Chocobo GP

This article is a work in progress. ...Well, all the articles here are, in a way. But this one moreso, and the article may contain incomplete information and editor's notes. Notes: Being worked on at User:Nintbros/drafts/Chocobo_GP

Chocobo GP is the sequel to Chocobo Racing, starring Chocobo and his friends as they engage in various races.

It was initially released as a paid live service game with the usual trappings (MTX, battle passes, seasons, etc.), though a free "Lite" trial version with limited features was also released. The game enjoyed five seasons with new content, which ended on May 31, 2023 when the developers decided to "re-release" the game with all of the live service stuff cut out, essentially turning the game into a bog-standard kart racer with unlockable bonuses.

To do: Fetch the unused chara title voicelines for the characters that have them. Document the various differences between the build(s) of the game used to record the How To Play preview videos and the final game. Document the plethora of unused voicelines that were unearthed. Document the various code comments left by the developers throughout various files. Croma's maxim is set up as a magicite you can roll from item boxes, including having its own unique line of magicite, like Ultima (for leveling up), its own unique type, and an unused inventory cost. Gold Saucer has props that can never be seen in-game, as well as story mode models left over in the world origin (also investigate if other tracks have unseen props). Croma's speed ride lists her PLID as PLID_MAX instead of PLID_KUROMA, which would render her an invalid player entity and despawn immediately when a race starts. Someone with a modded Switch would have to look into this, as this game needs connection to the internet to download additional assets separate from a proper update patch file, and enough data is missing that croma is not even normally selectable in emulator, so this could not be the case in the actual "live" game.

Unused Early Tracks#

(wip)

Leftover in the game's files are 6 unused tracks. The ones that feature Boost Pads and/or Trick Ramps, use prototype versions of said Boost Pads/Trick Ramps which otherwise go unused. These tracks can be found in the Stage folder (/Content/Stage/), alongside all of the other tracks.

Due to the way the game handles tracks internally, it is impossible to load into them without modifications to the game. Namely, the game splits tracks into two halves. Level files, and Course Data files. These unused tracks are missing Course Data files, which are the most important assets when it comes to tracks. For this showcase, a restoration mod was used that adds these tracks to the game's Track Select, by giving each one its own Course Data file, with the necessary data to make it load (custom player spawns, custom checkpoints, custom tracking points, as well as instructing each file to load the corresponding unused level and camera intro). Worth noting that said mod aims to fully restore these tracks, including other non-critical assets (such as minimaps). As this is not in the spirit of TCRF, custom assets introduced by this mod will be pointed out individually.

To do: more brevity with the technical explanation, explain at-length in a Notes sub-page

Cid's Test Course (st01)#

A hastily-done remake of the Cid's Test Course track from Chocobo Racing, not to be confused with the final game's Cid's Test Track. It is not very detailed, is the smallest and shortest course in the game, and reuses a lot of assets from the prototype version of Alexandria.

Watch on YouTube

Note that the Minimap image as well as the BGM here shown are modded assets.

Unnamed Sky-themed Track (st02)#

To do: Should probably fetch the source for this claim.

The only unused track that isn't a version of another track...in games that released. This track actually comes from the cancelled Chocobo Racing 3D. No idea how it made its way onto the game, nor why the developers didn't ever properly release it, as the level itself is fully finished.

Watch on YouTube

Note that the Minimap image here shown is a modded asset. Further, Boost Pad functionality was restored.

This track also had a placeholder render hidden away in some placeholder update data in, specifically, the 1.0 version of the game. Said placeholder updates were removed in subsequent patches. The track itself remained through all versions of the game, as did all the other unused tracks.

To do: align these to the left idk how

Prototype Alexandria Long (st03)#

A prototype version of Alexandria Long that is even longer. It adds an extra twisty path through the suburbs after coming out of the downwards spiral. It is also pretty visually different to the final version.

The lighting in this early version is noticeably darker and overall giving the impression that it was still being worked on. The track's collision model does not line up too well with the visual level (something especially noticeable in some turns), and it is also lacking the track hazards that the final iteration of the track features. No idea why this is left in the files nor why it was never removed.

Watch on YouTube

Note that the Minimap image here shown is a modded asset. Further, Boost Pad functionality was restored.

Like the previous track, this prototype version of Alexandria Long also had a placeholder render made for it found right alongside that of the sky-themed track, and was removed with it.

