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Author Topic: The Ur-Quan Masters - questlines finally completely fixed  (Read 7527 times)
Soul Reaver
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The Ur-Quan Masters - questlines finally completely fixed
« on: March 18, 2018, 11:53:25 am »

When I played Star Control 2 years ago on my PC, I was blown away by how good it was.

When I ran across The Ur-Quan Masters some time later, I loved the project, and was particularly amazed to see that almost all of the dialogue had been voiced.

However, that joy was eventually marred by the discovery that some of the dialogue had been changed from the PC version - and not just in minor ways, but in ways that actually eliminated information not available anywhere else in the game - the the extent of breaking required quest chains, making it impossible to complete the game without reading a guide or random exploration.  Some of the worst offenders where:

The Melnorme didn't reveal the game's time limit
The Mycon didn't reveal the location of their homeworld
The Syreen didn't reveal the location of Syra

I decided to do something about it.  I planned to create three mods that would address this, and as of the day before yesterday, the last of those three mods is complete.

My Mycon voice mod restored the missing homeworld information - in fact, it's included by default in every HD release of The Ur-Quan Masters.
Next I released a full Melnorme re-dub, voiced by yours truly, that adds in a lot of missing dialogue, including the missing time limit info.
And as of the day before yesterday, with the help of Katie Otten and Serosis, I've completed a full Syreen re-dub as well.

These mods were created with the following priorities in mind (in order of importance):
1. Restore plot/game-critical information from the PC version (eg, the location of Syra)
2. Ensure dialogue is consistent with in-game lore
3. Keep as many jokes in as possible
4. Restore PC dialogue if it is different from 3DO dialogue

Serosis has kindly not only included these mods as options in the MegaMod installer, but even modified the game binary to allow for the restoration of some additional PC dialogue for the Syreen if the Syreen Voice Fix mod is detected.

Finally, you can play the game for the game fully voiced and complete all the required game quests by following the clues and directions given to you by the aliens you encounter.

I'm extremely proud of having completed these mods, and want to extend my sincere thanks to Katie Otten (www.katieotten.com) and Serosis (http://megamod.serosis.net/Releases) for all the assistance they have rendered to make this possible.

For a taster of the mods in action, see these youtube videos:
https://youtu.be/OWt2wj7pFU8
https://youtu.be/12CxK3KG0t0
https://youtu.be/D2oQDA31zsc
https://youtu.be/R2jBCErfG3s

For further information, see my site at www.warpstormstudios.com/uqmmod.
« Last Edit: March 18, 2018, 11:03:22 pm by Soul Reaver » Logged

Go to www.warpstormstudios.com/uqmmod for my dialogue and visual fixes for UQM and UQMHD!
Death 999
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Re: The Ur-Quan Masters - questlines finally completely fixed
« Reply #1 on: March 18, 2018, 04:14:12 pm »

Thank you!
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Krulle
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Re: The Ur-Quan Masters - questlines finally completely fixed
« Reply #2 on: March 18, 2018, 09:46:02 pm »

Inded.
Thank You, kind Sir!
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Zanthius
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Re: The Ur-Quan Masters - questlines finally completely fixed
« Reply #3 on: March 18, 2018, 11:37:37 pm »

Sounds good.

I wish somebody could make a new voice for the Chmmr.

Compare this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaS6tUumb0U to this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ew6PbcXW6sA.

The Chmmr voice sound waaaaay too human. Same for the Mycon. This sounds more like I imagined the Mycon (or the Kohr-Ah) when I played SC2 without voice (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-B8NS8sPOk). I want more diversity in the voices. More evil voices! Most of them sound too human!
« Last Edit: March 18, 2018, 11:51:58 pm by Zanthius » Logged
CelticMinstrel
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Re: The Ur-Quan Masters - questlines finally completely fixed
« Reply #4 on: March 19, 2018, 02:03:09 am »

Huh, I'm a bit surprised. I haven't really liked any of the other revoicings I've heard, but this Melnorme one isn't bad. Though, I think you mispronounced "Keel-Verezy" - if I'm not mistaken, "Verezy" should be distinctly three syllables. (Pretty sure this was the case in the original dialogue.)

