JK2 JK2 The Lost Mission

[eezstreet]

Several years ago, I noticed a bit of a discrepancy in JK2's dms.dat (located in ext_data). As it turns out, there was mention of several missions which did not make it to the final game, including "prototype", "cairn_dock2", and "cairn_stockpile". I poked around Raven, and prototype was an early test which consisted of a single room obstacle course of sorts, not much to display, but it had some unused dialogue. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to mess around with it, and I've only seen a few pictures of it. cairn_dock2 was actually a result of moving the game to consoles. Due to restraints on the Xbox and Gamecube consoles, Raven had to split cairn_dock1 in half for the console versions, which explains the nomenclature of the cairn_dock missions. And lastly, we're brought to cairn_stockpile.

 

cairn_stockpile is an interesting case. Originally it would have taken place between cairn_assembly and cairn_reactor. There's still references to it in some early concepts and level design documents. Also, it would have been the first place where the player encounters the DEMP2 (or rocket launcher, I forget which), as opposed to cairn_assembly. As I understand it, the original JK2 team decided that the Cairn missions were dragging on too long (they would have spanned !5! levels, and 6 on consoles, easily twice as long as Bespin). Due to this, the cairn_stockpile mission was cut late in development.

 

But....

 

That doesn't mean that the mission was entirely scrapped. I received an email a few years ago from Raven with the source of the Cairn missions, including Stockpile. I've presented these to @@MoonDog, and we discussed possible opportunities and avenues to take with the map. It wasn't fully complete; it didn't have an exit point and it was unplayable due to some things missing. There are two particularly interesting aspects about this map:

 

The Crane

 

 

No boxes or the crane are shown, but this is where it would take place.

 

 

In this part of the mission, it seems that Kyle would be controlling a large crane as part of a puzzle. Perhaps in this big room, the player would need to move boxes around using the crane in order to progress and access some secret areas. Very cool stuff.

 

The Pit

 

 

 

 

There's also a pit in this mission, similar to the one in cairn_dock1. Based on the level design documents of cairn_dock1, the pit there was actually never meant to exist, and was added in at the last minute due to cairn_stockpile being cut. And, in the level documents for cairn_stockpile, there were originally going to be two pits, the one pictured, and another one which was identical to the one in cairn_dock1. However, the second pit appears to be missing, and it's currently unknown how the player moves from Stockpile to Reactor. This map is a bit bugged; once you jump onto the second tier of platforms, the game switches to Reactor.

There are some acute differences with this pit and the one in Dock: note that you're the one coming up, not the shadowtrooper. Also, the platforms are much higher and there are two shadowtroopers on the higher platforms.

 

Screenshots

 

 

 

 

 

Cairn Mission Changes

The following changes will be made to the Cairn missions:

• Cairn Bay: Air ducts added to beginning segment in order to promote stealth.
• Cairn Bay: Imperials in control areas near elevator shafts removed. Most of the stormtroopers in this area will be converted to roaming patrols. Alerting the patrols leads to more stormtroopers entering the room.
• Cairn Bay: Repeater-bearing stormtroopers on the second floor of the large bay area relocate to different rooms upon the forcefield being opened.
• Cairn Bay: Added alarm control to control area on second floor of large bay area. Imperials who trip this alarm will cause flechette-wielding stormtroopers in nearby rooms to flood the control area.
• Cairn Bay: Bays are somewhat randomized.
• Cairn Bay: Added more cameras in general.
• Cairn Assembly: Reactor entrance removed. Door near the entrance to Reactor will be functional but require a Security Key to open. The door leads to a lift, which is the entrance to Stockpile.
• Cairn Assembly: Added new secret area.
• Cairn Reactor: Added a reborn acrobat spawn.
• Cairn Dock: Shadowtrooper labs removed, dialogue and level pieces will be moved to Stockpile.
• Cairn Dock: Light switch works longer.

[eezstreet]

So here's a room that I've spent a few days working on:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm no mapper...could someone give critique?