Prototype Alexandria Hyperspeed (st04)#

A prototype version of the other layout of Alexandria, Hyperspeed. It is not as notable as its Long counterpart. The layout, compared to the final iteration of Alexandria Hyperspeed, is identical except for a very slight change to the final turn, as well as replacing conveyor belts for a pair of Boost Pads in the split section. It doesn't feature an entirely new drivable section like the other. Also unlike the other, the visual identity of the course stayed very similar between this prototype and the final version, save for using early versions of the assets and different, darker lighting. It too lacks its track hazards, and it also lacks a placeholder render.

Watch on YouTube

Note that the Boost Pads are not functional in the last turn due to not being restored.

Prototype Gold Saucer Short (st19_whitebox)#

Inside the stage folder for Gold Saucer Short (st19), you can find a second level file called "L_st19_whitebox". Loading this level in the game reveals it to be a much, MUCH earlier version of Gold Saucer, even earlier than any of the previous 4 unused tracks. This iteration of the course is so old that it still features 12 starting positions, as well as very crudely-done lighting, practically no texture work, and overall a glorified blockout phase for the track. Almost like it was taken straight out of the original Final Fantasy VII, as far as visuals are concerned, anyway.

Gameplay-wise, it is pretty much identical to the final iteration, except this version has extra walls on certain turns, no Boost Pads, and a much bumpier road, presumably due to how early into development it was.

Watch on YouTube

Note that the final version's Boost Pads had their hitboxes removed for this restoration.

Prototype Gold Saucer Long (st20_whitebox)#

More of the same as the above, except with Gold Saucer Long (st20) this time. Everything said above applies to this version as well, with the addition that the conveyer belts featured in the final version also being missing.

Watch on YouTube

Note that the final version's Boost Pads had their hitboxes removed for this restoration.

Unused Course Intros#

There are 4 unused course intro camera sequences unused in the files. They each belong to the first 4 aforementioned unused tracks. Notably, the style of these course intros is different from the final game. Namely, on the final camera movement before the transition to the race countdown, there is a consistent backwards motion through the finish line, framing the words on said finish line before fading. Unlike any other shots, these ones use an easing function, rather than being strictly linear movement. st04's unused intro is noticeably differently styled than the others. Also of note, is that these 4 unused course intros use a completely different ID naming scheme from the final game's, though the filenames for the intros themselves are consistent. Namely, these unused intros follow the naming scheme "ESequenceId::SID_CourseDemoX" (where X = 1-4), whereas all the used intros use "ESequenceId::SID_STXX_Y" (where XX = stage id and Y = layout).

Here is a showcase of these course intro sequences, using the same restoration mod that was used for the previous track showcases:

Cid's Test Course (st01)#

Watch on YouTube

Note that the string "Beta" is modded in as part of the restoration mod. It is the unofficial name given to the track.

Unnamed Sky-themed Track (st02)#

Watch on YouTube

Note that the string "Sky Garden" is modded in as part of the restoration mod. It is the unofficial name given to the track.

Prototype Alexandria Long (st03)#

Watch on YouTube

Note that the string "Longer" is modded in as part of the restoration mod. It is the unofficial name given to the track.

Prototype Alexandria Hyperspeed (st04)#

Watch on YouTube

Unused Animations#

Clair#

Clair's Ability has animation frames that go unused in the final game. The animation itself contains 1.35s (81 frames @ 60fps) of data, while the final game sets this animation to last 1.1s. Editing the animation file to last the proper 1.35s partially restores the animation. The part where he covers his face, and from then onwards, goes entirely unused due to the animation ending early.

Here is a comparison of this animation in-game "as is", as opposed to a restored version:

It is only partially restored as, even when setting the correct animation length value, the animation will still blend out early, for some reason. Particularly, right before he performs a hop to get back into his kart, after having covered his face.

Bahamut#

Bahamut has an unused set of idle animations, alongside his used set of moving animations and his summoning animation.

Right	Center	Left

To do: does this really fit in an "unused animations" section? it's context for WHY it's unused, but this is the animations section. but also, it's not like the game has much unused code to begin with to warrant its own section

When used, Bahamut is programmed to travel down the track's TrackingPoint spline. If mods are used to move said spline far away from the playable area, Bahamut cannot find a valid spline to travel down, and thus the player is allowed to freely steer his movement. If a 90º corner is then modded in, the player can jam Bahamut into it, dropping his speed to 0, and prompting the game to play this unused set of animations. Notably, the VFX around his wings are not tied to them, and thus remain static.

