Savage Land Demo Released

[mister_prophet]

Hey everyone! Team Red Nemesis has recently released a demo of a project in development for UT Oldskool players and SP fans using Unreal and Unreal Gold 227i.

This is a short Demo of the first two levels of the campaign and features two new weapons and modifications to some old ones. The Red Nemesis public forums have been reopened for official discussion but I'll help with any questions here if anyone has problems with the demo. Links are as follows:


Mediafire: https://www.mediafire.com/file/bebbvxaa ... o.zip/file

The Moddb page has another mirror as well as other info: https://www.moddb.com/mods/savage-land

[OjitroC]

Looks good - ran fine in 469b with oldskool in the part of the first level (around half of it) that I have played so far.

[mister_prophet]

So far I'm hearing that 469 players are in the clear for the most part when it comes to playing the demo. Just the same, if you experience any weirdness let me know! That would be helpful! I want to make sure everyone can enjoy the demo from the comfort of their own preferences.

[OjitroC]

To be honest, I'm a bit lost here - probably just me.

In UT 469b with oldskool, I start off with the list of campaigns, click on Savage Land and that starts and runs fine. Decide at a certain point to save and exit - look in the log and see I've been playing SL-Demo-M1NGPlus.unr.

Apart from the M2NGPlus map, in my SP map folder I have SLentry2, SavageLand-Demo-Map1 and SavageLand-Demo-Map2.

Curious about these, I start the SLentry2 map but this appears to start at the end as there is an on-screen message saying something like "You've completed the SL demo - go home".

I start SavageLand-Demo-Map1 from the console and this appears to be the same as SL-Demo-M1NGPlus - I must admit I've not gone any further than the start to see if it is different.

So can you clarify what these maps are? Sorry if I'm being dense - I've read the readme several times, seen a reference to an encore but am not sure what this is.

[mister_prophet]

When you load a new game from Oldskool and select Savage Land, the first map is SavageLand-Demo-Map1. You'll know it has loaded correctly because when beginning the first level, normally, you begin wounded with no guns and have to explore the ship very similarly to the beginning of Unreal. The ingame level title for the New Game Plus levels will say so, as well as the first room being very obviously setup with inventory for returning players (you will even see enemies much earlier too).

Did your game begin differently when you loaded it on 469? Are you overwriting your savegames or making new ones?

To help explain the order of .unr names as they are supposed to go, it is SavageLand-Demo-Map1, SavageLand-Demo-Map2, SLentry2, SL-Demo-M1NGplus, SL-Demo-M2NGPlus.

[OjitroC]

When you load a new game from Oldskool and select Savage Land, the first map is SavageLand-Demo-Map1. You'll know it has loaded correctly because when beginning the first level, normally, you begin wounded with no guns and have to explore the ship very similarly to the beginning of Unreal. The ingame level title for the New Game Plus levels will say so, as well as the first room being very obviously setup with inventory for returning players (you will even see enemies much earlier too).

Did your game begin differently when you loaded it on 469? Are you overwriting your savegames or making new ones?

To help explain the order of .unr names as they are supposed to go, it is SavageLand-Demo-Map1, SavageLand-Demo-Map2, SLentry2, SL-Demo-M1NGplus, SL-Demo-M2NGPlus.

Thanks for that, it's very helpful - I think I'm confusing myself (and you probably) - but it looks like everything is OK.

I've just started a new game in OldSkool, selected Savage Land, started the map and exited - looking in the log the map is, indeed, SavageLand-Demo-Map1. So that's as it should be.

I loaded my saved map from a previous play of the first Savage Land map but can't tell from the log which map is it as, of course, the map name is Save62.

So I've no idea what happened before - perhaps my oldskool installation is not working properly sometimes or has not been working properly (I've now set up a dedicated SP UnrealTournament.ini with map paths limited to the entry maps, SP maps folder and Save folder and this seems to be better).

In relation to saving, sometimes I do a save from the menu (SaveGame and save in a slot in the window that comes up), other times I do a quick save (via the console or a keybind).

[mister_prophet]

I know that Oldskool and save slots always had random issues in the past. I would not be surprised if there is some new weirdness with the mutator and 469 going on too. Nevertheless I am glad you have been able to play normally at least. Thanks for the heads up just the same, it is worthwhile to take note of.

[OjitroC]

I know that Oldskool and save slots always had random issues in the past. I would not be surprised if there is some new weirdness with the mutator and 469 going on too. Nevertheless I am glad you have been able to play normally at least. Thanks for the heads up just the same, it is worthwhile to take note of.

I seem to have two Save 'locations' - one off the main path UT/Save and the other UT/Maps/Save - I have no idea why - might have been something I did in the past. Anyway removing the UT/Maps/Save path from the SP UT/ini seems to have worked and Oldskool seems to work better.

A quick note from the Log on the first Demo Level - there's either a BSP hole somewhere or this is placed in the void as the UT log says "Log: FemaleTorso2 fell out of the world!".

I play through new campaigns on Easy just to get the hang of the levels, find out where to go (which can sometimes be a problem) and get an idea of what to expect. Perhaps it would be appropriate to consider whether the number of opponents at more or less the same time in the 'dining room' in the first map is a little much for this difficulty level. Again, facing a Titan with 1800 health and then six krall, two brutes and 2 skaarj warriors, again at more or less the same time, near the start of the second level is also, possibly, a little too much for the Easy difficulty level?

