For direct access use https://forums.oldunreal.com
It's been quite a while since oldunreal had an overhaul, but we are moving to another server which require some updates and changes. The biggest change is the migration of our old reliable YaBB forum to phpBB. This system expects you to login with your username and old password known from YaBB.
If you experience any problems there is also the usual "password forgotten" function. Don't forget to clear your browser cache!
If you have any further concerns feel free to contact me: Smirftsch@oldunreal.com

Fixes and info for the U2 Pre-Alpha

Unreal2 seems to vanish more and more too. Time to put it up here :)
Post Reply
User avatar
Leo T_C_K
OldUnreal Member
Posts: 3660
Joined: Sat Aug 27, 2005 6:24 pm

Fixes and info for the U2 Pre-Alpha

Post by Leo T_C_K »

Combination of my posts from BA:
-------------------------------------------
Download for the full U2Alpha minus native code + fixes.
-------------------------------------------
Btw just to inform, in the u2 alpha you can change in user.ini your playerpawn to u2pawns.u2playersp which will give you the john dalton skin that the u2mercenaries also use for some reason in this version, there is a comment about it using a different new skeletal mesh before but I guess it was faulty so they ended up removing it for this build until fixed. So the enemy mercs and u2playersp both use this same model which is meant for u2playersp. I'm talking about the 2000 alpha here now of course.
-------------------------------------------
between this post and next the march and february versions were found (i am not hosting them directly, hogsy hosts them for example)
-------------------------------------------
I decided to revisit the U2 prototypes a little:
PurgatoryAlt
This is intended for the march 2000 version, in between the versions there were temporary female commando izarians (lol) so this puts back some of them in the map for test.

U2BotPack
This is an unfinished u2botpack they were building and didn't compile, there is a draft of a new gamtype hinting a war conflict its base is a ctf, this must have evolved into the xmp gametype. Disregard the izafem file in this its a broken test, a "working" version that works with the u2old later build is in the next download.
Int file for it
And here's the generated int file for it. They planned to include a tournament ladder of their own at some point in the developement, it was talked about in one of the previews I have. Some if its ideas instead went to UT Avaris/championship 2.

The IzaFem works with the Unreal2_old build here except it no longer had the superclass so I had to subclass the new bot class which uses a separate animation system in a different class, thus the "female izarians" will appear broken.

-------------------------------------------
I have things to post too that I shared with people privately too.

First the Old UT flak from I guess before they settled on the final look of the new ut flak somewhere during the 222 ut developement. There were multiple versions obviously and 220 and 221 various versions were the last of the expansion pack prototype, hence the naliplayer separation since 222 it became part of standard unreal.

link
---------------------------------------------
addontest
This is a combined addon for the unreal2_old build or alternatively akyra's custom recompile (that has a few updated things included not included due to "live" nature of this unreal 2 alpha).

It has a compiled test.u which had to be altered because it would keep crashing while compiling as it was meant for some intermediate version we don't have.

I also compiled it separately for the march build:
highenergy

Because that one's "test" directory had only test classes and not the rest, while the later one's main feature was the prototype weapon of "highenergycannon", which is quite buggy on itself but you're free to try.

Sometimes it fires a concentrated shot in the center, otherwise it spreads out shots and tries to autoaim. Using primary fire can get it stuck but you can throw it away, its really bizarre gun and reminds me in description of the "gib gun" with line of sight check planned for the expansion pack as planned/discussed by cyberlore with that na pali civil war etc. Some people keep thinking it was just early return to na pali draft but it was something completely different/separate.

