NGLE Project files Animations This file joins together a little level project with an html tutorial about creation of custom animations with the TRNG engine. You find the tutorial in another zip file named "Help_Animation_Command.zip", within the (above) AnimationTutorial.zip file. A) In the tutorial there is much technical information about how tomb4 handles the 3d world and the animations. In picture A you can see the relative 3d axis used in tomb4. In this tutorial you find also a full list of State ID values used in tomb4, as well as many suggestions about troubleshooting with Animation command and TestPosition command. B) Most of the examples are only theoretical descriptions of Animation or TestPosition command. You can find in this demo also a working example of fighting skills for Lara. Using the (not very polished) animation you see in Picture B you can kill a baddy only with fists. C) Many examples show how to use the new TestPosition command. This is useful to detect when Lara is in front of some moveable so she can interact with it. For example in Picture C you can see how to use the diagnostic messages of TRNG to discover the critical values to type in TestPosition command to discover when Lara is in the desired position. D) A lot of examples try to describe how to use the Animation command, and in a particular way how to set the correct ENV_ (ENVironment) constants to detect if the situation in game is valid to start your custom animation. In picture D you can see when the ENV condition: ENV_HOLE_IN_FRONT_CEILING_CLIMB is active. Since, there are dozen of ENV conditions, I tried to concentrate only on more complicated conditions, trying to explain them with correct script commands and images. Boats In this demo you find the rubber boat and motorboat in same level. The motorboat has the light because its OCB has been set to the value "1", but you can do the same also with the rubber boat if you wish. Remarks: 1) This project has been changed since the original project released in 2008. Now there is no AssignSlot command in the script.txt and the WAD has four new slots to host rubberboat and motorboat with Lara's respective animations. 2) The bug about bad sounds when Lara swims underwater has been fixed but you need to use version 1.2.0.1 or higher to compile the script.txt of this demo. Cameras This sample shows different ways supplied by TRNG to change camera modes in game. You can make Lara or enemies look from different positions. You should use default tga and objects (.wad) of Karnak level for this sample. Remember to build script.txt: copy script.txt and english.txt in SCRIPT folder and then start NG_Center (or click on [Reload] button if it was already opened) and build the script. All triggers for camera effects are placed on sectors with a texture showing a cat face. Remark: This sample has been changed since the original project released in 2008. Now at start there are some new examples about using the new flipeffect trigger: "Camera. Change camera mode with <&>Parameters for (E)time" This method is easier to build but it has the disadvantage of not allowing you to use it for enemies but only for Lara. A) First examples are about new SET_CAMERA feature. With this method you can change the normal camera that always follows Lara, setting a different position and angle for it, so to look at Lara from different positions. In picture A you can see Lara viewed from front below. B) In picture B there is another SET_CAMERA setting: Lara is viewed from the front above position C) In picture C another method has been used to change the framing of Lara. From this example a real fixed camera has been forced to follow Lara, framing her from a given position. In picture C you can see the fixed camera following Lara from above. D) In picture D you can see the effect named "Lara's Portrait"; it has the same layout as Picture B but it was achieved with old flipeffect Lara portrait and an external camera, while in picture B was a SET_CAMERA was used. When you want to frame Lara it's better to use the SET_CAMERA mode because it's easier and because this method avoids more obstacles (walls, ceiling, statics) than "Lara's portrait" effect. We could say that the "Lara's portrait" effect is an obsolete method to view Lara since the new flipeffect "Change camera mode" + set_camera is more effective. E) In picture E you can see the Enemy Portrait effect. This effect views the desired enemy from in front and follows its movement from this position. The camera could cause view problems in confined spaces so study your level well and use this effect with care. F) In picture F you can see a "Matrix effect", the name born from the famous "Matrix" movie. The camera turns quickly around Lara in a circle while she remains still. It could be a good way to show Lara within her immediate environment. Use the Matrix effect together with keyboard disabling to force Lara to remain still because if she moves the resulting effect is a bit chaotic. G) In picture G you can see the "Follow-me camera effect" for enemies. This camera works like the follow camera for Lara but in this case it is following an enemy. Remark: all effects that have an enemy as target should be used only for a few seconds because until they have control back players will have no way of understand Lara's position in relation to the enemy. Chronicles Project (updated 28/2/10) This project requires a dll with version 1.2.1.7 or higher. From this version has been added some objects from the TR Chronicles adventure. In picture A you can see the tight-rope. Setting the correct OCB values you can set the grade of ability required to pass over it: -1 for kids (Lara can't fall), 0 = standard as in TR Chronicles, 1 = Hard Mode, 2 = Very hard mode, 3 = impossible mode. In picture B you can see the Guardian, named in some unofficial tools as Laser Head. Placing the Guardian requires some care, see the readme.txt file. The Guardian shoots green laser rays from his eyes: the laser kill Lara on contact. In Picture C there is the Hydra. She shoots different energy balls (set via OCB) and hurts Lara with her beak. In Picture D there is the enemy sub-marine. It moves in the water and tries to hit Lara with a torpedo. In zip file you will find a playable level with all of these new objects which includes all new sounds used by them. Collision From version 1.2.1.5 there are new collision features in trng. Now you can create invisible collisions in your level and, using this trick, Lara can walk (Picture A) or climb (Picture B) on static and moveable objects. Thanks to this we can also create a cabin like that in Picture C, where Lara will find correct collision on all walls in spite of this being objects hung in space with invisible collisions. In the collis.wad file you will also find a set of new objects: the collision panels. They are a set of invisible panels (picture D) to integrate the room collisions created with the new "Collision. ..." flipeffects. The new collision panels have their own slot name in the wad: PANEL_BORDER, PANEL_MIDDLE, PANEL_CORNER, PANEL_DIAGONAL, PANEL_STRIP, PANEL_HALF_BORDER1, PANEL_HALF_BORDER2, PANEL_MIDDLE_CORNER. With the above panels you can easily create diagonal collisions and other detailed shapes. For example in the cabin I used the invisible panels to round the collision of the balcony, while the other collisions have been created using the "collision" flipeffect triggers. In this zip file you will find also an html tutorial about the new collision feature. Diary and Images This sample shows how to use the Diary object (Picture A and B) and how images are shown in game (Picture C and D). With Lara's diary you can show texts and images formatted in different ways. You can also add new pages using some flipeffect triggers to keep the diary updated with the progress of the adventure. To enable and customize the diary you have to use the new script command named Diary=. You can choose windows fonts, colours and layout about position of text frames and image frame. There are two different kinds of image: the pop-up images (picture C), where the image covers only a small portion of the screen while the game is playing, and the overlapped images (as in picture D). Overlapped images will usually cover the whole screen and the game will be paused while the image remains on screen. In this sample it's important to read the "read_me.txt" file because there is some information about installing .bmp images. The .bmp images used by trng have to be copied into the PIX subfolder of the TRLE folder and they must be in bitmap RGB format with names like "image1.bmp", "image5.bmp" etc. Remark: some images in this sample are in jpg format to reduce the size of the zip file. You can convert them to the correct bmp format