Never really picked up on that... I might have to check it out... you got any comparison shots? I do remember more colours in Pandora than in UAKM.rockefeller wrote:Has anyone noticed mesh detail is a lot less in PD than in UAKM, specifically on Chandler...?
Bests, Rockefeller
Remember the card that came with UAKM showing the difference between using 4mb and 16mb of Ram? Remember it saying somewhere on the back that Ram costs around $140 per magabyte!? Ahhhh good times.
-Cub. =o)
$140 ought to be enough for anybody...
The thing that hits me the most when comparing both games' streets is that in UKM, the area at the end of the street, Brew n Stew side, is "The Ruins of Old San Fransisco"... wheras in Pandora, look behind the fence and you see... "...the pretty lights of New San Fransisco". The UKM website (http://www.microsoft.com/games/texmurph ... llingmoon/) says that it takes place in December 2042 and the Pandora manual says that it takes place in April 2043.
Wow. They managed to demolish much of the old ruins, clear away all the rubble, get planning permission and develop acres of land for hundreds of new buildings - within 4 months.
Does anyone else see a problem here? One of the most glaring continuity errors I've seen in a game series to date.
The thing that hits me the most when comparing both games' streets is that in UKM, the area at the end of the street, Brew n Stew side, is "The Ruins of Old San Fransisco"... wheras in Pandora, look behind the fence and you see... "...the pretty lights of New San Fransisco". The UKM website (http://www.microsoft.com/games/texmurph ... llingmoon/) says that it takes place in December 2042 and the Pandora manual says that it takes place in April 2043.
Wow. They managed to demolish much of the old ruins, clear away all the rubble, get planning permission and develop acres of land for hundreds of new buildings - within 4 months.
Does anyone else see a problem here? One of the most glaring continuity errors I've seen in a game series to date.
Well... I guess it's because it's property development of THE FUTURE! (said in an over-dramatic tone) 
Either that or its like one of those gigantic billboards. You know, the ones they put over under construction buildings. That have some advertismeent, pretty picture or an image of what is to be developed there to cover up the 'eyesore' of cranes and mud. So it's like a life-size digital/animated billboard of what the newly developed city will look like!
Or not...
Either that or its like one of those gigantic billboards. You know, the ones they put over under construction buildings. That have some advertismeent, pretty picture or an image of what is to be developed there to cover up the 'eyesore' of cranes and mud. So it's like a life-size digital/animated billboard of what the newly developed city will look like!
Or not...
(Ruri_Ayanami from the old Tex Murphy ezboard).
"I don't believe in intuition, don't know why... just a feeling." - Tex Murphy
"I don't believe in intuition, don't know why... just a feeling." - Tex Murphy
To get back to the topic I can tell you that I have now almost beaten the game. I've come to Day 6 where I wake up on the Moon Child. The G.R.S. bit took 2 lives where the first one was because I didn't hide well enough in the Research and Development room (forgot to hide all the way behind the desk next to the recycle bin). The second time I was killed was in the hallway where I accidently ran right into the security watch as it went around a corner (darn it).
I actually thought the Bastion of Sanctity part would cost me another, but I went through that without any trouble - it was merely the part with Ferrel Pus at the Broken Skull bar (off the planet) with his FerreLette that caused me problems. Good thing there's a save game feature
I actually thought the Bastion of Sanctity part would cost me another, but I went through that without any trouble - it was merely the part with Ferrel Pus at the Broken Skull bar (off the planet) with his FerreLette that caused me problems. Good thing there's a save game feature
.
I noticed that on Chandler Avenue, in UAKM the buildings have more 'protruding' geometry than in PD, where many of these protrusions are replaced with textures - the reason I brought this up in the first place is that it would seem that graphics would be more, not less advanced in PD than in UAKM since it came afterwards - I'm not ripping on anything, but I also seem to remember UAKM running much smoother than PD - the animations for the cursor being smoother/clearer, etc... makes me wonder is all ~ I'll post some comparisons below 
Bests, Rockefeller
PS ~ Sorry for veering off topic again, it won't happen again
UAKM RUSTY
PD RUSTY
UAKM PIZZA
PD PIZZA
Bests, Rockefeller
PS ~ Sorry for veering off topic again, it won't happen again
UAKM RUSTY
PD RUSTY
UAKM PIZZA
PD PIZZA
"Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do"
"ERROR: Error Code Does Not Indicate An Error"
"ERROR: Error Code Does Not Indicate An Error"
It looks like they went for a more blurred softer look for PD, UAKM graphics look extremely sharp. Seems like both have their benefits, the softer and more blended appearance of PD is a little more pleasing to the eye than some of the grainy/sharp textures in UAKM like that blueish roof of the Pizza Place, on the other hand a lot of little details are lost which isn't as good, you can really see the brickwork and poster graphics etc. in UAKM. PD looks a little more dark and atmospheric but does look a bit smooth and flat... but then that shot of the UAKM pizza place walls looks a bit flat because of the perspective not being as rounded etc. For the record I like them both but its certainly interesting to see the differences. Maybe different 3D modelers worked on PD and took a different approach. 
Congrats, netroam on getting through the tricky GRS offices. Whats next...? The Skull Bar or wherever that was and then up to the Moon Child?
Congrats, netroam on getting through the tricky GRS offices. Whats next...? The Skull Bar or wherever that was and then up to the Moon Child?
(Ruri_Ayanami from the old Tex Murphy ezboard).
