Help with WZ timeline & trivia

[aubergine]

Based on discussions about the "Scav Wars" campaign, it's become clear that some sort of timeline and trivia about the game needs to be obtained to ensure the story of Campaign 0 - Scavenger Wars fits well with the other existing campaigns.

While we've been able to find some limited information, what we have so far is only a tiny bit of the overall story and timeline of warzone, so we're looking for anyone that can help fill in the gaps or provide more information.

A current rough draft of a timeline and some trivia can be found at:

https://warzone.atlassian.net/wiki/display/wzpedia

Do you have any infos on the warzone timeline - eg. dates of key events - or any trivia about the game (eg. locations and what happened there) that could be added?

If so, either post in this topic and I'll add it to the wiki, or just edit the wiki directly (register via login link top-right of wiki pages).

Any help or info greatly appreciated!

[aubergine]

Does anyone know what Team Gamma were sent to retrieve in the campaigns?

Team Alpha goes to look for Synaptic Link, Team Beta goes to look for VTOL tech. I'm struggling to work out what Team Gamma were sent to look for...

[Jorzi]

No one really tells that, but I'd guess missile technologies, considering that all missile/orbital launch facilities in the campaign are in that area.

[Emdek]

Yeah, looking for silos with nuclear warheads seems to be good target for that team.

[aubergine]

Erm, Huston, we have a problem!

Summary of this post: The date specified for The Collapse is wrong...

So, I've been quietly continuing my research in to the Warzone timeline. This has turned in to a major project in itself.

I've recently gone through all audio files that are bundled with the game to create the Audio Directory.

I'm now going through all the video files that are bundled with the game to create the Video Directory.

For each file, I'm listening to it or watching it, as applicable, and painstakingly transcribing it and tagging it. The aim is to find any and all timeline clues hidden in the media supplied with the game.

Most will know from the game's main intro video that The Collapse starts with a system malfunction on 3rd November 2085. This isn't voiced in the video, it's shown as a text caption overlaid on to the video.

THAT DATE IS WRONG!

In cam3abf.ogg we get a lot of background information in to Dr. Reed and his research, specifically:

* 2080 - Reed lands military project to develop synaptic link
* 2085 - "...five years later..." Reed patents synaptic link technology
* ...Reed continues research in to cybernetics, looking for a way to transfer human consciousness to computers
* 2088 - "Three years later..." the military cut funding for Reed's cybernetics project citing lack of progress

Note: Reed was stealing military funding from 2080 or 2085 onwards to do secret NEXUS research at The Reed Corporation.

So, in 2088, Reed has not yet completed the Nexus Intruder Program which means that it cannot infect NASDA systems in 2085.

The military cutting funding in 2088 is what leads to Reed vowing to take revenge. If the NEXUS tech still isn't complete in 2088, we'd be looking at The Collapse happening about 3-5 years AFTER 2088.

However, this then means that several other dates will need changing - such as dates for finding military base in rockies, start of campaign 1, etc.

So:

* Is my assertion that the date is wrong for The Collapse valid?
* Where can I find the files that define the text captions that appear over videos?

After reviewing the caption files, I'll have a more complete timeline and then we'll be able to see what dates need changing.

[Emdek]

Subtitles are in /home/michal/Programowanie/warzone/warzone2100/data/base/sequenceaudio/, those with extension (.txt for bottom ones, .txta for top ones).

And personally I prefer to move some dates earlier to make it consistent.

[aubergine]

Thanks, Emdek, I'll review those and extract timeline info from them to get a fuller picture of what's going on.

As we can't revoice cam3abf.ogg I think the only option is going to be changing the date of the Collapse and any dates based on it.

[Emdek]

aubergine, IMHO it should stay as is until videos will be redone.

[aubergine]

Will the videos be re-voiced? If so then that will be easier.

I've just noticed that the main intro video does voice "in '86" so changing the text there will not suffice.

The other option is to see if we can update the audio of cam3abf.ogg - either in it's entirety or just by some careful editing replacing spoken numbers in cam3abf with spoken numbers from other audio files.

As part of my cataloguing of audio files, I tagged all numbers spoken in them "just in case" and it seems that was a good thing to do now

For example, there are several mail "radio"-effect voices for numbers 0-9, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60, etc. from various countdowns.

I'll have a try later this evening to see if that approach will be feasible using Audigy (thanks Shadow Wolf for recommending that app BTW, it's v. good for editing audio!).

BTW, what do the numbers mean in the .txt and .txa caption files? Example:

Code: Select all

20	432	0.0	10.0	_("The NASDA system was developed to protect us. It was to be the ultimate nuclear deterrent. As it turned out, it was our executioner.")

I assume at least two of those are "from" and "to" times, but which? And what are the other two?

[Emdek]

aubergine, we would need voice actors first.
Those numbers are position and begin and end time, like header says:

//pos frame
//x y start end Text

Except that it is now seconds, not frames.

[aubergine]

Is x,y is a location on screen where caption will appear, relative to top-left of video?

Also, in terms of doing a new cam3abf.ogg, check out the attached file...

cam3abf.ogg

It's audio only - I replaced the "five years" voice with the "three years" voice from the same file without changing the length of the file so it can be used as a drop-in replacement for the audio track on the video (I don't have any .ogg video editing tools installed so can't do that last step myself, sorry). The resulting timeline means that Dr. Reeds project was axed in 2086 not 2088 and thus happens prior to The Collapse = problem solved?

I still have about 80 video files to review and catalogue, so there might be additional conflicts in there that I've not found yet, but hopefully this cam3abf issue can be resolved with this simple sound edit.

Note: The edit isn't perfect, but it's close enough and I'm sure someone with better audio editing skills could do it perfectly.

[Emdek]

Is x,y is a location on screen where caption will appear, relative to top-left of video?

AFAIR, yes. I'm just not sure in which units, this is why I'm ignoring them in my subtitles editor.

That edited audio sounds fine, although there is another issue, there is also version of sequences with German dubbing...
Although I'm not sure if it is worth fixing them right now.

[Shadow Wolf TJC]

@aubergine: I've always thought of the timeline, as written in the Warzone 2100 backstory in the manual, and as shown in the intro cutscene, as being canon. If you want to take a look at it, go here.

Also, that phrase "wars over cans of dog food" seemed more metaphorical than literal. It could be taken to mean that many of the survivors were so desperate, that they took to fighting over some less desirable food sources, such as offal, carrion, or perhaps even the bodies of their enemies (cannibalism).

[cybersphinx]

Is x,y is a location on screen where caption will appear, relative to top-left of video?

AFAIR, yes. I'm just not sure in which units, this is why I'm ignoring them in my subtitles editor.

Top left is 0,0, bottom right is 640,480. What else would it be?

[Emdek]

cybersphinx, ah, right, it's all gets rescaled...