by simply extracting and launching the converter.exe utility in the same PIX folder. If you have TRLM 2009 you can play this demo simply by adding this zip file with the Add New Level command in the usual way. Pay no attention to the "install_level.txt" file you find in the zip file. This is used purely by the Tr Level Manager 2009 to correctly install the project. Distance Fog From version 1.2.1.0 some bugs about distance fog have been fixed. In this tutorial you can find many examples and suggestions about correct settings for distance fog. In the html file there are images with different settings (See pictures A and B). There is also an introduction about new flipeffect triggers to create dynamic fog effects to simulate desert storms. You can find information about how to fix the bug regarding excessive saturation of transparent textures with fog colour (see picture C). Using this new fix you can now remove that bug so you can freely use distance fog even in ambient environments with water (see picture D). Elevators and Detectors This demo contains four projects to illustrate the usage of: A) Stop and Go Elevator This elevator has no keypad, it runs endlessly up and down, stopping for a short time at each floor, opening and closing its door by itself. B) KeyPad Elevator This elevator is more traditional. Lara enters and chooses with the keypad which floor to go to. When selected, the door will be closed and the elevator will move to the desired floor. C) Pointer Detector The detector is a completely new object to the tomb raider experience. This works like an advanced radar to discover the relative position of an object, both in a horizontal and vertical relationship to Lara. In the script you can set the target and the working mode. The pointer detector allows you to monitor only a single target at a time, but when the first target has been picked up or killed, the detector can then start to monitor another object which is again set in script.txt file. D) Radar Detector The main difference between the Radar Detector and the Pointer Detector is that with the Radar detector you can monitor many targets at same time according to ranges of distance set in script.txt file. Remarks about Detectors: 1) The detector object is always in slot Quest1, usually used by Amulet of Horus. 2) If you want to have the Radar detector in your WAD you must also copy the MISC_SPRITES slot, because it contains some little sprites used to show items found by the detector (those little blinking lights). Read description of Detector script command for more information. Remarks about Elevators: 1) The "Stop and go" elevator has invisible collision panels placed around it to prevent Lara falling out. There are two kinds of invisible panels: the Animating1 and Animating1_Mip. The difference is their size. The first has size 1x2 sector (2 is the height vertically), while the other has a size of 1x1. 2) The "Keypad Elevator" has no moving door while the "Stop and go" elevator has a fake (simulated) door using the animating2. Read description of Elevator script command for more information. Fish The fish object is an emitter, like the locust emitter or little beetles emitters. You place it in the project, set via OCB the number of fish you wish and then trigger it in game to emit the desired number and type of fish. Please note this fish emitter is not really the same you saw in tomb raider 3 but it is a new object created by Paolone to reproduce behaviour similar to that in tomb raider 3. There are some differences between the trng fish and tr3 fish: with trng fish you can choose between four different kinds of fish: piranhas, clown fish, butterfly fish and angel fish. You can set the fish to shoal or swim individually. You can choose if they will be able to jump (temporarily) out of the water, it they will attack Lara or not etc. Study the OCB for FISH_EMITTER object in the Reference panel of NG_Center program, in the "OCB List" section to know all available OCB values for fish. In this project you will find three demonstrations about using of fish: the first sample is for tropical fish: butterfly, angel and clown fish will swim close to Lara without injuring her. The second sample show the piranhas and they will injure Lara, of course. The piranhas have beet set to work in a shoal. The third example show some tropical fish in an aquarium. In this case you see also a way to build a little water room (the aquarium) surrounded by other dry rooms. For aquarium fish I used the ocb value SLOW to get the fish compatible with reduced water space. Try to find and walk on azure textures to enable the three different samples in this demo level. Remark: in this demo you will find an example also about using the graphical ammo counter, the swapping of horizon objects and about the new still collisions. Fonts This sample has been changed since the original project released in 2008. Now there is also a sliding text example and the movement of vertical scrolling text has been enhanced. This sample is important for the enclosed WAD file where you can find the new FONT_GRAPHICS object. You can change the font using the NG Font Editor tool you find in Tools panel of NG_Center. You have to copy the original FONT_GRAPHICS object into your WAD before modifying it with Font Editor. In this short sample you can see the new different formatting available for characters (Picture A). You can change the size about width or height or use some fixed size fonts. This demo shows also two interesting flipeffect triggers to show scrolling text in vertical (Picture C) or horizontal, like a single fast-info strip (Picture B). Remarks: 1) There is a bug when you use new ng font in a WAD file where there is also a waterfall object. The animated texture of the waterfall could be compromised and it could appear as a texture with literals (A C F etc). This bug is due to WADMerger when it creates the new .swd file with textures. 2) When you build the script.dat remember to copy into the SCRIPT folder also the files: "Text_DisableInput.txt", "Text_FontDescription.txt" and "Tex_MultiSize.txt", because they are used as external strings and they will be put into the english.dat when you build the script. FMVs and Video Cutscenes Remark: follow the installation information carefully in the Read_me.txt file you find in the above zip file. This demo is large (22 Mb) because it contains three FMV videos of about 1 minute each. Since the common use of FMVs in game is easy, this sample project explains some little tricks to reach common targets about fmv management. 1) Starting a video at the beginning of Level. Remark: see Room0 for this example. If you want have a video introducing the beginning of a level, i.e. a video starting before your game actually begins, you can see the example of first fmv. This fmv will be played before the level was played. 2) Perform a change in game when a fmv has been completed. Remark: see Room0 for this example. In most cases we use a video to illustrate some important storylines in game. For this reason at the end of fmv's we should set some changes in game to give sense to our fmv videos. 3) Play a video at the end of the current level, before loading another level. When you have an fmv at the end of your level and then have the next level load immediately following the fmv, you can follow the example in room 54. Frogman and Harpoon gun From version 1.2.1.8 it's available to have the Harpoon gun from Tomb Raider 3 (picture A) and the frogman (picture B). You can set the ammo number and type for harpoon with the Customize=CUST_HARPOON script command. See also the script.txt of current demo. From trng 1.2.1.8 you can also enable the headlights of the Jeep (Picture C) or disable the headlights of the sidecar. In both cases you can set these changes by typing the OCB 1 in the jeep or the sidecar, while using "0" as ocb these vehicles will work as they normally do. Jeep and Motorbike The jeep and the motorbike are not big news in the tomb raider level editor, but in this case the news is that you may use both vehicles in same level. Insert a script command to move the jeep key to another slot to avoid overlapping with the Nitrous Oxide Feeder item used by motorbike. The other conflict is the vehicle extra slot which is used to store Lara animations for both vehicles. Now you can place the animations for the motorbike in a new slot so you can have both vehicles in the same level. Kayaks The kayak has been imported from Tomb Raider III, the Mudubu level. The kayak is different to the motor-boat and rubber-boat as it's possibile go down rapids (Picture A). In this level you will find two different types of rapids, with transparent water texturesl (picture A), or opaque water textures (picture B). You can set different OCBs