posted 01-25-2002 12:36 PM               

This idea is very simple yet probably the only way of adding one to your level, without further investigation or resorting to hardcoding.

I suggest, for a simple Cutscene you need an enemy. This enemy would appear in a room that Lara has entered (the room would have to be quite large for this to work).

The enemy would be using AI so that you could control the direction in which he would move. You would add a trigger that contained a talking .wav file (like the voice in Castle Doomsday). You would also use a flying camera.

This is how the scene would be created:

Lara enters the room (from the south) that contains the enemy.
The enemy would walk toward Lara (northerly direction) and trigger a camera that would be facing east, and slowly move in a half circle behind him.
Whilst the camera is moving behind him the Dialogue would be that of the enemy (this would mean it would not matter if the lips moved).
As the camera then half circles around behind Lara (to complete a circle), the dialogue would then be hers.
The whole dialogue may sound like this.

Enemy: "Well Lara, it is time I finished you off".
Lara: "I think not".

The complete dialogue could be held in one .wav file.

The camera would be set so that Lara could not move, and when the circle is completed, it would then end up behind her again, and the level would continue.

Now I realise that this is quite simple, however I believe it would look quite acceptable due to the limitations we have to work by.

I will gladly accept all comments, or perhaps you may have an idea how to set up a similarly simple cutscene.

posted 01-25-2002 12:59 PM               

Seek and ye Shall Find , In the past 6 months I have come along way and I will continue to learn how to create the things I need for TRLE , I just hope others do too so my quest is not a lonely one

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Currently Working On; The Dragon Ball TR Saga

posted 01-25-2002 07:02 PM               

I think that there is tremendous potential for the method you are describing. In addition to your method there are a couple of others which I would like to discuss further if you are interested:

1) Someone (a programmer) could write a small exe file which is launched before the tomb4.exe is opened. This file would wait for a specified blank WAV file to be Accessed (using a normal CD trigger from within TRLE). When the exe 'sees' that the blank 'flag' WAV has been waved (no pun intended), it launches a pre-rendered cut-scene (AVI preferably). Meanwhile Lara is disabled for the amount of time that the cut-scene lasts. When the AVI has finished playing, the custom exe maximises TR again and the game contines (Lara is re-enabled).

I can explain any part of this part more fully if needed. AVI playback whilst tomb.exe is minimised has already been tested successfully.

2) The same method as above but with an adequate shareware macro program which is hot-keyed by the player.

3) I am currently working on a way of presenting the narrative in my level with the use of cameras and what appears to be a complex sequence which is presented with the use of a kind of 'clockwork' of triggers.

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In my opinion, one of the most important aspects of any 'faux' cut-scene is the soundtrack. For me, sound-effects, dialogue and music provide at least 50% of any non-interactive 'movie moment'.

You obviously have a very sharp wit and excellent writing skills, so I think you would have no trouble with your dialogue (I have struggled for a long time to understand how to make mine acceptable).

Beyond the soundtrack, the camera movements and the editing have a language of their own which can be used to enhance the scene.. so, all in all, as I said before, I think that this is an area which has huge potential and I feel there is much that can be added to the TRLE if we pursue this further.

WBM

P.S. GokuZ, what the heck is "Secret 8/"?

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posted 01-26-2002 05:40 AM               

I will be attempting my idea in my next level, however if a true cutscene creator becomes available, I may have to add that instead.

posted 01-26-2002 06:51 AM               

The tricky part is Triggering the animations, but analizing the angkor wat.tr4 file and all of the von croy cutscenes are triggered by flip effects (normally used for earthquakes, but still its animation), which leads me to belive that the Cut Scene trigger was never used in the TR4 creation of the game ( we know that certain buttons in the editor were used for TR3 such as the Mud effect )

So if I can figure out how to get the animations into the wad Im sure that they can be triggered this way.

I hope I have inspired people in this subject, because in the end what is a tomb raider level without cutsenes. Once this is sorted maybe we can figure a way of getting FMVs to load .....How hard can it be ......

Edit; There seems to be another possibillity, using a patch there is a way to get the offical tr cutscenes to work (also in a different location) if the original cutscenes can be edited this could be another step..I am currently testing this possibillity