Dark Peragus Experiment

[VarsityPuppet]

I was playing through Peragus (for the nth time) testing out new force powers and various other tweaks, and I realized why so many of us hate Peragus.

 

NOTHING HAPPENS.

 

All that happens is you go around killing droids and listening to holo-records (if even) in a fairly uneventul module.

 

In my opinion, this is a shame. Peragus has potential to be a very exciting -- or, at least not a painful chore.

 

So, discussing this matter with my comrades in Team Hssiss, we've unanimously decided that Peragus is far too bright and cheery to be such a desolate and eerie place.

 

So, I set off to see if I could make it substantially darker. I of course didn't want to edit loads upon loads of lightmaps, so I took an easier route: ambient fog.

 

I haven't tweaked it so much, but here's how it looks currently:

 

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I think it looks good, but as it turns out, Peragus isn't as bright and cheery as I originally thought.

 

What do you all think?

[Darth Cryptic]

I like it. And yeah, now that you mention it, for a deserted mine, it is to cheery. Could probably do with a few more bodies laying around in the various corridors.

[Rtas Vadum]

Peragus does have a nice story to it, but the problem is just like you said: nothing happens. It has a certain semblance to Event Horizon, in that soon enough, you realize that you are in a space station(or rather in a spacial construct), somewhat alone, and surrounded by death, if not a fading chaos. Though what would fit a little better, is if you don't actually wake up after the fact. But rather you wake up during the, "final quarter", so to speak. Meaning that at certain points, you might open one door(such as the malfunctioning door at the start), and as you pass through that room, you hear a yell, followed by a scream and the sound of blaster shots. And then you enter that room to find two droids, and a body, maybe two or three.

 

So basically, you either hear or possibly see the death of the last few officers.

 

The fog is a good one, such as using the same one used in parts of the tunnels. But I wouldn't put it everywhere, mainly just near the corpses, around the admin console, the HK-50, etc.

[VarsityPuppet]

I like it. And yeah, now that you mention it, for a deserted mine, it is to cheery. Could probably do with a few more bodies laying around in the various corridors.

 

Actual miner bodies too.

 

I was thinking it might be good to have some non-killed miners around the place too...

 

unfortunately since no VOs exist for them, they'd have to be fighting droids and then consequently die before you can talk to 'em.

 

@ Rtas Vadum: yeah, i'd be nice to see some visible signs of real life.

 

And yes, the fog won't be EVERYwhere on Peragus, but unfortunately, it has to apply to the module as a whole... so it'll definitely be in some modules. perhaps not all though.

[Sith Holocron]

Some broken, flickering light fixtures would be nice . . .

[jonathan7]

unfortunately since no VOs exist for them, they'd have to be fighting droids and then consequently die before you can talk to 'em.

 

Or be Aliens You could then make up whatever dialogue you wanted.

[TriggerGod]

we'll be adding the fog to the modules which need them, which is all of them except for the mining tunnels.

 

And now for a status update. We've made the fog a little darker/denser. Just note, the fog is much darker in the screenshots. I was able to see further than what is shown in the screens.

 

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EDIT:

 

Some broken, flickering light fixtures would be nice . . .

Unfortunately, that isn't possible. I will be editing some of the textures so that the lights look broken, but we won't be able to add flashing lights. Magnus was asking about animated lightmaps, and we got him some data about that, but we haven't gotten a word about anything.

[Achilles]

I was playing through Peragus (for the nth time) testing out new force powers and various other tweaks, and I realized why so many of us hate Peragus.

 

NOTHING HAPPENS.

 

Hehe, except the part where you solve the mystery of why you woke up in a deserted mining facility where all the inhabitants had been murdered by a HK protocol droid.

 

I guess "nothing" is relative

 

Could probably do with a few more bodies laying around in the various corridors.

 

I counted 17 of them on the admin level alone. I just passed the part where I got cut off from the mining tunnels, but I vaguely recall seeing a bunch of them there too.