for the kayak to enable some features like "look-at" feature, mist effect on the rapids or in the normal movement. In this demo you will also find an example of the new whirlpool efffect (picture C), where Lara (with kayak, motorboat, rubber-boat, or alone) could be sucked into it (picture D), killing her. Some OCB codes of the kayak are used to enable new get aboard custom animations. The speech is a bit complicated so if you are interested you should read carefully the OCBs for the kayak in OCB DESCRIPTION section of the Reference panel of NG_Center program. Like other demos, you can use all the objects you find in enclosed wads. Mirrors In this demo you can see some new kinds of mirrors that you can create with TRNG: A) Horizontal Mirror This mirror is very similar to the old mirror you can see in coastal, but in this case you can duplicate other moveables and they will be moved and animated in a spectacular way as if they were really reflected by mirrors. In image A you can see Lara while she is pushing a pushable object while in the mirror room another Lara is pushing the same pushable object. In the same picture you can see the mummy in the main room and in the reflection room. To achieve this effect it's necessary to set a correct Mirror script command where you type the indices of moveables (in main room) to duplicate in the hidden room. See description of Mirror script command for more information. B) Horizontal Reverse Mirror In picture B you can see another horizontal mirror but in this case the reflection is inverted, like in the old tomb raider 1 when Lara met her alien clone, the doppleganger. Also in this mirror type you can set moveables (the skeleton in B picture) and they will also be moved in inverse mode. C) Floor Mirror In picture C you can see a floor mirror. D) Ceiling Mirror In picture D you can see the ceiling mirror. This mirror is a bit oblique in that using the look command to see into the mirrored room is not very easy. If you wish use this kind of mirror, it is suggested to modify the view camera by using a fixed camera or some new trng feature to view Lara from a different perspective in order to see what is happening in the mirrored ceiling room. Miscellaneous This is a playable demo. You have to pass some traps and challenges. In this demo you will see how to use the following: A) How to use UV scrolling texture and new physics triggers to simulate a tapis roulant. In picture A, Lara is moved by tapis roulant. How to create the TR3 savegame crystals method so it is necessary to find a crystal to use when you want save. If you look carefully at picture A you can see an hole in the wall with blue lights. In that hole there is a blue crystal, the only way to save the game in this demo. Study the script.txt to discover how this method has been achieved. You have to remove the common Save Memory Card object from inventory (this also disables the F5 savegame key) and then create a global trigger to perform a save only when Lara select the crystal from inventory. B) How to use fragmented triggers to create a sensory grid. In picture B you can see the final result. Lara has to avoid the yellow/red pulsing lines because otherwise she will be fried. You can modify this example to enable other triggers instead of burning Lara - for example to engage an alarm system - and replace the simple drawn strips with 3d statics like red laser rays. C) How to use triggers to move items (moveables) and command script ItemGroup, to create a spiked moving ceiling. In picture C the ceiling moves continuously up and down. D) How to modify weather in real time. In pictures D and following you can see the changes performed in game using an Organizer script command to synchronize the times to engage different triggers to modify the weather. The sky starts from almost clear (D picture) then becomes cloudy, it starts to rain (not very visible in pictures E and F) and then it thunders with lightning and then it starts to snow. Another interesting demonstration in this sample is about how to create the effect of snow that covers the ground progressively from green meadow to white to simulate snow cover. This "whiting" effect has been achieved using P-Frames animated textures, where a single texture applied on the ground was changed after some time with other whiter textures. Quicksand In this sample you have two different quick sand pools - floating/semitransparent (Picture B) and still/opaque (Picture A). About settings, the quicksand doesn't require any script settings and you can set the surface movement in NGLE. You can set the quicksand type using the white numeric box immediately at right of special button [water/rain/snow/q-sand] below 2d panel. The first three values "1", "2" and "3" work like for water, with waves increasing in size with number, while the setting "4" for quicksand forces a full still surface (no waves, like in Picture A). This could be useful to hide the quicksand from players to give a more difficult game (not recommended). In this project there is also an example to use the globaltrigger script command to force a trigger (in this case a finish trigger) when Lara picks up a given number of items (6 canopic jars). Remark: this sample requires a tombnextgeneration.dll with version 1.1.8.4 or higher. Savegame Panel Since version 1.2.0.8 the TRNG is capable of supporting a new Savegame Panel when loading or saving the game. You have to use the script command SavegamePanel to choose background image and layout to use. With the new savegame panel you have differing advantages: 1) You can have an image for each savegame selected to make things easier for players to find specific savegames. 2) You can have more than 15 savegame slots and you can even choose the number of savegames manageable at the same time (max 100 savegame slots). 3) For each selected savegame the player may see information about internal values of that savegame, such as number of medipacks, available weapons, secrets etc. 4) You can create your own custom background image and choose between 7 different layouts, where for layout we mean the disposition of different zones: savegame list, savegame image and (optional) savegame information. In the illustration you can see some of the available layouts. If you choose a layout where the info savegame frame is missing, you can use that empty zone to draw a logo for your adventure or some other image of your choosing. Standby mode Demo This demo show some of the StandBy script commands. The standby used in native mode is a sort of auto-demo that starts in game when the player don't touch game controls for some time. The main target of standby, in native mode, is to show Lara's face. Since in game Lara is always seen from the back, this is a way of finally showing the beauty of her face. The native standby requires a StandBY command with ID = 1. If you place other StandBy commands in same [Level] section, you'll have to type different IDs. These additional standbys will never be played by themselves, but you can enable them using the flipeffect: "Camera. Enable the <&>StandBy camera effect for (E)seconds" The reason to use a standby via flipeffect, could be to have a sort of easy flyby camera. For example if you use the TSB_PANORAMA type, and you set a large Distance field, you can show a large part of the first side of your level avoiding having to create a complicated flyby sequence. The Standby commands you see in the script.txt supplied in this demo are only examples and you can change them as you wish. For example you could use a matrix or panorama effect for the native standby (id=1). Anyway in this case remember to use the FSB_DISABLE_ON_CRAMPED_SPACE flag, because, otherwise, the standby could begin when Lara is surrounded by many close walls and the result in game could be very poor. If you don't wish to disable the standby in cramped spaces a solution could be to use a standby that doesn't require large spaces around Lara to work correctly. For example a portrait type, with a short Distance (less than 1024) and the FSB_IMMEDIATE flag to avoid the first phase when the camera moves from her back and turns to reach the position in front of Lara. Statics This project requires TRNG version 1.1.8.7 or higher. In this project there are examples regarding: A) Huge Collision. To handle static bigger than 6x6 sectors (Picture A). In old tomb4, a static couldn't have a size bigger than 6x6 sectors. If you tried to create statics bigger than 6x6 the collision didn't work properly and Lara was able to enter holes and get inside them. B) OCB to set a transparency level for each static. You can choose between Ice transparency or Glass transparency (see picture B). C) Flipeffect trigger to add pulse colour effect to statics. See picture C, the static column changes its colour tones continuously. D) Explosion of statics. Setting correct OCB and you can transform each static so that it will explode when Lara touches it. In picture D you can see what happens if Lara touches an exploding static, in this case a vase. E) Moving statics. Now you can move statics within same room. In picture E you can see a little red missile (it is moving very quickly) hitting Lara and killing her by an explosion (picture F). In this demo there is also an example of Hard Shatter. A static with a correct OCB could become very hard to be destroyed. The hard shatters can be destroyed using explosive weapons while common weapons like pistols, revolver and ordinary crossbow ammo won't affect them. Vehicles, rollingballs and sphinx are also able to destroy a hard shatter. In this demo there are examples about other OCB settings for statics so they can poison, burn or damage Lara if she touches them. This is an abstract of description of Static OCB you can find in Reference panel of NG_Center: From TRNG version 1.1.8.7 you can set in each static object some OCB codes to set the following features: 4 = Disable collision. Lara could pass through the static 8 = Set Glass Transparency. The static will have a glass transparency effect. 