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Syndicate Wars (DOS)
Syndicate Wars |
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Developer: Bullfrog Productions
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Syndicate Wars is the sequel to Syndicate, if you couldn't tell already.
Contents
Sub-Page
Prototype Info |
Prerelease Info |
Notes |
Unused Graphics
The final game contains the following cut interface graphics in its files. These can be seen in early pre-release screenshots of the game.
Public Access Network icon
Icons for something called the "Public Access Network" that was cut from the finished game. Would go at the bottom of the screen in the menus, between the System and Map icons. Above are unselected and selected versions. As with other icons in the game, it would animate when moused over. In the PlayStation version's Symbols file there are leftovers for a command called "next_panet_item". Presumably the Public Access Network would be some kind of in-game internet/BBS system for progressing plot elements at some point. There is also a cut in-game objective to use the PAN, as outlined in the cut Objectives section below.
Map Screen Cursor
It's not 100% clear what this is, but based on a pre-release screenshot and the placement of the image in the files, it seems this was originally what the mouse cursor would turn into on the map screen.
Unknown Icon
These are seen in pre-release screenshots. They combine to form a kind of S shape, and are positioned to the middle right of the screen of all menus. It's unknown what they would do or lead to.
Objective Icons
It's not known what these were for, but they can be found with the icons used for the main menu UI. They seem to represent various mission objectives (eliminate, persuade, collect bullion, etc), so possibly they were intended for mission briefings, or even some kind of editor icons.
Unused Sounds
The following unused speech samples can be found next to the samples used for in-game interface messages (like the "selected" message for choosing a weapon). Oddly these ones seem to use a different voice actor to the rest. It's not clear what they were for:
Sample | Message |
---|---|
"Got Control" | |
"Converted" |
Cut Weapons
The main executable contains unseen text that lists all of the weapons, including early/development names for the final game weapons, and also lists otherwise cut weapons. Their order seems to match that of how the weapons are stored in the final game. As such they can be compared to the final game weapons list as below:
Weapon Slot | Development Weapon/Name | Final Game Weapon/Name |
---|---|---|
0 | Uzi | Uzi |
1 | Minigun | Minigun |
2 | Laser | Pulse Laser |
3 | Electric Laser | Electron Mace |
4 | RAP | Launcher |
5 | Nuclear Grenade | Nuclear Grenade |
6 | Persuadertron | Persuadertron |
7 | Flamer | Flamer |
8 | Hand2Hand Taser | Disrupter |
9 | Crazy Gas | Psycho Gas |
10 | Knockout Gas | Knockout Gas |
11 | Electric Mine | Ion Mine |
12 | Explosive Mine | High Explosive |
13 | Napalm Mine | Nothing |
14 | Long Range | LR Rifle |
15 | Air Strike | Satellite Rain |
16 | Beam | Plasma Lance |
17 | Razor Wire | Razor Wire |
18 | Sonic Blast | Nothing |
19 | Q DEVASTATOR | Graviton Gun |
20 | PERSUADERTRON2 | Persuadertron II |
21 | Stasis Field | Stasis Field |
22 | Energy Shield | Nothing |
23 | Soul Gun | Chromotap |
24 | Time Gun | Displacertron |
25 | Cerebus IFF | Cerberus IFF |
26 | medi 1 | Medikit |
27 | medi 2 | Automedikit |
28 | EXPLODE Wire | Trigger Wire |
29 | Clone Shield | Clone Shield |
30 | Nothing/Uzi | |
31 | Nothing/Minigun |
- The Taser is interesting as it is mentioned in the prerelease press release so was clearly considered a significant weapon at some point. It's also said to be a "shield-piercing" weapon there, and from the list above a "hand2hand" weapon, so presumably would have short range like the Persuadertron. Going by the list above it seems the Taser became the Disruptor (which has a very taser-esque look to it), but which has a very different effect as it's not really a weapon, it only de-persuades civilians.
- It's unknown what the Sonic Blast would be. If hacked into the game via editing level file loadouts, it appears with the Launcher icon, but does not zoom the screen out like the Launcher does. It cannot be fired. Equipping it causes the game to play the menu exit sound.
- According to a pre-release article in C+VG magazine, the Graviton gun was originally called the "Quantum Devastator", hence "Q DEVASTATOR" above.
- The Napalm Mine is also mentioned in the press release, so again it must have been considered a significant weapon at some point. If hacked into the game via editing level file loadouts, it appears with the Ion Mine icon. No actual munitions are loaded, so it cannot be used. Equipping it causes the game to play the normal "explosive" sample.
- Satellite Rain was originally called "Air Strike", as per the weapon introduced in the original Syndicate: American Revolt expansion.
- According to the above text the Energy Shield from the original Syndicate seemingly was planned as an item. Likely scrapped in favour of the permanent shield system invoked by clicking on the weapon energy bar.
