Section 6 - Building the Final Rooms

With the skills you have acquired, you can move ahead and finish the modeling, texturing and lighting without the detailed steps you have had thus far. (i.e. you’re pretty much on your own!) If there are new skills involved, details will be given.

Scorpion Room

Select the Scorp Room from the Demo model and look at it in the Plan View panel. The room looks square on the PLAN VIEW grid but in 2DMAP mode in the EDITOR WINDOW it appears to be an irregular shape. If you look closely at the PLAN VIEW you will see that the shapes made by the groups of green squares (walls) correspond to the “missing” areas when viewed in the EDITOR WINDOW. This is because walls appear white or as blank space in the EDITOR WINDOW.

1. Make a room approximately 8x8 squares.

2. Create the organic floor by using “Random Floor Up” (F1), then Smooth Floor” (F9). Fix any illegal slopes.

3. Leave a flat area at least two squares to place the floor switch (check demo for location).

4. Exit doorway must be one block in size - you will later place a door in this opening.

5. Water passage exit/entry needs one click ledge around connecting portal (Don’t forget to check elevations before connecting stacked rooms).

6. Adjust wall panels, add textures; set ambient light; place and adjust additional lights.

Scorpion Pit and Mid Room

To construct these rooms, use the demo model as a guide…and if you are in a big hurry, don’t forget the cut and paste shortcuts!

Placing Objects and Setting Triggers in the Scorpion Room, Scorp Pit and Mid Room

Scorpion Room:

Object: Scorpions (SMALL_SCORPION) - Although it is tempting to cover the floor with scorpions, there are limits! Place no more than 5 or 6 or they won’t trigger like they are supposed to and you’ll have scorpions appearing out of thin air.

Trigger: Trigger each scorpion to a square at the bottom of “Hall 4X “ so Lara will activate them before she climbs out of the water. This way they will already be running towards her when she steps onto the sand.

Object: Switch (LEVER_SWITCH) - Place in the corner by the door opening on the flat squares.

Trigger: Trigger the switch to the square beneath it. Click in the trigger text box next to the pink button to bring up the “set trigger type” window. After clicking in the text box next to “type” select “switch” to designate the trigger as a switch. Now when you set the trigger for the door to this same square, it won’t open until Lara throws the switch.

Object: Door (DOOR_TYPE4) - This door actually needs to be placed in the “Mid Room” so it will open properly. Place it and rotate it into position.

Trigger: Set the trigger on the same square as the switch to link the door and switch together.
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Scorpion Pit:

Object: Scorpion (SMALL_SCORPION) Place the scorpions under the ledge, so they will "materialize" out of view.

Trigger: Be creative with your triggers…maybe set one at the base of the pole...

Object: “Fire Pole” (POLEROPE) Lara must be on the same square as the pole to climb up it or jump forward and grab (Control Key) to climb down. The pole is only 12 clicks (3 blocks) tall. If you want a taller pole, you’ll have to stack one pole above the other.

Trigger: None required

Creating Secrets Don’t make your secrets too easy! Any pickup can become a secret simply by designating it as such in the “set trigger type” window. Each secret needs a different number or the secret sound will not activate, nor will the item be logged in the level statistics.

Object: Sixshooter (SIXSHOOTER_ITEM) Place somewhere in the middle of the pit.

Trigger: Set a trigger beneath the pick-up, then in the “set trigger type” window click in the box next to "Trigger" to pull up the menu and select “secret”. Enter the number 1 in the box in the upper right corner of the window.

Mid Room:

Check the demo model and place the remaining objects and baddies accordingly, or choose your own!

Placing a Camera Using the Camera Target

If you want a camera to show a specific view rather than point at Lara, you can place a camera target (from the object menu) in the location you want the camera to point. In this case, the camera and target are set up to catch the mummy creeping around the corner and show Lara’s position at the same time. A fixed camera is used to insure it will be activated whether or not Lara has her weapons drawn. To set up a camera target do the following:

1. First place your camera.

2. Choose the camera target from the object menu and place it where you want the camera to point.

3. Set triggers for both the dummy camera target and the camera on the same square(s). Remember, this camera stays active only as long as Lara is on the trigger – a large trigger zone was set keep the camera active long enough for the mummy to become visible.

4. Call up the “Set Trigger Type Window” for the dummy target and make sure you select “target” from the trigger text box so the camera will know it is supposed to look at the target instead of Lara.

