Ninja Turtles Mod

[BentonGrey]

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

I do like the first and second missions the way they are. It just feels right. Saving April from the thugs in the sewers would probably be too simplistic a mission. And then it would make the 2nd mission feel a little repetitive.

But if not an opening cutscene, is it possible to do a series of still pictures at the beginning? I could volunteer to draw and color them for you if you could insert them!

That...might actually be do-able. I've been thinking about trying to get a video of the original cartoon intro to replace the intro video. I'll have to look into exactly how that works. What I could PROBABLY do (once again, I'd have to figure it out) is, at the least, create a "secret origin" for the Turtles and/or April that would use a series of still images.

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by BentonGrey

That...might actually be do-able. I've been thinking about trying to get a video of the original cartoon intro to replace the intro video. I'll have to look into exactly how that works. What I could PROBABLY do (once again, I'd have to figure it out) is, at the least, create a "secret origin" for the Turtles and/or April that would use a series of still images.

Oh that'd be great! That "Secret Origin" feature was one of my favorite parts of the Freedom Force presentation!

Like I said, I'd volunteer to help with any artwork duties, assuming you can't find the appropriate high-quality screencaps! Here are some samples of my work:
http://oldmanwinters.deviantart.com/gallery/26614019
http://forums.thetechnodrome.com/sho...6&postcount=80

I recently learned how to color digitally.

[Xav]

Originally Posted by BentonGrey

That...might actually be do-able. I've been thinking about trying to get a video of the original cartoon intro to replace the intro video. I'll have to look into exactly how that works. What I could PROBABLY do (once again, I'd have to figure it out) is, at the least, create a "secret origin" for the Turtles and/or April that would use a series of still images.

Because the Freedom Force intro is done in a comic book style what about useing the Manhattion Missions intro?

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by Xav

Because the Freedom Force intro is done in a comic book style what about useing the Manhattion Missions intro?

That's a pretty cool idea, but the MM intro wouldn't quite match with the style Benton is going for. MM mixes the Mirage Comics, 1st movie, and Fred Wolf toon. Benton uses the basic origin of the 87 series, with some characters and personality traits borrowed from the other aspects of the franchise.

That said, I have ripped numerous screencaps and the video file from MM in case anybody would like to have them.

[Xav]

Yeah but I was thinking maybe if it was modifyed or something.

[Loco]

Originally Posted by BentonGrey

Good news Loco, your wait is over! My Ninja Turtles mod has been released in full! You'll find it here:http://bentongrey.wordpress.com/turt...ht-with-honor/
I've also got a ModDB page now: http://www.moddb.com/mods/ninja-turtles-turtle-power

cool ! Looks very good can't play at now but I have the game Freedom Force vs The 3rd Reich so I install it and paste your files in the folder? that's all I need to change the o.g in a mod? I just want to play your TMNT version

[BentonGrey]

Wow Winters, I had no idea you were so artistic. Yeah, I imagine we can find some way to manage an intro video or "secret origin." I'll start trying to track down a tutorial on how to change those things.

Xav, I never played that game when I was a kid, so I had to track down a video of the intro. It is really awesome. It makes me sad I never got to play it. However, I don't think it would quite fit the mod, since I'm using the Hamato Yoshi-is-Splinter origin and such.

Loco, that's right. All you have to do is drop the "TMNT" folder into your FFvTTR directory. If you have the Steam version you'll need to edit the mod's shortcut to point to it's new location. You'll find information on that in the readme if such is the case.

[oldmanwinters]

Thanks, Benton, hopefully I haven't peaked yet in my art and am still improving!

I took a bunch of screencaps from the Manhattan Missions intro and ripped the video (divided into two files) in case anyone is interested in it:
http://www.mediafire.com/?mudhbp5e85gyx52

Also, here is a compressed but complete video of the intro in WMV format:
http://www.mediafire.com/?59x8l8fuh4cirnv

I think I messed up on the sound card settings when I recorded it, so some of the music is missing.

[BentonGrey]

Okay, a bit of research and a bit of consulting the knowledgeable folks in the FF community, and I've got some answers about the opening video. Check this out Winters:
http://freedomreborn.net/forums/index.php?topic=54715.0

Apparently both the opening video and the secret origins are a series of .nif (mesh) files whose textures are the actual images you see in the game. So, it's effectively comic book pages. I knew that about the secret origin ones, but I didn't know that about the intro....though I really should have realized it. Anyway, we can't do an actual video of the TMNT opening, but we CAN do a series of still images, as you suggested. We can also get an audio clip to play as the game moves through the images. So, this should be a fairly simple modification. We can at the very least do the Turtles' origin, and perhaps the rescue of April as well.

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by BentonGrey

Okay, a bit of research and a bit of consulting the knowledgeable folks in the FF community, and I've got some answers about the opening video. Check this out Winters:
http://freedomreborn.net/forums/index.php?topic=54715.0

Apparently both the opening video and the secret origins are a series of .nif (mesh) files whose textures are the actual images you see in the game. So, it's effectively comic book pages. I knew that about the secret origin ones, but I didn't know that about the intro....though I really should have realized it. Anyway, we can't do an actual video of the TMNT opening, but we CAN do a series of still images, as you suggested. We can also get an audio clip to play as the game moves through the images. So, this should be a fairly simple modification. We can at the very least do the Turtles' origin, and perhaps the rescue of April as well.