16 = Set Ice Transparency. The static will have a light transparency, like ice. 32 = Damage Lara on physical contact. The static injures Lara if she touches it. The damage removes 10 hp from Lara (full vitality= 1000) but you can change this value using CUST_SET_STATIC_DAMAGE in Customize script command. 64 = Burns Lara on physical contact. Lara will be burned but she will have some time to search for water to save her. 128 = Explode killing Lara on physical contact. With this ocb you can transform this static into a mine. 256 = Poison Lara on physical contact. Lara will be poisoned when she touches the static. You can change the poison intensity using CUST_SET_STATIC_DAMAGE in Customize script command. 512 = Huge Collision. Inform the trng engine that current static has a collision box larger than 6 x 6 sector. 1024 = Hard Shatter. In old tomb4 the shatter objects were destroyed by every weapon other than Skeleton and Templar. If you add 1024 to ocb of some shatter object you can increase its hardness and the static will be destroyed only by explosive ammo (not flash grenade), sphinx, jeep, sidecar and Rollingball (if it has correct OCB). 2048 = Heavy Trigger on contact. When Lara touches a static with OCB 2048 the heavy trigger placed under the static will be activated. Remarks: *You can add above values but you can't add the two different types of transparency. For example if you want the static like glass and with no collision you can type in OCB window the value (8 + 4 =) 12. To transform a static into a bomb that will explode and burn Lara: 64+128 = 192. *You can change in game time these attributes using the "Static. ..." flipeffects. Swing Bars (or parallel bars) The swing bar is an object introduced in Tomb Raider Chronicles. In this sample there are two levels, one with the same swing bar as TRC with no changes, while in the second there is a customized swing bar. A) In picture A you can see the default swing bar. The length of jump is affected by values set in OCB field of swing bar in NGLE program. In default bar there is a unique "good" direction, where the ocb value will give a long jump, while in the opposite direction Lara will perform always a very weak jump, regardless of ocb value. Remark: if you wish, you can remove this default setting and force the bar to work the same for both sides. You can realize this using the command: Customize= CUST_PARALLEL_BARS, PB_DOUBLE_FACE, IGNORE, IGNORE,IGNORE The flag PB_DOUBLE_FACE permits the bar to work the same way for both sides. B) The customized bar can support different features according to values set in the Customize= CUST_PARALLEL_BARS script command. In this demo all customized features for the bar are of second level, but you can choose some single features, of course. In picture B you can see the result using the: PB_SHOW_CHARGE_BAR flag and PB_SHOW_CHARGE_COUNTER flag The PB_SHOW_CHARGE_BAR flag shows that little progress bar with current jump power (the green bar), while the PB_SHOW_CHARGE_COUNTER flag shows the same jump power in the form of number of turns. Remark: if you want have progressive jump power, you'll also have to type in customize command the PB_PROGRESSIVE_CHARGE flag to enable the method of charging power, turn after turn. C) Another customisation is that enabled with the PB_MULTIPLE_ENDINGS flag. The technical realisation is not perfect, however the idea is to give to players the chance to exit from turning in different positions, with different results. When the player lets the ACTION key go while Lara is positioned as shown in Picture C, she will fall down like you see in Picture D. E) While if player releases ACTION key in the position shown in Picture E, Lara will fall down as shown in picture F. In this situation she will often die. The multiple ending is a way to add new interaction but the animations used are not perfectly linked with previous turning animations since some old standard animations are used. If you want to rebuild these multiple endings with your custom animations, you can by simply omitting the PB_MULTIPLE_ENDINGS to avoid conflicts and then follow the instructions you find in description of CUST_PARALLEL_BARS constant in Reference panel of NG_Center. TRNG Variables In this demo you can find a tutorial about the new TRNG Variables and the Critical Memory Zones to create new skills. In the project you can find some demonstration about usage of variables and critical memory. In picture A you can see an effect created modifying the vertical orienting (facing) of Lara. The most interesting skill in this demo is the super jump, adding a jump gain when Lara performs a rush before jumping (Picture B). Also described are other new features like the new Switch script command to select different triggergroups according to the value of some variable. In picture C you can see a keypad used to choose the door to open, closing the others at the same time. Another new feature is the item freezing (Picture D). You can freeze an enemy and he becomes like a statue, then you can wake up him with another trigger adding also some special effects like "vibration" or "explosion" for the waking up action. Vertical Triggers This sample shows a possible usage of vertical triggers. A) The vertical triggers have been set to create a non linear climbable wall. In picture A you can see the final result: Lara will be able to climb only where you see ladder textures. B) If she tries to climb over squared frames she will fall down. The trick to achieve this is to disable the ACTION key (necessary to keep Lara in climb status) when the height of Lara from floor enters some setting of vertical trigger placed in the sectors where Lara is not supposed to climb. Remark: you have to build this project using standard files of Catacombs (wad and tga). Back to Top
NGLE Project files
This file joins together a little level project with an html tutorial about creation of custom animations with the TRNG engine. You find the tutorial in another zip file named "Help_Animation_Command.zip", within the (above) AnimationTutorial.zip file. A) In the tutorial there is much technical information about how tomb4 handles the 3d world and the animations. In picture A you can see the relative 3d axis used in tomb4. In this tutorial you find also a full list of State ID values used in tomb4, as well as many suggestions about troubleshooting with Animation command and TestPosition command. B) Most of the examples are only theoretical descriptions of Animation or TestPosition command. You can find in this demo also a working example of fighting skills for Lara. Using the (not very polished) animation you see in Picture B you can kill a baddy only with fists. C) Many examples show how to use the new TestPosition command. This is useful to detect when Lara is in front of some moveable so she can interact with it. For example in Picture C you can see how to use the diagnostic messages of TRNG to discover the critical values to type in TestPosition command to discover when Lara is in the desired position. D) A lot of examples try to describe how to use the Animation command, and in a particular way how to set the correct ENV_ (ENVironment) constants to detect if the situation in game is valid to start your custom animation. In picture D you can see when the ENV condition: ENV_HOLE_IN_FRONT_CEILING_CLIMB is active. Since, there are dozen of ENV conditions, I tried to concentrate only on more complicated conditions, trying to explain them with correct script commands and images.
