Startopia

Your old pal Arona says that Startopia has unused content that fell off the back of a transport.

Sub-Page#

Prerelease Info

Developer Mode#

As well as the debug cheat mode, there is in fact a second developer mode with further options. This is gated behind the command line argument /yeahiwantcheesypoofs which unlocks the ability to use two more options:

• startopia.exe /yeahiwantcheesypoofs /artref

/artref starts the game in windowed mode, and brings up a new pop up menu on game start. This allows various debug options. Follow Peep works similarly to the SCUZZERCAM cheat, but pressing space will switch to a peep coming on board the station and then follow them as they walk around in a close over the shoulder third person camera view. Most of the other options don't work due to lack of saved input recordings to play back. This option also allows choosing windowed mode from the in-game options, which is normally hidden, as well as allowing Alt+↵ Return to switch back and forth which normally does not work.

• startopia.exe /yeahiwantcheesypoofs /artref -SoundEditor

The -SoundEditor argument must be typed in the exact case as above, and with a dash and not a slash. It also requires artref mode to work as it relies on the game being in windowed mode. Note that if using the latest beta patch that supports widescreen, the game must be set to 800 x 600 resolution before hand or the game will keep forcing itself back into full screen mode.

To actually use the sound editor, right click on a peep in-game. When their stat window pops up, there will be an odd white square overlaid. Left click on this to pop up the editor. This allows playback of all sounds assigned to a character, but more interestingly also allows the playback of animations available to them, including many cut ones (most interestingly the animations for fighting the cut Prize Fighter android).

CardID.tom Debug Modes#

The file CardID.tom in the game's main directory is a file containing pre-canned graphics card compatibility presets, created by Mucky Foot programmer Tom Forsyth. However, its tweak system can also enable a large number of debug modes for the game, by adding them to the currently detected graphics card's entry as a "Tweak:" line. The strings for these debug modes can be found throughout the game's executable and start with "DEBUG_". Note that these seem to need the game to be in 800 x 600 windowed mode with the artref option enabled as explained above to work properly (CardID.tom the file doesn't have entries for modern GPUs, but it's easy to clone an existing one and just enter the device ID found in your gfxcard.txt to roll your own).

The above is showing:

Tweak:DEBUG_SHOWFPS 1
Tweak:DEBUG_SHOWSTATS 1
Tweak:DEBUG_SHOW_PEEP_STATES 1
Tweak:DEBUG_SHOW_PEEP_STATES_FOR_ALL 1
Tweak:DEBUG_SHOW_PANEL_COORDS 1
Tweak:DEBUG_SHOW_FLOOR_HEIGHT 1
Tweak:DEBUG_SHOW_GOID_MAP 1

The following arguments are possible. Note that many of these seem to just be stubs and don't do anything. Some can also take different numerical arguments from the Tweak: entry other than just 1 to enable.

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: see which of these work and what they actually do if working

DEBUG_STATEBLOCK_SPAM
DEBUG_SHOWSTATS
DEBUG_SHOW_PEEP_STATES
DEBUG_WHICH_STAT
DEBUG_SHOW_FURNITURE_ROOM_ITEMS
DEBUG_RANDOM_GOID_KILLER
DEBUG_SHOW_INTERPOLATION_CIRCLE
DEBUG_ALWAYS_GO_TO_PRISON
DEBUG_BAN_TRICKY_PEEPS
DEBUG_BIO_ROMP
DEBUG_BUILD_NODELAY
DEBUG_CARE_ABOUT_ALLOCATIONS
DEBUG_CHATTING
DEBUG_DRAW_DOUBLES
DEBUG_GOID_SHORTAGE
DEBUG_NO_PRESSING_BUSINESS
DEBUG_SHOWFPS
DEBUG_SHOWSOUND
DEBUG_SHOW_ENERGY_PRIORITY
DEBUG_SHOW_GOID_MAP
DEBUG_SHOW_INTERPOLATION
DEBUG_SHOW_INTERPOLATION_RADIUS
DEBUG_SHOW_INTERPOLATION_Z
DEBUG_SHOW_PANEL_COORDS
DEBUG_SHOW_TRIGGERED
DEBUG_STAT_DAMPRATE
DEBUG_WANT_PEEPS
DEBUG_BARS
DEBUG_DRAW_HUMUNGOUS_BLOB_OVER_EGGHEADS
DEBUG_DRAW_MOUSE_CHECK_POLYS
DEBUG_SHOW_FLOOR_HEIGHT
DEBUG_SHOW_FLOOR_REF
DEBUG_SHOW_PEEP_STATES_FOR_ALL
DEBUG_SHOW_SYNC_BUGS
DEBUG_SHOW_ENERGY_PRIORITY_SCALER
DEBUG_SLOWNESS_CLASS
DEBUG_SLOWNESS_REPORT
DEBUG_TEMP

Unused Areas#

Mission 1 - The Groulien Workers Party#

This, glistening before you like a jewel, is the Groulien Waystation. This first mission has Copy of mish01.txt in the mission folder, containing a prior but functional version of the mission.