It's not possible to research the cut items if hacked into a saved game, they simply appear as empty spaces in the research screen that cannot be clicked on. If they are hacked to be have research completed they simply do not appear at all on the purchase screen. The exception to this are items 30 and 31, see below:
Unknown Weapon
There are remnants of an unknown weapon in the game's files, it's likely this was the Sonic Blast gun.
In the game's .FLI video files used for the equipment screen, there are still unused videos for this item in Eurocorp and Zealot UI styles:
WEP-30.FLI
WEP-30Z.FLI
It's also possible to hack in two cut weapons that use the above videos by editing a saved game to include weapon numbers 30 and 31. When viewed in the equip screen these appear as another entry for the Uzi and Minigun respectively (although both oddly show the item text for the Uzi only). They can be bought, but no weapon icon appears on-screen, making the slot appear still empty. However, in-game they appear with a generic cannister icon. If selected, they cannot be used, and a piece of corrupted weapon status bar appears over the weapon icon.
The various PANELX-X.DAT/TAB files contain what are clearly the cut weapon menu graphics for this gun. What is interesting as well is that in these early files they occupy the space used by the generic capsule item in the final game. This is likely why the hacked weapons appear using this graphic - at one point it would contain the icon as below. The panel files only contain high res art for the oldest UI design, the other designs exist only as low res versions:
The .FLI videos for cut weapons are just duplicates of the video for the next weapon actually included in the game. So e.g. WEP-13.FLI is just another identical copy of the LR Rifle video WEP-14.FLI.
Cut Mech Vehicle
The final Moon level for both factions features a large purple Mech vehicle. While clearly visible in the level and exhibiting the usual arrow on mouse over to show it can be boarded, it is positioned in an inaccessible area and cannot be used. However, using the game's built in cheat to teleport a single character into the area it can be boarded, and by abusing glitches with its collision detection, can be used to escape the area and play the rest of the level with. Using the vehicle demonstrates it is clearly in an unfinished state. While mostly working correctly, it has the ability to move through some walls that should block it, and more revealingly, has a red debug line drawn in front of it when moving illustrating the game's pathing choices.
The mech is unique in that it has two weapons when all other vehicles only have one. Firstly its default weapon is a surprisingly weak rocket launcher that seems to do less damage than the game's normal Launcher weapon. Pressing the right mouse button or holding it down fires rockets. There is however, a secondary much more powerful weapon. By double clicking the mouse at a certain slow tempo and holding on the second click it is possible to trigger a second attack where the mech draws its arms up shaking as it charges, and then flings its arms down to release four homing lasers from its back. These do massively more damage than the rockets and seem to be the same as the lasers released by the Graviton Gun. The mech seems to have similar health/survivability as the tank vehicle. It seems it was intended for the player to liberate the vehicle as the first point of call on the level and use it to finish the game, but it's clearly unfinished so was left deliberately inaccessible.
The video to the right demonstrates how to get the vehicle onto the playfield as well as the secondary weapon firing.
Cut Objectives
The demo executables contains debug strings that reveal the purpose of large chunks of code and also data structures. This reveals the internal names of all mission objective types, include some that are not used by any mission in the final game:
Number | Name | Function |
---|---|---|
4 | GAME_OBJ_P_NEAR | Check if Person X is near Y |
5 | GAME_OBJ_MEM_G_NEAR | Check if member of Group X is near Y |
14 | GAME_OBJ_USE_ITEM | Use Item X |
15 | GAME_OBJ_FUNDS | Collect money suitcases? |
18 | GAME_OBJ_PKILL G | Person X Kill Group Y (this objective was used by a mission in the .BEN file but removed for final game files) |
20 | GAME_OBJ_USE_PANET | Use Public Access Network |
21 | [Blank] | Unknown |
24 | GAME_OBJ_ALL_G_USE_V | All player characters get in vehicle X |
The most interesting cut objective is "GAME_OBJ_USE_PANET" - clearly at some point it was possible to access the cut Public Access Network system in-game, whether that was via the main menus, or possibly merely moving to some kind of computer terminal.
Unused Text
The file PEOPLE.BAK is a slightly earlier version of PEOPLE.TXT, which contains the messages shown during the credits when the game is completed. There are some minor differences in the messages shown, mainly they were expanded in the version used by the game.
Unused Levels
To do: Write-ups and screenshots for interesting levels and maybe the other 100 odd levels shipped with the game not covered below.. |
Unguided Campaign Remaining levels of the unfinished and cut Unguided campaign |
The game has 109 missions defined in ALL000.MIS as shipped (see the Notes page for how this file works), with over half of these never actually accessible to the player, unless commandline arguments are used to load them. However, there are in fact 221 levels total shipped with the game! Many of these are extremely rough test levels, clones of existing levels and broken messes, but there are also many fully working cut levels included. The full game also includes both levels from the pre-release demo (which itself was limited to only play one of them, despite two levels being included).