In this demo you find the rubber boat and motorboat in same level. The motorboat has the light because its OCB has been set to the value "1", but you can do the same also with the rubber boat if you wish. Remarks: 1) This project has been changed since the original project released in 2008. Now there is no AssignSlot command in the script.txt and the WAD has four new slots to host rubberboat and motorboat with Lara's respective animations. 2) The bug about bad sounds when Lara swims underwater has been fixed but you need to use version 1.2.0.1 or higher to compile the script.txt of this demo.
This sample shows different ways supplied by TRNG to change camera modes in game. You can make Lara or enemies look from different positions. You should use default tga and objects (.wad) of Karnak level for this sample. Remember to build script.txt: copy script.txt and english.txt in SCRIPT folder and then start NG_Center (or click on [Reload] button if it was already opened) and build the script. All triggers for camera effects are placed on sectors with a texture showing a cat face. Remark: This sample has been changed since the original project released in 2008. Now at start there are some new examples about using the new flipeffect trigger: "Camera. Change camera mode with <&>Parameters for (E)time" This method is easier to build but it has the disadvantage of not allowing you to use it for enemies but only for Lara. A) First examples are about new SET_CAMERA feature. With this method you can change the normal camera that always follows Lara, setting a different position and angle for it, so to look at Lara from different positions. In picture A you can see Lara viewed from front below. B) In picture B there is another SET_CAMERA setting: Lara is viewed from the front above position C) In picture C another method has been used to change the framing of Lara. From this example a real fixed camera has been forced to follow Lara, framing her from a given position. In picture C you can see the fixed camera following Lara from above. D) In picture D you can see the effect named "Lara's Portrait"; it has the same layout as Picture B but it was achieved with old flipeffect Lara portrait and an external camera, while in picture B was a SET_CAMERA was used. When you want to frame Lara it's better to use the SET_CAMERA mode because it's easier and because this method avoids more obstacles (walls, ceiling, statics) than "Lara's portrait" effect. We could say that the "Lara's portrait" effect is an obsolete method to view Lara since the new flipeffect "Change camera mode" + set_camera is more effective. E) In picture E you can see the Enemy Portrait effect. This effect views the desired enemy from in front and follows its movement from this position. The camera could cause view problems in confined spaces so study your level well and use this effect with care. F) In picture F you can see a "Matrix effect", the name born from the famous "Matrix" movie. The camera turns quickly around Lara in a circle while she remains still. It could be a good way to show Lara within her immediate environment. Use the Matrix effect together with keyboard disabling to force Lara to remain still because if she moves the resulting effect is a bit chaotic. G) In picture G you can see the "Follow-me camera effect" for enemies. This camera works like the follow camera for Lara but in this case it is following an enemy. Remark: all effects that have an enemy as target should be used only for a few seconds because until they have control back players will have no way of understand Lara's position in relation to the enemy.
This project requires a dll with version 1.2.1.7 or higher. From this version has been added some objects from the TR Chronicles adventure. In picture A you can see the tight-rope. Setting the correct OCB values you can set the grade of ability required to pass over it: -1 for kids (Lara can't fall), 0 = standard as in TR Chronicles, 1 = Hard Mode, 2 = Very hard mode, 3 = impossible mode.
In picture B you can see the Guardian, named in some unofficial tools as Laser Head. Placing the Guardian requires some care, see the readme.txt file. The Guardian shoots green laser rays from his eyes: the laser kill Lara on contact. In Picture C there is the Hydra. She shoots different energy balls (set via OCB) and hurts Lara with her beak. In Picture D there is the enemy sub-marine. It moves in the water and tries to hit Lara with a torpedo. In zip file you will find a playable level with all of these new objects which includes all new sounds used by them.
From version 1.2.1.5 there are new collision features in trng. Now you can create invisible collisions in your level and, using this trick, Lara can walk (Picture A) or climb (Picture B) on static and moveable objects. Thanks to this we can also create a cabin like that in Picture C, where Lara will find correct collision on all walls in spite of this being objects hung in space with invisible collisions. In the collis.wad file you will also find a set of new objects: the collision panels. They are a set of invisible panels (picture D) to integrate the room collisions created with the new "Collision. ..." flipeffects. The new collision panels have their own slot name in the wad: PANEL_BORDER, PANEL_MIDDLE, PANEL_CORNER, PANEL_DIAGONAL, PANEL_STRIP, PANEL_HALF_BORDER1, PANEL_HALF_BORDER2, PANEL_MIDDLE_CORNER. With the above panels you can easily create diagonal collisions and other detailed shapes. For example in the cabin I used the invisible panels to round the collision of the balcony, while the other collisions have been created using the "collision" flipeffect triggers. In this zip file you will find also an html tutorial about the new collision feature.