(potential showcase of the aforementioned)

Universal#

To do: mention you can barely see these in-game by abusing a physics quirk

All racers will play a bespoke falling animation (distinct from the helpless fall animation that is used when falling off of the track in Gold Saucer and Midgar) when driving off a Trick Ramp. These animations are programmed to transition into a separate, looping animation once they finish playing, until the racer touches the ground again, or they get hit. These animations can never be seen in-game, as no course has a fall after a Trick Ramp long enough to trigger these animations to play.

The looping animations vary wildly in notability: Chocobo, Camilla and Gilgamesh have completely unique animations for this; Atla, Ben, Shirma, Camilla's Pa and Clair have unique animations, although not as distinct/notable as Chocobo's or Camilla's; and everyone else, especially DLC characters, either reuses animation frames, or while technically having an "unique" animation, are not remarkable enough to warrant mention. Oddly, Odin's animation seems unfinished, as it does not properly loop.

(gallery with the renders)

Unseen or Unused Course Details#

Balamb Garden#

Balamb Garden features a completely unused path, including collision, as well as a Trick Ramp. In the final game, none of the three layouts Balamb Garden has end up taking this path. In the Technical layout, the only layout where you can access the upper floor where this path is located, this unused path is blocked off. The path is fully fleshed out like every other path that exists within Balamb Garden. Even stranger, it is the only example of unused course geometry like this.

Interdimensional Rift Alpha#

In Interdimensional Rift Alpha, the underside of the course is actually modelled, although noticeably lower-poly. You can never come close to seeing this, and Interdimensional Rift Omega lacks a modelled underside, so it is unclear why this is the case.

Further, some props in the background, like the floating crystals, also have modelled undersides that can never be seen, either. These undersides are also the wrong color, for some reason.

Gold Saucer#

Gold Saucer has a lot of props and models which recreate FFVII assets, and some of these can never be seen in-game, due to being so far above or otherwise away from the racetrack.

(screenshots)

(screenshot of the chocobo sign)

Funnily enough, the texture for this chocobo sign reveals unused text. So this never normally seen signpost in a never normally seen rooftop of the Gold Saucer, has cut content in and of itself. How ironic.

Chocobo Farm#

To do: make sure this isn't an FModel inaccuracy

Inside a hill in Chocobo Farm Short, some grass and a fence prop can be found.

(screenshot)

Early VFX#

To do: placeholder text

The game has a copy of the player VFX folder that contains several early iterations of the VFX used by the characters and their abilities

Camilla#

There are early versions of Camilla's Flower Rings found in the early VFX:

The early iteration of the Flower Rings looks more pink, less white, and is not animated.

Cut 12 Player Mode#

At the beginning of its life, Chocobo GP was actually going to be a 12 player game. At some unknown point in development after the "whitebox" versions of Gold Saucer were made and before all the other unused tracks that remain in the files, the game was scaled back to 8 players. It was late enough into development that 12 players was never properly scrubbed from the code. Various places in the game still act as though it was a 12 player game. The CourseData structure still holds 12 player spawns. Even Midgar, the last track the game received well over a year after launch, is like this. The Player Manager still declares 12 player structs, though it only ever actually creates 8 player entities max. HUD textures for the position counter include a 9, but not the greyed out version that is used by 5-8 in the final game when under danger of being DQ'd in the Chocobo GP mode (aka online matchmaking), hinting at 12 players being scrapped before that detail was added to said mode.

It is unknown if the game still contains enough functionality to properly support 12 players if they were modded in, since, as a Nintendo Switch exclusive, there is no way to hook it up to UE4SS, or otherwise access it at runtime (unless someone wants to reverse engineer it).