The unguided campaign is partially finished, with at least 10 working levels present in the game's files. As it's incomplete, it is not accessed in-game and there are no briefing texts. These unfinished levels were removed from the PlayStation version of the game. See the sub-page above for a complete guide of the Unguided campaign.
The table below includes all 110 missions (there only seem to be 109, but the file itself logs 110) defined in ALL000.MIS. The file also has a text record for every level added near its top, and these were used by Bullfrog to store rough information on what a level was intended for (e.g. what campaign and mission number), but also some have early development names in this area. For this reason every mission is listed below, including levels actually playable normally in the game as there are so many with alternate names or are needed to make sense of duplicate cut levels. Levels with a Eurocorp or Church of the New Epoch campaign mission number are final game levels.
The ALL000.MIS file also includes the order for many Unguided levels, (which are referred to with the codes "pu" for Punk or Ung for "Unguided"). Final game missions are listed below as the number shown when received in the briefing screen in the actual game.
The levels below may be accessed through the command line, using the /m command line parameter (for example, /m40 - there must be no space between the m and the map number) and the corresponding number from the mission index.
It's also notable some levels seem to have been saved with the wrong objective type set in the .MIS file. These can be fixed using a hex editor and the information from the Notes page.
Some levels use a pre-alpha level file format. This format changed after March 1996 for the Alpha build of the game, making these levels unplayable in the final game, they either crash the game or show gibberish. A fan-made tool can convert these to the final game's level format, making them playable once more.
Map File | Level File | Mission Index | City Name | EC Campaign level | Church Campaign Level | Unguided Campaign Level | Level name | Early Names | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
MAP030.MAD | c030l001.d1 | 1 | London | 0 | 1.Executive Alert | First Base | |||
MAP025.MAD | c025l001.d1 | 2 | Tripoli | 1 | 2.Missionary | Unguided | |||
MAP032.MAD | c032l001.d1 | 3 | Beijing | 2 | 3.Friendly Persuasion | Fragmentation (also "Fusion") | |||
MAP021.MAD | c021l001.d2 | 4 | Geneva | 3 | 4.Where Is Wisdom? | Knowledge | |||
MAP028.MAD | c028l001.d3 | 5 | Rome | 6 | 5.Sack of Rome | ||||
MAP028.MAD | c028l001.d2 | 6 | Rome | 7 | 6.Sack Of Rome | ||||
MAP079.MAD | c079l001.d2 | 7 | Reykjavik | 12 | 7.Dark Angels In The Architecture | Out of This World | |||
MAP030.MAD | c030l001.d3 | 8 | London | 13 | 8.Duplicity | ||||
MAP022.MAD | c022l001.d1 | 9 | Johannesburg | 16 | 9.The Special Agent | ||||
MAP021.MAD | c021l001.d3 | 10 | Geneva | 5 | 10.A Meeting Of Minds | Learning | |||
MAP022.MAD | c022l002.dat | 11 | Johannesburg | 8 | 11.Serpent's Egg | Spies Like Us | |||
MAP025.MAD | c025l001.d3 | 12 | Tripoli | 8 | 12.A Mote In God's Eye | Spies Like Us | |||
MAP030.MAD | c030l002.dat | 13 | London | 12 | 13.Audacity | ||||
MAP020.MAD | c020l001.d1 | 14 | Riyadh | 14 | 14.The Levellers | Severe Blow | |||
MAP032.MAD | c032l002.dat | 15 | Beijing | 16 | 15.Rain Of Terror | Splatterpunks | |||
MAP027.MAD | c027l001.dat | 16 | New Delhi | 17 | 16.Armour Of The Gods | Splatterpunks | |||
MAP022.MAD | c022l003.dat | 17 | Johannesburg | 4 | 17.Foundations | Donation (early file it's called "Money") | |||
MAP079.MAD | c079l002.dat | 18 | Reykjavik | 20 | 18.Deconstruction | Free Passage | |||
MAP022.MAD | c022l004.dat | 19 | Johannesburg | 22 | 19.Day Of The Damned | Vissick Hunt | |||
MAP027.MAD | c027l002.dat | 20 | New Delhi | 18 | 20.Exodus | Anarchic Subcontinent | |||
MAP010.MAD | c010l001.dat | 21 | Phoenix | 5 | 21.Phoenix In Flames | ||||