"I don't believe in intuition, don't know why... just a feeling." - Tex Murphy
"I don't believe in intuition, don't know why... just a feeling." - Tex Murphy
I personally preferred the way PD was done in terms of texturing and modelling... in UAKM, whilst the textures and geometry were a lot sharper, it basically accentuated the lack of detail in the textures and the resolution contributing to a rather jagged look to everything.
In Pandora however, the smoothing of the textures and the reduction in geometry worked hand in hand to prive a more rounded finish to the scenes within the game, whch were able to create a much better atmosphere as they were far less distracting. Perhaps this is what they were going for?
Anyway, I remember when playing PD after playing UAKM and thinking 'Wow, this looks great!"... becuase I think they did use a much wider colour palette in the scenes, and it had a more rounded and polished look about it. And whilst is can look pretty tame nowadays, it is still the most atmosphperic and engaging game I have ever played.
-Cub. =o)
In Pandora however, the smoothing of the textures and the reduction in geometry worked hand in hand to prive a more rounded finish to the scenes within the game, whch were able to create a much better atmosphere as they were far less distracting. Perhaps this is what they were going for?
Anyway, I remember when playing PD after playing UAKM and thinking 'Wow, this looks great!"... becuase I think they did use a much wider colour palette in the scenes, and it had a more rounded and polished look about it. And whilst is can look pretty tame nowadays, it is still the most atmosphperic and engaging game I have ever played.
-Cub. =o)
Another thing to bear in mind is places like Rusty's, the Golden Gate Hotel and the Slice O Heaven have been closed for a while - leading to the 'disused and dirty' look of them we see in PD (particularly Francesca's). By contrast, when you compare the abandoned Bijou Theater from UKM with the neon bombastica of the Fuscia Flamingo, the intent becomes even more apparent.
I think you're onto something. I was glad they got rid of that rubble at the end of the street... madethe whole chandler avenue look terrible... not just from a visually aesthetic point of view but from a technical one as well.i'm_melting_i'm_melting wrote:Another thing to bear in mind is places like Rusty's, the Golden Gate Hotel and the Slice O Heaven have been closed for a while - leading to the 'disused and dirty' look of them we see in PD (particularly Francesca's). By contrast, when you compare the abandoned Bijou Theater from UKM with the neon bombastica of the Fuscia Flamingo, the intent becomes even more apparent.
It's a shame we could not visit Chandler Avenue in Overseer. Oh how I would love to walk the streets again... hey who knows, if a new Tex game comes out (by whoever) I would just be dying to go for a work down the old street again!
-Cub. =o)
Thank you, Sai - yes, I got to The Broken Skull and the deadly roulette game that Ferrel Pus introduced in order to get to the Moon Child. It also took a bit of time to find the right balls to pick so I could get the ticket, but I made it through - got to the Moon Child and beat that as well, so now - I have beaten the entire game
Next up is The Pandora Directive - Mission Street path 1. I guess I will need a little walkthrough for that so I can get the exact right path, but I have that lying around in my apartment somewhere
As for the comparison between UAKM and PD that Cub, Sai, IMIM and Rock discussed - I also found it interesting how the UAKM graphics are a lot shaper than the PD graphics, but I agree with Cub that it needed to be softer in PD to fit the video sequences better. Another thing I found interesting between UAKM and PD was how much better the video sequences got in PD compared to UAKM. In a lot of scenes in UAKM you would only see 1 person "move"/"act" whereas the other person would be standing completely still only to "react" to what's being said after the other person froze That was really improved in PD
Next up is The Pandora Directive - Mission Street path 1. I guess I will need a little walkthrough for that so I can get the exact right path, but I have that lying around in my apartment somewhere
As for the comparison between UAKM and PD that Cub, Sai, IMIM and Rock discussed - I also found it interesting how the UAKM graphics are a lot shaper than the PD graphics, but I agree with Cub that it needed to be softer in PD to fit the video sequences better. Another thing I found interesting between UAKM and PD was how much better the video sequences got in PD compared to UAKM. In a lot of scenes in UAKM you would only see 1 person "move"/"act" whereas the other person would be standing completely still only to "react" to what's being said after the other person froze
That was really improved in PD .
Yeah... this was a neat upgrade. In UAKM they tried to limit the amount of real FMV characters that were animated on top of the CG background at one time in order to conserve video bandwidth. This was to make sure the data usage did not exceed that of which a 2X CD-Rom drive could transfer. The more FMV characters that were animated, the more video bandwidth required.netroam wrote:Another thing I found interesting between UAKM and PD was how much better the video sequences got in PD compared to UAKM. In a lot of scenes in UAKM you would only see 1 person "move"/"act" whereas the other person would be standing completely still only to "react" to what's being said after the other person froze
But seeing as Pandora required a 4X CD-Rom drive, they did not need to adhere to the same limitaiton... enabling full flowing FMV animation.
It was a neat trick whet they did in UAKM to solve the problem... and I perefer it compared to significantly diminishing the quality of the entire video.
The video quality in Pandora was very good in my opinion... and much better than the CD version of Overseer (the 'Smacker' codec which was used for the CD video compression was horrible, and interlacing is the wrost thing to come out of PC games ever in my opinion). The DVD of Oversser was brilliant in terms of FMV quality, and its only downside was they they used interlaced video footage, instead of progressive... which gave it that TV look rather than a Filmic look like Pandora had.
-Cub. =o)