Splatterhouse: Remastered

Splatterhouse, developed by BottleRocket, Namco Bandai and the Afro Samurai dev team, is probably one of the few games to go through as much developer hell and still work out as something decent. Sure it's not everyone's cup of tea, but it's still a great enough game for what it was and a fun excursion. It also has only about half its intended content still attached to it, and an awful lot still left on the disk. Not to mention a fare share of bugs, and references to events that don't happen (like the fact 5 eclipses are mentioned yet #4 missed the boat).

This is a mod to restore said content and heavily improve upon it.

What's been done:
-Re-integration of the cut photographs and related audio clips for them.
-Re-integration of DLC-based survival levels as they were originally intended, including their related photo pieces and fixing the missing "Wave 5" reference in a few of them.
-Partial restoration of the game's I-Beam weapon and related aniimations.
-Mirror Rick's severed arm and the robo-ape neckpin have also been restored, and added to survival arena weapon lineups.
-Restoration of the double jump, new unlockable to replace Splatter Siphon's unlock.
-Splatter Siphon itself is now always unlocked. The upgrade screen will also be readily available letting you browse through abilities with better control.
-Restoration of attacks to footsoldier enemies, summoners (aka Aegis) and zombie clowns, including evasion techniques.
-Restoration of original opening area to level 4-2, and related enemies therein.
-Restoration of original opening scene to 4-1, including cut cutscene.
-Restoration of heavy amounts of dialogue to various levels such as 2-2, 4-1, 4-2, and so forth.
-Restoration of Spitter battle in 3-1 and several other enemy placements to increase level variety.
-Partial restoration of several splatterkills, including 3 for footsoldiers, 2 for Morlocks, and 1 for faceless (superdemon and zombie jennifer variants only).
-Additional masks, including the PS3 variant and the cut original "Mirror Rick" head design.
-Improved load times.
-Restoration of varied loading screens to reduce mindless repetition.
-Restored several cut attacks and grapples.
-Bug fixes up the wazzoo.

TODO:
-Restore levels 6-1 and 6-2. The files are readily available but still a bit of a mess and need to be re-coded to work them back into the game. These levels, otherwise known as the islands, will take place between The Wicker Bride (5-2) and Blood Eclipse (7-2). Related dialogue is readily available, and original 5-2's design can serve to flesh level out further.
-Restoration of cutscene to 4-2 regarding Mirror Rick's intentions.
-Restoration of Wickerman boss to 5-2, or at the very least repurpose it as an enemy of some sort.
-Restoration of cut level sections to 7-1 and 7-2, including a proper boss fight for the Overlord and a proper alternate finale.
-Re-integration of cut level design elements from the earlier beta that never appeared in the final, including animation and puzzle elements.
-Restoration of missing cutscenes that add level variety to the game, including reactions to the doll earlier in the level and the poltergeist on the whole.
-Restore remaining usable cut attacks, including removed weak attack chain.
-Finishing up restored content that's incomplete. Biggest one right now is fixing the photograph menu, which was designed to not hold more photos originally and as a result the scrolling 'breaks' when you exceed that amount. The menu is made in flash, so this should reasonably be fixable once I get to sitting down with it. Similar will be an issue with restoring 6-1 and 6-2 as it stands.

DISTRIBUTION:
-This is designed in mind to work with the official game's release, meaning with the exception of deleting filedb.bin from the original game, you can drag and drop these files onto there, overwriting the old ones to complete the game and play it from the getgo.
-Obviously, this will not work on a retail console that isn't modded. There isn't a workaround for that as far as I'm aware yet.
-An ISO release is not planned in any form until the game is completed, and to ensure enough time so that the original is completely off the market. Such distribution will be off-site and handled through the usual manners.
-A PS3 version is not planned at this time.

