Virtual Pro Wrestling

[AKI Man]

I know the feeling man. Each time I see Jazz post in this topic, I expect some sort of epicness. How is things going on this guys?

 

[tyser]

how's the hand these days, jazz?

 

[Deleted User]

That was a nearly one year bump. Please don't bump old topics.

 

[jazz]

Sorry for the lack of updates on this save, can't BOlieve it's actually been over a whole year since I posted in it! Needless to say, this was a very ambitious project to begin with, but I didn't count on life throwing so many curve balls my way since-- my hand injury (which never fully healed, I just got to the point where I was sorta good enough and got tired of being jerked around by my insurance and several docs and specialists so I'll live with it for the rest of my life), and eventually my big move abroad (I've been living in China for the last 7 months). Anyway, enough of that, the only thing that matters is, I fully intend to finish this save, no matter how long it takes. The only thing that's changed is that instead of doing one big release, it'll be released in periodic updates as we get stuff done (much like Keson's Shodown save), starting with the first release this winter (late December-ish) with the now almost completed Korakuen Hall and whichever wrestlers are completed by that point.

I'm also happy to announce that both Loco and FTW_Jme were generous enough to let us use some wrestler textures! :hi So a big thanks goes out to both gentlemen, as this will speed up the process of our save, considering the gigantic roster.


I'll start posting some previews in the near future, but before I do so, I need a favor from everyone who's interested in this save: I would like to use button activation using 3-button combination for some arena-related codes but I want to first ensure that these codes will work with most people's controllers. I use a USB adapter and original N64 controller and have had no problems so far, and it has also been tested and confirmed to work on an XBOX360 controller, but I want to know that these codes will work on PS3/third-party USB controllers/whatever you guys use on your PJ64's.

So I'll post a test code here, if any of you guys have a chance to test it in-game, please post your results and what kind of controller you're using.

Basically all you have to do is start a single match, in Raw arena, and try the button combinations below, which affect P1 and P2's spirit depending on location (the same button combination does different things when in-ring and when out of the ring).

<blockquote class='quote\\_blockquote'><dl><dt>Quote:</dt><dd> </dd></dl><div>Activator Test
D00A2621 0000
D115AF32 0001
D1064880 2011
8015AF5F 00FF
D00A2621 0000
D115AF32 0001
D1064880 2012
8015AF5F 0000
D00A2621 0000
D115AF32 0001
D1064880 2014
8015AF5F 00FF
D00A2621 0000
D115AF32 0001
D1064880 2018
8015AF5F 0000
D00A2621 0000
D115AF32 0004
D1064880 2011
8015B2B7 00FF
D00A2621 0000
D115AF32 0004
D1064880 2012
8015B2B7 0000
D00A2621 0000
D115AF32 0004
D1064880 2014
8015B2B7 00FF
D00A2621 0000
D115AF32 0004
D1064880 2018
8015B2B7 0000


In-Ring, Raw Arena only,
Z + R + C-up = P1 No Spirit
Z + R + C-down= P1 Max Spirit
Z + R + C-left = P1 No Spirit
Z + R + C-right = P1 Max Spirit

Outside the Ring, Raw Arena only
Z + R + C-up = P2 No Spirit
Z + R + C-down= P2 Max Spirit
Z + R + C-left = P2 No Spirit
Z + R + C-right = P2 Max Spirit
[/quote]


Thanks in advance!

 

[Wolfpac_69]

this is fantastic thanks for sharing dude how are those awesome arenas coming along?

 

[Deleted User]

Trying this out. This is gonna be awesome.

 

[CalvTheHedgehog]

sosososoososososoososooso pumped. I'm glad you're back, Jazz!

 

[jazz]

First of all, I want to apologize for not getting back to the several requests/collab works/messages I've received-- just when I think my schedule gets eased up there's always other commitments coming up. I'll get back to you guys soon. I only managed to get a couple of days off for Christmas, which I'll be spending, coincidentally, in Japan, though unfortunately this time I won't get to catch any wrestling shows. Anyway, what little free time I've been able to catch here and there, I've been solely focused on getting Korakuen Hall ready to go for the first beta release hopefully at the end of this month or early January at the latest.