[Tempust85]

I'm by far an expert, but it looks to have the feel of a JK2 map.

[IrocJeff]

So here's a room that I've spent a few days working on:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm no mapper...could someone give critique?

 

Sorry for not posting earlier, but, I don't really browse these Mod Project forums much..

 

It looks Imperial and feels like the game which is great. One thing I did to break up the solidness of the floors in my Imperial-ish areas was to sink the floor a bit. It made a pretty big difference for me and it may help with break up the floor a bit in that room. Here's a shot of it done in a hallway. I just cut up my floor and lowered it 2 grid units. Then, used a different texture in the lower part.

 

 

 

 

Do you have any other shots of this level your working on?

[eezstreet]

I still need a mapper to help me finish this, otherwise it's going to take forever to get done.

[Archangel35757]

@@Jedi_Mediator - please help!

[Jedi_Mediator]

Thanks for the request! I'll take a look at it and see if I can help.

[eezstreet]

Thanks for the request! I'll take a look at it and see if I can help.

Any news? It's been a few days.

[Teancum]

Is the .map available somewhere?

[eezstreet]

Is the .map available somewhere?

I'm not certain if I have permission to make it (the .map) publicly available. If someone is interested in working on it they are welcome to PM me.

[Jedi_Mediator]

Sorry about the delay! I took a look at the map and saw some rooms/hallways on the edges that looked like dead ends. Are these the areas that you want finished? And in our Skype conversation, you mentioned "scripts" and "level flow" that need to be completed--could you be a bit more specific about this? I have very limited experience working with single player maps...my focus has always been on multiplayer.

[eezstreet]

Sorry about the delay! I took a look at the map and saw some rooms/hallways on the edges that looked like dead ends. Are these the areas that you want finished? And in our Skype conversation, you mentioned "scripts" and "level flow" that need to be completed--could you be a bit more specific about this? I have very limited experience working with single player maps...my focus has always been on multiplayer.

Well, truth be told, I'm not exactly sure how one is supposed to complete the level. I know that the pit on the upper level of the map is supposed to be the final area (because there's a target_level_change linked to a trigger on the top of the pad).

In the huge room, there is supposed to be a crane puzzle here where you can move things around and get the lift raised. I'm not too sure about how that works.

And with the scripts, I mean stuff like getting the NPCs spawned and having everything work.

[Jedi_Mediator]

Playing through the level (or trying to), I found that it was kind of difficult to figure out what the level flow is supposed to be. I got a security key from a guard to continue to the second room, but after that, it seemed I was supposed to travel through some air vents near the ceiling to get behind locked doors...and there was no apparent way to get to the air vents.

 

It would help if there were some notes from the developers as to what was actually supposed to happen throughout the course of the level. Was that what you sent me in our Skype conversation? I tried to open a file called "Design Notes" or something, but it encountered an error. Maybe if you PM me the file instead?

 

I should say right now that I don't think I can completely finish the map on my own. There are issues with certain things (NPC routing, areaportals, missing scripts, etc.) that I don't have experience with, partly because I'm not an SP mapper. What I can do, at the very least, is flesh out the level's visuals in places that seem unfinished--the exit, for instance, and the air vents--and maybe fix/add some entities or simple scripts to make certain things work--such as elevators or doors.

 

For anything that's left after that, we may need to find someone else to help.

[eezstreet]

I couldn't actually find any design or any information on level flow. There are -some- design notes from Smartdraw files but they aren't talking about the flow. It seems like you've got Moondog's modified version of the map.

I can tackle the NPC routing no problem because that's something that I have experience with.

 

Here's how the routing of the level is supposed to work at the beginning, from what I remember.

 

 

At the beginning, the elevator breaks down. There are two vents: one leads to a small cache of items and the other leads to a fan switch, which can be turned off. Proceed down the (now disabled) fan. Continue down the shaft and jump up at the end to get into the next room. You will need a security key in this area to open up a door.

