DarthParametric

MOD:Taris Escape Sequence Adjustments

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Taris Escape Sequence Adjustments


This mod makes some edits to the three scenes that occur during the escape from Taris sequence.

The first of these is the “Resume the bombardment” cutscene on the bridge of the Leviathan. During this scene, it’s possible that the player and party may spawn at the back of the bridge, being visible behind Malak. An edit to the module has been made to ensure that this doesn’t occur (technically they are still there, they have simply been moved out of sight). Additionally, two of the background crew NPCs appeared to be incorrectly positioned, so one of these was shunted sideways to better respect personal space.

The second is the “Incoming fighters!” cutscene in the Ebon Hawk’s cockpit, just prior to the turret mini-game. In the vanilla version of this cutscene, only Bastila and Carth were included. If your previous party included any members besides those two, they would just spawn in the hallway, possibly blocking the camera in the opening shot. This scene has been altered so that the entire party (at this point in the game) is now present in the cockpit. Mission and Canderous take the two passenger seats, with Zaalbar standing behind Mission and T3-M4 attending to astrogation duties.

The third scene is again in the Ebon Hawk’s cockpit, after the fighter mini-game. The order of pre-rendered cutscenes has been altered here. In the vanilla game, after destroying all the Sith fighters, you see a video of the Ebon Hawk doing a victory roll and then jumping to hyperspace, after which you have a conversation on the Ebon Hawk bridge with Bastila and Carth where it implies you have already landed on Dantooine. Yet following this conversation, you get a pre-rendered cutscene showing you approaching and landing on the planet. This was clearly done in order to mask the module loading in the background on the Xbox. The landing movie has now been moved in front of the conversation, and the skybox in the Ebon Hawk changed to Dantooine so that the sequence makes more logical sense. Additionally, Carth, Bastila, and the player all have any equipped weapons and masks/goggles hidden for the duration of the conversation.

 

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Specific Changes:

  • STUNT_06 - Edited the module's IFO to offset the entry position and hide the player/party.
  • STUNT_06 - Edited the module's GIT to offset the position of n_sithcomf001. Technically out of shot currently.
  • STUNT_07 - Edited the module's onload script to spawn the entire party into the scene
  • STUNT_07 - Created a scene-specific stunt animation for T3-M4 (computer use).
  • STUNT_07 - Created a scene-specific stunt animation for Mission (sitting).
  • STUNT_07 - Created a scene-specific stunt animation for Canderous (sitting).
  • STUNT_07 - Created a scene-specific stunt animation for Zaalbar (standing/idle).
  • STUNT_07 - Edited the scene-specific stunt animation for the player (m12aa_c07_char01.mdl/mdx) to make them run towards the turret ladder instead of past it.
  • M12ab - Replaced the heartbeat and k_pebo_sthdeath2 - 7 scripts with modified versions to chain movies and switch Ebon Hawk skybox
  • Override - Edited the Ebon Hawk cockpit model (m12aa_01p.mdl/mdx) to add an astromech-accessible panel below the galaxy map.
  • Override - Edited ebo_bast_vision.dlg to change UnequipItems and UnequipHItem flags, and replace script k_ebn12_dantrans with a custom one.
  • Override - Added custom script DP_TarisDanTran.

Known Issues:

  • Bastila and Carth are still visibly "air typing". I did attempt to alter the camera animations to mask it, but this actually introduced more problems (stuttering camera moves and revealing previously hidden janky animations). This probably requires more extensive cockpit model alterations to address, but I'm unsure if that is worth the effort, or what effect this might have on other cutscenes. Alternatively, the stunt animations, primarily Bastila's, could be adjusted, but that probably requires someone more talented than me.
  • The animations for Mission and Canderous aren't going to win any Oscars.

Acknowledgements:

  • Thanks to @Fair Strides for suggesting the IFO edit.
  • Thanks to @ndix UR for permission to use the edited EH cockpit model from “Ebon Hawk K1 Fixes” as a basis and discussions troubleshooting model issues.
  • Thanks to @jc2 for the idea to edit the player's dash to the turret animation.
  • Thanks to @N-DReW25 for the suggestion to add a door to the back of the Leviathan bridge.
  • Thanks to @bead-v for KOTORMax and MDLEdit, and @ndix UR for MDLOps 2K18 Edition, all of which were required at various points to get this to work.
  • Thanks to @JCarter426 for providing and troubleshooting the scripts required to change the Ebon Hawk skybox and movie order during the Dantooine arrival sequence.

Compatibility:

  • The core changes should be compatible with most other mods. Odds are fairly low someone else has made the specific changes to the stunt and turret modules that would clash with this.
  • Changes to ebo_bast_vision.dlg are injected into any pre-existing copy of the file found in the Override folder. For example, K1 Restoration puts a copy of this file in the Override folder, so as long as you install K1R first, this mod will patch that file. If you subsequently install another mod that directly overwrites this file (again, such as K1R), then the changes will be lost. If you see weapons and masks equipped during the aforementioned post-vision dialogue then you know this is the case. This is a minor aesthetic change and does not affect the core content of the mod.
  • If you wish to use ndix UR’s “Ebon Hawk K1 Fixes” mod, make sure you install that first, as this mod will overwrite the model for the cockpit. The cockpit-specific fixes from ndix UR’s mod have been incorporated into this version. In the same vein, any other mod that uses a modified version of the Ebon Hawk cockpit model (m12aa_01p.mdl/mdx) will result in a clash.

 

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Very great mod, this will be getting my vote for MOTY 2018.

 

Can I request in the scene with Malak and Saul that a door be added to the exit of the bridge as currently it's just doorless leading to just black void.

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Cool. Another DP masterpiece.

 

I have never ever seen these things happen, except for my character running past the turret room and into the engine room to use the turret. I've never understood that and why it was approved.

 

Is there something that causes the others (like Steam vs 4 CD version)?

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I'm not exactly sure whether the party always spawn into every non-player centric cutscene and are just hidden offscreen, or it is something particular with this cutscene (like the module's entry point being right in the middle of the bridge). As far as I am aware though, this particular issue should happen on all versions. I haven't tried it on the Steam version myself, all my testing was with the GOG version. I've seen people report it with the Android version as well.

 

The two NPCs being right on top of each other is just sloppy QA, much like running past the turret (although to be fair in that case, as a first time player you'd have no clue).

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Just goes to show you that even the more polished of the two KotOR games can be a little rough in some places.

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Indeed. I find it interesting how it doesn't affect everyone. I know it's not an uncommon thing for one person to have an issue and another to not while both using the same version.

 

For some reason my copy of the 4-CD doesn't have the spawn on the bridge thing happen like it does in the screen shots. I should download and play the Steam version and see if it happens there.

 

*shudders* I just thought about playing with no mods. Can I even handle that? Is that physically possible anymore? I haven't played without a mod since... oh... before you were born when FileFront was still quite alive ('05/'06?).

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There's no reason it should be any different between Steam/GOG/CD versions, in theory. There should be no content differences between those.

 

And there's nothing stopping you modding the Steam version. The only issue is you can't patch the exe for widescreen because of Steam DRM.

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