28.09.2008 20:38
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Beginner
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[WIP] FreezeFrame - Alpha Release 0924 - Open Sourced!
This mod has been open sourced. For more information go to the FreezeFrame website.
The Story So Far ...
So the time has come to share. Chimella and myself have been diligently working on FreezeFrame since February of this year with little in the way of communicating to you the crymod community. That's changing today. We've come to the point in development where we have a stable alpha build and would like to open it up to the you for play testing and critique - exclusive to crymod. Although the mod is playable from beginning to end it's far from complete. There is a lot of refinement, balancing and bug nuking left to do. And that's where we hope you come in.
This is a huge labor of love for Chimella and I. Our last endeavor, Mischief in Paradise (a Farcry mod), was a much looser collaboration. I wrote, mapped, created cinematics, recorded audio - then opened it up to the community. Chimella came in and inserted all the logic, making a mod out of it, and ultimately finished the level. It garnered tons of press and was highly praised amongst the Farcry community.
When the Crysis SDK was released, conversations started happening between us, leading to the development of FreezeFrame. Earlier this year I spent 3 months writing, mapping, and recording - then passing the .cry over to Chimella. He spent another 3 months creating the logic and flowgraphs and has now passed the .cry back to me.
So now I'm in what I call the "detail pass" - going through and finely detailing objects, fx, vegetation, environment, creating final cinematics, sound objects, music ... and much more. These last 3 months of this year are dedicated to that process.
Chimella has some real-life obligations which is pulling him from the development process. He's still available at an advisory capacity. In fact, you might even see him in this thread posting from time to time.
Let's get to the reason you've read this far ...
Spoilers: I'm posting playable builds, documentation, imagery, sounds, and animation which will likely spoil your first time playing experience. If you're cool with that ... read on.
FreezeFrame - Alpha Release 0924 FreezeFrame ModDB
Features
* A modified Binoc / Digital Camera mod to photograph key objectives!
* TranqX Area Affect grenades stunning large groups of enemies, minus the death count!
* Sphinx the AI Mission Commander, she's one tough cookie, leads you through plot twists and turns
* Massive environments, with stunning details and are beautifully crafted
* Open ended game play with multiple ways to achieve objectives
* Authentic voice acted script
* Awesome sci-fi soundtrack and custom sound effects throughout the mission!
* Improved AI behaviour, increased difficulty
* Dozens of beautifully crafted cinematic cutscenes
* Engaging storyline featuring many cinematic twists and turns!
* Custom ToD with a night to day transition
Tagline
Deep within Earth lies the truth ... and it's yours to discover.
Background
A North Korean military force has overtaken an island east of South Korea and have gained control of all facilities on the island. It is assumed the North Koreans have an interest in the large energy signatures coming from the island for the last 2 weeks. We suspect they may have taken this aggressive stance to capitalize on this potential source of energy.
The US military has been working with the South Korean government on the island as a staging ground for future operations. With the North Koreans in control of the island, US military assets have been compromised. Your mission is to locate all contraband, photograph and upload GPS coordinates to the net for analysis. We'll send in a strike team afterwords to clean up.
Known Facts
-Koreans obtained access to US military hardware through seizure of a sovereign South Korean island.
-This island housed a lot of US technology for the South East Asian Region.
-Thermal activity has increased 10x since last week.
-A squad is being sent in to investigate the technology breech and catalog contraband locations and quantities.
-Photograph and document US military contraband.
Objective
You will be landing at the island airpstrip. This is a clandestine operation. At no point should the North Koreans be suspect of our presence. Secure the objectives, gather intelligence, and photograph targets. You are authorized to engage targets as needed but if alerted, the mission could potentially be compromised. You will have primary mission objectives that need to be completed before EVAC just north of the crater. Secondary objectives are optional - although successful completion of them will assist in the overall completion of the mission and provide more valuable data.
Key Technology
Binoc / Camera - Allows a soldier to view subjects at large distances and take digital photographs. Wireless connectivity to the military net provides an auxillary data overlay specific to mission objectives with upload capabilities.
TranqX Gas Grenades- Area effect grenade disabling large groups of targets at one time using the tranquilizer X.
AI Mission Commander - The officer responsible for the successful completion of objectives in this operation is an advanced sentient AI, Sphinx. She will lead you and your squad through the objectives, providing support when needed via satellite link. Expect terse yet informative instruction throughout the mission.
Final Thoughts
For the moment this mod is a work in progress. Keep that in mind as you play through it. Many things are not finished, implemented, and remain incomplete. The intent of this release is to tune, balance game play and nuke any bugs you come across. Beta will be ready in December and depending on bugs a final release soon afterwords.