5. Now call up the “Set Trigger Type Window” for the camera trigger and click on the “one shot” button.

The “Test” Room

The Test Room was designed specifically for familiarizing you with exactly what Lara can and can’t do in her world. It would be a little difficult to design a good level if you didn’t know how far or high Lara can jump…and you can’t push limits if you don’t know what those limits are!

If you’d like to check some of these guidelines in-game, move Lara to the demo Test Room (unless you want to build your own Test Room first) then build a new TR4 file. When you boot up the game, Lara will be in the test room ready to try all her moves.

How High? Find the set of stairs near the east entry door. Each stair is one click up per step. The top of the stairs is 8 clicks tall…one click beyond Lara’s "jump up and grab" limit. The next stair is 7 clicks tall - she can jump up and grab that edge, no problem. It is obvious why you need to know some of these limits…if you want Lara to jump up to find a secret, or make sure she can or can’t get out of a space, you have to know how high or low to make the walls.

Above the stairs is a Monkey Swing. Starting at the bottom, stand on each step and jump up to grab the ceiling. When Lara gets to the fifth step she will be able to grab the ceiling, not before. The room is 12 clicks tall, so this means Lara can jump up 7 clicks to grab onto a ceiling.

How Far? In the southeast corner of the room are some ledges 8 clicks high with distances between them of one, two and three squares. Lara can jump the distance of one square easily. A gap of two squares requires her to make a running jump. It is a bit trickier to make the three square gap - in addition to a running jump, Lara must grab the ledge, then pull herself up.

In the southwest corner of the room are two squares that have been raised just two clicks. One of those raised squares is two squares from the west wall, the other is three. Lara won’t have a problem jumping the two-square gap, but the three-square jump doesn’t work. To make this jump, Lara would need to make a run, jump and grab move and she doesn’t have enough vertical space as in the example above.

Another move you should experiment with is the standing jump up. Stand one square away from a 4 click tall block and jump forward. Lara will leap up onto the block. She can also flip backwards or sideways to jump up 4 clicks.

You might want to experiment with diagonal jumps, and build some areas in your test room to push this limit. Distance limitations can depend on different factors, such as the height of the beginning and the ending platforms, as well as the skill of the player! You can include a few really difficult jumps, but unless you’re truly mean spirited, you want to keep most of your moves within a reasonable skill level range!

How Steep? When the terrain goes beyond a specific angle, Lara will begin to slide down that surface. To create the angle that will make her slide, you raise one side of a block 3 or more clicks higher than the other side.

Along the south wall is an example of varying sloped surfaces. Walking up the slope, you can tell when it becomes a 3 click slope because Lara will stop. Jump up to the top, turn around and walk down the slope. You slide until you hit the 2 click slope where you come to an abrupt stop. Lara can walk on one and two click slopes but not on 3 or greater.

How Deep? Lara can take a lot of damage but knowing how far she can fall without being hurt will help you build a more challenging level. At the top of the “How High” steps is a dark crawl space that leads to a long narrow room. Half of the room is a level floor, the other half is a series of descending steps in one click increments from 4 to 21. Drop Lara down the different distances noting how much damage she takes as the distances increase. Repeat the process when Lara is not at full health – the distance she can fall without dying is proportionate to her
health status.

Now you create a Test Room. Either copy the demo level Test Room or test the limits with some of your own inventions. The only way to really find out if Lara can handle what you set up for her is to make a TR4 file and try it out “in-game.”

Tips for building features in the Test Room and beyond:

The “Lattice” ceiling (How to create multiple openings with one “door”).

You may think at first glance 8 portals were made to achieve this effect, but really only one was used. Try this quick method for creating multiple portals:

1. Think of the bottom elevation of the floor as the plane that will eventually become the portal. Raise the floor to create thickness wherever you don’t want a portal….(use demo model for reference).

2. Raise your “MumRoom” so the floor elevation is the same as the ceiling elevation of the Test Room and position it over the Test Room.

CAUTION: If your test room ceiling has an irregular surface, you will run into problems trying to connect the two rooms. For instance, if you copied the demo Test Room you will need to lower the raised portions to the same plane as the area you want to connect up to the MumRoom or you will get an error message when you try to connect the rooms.

3. Once you’ve raised your floor areas, select the entire floor of the “MumRoom” then click the DOOR button. You will now have portals wherever you did not raise the floor. (You can create multiple horizontal portals in one click as well…in Plan View, use the WALL button to create a row of columns along the edge of a room. Select the entire wall with the columns and when you click the DOOR button, it will create portals between all the columns.)

The Fire Pit

In the southwest corner of the room are 3 squares with an iron grate. Lara will burn to death if she moves onto these squares. To set up this trap:

1. Build a small room beneath the three squares and create a portal. Then go back to the Test Room to complete the rest of the steps.