The previous version of the mission has the following differences from the main version:

• The stationmaster doesn't passively receive energy from peep happiness, as it doesn't include peepenergy00.txt.
• The stationmaster doesn't automatically lose the mission by demolishing the energy collector and running out of energy.
• Upon receiving the first two scuzzers and port hardplan, the camera is centered on the three crates. The official version instead has the camera offset to encourage the player building on empty terrain.
• After getting the objective to hire four residents, Arona arrives ~8 seconds sooner.
• Arona is no longer restricted from offering replacement scuzzers after the mission is won. However, his speech is broken saying "lev01_aronascuzzer01." instead of his correct line.
• Arona's "supervisors come and go" speech has the stellar icon rather than the arona icon, due to the speech arguments being in the wrong order.
• Messages for hiring the gray doctor are swapped. The initial message says to make hiring one a priority, and the objective message.
• The messages for demolishing or rotting a facility don't function, although the trigger itself is fine.
• The port rotting trigger moves the camera.
• The messages for losing all scuzzer droids is missing, because it tries referencing the text in Mission 01 rather than Mission 03.
• Various triggers (including one listed above) don't activate if the mission is won or lost.
• All win/lose triggers activate after the associated text is given in-mission, rather than displaying the text at the end-mission screen.

Mission 2 - The Gray Council#

Similar to the previous mission, Copy of mish02.txt is a prior version of the mission.

This unused version has the following changes, overall making things more difficult:

• The lose condition is to have 10 peeps die rather than more than 10.
• No passive energy gain from happiness, nor automatic loss from energy collector removal.
• Lamp, clock and screen aren't auto-discovered.
• Stage 2 (where patients start looking for rest, recuperation) starts when 7 or more are cured, rather then 9.
• The sick peeps arrive more frequently (every ~200 second rather than ~250). On stage 1, they have lower vitality (500 + rnd%2000, compared to three of them having 2000+rnd%1000). On stage 2, they have slightly more vitality (500+rnd%2000 vs 500+rnd%1000 or 500+rnd%1500).
• Some text is hardcoded into the mission file, rather than being in the localized text file.
• Reminders on adding doctors appear in the left-hand message queue rather than being a status message at the bottom.
• The triggered emergencies automatically activate. You don't have a choice of ignoring them, and they may be missed if you lack a comstation.
  • The mining casualties have less vitality (-1000 each).
  • The eight suffering from food poisoning have more vitality (2000+rnd%4000 vs 2000+rnd%2000).
  • The contagious disease, exploding disease and radiation poisoning all have more vitality in their patients (2000+rnd%3000 vs 2000+rnd%2000).
• Health inspectors:
  • May come earlier, activating when two patients are cured (compared to 5).
  • Rely on fixed amounts of litter rather than applying a quota per segment.
• Arona only stays for 30 seconds rather than 60.
• Solar flares:
  • Don't require the comsensor.
  • Appear at random intervals rather than being based on how many residents you cured.
  • Provide half the amount of energy.
• Victory text is shown in-mission rather than post-mission: "TEMPTEXT Congratulations. You've completed the level. Hurrah!"

There are a few commented out sections in the older mission file, some of which using the same labels that appear live:

• When Stage 2 activates, entries :intro100, :intro200 display some unassociated reference text, while :peeps150 and :peeps200 adjust the rate at which peeps enter the station. Risk of race condition in the latter two functions. :techcrates100 and :techcrates200 would have placed the necessary crates, but this is handled by :intro200 and :intro300. :sirens100 makes a comment if you have low energy and enough buildings. :sirens110 and :sirens120 are duplicates of live code.
• The commented out win conditions required 6 or more star motels, 2 general stores, 2 music shops, and 50000 energy.
• Tourists were scheduled to appear once you built a star motel.