SCREENSHOTS:








WHAT'S NEEDED:
Right now, I have just about all I need to keep working on this project; even soundbanks are no longer an issue. However, NIF files, the model data that makes up the characters and levels, eludes me, and this is more of a must than anything to fix things like textures loading incorrectly in 4-1's restored areas due to a bad shader to the 'grafted' doorway that got spliced onto 4-2. Nifscope currently does not support the game and does not appear to have any intention of doing so, making this more of a problem.
-As noted above, the menus will need fixing. They were done in scaleform, meaning they're just basic flash, and while I can edit their scripts their structures are another matter.
-Someone with familiarity in 3D animating. While most of the animations are available, there is room to add a few more and some things, like the desired cutscene for 4-2, will need them.
-Feedback. Don't really mind if you haven't got a clue how to help, but at least bounce ideas and suggestions at some of the things that'll get mentioned in this thread in due time. It'll help.

SPECIAL THANKS TO:
-The developers that took their time out to respond to my queries regarding this. While I can't thank you in person due to NDAs, I do owe a lot to you folks.
-G0dlike and Bunny, who both helped provide beta content for this to build from and pushed it way ahead of where it otherwise might've ended.

So there it is...thoughts?

 

looks great!

 

outstanding, will try it out when i get time

 

Funny enough, I though the new Splatterhouse was canned way back around the time something popped up on here. Now I want to go out & nab a copy.

This looks like a big project to undertake, & I love what seems to be a healthy ambition along with actual details about what you did. Keep it up, & hopefully you'll be able to get a satisfactory experience from further tinkering, & hope you can work out some of the kinks.

 

Nice! Nice to see you had a lot of the support from the developers too =O

 

Very nice!

 

wow this looks awesome. i cant wait to play the islands. this game got such a crap deal. it was a great reboot to the series that sadly never got the credit it deseved. super happy to see what you have done with this remastered version oh by the way will this work on a pal version of the game ?

 

Love the game, had it on pre-order for the 360 , never regretted it...
but where is this patch? Don't see any link, would love to test it on my JTAG

edit: I seem to remember an old promotional video circulating, it was quite different than what we got... are these assets present at some form in the retail data?

 

I own the Asian veriosn of this game and love it. I've never finished it though. The last boss was just too anoying for me to bother with it. I would love to see this patch in action though but that means buying a modded 360 too

 

Sorry, been busy for awhile. Breakdown on everything:
-This should work perfectly fine on the PAL version, the file formats aren't different from one region to the next. Biggest hassle will be making sure the new text strings will be translated properly from one language to the next.
-Download link's on hold until I can get what I have built in here congealed more, there's a lot of half-working things that I know need some polishing, and other bits I want to set up groundwork for before I unleash them.

So here's what's going on:
-Right now polishing up the splatterkills for enemies. The collision they use from their model data is different than what Rick uses, so getting the kills to 'fail' will take a bit more work.
-From there, going to go through each enemy and polish up the enemy movesets, make sure nothing from the betas that can't be reused and whatever needs polishing. The aegis' entire restored moveset for example needs some sound and some visuals.
-Add a few more varieties of enemy based off existing ones. Two are planned: 'infested' zombies and 'sentinel' footsoldiers.
-Clean up Rick's moveset. Doublejump replacing Splatter Siphon unlock on the skill upgrade screen, additionally intermediate combo moves, etc.
-Finish up remaining splatterkills, and tidy up presentation of them where possible.
-Build islands level. Since I can't edit the nif files themselves (not for lack of trying, just no interested parties looking into it save for one that never responded), only half of the level's files can actually *be* used. The rest use placeholder graphics that can't be easily hidden without modding the file itself. However we do have the opening layout up until the first upward climb, and bits of levels cut from existing stages (like a whole blood soaked side scrolling area originally meant for 7-1, and the furniture boss's original room) will help flesh this out. Between working on the rest I'm going to be mapping this out on paper to make sure it works right. There will be only one added level when all is said and done, but in the end that still works out well enough for these purposes.
-Restore elements to cut levels or cut elements of those levels. There's a lot scattered all over: the doll appearing randomly in the background to taunt the player while just out of sight, the chapel interior, etc. Most of this is back in, but there's still a significant amount to play with.
-Upgrading the existing bosses. The furniture boss wasn't originally supposed to be such a wuss, Biggy could call on minions, the ape boss used jump attacks, etc. Leonora, Thule (the boss of the new level) and the Overlord will get heavily expanded upon this way as a result. There are ideas on what to do with them (i.e. letting Leonora take on Master Dead's old role, but in this case sending two constantly-reviving Wickermen to make your life hell), and I would like to give the game an alternate ending, but this'll take some time.

