HAMMER’s aren’t needed, and you will have
to come up with another way of hinting at the correct
direction to the player.
Once you have done that, the setup is ready to be used.
Extra conditions and warnings for stage
one (and two)This setup can only be used once in
a level. And the level can only contain the three OBELISK’s
for this setup. More OBELISK’s in a level will simply
prevent the PULLEY from ever being unlocked.
Only one PULLEY can be unlocked.
When Lara makes a jump from one level to another or jumps
within the same level (by using a finish-trigger), the
TURN_SWITCHes will be reset to their original orientation
but the OBELISK’s will keep the direction the player had
already turned them in. This will do the player’s head in,
so to avoid insane players (and binned levels) make sure the
player doesn’t have the possibility to use a finish-trigger
before the obelisk puzzle has been solved and the PULLEY has
been operated.
Stage two:
The second stage of the obelisk puzzle requires the
following objects from the WAD from The Great Hypostyle
Hall:
PUZZLE_ITEM1_COMBO1 – the puzzle item Lara must obtain
ANIMATING3 – the cage, which contains the puzzle item. Note
that it is made with an imitation of the PUZZLE_ITEM1_COMBO1
suspended in the air.
HAMMER – it can also be found in the WAD from Guardian of
Semerkhet (guard)
Setup of Stage Two
I assume you want to duplicate the original arrangement from
The Great Hypostyle Hall, where the OBELISKs point to the
ANIMATING3 and their sparks reach it – there is almost no
other way to do this if you also want the look of the
puzzle.
1. The ANIMATING3 is the centre of the setup. Each of the
three OBELISKs must be placed eight (8) blocks away from it
for the sparks to reach the ANIMATING3.
In the original setup the OBELISK with:
- OCB = 1 is placed east of the ANIMATING3
- OCB = 2 is placed west of it
- OCB = 3 is placed north of it
Note: an
OBELISK is placed on the block its centre/suspension is
located over. In this tutorial I don’t think of the extra
six blocks it covers.
Thank you to Bedazzled for ripping the original setup and
making it easier for me to figure this.
2. Place three HAMMER’s. Each of them must be three (3)
blocks away from its corresponding OBELISK and placed where
the OBELISK will have its bottom when it has been turned in
the correct direction.
This means, that they have to be placed:
- East of the OBELISK with OCB = 1
- West of the OBELISK with OCB = 2
- North of the OBELISK with OCB = 3
3. Now comes the mystery of the OCB-codes for the
HAMMER’s. Only one OCB-code is needed: OCB =
2. In the original setup the two HAMMER’s with OCB = 1
and OCB = 3 are never triggered and thus never used. But
because the OBELISK’s block the entrance to their rooms, the
player can’t see this.
You can leave those two HAMMER’s out if you please. Their
presence is not needed to cause the sparks and exploding
ANIMATING3. If the player is able to see the HAMMER’s after
the use of the pulley you better give all three of them OCB
= 2 so they all behave the same (drop, hit the OBELISK’s
with an explosion-like sound and stay down).
4. Place the triggers for the HAMMER’s under the PULLEY.
5. Place the PUZZLE_ITEM1_COMBO1. This is crucial. If the
PUZZLE_ITEM1_COMBO1 is missing, the game will crash when the
ANIMATING3 explodes. But is doesn’t have to
be placed under the ANIMATING3 – or even in that room.
You can place it anywhere in your level and make Lara find
it at a later point. Actually, you can even have Lara find
it AND use it, before she ever reaches the obelisk puzzle.
The game engine only requires that it is located somewhere
in the level when Lara first enters it.
It doesn’t have to be invisible either. That doesn’t seem
to bother the game engine. But if you want to be safe, you
place the PUZZLE_ITEM1_COMBO1 in the level after the obelisk
puzzle and make it invisible. When Lara then solves the
obelisk puzzle, it’s made visible by the game engine – no
trigger is needed. Of course, if you want to be
all safe, you place it under the
ANIMATING3. But as I have just shown, you can easily use
this puzzle for other pickups.
Notes:
It lasts a few moments after Lara’s use of the PULLEY and
before the ANIMATING3 explodes. Core Design used these
moments for a cutscene. But you can just let the player
watch, how the sparks from the OBELISK’s grow longer until
they reach the ANIMATING3.
Once the ANIMATING3 has exploded, Lara can no longer operate
the TURN_SWITCHes. She is able to grab hold of the turn bar,
but is unable to turn the switch. Core Design probably
wanted it to seem realistic with the dropped HAMMERs now
locking the OBELISK’s in place.
You can use any object in the ANIMATING3-slot. But an
ANIMATING3 must be part of the obelisk puzzle, or it will
not work.
