InkyBlackness news: v0.5.0 - Object editing

[665b0f9f57860dertseha]

° InkyBlackness
This is exciting - the content of levels can now be changed! Add and remove objects from levels, and modify (many) properties of the existing ones. You can finally start to add some life to the levels.

Here's the link to the release: https://github.com/inkyblackness/deck/releases/tag/v0.5.0
Updated release link: https://github.com/inkyblackness/deck/releases/tag/v0.5.1 (has various properties better represented)

I furthermore started to write down user documentation. Since intuitive usability has a low priority in my endeavours, I want to have at least some documentation written down. How else would you know that a right-click adds a new object to the level.
Link here: https://github.com/inkyblackness/shocked-client/wiki

Note that the more complex properties are not yet modifiable in a proper manner. Things like conditions (which are heavily used in various actions)  or puzzles require dedicated interfaces and handling. Apart from that, you could already create a nice action chain and wire up buttons with doors and the like

https://github.com/inkyblackness/deck/releases/tag/v0.5.1

[665b0f9f57a2afascinate4]

Hell yeah! Thanks, man!
[Screenshot_20.png expired]

[665b0f9f57b79JosiahJack]

Cortex reavers...everywhere!!!

[665b0f9f57ef1RocketMan]

You know what I want to see?  I want to see a hinge-able closet in cryo right next to where you wake up and if you are clever enough to find and open it, the smallest cortex reaver ever (at 1:20 scale) is on a shelf skittering around shooting at you.  Then you shut the door in a hurry and it's like nothing happened !

[665b0f9f5839cdertseha]

Cortex reavers...everywhere!!!

Ask - and you shall receive

I've made an incremental release (0.5.1, main post updated) since various object properties were not easily handled to do this.

You know what I want to see?

Ask - and you... will have to wait. The closet part should be doable, with a clever combination of textured bridges to resemble a shelf. The small Cortex Reaver is tricky though. I still haven't worked on the global object properties, so I'm not sure whether there's a "scaling" factor. Most likely not, so it would require re-texturing the critter as well.

[665b0f9f584beRocketMan]

The problem with scaling is, it sounds easy but is probably a lot harder to code than it would appear.  Since you've got your hands full, feel free to take on this challenge at your leisure while you finish the main project.  But one day, it would fill my tiny heart with joy to see a micro-reaver dancing on a shelf.

[665b0f9f58640Roarkes]

dertseha, is is more complicated to use the System Shock editor than System Shock 2 ? Can we build stations with your editor and if you plan to make a deathmatch or coop option ?

[665b0f9f58be1dertseha]

dertseha, is is more complicated to use the System Shock editor than System Shock 2 ? Can we build stations with your editor and if you plan to make a deathmatch or coop option ?

Hello Roarkes, thank you for your interest! (post became quite large - tl;dr at the bottom)

The primary goal of InkyBlackness is to document most meaningful resource data of the original game. Current side-products of this goal are some editing tools with which I mainly implement to verify my findings. A non-goal of the project is to do yet another attempt at an engine-rewrite. We have other current projects, such as Citadel, as well as the commercial production from OtherSide.

So, neither will InkyBlackness provide a network-capable engine, nor will it attempt to tamper with the existing executable to retrofit this. Yet, on the other side, a level editor could still support such an effort. The aforementioned Citadel project could be extended to have a network-mode - and since it is based on the original resource files from the original game, an editor could create files which are then imported to the network-capable Citadel. (Note: While this is speculation, it is technically feasible.)

As for the capabilities and usability of the (current) level editor: I don't know the editor of SS2 (nor any other editor - the last ones I dabbled with were for Doom and a brief adventure into the one for Descent -- all about 20+ years ago). So I can't compare. Though, as mentioned above and previously in this thread, currently I am not focusing on usability itself; I add an interface with the least amount of engineering, which is not unbearable from a user (my) perspective, just enough to verify my findings. *)
Most likely you would be able to create Citadel (the station - i.e., the game - not the project) from scratch once "finished", though right now it still lacks some features.

