Last week I gave you all very sad news. Read this entire post. I hope you can appreciate the honesty. The campaign is horridly broken…well….WAS

Take off your “resident evil 2 goggles” and see for yourself.

And Yet, It was ‘revealed’ to you. This is ONE of MANY examples. I can’t waste too much time saying what we USED TO BE. You can find out what I mean if you really look at the old screenshots.

Bioh4zard 2 became a hugely ambitious project, that began to snowball as it picked up such great texture, model and sound talent that went out of control because I wasn’t steering it correctly. What good is a driver who can’t drive?

This brought us (well me) to a breaking point.  All hell broke loose.It was becoming a point of “why is this becoming so difficult”  and the reason was quite obvious. I was not good enough!

Run home little piggy! Wee wee wee! Back home!

It crossed my mind. Dropping out. Making up some scheme that the computer “exploded” or “stolen”.

So with the campaign wobbling on its last legs towards the end of 2009. 2010 is the year for change.

Did you notice there was no news in January 2010. Why was this?

I took some TIME!

If you check the http://www.ihatemountains.com bonus section, this is an excellent example of what WE DIDNT do. Granted that we don’t need full sketches of areas, since they already exist, but many of their gameplay charts, weapons, items and director flow maps are examples of how a campaign should be set out. Well thought out and a set plan.

While building the RPD, I considered it “horridly mis-proportioned” due to “capcoms fault” and I did very little to make the rooms look properly proportioned to the game, the reason for any irregularity was “not my fault”. My attitude meant time was wasted, resources wasted and hopes raised for no reason. Any models or textures I ‘attempted’ to make, ended up being horrible and was needing to be recreated. I’m sure you get the point now that It seems like for the last year I have done nothing. I’m fine to admit that.

RE-BIRTH

What did I do wrong?

• The maps weren’t planned, thought out or considered on a whole. Some of it was built “room by room” - SOLUTION - Full Layout created for Maps, plans, sketches & new technology (such as the l4d2 instancing system)
• Textures Suck - SOLUTION - I horded all the photoshop tutorials I could find and got the hang of things that I previously had little knowledge about.
• Maps off-scale - SOLUTION - I learnt full scaling & dimensions from expert max & architectural tutorials to which my grasp of 3D content creation was made 100 times more easier.
• Models Suck - SOLUTION - 3DSMAX Tutorials by the hundreds, and practice.

What’s the combined result of this?

PURE VISUAL GOLD.

Well, almost. We try to do a lot in a short amount of time. So If you see some “strange shadows” or “flat colored” textures or models, It’s because we are using a better process of development where we build environments using whatever we have, untextured or not, fully modeled or not. They serve as a good test, a good subsitute and allow me to continue working without having to worry about a certain model or texture. If you see something that you think is strange, its because it’s being done later. We are having everything assembled and coming back to these kind of things later.

Without further adue! Here it is! With a new / old comparison & EDITOR SCREENSHOTS to show what it is we are doing.

OLD VS NEW

I will show some more areas later, there are a LOT of rooms in the RPD. So be patient!

SO WHAT IS THIS PROJECT NOW?

I’m sure some information on that will come from the screenshots I provided, the editor shots showing (coach) - BUT WAIT!

Wouldn’t it be great if somehow, the charm of Left4Dead1 was re-inspired? The survivors re-grouped. Somehow using new dialogue? But what about the infected? Of course! We didn’t forget about them!

(Boomer concept by Marta)

We have a few other sketches in the making, including a little hat for him to wear. Yes, he is now so cute you will not want to shoot him. We are applying this to other infected too. Taking lessons from Valve, we ARE NOT modifiying the outline of the enemy, just providing a new look. We can show you more about our “Lunter” and “Gank” at a later date.

There is so much I can say, so much I shouldn’t say and So much I need to do. I’ve already blabbed my mouth for hours on this post, So it’s time for a little rest.

“Why are you guys taking years to make this campaign” - csta

We aren’t anymore. You know what? We built 3 maps in under 4 months. Consider it took us 1 year to get 2 maps (horridly broken) I’d say this is DAMN GOOD. As of 2010, Bioh4zard2 was born on January 24th.

Questions? Comments? FEARS? - Let us know, and I will respond to EVERY question If possible (or answer in the next main post). While I have said that there is a lot of things to be done, I also said It was on hold, but I’m hoping to announce the continuation very soon.

Many Thanks

Zac & The Bioh4zard2 Staff

Apologies if there are many mistakes in my writing, I wrote it over some different days, but It should be legible.

We have all been incredibly busy the last month or so. I’m in the process of writing a VERY lengthy post for the website, it should be up in a few days hopefully. While I’m NOT announcing the project is abandoned, I am confirming the Campaign is currently on hold.

I’m not going to say “don’t worry” or “keep with us” because this is big news and people won’t like it. So I’m expecting perhaps a few harsh comments or two? Regardless of your point of view on the subject, It’s all been done for a reason.

