Worms Forts: Under Siege

Worms Forts: Under Siege
Also known as: Worms Forts : État de siège (FR), Worms Forts: Unter Belagerung (DE), Worms Forts: V obležení (CZ), Worms Forts: Oblężenie (PL), Worms Forts: В осаде (RU) Developer: Team17 Publisher: Sega Platforms: Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox Released in US: November 29, 2004 (PC), March 15, 2005 (PS2, Xbox) Released in EU: November 19, 2004 Released in AU: November 26, 2004 Released in RU: December 16, 2004 Released in PL: December 16, 2004 This game has unused objects. This game has unused graphics. This game has unused models. This game has unused text. This game has a prerelease article This game has a notes page

Worms Forts: Under Siege follows up the franchise's mixed-received jump into 3D by doing away with more core elements of the series in favor of bold, new base-building mechanics over its already shaky foundation.

Sub-Pages

Prerelease Info

Notes

Buildings

Unused Building Strings

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: I suspect "Super Pipe" might actually be the internal name for the Lighthouse. Needs confirmation.

A few game files, such as Building.xom and Bundle160.xom, contain strings for all buildings. Among the strings are building names not found in the normal game:

• Wall
• Pub
• Super Pipe

Strings for a 'Refinery' building can also be found; however, this is simply the internal name for the Weapon Factory.

Cut Building Icons

Bundle06, Bundle07, Bundle09 and Bundle10 each contain the icons for the Building section of the weapon panel for their respective Epoch. They include a handful of cut buildings:

• 

  Egyptian icons

• 

  Greek icons

• 

  Oriental icons

• 

  Medieval icons

But before going into the cut buildings, we need to address a visual bug present in the retail game on all platforms. Due to an error, the Wonder building uses the icon of the Stronghold (Row 3, Column 1) in the weapon panel, while the Stronghold uses the unknown building icon placed last on the grid (Row 4, Column 3). This comes with the side effect of making the Wonder icons (Row 3, Column 2) unused in the normal game.

HUDTweak.xom contains an ordered list of name strings for the weapon panel, allowing us to know the names attached to the unknown icons:

• Row 1, Column 1 - Wall. (See Unused Buildings) Icon has a different design for each Epoch, except for Medieval where the icon is missing.
• Row 3, Column 3 - Farm. Icon of a Mad Cow.
• Row 3, Column 4 - Siege Workshop. Icon of an anvil.
• Row 4, Column 1 - Storehouse. Icon changes drastically between Epochs. Egyptian shows a sapling, Greek shows a round wooden shield or target pierced by arrows, Oriental shows an orange building and Medieval shows a beige hut with a straw roofing, similar to the unused Pub building (See Unused Buildings).
• Row 4, Column 2 - Masons Build. Icon of a wooden shield(?) with a crest design on it.
• Row 4, Column 3 - Market. Icon of a pot and a plant.

Unused Buildings

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: How does the Wall function in regards to connecting buildings to the Stronghold? (How can it be broken?) How much HP do they have in-game?

This page or section needs more images. There's a whole lotta words here, but not enough pictures. Please fix this. Specifically: Needs pictures for the Wall building. Showing how it works in-game if possible.

Wall

In the retail version of the game, walls are accessory structures created automatically to link adjacent buildings. However, they were once placeable as standalone buildings, occupying a building slot. This functionality still exists in the game's data.

The only way to access Wall as a building in-game is through the help of external tools. A standalone Wall simply connects to adjacent buildings without any additional function. This can be done in any Epoch, with each using its respective wall model.

(Source: SeriousNorbo on Worms Wiki)

Pub

This building is exclusive to the Medieval Epoch. Its model is located in Bundle77.xom for use on the level The Magic of Merlin (M1.xom) as a decorative structure, which could explain why it remained within the game's files.

It is unavailable without modding the game. Once placed, the Pub behaves like any other building, linking to surrounding buildings with walls, but without any extra functionality. Trying to insert the Pub into a non-Medieval landscape causes the game to crash.

The "Build Crates Only" Fortport icon uses an artwork of a hut with strong similarities to the Pub.

• 

  Graphs/Scenery/Pub.xom

• 

  Pub as a player building.

• 

  It can be damaged like any other player building.

In the list of buildings found in Building.xom, buildings are classified with either the prefix "Building" (e.g. "BuildingTower") or "Special" (e.g. "SpecialHospital"). Pub, however, uses an unique prefix "DestructiblePub". This could suggest that it wasn't intended to have a role in normal gameplay.

Weapons

Small Catapult

Within the game's data is an unused Fortapedia entry for an early version of the Chili Con Carnage named "Small Catapult". The entry is complete with text and artwork.

The artwork can be found in Bundle174.xom as "SmallCatapult.tga".

The weapon looks identical to the Chili Con Carnage, but has a sling holding what looks to be a rock rather than the "Mexican" projectile. While the catapult was kept, no trace of the scrapped projectile remains in the game's data.

Text for the Fortapedia entry can be found within the language files located in /data/Language/PC/FrontEnd. Despite the weapon being scrapped, the text has been translated into all available languages. The strings read as follows:

To do: Look for more translations in other regional releases, such as Polish and Russian.