It is kind of a chicken-and-egg situation: As long as no one builds a (capable) editor, no one will create mods. As long on one wants to create mods, no one will create a capable editor.
*) Still, I am adding functions to the editor about features of the game I already know of. After all, I myself would love to see some viable mods for SS1 - which is one reason why I created this example mod, to showcase the current capabilities Yet at the moment, this has a lower priority. If there is serious demand to create mods, we could find a proper balance of "trying to get used to what the editor already provides", "figure out missing functionality from the data files", and "add editing capabilities to the editor".

tl;dr:
- coop/deathmatch is not applicable to InkyBlackness
- usability of editor/tools: can't compare, though current focus is not on usability
- capabilities: You may be able to re-create Citadel with the editor in the future, right now you can create only levels with low complexity.

[665b0f9f59116JosiahJack]

...The aforementioned Citadel project could be extended to have a network-mode - and since it is based on the original resource files from the original game, an editor could create files which are then imported to the network-capable Citadel. (Note: While this is speculation, it is technically feasible.)...

Citadel does not rely on or use the files from the original game.  I've extracted all resources and modified and converted them.  At present this includes only wall textures and all sound files.

Citadel is designed already with multiplayer support planned into the basic functions such as saving, loading, level changes, etc. BUT, multiplayer is currently only planned for a later release after SP is finished.  MP game modes planned for are coop, dm, and capture the chipset.

Problems with multiplayer: handling time slowing down with the reflex patch, handling double searching the same object, log and email sharing, etc.

Anyhow, this inky project is great!  Hmmm...now what....work on Citadel or make horde mod?

[665b0f9f594a4dertseha]

Citadel does not rely on or use the files from the original game.  I've extracted all resources and modified and converted them.  At present this includes only wall textures and all sound files.

argh - sorry, I seem to have mixed up the other currently active projects. Thank you for the correction!

[665b0f9f597adRocketMan]

capture the chipset.

 

[665b0f9f59a66icemann]

Considering that the main game lacks multiplayer, which means that it's not even coded/implemented at all, means that there is no way that dertseha could do it.

Until we get the source code, that's just not happening. And I have huge doubts that that will ever happen. Night Dive might say they have it, but until it's out there I'll be skeptical.

For now, just be happy that we have mods in SS1 now. To even have that is a MONUMENTAL achievement. I think at best we could see this editor someday reach the capacity to produce fully featured levels with custom audio logs, emails, goals etc etc.

Back when SS1 was released, very few games AT ALL had proper proper network multiplayer. Doom was the first big game to have it (if I remember right), and even that was a pain in ass to get properly working at the time.

[665b0f9f59bd6JosiahJack]

 

Seems object adding isn't consistent.  I added some MK3 clips for instance, but the don't show up in game.  Also, I can't add weapons.
Oh and the cortex reavers may have died with only one hit of the pipe...or I'm just that good.

[665b0f9f59cbaRocketMan]

...a slight bug I'm sure he's already working on

[665b0f9f5a0c2dertseha]

Seems object adding isn't consistent.  I added some MK3 clips for instance, but the don't show up in game.  Also, I can't add weapons.
Oh and the cortex reavers may have died with only one hit of the pipe...or I'm just that good.

As for adding items: Each level can support only up to a specific amount of objects per class. If I remember correctly, level 1 is already exhausted with weapons, so you'll have to remove others first. You can see the current usage with the "class usage" line right below the "new object class" selection.
This also may have happened with the ammo clips, though I believe these need to be placed a little higher than the floor height (need higher Z values by default). They could be ingame, just below the floor level, and in such cases the engine has some render difficulties.

Furthermore, at the moment any added object has just one hitpoint - So far I haven't wired up the standard object properties to the object creation, from which it would take the default hitpoints. You can change the hitpoints value in the "base properties" in the editor after adding for now.

Great you're having fun

[665b0f9f5a1d3Absolute Madman]

Great. I can now recreate UACMN in System Shock.

[665b0f9f5a2c2icemann]

Doom level?

[665b0f9f5a413JosiahJack]

This is great!!