So thanks for stopping by, I’ll get the full post up asap.

I hope you enjoy just a small sample of what he is working on for us:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_vsSP8M4GM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28DGbKIuGAM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FS0U35fZn48

I’m sure you will agree that they will boost the campaigns atmosphere even more once I have the latest batch of screenshots  / videos for you. Then and only then I will be able to clear up some of the confusion surrounding the campaigns future.

If you are a fellow mod developer looking for custom soundtracks and themes, feel free to drop us a comment and we can hook you up, just don’t overwork him too much! We have estimated approximatley 50-60 tracks…eesh! (some very short tracks)

That’s all for now!

I wanted to bring the site back with a big news post, this is not it! We havent stopped working on the campaign and plan to update the fans on whats going on as soon as we can. We have our fingers in a lot of pies and please respect that!

Thanks for checking back with us. The team has been really busy recently and interest in making a new trailer, has been abandoned, for well, Making content for the maps!

That’s all for now, unfortunatley. I plan to update you guys fully in the next few weeks on the details, oh the details.

Don’t worry! Behind the scenes our keyboards and mice are still tapping away trying to bring Raccoon City to YOU! What do we have planned? Well.

First Of all. Have you noticed how incredibly similiar Raccoon City looks to NoMercy? Its uncanny! Raccoon City is a lovely place, filled with ornate buildings and structures, yet there are only so many times we can use l4d urban building textures! Its also raining! Well we DID say the city is raining blood, but this is not the reason, the lack of atmosphere pushed me into a func_precipitation nightmare, In which I’ve very lazyily added the rain, simply because It was BORING.

The lack of atmosphere was a problem, and this too is being upgraded, new skybox, no rain, Newer textures and buckets of models to create an authentic Raccoon City look. Even creepy sound effects, crows, howling wind and the sound of Raccoon city slowing burning to the ground.

Secondly:

We’ve put about a weeks worth of work into the RPD to get it looking totally even more awesome for this new trailer we are going on about. It’s looking even more perfect each time we add something to it.We think you will really enjoy the updated look.

Thirdly:

Our Sewers are about at a closing point, We too will be showing this wonderful place off to you soon, and YOU HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO BE EXCITED ABOUT IT! Capcom Did not do a faithful re-creation of the Sewers in Darkside chronicles, they missed out our favourite parts, and butchered others. Have you always wanted to see that underground cave / canyon with the cable car in 3D? Of course! It’s still in development, but You will be spending some time there while you wait for something…After all Leon and Claire used it, so unfortunatley, its all the way over the other side! Track through the marshalling yard and find your way to the factory, which we are also working on a new skybox for, we cant go on using no mercy houses for ever

Fourthly:

We are having fun testing the finale for the campaign too. Its no secret as to where it is, if its not in a trainstation I would expect RAGE, so It is, but what you have to do, and how and why will force teams to come up with a good strategy and also offer a bit of a mixed up play for VS.

Finally:

There is more on the way, I believe a newer artistic render of the campaign poster is being developed, and also some excessive amount of time spent in ZBrush, by one of our team members,  for hmm…Well Lets find out later shall we? We also have some more sounds in the mix and hope to get those included into the trailer, or simply for you to listen to.

So keep faith, we might not talk a lot about it, more makey, less talkey. We are trying to get a faithfull RE-creation of a beloved city and bring it to you as soon as we can! As always, If you think you can help out in anyway, don’t hesitate to send us an email on the Join us page!

Thanks for reading!

Happy holidays from the team, and a happy new year!

It’s clear that ever since the announcement of the project, we’ve been asked to replace zoey with Claire, replace francis with leon etc etc. Now, if this turns out to be true, (L4Dmods first reported the story, but no word from valve) Then I’m sure we might have a lot more work to do.

For example, the source claims
//Provides a new common infected model

This was possible in L4D1, with a change to the population txt file in the VPK. We planned for Brad Vicars, Robert Kendo, and Hunks Delta Team in the sewers to appear as our own uncommon common, each perhaps dropping a new weapon or say - machine gun for hunks team.
We also have a licker model, this is completed and is undergoing texture work, however the plan for this has always been more of a prop, but we have been experimenting giving him a skeleton similiar to the L4D2 mudmen that crawl along the floor. If we HAD the L4D2SDK we could give this Licker more health and change other values etc that would make him more realistic. We had managed to create a spider a few months back for the sewers which calls a horde if you are biled on by it, this was purely entity work, and perhaps we can make him better with l4d2.

The source also claims
//Provides a new boss infected model.
This is still unclear if we could also provide a new animation for the boss infected and how would the director handle them? The director has no problem spawning uncommon zombies as its all in the navigation file. But with no word from Valve yet, we cant decide on a re-occuring William Birkin Styled creature.

The final question is: What does this do to our storyline?