Please don't post the mod on any other sites - this release is exclusive to the crymod community.
When commenting on the mod please be kind to leave these details:
Machine specs (use our examples below in the "settings" section of the readme) If you completed it how long did it take?
In what style did you play through the mod? (e.g. stealth or gun 'n run?) Was it fun?
Was the story interesting?
What difficulty did you play?
Recruiting
Below are a few of the items I need help with at the moment.
1. Coder/Scripter or Flowgrapher to assist me in the final push for release. What I need to get done can be done with either skillset. Essentially, I need help in level optimization, bug nuking, and ensuring the flowgraphs don't go haywire. email me and I'll fill you in on the details.
2. Korean speaking male. I have a few lines of dialogue I need you to record. I'll use that recording as a reference - your voice will not be used in the mod. I just need to know how to speak the lines so I can record it myself. email me if you can help.
Thanks for playing! 
Download
FreezeFrame Alpha 0924
This post has been edited 20 time(s), it was last edited by ubiquityxx: 04.09.2009 01:14.
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29.09.2008 05:32
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Beginner
Thread Starter  |
RE: FreezeFrame Mod - Alpha Release
FREEZEFRAME ALPHA README
====================
IMPORTANT
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After installing the mod and at the menu of crysis press F4 to start the mod.
This mod requires Crysis patch 1.2 or later.
It will not run at all on an unpatched system since full mod support was only introduced later
You should not be able to skip cinematics but if you do the game will be severly bugged since these are used to alter ingame events.
Please read the GAMEPLAY HELP section before you play
INSTALLATION
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Just unrar into your Crysis Mods folder
The Mods folder should be just inside the Crysis folder if you need to add it
You should end up with this:
\Electronic Arts\Crytek\Crysis\Mods\FreezeFrame
STARTING THE MOD
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It is recommended that you create a new profile to play the mod at the Main Menu
1a) If you run Crysis x32 double click Start32.bat file inside the FreezeFrame folder and hit F4 at the main menu (or type map crtr-harbor into the console)
1b) If you run Crysis x64 double click Start64.bat file inside the FreezeFrame folder and hit F4 at the main menu (or type map crtr-harbor into the console)
2) Alternatively use the FreezeFrame Shortcut in the FreezeFrame folder
If you installed Crysis somewhere other than the default
"C:\Program Files\Electronic Arts\Crytek\Crysis\Bin32\Crysis.exe"
then you will need to modify the Target path in the shortcut to where you have your Crysis.exe
To do this right click on the shortcut and choose Properties
Be sure it ends with \Crysis.exe" -MOD FreezeFrame
Once the Mod has started at the main menu open the console (the key below escape on my system) then type in:
con_restricted 0 <Enter>
map crtr-harbor <Enter>
If it still does not load please ensure you are patched to 1.2 or later
This Mod does not overwrite or touch in any way your Crysis installation files
UNINSTALLATION
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Just delete the FreezeFrame folder from your Mods folder
GAMEPLAY TACTICS (Our top 18)
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1. Use duck and cover. But be aggressive in your movement.
2. Use speed and stealth often.
3. Use height to get the birds eye view of a situation.
4. Diversionary tactics - Use grenades to lead enemies in certain directions, while stealthing in a different one.
5. The direction that seems most direct and logical, usually isn't.
6. Get in and then get out, while clearing traces of your movement.
7. Take advantage of the technology given to you. Utilize weapon attachments.
8. The best success is to NOT run 'n gun. Take your time and think.
9. Don't waste time picking up weapons and ammo from enemies.
10. Detonators can be individually detonated by right-clicking on them.
11. After the intro cinematic the game will not start until you pick up the camera in front of you.
Instructions for using the camera will be displayed on-screen.
12. If you are having difficulty in photographing try another angle or distance from the object.
13. You will get an intel gathering score at the end of the mission.
14. To increase your score you must complete objectives and find hidden intel objects to photograph.
Photographic objects include strange alien objects and stolen military contraband.
15. You will given area of effect nerve gas, TranqX, grenades during the mission.
These are found by toggling your grenades with the H key once you have them.
Their icon is the Crysis emp grenades.
You will be re-equipped with them during the game to overcome the odds, but use them judiciously.
The TranqX gas cannot not affect you.
16. You are advised to play on Normal settings as the game can be quite hard in places.
Unless you're a rockstar then go Delta. It's very real. 