--------------------------------------------
There are some Unreal 2 related discoveries I made still, some of them were noticed by UBerserker, like the Diver mesh mover in TutA. This could be worth putting in tcrf. It was obviously intended for a scene because if you causeevent it, causeevent diver01 and diver01path you can see it in one of them jump like a whale from the ocean and back. I have no idea why this scene was cut it might have been in the background while you see your ship flying or if the camera was in a slightly different position. The mover number is mover12.
I talked also a bit to some former legend people and they told me that the high energy cannon might have been early concept for the singularity cannon indeed.
In the u2 alpha of e3 2001 there is a leftover from earlier developement that shows holo projection or "skybox" of one mission and it has a mesh of a full terrain, I already converted it to obj and brushes for later easier use, because just like with the janus holo stuff in regular unreal 2 which features a staticmeshed version of the terrain, you can reconstruct the mission partially based on that. It won't have everything but the basic layout and terrain yes. I might not have posted about the janus stuff here but I did send it to other people.
Just like now with the files for that cut mission. Its either to do with mission 02 or that other similar mission which evolved ultimately into alcazar and was as leftover in the u2xmp beta when they copied untextured "ruinsblockout" from some earlier u2 alpha or beta version. But without most staticmeshes so it was really bare. But there was a planet cut from the game where some ruins were supposed to be, both temple like ruins like na pali and some techy ruins and alcazar has both of that even thogh alcazar reuses some wot textures for the floating bridges.

And guess what that skybox or holo projection has, it has a main island, small island, pillars and "top1" and "top2" which are bridges obviously. It sounds pretty much like Alcazar to me. Sirocco was reused from matthias worch's M02, but this seems to be grayson edge's thing then. (this would make it a second EDGE thing since that cut janus part that remained in the Unreal 2 files).
I didn't get a chance to talk to him really or only briefly long ago, but if anyone he's the person to ask about it I guess.
So apart from that his levels got cutted he was responsible for m08, m09 and whatever the hell alcazar used to be mission number. The map names stayed same while the mission numbers and references inside the atlantis map kept changing with the developement and they do not reflect the order all the time.

They also often built prototypes that had placeholders before stuff was finished. But people from legend keep saying that of the cut maps they remember the shian stuff the most since it was the closest to getting finished and stayed around for longest. Which must be true given the number of scattered shian related stuff found in release u2, the u2xmp beta and u2xmp itself.
But its been cut down on size only the textures are the most in numbers, but staticmeshes packages always got cut down to not use anthing that is not used. I believe the ladders that you can't see in atlantis in a cut section of the ship down below belong officially to the mission 04 which is a mystery what it was but maybe it was na pali related and maybe it would have involved the alcazar like stuff in it too? I have no clue really, most of the missing pieces are left for speculation.

EDIT: There's also the fact that e3 2001 alpha has a correct texture for the stridersfg or how it was called, the more I see of this strider stuff even if those are meant to be "living breathing devices" remind me of stuff like I believe in spatial fear those aliens might be what striders were going to be like in practice. So with the small forms you'd get an equivalent of the small araknids, which is ironic because the alpha versions didn't have those. I guess that makes sense when the striders were cut the small araknids filled for their role, of the small striders of course because strider villain would have been the final tosc's equivalent almost.
Its obvious they altered the artwork afterwards to fit in with the cuts and have still "something" of those ideas used.

The E3 2001 alpha also has more leftover meshes for human decives, the energy station and health station, and the old turret mesh. Those don't appear at all in the released game not even as leftovers even though things like urinals are still there.

Those devices were all meant to be used in the "natural selection" like RTS like gametype that was the precursor to the xmp game and its concept can be seen in the "u2botpack" files and even going back to the cut command gametype of UT.

-----------------------------------------
Okay here are the new fixes.

These are the oldest maps the ones with the u2 filenames, but this time resaved directly instead of the old fix with exporting/hacking with wot (since back then there was only the unreal2_old build). Though with the Draft one I had to reimport due to differing texture package (the groups wouldnt get preserved) so it won't be mostly defaulttexture mess.

Drafts for March Build and above

Additionally I was not satisfied with the Systemalt version for the March build because I had to comment stuff out and make the carifle fire rockets temporarily..I fixed that now so its completely like it was in the february build with the carifle behavior. I never could get the game running for the february build, only the ed, so this is a good solution.

february 2000 weapons for march build

the systemalt/files for alternate system for march 2000 ver is here...
https://www.newbiesplayground.net/downl ... fb-cat-150
User avatar
Hellkeeper
Global Moderator
Posts: 3257
Joined: Wed May 21, 2008 8:24 pm
Location: France
Contact:

Re: Fixes and info for the U2 Pre-Alpha

Post by Hellkeeper »