File	Key	Text
English.xom	4E5	Small as it is, the projectiles of this weapon explode, inflicting cluster damage and leaving a patch of fire behind… A nasty combination! Is it just me or is it getting hot in here?
French.xom	4E4	Aussi petite soit-elle, ses projectiles explosifs répandent leurs fragments et ne laissent que du feu derrière eux… un mélange bien méchant ! Je me trompe ou il commence à faire chaud par ici ?
German.xom	4E4	Diese Waffe ist zwar klein, doch ihre Projektile richten bei ihrer Explosion Splitterschäden an und hinterlassen lodernde Brände… Eine bösartige Kombination! Bilde ich mir das nur ein oder wird es hier drinnen ziemlich heiß?
Italian.xom	4E2	I proiettili di quest'arma, pur così piccola, esplodono, infliggendo danni a grappolo, e lasciandosi dietro una scia di fuoco... Una combinazione micidiale! Sono solo io o qui inizia a fare caldo?
Spanish.xom	4E3	A pesar de su pequeño tamaño, los proyectiles de esta arma explotan en racimo y dejan tras ellos un camino de fuego… ¡Una combinación terrible! ¿Soy yo, o cada vez hace más calor?

Fire Grenade Launcher

Many elements within the game's files and official website hint that the Siege Onager was initially intended to be part of the Grenade Family of weapons.

According to some internal strings and concept art, the weapon used to be named "Fire Grenade Launcher". It initially occupied the spot of the Chili Con Carnage as the Tier 3 Grenade weapon, while the Tier 3 Bazooka weapon was held by the previously mentioned Small Catapult. This was until the Small Catapult evolved into the Chili Con Carnage, and the Fire Grenade Launcher was repurposed into the Siege Onager as the Tier 3 Bazooka weapon. This initial role would also contextualize why the projectiles look identical to the Grenade without its grip.

For more extensive evidence, read the Notes page.

Banana Bomb Launcher

The Fridge Launcher is referred as "Banana Bomb Launcher" everywhere in the data, most easily found within the weapon's model data, Bundle127.xom.

Concept art for the weapon could also be found on the game's official website, where the Fridge catapult is labeled as the "BananaBomb Launcher", with no ferrets to be seen.

This suggests that the iconic Banana Bomb was intended to be featured in this game as well, the weapon may have produced Banana Bomb clusters upon exploding instead of Frozen Ferrets, but it was changed at some point for one reason or another.

Minor Name Differences

Within the game's files, such as Weapons.xom, it is possible to find text strings with early names for some weapons:

• Grenade: Named "Hand Grenade" both across the game's data and in concept art.
• Rhino: Internally named "Battering Ram". Concept art for the Rhino has it labeled as "Rhino Battering Ram". Simple name tweak or potential design change? No other evidence supports the latter.
• Nuclear Strike: Within Weapons.xom, each of the God Power weapons have a duplicate entry labeled with the prefix "Natural Disaster - " (likely intended for their Sudden Death versions). In the case of the Nuclear Strike, that duplicate is named "Natural Disaster - Plague".
• Monkey Troop: Named "Monkey Herd" across all of the game's data.

Early Screenshot Placeholder Texture

This page or section needs more images. There's a whole lotta words here, but not enough pictures. Please fix this. Specifically: Replace the PC comparison screenshot by a PS2 one. As the two versions have minor differences (e.g. You can place buildings on the slopes and higher platforms on PS2 but not PC. I think the camera and lightning are different too?)" Could use a screenshot of Worms 3D to show how similar the HUD is to the one in the placeholder texture.

To do: Decypher the debug text if possible?

A placeholder texture found in Bundle173.xom features a compressed early development screenshot of the game. The "R1" icon in the top right implies that it comes specifically from the PlayStation 2 version.

Early Screenshot	Retail (PC)

HUD

The screenshot gives us a clear view of an early version of the game's HUD.

Its design is very reminiscent of the HUD from Worms 3D, unlike the retail version which closely resembles the one that would appear in Worms 4: Mayhem. Upon closer inspection, we can see what seems to be the Victory Point counter on the left, but it is represented by a red gem rather than a star, despite yellow star Victory Points being visible in the background, just like in the retail game.

The image also has red debug text at the top, but what's written is hard to make out due to the small resolution.

Level Differences

The screenshot was taken on what can be recognized as the "Under Construction" landscape from the retail version. However, some differences can be noted:

• The wood texture for the platforms is different and darker.
• The wood pillars holding the platforms are different. Retail has some of them sticking out higher to provide cover.
• The palmtree seen on the top left seems less detailed, its leaves are smaller as well.

Wall

The player-constructed walls have a more complex design than the flat-surfaced, simple ones seen in the retail version. They may have been simplified at some point for performance reasons and/or easier navigation.

Additionally, the wall the active Worm is standing on seems to go for way too long without a building attached, even turning by itself at the end of the slope. This may be a showcase of the cut, standalone Wall building mentioned earlier.

Worms 3D Leftovers

Freeze Hat

The 3D model of the bobble hat worn by Worms when using the Freeze utility in Worms 3D can be found in Bundle01.xom under "Hat.Vital". It comes with a "Walk" animation where the pom-pom bobs back and forth.

Level Name Strings

LevelList.xom contains leftover strings for all Worms 3D levels.