MAP001.MAD | c001l001.dat | 22 | Hong-Kong | 2 | 22.Fusion | ||||
MAP003.MAD | c003l001.dat | 23 | Bangkok | 14 | 23.Bring Him Back Alive | ||||
MAP005.MAD | c005l001.dat | 24 | Sevastopol | 18 | 24.Edge Of Darkness | ||||
MAP006.MAD | c006l001.dat | 25 | Adelaide | 10 | 25.Walkabout | ||||
MAP007.MAD | c007l001.dat | 26 | Santiago | 10 | 26.Forbidden Knowledge | ||||
MAP007.MAD | c007l003.dat | 27 | Santiago | 3 | 27.Test Of Faith | Catastrophic Convertor | |||
MAP008.MAD | c008l001.dat | 28 | Nuuk | 12 | 28.The Hive | ||||
MAP002.MAD | c002l001.dat | 29 | Matochkin Shar | 3 | 29.Lost Minds | ||||
MAP002.MAD | C002L003.Dat | 30 | Matochkin Shar | Pre-alpha level, does not work in final game | |||||
MAP001.MAD | c001l003.dat | 31 | Hong-Kong | 6 | 31.Heretics | ||||
MAP008.MAD | c008l003.dat | 32 | Nuuk | Originally Church mission 15, has a briefing set that indicates this. Clearly the Church counterpart to 28 | |||||
MAP007.MAD | c007l005.dat | 33 | Santiago | 8 | 33.Not One Of Us | ||||
MAP009.MAD | c009l001.dat | 34 | Singapore | 4 | 34.Open Re-Bullion | ||||
MAP004.MAD | c004l001.dat | 35 | New York | 9 | 35.Taken To Taks | Taken to Mars (this might just be a typo in the file, as the name makes no sense without the pun) | |||
MAP047.MAD | c047l001.dat | 36 | Tokyo | 14 | 36.Deep Mind | Bring Him Back | |||
MAP050.MAD | c050l001.dat | 37 | Vancouver | 3 | 37.Guru | Friendly Persuasion | |||
MAP044.MAD | c044l001.dat | 38 | Cape Town | 10 | 38.EuroLore | Science Major | |||
MAP050.MAD | c050l002.d3 | 39 | Vancouver | 5 | 39.Soul Crusader | The Learning | |||
MAP041.MAD | c041l001.dat | 40 | Bahrain | Audacity | An early/alternate version of 13, once again you are Lucy De Saxo. Apparently originally Church mission 12 | ||||
MAP040.MAD | c040l001.d3 | 41 | Honolulu | Re-Alignment | This seems to be an early/alternative version of 74. Instead of Zealots overtaking a Eurocorp base that you have to clear out, it's Unguided. | ||||
MAP046.MAD | c046l001.dat | 42 | Columbo | Spiders… | Looks like this was intended as early version of level 84 | ||||
MAP041.MAD | c041l002.d3 | 43 | Bahrain | 10 | 40.Deadly Harvest | There is a mistake with the names here, the text file says 40 is Deadly Harvest, but it actually should be for mission 43, as confirmed by the Official Strategy Guide. All versions of the game have this bug. | |||
MAP045.MAD | c045l001.dat | 44 | Cairo | 9 | 44.Powermonger | ||||
MAP044.MAD | c044l002.dat | 45 | Cape Town | 21 | 45.Retribution | Friendly Fire | |||
c046l015.d3 | 46 | Columbo | Elevator Test | Pre-alpha level, does not work in final game. Even then something is screwed up here, it's supposed to be for map 46 (Columbo), but it doesn't load that map. If loaded with the demo executable can be played as a Simulated level and reveals it is an early version of 84, but with Shady Guys used as stand-ins for the elite zealots/Nine. | |||||
MAP046.MAD | c046l014.dat | 47 | Columbo | Elevator Test | Pre-alpha level, does not work in final game. Converting reveals it's an early/test version of 100, only here Eurocorp control the Space Elevator, not the zealots. | ||||
MAP035.MAD | c035l002.dat | 48 | Detroit | 0 | 48.Harbinger | Attack Base | |||
MAP035.MAD | c035l001.dat | 49 | Detroit | 1 | 49.Detroit Drop-Outs | The Unguided | |||
MAP026.MAD | c026l001.dat | 50 | Buenos Aires | 10 | 50.Secrets | Trail of Prophet | |||
MAP026.MAD | c026l002.dat | 51 | Buenos Aires | 2 | 51.Conversions | The Knowledge | |||
MAP026.MAD | c026l003.dat | 52 | Buenos Aires | 8 | 52.Watcher | Spies Like Us | |||
MAP036.MAD | c036l002.dat | 53 | Christ Church | 19 | 53.Establish The Link | Free Passage | |||
MAP036.MAD | c036l003.dat | 54 | Christ Church | Free Passage | Early/Alternate version of 53. Instead of reaching the station, you begin there. | ||||
MAP001.MAD | c001l015.dat | 55 | Hong-Kong | 7 | 55.Body Matters | Head Hunt | |||
MAP010.MAD | c010l015.dat | 56 | Phoenix | 7 | 56.Interloper | Head Hunt | |||