As for the Syreen, I don't think I like it as much. It's not bad, though. She did mispronounce "Yehat", which is supposed to be "YAY-hat", and one of the words in the second video also somehow sounded wrong ("perpetrating"), but I could be wrong on that one.

Listening to the first Syreen also made me wonder if that historical prediction would prove to be prophetic...

You didn't link a video for the Mycon, but I think I might've heard them on Serosis's site, in which case I didn't much like them either.

I'm kinda curious what the game logic changes were that you needed for the Syreen fix.
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JHGuitarFreak
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Re: The Ur-Quan Masters - questlines finally completely fixed
« Reply #5 on: March 19, 2018, 02:26:54 am »

I'm kinda curious what the game logic changes were that you needed for the Syreen fix.

When presenting evidence of the Deep Children to the Syreen they say that they need to research the egg casing before they can jump to conclusions. End conversation.

The next time you visit them they've come around and want you to look for the Ship Vault.

Basically it reverts to the PC version whereas the 3DO version they jump to the Mycon conclusion and have you look for the ship vault right away.
The convo logic is only changed while Soul Reaver's Syreen voice package is slotted in place.
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Soul Reaver
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Re: The Ur-Quan Masters - questlines finally completely fixed
« Reply #6 on: March 19, 2018, 02:50:39 am »

Huh, I'm a bit surprised. I haven't really liked any of the other revoicings I've heard, but this Melnorme one isn't bad. Though, I think you mispronounced "Keel-Verezy" - if I'm not mistaken, "Verezy" should be distinctly three syllables. (Pretty sure this was the case in the original dialogue.)

As for the Syreen, I don't think I like it as much. It's not bad, though. She did mispronounce "Yehat", which is supposed to be "YAY-hat", and one of the words in the second video also somehow sounded wrong ("perpetrating"), but I could be wrong on that one.

Listening to the first Syreen also made me wonder if that historical prediction would prove to be prophetic...

You didn't link a video for the Mycon, but I think I might've heard them on Serosis's site, in which case I didn't much like them either.

I'm kinda curious what the game logic changes were that you needed for the Syreen fix.

Honestly the primary reason for the revoicing is to re-insert the missing dialogue - providing a new voice is merely a side-effect of that goal.  You CAN choose to stick with the orginial voices, but if you do, you have to be aware that you will not be given information crucial to finishing the game.

Regarding the Keel Verezy, no other aliens mention them so I'll give myself the artistic license to pronounce it how I like. Tongue

Yehat/Yayhat, yeah, you might have a point there.  I'll see if I can get her to fix that.  'Perpetrating' is completely correct though.

What 'historical prediction' do you mean?

There is no Mycon video, but if you turn up the volume here: https://youtu.be/C2XkwD2qs5I?t=1540 you can hear it in-game.
The Mycon one is not a full redub, just an attempt to re-insert the missing lines.  I'm actually kind of tempted to do a full redub just because it would be more consistent, but that'll be a project for a different time.  Besides, seeing as how the Mycon 'switch personalities' at the drop of a hat, and that some of their previous dialogue editing does cause some sudden shifts in tone/pitch, I think I can get away with it not being perfectly identical.
You can hear all the modded lines on soundcloud:
https://soundcloud.com/soul-reaver-3/mycon-056-full-v1
https://soundcloud.com/soul-reaver-3/mycon-043-full-v4
https://soundcloud.com/soul-reaver-3/mycon-066-full-v1

As for the game logic fix:
In the 3DO version of the game, if you show the egg fragments to Talana, she gets angry and immediately commits herself and her people to getting revenge on the Mycon.  She then immediately asks you to go and find their Penetrator ships.

In the PC version, this went a little differently.  If you show her the egg fragments, she gets angry, but dials back and states that they will run tests and confirm what you're saying is actually true.  The conversation then ends, chucking you back into space.  After you go back to the starbase, she has an additional bit of dialogue, confirming that what you said is true, and that (most of) her people are onboard with getting revenge on the Mycon.  Then she asks you to go and find the Penetrator ships.