Interesting! I'll be curious to see what you come up with! I always wondered how the animation process worked in those intros and cutscenes.

[BentonGrey]

Well, I'm leaning towards taking you up on your offer, Winters. I won't have time to dabble with this for a little while, but I'll figure out how many images we need to deal with, the length of the audio segment, etc., and if you're still interested, you could produce images to tell the origin story and/or April's rescue. Personally, I think your artwork would be more appropriate and look better than still images from the cartoon.

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by BentonGrey

Well, I'm leaning towards taking you up on your offer, Winters. I won't have time to dabble with this for a little while, but I'll figure out how many images we need to deal with, the length of the audio segment, etc., and if you're still interested, you could produce images to tell the origin story and/or April's rescue. Personally, I think your artwork would be more appropriate and look better than still images from the cartoon.

Sounds like an intriguing opportunity! I checked out some of the official FF nif files and dds textures last night. It looks pretty complex!

[BentonGrey]

Nah, it's not as complex as it seems. All it really requires, on the texture side, is to create an image, crop it to the same size as what you're replacing, and then name it the same as the file you're replacing. It's pretty simple really. I can take care of the .nifs and such. It should be pretty easy for me to skope out any animated bits so we just have flat screens. So, the thing to do would be to locate the opening animatic, count the number of screens, then plan how to tell the story with that many images.

On another note folks, I've got a bit more news for those of y'all following the mod! Cyber Burn, a new-ish skoper who's really becoming a asset to the community, has been hard at work creating the skopes necessary to bring a bunch of new characters to the mod. Y'all have already seen his work with the Rat King skope and the rock soldier, but he's just shown us a preview of something that I had thought I'd never see. Ladies and gentlemen, meet Rasputin, the Mad Frog!
http://freedomreborn.net/forums/inde...9603#msg739603

Or rather, a rough draft skope. He is, of course, in need of a skin (that is the Thor, Frog of Thunder, skin being used as a placeholder), and his final skope will have a t-shirt and shorts. His brothers are also being created, and now all I have to do is fine someone to skin them! I'm really excited about this, as the Punk Frogs are personal favorites of mine.

In other news, the rock soldiers and General Traag have been skinned by the venerable community veteran, JKCarrier. I'll post some preview images soon.

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by BentonGrey

In other news, the rock soldiers and General Traag have been skinned by the venerable community veteran, JKCarrier. I'll post some preview images soon.

Say, that's some great news!

[oldmanwinters]

As part of an effort to add some personal style to Benton's TMNT Mod, I've composed some mock comic book covers for the Mission Loading screens. They all pay homage to some classic comic book covers from the real world!


TMNT Classic Comic Homage 1 by ~oldmanwinters on deviantART


TMNT Classic Comic Homage 2 by ~oldmanwinters on deviantART


TMNT Classic Comic Homage 3 by ~oldmanwinters on deviantART

I'm also doing a series of images for the opening cutscene that retells the opening scenes of the "Turtle Tracks" episode.

[Xav]

That's pretty cool but wouldn't it have just been easier to use the TMNT Adventures covers?

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by Xav

That's pretty cool but wouldn't it have just been easier to use the TMNT Adventures covers?

I think you miss the point of creativity.

[rav4ge]

Holy crap, this mod looks great! I've owned both freedom Force games on Steam for a while now, but never played the second one. I'll be downloading this as soon as I get home.

Nice work! Amazing what people can do with the mod tools for this game. I can't believe I only just discovered this now :O

EDIT: Started playing it yesterday. I'm having a lot of fun with it so far, but I'm stuck on the second level. I'm at the part where you free April and then you get swarmed by Foot Ninja. I think I'm supposed to get to the designated door before everyone gets wiped out but I can't get it to open. I tried sticking around the fight off all the Foot, but I always get to the second or third wave before April gets taken down.

Am I doing something wrong?

[Xav]

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

I think you miss the point of creativity.

Oh did I?

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by Choppy

EDIT: Started playing it yesterday. I'm having a lot of fun with it so far, but I'm stuck on the second level. I'm at the part where you free April and then you get swarmed by Foot Ninja. I think I'm supposed to get to the designated door before everyone gets wiped out but I can't get it to open. I tried sticking around the fight off all the Foot, but I always get to the second or third wave before April gets taken down.

Am I doing something wrong?

Yeah, man, that's an understandable problem. The mission objective requires you to actually escort April into the general proximity of the door. You cannot open it. I've mentioned to BentonGrey that the Mission Objective could probably be worded more clearly. Also, there is a timer (not visible) that forces you not to waste too much time fighting.

It can be difficult to maneuver your whole team over to the door when facing wave after wave of Foot and making sure April doesn't get trapped in the range of fire.

My recommendation is to first find out where the door is and then start sending 2-3 turtles out ahead to clear out the way. Always keep at least one turtle close to April for protection and because she tends to follow the turtle standing closest to her. Slowly but surely, you can make your way down towards the exit door.