 Feature requests:
• Copy cell
• Paste cell (walls,angles only)
• Paste cell and contents
• Toggleable height indication numbers for floor & ceiling (could do with comma ##,## in cell corner)
• Move feature for objects
• Toggleable limit stats on right of screen, e.g. Weapons 44/64, Critters 61/64...

Ahem...quietly walks back to Citadel...

[665b0f9f5a766dertseha]

Feature requests:

Thank you, these are some good pointers on what people would want.
They might be implemented when you come back from Citadel... I spent the last two evenings working on re-validating some new level object properties.

For one it astounds me time and again what the engine is actually capable of, and isn't fully utilized by the existing levels; And second, that there are rare special handler, doing crazy stuff.
For instance: Did you know that under special conditions on level 2 (and only there) some critters (mutants and invis mutants) are simply removed? I haven't followed the actual event chain for this to happen, still, I don't remember of actually realizing this in previous playthroughs nor do I remember a plot-point about this.

[665b0f9f5abc7JosiahJack]

Did you know that under special conditions on level 2 (and only there) some critters (mutants and invis mutants) are simply removed? I haven't followed the actual event chain for this to happen, still, I don't remember of actually realizing this in previous playthroughs nor do I remember a plot-point about this.

There's a switch that says robot production cancelled amd virus mutants pop out if self destruct is enabled, beyond that....well maybe your the best easter egg hunter ever!  Find out and let us know if you can.

By the way this is going to save so much time by not having to manually crawl through each level to see where objects are placed.

[665b0f9f5ad58icemann]

Were all of the level names hard coded? or set in the level editor that was used (at Origin). Me wonders.

In InkyBlackness for a level to work in SS1 proper, does it have to go with a preset level name, or can the user set the name themselves?

SS2 level making went a semi similar way, with the first level having to be Earth.mis (or was it station.mis I forget) then after that it could link off to whatever level name you wanted, but that first starting map had to be that.

[665b0f9f5b512dertseha]

well maybe your the best easter egg hunter ever!  Find out and let us know if you can.

There are several curious tidbits to be found. For instance, my personal favourite so far is one that I didn't crack, but was informed by user Gawain (SSImporter tool), so credit goes to them: I was baffled by one rare trigger action used only four times, on level 8. Turns out: At the final confrontation with Diego, he sends different taunts, based on which direction you are facing (North, East, ...)! After countless playtimes, I've never realized this.

By the way this is going to save so much time by not having to manually crawl through each level to see where objects are placed.

That's great - yet another ready use for the tools! Just tell me if you need any further data-probing tool or feature.

Were all of the level names hard coded? or set in the level editor that was used (at Origin). Me wonders.

The archive itself doesn't have a name for a level, it only has space for up to 16 levels, identified 0..15 (of which exactly three specific ones are cyberspace, as per apparent hardcoded limitation of the engine). The only caveat in existence is: A new game always starts in level with ID 1, placing the hacker at position X=30, Y=22, Z=(some value I don't remember). This also is hardcoded, so that's, indirectly, a similar limitation like calling the first mission "Earth" in SS2.
(Making that tile a solid tile is a bad idea, and one more way to see an engine crash )

Yet, since the archive files (the archive.dat, which is the template for a new game; and the savegame files) are the same, a possible elaborate mod could be distributed as savegame, where global game stats would be filled in by the creator, including the "starting" level and position of the hacker. And to start the mod one would simply load a savegame instead of starting a new game.

(Having written all of this, I wonder how the engine handles a one-time level-entry-trigger which immediately teleports the player to a different level...)

[665b0f9f5b613RocketMan]

Oh shit I forgot, isn't there an inaccessible area of cyberspace you could expose?  I always see it through the transparent walls but can never reach it.

[665b0f9f5b8d1dertseha]

Oh shit I forgot, isn't there an inaccessible area of cyberspace you could expose?  I always see it through the transparent walls but can never reach it.

Yes, you could expose that. Which area do you mean? Some cyberspaces are placed within the same level, so you would see the respective other area in the distance. If you mean those little pockets, which sometimes have a tiny plane model within them, those aren't anything special. Though I also haven't tried out what happens if you bump into those.