I ripped and uploaded this to YouTube for informational purposes. I figure with all of the cutscenes from games out there why not this? You get to see a few interesting things, like the old-school ZeroEdit (and we learn for sure that the engine is known as Zero), and see them work in XSI.

Enjoy!

Already watched on the game it self highly interesting stuff.

Old Zeroeditor! AHhhh!!!!!

SleepKiller wrote:Already watched on the game it self highly interesting stuff.

^This, I watched it several times, I am a "making of" freak.

I dont know who was saying it, but I had always known Zero was the engine used in that game. Its been in 4 games,
Star Wars The Clone Wars(2002)
Star Wars Battlefront (2004)
Star Wars Battlefront II (2005)
LOTR: Conquest (2008?)

Thanks for putting it up for all too see Tean

thank you for uploading the video!
do you plan to also upload the cutscenes?

THEWULFMAN wrote: I don't know who was saying it, but I had always known Zero was the engine used in that game. Its been in 4 games,
Star Wars The Clone Wars(2002)
Star Wars Battlefront (2004)
Star Wars Battlefront II (2005)
LOTR: Conquest (2008?)

Thanks for putting it up for all too see Tean

More than that, actually. It started out being used in Battlezone II, then it was used again in Dark Reign II, both prior to The Clone Wars.


@D.U.C.K. - I don't have any plans to upload the cutscenes, no. I just thought the Gametoast community would find this particularly interesting.

Teancum wrote: More than that, actually. It started out being used in Battlezone II, then it was used again in Dark Reign II, both prior to The Clone Wars.

This is where I geek out here a moment.

THEWULFMAN wrote:

Hidden/Spoiler:

Zero, as it exists in the 4 games I mentioned, was far different than the zero engine used in Dark Reign II, but I kinda forgot about it at the time anyway. But actually, Battlezone II didnt use Zero, it used an engine called i76.

i76 was the predecessor to Zero, about a third of i76 was used in Zero, but the rest was rebuilt from scratch. They improved upon Zero many times, the biggest improvement being between DR2 and SWTCW(when they took all parts of the RTS controls out but kept the RTS graphic system, mainly the sprites you see in SWTCW and some of the sprite stuff remained in the assets for the battlefront games for some reason, even though as far as I know they dont use sprites at all, maybe I am wrong), there was also a large increase of tech between SWTCW and SWBF1, but not as quite as big as the jump from DR2, then there was a marginal increase between the battlefront games(Mainly the addition of a Melee Combo system and a Lua/odf comand upgrade). The progress seemed to be getting slower as the years went by. I am not quite sure the extent of the improvements of Zero when it was used in LOTR:C, But from what I can tell, it was almost exactly the same engine that was in SWBF2, with a Graphic upgrade and a melee combo tech increase(note the ability for your sword to be lit on fire). What does this amount to? Nothing, I know a ton of crap no one cares about. Yay me

Actually the original Battlezone was the one that used the i76 engine. Battlezone II used Zero. Wikipedia is incorrect in that respect, as Zero is a proprietary engine, meaning that they wouldn't have owned the engine if it was originally an Activision engine.

In regards to the SWTCW sprites the reason for it is answered from 2:52-3:08 in the video. It was a "smoke and mirrors" thing (to quote the developer). As far as the jump between SWBF1 and 2 don't forget that there were several other things that changed as well such as a more robust collision system, better light rendering, etc. Considering everything that they actually had to change I'd hardly call it marginal, though admittedly it might look marginal to the end user.

I'm still not 100% on the fact that LOTR:C used Zero. We all assume it did (I'd say rightly so), but Pandemic also had its Aussie engine which was used on the Destroy All Humans and Mercenaries series. I'm guessing it was still Zero, but the file formats changed drastically (I couldn't make any sense of them at all) and neither EA nor Pandemic ever stated that Zero was used. On a related note it's a shame that mod tools were never released. That game was the very definition of mediocre, but it could have thrived with mod tools.

..wikipedia...

THEWULFMAN wrote: As for LOTR:C, I have played it, and I see no doubt that it is Zero, it plays almost exactly like battlefront 2, the sword fighting feels just like a lightsaber combo, the ranged units feel just like how you would think they would in BF2, even the AI act the same, they are the same bumbling idiots we are all familiar with. I dont see how they could have another engine that replicated the same exact feel as Zero.

Agreed. Just sayin' we can't say for sure.

THEWULFMAN wrote:All in all, you beat me again*, Geek Master T.

That's funny - my sister-in-law calls me that.

Teancum wrote:

THEWULFMAN wrote:Geek Master

That's funny - my sister-in-law calls me that.

Then its official,
A: Your sister-in-law is smart
B: Your new nickname is The Geek Master


No argument allowed.

Thanks Tean! That was pretty informative.

You guys might find the following reads interesting too. These are designer diaries from the making of the first SWBF.

• Designer Diary #1
• Designer Diary #2
• Designer Diary #3
• Designer Diary #4
• Designer Diary #5
• Designer Diary #6

Teancum wrote:You guys might find the following reads interesting too. These are designer diaries from the making of the first SWBF.

• Designer Diary #1
• Designer Diary #2
• Designer Diary #3
• Designer Diary #4
• Designer Diary #5
• Designer Diary #6

Oh awesome, I forgot about those completely, I read them right before I started modding. 9 or so months ago, be nice to reread them. Thanks G.M.T.

Designer Diary #1 wrote:•5. In this game you must be able to kill Ewoks and Gungans. Enough said!

I dont even hate ewoks or gungans, I like them, especially ewoks, but that is still funny.

THEWULFMAN wrote: ^This, I watched it several times, I am a "making of" freak.

I am too. Although, I didn't watch it several times that's kinda... alot .

Very cool though, thx for posting it tean! IMEan Geek Master T