17. Easy setting has been modified and will allow a much easier game if you find normal setting much too difficult.
18. A silenced weapon has much of it's effectiveness reduced.
Good luck
THE AUTHORS
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Michael Kosmatka: Content (kosmatka @ gmail.com, www.michaelkosmatka.com)
Michael Chimella: Logic (chimella @ talk21.com, www.8winds.co.uk)
ABOUT THE MOD
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The mod introduces a number of changes, including to the behaviour of the AI.
Suit speed has been reduced but can be maintained for longer.
Area affect gas grenades have been introduced.
SETTINGS
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Tested on:
Vista x64
2.4GHz dual core Intel E2180 cpu
4 Gigabytes of RAM
ATI 256Mb 2600xt graphics crossfire
With settings: Texture High, M, L, M, M L, L, M, M, M, H
Vista x64
2.67GHz dual core Intel e6750 cpu
4 Gigabytes of RAM
Dual 9800GX2 in SLi configuration
1280x960 and 1900x1200
With settings: Texture High, M, L, M, M L, L, M, M, M, H (AA on 4x)
With settings: Very High (AA off)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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DISCLAIMER
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By downloading and using this game you agree to the following:
That the authors of this game are in no way responsible for loss or damage arising from the use or abuse of this game
That you are allowed to distribute this game freely but without charge
Web site administrators can't host this game without seeking the authors' permission during this Alpha and Beta cycle.
-This will change upon final release of the mod.
Any modifications of the game and/or any charge levied for distributing the game should not be done without the authors' permission
Thank you
This post has been edited 2 time(s), it was last edited by ubiquityxx: 30.09.2008 06:29.
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29.09.2008 05:36
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Explosive Llama
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Sounds cool
Definitely giving the alpha a download
__________________
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30.09.2008 22:18
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Beginner
Thread Starter |
I started last night on what I'm calling the 'detail pass'. It includes going through the entire level and finely detailing each area with a fine toothed comb. Proper placement and settings for the environment (ocean, sky, clouds, tod), heightmap, vegetation, final asset layout, lighting, particle effects, proper distribution of AI, while ensuring an excellent average FPS.
I've been having issues with the Sandbox 2 Editor recently. It's been crashing, blue-screening my system, locking it up, stuttering music from winamp, and generally observing bad behavior. I knew I was going to have to look this in the face when It finally came time for Chimella to hand off the .cry to me ... denial is sanity's safe-harbor.
I'm too lazy to look up the how's and why's when figuring out system issues - so I solved it by dropping down to running the editor in DX9, disabling HDR, no shadows, high spec setting and set the daytime to noon. Sketch mode is awesome - but not for the work I'm doing atm.
The editor is highly stable now and I cruised through my work - I'm very happy.
I started on the airstrip last night. The hangar that's in the V4 Alpha has been giving me issues so it's out. I'll be redesigning that area (as pictured) in the coming days. Clean-up on the airstrip and surrounding area was pretty easy. Still more to do there ...
I also cleared the TOD settings (need to start from scratch) and removed the sky texture all clouds and fog. The story of the mod begins around 4:30am - but will probably be moving it up as the lighting gets pretty interesting around 5:45am.
Cheers!
This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by ubiquityxx: 30.09.2008 22:21.
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02.10.2008 23:47
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Beginner
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I just finished it
This was one of the best mods I've played. Fairly intelligent ai, binocs, minimap objectives etc... I really liked how you made the player hunt for items and although there was an alien presence, I didn't have to fight them. Great game, thanks for the effort.
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03.10.2008 00:02
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Beginner
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RE: I just finished it
Thank you for the kind words nuzz. It's a pleasure to share with you all!
Just a quick note to everyone - If you're running Very High Spec there are a few areas where your framerate is going to drop significantly. The solution is to run the mod using Chimella's settings:
Texture High, M, L, M, M L, L, M, M, M, H (from top left to bottom right)
The two problem areas are the map objective on the airstrip and the HQ credential objective on the island. Both areas are in-doors and have a significant AI enemy presence. I'll be reducing these numbers quite substantially while hopefully retaining the challenge in a later build.
The primary reason this is happening is I haven't added VisAreas to the interiors yet. Until then it's going to be a little choppy.
Thanks for play'n!
This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by ubiquityxx: 03.10.2008 19:27.
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07.10.2008 19:16
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Beginner
Thread Starter |
RE: I just finished it
I actually got to sit down and work on some of the airstrip last night. I went through a lot of the existing prefabs and chose a few and started laying everything down. It's been quite fun mapping since the editor has become stable for me.