Unused Graphics#

Mouse Cursor#

This seems to be leftover from an stage in development where it seems it was possible to make units of some kind go to a specific point. In the final game the player has no direct control of characters and can't tell them to go anywhere save via muster points - maybe this was an earlier version of this mechanic. This also dates to the earlier cursor design of a gloved hand that was replaced late on for the final game arrow design.

Slugpartments#

As visible in pre-release screenshots, the Slugparments originally had more of a Roman baths design. This was a fixed-size room like the Holodrome that had to be placed as-is. It had a single large bath/pod in the middle, and portraits of slugs on the walls. At the apex of the room was a large fresco, flanked by marble columns. At some point the room was changed to be another that the player could choose the size of, and the single bath turned into multiple per-slug pods. As the size of the room - and therefore positions of these elements - could no longer be guaranteed, all the wall elements were simply cut from the game. The textures for these remain, but aren't visible on the walls:

The 3D models for these also still exist in the file slugbardouble.SSM, so it's a shame they weren't added as optional decorative items for the room.

Cut Buildings#

Fighting Pit#

Throughout the game's files (most notably every trader definition and the Class Data Out.txt file used for sandbox mode) there are references to a cut entertainment building called the Fighting Pit. Stats from Class Data Out.txt:

[ROOM Fighting Pit]
RecycleValue = 5000
RunningCostPerMapSquare = 50
CostToBuild = 10000
CostToAddDoor = 0

It seems this would be a lower-end pleasure deck room. Unsurprisingly, according to the moods in00.txt files the Kasvagorians would be big fans of this attraction, with Targs and Gem Slugs getting similarly large fun boosts from watching a fight here. Zedems and Karamarams would get get the least boost. It would also give a substantial hit to the soul statistic for most races.

Handbook.txt has the following description, implying it may have been cut relatively late from the game:

fightingpit: Here would-be fighters can take on an invincible battle android to hone their skills and reduce their stress levels. Visitors not wishing to take part can watch, and the Security Forces regularly spectate, looking out for potential recruits amongst the combatants.

Watch on YouTube

There is a cut model that would have been the above "battle android" found in this building called Prize Fighter in the game's Data directory. if this is substituted for a different character's model it can be seen in-game. It's a hulking blue alien in red trunks who goes through a series of boxing-style idle animations such as performing push-ups and mock punching himself in the head.

The pre-release picture of the fighting pit in PC Gamer magazine shows that it was a kind of raised sumo wrestling ring design where a loan alien would take on the android, and presumably other aliens could spectate around the sides. There is a door at the front that seems to lead under the fighting stage that would lead to a circular platform which would then raise the fighter up to the main ring to fight. It seems only Kasvagorians and Greys could fight the android, as they have extra unused animations for fist-fighting other alien types don't have. It's not known why it was cut from the game, but the fact the prize fighter model remains and it retains a full handbook entry suggests it was removed late on.

Gyro#

There's very little trace of this building left in the game, but it again seems to have been a pleasure deck building. There doesn't seem to be a 3D model or anything substantial left of it, but there are values for its cost and effect in the game. Stats from Class Data Out.txt:

[ROOM Gyro]
RecycleValue = 5000
RunningCostPerMapSquare = 150
CostToBuild = 10000
CostToAddDoor = 0

The file mood in00.txt gives a much bigger clue for the building's purpose:

MOOD_INC_GYROING_MAX: How max change when the gyro's at full speed

MOOD_INC_GYROING_MIN: The minimum change to a peep's mood per second while on the gyro

It seems therefore it would be some kind of gyroscopic amusement park style ride that would spin around at different speeds. It would give a large uniform boost to fun for all alien types. There is a pre-release screenshot of what is very likely this building suggesting it was actually implemented at one point but was cut that shows the ride could only take one alien at a time. Due to the hand book explicitly mentioning this room had been removed, it was likely cut from the game fairly early on - although pre-release screenshots show it was still in the game until at least the start of 2001.

There are also animation names in the executable that don't exist in any of the actual models any more:

ongyro
ongiro
offgyro
ofgiro

Finally there are also debug messages in the executable relating to it:

SSM loading for gyro-related peep failed
Gyro version of peep isn't animated
Spin
Get on gyro
Get off gyro

There's also a mention of it simply as "Gyroscope", which was likely its full name.

