SATURNINE'S "THE SEVENTH CRYSTAL" INTRO SEQUENCE This is based on work by SilentSleep who has a demo located at http://www.btinternet.com/~Saturnine_/CamVatorDemo.zip DISCALAIMER - THIS IS NOT A DEMO ================================ I (frobber) have written this as an effort at reverse-engineering. Hopefully this will grant some insight, but this is not detailed enough to sit down to make your own briefing this way! Also, I am not touching any other sequences. Only the Introductory ACT 1 has been studied in detail. In short -------- To put is in summary, the process is controlled by bounds triggers and "conversations" where the player is attached to a contraption called a CamVator and moved just like an elevator path through the scene. When something is required to change, the player either encounters a bounds trig or is otherwise affected by the actions of the actors who are playing out the conversation sequences. Details ------- The intro sequence starts by moving the camera through a crypt area while we hear a narration and see overlaid credits. It ends at a bridge where we watch a conversation between Garrett and a woman named Saraphina. This is how it's done (as best I can figure)... Ambient light is set to zero (or near zero) and the starting point is placed in unlit room (or a room with a jet black texture). Adjacent to the player starting position (and therefore initializing immediately) are two bounds triggers linked to conversations called "Blackout_link_conv" and "Intro." Also in a nearby room is a conversation trap called "Bridge_conv" which is used to control the second half of the overall sequence at the bridge. There are three conversation actors used to control the action, "froggy," "intro_floggy," and "bridge_conv_froggy." These three frogs are all located inside one closed-in room which also contains a number of elevator buttons and text-linked plaques. The frogs have access to these buttons, which they frob as part of the conversation sequences. The conversations involve only one of these froggies at one time, so for simplicity I merely describe the actions of a generic "froggy." "Blackout_link_conv" -------------------- Blackout_link_conv starts immediately as the mission begins (started by a bounds trig next to the start position) and it has two steps... First it applies a CD link to the player with the argument of DoBlackOut, which appears to initialize the whole world as dark even though for now the player is already in a dark room (soon the player position will move to a lit area, and since there will be a fade up from black there -- the whole world must start as black). If the mission terrain must have a less-than-zero ambient setting, then it would be very important to start the player within an unlit room with jet black textured walls. Blackout_link_conv next starts up the conversation called "Intro" -- although it appears that "intro" is already linked to the other bounds trig adjacent to the starting point? Perhaps one or the other of these initializations of "Intro" is redundant or ineffective. At any rate, at least one is working since "Intro" now starts... "Intro" ------ The "Intro" conversation is fairly long. Here are the steps... Page 00 ------- Right off the bat there is an entry which looks like a placeholder. This first step frobs a teleport trap which is unlinked -- so it really does nothing as far as I can tell. (Ah! If this were a Thief 1 mission, according to SilentSleep who worked up this goo, the player would first have to be teleported to someplace called a CamVator. But in Thief 2, this is not needed). Delay 2 seconds -- for dramatic effect and also (probably) to give the world the time needed to fade to black before the player is moved into the traveling position. Start narration -- froggy frobs a button which is linked to a VO_trap so the narrative plays inside the player's head for the next few minutes. Wait 4 seconds. The narration runs while the player remains in the dark room during this time. For some reason AlertCapZero metaprop is attached to an object called "spider" But all the spiders are either already play-acting dead or are merely deaf and blind -- so this does nothing useful. SilentSleep mentions in his tutorial how all AI must be rendered unaware so that they won't react as the player, who is now attached to the CamVator, drifts by. Perhaps this step is legacy from some other sequence. Page 01 ------- Froggy frobs a button called "DoBlackOut" Another mystery since this button is unlinked. Yet this would be just about when we see the screen begin to fade-in from black to the normal lighting of the world. So perhaps there is some magic here in the name itself. In the main mission, ACT 2, it very much appears to be the step which fades up the image from black. Wait 1/4 second Frob button called Start_Camera_1 -- this is like an elevator button linked to a terrpt. The terrpt is linked the "elevator" (really based on the raft hierarchy). And so whatever it is, it starts moving. It's called a "Camvator" since it's purpose is to transport the "camera" viewpoint of the player. It follows a series of terrpts just like an elevator would and ends at a bounds trig which is the transition point to the bridge sequence. Page 02 ------- This is where some real magic seems to happen. In the same sort of way that we attach things to AI like keys and loot, the player here is now physically attached to the CamVator, and for this reason loses the freedom of motion and is just a passenger moving along for the ride. Next few pages -------------- Finally, the next several pages have the froggy frobbing a series of on-screen display plaques between long delays which display the project team credits. I thought Saturnine might have been using some form of the "nubie hint" system we see in the first couple of Thief 2 OMs -- but this is not the case. The conversation ends at a bounds trig used to fire up the bridge sequence conversation. SECOND HALF OF INTRO As the CamVator (370) reaches the last terrpt in the crypt, the bounds trig there initializes a conversation called "bridge_conv" with the following steps... Page 00 ------- Frob the "DoBlackOut" button, which again is unlinked -- and I notice on-screen that this is when the screen comes up from black. But this is again confusing to me, since there was no fade to black prior to this -- so I'm not sure what is going on here ... especially how the screen was made black initially this time. Wait 1/4 second Frob a button called "Start_Camera_2" which is linked to a new CamVator (627). This starts the new CamVator moving along its terrpt path towards the bridge. (I notice here that for the series of terrpts, the speed is defined to be slower as the CamVator moves forward -- giving the overall impression that the thing is slowing down evenly.) Page 01 ------- A "remove link" is applied to the relationship between the player and the crypt CamVator (370) -- essentially the player/viewpoint is now detached. Page 02 ------- The player is now immediately linked to the new CamVator (627) just as in page 02 of the "Intro" conversation. And since the CamVator is already moving, the player now moves with it. Page 03 ------- Wait 11 seconds, then display the last of the on-screen plague text. So much for transporting the player viewpoint. OTHER ELEMENTS ============== Also included is the conversation between Garrett and Seraphina on the bridge, which is a conventional conversation trap. In addition, there are several buttons in one closed-off room that seem like they might do something important, but are unlinked. Here are some of the names... Book1arrive StartVision StopVision. There is also a "VisionBook" in this room, a "VisonGuy," and a reference to a vision conversation. So perhaps links and attributes are getting added. But I don't see how this directly involves the briefing sequence... This perhaps is merely left over goo made prior to some database split. The thing is there, but nothing seems to start this conversation. Lastly, there is a "black room" accessible to the bridge terrain area. Two AI are in there along with a dead-end conversation trap as far as I can tell. But I don't see any connections to the events of the intro. UPDATES ======= Please send me mail on this note - frobber@edanet.com. If you have figured out something that was mystifying me, I'd like to add it here -- and of course I'll mention your name. This is a truly awesome method that I had hoped was possible, but now that it has been done, I'd like it to become an option for those dedicated to making this work in other missions. Please note that I am not an expert at this, so I will attempt to be helpful, but I can't promise to have the answers or the time to de-bug other people's projects. Regards, frobber