We had planned for the survivors to start outside the burning truck wreckage, with no idea how they get there, no way to set the scene for the introduction, no method of supplying purpose to get to the RPD. If we CAN have new survivors, we COULD have new voices to say “come to the police station, it will be a lot safer” or something. I had the chance to play the darkside chronicles for Wii too, and see a more modern adaption of the re2 storyline, which was fun. The problem I found was starting on the street outside a burning wreckage, meant this was considered a safe area, and zombie population was marked out in the navigation mesh so the streets was empty, so players are not attacked by zombies entering the safe zone, the problem is that it is not a fearful entry to the campaign. We put our heads together and came up with a new idea.

For Left4Dead 2, The one thing that is different is that the helipad that they are stranded on is a smaller division building of the RPD, labled RIB (Raccoon Investigation Bureau) - A building dedicated to more forensic work for Raccoon City, as the RPD is lacking rooms which a police force might require for a large city. The survivors were once locked in the containment cells of the building for charges of assaulting a police officer, who was infected, however the current state of Raccoon City is that no-one believed that ‘zombies’ were actually real, no one had believed Jill or Chris. Soon after the outbreak they escape from the Jail and end up waiting for Evac on the roof. We have the survivors start out in a completley different area, They are awaiting ontop of a helipad with a radio for rescue, During the introduction sequence (camera flyover) the chopper can be heard taking damage and going down, in the distance a truck is seen passing on the highway heading for the Texaco gas station. The survivors head towards it in hope of rescue.

So this adds another map into the equation, which the RIB has been built and is undergoing detail work at the present moment. What IS exciting, is that the RIB is a clone of the ORIGINAL RPD from resident evil 1.5
So finally, fans of Resident evil can walk around in a familiar, yet unexplored building. If you do not know what Resident evil 1.5 is, go here http://www.bioflames.com
We don’t normally show very uncompleted areas,especially crappy lit ones, but you should recognize the area if you are a 1.5 fan.

So, for now anyway, we will continue on some of the more slower, detailing work, but there isnt any major things we can do right now without the SDK.

However, to keep you interested:

If you recall back in August, we posted saying that we had great news that would make the campaign trueley ground breaking and stand out from every other campaign? Well, since you have been patient, The Campaign has multiple endings, so depending on how good you do, will give you more challenges in the next map, and if you are REALLY REALLY good you get the special ending which serves as an extended finale map which fires a countdown timer to the labs.

Reason 1 for playing this campaign : Its awesome
Reason 2 for the campaign: Replayability with random routes and the desire to unlock the special ending keeps you playing again and again and again!

Keep in mind, that i’ve only just unlocked L4D2 on steam, and haven’t yet dug around the files to see what we can find out. However I’m slightly annoyed this backwards compatability isnt working out of the box, sure I dont mind spending whatever + hours to get it working, but other users who just want to play their favourite l4d campaigns (suicide blitz or whatever you like best

I’ll perhaps update this later today to see if we manage to get anywhere with it. It could be the lack of the SDK i supose, but surely this would require some part of l4d2 to point to the l4d1 directory or whatever.

First of all - I am alive, that’s right. Yes, I know I was offline for long time, just had few problems, but now it’s alright. However I would like to announce our ModDB page! It will be easier for you to track progress of Bioh4zard2. We are going to keep both pages (this and moddb one) updated, so if you are not into registering on ModDB, you won’t loose anything.

I will post updated poster soon ;).

Regards - voythas.

First of all, the new campaign poster as promised:

EDIT: It seems i failed to notice the super bright alpha channel on those lamps. I will fix this ASAP

Next onto some media:
First up we have a WIP model, as you may notice the statue is missing, soon to come don’t worry.

Some New updated rooms and re-worked models to breakable gibs.

To anyone who remembers this area from the trailer, the awful chairs have been replaced finally with newer ones

Next up is our hybridphys explosion for our gauntlet event. To those of you who are not sure what i mean, its a animated phyics explosion similiar to dead air or no mercy gas station. Particle system still WIP (along with animation)

If you have a keen eye in this picture, you’ll spot a new (yet awesome) ammo model

Another sweet looking area

That’s all there is to say really, a lot of progress is being made getting rid of some older rubbish, perhaps some objects that need to be models rather than brushes, lighting updated, infected pathing improved and of course, gameplay.

Currently a lot of work going into the 1st and 3rd Map, so some more information on them soon, We are also currently waiting on L4D2 to see how the community splits, So far L4D2 plays very well, so If everyone is agreed, I’d love to start moving over, nothing says resident evil 2 more than a grenade launcher (error launcher for those cheaters out there)

Keep an eye out in the upcoming future for more information, along with a re-worked campaign introduction sequence and an additional map to help introduce the campaign. It’s safe to say you will meet an old friend from the FMV sequence and also brings to life a whole new chapter of resident evil that Capcom so foolishly threw away.