This sample shows how to use the Diary object (Picture A and B) and how images are shown in game (Picture C and D). With Lara's diary you can show texts and images formatted in different ways. You can also add new pages using some flipeffect triggers to keep the diary updated with the progress of the adventure. To enable and customize the diary you have to use the new script command named Diary=. You can choose windows fonts, colours and layout about position of text frames and image frame. There are two different kinds of image: the pop-up images (picture C), where the image covers only a small portion of the screen while the game is playing, and the overlapped images (as in picture D). Overlapped images will usually cover the whole screen and the game will be paused while the image remains on screen. In this sample it's important to read the "read_me.txt" file because there is some information about installing .bmp images. The .bmp images used by trng have to be copied into the PIX subfolder of the TRLE folder and they must be in bitmap RGB format with names like "image1.bmp", "image5.bmp" etc. Remark: some images in this sample are in jpg format to reduce the size of the zip file. You can convert them to the correct bmp format by simply extracting and launching the converter.exe utility in the same PIX folder. If you have TRLM 2009 you can play this demo simply by adding this zip file with the Add New Level command in the usual way. Pay no attention to the "install_level.txt" file you find in the zip file. This is used purely by the Tr Level Manager 2009 to correctly install the project.
From version 1.2.1.0 some bugs about distance fog have been fixed. In this tutorial you can find many examples and suggestions about correct settings for distance fog. In the html file there are images with different settings (See pictures A and B). There is also an introduction about new flipeffect triggers to create dynamic fog effects to simulate desert storms. You can find information about how to fix the bug regarding excessive saturation of transparent textures with fog colour (see picture C). Using this new fix you can now remove that bug so you can freely use distance fog even in ambient environments with water (see picture D).
This demo contains four projects to illustrate the usage of: A) Stop and Go Elevator This elevator has no keypad, it runs endlessly up and down, stopping for a short time at each floor, opening and closing its door by itself. B) KeyPad Elevator This elevator is more traditional. Lara enters and chooses with the keypad which floor to go to. When selected, the door will be closed and the elevator will move to the desired floor. C) Pointer Detector The detector is a completely new object to the tomb raider experience. This works like an advanced radar to discover the relative position of an object, both in a horizontal and vertical relationship to Lara.
In the script you can set the target and the working mode. The pointer detector allows you to monitor only a single target at a time, but when the first target has been picked up or killed, the detector can then start to monitor another object which is again set in script.txt file. D) Radar Detector The main difference between the Radar Detector and the Pointer Detector is that with the Radar detector you can monitor many targets at same time according to ranges of distance set in script.txt file. Remarks about Detectors: 1) The detector object is always in slot Quest1, usually used by Amulet of Horus. 2) If you want to have the Radar detector in your WAD you must also copy the MISC_SPRITES slot, because it contains some little sprites used to show items found by the detector (those little blinking lights). Read description of Detector script command for more information. Remarks about Elevators: 1) The "Stop and go" elevator has invisible collision panels placed around it to prevent Lara falling out. There are two kinds of invisible panels: the Animating1 and Animating1_Mip. The difference is their size. The first has size 1x2 sector (2 is the height vertically), while the other has a size of 1x1. 2) The "Keypad Elevator" has no moving door while the "Stop and go" elevator has a fake (simulated) door using the animating2. Read description of Elevator script command for more information.
The fish object is an emitter, like the locust emitter or little beetles emitters. You place it in the project, set via OCB the number of fish you wish and then trigger it in game to emit the desired number and type of fish. Please note this fish emitter is not really the same you saw in tomb raider 3 but it is a new object created by Paolone to reproduce behaviour similar to that in tomb raider 3. There are some differences between the trng fish and tr3 fish: with trng fish you can choose between four different kinds of fish: piranhas, clown fish, butterfly fish and angel fish. You can set the fish to shoal or swim individually. You can choose if they will be able to jump (temporarily) out of the water, it they will attack Lara or not etc. Study the OCB for FISH_EMITTER object in the Reference panel of NG_Center program, in the "OCB List" section to know all available OCB values for fish. In this project you will find three demonstrations about using of fish: the first sample is for tropical fish: butterfly, angel and clown fish will swim close to Lara without injuring her. The second sample show the piranhas and they will injure Lara, of course. The piranhas have beet set to work in a shoal. The third example show some tropical fish in an aquarium. In this case you see also a way to build a little water room (the aquarium) surrounded by other dry rooms. For aquarium fish I used the ocb value SLOW to get the fish compatible with reduced water space. Try to find and walk on azure textures to enable the three different samples in this demo level. Remark: in this demo you will find an example also about using the graphical ammo counter, the swapping of horizon objects and about the new still collisions.
This sample has been changed since the original project released in 2008. Now there is also a sliding text example and the movement of vertical scrolling text has been enhanced. This sample is important for the enclosed WAD file where you can find the new FONT_GRAPHICS object. You can change the font using the NG Font Editor tool you find in Tools panel of NG_Center. You have to copy the original FONT_GRAPHICS object into your WAD before modifying it with Font Editor. In this short sample you can see the new different formatting available for characters (Picture A). You can change the size about width or height or use some fixed size fonts. This demo shows also two interesting flipeffect triggers to show scrolling text in vertical (Picture C) or horizontal, like a single fast-info strip (Picture B). Remarks: 1) There is a bug when you use new ng font in a WAD file where there is also a waterfall object. The animated texture of the waterfall could be compromised and it could appear as a texture with literals (A C F etc). This bug is due to WADMerger when it creates the new .swd file with textures. 2) When you build the script.dat remember to copy into the SCRIPT folder also the files: "Text_DisableInput.txt", "Text_FontDescription.txt" and "Tex_MultiSize.txt", because they are used as external strings and they will be put into the english.dat when you build the script.
Remark: follow the installation information carefully in the Read_me.txt file you find in the above zip file. This demo is large (22 Mb) because it contains three FMV videos of about 1 minute each. Since the common use of FMVs in game is easy, this sample project explains some little tricks to reach common targets about fmv management. 1) Starting a video at the beginning of Level. Remark: see Room0 for this example. If you want have a video introducing the beginning of a level, i.e. a video starting before your game actually begins, you can see the example of first fmv. This fmv will be played before the level was played. 2) Perform a change in game when a fmv has been completed. Remark: see Room0 for this example. In most cases we use a video to illustrate some important storylines in game. For this reason at the end of fmv's we should set some changes in game to give sense to our fmv videos. 3) Play a video at the end of the current level, before loading another level. When you have an fmv at the end of your level and then have the next level load immediately following the fmv, you can follow the example in room 54.
You can set the ammo number and type for harpoon with the Customize=CUST_HARPOON script command. See also the script.txt of current demo.
From trng 1.2.1.8 you can also enable the headlights of the Jeep (Picture C) or disable the headlights of the sidecar. In both cases you can set these changes by typing the OCB 1 in the jeep or the sidecar, while using "0" as ocb these vehicles will work as they normally do.