Unused Models#

Analysis Bin#

This unused object (bin.SSM) is found in the lab folder with the rest of the laboratory equipment, so was presumably going to be another lab item. What's less obvious is its purpose. While it looks like some sort of trash compactor style device, based on cut entries in both interface.txt and handbook.txt it's very likely it was an item called the 'Analysis Bin' It has animations so the top of it swings up, and a dial on the front can be turned to activate it. It's got nothing underneath, so seems to have been table mounted.

The interface.txt entry for the Analysis Bin shows its in-game name would actually have been simply 'Analyser' - the same name used by the final Analyser object that confusingly is internally called the 'Projector'. Therefore it's likely the Analysis Bin was the original device used to scan items in order to research them, and was simply replaced with the larger final Analyser room object.

Deck Lift Hood#

A leftover from the early original deck lift object, found in lift.ssm. In pre-release coverage these were found above each lift, but upside down compared to their orientation here. It seems they were intended to be used above the lifts, but probably got in the way of the effect of aliens teleporting up/down through them, so seem to have simply been scrapped entirely.

Unused Animations#

A fan made importer for Blender reveals all animations created for a loaded .SSM character model. Many of these go unused and hint at cut activities and features.

Shared#

Most aliens have the following unused animations:

Ice Skating

It seems it was intended for water in the biodeck to freeze if in a cold area, and then some aliens could skate on it. All aliens could skate except the Gem Slugs and Turakken. Only the Targ could jump while skating.

• skate
• skatetop
• skatestand
• skatestandbreath
• skatestandtoskate
• skatefall
• skatefalltoskatestand
• skateidle01
• skatejump

Juke Box

Kamaramans, Greys, Salt Hogs, and Turakken have animations to interact with some kind of cut jukebox item. Presumably this would have been found in bars.

• usejukebox
• hitjukebox

Hail A Taxi

It's not clear what on earth this would be for, but all aliens have a variant of this save the Gem Slugs.

• hailtaxi
• hailcab

Fighting Pit

Kasvagorians and weirdly Greys are the only aliens to have these combat animations that match similar ones to what the Prize Fighter possesses:

• stagger
• lefthookhit
• triplepunchhit
• uppercuthit
• fightingshuffleleft
• fightingshuffleright

Lap Dancing

It seems things could originally get a lot more steamy in the Love Nests. While the final game operates a strictly no touching policy, all aliens save Gem Slugs have animations to receive a lap dance in a seated position... And then slip cash into the dancer's G-string.

• lapdancesit
• lapdancesitbreath
• lapdanceidle01
• lapdanceidle02
• lapdancegivmoney
• putmoneyingstring

Urinating

All aliens have quite explicit animations to well, piss everywhere. These were clearly supposed to be played if they desperately needed the toilet but the player had no/not enough facilities. However even if there are no Lavotrons or hotels at all these don't seem to play in the final game with aliens merely getting very unhappy.

• piss
• pissing

Kasvagorians#

Combat

Kasvagorians seem to have a few animations for fighting other aliens, seemingly outside of the fighting pit:

• gorepunchsiren
• goreshakegrey
• push
• sirenhitgore
• greyhitgore

Targs#

Combat

Targs have some strange animations seemingly to do with combat. Possibly they could also fight in the fighting pit, but they don't have as many animations as the Gors and are mostly just them taking a beating rather than giving one. They do at least have a special slash attack animation where the Targ flies up using his wings and delivers an overhead slap:

• slashattack
• fight
• fightingshuffleleft
• fightingshuffleright
• treblepunchhit
• uppercuthit

Flying

Targs have unique animations to use their wings and fly around:

• fly
• flycrime
• flycrimetostand
• flytostand

Graffiti

They also have animations to spray graffiti on a wall:

• graffiti

Gunner#

The gunner - or to use its in-game name the Security Column - in fact has hidden legs that could be extended and used to walk!

• gunner body_stand
• gunner body_walktostand
• gunner body_walk

Animals#

In the final game neither the Memaus or rat vermin can appear on the biodeck. However, both animals in fact have a full set of animations for swimming, diving, and treading water there.

Cut Animals#

It seems at one point there were intended to be more animals, probably to live on the biodeck. They are defined in many of the game's files and come in the same later section as the likes of the Memau and the rat vermin creatures, heavily suggesting they were also animals and not alien character types. They could be interacted with by the game's aliens like the Memaus etc, unlike the few animals that do inhabit the final biodome that are merely cosmetic. There is a pre-release screenshot showing that at least one of these animals was created and implemented in the game at one point.

