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Blood 2 mod

Posted: Sat Jan 27, 2007 01:32 am
by kurt
I don't know if any one remembers this, but awhile back I came on this board and talked about an old Blood 2 mod that I once worked on years ago. An electrical short in my computer had fried my hard drive after considerable work had been done, and all that work was believed to have been lost for good. After sitting in the closet for over 5 years the hard drive once again saw the light of the day when I bravely decided to experiment with replacing the circuit board on the drive. It was because of this message board that I finally got around to attempting this, after thinking about all that lost work once again.


Miraculously it actually worked! Everything on that hard drive was just as I had left it over 5 years ago. I can't express the happiness I felt in rediscovering all that I'd lost and now got back. It was like opening up some sort of time capsule, in seeing my computer files as they once existed over 5 years ago.


I quickly backed up all the files and then reinstalled Blood 2 for the first time in years. I then took a good look at all the code I modified back then, and though I'm now baffled at some of the things I did, it all still seemed to work. But additional work still needed to be done on the coding and I've begun working on that. Also after playing through Blood 2 a number of times, since restoring my hard drive, I decided that what this game really needed was some new single player levels. I felt that the storyline definately needed to be fixed along with the coding, and I wanted it all to play more like the original Blood.


So for the past couple months I've been working on learning all that I can with DEdit, the world editor for Blood 2. I have to say that its certainly a challenging editor to work with, and I've had some limited success in creating some new levels. Here's some screenshots of some of the levels that I've been working on lately. http://s114.photobucket.com/albums/n244 ... nt=bl2.jpg


I still have a lot to learn about this editor, and the hardest thing at the moment is trying to keep the framerates up. Hopefully hullmakers will eventually do the trick, when it comes time for the final compile.


So after a 5 year interruption, I'm now once again working on completing this mod, and it now seems to have become more of an add-on then a mod. I'll continue working on the coding, and building new levels, and eventually this whole thing will finally be released. I'll try to do my best to keep anyone who may be interested, informed of any significant progress in the future, and I'll continue working on this thing whenever time permits.

(I seem to have forgotten my username, so I'll use my own which is easier for me to remember)

Posted: Sat Jan 27, 2007 08:17 am
by predator
Hey, that's good news. :)
I like your screenshots. It seems you've cooked some cool single player maps.
When are you going to release your stuff? I'll be more than happy to check it out.

Keep up the good work. :)

Posted: Sat Jan 27, 2007 05:26 pm
by Drakan
I wondered what the hell became of you and your mod! This is FANTASTIC stuff!!!!

You bet your ass I wanna know when there's updates to this. Oh, and may I suggest anything? (I'll answer if you permit it first)

Posted: Sat Jan 27, 2007 05:46 pm
by kurt
Thanks. I'm glad you like the screenshots.

This all should have been released over 5 years ago, but now its hard to say. I guess it all depends on how much time I can put into this, and how much I can accomplish with the world editor. There's a lot of things I'd still like to try to do to this game, but I don't know yet if DEdit will let me, since I'm still just learning and experimenting.

With so many different Blood 1 style maps that I could try to emulate, its hard to know where to focus my attention right now. I'm just happy to have the opportunity to work on this thing once again, after it being lost for so long.

But at least now it'll eventually be released sometime, instead of it being lost forever. And yes, any suggestions or comments are appreciated.

Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 03:37 am
by TheChosenOne
wow nice to see somebody is working on blood 2.
Nice screenshots!!! :shock:

Could you tell us more about your mod, story maybe, what is mod based on and or recreating any old blood maps maybe?

Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 05:09 am
by kurt
It's only by some miracle that I've even restared this project. I always felt that Blood 2 was lacking almost everything that made the original Blood great. Aside from all its bugs, I thought that changing the setting to the future was a mistake, and having a poor story didn't help either. So now that I have the opportunity to work on this thing once again, I'd like to try and fix what I can.


All of the retail levels, and most of the models, have been retextured to some extent in the original Blood style, and almost all of the sounds have been replaced with Blood 1 type sounds. New code was also added to improve the AI, and to improve various other areas of the game.


Instead of discarding all of the retail levels, I had to think of a way to explain them away. Without going into details about the story, basically, the retail levels take place in an alternate timeline. All new levels will be built that will explain things, and in the end, the Blood universe will be restored to what it should be.


The new levels will be all original and built in the style of both Blood 1 and 2, but mainly in the original Blood style, and I'll also be adding cut scenes to explain away the new story that'll be created.


