Unused graphics

Crowley · Post by **Crowley** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 12:03 pm

While poking around in ExultStudio for my modding lately I have come across some interesting bits that at least I do not remember seeing used anywhere in the games. The haul so far:

Guards in Black Gate have frames for blowing into a trumpet, which occupies the slots normally used for spellcasting gestures.

Also in Black Gate there is a separate shape for flying gargoyles, which is not used anywhere.

Serpent Isle has paperdoll graphics for a red cloak with glowing red edges. I have no idea what this might be for.

agentorangeguy · Post by **agentorangeguy** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 12:08 pm

There are loads of this kind of stuff... like have you ever seen that wierd funky portrait in SI where some kind of creature is giving you the middle finger? Strange

Crowley · Post by **Crowley** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 3:49 pm

Another one I remembered: Shape 484 in Black Gate has grating-style bars which are used in the game, but also two different horizontal and one set of vertical bars I've never seen.

Scythifuge · Post by **Scythifuge** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 5:00 pm

There are frames (14, 15, 10, 31) for the shop keeper (#455) that depict him using a rag in a wiping motion that I never saw in the pc version, but witnessed in the snes version.

agentorangeguy · Post by **agentorangeguy** » Fri Nov 20, 2009 5:11 pm

I saw that last night and wondered what it was... I wonder if that could be implemented into the Tend Shop or Waiter schedule types?

Scythifuge · Post by **Scythifuge** » Sat Nov 21, 2009 7:09 am

Oops, I meant frame 30, not 10

Post by **marzo** » Sat Nov 21, 2009 1:56 pm

The wiping motion has been frequently brought up as a possibility for implementation. Sadly, it cannot be done -- when the character faces south or east, the wiping hand will be obscured by the counter it is supposed to wipe.

Crowley · Post by **Crowley** » Tue Dec 01, 2009 7:13 pm

Here's a strange one. Shapes 360 and 361 (signs) have a frame that resembles a big trifurcate cherry to me. I have absolutely no idea what place a sign like that might indicate.

Crowley · Post by **Crowley** » Tue Dec 01, 2009 7:45 pm

Not really unused, but interesting: Draxinosum's is the only winged gargoyle shape to have separate frames for using two-handed weapons. Were they planning on making him a potential party member at some point?

Post by **marzo** » Wed Dec 02, 2009 12:06 am

Re: Draxinosum joining party: not necessarily; Jaana, for example, only has one set of attack frames.

Scythifuge · Post by **Scythifuge** » Wed Dec 02, 2009 4:36 am

Though 360 and 361 aren't used, I used them to study the spheres for my Nahuatla tomato plants...

I'm almost tempted to scour the S.I. shapes for unused stuff.

Jayson · Post by **Jayson** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 2:07 pm

>Author: Marzo Sette Torres Junior
>Date: 11-21-09 14:56

>The wiping motion has been frequently brought up as a possibility for
>implementation. Sadly, it cannot be done -- when the character faces south
>or east, the wiping hand will be obscured by the counter it is supposed to
>wipe.

Could this not be fixed by changing the z-positioning of the merchant? Like creating a small step behind the south and east bar (or table), so that the hand is slightly higher.

Post by **marzo** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 7:22 pm

It would take more than one step up for it to work; it would depend on the table, but at least about 2 steps up would be needed.

Crowley · Post by **Crowley** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 7:53 pm

And I think with that kind of elevation the average house wouldn't have enough headroom for anyone to actually step up to the table.

Browncoat Jayson · Post by **Browncoat Jayson** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 10:27 pm

Probably true, but who would put a barkeep in an average house? As long as you knew you would need an extra two step tall room for an inn or shop, there shouldn't be any real issues. Other than remembering to actually put the steps in place.

Wizardry Dragon · Post by **Wizardry Dragon** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 10:47 pm

Marzo: That sounds rather hackish, why not just "grab" the copy of the sprite in memory and make sure it gets drawn last?

Wizardry Dragon

Post by **marzo** » Mon Dec 07, 2009 11:41 pm

I didn't propose the hack, I was just stating that it would not work as it was described. But now that I think about it, it would probably not work either way -- the hand would be either floating mid-air or it would cause the entire bartender to be drawn over the table, instead of under it.

Crowley · Post by **Crowley** » Wed May 05, 2010 12:48 pm

And more thread necromancy as the result of me resuming my modding activities.

Shape 301 in Serpent Isle is a magical barrier which I don't remember ever seeing in the game. It is horizontal, transparent blue and wavy.

Shape 649 also in Serpent Isle contains several different items as frames broadly labeled "artifacts". These include among other things the items of principles and the Comb of Beauty. However, there is also one called the cat's eye stone. The name suggests that this may have been part of the cut Claw Island concept.

Post by **marzo** » Thu May 06, 2010 12:20 am

Shape 301 in Serpent Isle is a magical barrier which I don't remember ever seeing in the game.