The jeep and the motorbike are not big news in the tomb raider level editor, but in this case the news is that you may use both vehicles in same level. Insert a script command to move the jeep key to another slot to avoid overlapping with the Nitrous Oxide Feeder item used by motorbike. The other conflict is the vehicle extra slot which is used to store Lara animations for both vehicles. Now you can place the animations for the motorbike in a new slot so you can have both vehicles in the same level.
The kayak has been imported from Tomb Raider III, the Mudubu level. The kayak is different to the motor-boat and rubber-boat as it's possibile go down rapids (Picture A). In this level you will find two different types of rapids, with transparent water texturesl (picture A), or opaque water textures (picture B). You can set different OCBs for the kayak to enable some features like "look-at" feature, mist effect on the rapids or in the normal movement. In this demo you will also find an example of the new whirlpool efffect (picture C), where Lara (with kayak, motorboat, rubber-boat, or alone) could be sucked into it (picture D), killing her. Some OCB codes of the kayak are used to enable new get aboard custom animations.
The speech is a bit complicated so if you are interested you should read carefully the OCBs for the kayak in OCB DESCRIPTION section of the Reference panel of NG_Center program. Like other demos, you can use all the objects you find in enclosed wads.
In this demo you can see some new kinds of mirrors that you can create with TRNG: A) Horizontal Mirror This mirror is very similar to the old mirror you can see in coastal, but in this case you can duplicate other moveables and they will be moved and animated in a spectacular way as if they were really reflected by mirrors. In image A you can see Lara while she is pushing a pushable object while in the mirror room another Lara is pushing the same pushable object. In the same picture you can see the mummy in the main room and in the reflection room. To achieve this effect it's necessary to set a correct Mirror script command where you type the indices of moveables (in main room) to duplicate in the hidden room. See description of Mirror script command for more information. B) Horizontal Reverse Mirror In picture B you can see another horizontal mirror but in this case the reflection is inverted, like in the old tomb raider 1 when Lara met her alien clone, the doppleganger. Also in this mirror type you can set moveables (the skeleton in B picture) and they will also be moved in inverse mode. C) Floor Mirror In picture C you can see a floor mirror. D) Ceiling Mirror In picture D you can see the ceiling mirror. This mirror is a bit oblique in that using the look command to see into the mirrored room is not very easy. If you wish use this kind of mirror, it is suggested to modify the view camera by using a fixed camera or some new trng feature to view Lara from a different perspective in order to see what is happening in the mirrored ceiling room.
This is a playable demo. You have to pass some traps and challenges. In this demo you will see how to use the following: A) How to use UV scrolling texture and new physics triggers to simulate a tapis roulant. In picture A, Lara is moved by tapis roulant. How to create the TR3 savegame crystals method so it is necessary to find a crystal to use when you want save. If you look carefully at picture A you can see an hole in the wall with blue lights. In that hole there is a blue crystal, the only way to save the game in this demo. Study the script.txt to discover how this method has been achieved. You have to remove the common Save Memory Card object from inventory (this also disables the F5 savegame key) and then create a global trigger to perform a save only when Lara select the crystal from inventory. B) How to use fragmented triggers to create a sensory grid. In picture B you can see the final result. Lara has to avoid the yellow/red pulsing lines because otherwise she will be fried. You can modify this example to enable other triggers instead of burning Lara - for example to engage an alarm system - and replace the simple drawn strips with 3d statics like red laser rays. C) How to use triggers to move items (moveables) and command script ItemGroup, to create a spiked moving ceiling. In picture C the ceiling moves continuously up and down. D) How to modify weather in real time. In pictures D and following you can see the changes performed in game using an Organizer script command to synchronize the times to engage different triggers to modify the weather. The sky starts from almost clear (D picture) then becomes cloudy, it starts to rain (not very visible in pictures E and F) and then it thunders with lightning and then it starts to snow. Another interesting demonstration in this sample is about how to create the effect of snow that covers the ground progressively from green meadow to white to simulate snow cover. This "whiting" effect has been achieved using P-Frames animated textures, where a single texture applied on the ground was changed after some time with other whiter textures.
In this sample you have two different quick sand pools - floating/semitransparent (Picture B) and still/opaque (Picture A). About settings, the quicksand doesn't require any script settings and you can set the surface movement in NGLE. You can set the quicksand type using the white numeric box immediately at right of special button [water/rain/snow/q-sand] below 2d panel. The first three values "1", "2" and "3" work like for water, with waves increasing in size with number, while the setting "4" for quicksand forces a full still surface (no waves, like in Picture A). This could be useful to hide the quicksand from players to give a more difficult game (not recommended). In this project there is also an example to use the globaltrigger script command to force a trigger (in this case a finish trigger) when Lara picks up a given number of items (6 canopic jars). Remark: this sample requires a tombnextgeneration.dll with version 1.1.8.4 or higher.
Since version 1.2.0.8 the TRNG is capable of supporting a new Savegame Panel when loading or saving the game. You have to use the script command SavegamePanel to choose background image and layout to use. With the new savegame panel you have differing advantages: 1) You can have an image for each savegame selected to make things easier for players to find specific savegames. 2) You can have more than 15 savegame slots and you can even choose the number of savegames manageable at the same time (max 100 savegame slots). 3) For each selected savegame the player may see information about internal values of that savegame, such as number of medipacks, available weapons, secrets etc. 4) You can create your own custom background image and choose between 7 different layouts, where for layout we mean the disposition of different zones: savegame list, savegame image and (optional) savegame information. In the illustration you can see some of the available layouts. If you choose a layout where the info savegame frame is missing, you can use that empty zone to draw a logo for your adventure or some other image of your choosing.
This demo show some of the StandBy script commands. The standby used in native mode is a sort of auto-demo that starts in game when the player don't touch game controls for some time. The main target of standby, in native mode, is to show Lara's face. Since in game Lara is always seen from the back, this is a way of finally showing the beauty of her face. The native standby requires a StandBY command with ID = 1. If you place other StandBy commands in same [Level] section, you'll have to type different IDs. These additional standbys will never be played by themselves, but you can enable them using the flipeffect: "Camera. Enable the <&>StandBy camera effect for (E)seconds" The reason to use a standby via flipeffect, could be to have a sort of easy flyby camera. For example if you use the TSB_PANORAMA type, and you set a large Distance field, you can show a large part of the first side of your level avoiding having to create a complicated flyby sequence. The Standby commands you see in the script.txt supplied in this demo are only examples and you can change them as you wish. For example you could use a matrix or panorama effect for the native standby (id=1). Anyway in this case remember to use the FSB_DISABLE_ON_CRAMPED_SPACE flag, because, otherwise, the standby could begin when Lara is surrounded by many close walls and the result in game could be very poor.
