Hired Guns Map Viewer

FromWithin · 27 September 2021, 03:48

I have finished my Hired Guns Map Viewer. It lets you fly or walk around any of the maps from the game and a few other test levels that were in the CD32 archive. It's very cool to have open while you're playing the game. It runs in your desktop web browser.

I've put much more time into it than I expected. Have a look. Have a play. Press the [?] button and read a little Psygnosis story. I hope you find it interesting or useful.

https://playcanv.as/b/HiocbhA0/

Cherno · 27 September 2021, 05:56

This is a great asset, very helpful! I read the little Psygnosis story and it's always cool to hear from people who worked on the game in one way or another. It's a bit of a shame that you didn't recognize your own levels but I bet it was still a nice experience remembering the time so long ago.

I am particularly interested in your successful efforts to decode the map structure. I might have use of your knowledge in the near future! Maybe you find the time to document it in detail? My attempts to gain an understanding of the map data were limited to cursory reading of the editor source code files but there was little I could take away from. I started a whole series of remake attempts (that never got very far for various reasons) over the years:

[ Show youtube player ]

Hired Guns: Your memories (plus some fun fan-created stuff!)

Now that the source code has been released and with more programming skills under my belt, I am keen to finally make a HG remaster happen.

UnnamedCourier · 27 September 2021, 12:39

Wow, this is fantastic! Reminds me of that similar site someone made for the Wipeout game maps.
The cut Tree World map (3 player level 4) is really fun to look at through this, shows you how clever the layout was.

FromWithin · 27 September 2021, 15:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cherno

I am particularly interested in your successful efforts to decode the map structure. I might have use of your knowledge in the near future! Maybe you find the time to document it in detail?

Everything required to decode the map files is in the dev archive in MapEditor/HGmapstructure.h.

I just used that and followed a hex dump of one of the map files to see how the structures matched what was in the binary.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cherno

I started a whole series of remake attempts (that never got very far for various reasons) over the years

Looks like you got pretty far to me.

Cherno · 27 September 2021, 16:27

Looks like I got quite a bit of learning ahead of me

I never used a hex editor or did reverse-engineering like this.

UnnamedCourier · 27 September 2021, 17:42

As for the map credits, there is the attached file in the development documents that lists who did all the campaign levels (apparently mostly Scott Johnston).

The game itself also lists the following for the Short action levels:

ANIMAL ENCLOSURE - D. Hally
REACTOR - M. Good
PENITENTIARY - I. Dunlop
STAYING ALIVE - M. Good
GARDEN OF JARRYS - G. Anderson
LEMMING WARS - THE FIRST CHAPTER - G. Anderson
POWER GENERATOR - M. Good
THE ASYLUM - G. Anderson
BIG CHEESE - G. Anderson
ESCAPE TO DEATH - M. Good
BAT MOBILE - S. Johnston
TREE WORLD - I. Dunlop
BUCKMINSTER PARK CARBON DATING AGENCY - G. Anderson
LEISURE CENTRE - S. Hammond
SKELETAL HALL - D. Hally
URBAN DEVELOPMENT CENTRE - S. Hammond
GRAVEYARD SHOPPING MALL - M. Good
LEMMING WARS - CHAPTER TWO - G. Anderson

So it doesn't look like anything is credited to you, unfortunately @FromWithin.
There are a few that the author is not known, like the training and demo levels, and the mysterious "travellers rest" level (map22).
Also if you didn't already know, there are five more levels for the game in the directory HGCD32/ScottMaps.lha in the development files, all created by Martin Good.

FromWithin · 27 September 2021, 18:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by UnnamedCourier

So it doesn't look like anything is credited to you, unfortunately @FromWithin.
There are a few that the author is not known, like the training and demo levels, and the mysterious "travellers rest" level (map22).

Yes, each multiplayer map has a named credit in the text description that you can see in the Map Viewer when you click on the map, but I didn't seen that complete list before. I don't really understand why I have a credit in the game for level design if nothing of mine was used. Especially because Chris Graham, who was also creating maps alongside me didn't receive a credit. The truth is likely lost to time unless any of the DMA guys remember anything. I can't remember who it was from DMA that came down to our office to give us the editor.

Quote:

Originally Posted by UnnamedCourier

Also if you didn't already know, there are five more levels for the game in the directory HGCD32/ScottMaps.lha in the development files, all created by Martin Good.

I might as well add them in then.

gimbal · 28 September 2021, 10:09

That's quite impressive. I'd never heard of Playcanvas, quite cool that they also host your stuff.

FromWithin · 28 September 2021, 15:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by gimbal

That's quite impressive. I'd never heard of Playcanvas, quite cool that they also host your stuff.