Leo T_C_K wrote: Sun May 22, 2022 11:01 am There are some Unreal 2 related discoveries I made still, some of them were noticed by UBerserker, like the Diver mesh mover in TutA. This could be worth putting in tcrf. It was obviously intended for a scene because if you causeevent it, causeevent diver01 and diver01path you can see it in one of them jump like a whale from the ocean and back. I have no idea why this scene was cut it might have been in the background while you see your ship flying or if the camera was in a slightly different position. The mover number is mover12.
I talked also a bit to some former legend people and they told me that the high energy cannon might have been early concept for the singularity cannon indeed.
In the u2 alpha of e3 2001 there is a leftover from earlier developement that shows holo projection or "skybox" of one mission and it has a mesh of a full terrain, I already converted it to obj and brushes for later easier use, because just like with the janus holo stuff in regular unreal 2 which features a staticmeshed version of the terrain, you can reconstruct the mission partially based on that. It won't have everything but the basic layout and terrain yes. I might not have posted about the janus stuff here but I did send it to other people.
Just like now with the files for that cut mission. Its either to do with mission 02 or that other similar mission which evolved ultimately into alcazar and was as leftover in the u2xmp beta when they copied untextured "ruinsblockout" from some earlier u2 alpha or beta version. But without most staticmeshes so it was really bare. But there was a planet cut from the game where some ruins were supposed to be, both temple like ruins like na pali and some techy ruins and alcazar has both of that even thogh alcazar reuses some wot textures for the floating bridges.

And guess what that skybox or holo projection has, it has a main island, small island, pillars and "top1" and "top2" which are bridges obviously. It sounds pretty much like Alcazar to me. Sirocco was reused from matthias worch's M02, but this seems to be grayson edge's thing then. (this would make it a second EDGE thing since that cut janus part that remained in the Unreal 2 files).
I didn't get a chance to talk to him really or only briefly long ago, but if anyone he's the person to ask about it I guess.
So apart from that his levels got cutted he was responsible for m08, m09 and whatever the hell alcazar used to be mission number. The map names stayed same while the mission numbers and references inside the atlantis map kept changing with the developement and they do not reflect the order all the time.

They also often built prototypes that had placeholders before stuff was finished. But people from legend keep saying that of the cut maps they remember the shian stuff the most since it was the closest to getting finished and stayed around for longest. Which must be true given the number of scattered shian related stuff found in release u2, the u2xmp beta and u2xmp itself.
But its been cut down on size only the textures are the most in numbers, but staticmeshes packages always got cut down to not use anthing that is not used. I believe the ladders that you can't see in atlantis in a cut section of the ship down below belong officially to the mission 04 which is a mystery what it was but maybe it was na pali related and maybe it would have involved the alcazar like stuff in it too? I have no clue really, most of the missing pieces are left for speculation.

EDIT: There's also the fact that e3 2001 alpha has a correct texture for the stridersfg or how it was called, the more I see of this strider stuff even if those are meant to be "living breathing devices" remind me of stuff like I believe in spatial fear those aliens might be what striders were going to be like in practice. So with the small forms you'd get an equivalent of the small araknids, which is ironic because the alpha versions didn't have those. I guess that makes sense when the striders were cut the small araknids filled for their role, of the small striders of course because strider villain would have been the final tosc's equivalent almost.
Its obvious they altered the artwork afterwards to fit in with the cuts and have still "something" of those ideas used.

The E3 2001 alpha also has more leftover meshes for human decives, the energy station and health station, and the old turret mesh. Those don't appear at all in the released game not even as leftovers even though things like urinals are still there.