Nevertheless, it is there. Check the entrance of the Castle of the White Dragon anytime before you have to face the banes. Also, the entrance to the main keep of Shamino's castle is blocked by those until you use the hound to track Batlin. There are probably others, but those are the ones I remember off the top of my head.

You are correct about the cat's eye stone, though; it doesn't seem to be used anywhere.

Crowley · Post by **Crowley** » Thu May 06, 2010 12:24 am

That would explain it then. I've never tried going into the castle before the plot calls for that.

TDI · Post by **TDI** » Thu May 06, 2010 2:42 pm

>The wiping motion has been frequently brought up as a possibility for
>implementation. Sadly, it cannot be done -- when the character faces south
>or east, the wiping hand will be obscured by the counter it is supposed to
>wipe.

You know, this could still be implemented. What's wrong with having this animation only when the NPC is standing south or east of a table (facing north and west correspondigly)?

Then put a new book in the game, providing some background on the terrible things that happend to bartenders cleaning their tables facing south or east and, voila! We have superstitious, table wiping bartenders.

torgus dragon · Post by **torgus dragon** » Thu May 06, 2010 8:27 pm

Do it.

ladychaos · Post by **ladychaos** » Sat May 08, 2010 1:47 am

Re: Shapes 360 and 361 - - Might that be a sign for a pawn shop? (If you do a web image search for "pawn shop symbol" you'll see what I mean...)

Crowley · Post by **Crowley** » Sat May 08, 2010 8:06 am

Interesting. I had no idea about that pawn shop sign. A quick internet search turns up the information that it derives from the coat of arms of the Medici family, which has five or six red spheres depending on the version. And the game does lack places where you can sell equipment.

agentorangeguy · Post by **agentorangeguy** » Tue Nov 09, 2010 6:29 pm

Just found a few unused graphics that weren't mentioned here. If you look at the beggar (the legless guy), he has a few frames where he is begging for coins and is holding up a cup. Never knew that was there..

Crowley · Post by **Crowley** » Fri Dec 17, 2010 1:03 pm

Another bit of paperdoll graphics I spotted is number 23 in Serpent Isle. It looks like chain boots, or maybe socks would be a more appropriate term. However, there is no such item to be found in the actual game.

Lavacopter · Post by **Lavacopter** » Fri Feb 18, 2011 6:08 pm

I've been going through and compiling all the unused graphics, does anyone here know for sure whether or not these are used?

for Black Gate:

952 unused shape for the Ferryman?

998 5-6 red hot horseshoe and horseshoe fragments?

for Serpent Isle:

209 16 gold y-shape

244 2 mysterious cat skull

262 0 serpent faith symbol

292 17 cat's head throne

292 20 a rock you can sit on

330 18 SS serpent rune

361 7 other view of Sleeping Bull sign

467 4 glowing magic plant

467 5 catnip

479 3 broken gwani amulet

490 1-2 Dupre's shield wallhanging

577 6 Dave the glowing pink egg

578 1 spiked shield sideways wallhanging

727 0-1 large dream crystal, whole and broken

727 2 mirror rock

821 7 sideways ruined painting

854 13 cat statue with offering bowl

854 14 sideways cat statue

910 24 yellow glowing wall

Plus how many of the characters actually use those big spell casting sprites? Lord British has a shiny new set, but he doesn't even have a spell!
I tried punching a bunch of mages in the face, but they didn't use them. Are they used in any cutscenes? I can't remember.

Crowley · Post by **Crowley** » Tue Mar 01, 2011 12:09 am

The cat stuff probably has to do with cut content relating to Claw island.

Crowley · Post by **Crowley** » Tue Mar 08, 2011 12:39 pm

One I noticed recently is shape 312 in Serpent Isle, named "ghoul", and it appears to be a child. Creepy.

Crowley · Post by **Crowley** » Mon May 09, 2011 4:25 pm

Looks like there is an actual spritesheet for the Ferryman in U7 (shape 952). It doesn't have any frames for physical attacks, but it does for spellcasting, which is also the frames included for liches. The Ferryman you encounter on the ferry is a different shape, 155, which has only one frame. As such, it isn't really a full NPC but rather an object that is set to run the conversation script when you use it, like the time barrier or enchanted hourglass.

agentorangeguy · Post by **agentorangeguy** » Tue May 10, 2011 10:03 pm

the ghoul shape you encounter in the upper left room of the WHite Dragon castle in SI, as one of Mad Iolo's traps (I think i twas him). It is the creepy nursery room, and they come at you.

Crowley · Post by **Crowley** » Tue Nov 15, 2011 9:06 pm

Here's an interesting one (at least for me):

Black Gate has graphics for a fancy version of the well, water trough, anvil, firepit and bellows. These are darker in color and most have brass-colored ornaments. Firepit and bellows only work together if they are of the same kind, but well tops and bottoms are interchangeable. Given the common denominator here, I wonder who was supposed to have a fancy forge? Erethian?

