Hard Light Productions Forums
General FreeSpace => FreeSpace Discussion => Topic started by: Vidmaster on November 12, 2017, 03:04:57 pm
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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?
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Subspace missile strikes and the Tag-C missile spring to mind.
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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.
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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 :(
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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.
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There was some odd DVD edition of FS2 that had engine trails, IIRC.
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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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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.
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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.
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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?
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Almost 20 years since release and we're still hoping to find additional files and features... :)
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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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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.
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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. ;)
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This probably may not count, but Aardwolf discovered some original FS1 textures here: http://www.descent2.com/games/freespace/pics/012898_ogr.html (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 (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. :)
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Silent Threat came with an unused music track. Track #10, forgot the name.
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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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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.
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Soundtrack 9 is never used in the main campaign iirc
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Some have speculated that it was meant to be used in Good Luck. That mission has no music track in the released version.
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If 9 is the one I'm thinking of, I only remember it from it being used in the final mission of Destiny of Peace. It's a shame it wasn't used somewhere in the main campaign. Though I'm not sure Good Luck would have been improved with it; just having the bare subspace ambiance lends a very creepy atmosphere.
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So, to come to a close, we pretty much have all the stuff we know about already, bar some mysterious tapes.
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Of unused voice files i can only tell about the unused, but voiced, debriefing stages in the Great War missions "Clash of the Titans" and "The Great Hunt" and "Tightening the Noose" of Operation Templar (well, that is technically FS2).
But these are only very obvious ones, because these debriefing stages are still in the missions. But no one mentioned them so far :).