Those devices were all meant to be used in the "natural selection" like RTS like gametype that was the precursor to the xmp game and its concept can be seen in the "u2botpack" files and even going back to the cut command gametype of UT.
Damn this is fascinating and sad at the same time. This game could and should have been at least three times as long and would have been fascinating if it hadn't been butchered so heavily. It's not surprising the XMP maps are leftovers from scrapped missions and planets, but having it pretty much confirmed is even more disheartening as there was so much material made and planned that never got into the final disaster that was U2. All that's on the disc hints at such an ambitious product, from the dialog, particle and the weird animated meshes systems, deployables, etc., all of which are used in the flattest and crudest way imaginable.
Great work as always Leo. As for Worch, he was very nice when I had a few words with him years ago. I don't know how available he is nowadays and it's amusing to notice he's now working at Epic. Did you try sending him a mail directly?
You must construct additional pylons.
User avatar
Leo T_C_K
OldUnreal Member
Posts: 3660
Joined: Sat Aug 27, 2005 6:24 pm

Re: Fixes and info for the U2 Pre-Alpha

Post by Leo T_C_K »

I've been in contact with Worch for many years, now and then I speak to him. Just like most other people, he hasn't kept anything, they were required to hand over everything back when Atari closed them down, so hunting down Unreal 2 content is next to impossible.

However I am awaiting reply/hoping to get in touch with Hugh Riley, he has Shian models on his site...

there's more

from conversations i had with people:
https://www.legalalien.com/U2ShianBoss.html
That's the website of the lead animator on U2. I wish he showed how it looked with the textures..
but he did it with these too
https://www.legalalien.com/U2DrakkBoss.html
there's more discoveries. Like Geoff Field actually worked on Unreal 2 from 2000 to 2001. then he quit....
his levels cut also. Don't think we had them in stuff we got.

It looks like he was the guy who made the levels on the mysterious ruins planet, the stuff left over in the e3 alpha's skybox meshes (that i did test convert in the past).

Fucks sake who would know the shrakitha guy not only worked on some abandoned addon shit but also on Unreal 2....during the period we don't have anything from. JUST
https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoff-field ... xperience/>


Level DesignerLevel Designer
Legend EntertainmentLegend Entertainment Aug 2000 - Mar 2001 · 8 mosAug 2000 - Mar 2001 · 8 mos

Remote contract level design via the internet. Worked on single player levels for the title Unreal 2.

-------

So basically, not just some abandoned addons but also Unreal 2 stuff, I wonder if he made that level that was part of that alpha skybox meshes with those ruins and that bridge.

i did try to "connect" with him since i suppose nobody else has a working contact for him anymore despite him announcing sequel to shrakitha in the late 2000s.
User avatar
Leo T_C_K
OldUnreal Member
Posts: 3660
Joined: Sat Aug 27, 2005 6:24 pm

Re: Fixes and info for the U2 Pre-Alpha

Post by Leo T_C_K »

I should probably make a separate topic, but either way I spoke to Joon Choi, who didn't have anything btw and had difficulty remembering, but he worked on some weapons (which i didn't determine which) and on some of the sea creatures/environment early on. A lot of his stuff was replaced and working with Heuristic Park under Legend was his first job. They replaced Heuristic alongside the developement. Either way he was the first author of the "pinwheel fish" and shrimp, possibly chiton/cyprid. That far I got after showing him screenshots. It looks like that in the E3 alpha the shrimp was just a duplicate of chiton, as a placeholder but an earlier mesh of it existed and he said it was what became the pinwheel fish.
He used to have older portfolio with the old pinwheel fish screenshots, sadly he didn't remember the adress. So I couldn't look it up on wayback. That he still remembered because he had it on his site the rest he can't be too sure about.

There was also someone else from the later developement phase but who turned out to be jerk and is related to the blocking thing i ranted about before. Sadly some developers don't know their own history and start assuming and jumping to conclusions. He knew about me though because I sent him introduction first via e-mail and then linkedin. I will not name who this other person is because I'm only going to talk about the nice and helpful people that worked on this game, not some corporate business people interested only in money.
User avatar
Leo T_C_K
OldUnreal Member
Posts: 3660
Joined: Sat Aug 27, 2005 6:24 pm

Re: Fixes and info for the U2 Pre-Alpha

Post by Leo T_C_K »

some interesting concept art

Image

this is early parrata lol, that creature turned into something else in the end

Image

Image
User avatar
Gamesharder
OldUnreal Member
Posts: 133
Joined: Wed Feb 19, 2014 7:09 pm

Re: Fixes and info for the U2 Pre-Alpha

Post by Gamesharder »

They look awesome
Nice find!
Post Reply

Return to “Unreal2 General Forum”