There are debug strings for animal states in the executable that read as if the original plan for the below animals was quite ambitious, including them having children:

hunt
animal died of old age
animal must eat
animal must reproduce
tracking dinner
tracking a mate
Animal failed to reproduce
Somebody just got eaten
Animal reproduced
Animal (save)
Animal (load)
FlyingAnimal (save)
FlyingAnimal (load)

Goma#

This peep type is defined throughout the game's files, most notably in e.g. the Class data out.txt files. There's very little to suggest what it would be, aside from in the hobbies.txt file. One of the alien hobbies reads "Goma hunting", but the big clue is that the internal name of this entry is "MonkeySpanking" - therefore presumably the Goma would be a monkey-like creature, likely living up trees in the biodeck. There seems to be nothing more left of it aside from this.

Gloath#

Despite not being present in the game in any meaningful form, this animal still managed to change name at least once, as it's present in the handbook.txt and other files defined as both the player-facing name of 'Gloath' but also with an internal name of 'Goulifor'. There's pretty much zero clue what it would be or do, other than its name sounding a bit like a sloth. The Gloath would have a RecycleValue of 200 - what's significant about this is it's based on a creature's biomass and is double that of the Goma, and more importantly is bigger than all of the game's aliens save the massive Kasvagorians. Therefore this would likely be a similarly big creature. There is a creature pictured in the pre-release screenshots of the game that looks like a cross between a giraffe and a sloth, so it was likely this creature and why it is named as such.

Pteraglyde#

Obviously some kind of bird, this prehistoric sounding animal again had changed name from the earlier internal name of 'Haerocan'. The name Pteraglyde also suggests a larger Pterodactyl style bird, and this is born out by the animal's RecycleValue which is also 200 like the Gloath, suggesting this would be a very big animal.

Birds#

In the game's data\animals directory is a model file called bird.SSM. If this is substituted for say, the butterfly model in the same directory, this third unused animal model can be seen. What's revealed is a crude and very triangular looking small bird similar to a real-life thrush. The birds have simplistic animations to flap their wings and also glide on the wind. Based on their size it's very unlikely this was the model intended for the Pteraglyde animal.

Unused Audio#

Arona Docking Audio#

There are unused dialogue lines to govern communication with Arona. What's peculiar about these is they treat him as if he would behave like other traders - i.e. must dock via a star dock first. It's not clear if this implies that at one point he would have worked this way, or if this was simply covering all bases during recording dialogue. In the final game he is of course always instantly available when touting for business.

It's actually to possible to hear "Arona has departed" if the player opens Arona's message but doesn't click on any reply button for a long time, and then clicks on the buy items button.

Fighting Pit Sound Effects#

These would have been used by the aliens in the Fighting Pit.

Level Specific#

Mission two

While defined in the level's text file, the above is simply not called anywhere in the actual mission.

Dummy Audio Files#

There are a number of TFA files (the custom sound format used by Startopia) that contain no sound samples at all. These are all 1kb long, and are all VAL voiceovers. Based on the comment in event.txt that one of these - cure01.tfa was supposed to be recorded but was forgotten, this is likely the fate of these. A lot of the messages seem to be debug/technical support related, such as advising to reinstall Direct X:

• lostalldecks.TFA
• no3dcard.TFA
• ohdearme.TFA
• peaceoncemore.TFA
• reinstalldx.TFA
• undobreachprogress.TFA
• youquitgame.TFA
• patternbufferfull.TFA
• cure01.TFA

Another intriguing slant on this is every single mission has a file called title01.TFA. This would presumably contain the mission's title, but none were recorded. Therefore it was possibly meant that VAL would introduce each mission on start.

Developer Messages#

At position 4444352 of the final Beta 3 patch is a large block of text that contains both the cheat modes, but also lots of obscene messages from the developers:

RSHIFTGROBBENDONKNIPPLESFLATULENCETOMFRULESFINISACUNTANDGARYISTOOTOMFDIGSMANGAOHYESHEDOESINDEEDLOVETHESTUFFJANALLARTISTSBLOWGOATSBURNHAMSODOALLCODERSINCLUDINGME.
STOPLOOKINGINHEREFORCHEATSYOULITTLESCROTE.
DOOMNOTOMFISNODEMON.
COMEANDBEATESTERATMUCKYFOOTINSTEAD.
EMAIL:MARIE@MUCKYFOOT.COM.
CSIMTFIHSRMACREZZUCSTFIHSRNIWLEVELTFIHSRPILCONTFIHSRPUDEEPSTFIHSRANDNOWMYFAVOURITELIMERICK:THEREWASAYOUNGLADYFROMCREWE.
WHOSAIDASTHEVICARWITHDREW.
THEBISHOPWASTHICKERANDSLICKERANDQUICKER,ANDTWOINCHESLONGERTHANYOU.
BANGUNSNOTGAMESHFIEWMVCBSUYZLRYZMYZPXYZZYVNVYEKDMNVSSHOTCLIVEROOLZSHOWFPSVISIONTHING

