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Post by Dingo on Apr 5, 2014 12:17:13 GMT -5
I just finished TekWar as well. While I somewhat enjoyed the stages where you were hunting down Tek lords, that Matrix level can go burn in hell. I don't see how anyone thought that was a good idea; it's an absolute nightmare to navigate!
As for the yellow bar on the HUD. During one level I somehow managed to lose two points(?) in it. I have no idea what I did to cause this, but I did notice that it was two points from being full during one stage. I'm also wondering what the AccuTrak was intended to be used for. I picked it up in just about every level, but I had no idea what it actually did. To be honest, I just stuck with the basic weapon throughout most of the game. It never runs out of ammo, and it stuns enemies. One problem I did notice when using the pistol (second weapon) is that enemies can still attack you even when they're being shot with the pistol. The basic energy weapon prevents this from happening since it puts them into a longer hit/stun animation. As for the other weapons, I saw no point in them as they would gib the enemies which could potentially destroy a key.
The final level was very anti-climatic (even for this game). I guess I got lucky as to where I decided to go, because it was over in about a minute.
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Post by Snarboo on Apr 5, 2014 19:21:12 GMT -5
So it turns out you CAN pick up those grenade canisters I saw lying around the maps! Here's what the manual says:
Weapon To change the selected weapon, press the corresponding number key:
1 Kralov CEG 15 Electro-Stunner 2 C & W Model 2040 3 Shrike DBK Pistol 4 Orlow 34s 5 EMP Anti Android Pistol ********************************* 6 Force Charge 7 Stun Grenade 8 Flamethrower 9 Rocket Launcher
Note: Force Charge & Stun Grenades have been changed so that they are picked up with the space bar and then thrown with the Enter key; They are no longer weapons 6 & 7. Weapons 8 & 9 have now been moved to the 6 & 7 locations respectively.
To draw the selected weapon, press the Left Ctrl key, and to put the weapon away press the / key. Note: Drawing a weapon has an effect on civilians and attracts the attention of the GLA Police Force.
At some point the grenades were their own weapon you selected before they changed how they work. Now you just pick them up with spacebar and throw them separately with enter! I'll have to dig in the data files to see if there are still HUD graphics for the grenades. Maybe there's something about the Accu Trak in there too.
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Post by Dingo on Apr 5, 2014 21:41:50 GMT -5
Are the grenades those cylinder things with blue fins coming off of them? I was wondering what they were for.
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Post by Snarboo on Apr 5, 2014 21:54:31 GMT -5
Yeah! There are also blue capped cylinders that you can also pick up that behave the exact same way.
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Post by gammaleak on Apr 6, 2014 22:06:12 GMT -5
I haven't been able to invest more than a couple hours into the game, but my biggest hurdle is the controls. I'm really missing mouse-look with this one. It's especially cruel when there are enemies above or below you. Yes, technically you can press a button to aim up/down, but it's so clunky and hard to do.
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Post by Dingo on Apr 6, 2014 22:52:24 GMT -5
I was able to get mouse-look to work. If you move your mouse forward or back does it move your character forward or backwards? I was having that problem early on, but Snarboo (I believe) mentioned that pressing Tab might fix it. Doing so will enable mouse-look (although it will be inverted), but be sure to re-enable it every time you load a save.
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Post by gammaleak on Apr 6, 2014 23:44:58 GMT -5
I was able to get mouse-look to work. If you move your mouse forward or back does it move your character forward or backwards? I was having that problem early on, but Snarboo (I believe) mentioned that pressing Tab might fix it. Doing so will enable mouse-look (although it will be inverted), but be sure to re-enable it every time you load a save. Thanks for the tip. Not sure if I changed the defaults or what, but Tab, for me, was the map. CapsLock did what you describe. But it's pretty awful--the look rate is really slow and I have to hold down the key to get it to work. No biggie... I've forced myself to get a little more nimble with the keyboard. That said, I just discovered a ridiculous cheat in this game. I'm sure everyone knows that the Esc button opens the menu. When the menu is open, the following is true: - Vehicles still move along their predetermined paths (e.g., the subway trains still operate)
- Character/Enemy AI is turned off completely, so they stop moving (although their walking animation keeps running)
- The default mouse controls still work in their entirety: moving, shooting, etc.