If anyone has any comments on the screenshots, or thoughts on what they'd like to see in this add-on, I'd really be more than happy to hear them.

Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 05:53 am
by Drakan
Well if it's possible, do you think you could at least convert Caleb's Beretta into a 6 shooter magnum or something?

Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 06:16 am
by kurt
I've replaced the sounds to all of the current weapons, so do they do sound a lot better now. Replacing the beretta with a magnum would require me to build a new model with animations, and building new models is still on my to-do list.
So, yes that could be a possibility.

Posted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 08:03 pm
by Drakan
COOL! :D

Cause Caleb wielding a berreta would be like a Belmont vampire hunter weilding a sword instead of the whip. Ya know? ;)

Posted: Tue Jan 30, 2007 09:59 pm
by kurt
I agree, a magnum would definately be better than the current beretta.
Hmm.
It does seem like only a handfull of people here are actually even interested in this thing by the limited response, compared to the views this thread's received. I had hoped to receive more thoughts, ideas, or comments, on how I might be able to improve on the level construction and design, and the actual gameplay of this game. But I suppose it is quite possible that I'm simply 5 years too late, and most likely wasting my time on this, if the small number of responses to this thread are any real indication.
Oh well.

Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 01:58 am
by Necrosis
This isn't a big community. I'd check it out when it's released, and I'm sure a lot of people here actually would, but that's the thing. There aren't that many people here.

Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 08:20 am
by predator
kurt fuhr wrote:I had hoped to receive more thoughts, ideas, or comments, on how I might be able to improve on the level construction and design,
I'd certainly share my thoughts and maybe give you some ideas on that, but it's hard to do it when I actually haven't seen any of your maps. The screenshots are cool, but it's hard to judge from them what you could do to improve level design and make it even better.

But, as I said, I'm definitely interested in playing your mod/add-on.
Maybe you could contact I Live AGAIN, his love for Blood 2 still makes him work on B2 related stuff. I know he's working on some kind of an add-on himself, maybe you guys could team up, or at least exchange some tips and ideas?

Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 07:20 pm
by kurt
Ok, here's a few simple questions that anyone can answer if they're interested.


Should new levels be designed to be more realistic in appearance, like in Blood 2, or more abstract and retro looking, like in the original Blood? How about the lighting, should they be dark and difficult to see like in Blood 2, or more bright, like in the original Blood? Are there preferred locations or styles from either game, or things that you never want to see again? Should levels be more challenging in their difficulty, or relatively easy, with plenty of health supplies? More open and less confined, or more confined, and less open? How about the weapons, the enemies, and the actual gameplay of Blood 2. What would you like to see improved or eliminated?


I already know how I would like to improve upon this game, but that doesn't necessarily mean that's what anyone else would be interested in seeing. So getting some feedback from people would allow me to build a more satisfying game that people would enjoy, rather than spending my time on things that no one would be interested in. Ultimately it would be people like you playing this add-on, and without any opinions, thoughts, or ideas being put foreward, it tells me that either few people have any real thoughts on how to improve things, or that few people have any real interest.


This is my first major attempt at modifying a game, and despite what the screenshots may show, I have no previous experience at building levels of any kind. I would be more than happy to collaborate with anyone on this project, because I am sort of fumbling around here in the dark, and still trying to find my way.

Posted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 07:59 pm
by oBe
Well, of course levels similar to Blood would be outstanding. Though I wouldn't necessairily they were abstract. I see it more as limits of the Build engine in the matter of size and geometry. Same goes for lighting. Therefor I'd say go for something similar to Blood, but expanded with usage of the 'technical advantages' Lith has.

As for locations, naturally any setting of Blood would do. I never want to see attrocities like offices and hightech settings again. Blood delved quite alot in 80ies horror flicks so I'd suggest to delve in the same puddle or at least one closeby, and start from there.

btw, if you keep this up, you'll not only have the wickedest Blood 2 mod ever, you'll also have the only decent one.

Posted: Thu Feb 01, 2007 01:58 am
by RedFanatic
Blood 2 was pretty annoying as games go, but once i finally got round to
playing through it i found that the game was okay,
guns where fun,
baddies a challenge,
and just the right level of violence :twisted:
the thing that let it down was really sucky level design so make Blood 2
again is my recomendation but less dark as in you ccan see more than 10% of a level :roll: and have plenty of clutists and fanatics