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XmirroR
Village Leader
Joined: 25 May 2002
Posts: 89
Location: South CA USA |
| Ultima Underworld 1 and The Morrowind TES:CS |
|
Yes, Yes... I know.
Several Teams have tried and ( as far as I know ) failed,
to bring Ultima Underworld back to life via many different engines.
The ports of the ORIGINAL game are still coming along nicely.
And the one for the PDA is very very nice.
But is there anyone around this forum willing to help,
a NEW attempt at UW via the Morrowind Engine/Construction Set?
There are some fairly obvious engine issues...
But I have already PERSONALLY addressed some of them.
The "Morrowind" Magic System is NUTHIN like Ultima...
--- I have written and tested, and have a demo of,
--- A similar RUNE Magic system which is fully functional...
--- Not perfect, I didn't say perfect, but it's close...
--- A lot closer than I thought possible...
The dialogue system is very different...
--- Using the "CHOICE" function of the base dialogue engine,
--- The UW dialogue system can easily be implemented,
--- I assited Mr.ChadCottle on his attempt to rebuild UW,
--- and I was able to extract all text from the original game for him,
--- So the majority of the dialogue is copy/paste.
The inventory system in Morrowind leaves a lot to be desired...
--- Inventory SubContainers are a pain in the a$$, for implementation in
--- Morrowind proper. But they are possible with a few minor issues,
--- ( each resovable in its own way ). The RUNE Magic System Demo,
--- Implements a RUNE Bag just fine...
The experience / leveling system is NOT even remotely similar...
--- Ok, but you can TURN IT OFF, and use GLOABL variables and scripts,
--- to track experience anyway you want.
--- The code exists already within the game, it is how factions "promote" you.
Morrowind allows for NO typed input, UW requires it...
--- Not exactly true, Morrowind proper allows for typed input ONCE,
--- During character generation, you type the PCNAME variable...
--- If we forgo a Charcater Name in our MOD, we can use that variable,
--- for our own purposes as much as we want... After all, the PC in UW
--- very often is simply refered to as Avatar...
--- Scripts can then use the variable PCNAME
--- as STDIN for Ahnks and LizardMen Language inputs.
The barter system of UW is very different from Morrowind's Merchant system...
--- True, and this solution would be up for debate... But I think we can
--- make it work. Nearly everyone would be a merchant, and almost no one
--- has anything worthwhile ( at least that's how I remember it ). No one would
--- have random items, and the restock variable would be set ridiculously high.
One other ( two really ) significant issue, is the floor... UW sets a standard
level higheth by making the ceiling flat and the floor a distance and slope
from the ceiling. I think ( seriously think ) it could be done, by making the
cells exterior cells, using the landscaping portion of the editor to make the
floors uneven... Otherwise, there are a number of wall-like meshes/models
that are indeed utterly flat and free of 3D detail. Laying them horizontally,
rather than vertically will create a floor ( tested ), they certainly need to be
retextured. The floor has one other special property in UW... It can be water...
And like the floor it is sloped... Morrowind doesn't come close to allowing for
this. But it does allow the water level to be raised and lowered in interior cells...
Careful scripting could allow for water to rise as the PC swam uphill ( minimal
testing completed ). But better yet, a 3D modeler could make a non-collision
mesh, to create the illusion of water, and a sub-floor would support the PC
and trigger drowning damage based on the "StandingOnMe" functions built
into the Morrowind engine.
Seriously, I have done my homework on this...
It might never be the perfect remake, but I have some suspicion it
would still be very fun to play. We can easily update the old textures,
and put them on the current models/meshes. There would still be some
art and models missing, but if we just used our heads to find some
creative solutions to the basic problems, we'd be able to make a fun
TotalConversion MOD... By the time we were able to release a playable
first and second level I am certain some 3D artist would be willing to help.
Last but not least, the legality... If we ever managed to finish the project,
It would be simple enuf to encrypt the ESP ( mod file ) and script an installer
to check for an installation of UW and checking the CRC32 of the UW.exe...
Before it could be extracted to the DATA FILES for Morrowind. It would
likely be redistributed by someone else, without the checks... But it should
cover our legal hind quarters.
Please, Please post if you are willing to consider helping...
and of course if you are interesed in playing it...
_________________
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-= XmirroR =-
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Fri Feb 06, 2004 5:24 am |
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