MAP028.MAD | c028l015.dat | 57 | Rome | 8 | 57.Head Hunt | Head Hunt | |||
MAP032.MAD | c032l015.dat | 58 | Beijing | 7 | 58.Semi-Automatic | Head Hunt | |||
MAP036.MAD | c036l001.dat | 59 | Christ Church | 11 | 59.Missing Link | Word of God | |||
MAP020.MAD | c020l002.dat | 60 | Riyadh | 3 | Guns Guns Guns | See Unguided Campaign Page | |||
MAP052.MAD | C052L001.DAT | 61 | Anchorage (Version 1) | 4 | Communications | See Unguided Campaign Page | |||
MAP028.MAD | c028l002.dat | 62 | Rome | 8 | Rescue | See Unguided Campaign Page | |||
MAP027.MAD | c027l003.dat | 63 | New Delhi | 10 | all000 Says this is unguided, but it's Eurocorp. An early version of 20 only you have to destroy buildings. Possibly this is the wrong level defined? | ||||
MAP003.MAD | c003l007.dat | 64 | Bangkok | 3 | See Unguided Campaign Page | ||||
MAP040.MAD | c040l015.dat | 65 | Honolulu | 14 | Massive Assault | "Ung14a" | |||
MAP044.MAD | c044l015.d1 | 66 | Cape Town | 6 | See Unguided Campaign Page | ||||
MAP026.MAD | c026l004.dat | 67 | Buenos Aires | 16 | Talks Ambush | Crashes | |||
MAP035.MAD | c035l004.dat | 68 | Detroit | 2 | Zealot Attack | See Unguided Campaign Page | |||
MAP036.MAD | c036l004.dat | 69 | Christ Church | 19 | Trash Church | See Unguided Campaign Page | |||
MAP001.MAD | c001l007.dat | 70 | Hong-Kong | 5 | See Unguided Campaign Page | ||||
MAP006.MAD | c006l003.dat | 71 | Adelaide | 23 | 71.Recapture | ||||
MAP004.MAD | c004l003.dat | 72 | New York | 13 | 72.Divine Light | Atomic Wait | |||
MAP009.MAD | c009l003.dat | 73 | Singapore | 11 | 73.Donation | ||||
MAP040.MAD | c040l001.dat | 74 | Honolulu | 15 | 74.Re-Alignment | ||||
MAP030.MAD | C030L008.D1 | 75 | London | 15 | Ferocity | See Unguided Campaign Page | |||
MAP047.MAD | c047l001.dat | 76 | Tokyo | "The Special…" says it's on Map45 | This is actually 36 (loads the exact same level) but with no objective set | ||||
MAP020.MAD | c020l007.dat | 77 | Riyadh | 3 | Guns Guns Guns | See Unguided Campaign Page | |||
MAP052.MAD | C052L007.DAT | 78 | Anchorage (Version 1) | 4 | Communications | See Unguided Campaign Page | |||
MAP044.MAD | c044l007.dat | 79 | Cape Town | 6 | See Unguided Campaign Page | ||||
MAP035.MAD | c035l007.dat | 80 | Detroit | 2 | Clean Up | See Unguided Campaign Page | |||
MAP009.MAD | c009l007.dat | 81 | Singapore | 7 | Godfather | See Unguided Campaign Page | |||
MAP002.MAD | C002L007.Dat | 82 | Matochkin Shar | 9 | Dumped | See Unguided Campaign Page | |||
MAP045.MAD | c045l002.dat | 83 | Cairo | 17 | 83.Slowdive | ||||
MAP046.MAD | c046l015.dat | 84 | Columbo | 20 | 84.Confrontation | Columbo Confrontation | |||
MAP003.MAD | c003l002.dat | 85 | Bangkok | 18 | 85.The Dead Zone | Splatterpunks | |||
MAP004.MAD | c004l015.dat | 86 | New York | Severe Blow | An early/alternative version of 72. Says church 13 | ||||
MAP044.MAD | c044l003.dat | 87 | Cape Town | 15 | 87.Fallen Among Thieves | ||||
MAP011.MAD | c011l001.dat | 88 | Orbital Station | 20 | 88.High Sierra | Shuttle Diplomacy | |||
MAP012.MAD | c012l001.dat | 89 | Orbital Station Test | Orbital Test | An early version of the Orbital map. There is a single female Unguided, walking close to her makes a strange whoosh sound. The map also doesn't render properly, with all the domes invisible. | ||||
MAP020.MAD | c020l015.dat | 90 | Riyadh | 14 | Massive Assault | ung14c - Level file Does not exist so game crashes. | |||
MAP035.MAD | c035l005.dat | 91 | Detroit | 14 | Massive Assault | UNG14b - However,this is a multiplayer level in actuality | |||
MAP041.MAD | c041l003.dat | 92 | Bahrain | 19 | 92.Arab Agenda | ||||
MAP040.MAD | c040l015.dat | 93 | Honolulu | 14 | Massive Assault | UNG14A - Identical to 65 | |||
MAP020.MAD | c020l015.dat | 94 | Riyadh | 14 | Massive Assault | ung14c - Level file Does not exist so game crashes. Duplicate of 90 | |||
MAP035.MAD | c035l005.dat | 95 | Detroit | 14 | Massive Assault | UNG14b - same as 91 | |||