Here's some screenshots and info on the release. Everything you see in these previews, unlike everything I had posted before, is already fully working and coded in-game (the rest of the stuff exists only in savestates and notes, or test codes without activators).









Here's some notes:

-The crowd textures (of which are all animated, except for the upper stands for now) are not yet complete, but this might be as far as I get on the first beta. Every row is its own set of textures, so eventually you'll see less duplicates, I created an entirely new save on the side with 50 unique faces and tons of different shirts & outfits, which Jcsix and I will be using to make unique crowd. Another thing that will definitely change is some shadowing will be added later, since the crowd is never fully lit like that-- I just removed the in-game shadowing so I could have control over the shadows.

-The properties will be added before release. The tables are not breakable, but I'll add an optional part so that you can climb on them and do moves on them-- the problem is with the 3D items there now, your character goes right through them, so I'll leave it up to you guys if you want to use that or not. Also, the ringsteps will probably get turned into barricade sections that you can pick up and use as weapons-- don't know if I'll get around to doing on the first release, but it's definitely in the plans. (I don't mean the silver ringsteps in the picture, but the usual ones in the corners, of which the properties are still there even if you reassign those polygons). For now, the silver ringsteps will not be moveable, but you can still whip people into them.

- Because of 812 codes, the arena will not load up properly 100% of the time, but fear not-- just quit the match and go back and select your characters again. I would say it works 80-85% of the time for me, but sometimes you might need to quit the match and select your players again. It's an annoyance, but this is as good as it gets without having to turn on codes in-match and then turn them off, which I find a lot more annoying. With this, you can just leave it on and it works most of the time. BTW, it's easy to tell when things didn't load correctly, because you'll see no crowd-- so that just means, quit match, select again.

- Likewise, the 'rematch' function is not very reliable, so I would just avoid it altogether. Just quit match and select your players again.


- As far as roster, it's a huge roster, but not many wrestlers are done (a lot of movesets are done, but not much in the way of textures)-- JC and I will try to crank out as much stuff as I can for the release, then just release whatever we have at the moment. I just want to get the arena out first and then I'll get to making wrestlers and releasing them in packs. I'm going all out with attire-specific movesets and even adding new slots completely, this is just the tip of the iceberg of what I envision for this save (assuming there's no issues with going over 1000 cheat slots-- I'm currently on 940ish, hopefully it doesn't, haha)

- Cage match and ladder match are not working as of yet, that will be fixed on future releases (because it involves a ton of coding work, basically I have to recode everything I've done here).

-Korakuen Hall takes up the Raw Arena, so none of the other arenas are useable. However, while that sounds limiting, there's a big gain: You'll have a ton of options when it comes to ringmats and ring aprons, via new texture sets available via button activators. Here's what will be available on the beta release:

<blockquote class='quote\\_blockquote'><dl><dt>Quote:</dt><dd> </dd></dl><div>

In-ring:

Z+R+ C-Right= AJPW 1980s
Z+R+ C-Left= AJPW 1970s
Z+R+ C-Up= NOAH 2001
Z+R+ C-Down= WAR Puroresu

Z+L+ C-Right= NJPW 1999
Z+L+ C-Left= NJPW 1999 Black
Z+L+ C-Up= NJPW 1980s
Z+L+ C-Down= NJPW 1994

Ring-Apron:

Z+L+ C-Right= UWF-i 1991
Z+L+ C-left= UWF 1985
Z+L+ C-Up= Pancrase 1996
Z+L+ C-Down= BATTLArts 1997

Z+R+ C-Right= Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi
Z+R+ C-Left= SWS
Z+R+ C-Up= UWA
Z+R+ C-Down= RINGS

Ringside:

Z+R+ C-Right= FMW 1995
Z+R+ C-Left= FMW 1999
Z+R+ C-Up= W*ING
Z+R+ C-Down= BJW 1997

Z+L+ C-Right= Michinoku Pro Wrestling 1996
Z+L+ C-Left= Toryumon
Z+L+ C-Up= JWA
Z+L+ C-Down= CMLL

In-ring resets:
Z+ D-pad Up = Traditional style turnbuckle pads
Z+ D-pad Down= boxing/NJPW style turnbuckle pads
Z+L+D-Pad Left= default black rope color
[/quote]

Basically different button combinations will change your ringmat and ringapron
More arenas will be added, I dumped enough textures for about 50 arenas. I'll probably code them in so you guys can slap on your own custom stuff in the meantime.