Other than the already mentioned nif-model problem, I could use help on two other fronts: an animator familiar with havok 5.5, and someone that has familiarity with scaleform menus (flash based; I can edit the scripts, but adding new mention sections isn't working out as well). Both aspects push come to shove I can learn myself if need be, but if anyone with those skills can help I'd like to collaborate.

And speaking of splatterkills...warning: long images
Morlock - Multismash
Footsoldier - Headpop

 

from what you have just posted it really sounds like you are putting a ton of effort into this dude. i wish i knew a way to help and id offer assistance. would it be possible for you to post a pic of what the island level looks like at the moment ? id love to see how it looks even with the placeholder graphics. keep up the good work mate

 

yep , same here... can't really help but wait patiently to try it...
keep up the good work Kung Fu Man !

 

This is going to be awesome.

 

Man, if only there was a PC version of this game that had been released. Would've made modding it that much more easier/wide spread

 

This is...terrific! Bravo!

Man, this is a dream...
Since 2010 looking for someone who care about this betas...

Im not alone!
You madr may day, my week, year...

 

I am beyond excited for this. Truly phenominal work you've done.

 

Some screenshots:

Working on the jump node attack for Experiment 765. The coding is a *mess*, but I should be able to recycle the coding from the Morlocks and Rick himself to fix him up. He clings to the vent pipes above West's observation window when he uses it.

Zombie Rip Apart splatterkill. It has a fully-working fail animation (it rolls away from Rick sideways) but other than that the lower body is still reversed from how it should appear, making it a pain in the ass. Once I get the animation for the legs mirrored though I should be able to fix this and Biggy's grab as well.

Also, going to restore the boss music for him if I can. Blood and Thunder by Mastodon is nice and all, but he has his own far superior music, don't you think?

Other than that been doing some overhaul work on 3-2, it didn't need a lot but many lines of dialogue have been restored, a trap at the opening put back in and functional and a few bits worked back in.

I'm still after the original beta Dulledblade had though...there are many, MANY bits in there hopefully like 'clawface', the shanty towns and so forth that I can work back into here and bulk things up moreso. Sorry for the delays in reply, just been a busy year for me.

 

wow, thanks for the update! Now I really can't wait to play the restored version keep up the good work Kung Fu Man !!!

 

Managed to fix up Experiment 765 (the robo-ape) in his entirety. To give you an idea on the extent of the changes and fixes:
-Grab attack fixed: camera will no longer freak out, struggle animation will now synch up properly, and will not spring back up from the ground immediately if you fail it. I'm certain at this point boss grabs weren't tested worth a tinker's damn at this point (case in point, they missed the fact they overwrote Rick's grapple animations with Biggy with those for Mirror Rick )
-Jump node attack fully restored, with fx and sound. Will use it on rounds 2 and 3 of the battle, and does massive damage upon landing if it hits. If it does hit you, he'll charge with either a grab attempt or if he's recently grabbed a swipe attack. Two jump nodes added to the arena as well.
-Grab attack will now track usage properly, and won't pop up so frequently.
-Boss-specific mask dialogue restored. Will now comment when you attack 765 with a splatterkill, and when the arena fence goes down.
-Original boss music restored to him. Blood and Thunder by Mastodon will get repurposed for the Wickerman boss once he's finished back in.
-All in all, he won't be quite the pushover he was before.

But yeah biggest problem is getting time for this. You fix something, test, refix, test, etc. I really need to knuckle down and get a devkit, but it's still making headway.

 

congrats!! hit me up if you need me to test it out