MAP047.MAD | c047l001.d2 | 96 | Tokyo | Turning Japanese | This is actually an early version of 36. It has a go to point mission objective and a target in a massively populated Zealot base that must be brought there | ||||
MAP047.MAD | c047l015.dat | 97 | Tokyo | Turning Japanese | Same as above. This version has a persuade mission, but the target marker points to a corner off screen and clearly is not tagged against an actual character | ||||
MAP050.MAD | c050l002.dat | 98 | Vancouver | The learning | What seems like a much harder early version of 39. Text says it's another version of 10 | ||||
? | 99 | Friendly Fire | This is supposed to be church level 17 in Cape Town (i.e. mission 45), but this is actually a blank entry that crashes the game | ||||||
MAP046.MAD | c046l002.dat | 100 | Columbo | 24 | 100.Revelations | Deliver the Nine (also as "Ninth" in one file) | |||
MAP065.MAD | c065l002.dat | 101 | The Moon | 20 | 101.Church Of The Poisoned Mind | ||||
MAP065.MAD | c065l003.dat | 102 | The Moon | 24 | 102.Cataclysm | The End… | |||
MAP060.MAD | C060L015.DAT | 103 | Anchorage (Version 2) | ? | A Tale of Two Cities | See Unguided Campaign Page | |||
MAP070.MAD | C070L011.dat | 104 | Tokyo (Demo) | 104.Tokyo Fuseki | Eurocorp demo mission | ||||
MAP047.MAD | c047l011.dat | 105 | Tokyo | Eurocorp demo mission - seems exactly the same as 104 but runs on the final game Toyko map | |||||
MAP036.MAD | c036l005.dat | 106 | Christ Church | "Multi16" - This is a multiplayer level | |||||
MAP005.MAD | c005l005.dat | 107 | Sevastopol | AD's Level | Seems to be a test level. Quite fun, between your agents you have every weapon in the game and start next to a tank and APC. You're told to "sterilise sector" and have to kill every civilian on the map. | ||||
MAP003.MAD | c003l010.dat | 108 | Bangkok | 108.The Shining | Overrun | Church demo mission - listed as "demo 2" | |||
MAP035.MAD | c035l015.d3 | 109 | Detroit | Test1 | Absolutely insane. A massive all against all brawl of huge numbers of Agents, Zealots and Unguided demolishing an entire city. Most of the NPCs seem to have invulnerability on so the battle just keeps on raging | ||||
MAP006.MAD | c006l005.dat | Adelaide | Multiplayer level | ||||||
MAP060.MAD | C060L005.dat | Anchorage (Version 1) | Multiplayer level | ||||||
MAP041.MAD | c041l005.dat | Bahrain | Multiplayer level | ||||||
MAP003.MAD | c003l003.dat | Bangkok | Multiplayer level | ||||||
MAP032.MAD | c032l005.dat | Beijing | Multiplayer level | ||||||
MAP044.MAD | c044l005.dat | Cape Town | Multiplayer level | ||||||
MAP046.MAD | c046l002.dat | Columbo | Earlier version of 100. Seems to be almost identical, restarting doesn't skip half the cut scene like the final game level. | ||||||
MAP046.MAD | C046L005.DAT | Columbo | Multiplayer level | ||||||
MAP046.MAD | C046L008.DAT | Columbo | Yet another early version of 84 | ||||||
MAP046.MAD | C046L009.DAT | Columbo | Yet another early version of 84, closer to final | ||||||
MAP046.MAD | C046L010.DAT | Columbo | Early version of 84. Setup of the Zealots is very different to final mission | ||||||
MAP046.MAD | C046L015.DAT | Columbo | Very close to final version of 84 | ||||||
MAP001.MAD | c001l005.dat | Hong-Kong | Multiplayer level | ||||||
MAP001.MAD | c001l002.dat | Hong-Kong | Multiplayer level | ||||||
MAP040.MAD | c040l001.d2 | Honolulu | Slightly earlier version of 74, with abbreviated intro cut scene | ||||||
MAP040.MAD | C040L013.DAT | Honolulu | Yet another slightly earlier version of 74, the secret epidermis in the main base is not there yet in this version | ||||||
MAP040.MAD | C040L005.dat | Honolulu | Multiplayer level | ||||||
MAP022.MAD | c022l013.dat | Johannesburg | Seems to be an early version of 17 | ||||||
MAP030.MAD | c030l001.d2 | London | Same as 001.d1 | ||||||
MAP030.MAD | C030L008.D2 | London | Similar to 75, but you start as a single female civilian with no weapons | ||||||
MAP002.MAD | C002L001.D1 | Matochkin Shar | Pre-alpha level, does not work in final game. | ||||||