As a result, you can just walk around in the menu, shoot anyone/everyone in sight AND KILL THEM. Their AI is turned off, so they can't fire back. Their death animation doesn't play until you leave the menu, but it's basically a "Time Stop" spell that lets you slaughter anyone without them being able to retaliate. The menu is kind of in the way, but you can see enough to totally break the game. It's pretty hilarious.
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Post by Dingo on Apr 7, 2014 10:24:52 GMT -5
It was CapsLock, I'm not sure why I said it was Tab (I guess because they're right next to each other). I had the same problem with how slow the look rate is. The character moves around really quickly, but looking around is extremely slow; that combination led to a lot of frustration. It's odd that you have to hold CapsLock down to get it to work, though.
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Post by Snarboo on Apr 10, 2014 17:39:16 GMT -5
Bumping this thread to say that I've peaked into the data files! It seems there were in fact HUD sprites for the grenades, or at least sprites for the canister variety. There's also a HUD sprite for what looks to be a PDA of some kind, which may have been the Accu Trak at some point!
I still need to dig around in the demo and the source code release of TekWar to see if there's anything else that didn't make it into the final game. Also need to figure out how to export images from EDITART.
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Post by Dingo on Apr 10, 2014 22:40:21 GMT -5
Do you have any idea what the Accu Trak was supposed to do? I'm just assuming based on the name, but if it would've worked as a guide to the Tek lord that would've been really helpful.
Here's hoping you find out more in the source code. What you've dug up so far has been pretty interesting.
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Post by corsair on Apr 11, 2014 1:51:28 GMT -5
I remember, back when Sears still sold PC/console games, I bought a Rise of the Triad shareware box with this game advertised in a blurb as an extra. Imagine my surprise when I got home and the disc didn't have all the necessary Rise of the Triad files on it...and all I had was TekWar... The only thing about the game that left an impression was riding the subway cars.
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Post by Snarboo on Apr 11, 2014 2:25:43 GMT -5
Do you have any idea what the Accu Trak was supposed to do? I'm just assuming based on the name, but if it would've worked as a guide to the Tek lord that would've been really helpful. I'm not entirely sure, but I have a couple theories: - It might have given the player hints and information on where to find the TekLord. (eg "Marty Dollar is behind a large vault door")
- It may have enhanced or filled the entire automap, or perhaps the TekLord would appear as a blip on the automap.
I'm not sure how likely the second theory is given the automap is already completely filled in every stage. Perhaps the map was supposed to gradually fill in like in most FPS games of the time, but bugs with the Accu Trak forced them to just leave the automap completely filled. Either that or players had issues navigating the maps, thus leading to it where it is in the final game. Given the Accu Trak is kept as a permanent inventory item in between stages like the keys are, it's clear it was meant to be pretty important.
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Post by zerker on Apr 14, 2014 19:00:17 GMT -5
So... yeah. I had the brilliant idea to try to do some of the Matrix before I had all the keys. Now before I call it a TOTAL loss, I'm trying to figure out if you "use" any of the keys, whether the game will remember if you subsequently leave and re-enter the Matrix. However, I'm having trouble getting to the proper location in the first server I picked (AmTech, I think). I've explored the whole zone, hit the following switch (on left): But I get back to this area: And down in the middle, the door is still locked: I can't find any other switches without jumping to another server. I'm ASSUMING each server is self-contained, and you can solve it without server-hopping and looping back to yourself.
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Post by Dingo on Apr 14, 2014 19:12:11 GMT -5
You can leave the Matrix and the game will remember which ones you've used. I'm not sure if it's all connected as I actually quit after using one of the keys and entered the Matrix again (started at the little hub area). The level is a complete mess and a total nightmare to navigate. As for your problem, however, you want to go back out to the room with those long vertical shafts (the area in your first screenshot). You'll want to go down in that area until you see a passageway and go through that. You'll fight through a fair amount of enemies, but there are about two of those circular nodes you need to activate down there. That's about the best description I can give you. I had the same problem at first.
Edit: Actually, looking at the first screenshot closer, you may be in the right place. Those red columns will slowly lower down revealing another node you have to activate after pressing the first one. There's about five in the whole level (for that key, anyway) that you have to activate to get the doors to open.
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Post by zerker on Apr 14, 2014 20:33:13 GMT -5
How slowly is slowly? I activated the node in the first screenshot, and didn't notice anything obvious happening with the pillar.
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