I feel from a character perspective this is significant: in the PC version, she doesn't just arbitrarily decide on the behalf of her (near extict) people to go to war just based on what you tell her.  She actually verifies the truth of what you say and gets majority consensus.

In terms of the game logic, the conversation had to be changed to end after the (HORRIBLE_TRUTH) dialgoue, so that it would play the (MUST_ACT) dialogue (not voiced and inaccessible in the 3DO version) when you next talk to her.  All the game flags needed were already present.  Serosis set it to use the PC logic when my mod is detected, otherwise it sticks with the 3DO logic.
« Last Edit: March 19, 2018, 05:09:22 am by Soul Reaver » Logged

Go to www.warpstormstudios.com/uqmmod for my dialogue and visual fixes for UQM and UQMHD!
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Re: The Ur-Quan Masters - questlines finally completely fixed
« Reply #7 on: March 19, 2018, 10:48:32 am »

One of the things i really dislike about most scifi tv shows, is that aliens often look very similar to humans. This is not the case for SC2. There most of the aliens look quite different from humans. So why not make a bit of an effort to also make the voices less humanoid? I don't understand this. It could make a huge difference to the game experience.
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Re: The Ur-Quan Masters - questlines finally completely fixed
« Reply #8 on: March 19, 2018, 10:53:58 am »

You're using an universal translator.
Made to translate into Human language.
Wouldn't you expect a certain Human sound to it as well?

I would.
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Zanthius
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Re: The Ur-Quan Masters - questlines finally completely fixed
« Reply #9 on: March 19, 2018, 10:55:39 am »

You're using an universal translator.
Made to translate into Human language.
Wouldn't you expect a certain Human sound to it as well?

Okay. Then maybe you should make all the aliens sound exactly the same. Nothing would be more boring than that.

This is a game, not a simulator. And of course one of the main objectives should be to make the aliens feel as alien as possible. One way to acheive this is by alien voices.

Also. Aren't we free to use whatever voices we want in this megamod?
« Last Edit: March 19, 2018, 11:22:03 am by Zanthius » Logged
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Re: The Ur-Quan Masters - questlines finally completely fixed
« Reply #10 on: March 20, 2018, 08:08:39 am »

You do realize the game specifically mentions the universal translator (when you first meet the Orz), right?
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Zanthius
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Re: The Ur-Quan Masters - questlines finally completely fixed
« Reply #11 on: March 20, 2018, 08:17:38 am »

You do realize the game specifically mentions the universal translator (when you first meet the Orz), right?

So what? You don't think there can be different universal translators? Some might even be able to get the pitch to some degree from the aliens.
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Re: The Ur-Quan Masters - questlines finally completely fixed
« Reply #12 on: March 20, 2018, 09:06:57 am »

To a degree, it does.
But I don't expect the translator to make the alien sound like a dog.
Or bubblish because the other speaker is submerged in a liquid.

I still expect the universal translator's output for me to be in a way that is intended for maximum comprehensibility by my Human ears.
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Zanthius
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Re: The Ur-Quan Masters - questlines finally completely fixed
« Reply #13 on: March 20, 2018, 09:17:36 am »

I still expect the universal translator's output for me to be in a way that is intended for maximum comprehensibility by my Human ears.

If you were traveling in outer space, or really trying to communicate with Chinese people, sure. But, as I have said tons of times, this isn't a simulator, but a game. And in a game, such as this one, the objective is to give the players a maximum sense of "Chinese" when they encounter a Chinese person. A universal translator that maximizes comprehensibility reduces the sense of "Chinese" when talking to a Chinese person. This is boring.
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JHGuitarFreak
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Re: The Ur-Quan Masters - questlines finally completely fixed
« Reply #14 on: March 20, 2018, 09:34:43 am »

Then make it better.

Do what people like me and Soul Reaver do and go hands on.

And in a game, such as this one, the objective is to give the players a maximum sense of "Chinese" when they encounter a Chinese person.

So... Like the Shofixti?   Cheesy
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