Author Topic: All the cut Volition-made content  (Read 3706 times)

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Offline Vidmaster

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All the cut Volition-made content
I was wondering if there is, SOMEWHERE, a big list of all the stuff that were part of Freespace 1 or 2 but were in fact cut or simply not used. I looked through the wiki and found nothing thus far. As with many long-standing communities, much of this information is probably to be found somewhere here in the forums but I am asking for a consolidated list. And if none exist, I do volunteer to write that wikipage IF we, together, can come up with all the things left out of the base campaigns by means of this thread.

What I am talking about:
- voice files present in the game but unused by any mission
- music that never played or animations that were not used
- freespace 1/2 demo content, which did not ship on the disc but via other means

What I am not talking about:
- cutscenes for which there are scripts in the bible but we never got anything
- suspected bonus material, such as the Super Shivan on the ST-disc

So, can the swarm intelligence of HLP help?
Devoted member of the Official Karajorma Fan Club (Founded and Led by Mobius).

Does crazy Software Engineering for a living, until he finally musters the courage to start building games for real. Might never happen.

 
Re: All the cut Volition-made content
Subspace missile strikes and the Tag-C missile spring to mind.

 

Offline Goober5000

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Re: All the cut Volition-made content
There were several voice-acted lines included in the FS2 demo that didn't make it into the demo missions.

Speaking of which, the FS1 demo was the first mission of the main FS1 campaign, except longer, with more enemy ships and more messages.

  

Offline General Battuta

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Re: All the cut Volition-made content
I thought the FS2 Demo would be a gold mine of voice lines we could steal for a remastered FS2 campaign, but nope, it uses a much ****tier voice cast :(

 

Offline Novachen

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Re: All the cut Volition-made content
Actually i remember, that you had visible electric lightnings that went across the HUD in the freespace 1 demo if your ship was damaged enough. I never saw this in the main game. (maybe software mode only?).
In Freespace 2 they more or less reused this effect for the Nebula lightnings instead.

Also the Darkness Rising release of The Great War aka MMX enhanced demo edition of the game had planet and nebula backgrounds like in Freespace 2. And complete different and exclusive ones to that used in FS2 afaik.
« Last Edit: November 13, 2017, 07:10:05 pm by Novachen »
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Offline jr2

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Re: All the cut Volition-made content
There was some odd DVD edition of FS2 that had engine trails, IIRC.

 

Offline Selectah

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Re: All the cut Volition-made content
Uh .. there was an odd DVD edition of Freespace 1 that had engine trails, this was indeed for the MMX version that also had planet backgrounds. Screenshots of the planets are available on the Volition site on the Wayback Machine. Also, the not-rendered cutscene depicted in the Freespace Bible is (as far as I know) the only cutscene that was planned, but not included. Rendering was costly and time consuming 20 years ago. The complete audio for it was recorded, but never used. A few lines from the newscaster in the cutscene can be found in the released FS1 demo. The FS1 demo was the second demo released - the first "demo" was merely scripted, non-interactive game play action - and does not contain code for HUD damage, I'm afraid. G5K is right; the first mission in the FS1 demo is greatly enhanced compared to retail. Also, the "bonus material" released on the GOTY edition is the only bonus material available. Interplay has nothing - all their archives from the 90s are long gone - and V no longer has anything, either.
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Offline Goober5000

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Re: All the cut Volition-made content
I believe at one point within the past couple years we heard back from Volition that they had a bunch of tapes with old unreleased content on them, but that they did not have any tape readers or systems capable of using them.

 

Offline jr2

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Re: All the cut Volition-made content
I believe at one point within the past couple years we heard back from Volition that they had a bunch of tapes with old unreleased content on them, but that they did not have any tape readers or systems capable of using them.

Correct.

 

Offline Vidmaster

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Re: All the cut Volition-made content
What a shame but not really unexpected I suppose.

I thought the FS2 Demo would be a gold mine of voice lines we could steal for a remastered FS2 campaign, but nope, it uses a much ****tier voice cast :(

Great minds to think alike ;-) but alas, it was not to be.


Do we have anything on missions or features? Karajorma wrote a post about the original Bearbaiting a while back and of course we have some unused voice files in some of the VPs but that is all I am aware of. Anyone with more input?
« Last Edit: November 15, 2017, 02:03:21 pm by Vidmaster »
Devoted member of the Official Karajorma Fan Club (Founded and Led by Mobius).

Does crazy Software Engineering for a living, until he finally musters the courage to start building games for real. Might never happen.

 

Offline mjn.mixael

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Re: All the cut Volition-made content
Almost 20 years since release and we're still hoping to find additional files and features... :)
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Offline Firesteel

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Re: All the cut Volition-made content
I mean we have to be thorough right? We could have missed something combing through the VPs and documentation we have the past bajillion times we've done it. I am super happy to see a lot of this old stuff being discussed again! (good thing for this preservation stuff I'm trying to convince the US federal government of :P)
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Offline jr2

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Re: All the cut Volition-made content
We should beg :v: to send us those tapes (I mean, they've stated they're not gonna do anything with them) and pay the postage for them.  Then scavenge an appropriate tape drive from eBay.  Might be 50% gone, but I'm sure we'll find some stuff worthwhile, if not, at least it would be a fun hunt.  I know I'd chip in.

 

Offline Firesteel

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Re: All the cut Volition-made content
Oh man that's tempting. Hey, if I get this NEH money I think we should definitely do it since the US government will have said what we do here is worth preserving. ;)
Current Projects:

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- Re-learning FRED

 
Re: All the cut Volition-made content
This probably may not count, but Aardwolf discovered some original FS1 textures here: http://www.descent2.com/games/freespace/pics/012898_ogr.html

Galemp started a thread about the original Lucifer textures you can see there (they were used in the cutscenes): http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=63981.msg1260534#msg1260534

In the first link, there're also textures for the Athena and Thoth available.

Almost 20 years since release and we're still hoping to find additional files and features... :)



It could probably be said that in terms of when development on the FS engine started, it's actually just over 20 years (I can remember someone on this forum saying that work began on the FS1 engine in September of 1997).

EDIT: Ah, but you said "since release". So yeah, you're right. :)
« Last Edit: November 16, 2017, 12:14:06 pm by lostllama »

 

Offline TopAce

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Re: All the cut Volition-made content
Silent Threat came with an unused music track. Track #10, forgot the name.
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Offline DefCynodont119

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Re: All the cut Volition-made content
Silent Threat came with an unused music track. Track #10, forgot the name.

Yeah, but that track has already been remixed, updated, and implemented with the FSPort MediaVPs years ago. . .  :p

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Offline Goober5000

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Re: All the cut Volition-made content
Silent Threat came with an unused music track. Track #10, forgot the name.

Darkside.  But it wasn't unused; it can be found in Silence All Voices, Hellfire, and Secrets Revealed.

 
Re: All the cut Volition-made content
Soundtrack 9 is never used in the main campaign iirc

 

Offline Goober5000

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Re: All the cut Volition-made content
Some have speculated that it was meant to be used in Good Luck.  That mission has no music track in the released version.