 

In the area, there will be a vent which can only be reached by jumping up. It's not very visible in the level, it needs to be more visible and easy to access.

<begin incomplete section>

There is a deep chasm with walkways on either side. You'll want to traverse this to reach the Stockpile.

In the stockpile, there are many crates, including ones directly blocking the back door (which leads to AT-ST storage). The doors on the top on either side of the raising bridge are locked. On the top of this area there is a large crane which can lift and move crates around. There's a big locked door immediately to the left of the back door. There's also some grey doors on the first floor. You can't reach the bridge by jumping.

Enter through the grey doors. They should take you up top.

Now on this part there will need to be some modifications. There's a switch that opens the top grey doors and raises the green bridge. But only for a small amount of time. You need to use force speed to reach the other side of the doors. Now that you're on the other side, there is a breakable section of the floor, break it and you can jump down to access a corridor which leads to a lift. This leads to the Shadowtrooper labs (on the third floor?) and the crane controls (on the second floor?) Move to the crane controls first. You'll now need to move the crates from the front of the back door using the crane. With the crates removed, backtrack to the door, and pilot an AT-ST. You'll move through the back door and blast open the door using the AT-ST. Move through here and you'll proceed to another large stockpile room full of stormtroopers and Mark 1 droids. This area is not actually modeled out yet. They're pretty easy to take out with the AT-ST. There's another control room that you need to reach from here, by jumping on top of the AT-ST and then jumping to a platform. Inside the control room there is a switch that you need to flip to open the doors at the shadowtrooper labs that lead to the pit at the end of the level.

Once you've defeated the shadowtrooper, jump up to the top of the pad, and then onto some pipes, where one of them has been split open. Jump into the pipes and crawl through for a bit. Partway through, the pipes will lead out into one of those 4-way junctions. You'll have to crawl out of the pipes and land on one of the walkways below. From here, it's basically a maze to the exit to cairn_reactor.

 

 

 

There's some unused (but very cool) prefabs in cairn_bay2 that you can use for the exit maze.

[DrXann]

Did these cut levels during the Carin Asteroid Base missions have any voice overs or objectives aside from finding and boarding the Doomgiver

[eezstreet]

Did these cut levels during the Carin Asteroid Base missions have any voice overs or objectives aside from finding and boarding the Doomgiver

Nope. The objectives are the same as the ones in the other Cairn missions.

 

As for any extra voice overs, here's the full list of spoken lines by Kyle that were cut from the game, not counting alternates for pain/death/falling/jump/etc:

 

 

 

kyle

01kyk006: Jan!

01kyk007: Look out!

01kyk008: Over there!

01kyk009: Behind you!

01kyk015: Great!

01kyk016: Fine.

01kyk017: I'm okay.

01kyk019: Hang on, Jan!

01kyk023: Each of these terminals are securely locked.

01kyk027: Not yet!

01kyk028: I'm working on it...

01kyk029a: Prep the ship for takeoff.

01kyk030: Okay, now let's see what's so important...

02kyk001: Looks like there's another level here, Jan. I'm going to check it out.

02kyk002: No, stay with the ship. I'll call you if I run into any trouble.

02kyk003: Hey...it's me!

02kyk009: I'll have to find another way to open this.

02kyk012: This should be interesting.

02kyk014: Maybe if I can shut off the power to that thing...

02kyk018: Jan, I've found a way out. I'll meet you up top.

03kyk010: What's this? It looks like the Remnant have used a slave labor camp...

03kyk011: And they're using the colonists.

03kyk012a: Mon Monthma was right, Jan. Remnant troops are crawling all over this place.

03kyk016: Isn't it a little crazy to be doing this during one of Artus' crazy meteor storms?

03kyk018: Thanks for the reminder.

03kyk020: What was that?

04kyk003: All right, move.

04kyk004: Get going.

04kyk005: Let's move.

05kyk001: I'm all done, Jan. Come and get me.