I'm more comfortable using Unreal, but I wanted something online so that it can be accessed instantly by anyone rather than having to download something. I searched for a while to see what the options were and PlayCanvas seemed like the best.

With a free account, they host it but the project must remain public so that anyone can see the source and assets.

It's quite a good system. The entity/component system is very similar to Unity except that everything is Javascript.

gimbal · 28 September 2021, 15:53

By the looks of it Typescript is supported... that would make the experience a little less aggravating.

FromWithin · 29 September 2021, 20:02

I think it's very interesting that without the viewer, you would never have any idea that a level looked like this:

UnnamedCourier · 30 September 2021, 13:09

Yeah, there's a meta gag there the vast majority of players would never have got - the level's called "Buckminster park carbon dating agency" and you can see from the viewer it's actually a big "Bucky ball". It's pretty much impossible to see this in-game.

It's kind of a shame to see the level of detail and thought put into a lot of levels in that 99% of players will have never seen the actual layout! There's a lot of effort put into making maps into distinctive or realistic places with the tools that were available, but because you can't look up/down and the limited draw distance, few would have noticed it.

The second campaign map (cave system) is also really nicely naturalistic in how it flows. Kind of proto Minecraft.

27 September 2021, 03:48	#1
FromWithin Music lord Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Liverpool, UK Age: 50 Posts: 630	Hired Guns Map Viewer now available I have finished my Hired Guns Map Viewer. It lets you fly or walk around any of the maps from the game and a few other test levels that were in the CD32 archive. It's very cool to have open while you're playing the game. It runs in your desktop web browser. I've put much more time into it than I expected. Have a look. Have a play. Press the [?] button and read a little Psygnosis story. I hope you find it interesting or useful. https://playcanv.as/b/HiocbhA0/ Last edited by FromWithin; 27 September 2021 at 16:48.

29 September 2021, 20:02	#11
FromWithin Music lord Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Liverpool, UK Age: 50 Posts: 630	I think it's very interesting that without the viewer, you would never have any idea that a level looked like this: Attached Thumbnails

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27 September 2021, 05:56	#2
Cherno Registered User Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Dortmund, Germany Posts: 1,054	This is a great asset, very helpful! I read the little Psygnosis story and it's always cool to hear from people who worked on the game in one way or another. It's a bit of a shame that you didn't recognize your own levels but I bet it was still a nice experience remembering the time so long ago. I am particularly interested in your successful efforts to decode the map structure. I might have use of your knowledge in the near future! Maybe you find the time to document it in detail? My attempts to gain an understanding of the map data were limited to cursory reading of the editor source code files but there was little I could take away from. I started a whole series of remake attempts (that never got very far for various reasons) over the years: [ Show youtube player ] Hired Guns: Your memories (plus some fun fan-created stuff!) Now that the source code has been released and with more programming skills under my belt, I am keen to finally make a HG remaster happen.

27 September 2021, 12:39	#3
UnnamedCourier Registered User Join Date: Jul 2020 Location: UK Posts: 76	Wow, this is fantastic! Reminds me of that similar site someone made for the Wipeout game maps. The cut Tree World map (3 player level 4) is really fun to look at through this, shows you how clever the layout was.

27 September 2021, 16:27	#5
Cherno Registered User Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Dortmund, Germany Posts: 1,054	Looks like I got quite a bit of learning ahead of me I never used a hex editor or did reverse-engineering like this.

28 September 2021, 10:09	#8
gimbal cheeky scoundrel Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Spijkenisse/Netherlands Age: 42 Posts: 6,908	That's quite impressive. I'd never heard of Playcanvas, quite cool that they also host your stuff.

28 September 2021, 15:53	#10
gimbal cheeky scoundrel Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Spijkenisse/Netherlands Age: 42 Posts: 6,908	By the looks of it Typescript is supported... that would make the experience a little less aggravating.

30 September 2021, 13:09	#12
UnnamedCourier Registered User Join Date: Jul 2020 Location: UK Posts: 76	Yeah, there's a meta gag there the vast majority of players would never have got - the level's called "Buckminster park carbon dating agency" and you can see from the viewer it's actually a big "Bucky ball". It's pretty much impossible to see this in-game. It's kind of a shame to see the level of detail and thought put into a lot of levels in that 99% of players will have never seen the actual layout! There's a lot of effort put into making maps into distinctive or realistic places with the tools that were available, but because you can't look up/down and the limited draw distance, few would have noticed it. The second campaign map (cave system) is also really nicely naturalistic in how it flows. Kind of proto Minecraft.

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