Re: PID shape cataloging
Posted By: Mark Levin <haveblue@mac.com>
Date: 10/7/03 9:37 p.m.
In Response To: PID shape cataloging (Speaker-To-Animals)
Well, let's see... ;)
This is based on the original TIFF collection posted here, I didn't use the new dumper.
The first unusual thing to notice is that the potions do not use pallette shifts. Collection
128 bitmaps 16 through 19 (the potions) could have been stored in much less space.
The two rings, however, and the two keys, are *not* identical images, so they could not
have been stored as pallette shifts. Upon further inspection, the "style" field seems to
indicate a pallette shift; this is used for the monsters and scenery but, as above,
mysteriously not for the potions or crystals.
There are a number of images that are very rarely seen because you have to do
something unusual to see them in the game, like the Colt .45, M16, and Map images
(you're never given a reason to drop these items, and you can't find them lying around
either...). Also, as I recall, these images are much higher quality than they appear to
be when viewed in the Examine Item dialog. What's going on here?
There is a "lost" style of Headless which is bright green and shoots purple spit. Major
Headless?
The Phantasm has a mouth, which I'd never noticed in the game. Its presence adds
nothing to the monster's menace, I'm glad it's hard to see.
The Big Blue Meanie has a "flinch" sequence (well, frame) with one hand over its face
and a rather disconcerted expression. Has anyone ever seen this in the game? I don't
think there's anything that does enough damage in one blow to make him notice.
The gray Ooze, or Stalker, from the PiD demo 2.0, is nowhere to be found. Why did
they create a whole new monster for the demo?
There is a third style of "greek" column, like the type found in the Pyramid, that I don't
think I've ever seen (see collection 153, style 2, bitmap 0).
The bone scenery items are available in two colors, although the difference is so subtle
I doubt it's visible in the game at all.
There are 4 seperate copies of the purple crystal ladder sprites, differing only in their
backgrounds. My new theory on this (writing this stream-of-consciousness style) is that
each is meant for a level with a different unique color table, so the transparent color can
be moved around as needed to accomodate everything else on the level. This would
also explain why the monsters need differently colored backgrounds. There aren't any
unnecessary copies of the ladders for the levels in the Pit, since those all use the same
wall textures (and stop using ladders once you get to the Hole).
There are 7 dead Nazi images, shared among the 18 dead Germans. There are 5 dead
American images for the 7 dead team members. There are 3 dead Cuban images for
the 4 dead Cubans you find.
Without the fade to white, the climactic explosion doesn't look all that great :) There
also seems to be a bug (in the exporter?) where pure white is replaced with pure black,
giving the vapor clouds a rather strange appearance.
What's more interesting is comparing the demo items to the final game. Unfortunately
the demo shapes dump did not include the monster sprites.
The watch has been changed. It looks more analog now (the face is round, and
completely blank).
A number of slots contain what appears to be a "dummy" sprite, of a cardboard box.
These correspond to shapes not present in the demo but found in the full Shapes file;
possibly altered so that hackers would not discover the secrets of the full game from
the demo. Too bad this wasn't even noticed for over seven years...
Some of the replaced shapes are tiny splotches that I can only assume represent slots
that are not used but replaced with very tiny images to save space in lieu of deleting
them (One wonders why they weren't simply deleted... Maybe Pathways was made with
an Anvil pre-alpha? :P) Other, more recognizable shapes explicitly removed from the
demo are: The easter egg, the Red Cloak, the nuclear device, the two rings, the ruby,
the Alien Gemstone, the diamond necklace, the M-16 (but strangely not the Colt 45),
the AK-47 and its ammo, and the M-79 and its ammo. Curiously, a large number of
"spoiler" shapes were not removed from the demo (casting doubt on whether that was
the reason at all), including the glass vial, the gas mask, the gold ingot, and the radio
transmitter. Another thing to note is that all the cardboard boxes are *not* identical.
The mysterious backpack is present, in PID_C128_S0_B10.
The MP-41 is present, but for some reason it's completely white, as is its ammo, in the
shapes dump. Bug in the exporter?
All the crystals are present, except that the black crystal is not found in the same place
as in the normal game (it's in slot 58 instead of 57) and instead of the green crystal
image there is a hybrid yellow/blue crystal. Maybe it let you talk to frozen people? :)