MAP002.MAD | C002L001.D2 | Matochkin Shar | Pre-alpha level, does not work in final game. | ||||||
MAP002.MAD | C002L002.DAT | Matochkin Shar | Multiplayer level | ||||||
MAP002.MAD | C002L005.Dat | Matochkin Shar | Multiplayer level | ||||||
MAP027.MAD | C027L015.D3 | New Delhi | Unfinished Eurocorp mission. A woman is stranded on the corner island with its transport tubes destroyed. A Shady Guy gets in a car and flies over to her and stays off screen. Then a civilian and his soldier bodyguard get in to a Police car and flies next to her, waits a while, then flies off map. | ||||||
MAP004.MAD | c004l001.d2 | New York | Early version of 35, unsure what is different | ||||||
MAP004.MAD | c004l013.dat | New York | Early version of 35, unsure what is different | ||||||
MAP004.MAD | c004l004.dat | New York | Multiplayer level | ||||||
MAP008.MAD | c008l005.dat | Nuuk | Multiplayer level | ||||||
MAP079.MAD | c079l015.d3 | Reykjavik | Mostly empty map, Eurocorp vs small group of Zealots and flying APC in base. Possibly early version of 7? | ||||||
MAP007.MAD | c007l007.d1 | Santiago | See Unguided Campaign Page | ||||||
MAP005.MAD | c005l015.dat | Sevastopol | Multiplayer level | ||||||
MAP065.MAD | c065l005.dat | The Moon | Multiplayer level | ||||||
MAP047.MAD | c047l002.dat | Tokyo | Multiplayer level | ||||||
MAP050.MAD | c050l003.dat | Vancouver | Multiplayer level | ||||||
MAP041.MAD | c041l002.dat | Bahrain | Zealot mission. An earlier and much harder version of 43. In that mission Eurocorp occupy the far side of the river only; in this one they have almost the entire city, including a nearby tank! Also misc skirmishes between Unguided and Eurocorp occur | ||||||
MAP044.MAD | C044L002.D2 | Cape Town | Appears to be early/alternative version of 87. You start in an alley near to where the car drops you in that mission, and as well as fighting unguided, there is a large Police presence and a huge (and hostile) Zealot base who will also attack you. Not clear what the objective would have been. | ||||||
MAP044.MAD | C044L002.D1 | Cape Town | Pre-alpha level, does not work in final game. | ||||||
MAP044.MAD | C044L003.D1 | Cape Town | An early/alternate version of 45. This version seems a little harder, and the secret epidermis is located near the entrance of the church on the map | ||||||
MAP044.MAD | C044L007.D1 | Cape Town | An early/alternate version of 79. This is simplified compared to that level, but with the same basic idea - Unguided have massacred the congregation of a Zealot church and it's time for retribution. This time you start next to the flying car instead of in it, need to clean up the town. As in the other level civilians randomly brandish weapons and attack both the player but also the Unguided. This seems to work better, but of course has no objectives. | ||||||
MAP050.MAD | c050l002.d2 | Vancouver | Another early version of 39. The Doctor drops an Electronmace when killed, however | ||||||
MAP070.MAD | C070L011.d1 | Tokyo (Demo) | Early version of the demo mission. Seems the same, only without the intro sequence, and with fewer Unguided. | ||||||
MAP003.MAD | c003l015.dat | Bangkok | Early version of 42. Seems harder, with more Unguided and fewer civilians. | ||||||
MAP003.MAD | c003l007.d1 | Bangkok | An actually working version of 64. If copied to the same slot, this is an Unguided mission to assassinate a Church scientist. | ||||||
MAP035.MAD | c035l001.d1 | Detroit | Early/alternate version of 49. Not clear what is different aside from lone unmoving Unguided near the top | ||||||
MAP036.MAD | c036l001.d3 | Christ Church | Possibly very early version of 59. Same starting position, but the level is empty aside from two groups of Syndicate agents patrolling. | ||||||
MAP036.MAD | c036l003.d2 | Christ Church | Early version of 54, not clear what is different |
The above list is based on the ALLTEXT.WAD file from the second released demo, as that has a newer file with 108 levels named rather than only 104 as per the final game.