Unused Text#

Pressing F1 gives context-sensitive help from \text\English\handbook.txt.

The oroflex has two entries, because its internal name is "orophux" rather than the displayed name "oroflex":

// Er... the game doesn't call them oroflexes. Oroflex: This is plant/creature hybrid which enfolds any being in gentle, caressing pseudopods, including the insertion of one to the customer's mind, and provides a mental and physical session of sensation and enjoyment. Oroflexes are extremely difficult to mate in captivity, producing infrequent seedpods, and are therefore highly prized and rare. They are often bought and sold at huge prices.

// This is what it's really called. Orophux: This is plant/creature hybrid which enfolds any being in gentle, caressing pseudopods, including the insertion of one to the customer's mind, and provides a mental and physical session of sensation and enjoyment. Oroflexes are extremely difficult to mate in captivity, producing infrequent seedpods, and are therefore highly prized and rare. They are often bought and sold at huge prices.

Likewise, the factory is named "workshop" in the code:

// The game doesn't call them this: //factory: Installed Groulien Factories enable a Station to construct goods from raw energy. Compact and ingeniously-designed, each Factory is staffed by up to four Salt Hogs, who are the only beings capable of working in them.

// ...it calls them this. Workshop: Installed Groulien Factories enable a Station to construct goods from raw energy. Compact and ingeniously-designed, each Factory is staffed by up to four Salt Hogs, who are the only beings capable of working in them.

Something about a Gyro.

// Not used. Gyro: Gyro.

The entry for the Roulesse Wheel suggests there were originally plans for the player to have more control over how it operates:

//Removed last sentence. Casino: Games of chance are a galaxy-wide passion, and the Roulesse wheel provides an outlet for such gaming. //This can be altered and configured to pay out on a variety of results by its owner.

There's a note that one of the biomes originally produced different types of crates from its flora:

// Translators! Note that this has changed from "industrial materials and luxury items" to "food and luxury items" TreeHTHM: Ebonicle: Hot Temperature, High Moisture. Produces food and luxury items.

There are fallback entries for three items that were presumably being cut from the game but still present at one stage. The top AnalysisBin item seems to be the one found with the laboratory objects.

AnalysisBin: SORRY, THAT ITEM DOESN'T EXIST. YOU ARE IMAGINING THINGS. Unfashionablewhatsit: SORRY, THAT ITEM DOESN'T EXIST. YOU ARE IMAGINING THINGS. UnfashionableFountain: SORRY, THAT ITEM DOESN'T EXIST. YOU ARE IMAGINING THINGS.

The file text/English/interface.txt also references many of the same cut entries

The 'unfashionable' items return:

// Unused Unfashionablewhatsit: Unfashionablewhatsit Unfashionablefountain: Unfashionablefountain

Note both the below and above are actually furniture items, not rooms in their own right:

XFountain: Unfashionable Fountain UnfashionableTemple: Temple

The temple above is a totally different object to the Zedem temple, and equally the plaza fountain is an actual room. Perhaps there were going to be different tiers of street furniture?

A surprising entry in the Interface section of the file:

DudText: Itsa me, Mario

Mission names in text/English/FrontEnd.txt indicate support for additional missions and tutorials:

Mish11: Mission 11 - Test Mission Mish12: Wayne testbed 2 Mish13: Wayne testbed 3

TMish5: Tutorial 6 TMish6: Tutorial 7 TMish7: Tutorial 8 TMish8: Tutorial 9 TMish9: Tutorial 10

The file text/English/Event.txt has some revealing entries and comments:

// Has no WAV - we didn't record one. Oh well Cure01: You've cured one of the ill passengers! You received 1000e

indicating this notification should have had a corresponding voice line from VAL

// Unused! //spies01: Do you want to send an assassin to each of your enemies? Cost will be 3000 per enemy. //spies02: Do you want to send an saboteur to each of your enemies? Cost will be 3000 per enemy.