 

Perhaps your version doesn't include these though

[VarsityPuppet]

Hehe, except the part where you solve the mystery of why you woke up in a deserted mining facility where all the inhabitants had been murdered by a HK protocol droid.

 

I guess "nothing" is relative

 

Yeah, the first or second time around it's compelling. but after that, you know whodunnit, and in consecutive playthroughs, nothing building up to that is interesting at all.

 

The numerous corpses laying around are forgetful at best.. which is why one would probably miscalculate how many there actually are.

[Godric Volturi]

*coughs* I erm... I can't really tell a difference between Peragus on my computer and Peragus on the mod.

[Achilles]

Yeah, the first or second time around it's compelling. but after that, you know whodunnit, and in consecutive playthroughs, nothing building up to that is interesting at all.

 

Momentarily forgetting that this too is a subjective opinion, it's still far from "nothing".

 

With the exception of a few tidbits that you can only access by changing PC gender or alignment, the comment quoted above is applicable to not only the entire game, but every game ever made.

 

The numerous corpses laying around are forgetful at best.. which is why one would probably miscalculate how many there actually are.

 

Perhaps if they were wearing colorful hats...nevermind.

 

Yes, I agree that OEI should have made more of an effort to make the corpses more memorable.

 

PS: just completed the dormitory section. I counted 43 corpses there. Clearly we are in desperate need of more corpses in corridors, etc.

[jrrtoken]

If it's possible, is there a way to have the lightmaps configured in a way to allow flickering and dimmed lights?

 

Other than that, Peragus would definitely benefit from some more corpses, darker shadows, and "broken" props (Tipped over or malfunctioning consoles, plasteel cylinders, etc.)

[VarsityPuppet]

*coughs* I erm... I can't really tell a difference between Peragus on my computer and Peragus on the mod.

 

It's darker... much darker. It should be noticeable it Trigger God's post.

 

Other than that, nothing else has really been done.

[Lord of Hunger]

Suggestion, change the Peragus music with the Sion theme music. I always thought that the Peragus music was too...mellow.

[TriggerGod]

If it's possible, is there a way to have the lightmaps configured in a way to allow flickering and dimmed lights?

 

Unfortunately not. That would involve re-doing all of the lightmaps of Peragus, and that would involve a lot of textures, and it also doesn't help that we don't have the tools yet to make that happen.

 

Other than that, Peragus would definitely benefit from some more corpses,

 

...I counted 17 of them on the admin level alone. I just passed the part where I got cut off from the mining tunnels, but I vaguely recall seeing a bunch of them there too...

 

...PS: just completed the dormitory section. I counted 43...

 

60+ corpses isn't enough? :0

 

darker shadows,

 

Can't do much with the shadows, so just stick with the very dark 'fog' for now.

 

Oh, and since there is an ominous lack of light, science would say that you wouldn't have a shadow, and everything else would be darker.

 

and "broken" props (Tipped over or malfunctioning consoles, plasteel cylinders, etc.)

 

And custom modeled placeables/destroyed placeables. Something I haven't really dabbled in, but I haven't had a lot of good experiences with custom placeables.

[VarsityPuppet]

@ Trig

 

There are enough "broken" placeables in-game to use for this sort of thing. I'd say only model new ones if there's something that HAS to be done.

 

A custom smashed container doesn't HAVE to be modeled, but maybe a mutilated dead body would be worth modeling, for instance.

 

Or, we could just make like OE and reuse the severed arm placeable

 

 

@LOH We shall see what can be done with the music. Reusing Sion's might be a good idea.. but perhaps editing the Peragus music might be a better route to take.

 

I don't want to spend an enormous amount of time on this mod, as you know that I have others that I SHOULD be working on instead.

[Achilles]

60+ corpses isn't enough? :0

 

According to some.

[Godric Volturi]

It's darker... much darker. It should be noticeable it Trigger God's post.

 

Other than that, nothing else has really been done.

 

 

I thought you had posted the new screens in your first post. >.< I couldn't tell anything different about that.