(TODO: check if minimap manager also allocates 12 player entities)

Emotes#

Chocobo GP lets players taunt by pressing the L stick. Every character has an unique taunt animation and voiceline. However, up until very late in development, it was planned to give more than one taunt to any given character, being equipped in the Customize menu alongside Colors, Costumes and Stickers. There is an unused graphic alongside those other 3 that belongs to this removed option:

Further, emotes got far enough in development to be given Item IDs, as well as an unique item type (EItemType::PLEMOTE), and unique description strings. All 24 base game characters have an ID for their emotes, being item IDs 5XX0000, where XX is the character's PLID. This is notable because no other thing in the game uses the 5XXXXXX range. Of the 24 defined emotes, they contain an internal name (like all other items) being "[NAME]ーエモート0", where [NAME] is the Character's Japanese name. "ーエモート0" is "-Emote 0-" written in Katakana.

Notably, these item IDs reference strings in the localization files that do not exist in the final game. For each emote, the ID lists "[NAME]_05_000100" as the string to use for the item's name, as well as the item's explanation message. None of these strings exist in the locres, with "[NAME]_04" being the range used for Colors and "[NAME]_06" being the range used for Costumes.

(TODO: research exactly where) Somewhere in the plentiful amount of configuration files for each racer is held an array of the emotes that racer has. It is in the same Datatable that holds the arrays for the Colors and Costumes said racer has. If, for example, a character has no Costumes, and thus having a null array in this Datatable like the EmoteList, the Costumes option will be omitted in the Customize menu. It is unknown if restoring an EmoteList properly would also restore this scrapped Emote Select, given how late into development the idea was cut.

VirticalSlice folder#

Hidden away in the sound folder (/Content/Sound/VirticalSlice/SE) is this folder containing 57 sound files originating from an earlier version of the game. Most likely, the version shown off in the January 10th 2020 demo. Most sound effects here are identical to the final game, there's a lot of car engine variety missing, and the sound files for Winning Run (aka the victory theme) as well as Chocobo's Ability sound noticeably different compared to the final game's. There are also unused item roulette sound effects, a la Mario Kart. It seems this game would have featured a more traditional Kart Racer item roulette before settling for what we have now. For the sound files that were meant to loop, their loop points are still intact.

(notable sound files)

Unused Voicelines#

To do: What about the JP voicelines?

It is worth noting that, for characters with particularly long voicelines, like Shiva or Treasure Hunter Cid, the individually spoken lines are leftover as separate voice files, independent of the combined version used by the game. Further, DLC characters also feature this phenomenon, although their individual lines remain in Japanese. These are technically unused, but not at all remarkable. It will be mentioned when a character has these, but won't be shown for the sake of brevity.

It's also worth noting that some voicelines are technically unused, but are merely duplicates of their used counterparts. This will also be mentioned but not shown.

Racing Hero X#

Hero X has an alternate character select voiceline that is not used in the final game. It is an uncropped version of the used voiceline.

(comparison)

Gilgamesh#

Gilgamesh has an alternate voiceline for performing a Perfect Trick.

(comparison)

Ramuh#

Ramuh has an alternate voiceline for receiving level 2 damage.

(comparison)

Clair#

Clair has an alternate Ability voiceline, akin to Croma. Notably, unlike almost any other voiceline here mentioned, his is actually hooked up to the voiceline datatable, so if Clair is given, for example, Croma's Ability via mods, his unused alternate voiceline does actually play in-game. Pretty cool!

(comparison)

Titan#

Titan has an third voiceline for placing in the podium at the end of a Series Race, Custom Race, or Multiplayer Lobby set of races, as opposed to the usual two (first place, and top 3).

(comparison)

Shiva#

Shiva has split voicelines due to her notoriously long race finish and podium lines. Further, she has two additional Perfect Trick voicelines.

(comparison)

Sylph#

Sylph has split voicelines due to her long race finish and podium lines.

Terra#

Terra has two unused voicelines that do not follow any standard naming conventions set by the other 33 characters. As such, it is unclear what the purpose of these voicelines would be. Judging by how they sound, it is possible that they are alternative voicelines for entering lap 3, although they sound out of character for Terra.

(add_1 & add_2)

Cid#

Cid has duplicates for his "hit opponent" line, his provoke line, and for his "Perfect Trick" line. Remarkably, the naming of the latter ("SuperJumpAction_C") implies the existence of another file, though it does not actually exist.

Maduin#

Maduin has alternative voicelines for character select, and for his Ability. It's worth noting how out of character these lines are for Maduin, taking on a more sinister and aggresive tone compared to his cheery and goofy tone in his other voicelines.