There's also 3 resets available: two for switching between the traditional turnbuckle pads (which I've custom shaped, as you can tell from the top pictures) and boxing/NJPW style pads. You can switch between either one no matter what the ringmat, as well as reset them to the original red/white/blue configurations because some texture sets use different colored posts and/or turnbuckle pads. The other reset is for resetting the ropes back to the default black color, because some sets use custom rope colors (FMW 1999 has yellow ropes, and a few other additions will have other colors). These resets are merely button combinations in-ring, no need to restart the match.

OK, I wrote a ton of stuff, this will all get packed up in an FAQ when the beta is release, but I'm sure there will still be people asking questions and stuff, ha. I've worked on and off on this save for like two years, and I'm nowhere near 10% of what I hope to accomplish. I haven't even touched the menus or any of the other arenas, but I just wanted to get this out so people can start playing and I can get some feedback or fix any small issues




PS: let me know if the screenshots work-- Photobucket is blocked here in China, and even through my VPN, sometimes they won't even load. I had no problems uploading and posting them, but when I tried to view the post, they didn't work for me--

 

[Deleted User]

Screenshots work just fine, and they are amazing! Incredible stuff! Playing around with this is surely going to be a joy!

 

[Maximo]

I...I think...I...I'm speechless.

...(Ten Minutes Later)

This is incredible, the art style, the handcrafted 3d models, everything is lined up perfectly and yet the unique oddities give it so much flavor, and the activators working exactly as you intended, incredible.

Edit: I started writing this just before Keson wrote his message.
20 minutes of staring at all the details, that's crazy, its a work of art worthy of a gallery.

 

[AKI Man]

My god Jazz.... Welcome back my friend and thank you for the updates and amazing previews. Speechless is a understatement. Jaw dropping stuff.

 

[Shining Wizard]

Mindblowing. WOW

 

[thejess2000]

Looks amazing - I love the few english translations/hi-res mods of VPW2 that are floating around - this really does look awesome. Myself not being a true modder, but a player of mods (and mover of cheat codes and movesets, etc), I can say take your time on this, but we can't wait to play it.

 

[NMCM]

Jazz welcome back! Nice to see your work again. Happy Holidays!

 

[jazz]

Thanks guys! Rest assured, JC and I are still working on this and still sure to have some release this month.

Here's some previews for now, as I finish up the properties:





There will be a section of the crowd that you can fight into. There's a barricade on the upper north corner that you can remove and use as a weapon (see below), and from then on you can just walk to the pathway and brawl through the crowd, all the way to the back wall, with full properties (that is, you can't walk through the crowd, and you can grab weapons or slam your opponents head on the right barrier). As long as you turn the camera off, and don't mind a small corner of a barricade that has no properties, it'll make do for losing the ability to fight up the ramp or go backstage (for now).

Last but not least, here are some new weapons: barricade piece and barbed wire board. I've also figured out how to make a guitar, but I haven't gotten around to coding it in or texturing it, so that'll be on a later release.


Any other ideas or suggestions for weapons?

 

[Deleted User]

I would make suggestions if my mind could wrap itself around these shots/gameplay previews. This is sooooo exciting!

 

[NMCM]

It's insane what you guys are doing. I'm always amazed with the progress made on this project. I'd love to see a moveable table (sans activators) with properties, if that's possible.

 

[DynamiteTommy]

Amazing! :10 & there is only one thing better than a moveable table NMCM.
. . . FIRE :beavis yeah, fire, fire is cool. If it could be possible a flaming table would be awesome

 

[S.K. Stylez]

Love the Fire Pro references in the crowd lol. WWC, Blade and the Gruesome Fighting logos if I'm not mistaken.

Edit: Looking at it again, it looks like Pride, not Blade.

 

[Tyler Black]

Holy Crap, this is incredible! really looking forward to this. A proper table would be a really great addition to this