The goal is to be done with the Airstrip this week and move onto the train yard / parking lot area. I work in short stints ... maybe 2-3hours at a time, so it's slow progression.
Depending on the work week I may take off one day and spend a solid 8+ hours on the level to accelerate my progression.
See below for some screens:
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08.10.2008 18:29
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Beginner
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Wow. All I can say is this mod is simply fantastic. I would give every aspect an A+.
It was challenging and entertaining. Can't wait for the finished product, although this really feels finished.
Hilarious - "looks like somebody had a little problem parking their boat". LOL.
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08.10.2008 19:09
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Beginner
Thread Starter |
Thanks for playing. I'm glad you enjoyed it!
The voice of Jester is quite possibly the funniest thing in the original game. I was planning on recording the voice for Dawson, but Chimella inserted Jester's voice in place of it and it worked. Whenever I come across that scene you referred to I LOL'd everytime.
I think it's good not to take the game too seriously. Little moments like that help quite a bit.
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10.10.2008 19:28
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Beginner
Thread Starter |
What a productive week. I'm pretty much finished with the airstrip area. After taking a personal day yesterday I plowed through what was remaining - and last night was the gravy. This weekend I'll start on the parking area / train stop / and the frontage road to the warehouses.
I've been talking a lot about how the process I'm currently in is the "detail pass" - but the images below should give you an indication at the level of detail I'm after.
When I'm done with detailing all of the island I'll make one more pass to place decals (which aren't yet used in the level - except for the island area) and ensure AI have nice places to hide
There's no doubt I could have spent more time laying out the airstrip but at some point you have to stop, realizing you risk over-working an area leading to it looking pretty but not performing well. I'm really pushing for maximum fps in these large areas.
One of the things that makes it easy to fine-tune the level is the fact I have a working alpha version. Knowing how the mission progresses focuses me on the areas that need attention while leaving others out. It would be far too overwhelming otherwise, there's just so much detail you can add to these levels - and this is only a 2048x2048 heightmap - using maybe 30% of said heightmap!
Crazy to think. More updates soon.
This post has been edited 6 time(s), it was last edited by ubiquityxx: 10.10.2008 22:47.
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14.10.2008 19:42
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Beginner
Thread Starter |
Quite the busy weekend ... but I did end up getting into the editor and working.
I optimized the lighting throughout the airstrip area. I'm down to 1 dynamic light and a 1 particle object per light. By far lighting and fx have been the most enjoyable aspect of the development for me.
I dropped all HDR from the light since it was really distracting. Anyone know how I can disable HDR globally other than setting each light object or particle not to use HDR?
I added VisAreas for the large spaces where lots of AI are. There's noticeable lag on high / very high settings in the current alpha build - because there aren't VisAreas.
I worked on the train yard, parking garage, and path to the warehouse district. I should be done with that by the end of the week.
Finally, I updated the gameplay videos. Since I'm using Veoh you'll see they are much larger - closer to full-res and show my entire experience through the mod. It's around 2 hours of gameplay!
Note - The videos are taken from a session playthrough of the Alpha 0924 build.
Enjoy!
This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by ubiquityxx: 14.10.2008 19:43.
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16.10.2008 16:27
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Trainee
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Will download as soon as I'm able to. Seems very nice, I have a good feeling about this one
Good work!
EDIT: Downloaded. Tried it out. Fantastic! I cant quite put my finger on whats so good about this mod/map but its just so refined. It's different and its actually complete, and enjoyable. NEVER did I get bored. I was always looking over my shoulder and the AI always seemed to do something different everytime I spawned again.
I did however encounter a crash if you were interested.
It was at the third or so checkpoint when you have to:
SPOILER***************
asdfasdfasdf:::switch off all of generators after reaching the other tower:::::asdfasdfasdf
/SPOILER***************
I died trying and it reloaded the previous checkpoint then I sprinted across the airfield and it crashed to the desktop.
REASON: AppName: crysis.exe AppVer: 1.1.1.5767 ModName: cryaisystem.dll.
If thats of any help. AI bug's it would seem.
Apart from that though, and even with the crash in mind it was still a very very nice experience. I'm going to jump back in now infact. Really nice map too, well layed out.
__________________
This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by Gatman: 16.10.2008 17:50.
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16.10.2008 19:41
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Beginner
Thread Starter |
Hey Gat,
Thanks for the feedback. I'm glad you had fun with the mod!
Did you complete or fail the objective?
Did this happen more than once for the same objective?
If you fail the objective there's a known bug which crashes the client. I believe it's tied to the fail event (when the helicopter with reinforcements lands) - I have to confirm with Chimella on that.