If you don't wish to disable the standby in cramped spaces a solution could be to use a standby that doesn't require large spaces around Lara to work correctly. For example a portrait type, with a short Distance (less than 1024) and the FSB_IMMEDIATE flag to avoid the first phase when the camera moves from her back and turns to reach the position in front of Lara.
This project requires TRNG version 1.1.8.7 or higher. In this project there are examples regarding: A) Huge Collision. To handle static bigger than 6x6 sectors (Picture A). In old tomb4, a static couldn't have a size bigger than 6x6 sectors. If you tried to create statics bigger than 6x6 the collision didn't work properly and Lara was able to enter holes and get inside them. B) OCB to set a transparency level for each static. You can choose between Ice transparency or Glass transparency (see picture B). C) Flipeffect trigger to add pulse colour effect to statics. See picture C, the static column changes its colour tones continuously. D) Explosion of statics. Setting correct OCB and you can transform each static so that it will explode when Lara touches it. In picture D you can see what happens if Lara touches an exploding static, in this case a vase. E) Moving statics. Now you can move statics within same room. In picture E you can see a little red missile (it is moving very quickly) hitting Lara and killing her by an explosion (picture F). In this demo there is also an example of Hard Shatter. A static with a correct OCB could become very hard to be destroyed. The hard shatters can be destroyed using explosive weapons while common weapons like pistols, revolver and ordinary crossbow ammo won't affect them. Vehicles, rollingballs and sphinx are also able to destroy a hard shatter. In this demo there are examples about other OCB settings for statics so they can poison, burn or damage Lara if she touches them. This is an abstract of description of Static OCB you can find in Reference panel of NG_Center: From TRNG version 1.1.8.7 you can set in each static object some OCB codes to set the following features: 4 = Disable collision. Lara could pass through the static 8 = Set Glass Transparency. The static will have a glass transparency effect. 16 = Set Ice Transparency. The static will have a light transparency, like ice. 32 = Damage Lara on physical contact. The static injures Lara if she touches it. The damage removes 10 hp from Lara (full vitality= 1000) but you can change this value using CUST_SET_STATIC_DAMAGE in Customize script command. 64 = Burns Lara on physical contact. Lara will be burned but she will have some time to search for water to save her. 128 = Explode killing Lara on physical contact. With this ocb you can transform this static into a mine. 256 = Poison Lara on physical contact. Lara will be poisoned when she touches the static. You can change the poison intensity using CUST_SET_STATIC_DAMAGE in Customize script command. 512 = Huge Collision. Inform the trng engine that current static has a collision box larger than 6 x 6 sector. 1024 = Hard Shatter. In old tomb4 the shatter objects were destroyed by every weapon other than Skeleton and Templar. If you add 1024 to ocb of some shatter object you can increase its hardness and the static will be destroyed only by explosive ammo (not flash grenade), sphinx, jeep, sidecar and Rollingball (if it has correct OCB). 2048 = Heavy Trigger on contact. When Lara touches a static with OCB 2048 the heavy trigger placed under the static will be activated. Remarks: *You can add above values but you can't add the two different types of transparency. For example if you want the static like glass and with no collision you can type in OCB window the value (8 + 4 =) 12. To transform a static into a bomb that will explode and burn Lara: 64+128 = 192. *You can change in game time these attributes using the "Static. ..." flipeffects.
The swing bar is an object introduced in Tomb Raider Chronicles. In this sample there are two levels, one with the same swing bar as TRC with no changes, while in the second there is a customized swing bar. A) In picture A you can see the default swing bar. The length of jump is affected by values set in OCB field of swing bar in NGLE program. In default bar there is a unique "good" direction, where the ocb value will give a long jump, while in the opposite direction Lara will perform always a very weak jump, regardless of ocb value. Remark: if you wish, you can remove this default setting and force the bar to work the same for both sides. You can realize this using the command: Customize= CUST_PARALLEL_BARS, PB_DOUBLE_FACE, IGNORE, IGNORE,IGNORE The flag PB_DOUBLE_FACE permits the bar to work the same way for both sides. B) The customized bar can support different features according to values set in the Customize= CUST_PARALLEL_BARS script command. In this demo all customized features for the bar are of second level, but you can choose some single features, of course. In picture B you can see the result using the: PB_SHOW_CHARGE_BAR flag and PB_SHOW_CHARGE_COUNTER flag The PB_SHOW_CHARGE_BAR flag shows that little progress bar with current jump power (the green bar), while the PB_SHOW_CHARGE_COUNTER flag shows the same jump power in the form of number of turns. Remark: if you want have progressive jump power, you'll also have to type in customize command the PB_PROGRESSIVE_CHARGE flag to enable the method of charging power, turn after turn. C) Another customisation is that enabled with the PB_MULTIPLE_ENDINGS flag. The technical realisation is not perfect, however the idea is to give to players the chance to exit from turning in different positions, with different results. When the player lets the ACTION key go while Lara is positioned as shown in Picture C, she will fall down like you see in Picture D. E) While if player releases ACTION key in the position shown in Picture E, Lara will fall down as shown in picture F. In this situation she will often die. The multiple ending is a way to add new interaction but the animations used are not perfectly linked with previous turning animations since some old standard animations are used. If you want to rebuild these multiple endings with your custom animations, you can by simply omitting the PB_MULTIPLE_ENDINGS to avoid conflicts and then follow the instructions you find in description of CUST_PARALLEL_BARS constant in Reference panel of NG_Center.
In this demo you can find a tutorial about the new TRNG Variables and the Critical Memory Zones to create new skills. In the project you can find some demonstration about usage of variables and critical memory. In picture A you can see an effect created modifying the vertical orienting (facing) of Lara. The most interesting skill in this demo is the super jump, adding a jump gain when Lara performs a rush before jumping (Picture B). Also described are other new features like the new Switch script command to select different triggergroups according to the value of some variable. In picture C you can see a keypad used to choose the door to open, closing the others at the same time. Another new feature is the item freezing (Picture D). You can freeze an enemy and he becomes like a statue, then you can wake up him with another trigger adding also some special effects like "vibration" or "explosion" for the waking up action.
This sample shows a possible usage of vertical triggers. A) The vertical triggers have been set to create a non linear climbable wall. In picture A you can see the final result: Lara will be able to climb only where you see ladder textures. B) If she tries to climb over squared frames she will fall down. The trick to achieve this is to disable the ACTION key (necessary to keep Lara in climb status) when the height of Lara from floor enters some setting of vertical trigger placed in the sectors where Lara is not supposed to climb. Remark: you have to build this project using standard files of Catacombs (wad and tga).
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