ALL000.MIS File
This file contains the definitions of all missions in the game, providing the game with the data needed to combine level files with maps and mission objectives to have a playable game mission. See the notes section for how this works.
There are also three other unused older versions of the .MIS file included with the game that have slightly different sets of missions and also show older names for levels (that have also been included in the list above). ALL000.BEN, ALL000.OLD, and ALL099.MIS. All000.BEN (seemingly named after programmer Ben Dean) appears to be the oldest both by timestamps but also as it has the fewest entries. .OLD is closer to the final game, and ALL099.MIS is very close to the final ALL000.MIS, but has many slight changes to mission objective data throughout. If these files are renamed and used to overwrite ALL000.MIS they can be used to play older sets of objectives for some missions, which in some cases cause otherwise broken cut levels to work better.
The file ALL001.MIS defines all the multiplayer levels, there is also an older unused multiplayer file called ALL098.MIS (see below). The map comments in these files show that originally map 002 was intended to be Salzburg, not Matochkin Shar as in the final game. More excitingly, it also shows the otherwise unknown map 60 is in fact the city of Anchorage.
Unused Multiplayer Levels
The game uses the file ALL001.MIS to define the 15 levels available in multiplayer mode. However, there is a second file with multiplayer levels defined in it called ALL098.MIS. If all players in a multiplayer game replace the 001 file with the 098 file (renaming it to ALL001.MIS), a different set of levels can be played. 10 of these are the same as the original file, but there are 5 new levels not previously playable.
ALL001.MIS | ALL098.MIS |
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Unused Maps
The game has 37 maps in total, numbered from 1 - 79. Naturally a lot of those numbers are missing, some of which may have been cut maps that were not included with the game. The following maps are included with the game, but are not used for any level accessible in normal play:
Map051.mad
A giant Bullfrog logo. This is not used by any levels, although it's actually used during the end sequence
Map052.mad
A finished map of the city of Anchorage. Split in half by a canal, the top of the level consists of a large road bridge that has collapsed into a river. There is a cut level that uses this map. Timestamps show this was the original version of the map.
Map060.mad
A copy of Map 52. According to ALLMISS.001 this is actually the map for Anchorage. This is almost identical to map52 but has some minor changes to the pedestrian crossing markings on the roads and a pair of billboards to the South that have been removed in this version. Strictly speaking this not actually cut as it is used by a single multiplayer level in the final game. However, all the single player missions on it were cut. Timestamps show it is a later revision of the map.
Map074.mad
An almost empty map with only a single building in the middle of it. There are no levels using this map.
Map012.mad
This is just a clone of map 11, the Orbital Station from the final game. It seems identical, but there is a cut level that uses this version of the map. File sizes show this version is smaller than the final one.
There are also cut levels for Maps 0 and 49, which are not present in the game files.
Simulated Levels
If the game is asked to load a level that does not exist (for example, a number beyond that of the defined missions in ALL000.MIS - like 999), or a mission that does exist but on a map that does not, it creates a "Simulated Level". This is a strange level that takes place in a black void where random enemies are placed and walk about, presumably for testing purposes. In the final game these levels are always raining. The simulated levels are extremely unstable and usually cause the game to crash after a short period of time, and will always crash if the game is switched into high resolution mode (F8 key). If a level exists but the corresponding map file assigned does not, the actual level file is overlaid onto the void map, allowing it to still be played.
What is interesting is to compare the behaviour of the final game to that of the demo executables with debug code included. If the criteria for a simulated level is invoked here, then a message actually saying "CREATING SIMULATED LEVEL" appears. If this is skipped by pressing the escape key, then the level will start as in the final game. However, simulated levels in this version of the game are much more robust and will not crash. They also display the game's radar unlike the final game, and start with the agents on-screen. There is also no rain. It seems this is the intended behaviour, which has somehow degraded for the final release.
Command Line Arguments
The game's executable is loaded via batch file that always passes the arguments /w and /g to the program. It's not known exactly what these commands do, but according to the Vexillium team who reverse engineered the game to create modern OS ports of it, the /g command at least invokes some kind of bugfix that otherwise causes the game to crash on the second mission of the Church of the New Epoch campaign[1]. Using it overrides levels loaded via /m, forcing the game to the title screen, however.
Regional Differences
The German version made several changes:
- Except for the disintegration effect used with certain weapons, death animations have been removed. Killed opponents fizzle away instead, leaving no corpses behind.
- The sounds made by killed opponents are much quieter. Civilians who are killed make no noise at all.
References
- ↑ The tale of Syndicate Wars Port - gynvael.coldwind VX log, January 2010
The Syndicate series
| |
---|---|
DOS | Syndicate (1993) • Syndicate Wars (Prototype) |
SNES | Syndicate |
PlayStation | Syndicate Wars (Prototype) |
Windows | Syndicate (2012) |
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