----------------- Footnote --------------------------
Interested in what you say in the readme
"-Savage Krall is unfinished and won't work right." Seems to work OK when summoned into maps - certainly attacks the player - haven't noticed anything odd about its behaviour - so wondered what it was that doesn't work right?
"-Krall Captain DOES work." It does, though its attitudetoPlayer is set to Ignore so, when summoned into maps, it will only attack when attacked by the player. There is something a little odd about the collision cylinder, perhaps it is set a little too low as I can fire through the top of its head without causing damage.

[mister_prophet]

I play through new campaigns on Easy just to get the hang of the levels, find out where to go (which can sometimes be a problem) and get an idea of what to expect. Perhaps it would be appropriate to consider whether the number of opponents at more or less the same time in the 'dining room' in the first map is a little much for this difficulty level. Again, facing a Titan with 1800 health and then six krall, two brutes and 2 skaarj warriors, again at more or less the same time, near the start of the second level is also, possibly, a little too much for the Easy difficulty level?

There's a lot to help on easy that should make some of the fights that seem hard not so much. The automag secondary, for instance, does wonders on Skaarj. On some easier difficulties, Brutes get downgraded a subclass...but I do think the two fights you mentioned are largely the same for now. A big help in the map 2 cargo hold battle is if the player has found an amplifier or the Driftwood Crossbow by this point. The Crossbow in particular is devastating if you nab a headshot on the bigger, slower enemies. Players on Easy also have early access to the Light Bringer in map 1 so you also have a strong weapon to bring along.

----------------- Footnote --------------------------
Interested in what you say in the readme
"-Savage Krall is unfinished and won't work right." Seems to work OK when summoned into maps - certainly attacks the player - haven't noticed anything odd about its behaviour - so wondered what it was that doesn't work right?
"-Krall Captain DOES work." It does, though its attitudetoPlayer is set to Ignore so, when summoned into maps, it will only attack when attacked by the player. There is something a little odd about the collision cylinder, perhaps it is set a little too low as I can fire through the top of its head without causing damage.

It is possible I mixed these two up in the readme.

[ExpEM]

Played through, thoroughly impressed! As to be expected by Red Nemesis!
Had one problem though, NiboExitLiftOn didn't fire so I had to ghost out... Couldn't figure out what was supposed to call the Event to help debug.
I was playing SinglePlayer on Unreal 227i, no mutators.

[mister_prophet]

Aha yeah I may have to combine some more events there. What you are supposed to do after the brawl down there is 1) examine Kantrell's body and 2) break the emergency button to reactivate the switches. You are not the first person to skip the emergency switch there and look about confused. I think that is more an error on my part since there is no ingame message that connects those two things as of yet.

[ExpEM]

Aha yeah I may have to combine some more events there. What you are supposed to do after the brawl down there is 1) examine Kantrell's body and 2) break the emergency button to reactivate the switches. You are not the first person to skip the emergency switch there and look about confused. I think that is more an error on my part since there is no ingame message that connects those two things as of yet.

When I went through the first time I did shoot at the emergency switch (with all weapons as I was fairly certain that's what I was supposed to do) but it didn't break. Having tested it this morning, it appears to only register being shot if you aim at the very bottom of the glass. I can see in the editor that that Trigger49 is well positioned, it just doesn't seem to register.

[OjitroC]

Didn't realise the Automag had a secondary rapid fire so that helps a lot.

One thing I don't quite get in the first Demo level - having cleared what I call the 'dining room' or canteen of the skaarj warriors, brute and skaarj trooper, gone upstairs and picked up the 'lockdown lifted' card, and pushed the lever which releases all the security hatches, etc - go back downstairs and head out of the canteen, immediately opposite the door a hatch to the ducts has opened. Go along the duct and one comes back into the 'dining room'/canteen - is that right? Is it supposed to be like that?

[mister_prophet]

Didn't realise the Automag had a secondary rapid fire so that helps a lot.

One thing I don't quite get in the first Demo level - having cleared what I call the 'dining room' or canteen of the skaarj warriors, brute and skaarj trooper, gone upstairs and picked up the 'lockdown lifted' card, and pushed the lever which releases all the security hatches, etc - go back downstairs and head out of the canteen, immediately opposite the door a hatch to the ducts has opened. Go along the duct and one comes back into the 'dining room'/canteen - is that right? Is it supposed to be like that?

It opens during the battle. More of a alternate way into the room for COOP players who get locked out, but there's extra ammo in their for single players. Very helpful for the return trip if you detour to Davenport's cabin, as automag ammo could be low at that point.

When I went through the first time I did shoot at the emergency switch (with all weapons as I was fairly certain that's what I was supposed to do) but it didn't break. Having tested it this morning, it appears to only register being shot if you aim at the very bottom of the glass. I can see in the editor that that Trigger49 is well positioned, it just doesn't seem to register.

I'll take a look at it, could be the damage threshold. A DP shot oughta be enough.

[OjitroC]

What's the Cabin Bypass Key near the end of the first Demo level for?

How do you get the Driftwood Crossbow as the door to the room it is in is always locked, even right towards the end?

The Light Bringer's primary fire is very accurate in long distance shots (basically shots go where the red dot/crosshair is) but at short range it is not so accurate, with shots going well to the lower right of the red dot/crosshair. Also for some reason the primary fire is remarkably ineffective against pupae as short range, perhaps because they seem to get under carcasses and so the shots don't hit them.