05kyk002: I'm all done here, Jan. How about a lift?

05kyk010: No!

05kyk011: Desann!

05kyk016: That's the plan.

05kyk020: Find Desann. But not before I meet a man about a weapon.

05kyk021: Find Desann. But not before I get my hands on a weapon.

05kyk022: Find Desann. But I'll need a weapon.

05kyk023: Find Desann. But I'll need more than this...

05kyk026: I'm on it. My blasters are too weak against an AT-ST, I'll need something stronger.

06kyk012: Yeah...well...just give me a lightsaber and I'll be out of your way.

06kyk013: My old saber served its purpose but it had a ...taint of evil. I'm glad you talked me into making a new one. This one will serve its purpose well.

06kyk026: Um...thanks. I think I can find my way.

07kyk001: How am I supposed to complete this trial if I can't even find it?

09kyk012: Never trust a bartender.

09kyk017: Hi.

09kyk024: I must not be doing this right.

09kyk027: There must be an override to change the route.

10kyk021: I can't leave without Lando.

10kyk024: Desann.

10kyk025: I don't know.

10kyk029: You're kidding.

10kyk030: Alright, I'll see what I can do.

11kyk009: Uh oh. We've got company.

12kyk008: Meet you in the middle.

12kyk009: Meet you in the city.

12kyk020: Thanks for the help, Lando. But I thought you were going to be working with the security forces?

12kyk021: Thanks for the help, Lando.

12kyk022: I'm heading for the Lenico Belt.

12kyk023: I don't know, but I'm going to find out. Jan may be there.

12kyk024: Maybe. I don't know.

12kyk025: Just tell him.

12kyk026: We'll see.

12kyk027: Thanks.

12kyk028: Hmm. I'm sensing something like a disturbance in the force but...it's so...different.

12kyk031: A Jedi? No...he seemed...different, somehow.

13kyk004: Imperials?

13kyk005: The Remnant is here?

14kyk001: What the-?

14kyk002: Lando!

15kyk001: Hmm. This may require some stealth.

15kyk006: Aw sithspit, I think I ran into one of them on Bespin.

15kyk008: And what?

16kyk001: Weak minds are easily influenced by the Force.

16kyk003: I better think of a way of getting through without being noticed.

16kyk004a: I need to distract these guys.

16kyk004b: I need to distract this guy.

16kyk005: I think a distraction is in order.

16kyk008: What was I thinking? I should've used the force...

16kyk009: There were too many, I should've never tried to shoot my way through...

16kyk011: There's an alarm control. I don't want anyone getting near that.

21kyk001: Now where would I put a communications center on a tub like this?

21kyk012: Quick, grab something!

21kyk013: I've got a bad feeling about this!

21kyk014: I think I know where we're going.

21kyk017: It might.

21kyk029: Communications array control. I'm in the right place.

21kyk032: That should do it. Those rogues better be listening.

22kyk002: I bet it would cause some real chaos if a gun like this got into the wrong hands...hehe.

22kyk006: Force wall! The power of the vacuum would suck everything out of here. Hmm.

22kyk008: Let's see them fly through that!

22kyk009: Oh no you don't!

22kyk010: Another one? Let's see how many I can shoot with this!

22kyk011: Another one? What can I shoot with this?

22kyk012: I can't just walk out into the vacuum of space!

22kyk014: This shouldn't take too long. I'll see you soon.

23kyk001: I smell fuel.

23kyk003: Well well. The shield generator. Looks like Rogue Squadron's life is about to get a lot easier.

23kyk003a: Well well. The shield generator.

25kyk001: They should build those things to crouch.

25kyk002: I always said they should build those things to crouch.

25kyk016: Knock it off, Jan.

25kyk017: I can't take you anywhere.

25kyk018: What the scud are you talking about?

 

 

[Jedi_Mediator]

I've been playing through the level to determine exactly what needs to be fixed. Here are some of the issues I found. Let me know if there are more.

