Luxor 2 (Windows, Mac OS X)

Version DifferencesSeveral stability and/or interface changes across releases, huh?

Unused or Non-Functional Powerups#

Hidden in the game/engine files are textures and references to a "Segment" powerup, which is likely to be an early implementation of the Poison and/or Smart Bomb powerups from Luxor Evolved. When enabled, it does not drop nor allow itself to be caught, but also counts toward the missed powerup toll in the player's stats. In the HD remake revisions of the Luxor 2 engine, this powerup does spawn as normal and can be caught, but is otherwise non-functional.

Unused Sounds#

Note: These sounds are not present in versions 2.0.6.15, 2.0.6.17, and the Xbox 360 version.

Dialog Intro#

The sound that would be played for a UI dialog transition; it was likely unused due to the fact that several other dialogs would include the trans-in effect besides their own sound effects. This was used in Luxor 5th Passage, however.

dialog_intro

Extra Life#

The sound that was supposed to play for earning a new life. In the final game, there is a functional OFX script for earning a new life, but it doesn't have a sound container specified within itself. Interestingly enough, it is used in Luxor: Pharaoh's Challenge, Luxor 5th Passage, and the HD remakes (Luxor HD, Luxor Amun Rising HD, Luxor 2 HD).

extra_life

Lives Remaining Bonus#

The sound for claiming the extra life bonus at the end of the Adventure and/or Challenge of Horus modes; it is used on the Wii version of Luxor: Pharaoh's Challenge for the Disc Channel. For unknown reasons, this sound is included within the game files of Neopets Codestone Quest, despite not being related to the game's theme.

lives_remaining_bonus

Rank Up#

The sound effect for advancing to a new rank. The final game, alongside the HD trilogy, would use the same sound as for earning a new achievement.

rank_up

Unused Graphics#

Found within the game data for versions 2.0.6.21 and/or 2.1.6.24 contains several unused textures that were originally meant to be used in-game at one point.

Particle Effects#

Although the Ankh texture reused from Luxor and/or Luxor Amun Rising that appears for earning an extra life technically is used in game for the specified OFX script, this is not visible in-game due to the UI script lacking the PlaceHorz and PlaceVert parameters within the particle emitters; therefore the ankh actually appears at coordinate (510x, 884y), which is off-screen.

Luxor Mahjong Leftovers#

For some reason, MumboJumbo LA (the same team that worked on Luxor Mahjong, Myth Match, and Neopets Codestone Quest) may likely have had some involvement with the development of Luxor 2 at one point, resulting in leftover textures from Luxor Mahjong being included within the data.

Pharaoh's Challenge mode#

Xbox 360 Exclusive! Weild the Pharaoh's Dagger on the map of your choice?

The Pharaoh's Challenge game mode (not to get confused with Luxor: Pharaoh's Challenge), otherwise known as Gauntlet internally, is a special mode which plays like Practice mode, except that Daggers are the only weapon available at the player's disposal. As the description implies, MumboJumbo originally designed it to be an Xbox 360 exclusive mode in the first place, but it turns out functional code exists within the desktop versions of Luxor 2 itself.

It can be made accessible on the desktop versions by changing one of the button commands in the mode selection dialog to Gauntlet, like as seen with the following code below.

uiButton Button_Gauntlet
{
   Position = [ 109.552460, 144.000000, 0.000000 ]
   AnchorHorz = CENTER
   Command = "Gauntlet"
   uiTextWidget Text
   {
      AnchorHorz = LEFT
      Justify = CENTER
      Text = T( "Pharaoh\'s Challenge" )
   }
}

Developer Menu#

By pressing the PageUp + PageDown keys simultaneously on the Options dialog, it is possible to access the game's hidden cheat menu. These are the available cheats to use:

• Unlock All Levels — Allows access to all maps in the Survival, Practice, and/or Pharaoh's Challenge game modes.
• Unlock All Stages — Allows access to all stages in Adventure and/or Challenge of Horus modes upon starting a new game.
• Unlock Challenge of Horus — Allows the player to play the Challenge of Horus even if they haven't completed the Expert difficulty level yet.
• Enable Super Easy Mode — No effect. This was intended to set the viseGroupCount and winCondition values to 1, but wasn't implemented in time of the game's release.

Enabling both the Unlock All Levels and Unlock All Stages cheats enables the Level Select, allowing players to start on any level of their choice in Adventure mode instead of the starting level for a stage.

GVF Encryption#

Luxor 2 utilizes a built-in GVF encryption system for internal game text files (sprites, UI dialogs, GVFs, etc.), presumably as an anti-modding protection against those willing to modify the game in its entirety without the use of a hex editor; encrypted files usually consume less space compared to plaintext, but can have varying End-of-Line conversions as well.

They can be converted to plaintext with this GVF decryption tool.