[Darth Cryptic]

Ok, hey, it was just an idea. When i suggested more corpses, I was thinking that there where a few areas that where devoid of bodies for no apparent reason; that section going from where T3 is stored to the hanger comes to mind off the top of my head. The mines could use a few more too. Maybe one in the decontamination chamber.

[Achilles]

Ok, hey, it was just an idea. When i suggested more corpses, I was thinking that there where a few areas that where devoid of bodies for no apparent reason; that section going from where T3 is stored to the hanger comes to mind off the top of my head. The mines could use a few more too. Maybe one in the decontamination chamber.

 

It's stated several times via dialog that HK-50 purposely arranged to have those areas evacuated so that the miners would be easier to kill all at once. We could certainly add corpses to those areas, but then the environment would contradict the story. *shrugs*

 

@topic: a fiend (of the Dev-ish sort) suggests that one might opt to make the current corpses invisible placeables, then use scripts to spawn miners (wearing miner uniforms) where those placeables were and kill them via the on-enter script. Instant hi-res dead miners.

[VarsityPuppet]

@topic: a fiend (of the Dev-ish sort) suggests that one might opt to make the current corpses invisible placeables, then use scripts to spawn miners (wearing miner uniforms) where those placeables were and kill them via the on-enter script. Instant hi-res dead miners.

 

That was the idea. They are alive momentarily however... with the fog though, maybe one would never notice.

[TriggerGod]

@topic: a fiend (of the Dev-ish sort) suggests that one might opt to make the current corpses invisible placeables, then use scripts to spawn miners (wearing miner uniforms) where those placeables were and kill them via the on-enter script. Instant hi-res dead miners.

 

Me and VP were discussing that earlier today. We decided that we were going to be doing that anyways, so that it doesn't look like the mining droids didn't got a sudden thirst for human flesh.

 

ninja'd. >.>

[Q]

This looks good. Peragus was always way too bright to be creepy. I was imagining a completely different effect when the word "fog" was mentioned; one that wouldn't have looked nearly as good. After viewing the screenshots, however, it's readily apparent that this is going to work without having to go to the trouble of editing all of the lightmaps. Using ambient fog in this way is a brilliant workaround.

 

Other comments:

1) No more bodies are needed, but changing them to a less "rotten" appearance (I mean, just how long was the Exile in that kolto tank? 6 months? ) would make a lot of sense. This should be done on the Harbinger as well.

EDIT: Looks like this one has already been covered.

 

2) In adherence to the dialog and to the mood itself, I really don't think that there should be anyone other than the Exile, Kreia and Atton left alive in the facility. That should help simplify the mod as well.

 

3) Keep Ulic's Peragus/Harbinger corrections mod in mind.

 

I think that you're off to a great start, here.

[VarsityPuppet]

Using ambient fog in this way is a brilliant workaround.

 

Heh... it does look a little strange though when you actually play the game with the fog

 

Other comments:

1) No more bodies are needed, but changing them to a less "rotten" appearance (I mean, just how long was the Exile in that kolto tank? 6 months? ) would make a lot of sense. This should be done on the Harbinger as well.

 

I think the bodies on the Harbinger are Republic Soldiers.

I remember this because I was going to go fix this once upon a time... but to my surprise they were already Republic Soldiers. Idk, it was weird, or it was a dream.

 

2) In adherence to the dialog and to the mood itself, I really don't think that there should be anyone other than the Exile, Kreia and Atton left alive in the facility. That should help simplify the mod as well.

 

Yeah probably not.. though I'll consider anything to liven up Peragus a bit.

 

3) Keep Ulic's Peragus/Harbinger corrections mod in mind.

 

I'd be foolish not to

[Q]

I think the bodies on the Harbinger are Republic Soldiers.

I remember this because I was going to go fix this once upon a time... but to my surprise they were already Republic Soldiers. Idk, it was weird, or it was a dream.

I just checked, and you're correct about the Harbinger in-game. The rotten corpses are in the movie that shows Sion meditating on the bridge. That's where I saw them.