Crowley · Post by **Crowley** » Tue Nov 15, 2011 9:11 pm

Oh dammit, that is exactly what Erethian's forge uses. Silly me.

Crowley · Post by **Crowley** » Wed Nov 16, 2011 10:12 pm

To make up for that blunder, here's some more valid finds, from Serpent Isle:

Shape 450 contains as different frames a bunch of orbs, including the ones used for the lightning experiment, the Orb of Elerion and the four orbs you collect in Silver Seed. On the unused side there is a yellow "ball of magical energy" and a blue "orb of regeneration", the latter of which comes in full and empty varieties. These graphics were recycled for the yellow and blue Silver Seed orbs.

Shape 557 has the penguin nests and eggs. And a glowing pink egg named Dave. Er, what?

agentorangeguy · Post by **agentorangeguy** » Thu Nov 17, 2011 9:33 pm

Huh... never noticed that. SI has a lot of very odd things. LIke the portrait of the weird alien dude giving the middle finger????

Crowley · Post by **Crowley** » Wed Nov 23, 2011 7:35 pm

The locked chest shape in Serpent Isle (522) includes a frame with a green glowing lock. Maybe they planned to bring back magically locked chests at some point?

agentorangeguy · Post by **agentorangeguy** » Thu Nov 24, 2011 8:12 pm

HMM i think i've seen that before. I wonder if it functions? I could use that for the U6 mod since black gate didn't have anything for magically locked chests. Have you played with the magic locked chests yet to see if it functions?

Crowley · Post by **Crowley** » Wed Nov 30, 2011 6:33 pm

Nope, unlock magic doesn't affect it. Chests and doors work in different ways anyway when it comes to locking. Doors have locked (both normal and magical) frames, which are substituted for unlocked frames when they are unlocked. Chests instead have different shapes for locked and unlocked versions. When you unlock a chest, it is substituted with a different shape (contents carry over between shapes). Introducing magically locked chests would require at least partial rewriting of the Unlock Magic spell.

Getting back to graphics I noticed, in the same vein as aforementioned horn-blowing guards and wiping shopkeepers, the jesters have juggling frames in the same spot.

Another thing I noticed is that shape 244 in Serpent Isle, which has a few different skulls as frames, contains a "mysterious cat skull". Probably another leftover from the planned Claw Isle content.

Scythifuge · Post by **Scythifuge** » Thu Dec 01, 2011 12:29 am

The wiping shopkeeper is used in the SNES version of Ultima VII.

agentorangeguy · Post by **agentorangeguy** » Thu Dec 01, 2011 9:45 pm

If you can bear to play such an awful game

Scythifuge · Post by **Scythifuge** » Fri Dec 02, 2011 1:23 am

No doubt! I noticed the shopkeeper wiping the tables when I was studying the SNES version's sprites.

Crowley · Post by **Crowley** » Fri Dec 02, 2011 9:57 am

It's bizarre how... snarky the Guardian is in that version. Killing sheep will get him to say something like "Baaaaaaaad Avatar!" and inserting the prisms into the pedestals around the Black Gate results in him congratulating the Avatar for his grasp on basic geometry.

The cross-legged sitting levitating Avatar is cool, though.

Scythifuge · Post by **Scythifuge** » Fri Dec 02, 2011 4:31 pm

The cross-legged Avatar inspires me to figure out a way to have the Eodon natives sit that way on the ground or mats. NPC's that sit on their knees in places like the Tichticatl market place would be cool too.

Post by **Dominus** » Fri Dec 02, 2011 4:46 pm

If these NPCs sit only there or in this fashion, you could just replace their sitting frames. Will be interesting to see how those sit on chairs though

Scythifuge · Post by **Scythifuge** » Fri Dec 02, 2011 6:52 pm

I suppose certain NPCs would have different frames, depending on their roles.

The Nahuatla merchant would always have a knee-sitting frame, sitting that way on a mat in the marketplace & perhaps a mat at their home. Kuraks would only sit cross legged with no chairs in their village, & so on.

Or perhaps Exult could one day be modded for different sitting frames depending on the seat being used...

agentorangeguy · Post by **agentorangeguy** » Mon Jan 16, 2012 3:54 pm

Adding to Crowley's thread some unused objects I came across in the shapes.vga of Serpents' Isle:

frames 2 & 3 of shape 914 - urn

urn - 'pot of unguent'
urn - 'pot of unguent'

Hmm... was this supposed to be just some extra decorations or were they meant to be something?

Crowley · Post by **Crowley** » Thu Dec 20, 2012 2:45 pm

While looking over the naga frames to use as basis for coatlicue in the Savage Empire mod, I noticed they have sitting frames. Seems like a somewhat bizarre thing for them to have.

Crowley · Post by **Crowley** » Mon Dec 31, 2012 10:11 pm

Shape #379 in Black Gate is the kind of sign which has writing on it. This includes a frame which reminds me of a wanted poster. Also there are two diagonal direction signs, which I do not remember seeing used in the game.