If you completed the objective and you got the same client crash that's a new bug and I'll check into that.
Thanks again!
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24.10.2008 18:01
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Beginner
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Crash
Hi guys, i've installed the alpha, seems a nice mod but when i reload checkpoints, after few seconds or suddenly, Crysis shutdown without any error message.
I'm on the Airstrip, disabling the generators.
I've been killed 2 times, 2 different checkpoints, 2 different installations of the mod, (i've erased shadercache)
This last game i've been killed with one generator left, reloaded the checkpoint than another crash, immediately. 
I'm on XP32bit Sp3 and Crysis v1.21.
The game doesn't crash in any original level, the system is stable.
i'm not too handy with this engine, but i attach my log of this round
There is a voice asking an hotfix, but is for Vista, not Xp. 
I hope it helps, i want to go forward...... 
ps:Too funny the radio chat with the chopper... muahah... 
el
| Attachment: |
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game build(6115) date(24 oct 2008) time(17 25 03).zip |
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24.10.2008 20:46
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Beginner
Thread Starter |
RE: Crash
Hey Elwood,
I'm sorry for the havok it's been causing you.
Could you create a new profile and play through the airstrip area again? Internally we've seen that creating a new profile alleviated much of the crashing and problems you're experiencing.
I hope you get it working - the mod is a fun 2 hour romp.
-ubiq
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25.10.2008 13:30
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Beginner
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RE: Crash
I'll did it today, later..
Thanks for the suggestion Ubiqui...
Let see what happens.
I hope it works because i don't think to survive 2 hours of shooting without using a savegame.
Cheers.
el
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25.10.2008 13:31
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Beginner
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log
Looked at your log since someone else had similar problem should now be regarded as bug. Perhaps you could try these things in order and maybe post if you find a fix.
(Make sure you delete from the Mod NOT your actual Crysis installation!)
As Michael says best to create a new profile
Delete sys_spec_Shading.cfg from the folder
Crysis\Mods\FreezeFrame\Game\Config\CVarGroups
Delete the entire folder
Crysis\Mods\FreezeFrame\Game\Config\CVarGroups
Turn down settings to low just for the Airstrip part.
Play on Easy so you aren't KIA in the Airstrip until you reach the Train then reset to whatever you want. I know this doesn't fix the bug but you may then get to play anyway!
My best guesses are:
Shader custom config problem hence errors in log
The Mod may need over 2Gb of memory when paired with High or Ultra High settings to be stable, it was tested with 4Gb. If you only have 2Gb then turn down texture settings.
A problem with a particular graphics card/driver combination.
__________________
That which cannot destroy me makes me stronger (Nietzsche)
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27.10.2008 12:14
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Beginner
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RE: log
First... guys this mod rocks even if in WIP stage... really.
Yes, it works after the Michael's suggestion to create a new profile and i go 'til the end.
The landscape itself is really well engineered.
Few things i noticed.
Sometimes NPC respawn too close to us IMO.
I mean, i can launch 2 or 3 granades by hand of from the SCAR/FY71 attachment , more or less 40mt far and nothing happens, i move forward a bit then a lot of NPC coming out the doors.
This should be done in a dense jungle, but not when we can approach a building with the field of view clean.
I know the difficult to balance everything, but anyway are really few things to fix, this savage spawning happens even is original levels of Crysis.
Voices sometimes are low on volume and maybe with too much digi effect, it's pretty hard to follow the story.
I've no problem to understand Nomad or Psycho and their mates in english during campaign but with Freezeframe is difficult, maybe subtitles can helps without resampling all voices.
Many thing are really nice, new models, ambient, story.. but i don't wan't to add some spoilers.
I hope to be constructive guys, i'm a modder too, not on CE2 but at i know that 'modding' at this levels is not an easy task.
thanks.
el
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27.10.2008 22:28
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Beginner
Thread Starter |
RE: log
Hey Elwood,
Thanks for the feedback. I'm glad you were able to play through the entire mod.
Once the beta is released we'll be tuning much of what you're mentioning as issues.
The AI is tricky because everyone plays differently. How to best compensate for that fact will be a challenge. But number of enemies and size of groups will definitely be modified.
All vocal tracks will have subtitles during gameplay. The compression effects are intentional - but the volume of the vocals need to be brought up. It's an easy cleanup if I end up reducing the amount of compression.
The story is difficult to follow in this build. Once the correct voices and cinematics are in place it'll be more intuitive.
Thanks for playing!
-ubi
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