(comparisons)

Unlike Clair, his alternative Ability voiceline is not hooked up to play in-game. Interestingly, Maduin makes use of the "extra Ability voicelines" system, used primarily by Camilla and her rings, to play his signature "Hold on tight!" upon bouncing off of a wall, which is a separate response from the voiceline triggered by activating his Ability. It is possible that his alternative Ability line was used at one point and later replaced by "Hold on tight!", although there is no evidence to support that past the aforementioned.

Further, his tricking voicelines are an oddity. Instead of using "JumpAction_A" for Great Tricks and "SuperJumpAction_A" for Perfect Tricks, Maduin has "JumpAction_A", used for Perfect Tricks, "JumpAction_B", used for Great Tricks, and "JumpAction_C", which is an unused duplicate of "JumpAction_B". Neat.

Ifrit#

Another character that breaks naming conventions. Ifrit has an unused provoke voiceline, "Provoke_1", whereas the used provoke line is "Provoke_11". The standard naming is "Provoke". Further, like Maduin, Ifrit has weirdly named and duplicate trick voicelines. He has four lines, named "JumpAction_1" through "JumpAction_4". The latter is a duplicate of the former. Labeling for alternative voicelines is done with letters in every other character. Finally, he has a duplicate of his Ability voiceline, also labeled with numbers instead of letters.

(comparisons)

Necroshell#

Necroshell features an alternative character select and provoke voiceline. He also has a duplicate file for his "hit opponent" line.

(comparisons)

Kwackeys#

The Kwackeys have an unused voiceline in their set of Ability voicelines. It is unclear where in their Ability this would play, as every other timing (Ability start, mine detonation, enemy hit, enemy missed) has its own used voiceline.

(unused voiceline)

Notably, this voiceline is hooked up to the "extra Ability voicelines", although nothing in the Kwackeys' Ability will actually trigger it.

Odin#

To do: rewrite with new info/templating, he also has split voicelines

Left unused in Odin's voicelines folder are two files, "30_UseAbility_A" and "30_UseAbility_B" respectively, that are completely unused. These files belong to an early version of his Ability voiceline. Interestingly, these are left completely untranslated from Japanese.

我が斬鉄剣のサビとなれ

You shall become rust upon my Zantetsuken

くらえ！ググニールの槍

Take this! Spear of Gugnir

In this game, the "_A"/"_B"/"_C"/etc labeling for Ability voicelines is used for voicelines supplementary to the main Ability voiceline, or variations of the voiceline depending on how the Ability was used, in the case of modal Abilities. Knowing that the first voiceline is an earlier version of what would become his final Ability voiceline, it is safe to assume that at some point in development, Odin would have had a modal Ability (like Treasure Hunter Cid's), given how the second voiceline mentions a completely different weapon.

Ultros#

Ultros is an interesting case. Being a DLC character, only the voicelines that are used were translated. The unused ones remain in Japanese, albeit still voice acted.

Ultros features an alternate character select voiceline, as well as 4 unique "JumpAction_X" voicelines, separate from the used, regular "JumpAction".

(files)

Title Screen Voicelines#

Hidden away in the Story Mode files, lies a folder called "titlecall" (/Content/Story/story_voice/us/titlecall). Voicelines for plenty of non-DLC characters saying "Chocobo GP" and "Square Enix" can be found in here.

To do: Some characters have A1, A2, A3 and B1, B2, B3 instead of the usual A/B, extract and listen to find out why

As this feature was cut, no post-launch characters have these voicelines. Some of the base cast is also missing these voicelines (barring Chocobo and Cactuar, which do not speak). More interestingly, these voicelines are fully translated, despite being unused, and clearly being cut at some point before being finished, due to several characters lacking them. The missing characters are also missing in the Japanese voiceset, further reinforcing this idea. Even weirder, is that these voicelines are found under Story Mode voice files, when they are meant for the title screen. The game's name is shown every time a new Story Mode chapter is started, but "SQUARE ENIX" never appears during Story Mode, only during the game's boot up splash screens. In the final game, no audio plays until the title movie begins playing, long after the "SQUARE ENIX" logo is shown, but before "Chocobo GP" is.

To do: fancy gallery featuring all the voicelines, probably need to put both JP and US

Internal Project Names#

The game's Unreal Project name is "ChickenRace". When opening the game's pak files with FModel, it reports the project name "DEV002".