This is interesting, as a similar mechanic/option does indeed exist on the game's final level but with different text.

Early/Internal Names#

Several items have early or simply different internal names visible in the game's files:

• Oroflex - as above this is called the 'Orophux' internally. Probably changed to disguise that it's likely a portmanteau of the word "orifice" and a certain four-letter word...
• Scuzzers - these are called 'Scutters' internally. Likely changed as this is the name of the very similar maintenance robots from the TV series Red Dwarf.
• Star Motel - called the 'OneStarHotel' internally
• Space Inn - called the 'TwoStarHotel' internally
• Palace Galactica - called the 'ThreeStarHotel' internally
• Diagnosis Machine - called 'HealthCharts' internally
• Rough Bar - this and its table items are called 'Spoodian' internally. This suggests the different bars were originally going to have silly in-universe names that were later dropped probably for clarity of what they actually are/offer
• Recreational Bar - as above, called 'Hurbish' internally. The model for this is called the 'beer bar'
• Cocktail Bar - again, this is called 'Flegicali' internally. The model for this is called the 'plaza bar' - which is also what's written on the actual bar itself
• Muster Point - this is actually called the 'Papal Magnet' internally, a reference to the same game mechanic pioneered by Populous
• Security Column - called 'Gunner' internally.
• Power Booster - the model for this is oddly called 'flag', which suggests it may have originally had a different purpose
• Medibed - the model for this is called 'medidroid', suggesting more was intended for the robot arms etc present on this device that don't do anything in the final implementation
• Skrashers - these are generally called 'Spawn' or 'AlienSpawn'. However, the texture and internal model name of the alienspawn.SSM model is called 'BOUNCER', suggesting a possible very different origin/intent for this character

Oddly, a few of the various statue items have more verbose names and descriptions in their model files than the notably terse ones actually used in the game and handbook text:

• Legacy - Laavin's Legacy
• Mother - Mother and Child
• Endeavour - Spirit of Endeavour

Development Text#

In general, there're comments next to various English text, explaining certain Sci-fi terminology, scattered in the various text\English\*.txt files.

Handbook.txt has // WAYNE! FIXME! in one line. There are three blank lines towards the previous entry (lovenest), and one blank line ahead to the next entry (lift), but as both choices seem to work fine.

Language Ini Files#

These files, found in their own directory, setup which language the game should be using. However, they mostly seem to be redundant, containing early development file locations that don't exist and clearly not actually used:

[Intro]
IntroPath="n:\spacestation\intro\"

[Sound]
DrivePathMusic="n:\spacestation\data\"
DrivePathSound="n:\spacestation\data\"
SoundPathVoice="n:\spacestation\data\"

"space station" being the work in progress name for the game.

Each of the ini files also has a hidden DefaultProfile name that is not normally visible.

English:

 Jan wants to go home

French:

 Chris Waddle

German:

new all missions active

Italian:

BigPurpleGirl

Spanish:

 Chris Waddle

Bonus Levels#

Three official extra levels were released by Mucky Foot over the internet. The first was a single level called 'The Targatelli Affair'. This was released in December 2001 as a Christmas present on the official Mucky Foot website. What's interesting about it is a) it is explicitly set after the game's campaign and therefore would be the final level and b) it's very likely the final form of an old cut concept that was discussed in coverage in PC Gamer magazine where mobsters trying to shake down the player throughout the campaign would be a recurring hazard. As well as the scripted single player level, there is a mod to have the Targatelli mafia as an option in sandbox games. It's not clear if this was actually a new level made just for the internet or a cut leftover.

After Mucky Foot disbanded, a pair of official extra levels were released by ex-staff over the internet. What's significant about these were they were actually bonus missions from an unreleased XBox version of the game. These were released in December 2003 via fan site Startopia Post From the article:

"These were written and tested earlier in the year, when Muckyfoot were looking to see if it was viable to develop a Xbox version, with extra missions. Unfortunately no new speech was recorded, so there maybe only text at times."

While these are simply called "Mission 5A" and "Mission 6A", they are actually essentially extended hard mode versions of the original game's Mission 2 - The Grey Council and Mission 4 - The Galactic Rehab Collective. Mission 6a works near perfectly but mission 5a was clearly never finished with many crucial script concepts only at a stub stage and trader files reporting the wrong file version, meaning the level does not work and cannot be completed.