 

-Missing textures. One example is cairn/grate, which I couldn't find in the base JK2 assets. Does somebody have this texture? If not, we could simply use one of the game's existing grate textures.

 

-Missing scripts. Some will be easy to fix (like moving the bridge or operating elevators). Some I really have no idea how to make--such as a crane puzzle.

-Inaccessible areas. For example, in the second room, with the security guard windows, you need Force Jump to be level 3 just to reach the air vents to get into the security rooms. I don't know what Force abilities the player would have at this point in the game, but if they don't have Force Jump 3, the air vents will need to be lower or we need to put something (i.e. a crate) for them to jump off from.

-Mysterious rooms. For instance, in the largest room, the middle door on the right side of the main level leads to a set of four identical rooms that are empty. I assume these are supposed to serve some purpose, but right now it's really unclear what they're for.

-Missing buttons. For instance, I couldn't find any button to press that would raise or lower the middle bridge.

-Broken puzzles. For instance, even with Force Jump 2 (which the level started me out with), I was able to easily jump the gap between the two bridges in the big room. Which makes it completely unnecessary to raise the bridge and use Force Speed as described in the level flow.

-Broken areaportals. Some doors, when they open, create a Hall Of Mirrors effect when you look through them. You can still walk through, but when you look back, the room you came from will now be a Hall of Mirrors.

-Doors that lead nowhere. I'm not sure if there's supposed to be anything beyond these doors, but right now, it looks like they're just there for show.

 

When working on a project like this, it helps me to have very specific things that I need to finish, otherwise the whole thing seems too confusing to think about. Should we start by working on these issues, and then go from there?

[eezstreet]

I think the first thing that should be finished is any sort of missing architecture, missing textures, areaportals being broken, that sort of thing. I think the missing textures are ones that are from Raven HQ that didn't ship with the game (this is a common theme)

I think the room with four identical rooms is a "goodie area" similar to the beginning of cairn_dock2.

Being able to jump between the bridges is fine, but it should still raise/lower the part in the middle.

 

Anyway, once the architecture is finished, we can focus on the puzzles, and then the enemy spawns and pickups last.

[Jedi_Mediator]

Okay, I fixed some missing textures and started on architecture today. Basic additions to make things look less bland, but still keeping with the theme of the level. Before and after shots of the security rooms below.

 

 

 

 

[swegmaster]

Okay, I fixed some missing textures and started on architecture today. Basic additions to make things look less bland, but still keeping with the theme of the level. Before and after shots of the security rooms below.

 

 

 

 

i'm liking what i'm seeing

[Archangel35757]

@@Jedi_Mediator and @@eezstreet... if you need any complex brush/map-object animations (falling objects or exploding debris) that use a ROF file let me know and I can generate the origin brush animation in 3dsMax and export with my ROFF2 exporter.

[eezstreet]

Very nice stuff! I love what you did with that security room.

[Jedi_Mediator]

Added/changed some texturing and architecture in this room:

 

 

 

 

 

Also, in the process of fixing missing grate textures, I discovered an issue with the grate texture I chose. It's actually a shader, and because it's rendering a lightmap over the top of its alpha channel (the empty spaces in the grate), the lightmap blends through onto everything seen above/below it. As you can see, it creates a weird over-bright effect that is really out of place.

 

 

 

 

 

The problem is especially apparent because, for some reason, the original design of the level has that *entire* floor covered in grate texture. Doesn't make much sense to me (wouldn't the Imperials choose a more durable floor structure?), and it might create more problems than it's worth. So we can either keep the huge grated floor and try to fix the blending problems, or just reduce the amount of grates in that area, making the blending problems moot. Let me know what you think.

[eezstreet]

I think it'd be better to change both the staircase and the grate textures. The staircase seems really odd and out of place, if you ask me.

[Jedi_Mediator]

Okay, so should we change the grated floor to a more solid design--one of the flat metal textures, like the rest of the floors in the map? And change the staircase/ramp into something that looks more structurally sound?