2. Select the opening and click “toggle opacity”. This will prevent Lara from falling through the opening as well as allowing texture placement.

3. Place the “Flame_Emitter” nullmesh on the squares to create the small flames.

4. To turn the flames on place a trigger at the entrance of the Test Room.

Eye of Horus - The Big Door

This door requires an opening of 3x3 blocks and involves some specific modeling and triggering to work. Take a close look at the demo model to see how to construct it, then:

1. Place the door (AM_HOLE) in the opening. Press “O” and enter 999 in the text field so that Lara will be able to go back through the door opening once it has opened.

2. Set a trigger square directly in front of the door where Lara will stand to insert the “key” (the combined puzzle pieces).

3. Click in the text box next to the pink trigger button to get the “Set Trigger Type” window and click in the “Type” text box and choose “Key” - hit “Okay” . This designation tells the door to open only when Lara uses the combined puzzle pieces.

4. Hit the “Okay” button on the “Set Trigger Type” window to close it.

Caution: When the Big Door opens, the door sections need to “disappear” into the surrounding walls. Make sure you build out the walls enough to accommodate these sections or you will see parts of them popping through the walls of the Test Room.

Placing the Fixed Camera by the Big Door

Before setting up the camera that activates when Lara goes near the big door, check what happens to the door “in-game” (remember you can temporarily place Lara in the Test Room so you don’t have to play through the level to check your work). When you get too near the door, the Lara “camera” tries to view her from behind the door. This gives a view of the backside of the door and a bunch of missing polygons…nothing you want anyone to see! By placing the fixed camera, you can control what the camera does when Lara gets near the door, even if she has her weapons drawn.

Hiding Pick-ups Beneath the Vase Shatter object:

1. In the sideroom, at the north end of the Test Room, place the pickup you want Lara to find when she shoots the vase and click “O” to bring up the object menu. Click on the invisible button and hit “okay”. This will make the object invisible until the vase shatters above it.

2. Set a trigger on the same square and bring up the “Set Trigger Type” window to set the trigger type to “Heavy”. When the vase shatters, it will trigger the pick-up to become visible.

3. Now place the vase (SHATTER_O) on top of the pick-up.

Triggering a Baddy with a Heavy Trigger:

1. Place a baddy in the Test Room upper left corner (northwest).

2. Set the trigger for the baddy under the shatter vase (the same square as the heavy trigger for the medi-pack). When the vase shatters, it will activate the heavy trigger which in turn will activate the baddy trigger. You may wonder why just stepping on the square does not activate the baddy ….remember, when one special trigger is on a square, all other triggers assume that same status, in this case, a heavy trigger…and a heavy trigger is only activated by something other than Lara.

Taking Advantage of the Baddy AI

1. Place some six shooter ammo on the same square as the above baddy.

2. If a pick-up is placed on the same square as a baddy, it will be left as a pick-up for Lara after he dies. No need to use the invisible setting on the pick-up…when placed with a baddy, it is automatically invisible until the baddy dies.

Using BOXES to Control Your Baddies!

As demonstrated earlier, sometimes it is necessary to set limits for baddies. Notice the gray squares in front of the entrance to the crawl space leading to "Deep Pit1". The gray squares (select a square, click gray BOX button) are used to bar access to anyone other than Lara! If the baddies were to navigate through the crawl space, you’d have laugh. Since they do not have a crawling animation they switch into a monkey swing which looks a little ridiculous in the crawl space!

Setting up the Spiked Pit Trap in the Exit Room

Did you fall for the spiked pit trap after the Big Door exit? The spikes used in TR4 are more complicated than those from earlier Tomb Raider games. You now have the options of retracting or stationary spikes delivering death from floors, walls or ceilings!

Spikes are placed like most objects but may need a little more adjusting than usual so a few in-game checks might be required to get them just right.

In the reference section is a chart showing the different settings for the spikes. You’ll be able to set the angle of origin and whether or not they remain out or retract. To set the spikes as in the demo model:

1. Place the spikes (TEETH_SPIKES) at the bottom of the pit. Check to see how far they are sticking out from the ground and adjust yours accordingly.

2. Since these spikes don’t appear until triggered, set the trigger just after the Big Door. This way, they will already be visible in the bottom of the pit when/if Lara falls. You can also trigger them at the bottom of the pit so they won’t shoot up until Lara falls.

3. With spikes selected, press the “O” button to bring up the “Object
Code Bit” menu and type in the number 20. This will make the spikes point up and remain stationary.